Night fell.
The night in Hundred Flowers Valley was strangely quiet.
Even the spirit flowers and exotic plants that vied for splendor by day had now withdrawn all their radiance.
Inside a hastily erected pavilion.
Jiang Yuechu sat cross-legged.
Her eyes were closed, her breathing long and steady.
It feels like it's been ages since I last knew peace like this...
All along this road of slaughter.
Had she ever thought of stopping to rest?
Then she shook her head in self-mockery.
It was laughable, really.
All she had originally wanted was to survive.
Yet how had she ended up straying further and further from her initial goal?
Just as her thoughts wandered.
A faint patter of footsteps suddenly came from outside.
The footsteps were light, stopping and starting, betraying a measure of hesitation.
Then a voice came from outside. "Guest Elder Jiang, are you there?"
Jiang Yuechu slowly opened her eyes, her brows drawing together slightly.
She rose and pushed open the wooden door.
Cool moonlight spilled across the doorway.
Standing outside was Lin Feiyan, dressed in a blue Daoist robe.
The girl held her hands behind her back, unconsciously nudging a pebble on the ground with her toe.
She had not brought that junior brother who was always so meek and submissive.
"Something you need?"
That icy tone left Lin Feiyan momentarily speechless.
Her body stiffened slightly, and the speech she had rehearsed in her head instantly fell apart.
She looked up, met those deep, dark eyes, and inexplicably felt a little guilty.
"Nothing much, really..."
Lin Feiyan raised her chin, trying hard to sound breezy and unconcerned.
"We're entering the Immortal-God Cave Abode tomorrow, and my master insisted we turn in early and get plenty of rest... but with something like this, where life, death, and fortune