It was late at night.
Li Fan settled his disciples in one by one, then carried Yunxi into her room as well.
He sat beside Yunxi's bed. Suddenly, he gently lifted the covers and looked at her snow-white neck.
That silly girl had even lied to herself, saying she couldn't find the Red Dust Jade...
She had clearly turned it into a pendant and hung it against her chest.
Li Fan reached out gently and drew out the Red Dust Jade.
He saw that Yunxi had carefully glued it back together. Its quality was exceptional; although it had a few cracks, they did nothing to diminish its beauty.
There was also a character on the Red Dust Jade.
Fan.
Li Fan reached out, wanting to pick up the Red Dust Jade.
But before he could touch it, Yunxi reached out in her sleep and clutched it.
"...No one can touch it... No one... especially not the Devil King..."
Yunxi murmured softly in her sleep.
Li Fan stopped.
He hesitated for a moment.
At first, he'd wanted to pick up the jade and destroy it, ending the matter once and for all.
But seeing how precious it was to Yunxi, he inexplicably couldn't bring himself to do it.
Never mind. Never mind.
He tucked the covers back around Yunxi, then turned and left.
Outside, in the Small Courtyard, he picked up the book Xin Ning had been reading that day, by the light of the moon.
The book looked almost like a draft, its pages filled with deductions.
They were deductions about the game of eternal darkness.
On the page, the note "All ages shrouded in darkness, with no way forward" caught his eye.
"Eternal darkness requires light; the weight of night requires a flame..."
Li Fan murmured, then said,
"Though