Lu Jing Tests Wang Dong'er

While Qian Renxue was taking a bath, there came a soft knock at Wang Dong'er's door.

She frowned slightly. At this hour... who could it be?

She rose to her feet and walked lightly toward the door.

When she opened it, the person outside was none other than Lu Jing.

He had clearly just finished bathing as well. A few unruly strands of his short black hair still clung to his forehead, making his youthful face appear even fairer, faintly glowing with the warm luster of jade.

He had changed into a clean, dark robe, and seemed a little leaner and straighter. Most striking of all were his eyes, which had become even calmer and deeper after the ordeal, like two bottomless ancient wells.

"Dong'er." he said evenly as he looked at the peerless girl before him.

Wang Dong'er stepped aside to let him in, then casually shut the door behind him, cutting off the corridor's presence.

"What did you come to see me about?" She walked to the table and leaned casually against its edge. She appeared relaxed, but her pink-blue eyes were fixed on Lu Jing like searchlights, filled with curiosity and confusion.

Fresh from her bath, the girl's skin still held a healthy rosy glow. Her long lashes hung low, casting a small fan-shaped shadow beneath her eyes.

Lu Jing did not answer immediately.

He paced to the window and looked out at the neatly trimmed pines and cypresses in the Worship Hall courtyard. The brief silence made the air in the room seem to stiffen.

At last, he turned around and calmly met Wang Dong'er's gaze. Getting straight to the point, he said, "There are some things we need to discuss in advance."

"Oh? What things?" Wang Dong'er raised a brow, her tone carrying a hint of inquiry.

"Your identity, naturally."

Lu Jing's voice was not loud, but it rang clearly through the space between them. "For example, what exactly is your true identity, and where did you come from?"

He paused, as if weighing his words. His tone remained calm, yet carried a seriousness that would not tolerate evasion. "We're ten thousand years in the past now, surrounded by danger. You could say we're grasshoppers tied to the same rope. That makes us allies, doesn't it? Some details should be laid bare. Keeping secrets won't benefit either of us. Perhaps... your true identity may become unexpected help at a critical moment, or a talisman that helps us avoid danger."

He stared at Wang Dong'er, his words carrying candid expectation while concealing a sharp edge of probing.

He already knew Wang Dong'er's true identity. The reason he asked was to find out what Wang Dong'er truly thought—whether she still did not trust him as a partner.

The instant she heard that question, the casualness on Wang Dong'er's face vanished.

Her right hand at her side curled unconsciously, her knuckles turning faintly white.

She looked at Lu Jing. In the depths of those beautiful pink-blue eyes, like a sea before a storm, wariness, scrutiny, and struggle flashed past in an instant before settling into grave complexity.

Of course, she understood what Lu Jing meant—an alliance required trust, and trust required honesty.

But...

"Why are you asking that?" Her voice cooled, like thin ice breaking over a lake in early spring, edged with the sharpness of someone who had been offended.

The identity of the Clear Sky Sect's Young Master was an honor and a source of support ten thousand years later. But ten thousand years ago, in an era when Spirit Hall stood at the height of its power and had a delicate, even hostile relationship with the Clear Sky Sect, that identity was no different from a blade hanging above her head!

How could she reveal it so easily? Especially to someone whose own background was equally unclear?

Lu Jing seemed to have expected her reaction. His expression did not ripple in the slightest, calm to the point of cruelty.

"I already told you. For the future."

He took half a step forward, and invisible pressure quietly spread through the room. "Dong'er, this is ten thousand years ago. There are too many unknowns. The more we know about each other, the better our chances of surviving and returning. After all—"

He slightly drew out the final syllable, his gaze sharp as a blade, as though it could pierce through all her disguises and reach the heart of the matter. "This is ten thousand years ago, not ten thousand years later. Any background you have is useless here. So whether we can return in the end or not, we should at least be a little more honest with each other. Don't you think?"

The air in the room froze completely.

Sunlight streamed through the exquisite carved window lattice, cutting bright patches across the floor and stretching the silent figures of the two facing each other into long shadows.

Wang Dong'er seemed to become a frozen jade statue. Only the faint rise and fall of her chest proved that she was still breathing.

She stared hard into Lu Jing's eyes, trying to find even the slightest trace of hypocrisy or calculation. Yet those eyes were unfathomable, holding only calm, almost frank depth.

Time trickled by. The silence was heavy as lead, pressing down on her heart.

At last, Wang Dong'er's tightly bitten lower lip slowly loosened, leaving behind a shallow row of teeth marks.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them again, the struggle and vigilance in her eyes had been replaced by a desperate resolve.

It was the weariness and determination of someone who had seen the situation clearly and shed part of her disguise.

"I..."

Her voice was dry, carrying a faint tremor that was hard to detect, yet it rang exceptionally clearly through the silent room. "I'm from the Clear Sky Sect."

After a moment's pause, as if she needed to gather all her strength to say the next few words, she explained, "I am the Young Master of the Clear Sky Sect."

Each word fell like a hammer, shattering the frozen silence.

Lu Jing's face remained expressionless. Only his calm eyes flickered very briefly, too quickly to catch.

He leaned forward slightly, asking with probing curiosity despite already knowing the answer. "The Clear Sky Sect?"

His voice held just the right amount of confusion. His gaze fell on Wang Dong'er's empty hand as he asked, "But isn't your martial soul the Light Goddess Butterfly? It seems... far removed from the Clear Sky Sect's inherited tool martial soul."

That precise "doubt" was like a needle, instantly piercing the final shred of luck beneath the shell of courage Wang Dong'er had just gathered.

She jerked her head up. Two flames of offense instantly ignited in her pink-blue eyes, and her earlier struggle and hesitation were replaced by an intense pride belonging to the Young Master of the Clear Sky Sect.

"Heh!" A short, faintly cold laugh escaped her lips.

The next instant, without a word of nonsense, she abruptly raised the right hand she had kept clenched at her side!

Her palm faced upward, her five fingers suddenly spreading wide!

Boom!

A tyrannical, terrifying aura exploded outward! The air in the room seemed to be compressed and torn apart by an invisible giant hand, releasing a muffled roar!

Dazzling blue-violet lightning writhed like giant serpents around something that had appeared in her palm from thin air, crackling loudly. Violent energy particles scattered in all directions, stirring up tiny whirlwinds that tousled the hair hanging over their foreheads.

It was a... hammer!

Its handle was dark as ink, as though it could swallow light itself. Its hammerhead was enormous, a heavy, condensed dark blue. Yet its surface was not smooth; it was covered in ancient, rugged lightning patterns!

Most bizarre of all, embedded in the center of the hammer's broadest striking face was a Light Goddess Butterfly with wings spread as if about to take flight—outlined in pure golden energy!

It did not seem inanimate. Its wings flickered faintly with gentle, sacred radiance, as though breathing, forming a powerful and strange harmony with the hammer's own violent Lightning Power.

The Clear Sky Hammer!

This peerless weapon, symbolizing the continent's strongest offensive tool martial soul, was revealed before Lu Jing without reservation.

Violent Lightning Power intertwined with the sacred glow of butterfly wings, casting alternating light and shadow across Wang Dong'er's stunning face. The pressure around her abruptly soared, and she transformed from a bright young girl back into the Young Master who commanded the fate of a top-tier sect.

"Martial soul?" Her lips curled into an arrogant, slightly icy smile. Her pink-blue eyes were like blades tempered in frost as they stabbed directly at Lu Jing. Her voice was clear, each word ringing with force as she retorted, "Have you never heard of—"

"Twin Martial Souls?"

Lightning rumbled in her palm, while butterfly wings shone upon her hammer. The air was filled with the scorched scent of violently clashing Soul Power, along with Wang Dong'er's undisguised, icy gaze as she waited for a final explanation.

Lu Jing quietly looked at the one-of-a-kind Clear Sky Hammer in her hand, which carried the power of two supreme martial souls. He looked at the golden butterfly wings poised to dance across the hammer's face. The last trace of probing in his eyes finally settled completely, becoming deep understanding, as though the dust had finally settled.

"So that's how it is." He nodded almost imperceptibly, and a nearly gentle smile slowly appeared on his face. There was no surprise or awe in that smile, only the calm of someone who had solved a mystery, along with a hint of indescribable complexity.

It seemed Wang Dong'er was more trustworthy than Tang San. He had overthought it.