While Qian Renxue was bathing, there came a soft knock at Wang Dong'er's room 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, it was none other than Lu Jing standing outside.
He had clearly just finished bathing as well. His short black hair was still somewhat damp, with a few unruly strands clinging to his forehead, making his youthful face appear even fairer, faintly bearing the warm, lustrous glow of jade.
He had changed into a clean dark robe, and he seemed leaner and straighter than before. Most striking of all were his eyes, which had become even calmer and deeper after his refinement, like two ancient wells whose depths could not be seen.
"Sister Dong'er," he said steadily as he looked at the peerless maiden before him.
Wang Dong'er stepped aside to let him in, then casually shut the room door behind him, cutting off the presence of the corridor.
"What did you come to see me about?" She walked to the table and leaned casually against its edge. Her posture appeared relaxed, but her powder blue eyes were fixed on Lu Jing like searchlights, filled with curiosity and confusion.
After bathing, the maiden's skin still carried a healthy rosy glow. Her long lashes hung low, casting a small fan-shaped shadow beneath her eyelids.
Lu Jing did not answer immediately.
He paced over to the window, his gaze falling on the neatly trimmed pines and cypresses in the Worship Hall courtyard. The brief silence made the air in the room subtly stagnate.
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 slightly, her expression questioning.
"Your identity, naturally."
Lu Jing's voice was not loud, yet it struck clearly through the air 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 mild, but it carried a seriousness that would not accept evasion. "We're in the time ten thousand years ago now, surrounded by dangers. You could say we're grasshoppers tied to the same rope—we count as allies, don't we? Some of our backgrounds should be laid bare. Keeping things hidden does neither of us any good. Perhaps... your true identity might become unexpected support at a crucial moment, or a talisman that helps us avoid danger."
He gazed at Wang Dong'er, his words carrying an earnest expectation of honesty, while concealing a sharp edge of probing.
He knew Wang Dong'er's true identity. The reason he had asked was to find out what she was thinking, whether she still did not trust him as her partner.
The moment she heard that question, the casualness on Wang Dong'er's face vanished.
Her right hand at her side curled unconsciously, her knuckles whitening slightly.
She looked at Lu Jing. Deep within those beautiful powder blue eyes, like the sea before a coming storm, wariness, scrutiny, and struggle flashed past in an instant before finally settling into a heavy complexity.
Of course she understood what Lu Jing meant—an alliance required trust, and trust required honesty.
But...
"Why are you asking this?" Her voice turned cold, like thin ice breaking over a lake in early spring, sharp with the edge of offense.
The identity of the Young Master of the Clear Sky Sect was glory and support ten thousand years later. But in this era ten thousand years ago, when Spirit Hall stood at the height of its power and its relationship with the Clear Sky Sect was delicate, even hostile, that identity was no different from a blade hanging over her head!
How could she reveal it so easily? Especially to someone whose own background was equally unknown?
Lu Jing seemed to have anticipated her reaction. Not the slightest ripple appeared on his face; he was calm to the point of cruelty.
"I already told you. For the future."
He took half a step forward, and an invisible pressure quietly spread. "Sister Dong'er, this is ten thousand years ago. There are too many uncertainties. The more we know about each other, the better our chances of surviving and returning. After all—"
He drew out the last word slightly, his gaze sharp as a blade, as though it could pierce through all her concealment and strike directly at the core. "This is ten thousand years ago, not ten thousand years later. None of your background is useful here, so whether we can return in the end or not, we should at least be more honest with each other. Don't you think?"
The air in the room froze completely.
Sunlight passed through the exquisite carved window lattice, cutting bright patches across the floor and stretching the silent, confrontational shadows of the two of them long behind them.
Wang Dong'er seemed to become a jade sculpture frozen in place. Only the slight rise and fall of her chest proved that she was still breathing.
She stared fixedly into Lu Jing's eyes, trying to find even the faintest trace of hypocrisy or calculation within them. Yet those eyes were unfathomable, holding only calm, almost frank depths.
Time passed bit by bit. The silence weighed like lead, pressing heavily upon the heart.
At last, Wang Dong'er's tightly bitten lower lip slowly relaxed, leaving behind a faint row of teeth marks.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them again, the struggle and wariness in her gaze had been replaced by a desperate resolve.
It was the weariness and determination of someone who had seen her circumstances clearly and cast off part of her disguise.
"I..."
Her voice was dry, carrying a faint tremor that was difficult to detect, yet it rang out with exceptional clarity in the silent room. "I come from the Clear Sky Sect."
After a brief pause, as if she needed to gather all her strength to utter the next few words, she explained, "I am the Young Master of the Clear Sky Sect."
Each word fell like a hammer, shattering the solidified silence.
Lu Jing's face remained expressionless. Only his calm eyes flickered for an instant, too quickly for anyone to catch.
He leaned forward slightly, probing with a question whose answer he already knew. "The Clear Sky Sect?"
His voice held just the right degree of confusion. His gaze fell upon Wang Dong'er's empty hand as he asked, "But isn't your martial soul the Light Goddess Butterfly? It seems... quite far removed from the weapon martial soul inherited by the Clear Sky Sect."
That precise "doubt" was like a needle, instantly piercing the last thread of luck beneath the shell of courage Wang Dong'er had just gathered.
She suddenly looked up, and two flames of offense instantly ignited in her powder blue eyes. Her earlier struggle and hesitation were replaced by an intense pride that belonged to the Young Master of the Clear Sky Sect.
"Heh!" A short, slightly cold laugh escaped her lips.
The next second, without another word, she suddenly raised the right hand she had kept clenched at her side!
Her palm faced upward, and her five fingers snapped open!
Boom!
An incomparably domineering and terrifying aura erupted! The air in the room seemed to be squeezed and torn apart by an invisible giant hand, letting out a dull explosive roar!
Blinding blue-violet lightning flashed like wildly dancing giant pythons, coiling around the object that appeared in her palm out of nowhere. It crackled sharply as violent energy particles scattered in every direction, stirring tiny whirlwinds that tossed the hair before both their foreheads.
It was... a hammer!
Its handle was deep as ink, as though it could swallow all light. Its hammerhead was enormous, a heavy, condensed dark blue in color. Yet its surface was not smooth, but covered in ancient, rugged lightning patterns!
Most astonishingly, embedded in the center of the hammer's broadest striking face was the image of a Light Goddess Butterfly poised to take flight, outlined in pure Golden Energy!
It did not seem like an inanimate object. Its butterfly wings flickered faintly as though breathing, radiating a gentle and sacred glow that formed a powerful yet strange harmony with the hammer's violent Lightning Power.
The Clear Sky Hammer!
This peerless divine weapon, symbolizing the continent's strongest attack-type weapon martial soul, was revealed before Lu Jing without the slightest reservation.
The violent Lightning Power intertwined with the sacred radiance of the butterfly wings, causing Wang Dong'er's exquisite face to flicker between light and shadow. The pressure surrounding her abruptly surged, and she transformed in an instant from a bright maiden back into the Young Master who held the fate of a top-tier sect in her hands.
"Martial soul?" Her lips curved into an arrogant, slightly ice-cold smile. Her powder blue eyes, like blades tempered in frost, stabbed straight at Lu Jing as she asked clearly, each word ringing like iron, "Have you never heard of—"
"Twin Martial Souls?"
Lightning rumbled low in her palm, while butterfly wings shone upon her hammer. The air was filled with the scorching scent of violently colliding Soul Power, along with Wang Dong'er's undisguised, piercing gaze as she awaited a final explanation.
Lu Jing quietly watched the unique Clear Sky Hammer in her hand, carrying the power of two top-tier martial souls. He watched the golden butterfly wings seemingly fluttering upon its face, and the last trace of probing in his eyes finally settled completely, becoming a deep understanding, like dust finally falling to the ground.
"So that's how it is." He nodded almost imperceptibly, and a nearly gentle smile slowly bloomed across his face. There was no surprise or reverence in that smile, only the calm of someone who had seen through a mystery, along with an indescribable complexity.
It seemed Wang Dong'er was more worthy of trust than Tang San. He had overthought it.
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