Chi Xiao hesitated, then looked at Ding Ke hopefully, as though hoping Ding Ke would agree at this moment.
Ding Ke, however, wore an innocent expression and completely ignored Chi Xiao's hopeful gaze.
"Chi Xiao, you're not that young anymore. It's time to grow up. A mature woman shouldn't entertain such unrealistic fantasies. Wouldn't it be better to spend that time eating and drinking something nice?"
Seeing Ding Ke lecture her instead, Chi Xiao immediately flared up.
But after meeting Ding Ke's eyes for just a few seconds, she deflated and merely sighed.
"A lot of the time, I don't know whether you're right either."
"In any case, I'm a little happier now than I used to be. If I can't catch up, I might as well stop trying."
There was a note of resignation in Ding Ke's words, and Chi Xiao understood what she meant by being unable to catch up.
Back then, it was precisely because Ding Ke had tried to catch up to her that she had ultimately fallen into whispers.
Bai Ya broke the silence. Resting her chin in her hand, she remained quite interested in Chi Xiao's and Ding Ke's current circumstances.
"It seems you've both had some fascinating experiences. Unlike me, who can only stay here day after day, becoming a toy in all your eyes, a puppet..."
Bai Ya's expression was perfectly calm, but both Chi Xiao and Ding Ke saw a trace of unwillingness in her eyes.
They had all once been youths filled with dreams, but fate had ultimately changed everyone.
By their own understanding, they had each come to lead reasonably good lives, but was this what they had wanted in the beginning?
"Bai Ya, I never imagined you would actually become the Temple Master of the Red Moon Holy