The next day, when Ning Rongrong arrived at Ashen Territory, the sun was just heading west.
She wore an emerald-colored long dress and tied her hair into a high ponytail. She looked a little more melancholy than when she was in Suotuo City, and the indulgence between her eyebrows was almost undetectable.
He held a rosewood brocade box in his hand, with the emblem Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect engraved on the edge.
Dugu Yan picked her up at the entrance of the valley and took her to the square.
"You built it well here." Ning Rongrong looked at the altar in the distance with a casual tone.
Dugu Yan glanced at her and didn't answer.
She knew that Ning Rongrong was not here to see the fiefdom.
Chen Jieqi is standing on the altar and has just finished practicing here to inspect.
The light from the mark between his eyebrows slowly faded away. He walked down the steps and saw Ning Rongrong standing on the edge of the square, holding a brocade box in his hand.
"My father asked me to send it." Ning Rongrong handed him the brocade box, "Congratulations on your title and land."
Chen Jieqi took it but did not open it. "Thank you Sect Master Ning for me."
"Don't you know how to thank yourself?" Ning Rongrong glanced at him and curved the corner of his mouth.
"Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect is not a dragon's pool or a tiger's den. You haven't been there yet."
Chen Jieqi lowered his head and did not answer the call.
Silence spread.
Ning Rongrong stood on the edge of the square, looking at the unfinished altar in the distance, twisting his clothes unconsciously with his fingers.
The setting sun shone on her face, stretching her shadow very long.
"Chen Jieqi."
"Hmm."
"Why... why didn't you come to me?"
Her voice was very soft, as if she was talking to herself. But she asked.
Chen Jieqi raised his head and looked at her.
She didn't look at him, her eyes fell on the ridge in the distance.
The setting sun painted the side of her face warm orange, and her eyelashes were trembling slightly.
Chen Jieqi was silent for a moment.
"Rongrong."
"Hmm."
"The question you asked, I will answer you now."
Ning Rongrong's fingers froze, and she finally turned her head and looked into his eyes.
"No." Chen Jieqi said,
"I didn't go to find you. It wasn't because I was busy, it was because I couldn't."
Ning Rongrong's lips moved but no sound came out.
"You are Ning Rongrong, not because your surname is Ning." Chen Jieqi said,
"I have never taken back these words."
He paused.
"But my path is different from yours."
Ning Rongrong looked at him for a long time.
Her eyes turned red, but she held back the tears.
She suddenly smiled. The smile was very light, like the wind blowing across the water, causing ripples, and then quickly disappeared.
"I understand."
She turned around and walked towards the mouth of the valley. After walking a few steps, she stopped without looking back.
"Chen Jieqi, you are really annoying."
She didn't cry.
She got on her horse and left without looking back.
The sound of horse hooves clattered on the bluestone pavement, getting farther and farther away, and finally disappeared into the dusk.
Xue Qinghe came out from the other side of the altar.
She came early and didn't let anyone know. She just stood on the edge of the square for a while and saw the whole process.
Chen Jieqi I don't know how long she stood there, but her expression was very calm, like a pool of water without ripples.
Moon-white brocade robe, high jade crown, the prince's mask.
But the golden eyes under the mask were darker than usual.
"You broke her heart." Xue Qinghe said, her voice was low, and if you listen carefully, it sounded like she was happy or happy.
"Long-term pain is worse than short-term pain." Chen Jieqi said, "Hang her, it will hurt her."
Xue Qinghe turned his head and looked at him.
"What about you to me?"
Chen Jieqi looked at her. The sunset fell on her face, plating her outline into gold.
"You are different."
Xue Qinghe said nothing, just looked at him,
"What's different?"
"You would never ask me a question like this."
Xue Qinghe's fingers stopped.
She looked at him for a long time, then withdrew her gaze and looked at the ridge in the distance.
Dusk poured in from all directions, dyeing the entire valley gray-blue.
"You didn't answer me either."
"Did you ask?" Chen Jieqi said.
Xue Qinghe was stunned for a moment.
She really didn't ask.
She never asked, not because she didn't want to, but because she didn't dare.
Because she knew that once she asked, she couldn't take it back.
She was silent for a long time.
"Chen Jieqi."
"Hmm."
"What would you say if I asked?"
Chen Jieqi looked at her.
In the dusk, her golden eyes were like two distant stars, bright but not dazzling.
"Wait until you ask."
Xue Qinghe said nothing.
He stood there for a long time, then turned around and left, but this time it was different from the one at the entrance of the college. This time there were no shoe prints.
Chen Jieqi looked at her for a long time after she left.
He didn't say it out loud after all, but he warned himself in his heart:
At the door of the Heaven Dou Royal Academy, I lost the flower stalk of Ning Rongrong, but I didn't mess up your shoe prints.
Just let these things stay in your heart. It's better not to say them out loud, or wait until you really ask.
Xue Qinghe curved the corner of his mouth as he left.
The arc was very shallow, so shallow that it was almost invisible, but she did smile.
Dugu Yan stood up from the stone steps of the chapel.
She never left. She sat there with the teacup in her hand already cold.
She saw the whole process, Ning Rongrong leaving with red eyes, Xue Qinghe's "like happy but sometimes happy", and Chen Jieqi's "you are different".
She walked up to Chen Jieqi and didn't look at him. She just stood side by side and looked in the direction where Xue Qinghe left.
"Have you chosen?" Her voice was very soft, as if she was asking a very common thing.
Chen Jieqi did not answer.
Dugu Yan didn't ask any further questions, she turned around and walked towards the chapel.
"Okay. Then I won't ask."
Night falls.
Cangmang Mountain Range Deep down, the gray-black mist surged thicker than yesterday.
The "adult" stood on the black stone altar, gray-black flames beating in the palms of his hands.
"Almost." He whispered, the corners of his mouth curved in a cold arc.
Behind him, hundreds of gray-robed figures responded in unison.
Slaughter City.
Tang San pulled out the lancet from the opponent's corpse and wiped the blood on the hem of his clothes.
There are a few more dark red marks on the arm, spreading from the elbow to the shoulder.
He looked up to the south. There was a light there.
It was completely different from the violent aura in his body.
He put away the knife and walked to the next venue.
Star Dou Great Forest.
Xiao Wu sat cross-legged on the bluestone next to Lake of Life, while Soul Power slowly climbed up in the body.
Da Ming is entrenched in the middle of the lake, and Er Ming is squatting behind her.
She opened her eyes and looked at her hands.
The level has been improved very quickly, but it is not enough.
She closed her eyes and continued practicing.
Ashen Territory.
Night has completely fallen. The craftsmen in the square have finished their work, and the lights in the medicine houses and medicine shops are still on.
Yang Wudi was standing at the door smoking a dry cigarette, and Ye Lingling was counting medicinal materials in the drug store.
There was a wall between the two of them, and neither of them paid attention to the other, but the lights stayed on until late at night.
Chen Jieqi stands alone on the altar.
The moonlight shines on the bluestone ground, stretching his shadow very long.
He took out the smooth feather and the burnt feather from his sleeve and placed them in the palm of his hand.
Two feathers lay side by side, one clean and one scarred.
He looked at them for a long time and then put them back together in his sleeves.
He stepped off the altar and looked back at the newly completed building.
The bluestone glows cold white under the moonlight, and the radial patterns spread from the center to the edges, like the rays of the sun.
He entered the chapel and closed the door.
The moonlight poured in from the window and fell on the mark between his eyebrows.
The temperature of the brand is still there, a little lighter than during the day, but it has not disappeared.
He closed his eyes.
Soon.