Dugu Linglong raised her eyes and looked earnestly at Jiang Che.
"Jiang Che."
Her cool, gentle voice drifted over on the wind.
Jiang Che lifted an eyebrow, a hint of surprise appearing in his eyes.
This was the first time Dugu Linglong had not called him Mr. Jiang.
Instead, she had addressed him by name.
"Hmm?"
Dugu Linglong pressed her pale lips together slightly.
She seemed to have so much she wanted to say.
To thank Jiang Che for accompanying her all the way back to Mount Zhongnan.
To thank him for saving her from Chu Feng.
And to thank him for staying quietly after everything was over, without questioning or offering consolation, simply taking over the countless little tasks weighing on her shoulders.
But when all those words reached her lips,
they finally became just a softly spoken phrase.
"Thank you..."
Jiang Che gazed at her delicate, slightly pale face, and the smile in his eyes grew warmer.
"Between you and me..."
"There's no need to be so formal."
Dugu Linglong did not answer.
But neither did she object to those words, which clearly went beyond the bounds of ordinary friendship.
The mountain wind swept across the Main Peak.
Her long, silvery-white hair and Xue Yue's white skirt swayed gently beneath the cold moonlight.
Looking at the devastated Celestial Master Sect, Dugu Linglong still felt the sorrow lingering in her heart.
Yet, for some reason,
with this man beside her, the loneliness that had threatened to swallow her whole no longer seemed quite as unbearable as it had at first...
A little over ten minutes later,
several unmarked black off-road vehicles drove along the winding mountain road into Mount Zhongnan, finally stopping outside the Celestial Master Sect's hall.
Their doors opened one after another.
More than ten Shadow