For Dugu Linglong.
This companionship, which demanded no response from her, was far more precious than almost any comfort the world could offer.
As though sensing her gaze.
Jiang Che slowly opened his eyes and turned to look at Dugu Linglong beside him.
"Awake?"
"Mm."
Dugu Linglong nodded gently.
Only then did she notice that Jiang Che's dark coat was still draped over her shoulders.
After a night in the mountain wind, the coat had long since lost its warmth.
Yet its clean, refreshing scent still lingered around her.
Dugu Linglong raised her slender fingers and took the coat off her shoulders.
After carefully folding it, she handed it back to Jiang Che.
"Thank you."
Jiang Che took the coat, a trace of amusement appearing in his eyes.
"You already thanked me once last night, Reverend."
"If you keep being so polite, it'll make us seem like strangers."
Dugu Linglong's hand paused slightly as she offered him the coat.
Strangers...
Were they no longer strangers to each other?
Had any other man said something like that to deliberately draw closer to her, Dugu Linglong would only have found it irritating.
But hearing those same words from Jiang Che, she felt no resistance. Instead, a subtle feeling she could not quite describe stirred in her heart...
Dugu Linglong did not object.
She withdrew her hand, stood, and straightened the hem of Xue Yue's white dress.
"The Mountain-Protection Formation was badly damaged."
"The earth veins near the Ancestral Mausoleum were also struck by gang qi."
"I intend to begin repairing the formation today."
Jiang Che rose with her, draping the coat over his arm.
"Do you need my help?"
Dugu Linglong instinctively wanted to refuse.
The Celestial Dipper Subdues Evil Array was the great mountain-protection formation passed down through the Celestial Master