Lu Jiuyuan looked at the screen full of "shameless" messages, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.
Three thousand? Just two were enough to wear him out!
[Lu Jiuyuan: I'm done chatting. Time to get to work.]
[Yan Lingji: ??? You're going to work again???]
[Feng Qing'er: In broad daylight, what kind of work are you doing?!]
[Mai Shiranui: Group leader, didn't you just finish?!]
[Zi Nu: Group leader, take care of yourself...]
[Yun Yun: ...]
[Medusa: ...]
[Bibi Dong: ...]
Lu Jiuyuan didn't reply again. He simply logged off.
The group instantly erupted.
[Yan Lingji: @Lu Jiuyuan Get back here!]
[Feng Qing'er: @Lu Jiuyuan You're running off before you've explained yourself?!]
[Mai Shiranui: Group leader!!!]
[Zi Nu: He sure ran fast...]
[Yun Yun: Forget it. He won't come back.]
[Medusa: Hmph! Men.]
[Bibi Dong: We'll have to get an explanation next time he logs in.]
[Yan Lingji: Exactly! We'll find out just how many women he has!]
[Feng Qing'er: I'd like to see what kind of woman would take a liking to him!]
[Zi Nu: +1]
[Yun Yun: +2]
[Medusa: +3]
[Bibi Dong: +4]
The mountain breeze blew their robes together until it was impossible to tell whose was whose.
Wen Min's voice came from far away, faint as if it had crossed several mountains.
"They're calling for us." Lu Xueqi's voice was muffled.
"Let them call."
"Aren't you afraid they'll get tired of waiting?"
"Let them wait."
Lu Xueqi rubbed her cheek gently against his chest and said nothing more.
After quite a while, she finally lifted her head from his arms.
The tear tracks on her face had dried. Her eyes were still a little red, but the light had returned to them—brighter and more resolute than before.
"Let's go." Lu Xueqi released him and stepped back, slowly straightening the collar he had crumpled, as if trying to calm herself.
"Xueqi."
"Hmm?"
"Thank you."
Lu Xueqi's hand paused. She looked up at him. "For what?"
"For being willing to forgive me."
Lu Xueqi looked at him, the corners of her mouth twitching as if she wanted to say something. In the end, she only let out a soft sigh.
"Lu Jiuyuan, you are unbelievable!!!"
Lu Xueqi didn't finish. She turned and walked toward the group.
After a few steps, she stopped without looking back.
"What are you standing around for? Keep up."
Lu Jiuyuan smiled and hurried after her, coming to her side.
Lu Xueqi didn't look at him, but she slipped a hand out of her sleeve and gently hooked her finger around his.
The two of them walked side by side down the mountain.
On the distant mountain path, Wen Min was craning her neck to look around. When she saw them emerge from the woods, she let out a long breath.
"Thank heavens. You're finally back."
Jin Ping'er leaned against a roadside rock, twirling the Purple Glow Blade, a faint smile playing on her lips.
Her gaze lingered for a moment on Lu Xueqi's reddened eyes, then fell on their joined hands. She quietly looked away.
When Lu Jiuyuan came over, Jin Ping'er winked at him without saying a word, then turned and walked at the head of the group.
Wen Min looked from one to the other, then silently followed.
The group continued on.
Lu Xueqi walked on his left. Jin Ping'er walked slightly ahead on his right. They kept an arm's length between them—not too close, not too far—as if they had reached an unspoken understanding.
Lu Jiuyuan walked between them, holding one woman's hand on his left, with the other at his right.
On a mountain cliff.
Li Xun struck a tree with his palm, snapping it in two.
The trunk crashed down toward the cliffside in a shower of splinters, startling a flock of resting birds into flight.
He stood before the fallen tree, his chest heaving. His expression was as dark as the sky before a storm.
His usually handsome face was twisted in rage. A vein throbbed at his temple, and his eyes were bloodshot.
Another failure.
In his mind, he cursed Lu Jiuyuan and every one of his ancestors.
The other man had stopped the beast tide all by himself, then destroyed the Beast-Attracting Powder without anyone noticing.
The four disciples he'd sent to scout had returned with their legs trembling. They'd stammered for a long time before managing to explain: "Lu Jiuyuan discovered us, but he didn't attack. He just took the copper bell."
He hadn't attacked—not because he didn't dare, but because he couldn't be bothered.
It was like seeing an ant at your feet, deciding it wasn't worth crushing, and simply stepping over it.
Being ignored like that was even worse than being beaten up.
"Senior Brother Li!!!"
"Shut up."
The Fenxiang Valley disciple who had just run over with a report was startled by his expression. He shrank back two steps, his voice as faint as a mosquito's buzz. "Th-that was... the Valley Master sent me to report..."
Li Xun took a deep breath, suppressing his churning fury, and turned around. "Speak."
The disciple hurried forward, took a sound-transmitting talisman from his sleeve, and offered it with both hands.
Li Xun took it and channeled his spiritual power into it. Yun Yilan's voice came from the talisman, calm as if he were discussing something trivial.
"Xun'er, Black Stone City, a hundred miles away, has been attacked by a beast tide. There's one of our Fenxiang Valley businesses in the city. See to it."
The sound-transmitting talisman crumbled to ash in his hand. Li Xun stood where he was, his brows knitted into a deep furrow.
Black Stone City was a small town tucked between the Southern Border wasteland and the trade route to the Central Plains. It was remote, sparsely populated, and run-down—not an important place.
But Fenxiang Valley had a business there. It wasn't a mine or a spirit field. It was a brothel.
Fenxiang Valley had operated in the Southern Border for years. Outwardly, it was a prominent righteous sect, but its secret dealings reached far and wide.
Brothels, gambling dens, smuggling spirit ore—if it made money, they did it.
The brothel in Black Stone City wasn't large, but it was well situated, right on the trade route between the Southern Border and the Central Plains. Plenty of merchants passed through, so business had always been good.
Its monthly income couldn't compare to a mine's, but it was steady. The place also served as one of Fenxiang Valley's intelligence hubs in the Southern Border.
If the city fell, the losses wouldn't be too great, but it would be embarrassing. If Fenxiang Valley couldn't protect its own business on its own turf, people would laugh at them.
As Li Xun considered the situation, the disciple spoke again, cautiously. "Senior Brother Li, there's one more thing..."
"Speak."
"People from the Qingyun Sect are already heading toward Black Stone City. It seems they received word that civilians are trapped in the city, and they're going to help."
Li Xun's eyes narrowed slightly.
The Qingyun Sect had gone.
Lu Jiuyuan had gone.
His fingers tapped lightly against his sleeve as his mind raced.
An idea took shape amid his anger and resentment, like a venomous snake poking its head out of a swamp.
Li Xun suddenly smiled.
His smile was cold and sharp, like a blade catching the light. The disciple beside him saw it and felt a chill run down his back, instinctively retreating half a step.
"Black Stone City..." Li Xun murmured to himself, the curve of his lips growing wider. "A beast tide attacks the city, and the Qingyun Sect steps in to help. Truly, it's a heartwarming tale."
He turned around, his gaze passing over the cliff and settling on the roiling black clouds in the distance.
Those clouds were moving toward Black Stone City.
The beast tide surged from that direction without end, as if driven by some unseen force.
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