Xiao Yi Xian's Death

The next day, Xiao Fan rose early.

Little Dragon Maiden was already nowhere to be seen. Xiao Fan did not need to think with his upper head to know that she had gone looking for "breakfast" again.

And sure enough...

"Xiao Fan! Look what I brought back."

Xiao Fan held his head as he looked at the various heavenly treasures Zi Yan had brought back—no, stolen back—and felt that trouble was probably on its way.

After all, the pile of treasures bore a wolf-head emblem. Though Xiao Fan's memories were somewhat hazy, he knew they likely belonged to some mercenary group in Green Mountain Town.

"You little rascal..."

Zi Yan tossed the treasures the mercenaries valued so highly onto the floor with a clatter, filling the tiny room with a series of ringing crashes.

"Hmm? Blood Lotus Essence. I'll take this one. I'll refine the rest into Sugar Pills for you."

"Mm-hmm."

Zi Yan's stomach was already rumbling. She could not wait any longer, and her little head bobbed incessantly. As far as she was concerned, Xiao Fan could take whatever he wanted, so long as he filled her belly.

Meanwhile, the Wolf Head Mercenary Group had gone mad searching everywhere for the thief who had raided their treasury...

After feeding Zi Yan, Xiao Fan tucked a small quilt over the sleeping girl and made his way to the Ten Thousand Medicine Pavilion with practiced ease. However, the pavilion seemed to be closed today; even its doors had not been opened.

"You're here."

The emotionless words came in an icy voice.

Xiao Fan immediately turned his head and grinned at the slender figure still dressed in a white gown. "Xiao Yi Xian, why isn't the Ten Thousand Medicine Pavilion open today?"

"Oh, I gave them a long vacation."

"Huh? You gave them a long vacation?"

Apparently, it was only now that the foolish Xiao Fan realized Xiao Yi Xian seemed to be the proprietor of the Ten Thousand Medicine Pavilion.

"You own the Ten Thousand Medicine Pavilion?"

"That's right."

"How could that be? You..." What Xiao Fan meant went without saying. Xiao Yi Xian was only a little girl now, about the same age as him.

"What, looking down on me?"

"No, no. I was just curious how you became the Ten Thousand Medicine Pavilion's proprietor."

"Secret." Xiao Yi Xian answered playfully.

One after another with their secrets... I have a bad feeling that things are spiraling further and further out of control.

"If you won't tell me, then you don't consider me a friend!" Xiao Fan said, taking Xiao Yi Xian's little hand.

Xiao Yi Xian immediately pulled her hand back. "Provocation won't work either. And don't touch me so casually."

When did Xiao Yi Xian become so crafty? She clearly used to have no guard up around me...

But Xiao Fan quickly composed himself. "So that means we're friends, right?"

Xiao Yi Xian did not refute him, seeming to tacitly accept that claim.

Xiao Fan seized the opportunity to take her hand again. "Since we're friends, there's nothing wrong with holding hands, right?"

"N-no problem." Xiao Yi Xian made a token struggle. Seeing that she could not break free, she stopped resisting and let Xiao Fan hold her hand.

As long as it isn't for too long, holding hands should be fine... Xiao Yi Xian thought to herself.

"Since we're friends, there's nothing wrong with me hugging Xiao Yi Xian too, right?" Xiao Fan asked again.

Xiao Yi Xian nodded. They had indeed been close in the past, and an occasional hug did not seem like much.

Xiao Fan suddenly wrapped an arm around Xiao Yi Xian's slender waist. Unable to resist, he caressed her smooth waist, his fingers even pinching a small bit of soft flesh there.

"There's clearly flesh here. How is her waist so thin?"

In an instant, Xiao Yi Xian snapped awake from that warm embrace and shoved Xiao Fan away. "What are you doing?!"

Xiao Fan muttered softly, "I just wanted to see if the flesh on your waist could be pinched..."

"Is that somewhere you can just touch?!" Xiao Yi Xian was a little angry. Her adorable little face, still carrying a trace of baby fat, puffed up at once.

"Not yet," Xiao Fan said, fully aware of his place.

At that moment, Xiao Yi Xian suddenly moved closer to Xiao Fan, forcing him to retreat step by step until his back hit the corner of a wall.

They stood extremely close. Xiao Fan could even feel the rise and fall of Xiao Yi Xian's heartbeat from her chest.

"Xiao Fan, if one day I became someone everyone hated, would you still be willing to be my friend?"

Xiao Yi Xian's heart seemed to beat even faster. Though they had clearly only known one another for the first time, it felt as if they were playing out a life-and-death farewell.

"I would."

Xiao Fan answered without hesitation. Not only in his previous life, but in this one as well, he had never avoided Xiao Yi Xian because of her constitution, even though his palm had already begun to turn faintly purple.

"Why?" Xiao Yi Xian did not understand. She had not understood in the past either...

When Xiao Yi Xian was a child, her Woe Poison Body had erupted. She had personally killed her parents, along with everyone in an entire village. Yet she had still insisted on living, determined to become an Alchemist, only to be forced into becoming a poison master loathed by all. Fate had never seemed to favor her.

No matter how optimistic or cheerful someone was, they would collapse beneath blow after blow like these.

Even Xiao Yi Xian was no exception...

What had supported Xiao Yi Xian's will to live had never been ideals, dreams, or the future.

She recalled how Xiao Fan had tirelessly searched for the Nether Poison Fire to fulfill her dream of becoming an Alchemist. Although the Nether Poison Fire only allowed her to refine sixth-grade pills, that alone had been enough to make Xiao Yi Xian ecstatic.

That day, she had happily thrown her arms around Xiao Fan and given him her first kiss, as well as...

But Xiao Fan had rejected her...

After realizing her dream, endless emptiness had followed. Only after Xiao Fan left did she understand that it had never been the joy of becoming an Alchemist...

It had always been Xiao Fan.

She had been happy because Xiao Fan came into her life, delighted by everything Xiao Fan did for her, joyful when adventuring alongside him, happy because she could stay by his side...

It seemed that without Xiao Fan, she no longer had the desire to live...

Xiao Fan would also never know that, during the great war between the Gu Clan and the Ancient Void Dragon Clan, she had chosen to use herself as the catalyst and detonate the Nether Poison Fire she had accumulated for a thousand years. She wanted to die together with Xiao Fan, and the entire Ancient Realm would be buried alongside them, its living beings devastated without a single survivor.

Perhaps Xiao Yi Xian had not truly wanted to die. She had merely still... still yearned for love.

She had foolishly continued waiting for Xiao Fan...

But would Xiao Fan on the other shore be waiting for her...?

Xiao Fan carefully considered Xiao Yi Xian's question...

"Maybe because... I'm missing a screw."

That was Xiao Fan's answer.

Xiao Yi Xian was slightly stunned, then turned away in desolation. "That's right. Xiao Fan really is missing a screw!"

If he had not always been missing a screw, how could he have failed to notice Xiao Yi Xian's feelings? How could he have kept desperately pleading with Gu Xun'er?

"Xiao Yi Xian!"

Xiao Fan took Xiao Yi Xian's hand again and stared into those gray-violet eyes devoid of emotion. "I don't care what Xiao Yi Xian might become in the future. Compared to a future that presumptuously toys with fate, I would rather trust my own heart."

"Your own heart?"

"Yeah. My heart, Xiao Fan's heart. I can feel the kindness in your heart, just like the heart pounding in your chest right now!"

"And you are the pure little angel in my heart, impossible to ignore!"

"Even if an angel's wings are black, she's still an angel, isn't she?"

"So, my little angel, please don't cry anymore."

Xiao Yi Xian wiped away her tears and revealed an irrepressible smile. In a strange tone, she said, "Xiao Fan, you really are strange. We've only known each other for one day, yet you say such strange things."

Yet new color had clearly appeared in those gray-violet eyes.

"This Xiao Fan seems different in this life."