Ning Ke had been pretty scared at first.
But Lou Yunxiao's antics left him dumbfounded.
And somehow, he wasn't scared anymore.
Instead, he began studying the man before him.
Handsome.
Seriously handsome.
Unlike Ning Ke's own softer features, this man had a strikingly chiseled look.
Like an immortal.
Sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed as he recited a sutra, he even had an air of otherworldly grace.
If I saw that right...
Did this man come out of that crying string of Buddhist Prayer Beads?
So, was he not a ghost, but... something else, something good?
Before he could finish that thought, Lou Yunxiao had already recited the Clear Mind Heart Sutra once, suppressing the lust that had flared up after two hundred years without seeing Ning Ke.
Then he opened his eyes and met Ning Ke's gaze.
He bit his lip and said, "I'm sorry..."
"I didn't mean to scare you..."
"I just saw you crying and got worried. I wanted to comfort you."
Ning Ke looked him over from head to toe, all the way to the third leg hidden beneath his white robes.
He stared straight at it.
Lou Yunxiao flushed and hurriedly covered himself. "This... wasn't intentional either."
Seeing his flustered expression, Ning Ke inexplicably wanted to laugh.
It was as though there had been someone like this in his memories, too-someone whose body and mouth were never in sync, who was clearly full of hidden desires yet insisted on acting proper.
He asked Lou Yunxiao, "You said you're not a ghost. Then what are you?"
"I'm..." Lou Yunxiao wanted to say he was Ning Ke's cultivation partner from the Qianyuan Continent, but the words caught in his throat.
Instead, he said, "I'm that string of Buddhist Prayer Beads. I gained sentience before the Buddha, which