Ye Chang'an felt as if he had been granted a grand amnesty. Scrambling to his feet by clawing at the wall, he practically crawled and rolled toward the door, terrified that if he moved a second too slow, the person behind him would change her mind and strike him with another sword blow.
Before he could even open the door—
“Wait.”
Those two softly spoken words pinned themselves to Ye Chang'an's back like icicles.
He froze, his calves trembling violently. Turning halfway around, he didn't dare raise his eyes. “D-Do you... have anything else?”
Song Yao took a sip of wine, her eyes once again glazed with a hint of drunkenness. “Nothing important. I just wanted to say that since Young Master Ye is a man with a fiancée after all, it's best to frequent these kinds of places less in the future. Don't you think so, Young Master Ye?”
Ye Chang'an nodded frantically, tears mixing with sweat and blood smeared across his face. “Yes, yes, yes. Senior Sister Lin is absolutely right. I... I will never come to this kind of place again.”
Having said that, he forced a fawning smile and looked at her. “Then... if there's nothing else, may I leave now?”
“No need to rush.”
Song Yao suggested, “Change your clothes before you go, lest others think you were bullied.”
She thought for a moment and asked, “Do you have spare clothes? If not, I can go out and get a set for you.”
Had the preceding events not occurred, her words would have sounded incredibly gentle and thoughtful.
Ye Chang'an shook his head in a panic. “I... I have clothes. I do.”
Song Yao: “Then change.”
Ye Chang'an: “...H-Here?”
Song Yao glanced toward the screen.
Ye Chang'an breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly scurried behind it. He threw on his spare clothes in a messy rush, came out to bow twice to Song Yao, and practically fled the room, limping all the way.
Song Yao finished her wine and placed a few coin pouches on the corner of the table.
Thanks to the Twin Wraiths snatching spatial pouches from the Beiyao Sect disciples back in the Myriad Bones Forest secret realm, she was at least able to pay for her wine.
She stood up, smoothed out the creases on her Daoist robe, and slowly pushed open the door to walk out.
It was late; it was time to go back to sleep.
With her poor health, she couldn't afford to stay up late.
She was so sleepy.
The warm light of the lanterns swayed along the corridor. Just as she walked past Heaven Room Two, a faint scent of blood, almost entirely masked by the fragrance of rouge and powder, drifted out from the crack of the door.
Song Yao's brow furrowed almost imperceptibly, and she paused in her tracks.
In a situation like this, only true masters of self-control could resist the urge to gossip.
Adopting the philosophy of “since I'm already here, I might as well look,” she crept over to the window, poked a tiny hole through the paper, and peeked inside.
With that single glance, her sleepiness vanished instantly.
Inside the dimly lit room, her Fourth Junior Brother stood right in the center.
The youth had clean, handsome features, looking just as gentle and beautiful as he did in her memories.
But right now, his eyes were cast down, his entire demeanor cold and detached to the extreme as he unhurriedly wiped the blood from his hands.
Kneeling before him was a lifeless figure clad in black, a small patch of dark red seeping across the wooden floor.
Talismans flickered dimly as they floated around him, carrying the scent of fresh blood.
In the next second, as if sensing something, he suddenly turned his head. His gaze pierced straight through the small hole in the window paper, locking directly onto Song Yao's eyes.
Song Yao: “...”
Not good.
Her instinctive reaction was to back away, but it was clearly too late.
The window behind her was flung open, and a hand with distinct knuckles grabbed her back collar, hoisting her straight through the window without a word.
Before she could even find her footing, Xie Zhou swept his sleeve, and the black-clothed corpse on the floor was instantly swept into his spatial pouch.
A tea table from the corner, along with two cushions, flew over and landed precisely over the bloodstain.
Song Yao's brow furrowed slightly. Just as she was about to speak, her wrist was grabbed.
Her Fourth Junior Brother had already sat cross-legged on one of the cushions. With a hint of chill on his fingertips, he tugged her toward the other cushion. “Sit.”
Caught off guard, Song Yao stumbled, only to fall squarely into his embrace.
A light, sweet fragrance mingled with the scent of sweet osmanthus wine wrapped around them.
Xie Zhou paused.
His previously cold aura seemed to soften slightly. His fingertips curled almost imperceptibly, and even his lowered eyelashes trembled.
Song Yao was also startled. Just as she was about to push off his knees to stand up, a hand suddenly pressed against her lower back.
A cool, low, raspy voice whispered beside her ear, carrying a trace of warm breath: “Stay like this. Don't move.”
In the very next instant, the window overlooking the river was violently kicked open from the outside.
Amid the sharp crack of splintering wood, several dark figures swept in along with the night wind, moving so fast they were mere blurs.
Several individuals wearing black cloaks and goat-skull masks landed around the room. The iron plaques at their waists clinked together, and their cold gazes locked onto the two by the tea table through the eyeholes of their masks.
The leader took a step forward. With the goat-skull mask concealing any emotion, their voice carried absolutely no inflection. “Where is Shanhai?”
Song Yao's heart skipped a beat.
Hunters from Yong'an Tower!
What a coincidence. She had just been thinking about how to extract information from Yong'an Tower, and here they were.
Looking at this setup, they were all here for her Fourth Junior Brother!
Before she could look any further, Xie Zhou raised his hand, cupping the back of her head and pressing her into his chest without giving her a choice.
She understood immediately.
Having her face remembered by the hunters of Yong'an Tower was definitely not a good thing.
Her Fourth Junior Brother was actually quite considerate.
Remembering that she intended to live as an ordinary person in the future and could not afford to get too deeply entangled with Yong'an Tower—at least not in this current mess—she proactively buried her face even deeper into his chest.
Xie Zhou went completely stiff.
He froze for a full three breaths before raising his head, his eyes half-lidded with a lazy droop. “What Shanhai? I don't know.”
The gaze beneath the goat-skull mask turned fierce. “You just broke into Yong'an Tower's stronghold. Shanhai was clearly taken by you, yet you still dare to deny it?”
Xie Zhou reached out to grab a teacup from the table, saying in a flat voice, “Second Attendant Master, you are truly accusing me falsely.”
He raised his eyes to glance at the swaying lanterns in the corridor outside, then looked down at the person buried securely in his arms. “I have been here all night without even stepping out of the room. Where would I find the time to go to your Yong'an Tower?”
“Furthermore...”
He paused, his gaze suddenly turning razor-sharp. “Why would I capture Shanhai? Didn't Yong'an Tower repeatedly claim that you have never acted against the Nine Saints Hall?”
He let out a soft chuckle. “What is it that you are so guilty about?”
Leaning against his chest, Song Yao felt drowsiness washing over her, her eyes nearly drifting shut. Yet, hearing this, she couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
He really was different after darkening.
Her Fourth Junior Brother used to be so gentle and adorable, looking just like a child.
Now, he could face dozens of Yong'an Tower hunters all by himself, remaining perfectly calm and even getting the upper hand.
He had truly grown up.
And he had just killed someone.
Back when they were on the main peak, he probably couldn't even bear to kill a chicken, right?
The Second Attendant Master stared at him for a moment, the eyeholes of her goat-skull mask seemingly bottomless.
After a long while, she finally raised her hand, gesturing for the hunters to sheathe their weapons. Her voice remained devoid of rise and fall. “We will investigate further.”
Xie Zhou added indifferently, “As will I.”
The Second Attendant Master paused, then turned and leaped out the window.
The other hunters followed her out, vanishing into the night in the blink of an eye.
The moment the window shut, Song Yao rolled out of his embrace. “Sorry to disturb you, Fourth Senior Brother. I'll head out now. Goodnight.”
Once again, she was a step too late.
Xie Zhou grabbed her back collar once more, his tone flat. “Does Seventh Junior Sister have nothing to say about appearing in a place like this?”
Rate on N.U.
