Chen Wei rode his cloud north, flying straight toward the South Heaven Gate.
By rights, he ought to have felt fortunate to have withdrawn from Guanjiangkou in one piece.
And yet.
His heart felt hollow, as though a piece had been dug out without his noticing. His mind kept replaying the scene of Yang Chan seeing him off, beyond his control.
Yang Chan had stood inside the doorway without saying anything more. Her eyes, usually curved like crescent moons when she smiled, had been utterly lifeless. With her head lowered, she looked for all the world as though she had just had a good cry.
"Was I imagining things?" Chen Wei murmured, then let out a long sigh. "Ah! What's wrong with me? My chest feels so tight. Has my Dao heart strayed from what it was when I sharpened my head to squeeze my way into the Heavenly Court?"
What had his original Dao heart been?
To live safely and peacefully as an immortal bureaucrat who would never age. Romantic attachments, forbidden love between immortals and mortals-all of that was trickery from storybooks.
The wise never entered love's river; the king of bachelors climbed straight to the top.
But now?
The sight of Yang Chan's reddened eyes had actually left him struggling to breathe.
"Stop! I can't keep thinking about this!" Chen Wei slapped his thigh, forcibly cutting off those dangerous thoughts. "I must be imagining things. Those siblings finally got a chance to reunite. They must have endless family matters to talk about, so staying a few days in Guanjiangkou is perfectly natural. I'm an outsider. What am I worrying for?"
Why think so much?
He was actually a very busy man.
Without Ma Muzhi and Pang Long, those two capable lieutenants, sharing his burden, how would he