Unlike the rain of the Land of Hundred Demons, the rain in Lixun stopped as soon as Yun Mu left.
It was as if this rain had fallen just for him, a mournful lament to bemoan his troubled fate.
A few hours earlier, in the night.
In the side courtyard of the Shangguan family residence, the quiet garden echoed only with the gentle creak of the swing.
Under the moonlight, Shangguan Qiuyue sat alone on the swing, rocking herself gently; the swing had been thoroughly repaired just these past two days.
She gazed at the newly planted peach sapling not far away, a hint of sorrow in her eyes, her expression somewhat absent.
She always felt that this place shouldn’t be like this, but she couldn’t recall what it should have been, couldn’t remember anything.
She wanted to ask her parents, but they always diverted the topic to her weak health, only telling her to rest well and saying that everything was fine.
“Peach tree, little boy…”
The young girl murmured, subconsciously leaning back, but her hands naturally loosened their grip on the swing’s ropes.
With a “thud,” she fell to the ground.
As expected, she landed flat on her back.
Not far away, at the garden gate, two lanterns swayed in the wind, their flames flickering.
In the darkness beneath the lanterns, Shangguan Hongzhi was holding the worried Lin Yayue in his arms, his face shifting between light and shadow, making his expression unreadable.
“Hongzhi, our daughter fell.”
“It’s nothing, just a fall. You can spoil her as much as you want in the future, but right now… you can’t interfere too much. You’re a cultivator too; you should know how important it is to have a quiet environment during an Awakening.”
“Although this can’t guarantee how high the origin of the first star will be, under such conditions, the compatibility between the star and the person will be much greater. This is all for our daughter’s good.”
He gently patted the beautiful woman’s back, finally letting a bit of warmth into his tone.
“Yayue, you can’t let a mother’s soft heart harm our daughter. Just wait a little longer, alright?”
“But…”
The beautiful woman glanced at the girl who had already stood up.
Seeing she made no fuss, she seemed a bit dazed, then nodded.
“I understand, I’m just worried about her.”
Her face was haggard.
“It’s not too late to worry after she Awakens.”
“Yes, I know.”
Shangguan Qiuyue was unaware of the two watching her.
She just patted the dust from her hair, a look of confusion on her little face.
“Strange, why did I stupidly lean back like that? I even let go of the ropes, but… there was no one behind me to catch me.”
“Could it be… I’ve been too muddle-headed from my dreams these days?”
She lifted her eyes to look at the peach sapling again.
The dreams she’d been having these nights were vivid in her mind.
In the dreams, there was always a boy much younger than her, his face indistinct, sitting under a giant peach tree, a book in his hands.
The boy neither looked at her nor the book; he just gazed up at the sky in silence.
At first, she didn’t pay much attention, but as the dreams repeated, curiosity began to grow within her.
Once is a coincidence, but over and over again, it becomes something more.
“Last time I dreamed of him, we were just one step apart. I wonder… if tonight I can take that last step.”
The girl muttered to herself, subconsciously stepping forward, as if at this moment she were in the dream, and the sapling in front of her had already grown tall.
She took a few more steps, getting closer.
“Come to think of it, that little boy kind of looks like Mister Yun Mu, but with chubbier cheeks—quite cute, actually.”
“Mister Yun Mu… I wonder where he is now? Is he eating well, sleeping well? I wonder… does he still remember me?”
Another step, and she was now just a pace away from the peach sapling.
“How strange, I clearly have no memories of Mister Yun Mu, but I keep thinking of him. Is it because his looks match my taste? Or… is there a part of him within me?”
She whispered to herself, not answering, just thinking.
This had become her habit in recent days—a girl without memories, viewing everything through a veil called “curiosity.”
“Hmm? What’s this?”
Suddenly, as she bent down to touch the leaves, her eyes narrowed.
By the corner of the wall, just beyond the sapling, a tattered little pouch caught her attention.
She straightened up and hurried over in small steps, getting closer and faster, stopping only when she reached it and squatted down.
“This pouch looks so familiar… I feel like I’ve seen it somewhere before.”
She gently picked up the pouch, brushed off the dust, and turned it over, noticing a small tear along one side.
A pang of sadness struck her heart, and she instinctively wanted to hug the pouch to her chest, but stopped halfway.
She didn’t understand why she was acting this way.
Nor did she know that inside was the Ransom Money she had prepared for Yun Mu.
Now, she didn’t remember these things, nor did she know that the Ransom she had painstakingly saved over the years had been secretly taken by a servant during the tree planting a few days ago.
“This is…”
A scrap of paper peeked out of the pouch’s tear.
She pulled it free, pinning the pouch between her knees and chest, and opened the sheet.
On the wrinkled paper, delicate handwriting caught her eye.
With her limited memory of words and language, she read aloud by instinct.
“To see these words is as to see me; to read this Letter is as to meet me.”
“Xiao Mu… by the time you find this Letter, I will probably have already left this world. I hope you won’t be too sad. People must part, mustn’t they?… This world is vast; just in Lixun, besides the capital, there are forty-seven other county towns to visit, and you must see the Northern Snowlands, the Southern Sea, and the Western Grasslands, all of them, with my eyes, for yourself… This is a foreseeable death, but I will watch over you forever…”
The girl read in fragments, trembling fingers tracing each line until the last, where “Shangguan Qiuyue” was signed in bold ink.
And now, Shangguan Qiuyue’s Awakening had lasted a full two hours.
How could he not be delighted?
Shangguan Hongzhi gently embraced Lin Yayue and, with a single step, leapt to the rooftop of the tallest pavilion in the Shangguan residence.
“We’ll wait here. From this vantage, not only can we observe Qiuyue’s state more clearly, but also greet those inevitable Guests as soon as they arrive.”
“Guests, hmm…”
The beautiful woman looked to the girl, already enveloped by the power of the stars, floating in midair, and nodded.
She understood—her daughter’s Awakening was sure to alarm half the capital.
She only replied with a soft “Mm,” saying no more.
Above, dark clouds began to gather.
The star-filled sky vanished under this mighty force, their light impossible to glimpse.
Instead, a dazzling pillar of light shot straight down from the swirling clouds above.
Shangguan Qiuyue curled up within, engulfed by the radiance, her body absorbing the power within.
Only after a long while did the commotion subside.
The girl now found herself in another realm.
But in reality, at that moment, laughter echoed:
“Hahahahahaha! To make such a stir at Awakening—Shangguan, you truly have a fine daughter!”
His presence was felt before he was seen.
Across the sky not far from the Shangguan pavilion, a tall, thin man in elegant blue-jade robes strode through the air.
“Ruan Family—Ruan Dingkang, bearing gifts on behalf of the Ruan Family, comes to offer congratulations.”
He walked straight to the couple, offering each a cupped-fist salute, then stretched out his right hand—a Space Ring of silver inlaid with jade gleaming in his palm.
“A humble gift, not worthy of mention.”
Shangguan Hongzhi and Lin Yayue saw this expected Guest and were not surprised.
With a glance at each other, they simultaneously gestured in welcome.
Ruan Dingkang, unconcerned, placed the ring in the man’s hand, then strode toward the pavilion terrace.
But just as his leading foot touched down, before the other settled, he suddenly dodged left—a pale hand appeared between him and Shangguan Hongzhi, razor-sharp fingernails flashing like daggers.
A moment later, a woman dressed in tight black garb appeared, shrouded in an aura of dense blackness.
Ruan Dingkang, having just been attacked, was about to strike back when he recognized her face and withdrew the force gathering in his right hand, greeting her with a laugh.
“Ha! And here I was wondering who it might be—it’s Chen Family’s Chen Yuer. A pleasure, truly.”
The woman glanced at him coolly, then turned to face the couple.
With that, she respectfully offered a fiery-red jade pendant with both hands.
“This is a Fire Jade that can nourish a cultivator’s meridians—very helpful for a beginner like Miss Qiuyue who has just started her cultivation.”
“Fire Jade… Good, thank General Chen for me. I’ll be sure to invite him for a drink someday.”
“I certainly will pass along your words. Then… I shall take my leave, until we meet again.”
“Until we meet again.”
With that, the woman in black vanished into the night, like ink dissolving in water.
Only when her killing aura had faded did Ruan Dingkang speak again, somewhat sourly:
“Truly, the dragon gives birth to a dragon, the phoenix to a phoenix, and the rat’s son digs holes—the granddaughter of General Chen comes and goes like a shadow, so formidable.”
Openly praising, slyly mocking, outwardly meek, inwardly complaining—his words made Shangguan Hongzhi want to laugh.
But he didn’t mind.
After all, that was the feud between the Ruan and Chen Families; he only needed to play the intermediary, tipping the scales as he saw fit.
As for stepping in directly—there was no need.
“You really are the Ruan Family Grand Steward, the only one in years to earn the Ruan name as an outsider. You certainly have a way with words. Next time I visit the Ruan Family to discuss elixirs, why not show off your remarkable Refining Technique again?”
“Ah, not at all, just lucky, that’s all. At that time… do say a few kind words for me.”
A little banter, and Ruan Dingkang’s already long, narrow face looked even odder when he smiled, which made it hard not to laugh.
“Well then, now that my gift’s delivered, I won’t stay much longer. Here’s to your daughter attaining at least the fourth… no, the fifth heaven’s star!”
“May your words come true.”
“May my words come true.”
slightly arrogant
With that, the Ruan Family Grand Steward burst out laughing and rode the wind away.
After seeing him off, the couple turned their gaze back to Shangguan Qiuyue, who by now had entered a stable state.
“That just leaves the Lin Family, doesn’t it?”
“Yes… I bet a lot of them will come. Every time Qiuyue visits her mother’s family, she’s quite popular.”
“That’s good too. The more people, the more help for Qiuyue, don’t you think?”
“Indeed.”