Chrysanthemum Ghost Douluo

Qian Renxue did not answer.

She merely lowered her head, the corners of her lips curling slightly.

More than he did, she wanted to know what that child would become in the future.

Heaven Dou City, Marquis Mansion.

Gu Ci sat on a stone bench in the courtyard, holding that note in his hand.

Three days had passed. He had neither replied nor thrown it away.

Zi Dian lay sprawled across his lap. Night Shadow poked its head out from the shadows, glanced at him, then withdrew again.

"Brother Gu Ci, what are you looking at?"

Dugu Yan walked over carrying a bowl of soup, craning her neck to take a look.

Gu Ci put away the note and accepted the bowl. "Nothing."

Dugu Yan pouted, somewhat displeased, but did not press him further.

She sat down beside Gu Ci and quietly drank from her own bowl of soup.

Ye Lingling came out of the house and sat across from them, holding a book about herbs in her hands.

The three children sat in the courtyard without anyone speaking.

The lingering glow of the setting sun spilled across the courtyard, dyeing everything gold.

"Brother Gu Ci," Dugu Yan suddenly said, "is something on your mind?"

Gu Ci paused, then smiled. "How could you tell?"

"You've been spacing out these past two days."

Dugu Yan tilted her head at him. "You were like that during special training too. Even when Teacher Qin called you, you didn't hear him."

Gu Ci fell silent for a moment.

He really had been thinking—thinking about that letter, about the girl named Xue'er, about what exactly she wanted.

"Yanyan," he suddenly asked.

"If someone you didn't know suddenly said they wanted to meet you, would you go?"

Dugu Yan thought for a moment. "That depends on who it is. If they're a good person, I'd go. If they're a bad person, I wouldn't."

"How would you know whether they were good or bad?"

"By how they feel, of course." Dugu Yan spoke as if it were obvious.

"You feel like a good person to me, so I play with you. Lingling feels like a good person too, so she plays with me as well. What does that person feel like to you?"

Gu Ci froze. A feeling?

The feeling that girl gave him... he could not put it into words.

It was neither hostility nor goodwill, but rather—curiosity.

Like a cat that had discovered something interesting and wanted to come closer for a look.

"I think I understand."

He smiled, finished the last mouthful of soup, and stood up.

"Where are you going?" Dugu Yan asked.

"To write a reply."

The next morning, Qian Renxue found a note in the study.

No one knew who had delivered it or when.

It lay quietly on her desk, held down by a Soul Light.

Qian Renxue picked up the note and unfolded it.

There was only one sentence on it: Three days from now, Backyard of the Heavenly Workshop, at the hour of the Snake.

The handwriting was not particularly beautiful, but every stroke was written with great care, as though he were writing something important.

Qian Renxue looked at that line for a long time in silence, then smiled.

She put away the note, walked to the window, and pushed it open.

In the morning of Heaven Dou City, the thin mist had yet to disperse. On the distant streets, the glow of Soul Lights blurred through the fog, like countless stars that had fallen to the ground.

"Gu Ci," she murmured, "you're finally willing to see me."

She turned and walked to the wardrobe, opened its doors, and looked at the plain maid uniforms inside. Suddenly, she felt a little tired of them.

She rummaged through them and pulled out a pale blue dress from the very back.

It was her own clothing, not a maid's uniform. She had brought it from Spirit Hall.

She changed into it and stood before the bronze mirror, looking at herself in the reflection.

Golden hair cascaded over her shoulders, her purple eyes bright and deep. The pale blue dress made her skin look as white as snow.

This was what she truly looked like.

She smiled at her reflection, then changed out of the dress and put the plain maid uniform back on.

Not yet, she told herself.

I still have to wait.

She walked out of the room. By then, it was fully light.

The servants of the Crown Prince's Mansion had begun their work, and Xue Qinghe was waiting for her to bring tea in the study.

Everything was as usual.

Only she knew that three days later, everything would be different.

Three days later, Heavenly Workshop Backyard.

The appointed time was the hour of the Snake, but Qian Renxue arrived earlier than expected.

She wore a pale blue dress. Her golden hair was unbound and draped over her shoulders, while her purple eyes looked especially bright in the morning light.

She brought no one with her. Alone, she passed through the morning mist of Heaven Dou City and arrived at the back gate of the Heavenly Workshop.

The door was ajar. She pushed it open and entered.

The courtyard was empty.

Only a few Soul Lights were still lit, their white glow diffusing through the morning fog like starlight fallen upon the ground.

She stood in the courtyard and looked around—this small courtyard was where the Soul Tools that had shocked the continent were made.

It looked ordinary, even somewhat crude, yet those things had indeed come from here.

"You're early."

A voice came from behind her.

Qian Renxue turned and saw Gu Ci emerge from the house.

He wore ordinary cloth clothes and held that little purple cat in his arms. His expression was as calm as a stagnant pool.

Qian Renxue looked at him and suddenly smiled. "Aren't you afraid I brought people with me?"

Gu Ci shook his head. "You wouldn't."

"Why not?"

"Because what interests you isn't the Heavenly Workshop. It's me."

Gu Ci sat down on a stone bench in the courtyard, placed Zi Dian on his lap, and looked up at her. "Go ahead. What exactly do you want?"

Qian Renxue did not answer at once.

She walked over and sat on the stone bench opposite him. Separated by a stone table, the two stared into each other's eyes.

She watched him for a long time, as though trying to find an answer on his face.

"What is your Martial Soul?"

She suddenly asked.

Gu Ci did not answer. He merely looked at her.

Qian Renxue did not press further either, instead changing the question. "Where did the Soul Tool technology come from?"

"It's a family inheritance."

"You can't fool me."

Qian Renxue's voice was soft but certain. "Something passed down through a family wouldn't vanish for over a thousand years and suddenly reappear. You must have some secret."

Gu Ci was silent for a moment, then smiled. "You have secrets, and so do I."

"You don't want to tell me yours, and I don't want to tell you mine. What is there left for us to talk about?"

Qian Renxue paused, then smiled.

This smile was no longer the polite, restrained kind. It was a genuine smile from the bottom of her heart.

"You really are interesting," she said.

At the same time Gu Ci met with Qian Renxue, outside Heaven Dou City.

Dugu Bo stood atop a cliff with his hands behind his back, his gaze fixed on the distant forest.

The morning wind whipped his Dark Green Robe with a rustling sound. He had stood here for three full days.

Ever since receiving word that Gu Ci was going to meet that mysterious girl, he had not left the area within ten li of the Marquis Mansion.

He did not trust that girl, much less the people behind her.

How could a girl guarded at all times by a Titled Douluo possibly have a simple identity?

"Come out."

Dugu Bo suddenly spoke. His voice was not loud, yet it echoed across the cliff. "You've followed me for three days. Aren't you tired?"

The forest fell silent for a moment, then two figures slowly emerged.

One wore white, his handsome face almost bewitchingly beautiful, with a faint Chrysanthemum fragrance lingering around him—Chrysanthemum Douluo Yue Guan.

The other wore a black robe, his entire body shrouded in shadow. His features could not be seen, and only a pair of cold, ghostly eyes glimmered in the darkness.