Inside the bamboo cottage, the red candles had burned out, their lingering smoke curling upward.
Outside the window, the rain gradually subsided, leaving only the sound of water dripping from the eaves, drop by drop, onto the bluestone slabs.
The birds had long since scattered. The Azure Luan perched in the old pagoda tree in the courtyard, dozing with its head tilted, occasionally shaking its wings and shedding a few crystalline raindrops.
Inside, the two lay in each other's arms.
Luo Qingge nestled against Lu Changfeng, her long hair spilling like ink across his chest. Her fingertips traced idle circles on his shoulder. Her breathing had steadied, but the flush on her cheeks had yet to fade completely, like a begonia blossom drenched by rain.
Lu Changfeng held her waist with one arm and rested the other behind his head, quietly recounting his journey to Bashu.
When he spoke of the thousand-year-old ginkgo in Soul Bewitching Valley, the human skins drained dry, and the Jianghu experts under its control, Luo Qingge held her breath.
When he reached the part about deliberately inviting Shi Jiao to possess him, using himself as bait to lure the man's divine soul out of his body, she went rigid and abruptly lifted her head.
"You-you did that on purpose?"
Lu Changfeng looked down at her and nodded.
Luo Qingge's expression changed.
She seized his arm, her nails almost digging into his flesh. "What if you'd failed? He was in the Sixth Realm! An old monster who'd lived for a thousand years! You-how could you dare-"
She could not continue. Her eyes had already reddened.
Lu Changfeng said nothing. He merely tightened his arm and drew her closer.
Luo Qingge clung to him, burying her face in the crook of his neck, her entire body trembling