Xiao Long followed the maid through two moon gates, rounded a path lined with dwarf bamboo, and arrived outside his courtyard.
The courtyard gate stood half open. A girl in purple sat beside the stone table inside, her head lowered as she sipped from a teacup.
Hearing footsteps, the girl looked up, revealing a delicate face. She was no breathtaking beauty, certainly no match for Xiao Xun'er, but she was pleasant to look at.
More importantly, Xiao Yi Xian's waist was extraordinarily slender, seemingly too delicate to fill even a single hand.
Xiao Yi Xian.
She was the third woman he had mentioned, the one with whom he had an entanglement.
He had long since met this hidden female lead from the original story.
Their first meeting had been when he was thirteen. He had just figured out how to use the Rainbow Stone and wanted somewhere deserted to try it out, so he had headed to the outskirts of the Magical Beast Mountain Range.
Relying on his Shendu template, he had ventured deep into the woods alone, hoping to find a few lone magical beasts to practice on.
Instead, he had come across a girl gathering herbs in the forest, fleeing from a rank-one magical beast. Thorns had torn several gashes in the hem of her skirt, and she was panting as she ran.
With that white hair, that face, and that location, Xiao Long had recognized her at a glance.
[The Lady of the Flame Domain, Xiao Yi Xian!]
Like Hun Tiandi, she was someone who used a title as her name.
He had casually used the Snake Talisman to turn invisible, circled behind the magical beast, and brought his fist crashing down. Its head tilted, and it collapsed without even getting the chance to cry out.
The girl had stood stunned for a long while. Once she learned he had saved her, she asked his name so she could repay him someday.
He told her, "I'm Xiao Long, from the Xiao Clan in Wutan City. Be careful when you're gathering herbs on your own."
Afterward, they had run into each other several more times in the mountains. Sometimes she encountered trouble while gathering herbs; sometimes she gathered more than she could carry back alone.
Strangers at the first meeting, familiar by the second-little by little, they had gotten to know each other.
The most memorable occasion had been when Xiao Yi Xian was crouching beside a stream washing herbs. Suddenly, she slumped sideways, her face white as paper, her lips turning purple, and her entire body shaking like chaff in a sieve.
Xiao Long had just jumped down from a tree. One glance told him something was wrong, and he hurried over to help her up.
Feeling the poisonous energy erupting from within Xiao Yi Xian, he knew something had probably gone wrong with her Woeful Poison Body.
Without a second thought, he pressed the Horse Talisman against her. Its power poured through his palm, draining away some of the poisonous energy inside her.
The noble horse could expel all foreign forces from the body!!
After Xiao Yi Xian woke up, she stared blankly at him and asked what method he had used.
He told her it was a method passed down through his family.
After all, Chinese animation really did count as part of his ancestral heritage!!
She did not press him further. Everyone had their secrets, after all.
She had hers, too.
He had mentioned to Xiao Yi Xian in passing, "I live at the Xiao Clan in Wutan City. If you ever have time to come this way, you can look me up."
He had said it, but she had never visited in all these years.
Finding her sitting in his courtyard out of the blue today came as something of a surprise.
Xiao Long walked over, his gaze lingering on her face for a moment.
Her complexion really did look poor, much paler than usual. Faint bluish shadows lay beneath her eyes, as though she had not slept well for days.
"You can't suppress that thing inside you again?"
Xiao Yi Xian looked up at him and gave a bitter smile. "Nothing gets past you."
"That shouldn't be happening. Didn't you say the backlash had been much less frequent lately?"
"Um, I found a medicinal herb earlier, but I wasn't quite sure about its properties, so I tried just a little. I didn't expect it to be so poisonous..."
Xiao Yi Xian also thought her behavior had been rather ridiculous. But having Xiao Long around had indeed made her much more careless.
"You! It'll be hilarious if you end up dying out there!"
"Don't I still have you?"
Xiao Xun'er followed him into the courtyard. She had been about to offer a greeting, but hearing Xiao Yi Xian's words brought her to a halt.
She looked at Xiao Long, then at the white-robed girl, the corners of her lips pressing downward.
Xiao Xun'er stood to one side without sitting, her hand resting on the edge of the table. Her fingers tapped unconsciously against its surface as she studied the white-robed girl.
The girl really was quite pretty, especially with that clean, refreshing air about her. It was rather different from Xiao Xun'er's own demeanor, cultivated from childhood within the walls of a grand household. She looked like someone who often roamed the mountains and wilderness.
Xiao Xun'er wondered inwardly why, no sooner had one pink-haired girl left, a white-haired one had arrived.
Where had this one come from?
Had he met her in the Magical Beast Mountain Range?
Brother Xiao Long had never even mentioned this to me.
Xiao Xun'er stood beside the courtyard gate, her hands folded in front of her. Her face betrayed little expression, but her eyes never strayed from Xiao Yi Xian's white hair.
She said nothing, but a drum had already begun beating in her heart.
Where had this one come from now?
That pink-haired girl who wanted to change her betrothal partner had only just left a couple of days ago, and now this white-haired girl was here. One after another, they all crowded around Brother Xiao Long.
She could not help lowering her head to glance at the hair hanging over her shoulder. It was certainly black, but next to that gleaming white hair, did it look too plain?
Could Brother Xiao Long like those strange hair colors?
Once that thought sprang up, she could not suppress it. She wondered whether she should find some dye to try later. Blue-green seemed nice.
She liked blue-green anyway. Should she dye her hair that color?
Xiao Long walked up to Xiao Xun'er and lowered his voice. "Xun'er, she and I have something to take care of. Could you keep watch outside and make sure no one comes in?"
Xiao Xun'er froze for a moment. She opened her mouth, wanting to ask what they needed to do and why she could not go inside, but looking at Xiao Long's face, she swallowed the words on the tip of her tongue.
She nodded. "All right."
Once Xiao Long and Xiao Yi Xian went into the room, Xiao Xun'er sat down in the courtyard.
With her hands folded in her lap and her chin slightly raised, she looked as though she were diligently guarding the door.
Before long, a figure suddenly appeared in the shadows beside the courtyard wall.
"Young miss, would you like this old servant to go in and take a look?"
Xiao Xun'er did not turn around. Her voice betrayed no emotion. "No."
The figure paused, seemingly wanting to say more.
"Since Brother Xiao Long asked me to keep watch outside, he doesn't want anyone disturbing him. If I let someone in, what would he think of me?"
"Very well."
Ling Ying melted back into the shadows, while Xiao Xun'er propped her little head on her hand and began wondering just what Xiao Long and that white-haired girl were doing inside.
That white-haired girl looked about Brother Xiao Long's age. They seemed rather well matched.
No, no! I'm the one who suits Brother Xiao Long best.
Could Brother Xiao Long prefer that type?
Just then, the tightly shut door opened. The fantasies filling Xiao Xun'er's head instantly scattered, and she hurried to her feet, looking at Xiao Long and Xiao Yi Xian. "That fast?!"
Before you continue