From that day on, Ning Ke discovered that Lou Yunxiao no longer slept beside him.
The boy he had once been able to tease before bed now rarely even entered the wooden cabin.
During the day, he sparred with Ning Ke like a madman. At night, he plunged into the Demon Soul River and chased the demon souls around, "biting" them.
The demon souls now reacted to Lou Yunxiao as though they had seen a ghost. Wherever he jumped in, the water instantly cleared, their resolute protest against a lovelorn fool taking his frustrations out on them.
Ning Ke enjoyed the peace and quiet, but also felt as though something was missing.
In the end, he started missing the way Lou Yunxiao's face would turn red enough to steam at the slightest touch.
His fingers itched.
Xiao Yuan said he was being both shameless and mischievous, and that simply wouldn't do.
Cultivators tended to have a somewhat vague sense of the passage of time.
After coming to this world, Ning Ke had followed suit. Only when Xiao Yuan reminded him that the exit to the Demon Abyss was about to open and he should send Lou Yunxiao out did he realize that an entire year had passed.
And he...
Still hadn't obtained the mission item!
So what on earth was the mission item supposed to be?!
A year had made even Xiao Yuan philosophical. With a sigh, Xiao Yuan said:
[Please remain calm, host. What is destined to be yours will come; what is not, you must not force. The mission item won't escape when its time to appear arrives.]
Ning Ke clicked his tongue, sat up in his recliner, downed the freshly squeezed spirit fruit juice Lou Yunxiao had made him, and burped.
Pushing his sunglasses onto his head, he narrowed his eyes at Lou Yunxiao in the distance, who had clearly grown quite a bit taller.
The youth stood calmly atop the Demon Soul River.
The pitch-black water beneath him immediately became clear enough to see the bottom.
Holding his longsword, he stood with his eyes closed, seemingly sensing the movement of the air around him.
After a long while, he abruptly stepped forward. The water beneath his boot rapidly froze, and his other foot followed with his sword stroke, explosions erupting wherever he passed.
Every movement looked dashing and impossibly handsome, provided one ignored the Human-Faced Fish and demon souls that occasionally blasted out of the water, howling.
Ning Ke raised an eyebrow, suddenly feeling the satisfaction of watching his own child grow up.
His year of meticulous nurturing-or rather, clowning around-hadn't been wasted after all.
Once Lou Yunxiao finished practicing the sword routine, Ning Ke waved him over. "Kiddo, come over to your big sister~"
Xiao Yuan shuddered at the sound:
[Host, you're really becoming more and more comfortable being a woman.]
Ning Ke: ...Damn it, you're the one who made me play the beautiful big sister. What right do you have to judge me?!
Bickering aside, Ning Ke was still quite fond of this adolescent version of Lou Yunxiao.
The youth stood tall and graceful before him, dressed in white with a longsword on his back. Faint traces of demonic markings had appeared on his increasingly angular face, but they did nothing to diminish his handsome looks, instead lending him an air of mystery.
The more Ning Ke looked, the more pleasing he found him.
"Big sister, did you need something?"
Lou Yunxiao restrained himself, keeping half a step away from Ning Ke as he put away his sword and asked gently.
He might have wanted to keep his distance, but Ning Ke wasn't having it.
A soft, pale hand reached out and caught Lou Yunxiao's. With another tug, the youth, who dared not resist him, was forced to bend down, almost pressing against the "fairy sister" seated in the recliner.
They were so close that Lou Yunxiao forgot to breathe for a moment, only managing a hoarse murmur.
"Big sister..."
"You're too tall standing up. I can't reach you." Having achieved his goal of teasing the protagonist, Ning Ke's lips curved wickedly. He squeezed Lou Yunxiao's stiff hand and said, "Don't be so nervous. Crouch down. I have something for you."
Only then did Lou Yunxiao come back to his senses and hastily agree.
Once he crouched down, Ning Ke could see his reddened earlobes from where he sat.
Clearly, he was embarrassed again.
Xiao Yuan protested like a fretful mother:
[What a sin. You don't even like him, yet you keep flirting with him. You're awful.]
Ning Ke: Isn't he about to leave? Let me tease him one last time. It won't hurt him.
With that, Ning Ke took the brocade box he had prepared out of his storage ring and opened it. Inside lay a moon-white silk ribbon patterned with subtle silver markings: a Magic Array he had designed himself to help gently nourish Lou Yunxiao's blind eyes.
The ribbon had also been woven from ice thread that only the Snow Snake Tribe, a rare tribe within the Demon Clan, could produce. Cool to the touch, it was impervious to water, fire, and blades.
It was a rare and precious magical artifact.
"This ribbon is for you." Ning Ke leaned closer to Lou Yunxiao and tied it over his eyes himself. "Consider it a parting gift, too."
"The exit to the Demon Abyss will open today. You have a blood debt to avenge. The sooner you leave this place and return to the Human Clan, the better it will be for your growth."
At those words, Lou Yunxiao's hand froze as he stroked the ribbon fondly, and the heat that Ning Ke's closeness had brought to his face faded.
He had known this day would come, but had never expected it to arrive so soon.
The youth clenched his jaw several times before asking, "Then what about you, big sister?"
"Will you leave with me?"
Though he knew his big sister's heart belonged to someone else, he still clung to one last shred of hope.
He tried to persuade him. "Big sister, have you ever considered that the person you care about might not be in the demon realm, but in the human realm? Or the Demon Clan's realm? Why keep waiting here in misery forever?"
He wanted to at least take Ning Ke out of here. He didn't want his big sister to remain confined to this tiny place forever.
Ning Ke lowered his eyes and thought, Well, here we go. Time to show off my acting again.
Then he sighed softly. "Waiting for him doesn't make me miserable. Besides, once you've been alone long enough, you no longer want to see the world outside."
He gently brushed Lou Yunxiao's fringe and said, "It was fate that brought us together, too. So from now on, go and see everything this mortal world has to offer on your big sister's behalf."
Grief filled Lou Yunxiao's heart. Ning Ke deserved better. He even thought that if he were that person, he would never make his big sister so heartbroken or leave him waiting in such misery!
But he wasn't that person, nor could he change his big sister's mind.
After a long silence, all he could do was boldly clasp Ning Ke's hand for the first time, then pull off the half jade pendant he had always worn around his neck and press it into Ning Ke's palm.
"Big sister, this is the Lou Family Heirloom Token, passed down through generations. It's the most valuable thing I have."
"Now, I'm giving it to you."
"One day, once I've taken my revenge, I'll do everything I can to return to the Demon Abyss and find you!"
"If you wait for him your entire life, then I'll stay with you for your entire life!"
"I'll never let you spend your days alone in this tiny place."
The youth tilted his head up toward him. Even with his eyes covered by the ribbon, the blazing intensity of his feelings was unmistakable.
Ning Ke's heart trembled, and his playful expression faded without him realizing it.
Just as he was about to reply, he suddenly heard the system's delighted notification.
[Congratulations, host. You have obtained the crucial mission item-the Lou Family Heirloom Token.] [The first mission is fully complete. Returning to the correct time now. Countdown: 10, 9, 8...]
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