The Deepest Confession, the Most Rational Selfishness

Night fell, and a bright moon hung high over Wutan City's sky.

Inside the guest room.

An Yi sat cross-legged on the bed, immersed in cultivation.

During this time, Ya Fei had used the auction house's channels to help him sell off a large batch of miscellaneous Magic Cores he had accumulated in the Magic Beast Mountain Range, cores that were useless to him, for a high price. She had also exchanged them for several precious third-tier Metal-Element Magic Cores.

Now that Little Fairy's Disaster Poison Body had temporarily stabilized, it was time for him to continue swallowing these high-tier Magic Cores and rapidly raise his Great Dou Master cultivation.

Meanwhile, in the room next door, Little Fairy was also burning the midnight oil, hungrily studying the copy of the Seven-Colored Poison Scripture An Yi had given her.

Everything seemed so peaceful and tranquil.

"Knock, knock, knock..."

Suddenly, a faint tapping came from the window lattice.

An Yi's eyes snapped open as he stopped circulating the Heaven-Devouring Art within his body. Somewhat puzzled, he rolled off the bed and quietly walked over to the window.

Through the gap in the window, he saw a masked figure in tight black nightwear, with a graceful figure, standing silently beneath the eaves outside.

An Yi frowned slightly and pushed the window open. "Xun'er? What are you..."

She pulled down the black cloth covering her face, revealing Xiao Xun'er's breathtakingly beautiful yet somewhat cool expression.

She looked deeply at An Yi before softly asking, "Brother An Yi, can you... come out with me for a moment?"

An Yi paused, but ultimately nodded. Bracing one hand against the windowsill, he deftly flipped outside.

"Follow me."

Xiao Xun'er did not waste words. With a light tap of her toes, she moved like a purple night butterfly, lightly leaping and speeding across Wutan City's rooftops as she led the way.

An Yi had no idea what was going on, but he could only use his movement technique and follow closely behind her.

Before long, relying on their speed far beyond that of ordinary people, the two silently passed beyond Wutan City's walls.

After traveling through the mountain forest for roughly half an hour, accompanied by the familiar thunderous roar of water, they arrived before the massive waterfall outside the city.

The very place where An Yi had performed Little Fairy's blood essence transformation last night.

An Yi stopped, glanced around at the dark surroundings, and grew even more puzzled. "It's the middle of the night. Why aren't you sleeping? What are you doing out in this wilderness?"

Xiao Xun'er turned around. Moonlight fell across her delicate face, making it seem somewhat pale. She stared steadily at An Yi and softly asked in return, "Brother An Yi, do you remember this place? Do you remember when you brought me here to play as children, and the Xiao Household confined us for a full three months because of it?"

Hearing that, An Yi's eye twitched violently twice.

"Of course I remember. It left a deep, unforgettable impression," An Yi said with a dry laugh.

How could he possibly forget that?

They had only been seven or eight back then, and he had taken Xun'er everywhere to fool around.

Once, he had directly sneaked out of Wutan City with Xun'er and come to this remote waterfall outside the city to catch fish and shrimp.

Outside the city was dangerous territory where magic beasts roamed!

Even the most playful children of the Xiao Household would only wander around the Xiao Household's own grounds or the markets within the city.

Yet that time, the two of them had played here until evening before returning.

At the time, the entire upper echelon of the Xiao Household had nearly gone mad looking for them! Even Clan Leader Xiao Zhan had personally led a search party into the mountains!

Once they returned, it was easy to imagine the storm that awaited An Yi.

The enraged Xiao Zhan and several elders had jointly punished him, locking him in his own shabby little courtyard and confining him for a full three months!

It was after that confinement that An Yi had reflected deeply and come to understand the enormous risks of living off a woman. He decisively abandoned any thoughts of continuing to flirt with this young mistress and began lying low, cultivating alone with single-minded focus.

Seeing An Yi's somewhat awkward expression, Xiao Xun'er's voice gained a trace of grievance and resentment.

"Ever since that confinement... you never took the initiative to come play with me again."

"Even... over the following years, you kept deliberately avoiding me and maintaining that cold, distant gap between us."

An Yi awkwardly rubbed his nose. "Ahem... If I kept courting death by coming to fool around with you, I'm afraid next time it wouldn't be three months of confinement. I'd probably get stuffed into a sack and dumped in the moat."

"What about now?"

Xiao Xun'er stepped forward, her beautiful eyes fixed tightly on him. "We've both grown up now. In the future... will you still take me along to play, like when we were children?"

An Yi was somewhat dumbfounded by the sudden question. "You're not a child anymore. What are we supposed to play? House?"

Xiao Xun'er bit her luscious red lips and ignored his attempt to change the subject.

She took a deep breath. "Brother An Yi, do you... like me?"

An Yi froze. "I do. You're so beautiful and you have a great personality. Of course I like you. What's wrong?"

Xiao Xun'er shook her head and seriously corrected him.

"Not the kind of liking an older brother has for a pretty little sister. I'm asking whether you... have that kind of liking between a man and a woman?"

An Yi fell silent.

Looking at the girl's clear yet aggressive eyes beneath the moonlight, he did not know how to answer for a moment.

"You called me out in the middle of the night just to ask this?"

"Answer me." Xiao Xun'er suddenly moved closer. Their breaths nearly entwined as she stubbornly stared into his eyes. "Do you like me?"

Facing that peerlessly beautiful face so close at hand, An Yi remained silent for a long time.

The night wind swept past the waterfall, carrying its thunderous roar.

After a while, An Yi sighed and took half a step back, creating a relatively safe distance between them. "I don't know how to answer that question."

"Why?" Xiao Xun'er pressed him step by step.

"Because your question is truly troublesome."

An Yi sat cross-legged on the grass beside the pool. "Xun'er, you've known me for so many years. You should know very well what kind of person I am."

"Ever since I was young, I've liked flirting around. Whether it's a mature, alluring beauty like Sister Ya Fei, or sweet, lovely girls like you and Little Fairy, as long as I find them attractive, I can't help wanting to tease and pursue them."

"I'm a very greedy person. Whenever I see someone or something I like, I instinctively want to obtain it. Of course, I don't have the twisted obsession of destroying what I can't have. Getting it would be best, but if I can't, I absolutely won't force it. I can simply wave goodbye and look for my next target."

An Yi leaned back on his hands against the grass and gazed up at the night sky obscured by dark clouds. His voice became low and hoarse.

"Because I'm someone who lacks security to an extreme degree. I simply don't dare to put all my thoughts and feelings into one person, holding nothing back and staking everything on them."

"Even my biological parents abandoned me for that so-called 'loyalty and righteousness.' They both died in battle to save that old clan leader, leaving me—a child who could barely walk—alone in the Xiao Household, dependent on others for over a decade."

"From childhood to adulthood, I had to watch everyone's expressions in everything I did. When those young masters and misses bullied, beat, or cursed me, I still had to greet them with a smile and could never fight back. Because I knew that if I caused trouble, no one would stand on my side and protect me."

"In their eyes, that so-called clan loyalty was clearly more important than their own biological son."

An Yi gave a bitter laugh. "Of course, I don't blame them. Everyone has the right to make their own choices. It's not as though parents must always put their children first. They could choose other things."

"But from a very young age, I kept thinking about one question—"

An Yi turned to look at Xiao Xun'er. "If even the blood relatives who gave me life could be like that, then what about everyone else?"

"So I don't dare rely on anyone, nor do I dare hold too many expectations for anyone. In my eyes, no one's devotion or companionship in this world is something that can be taken for granted."

"If I only loved one person and poured all my feelings into her, what if one day she suddenly stopped loving me, or left me because of some irresistible circumstance?"

An Yi smiled self-mockingly. "I may look shameless and heartless, but deep down, I'm actually rather sensitive and fragile. If that happened, I would definitely be terribly, terribly sad. I might even feel as if the sky had fallen and life was worse than death."

"But what if... I liked several people at the same time?"

"Even if one of them got off halfway and left, at least the others would still remain with me. I wouldn't end up with nothing at all."

"In this world, I have to make several preparations for everything, even love, and leave myself an absolute way out."