After he finished speaking, he turned and left, his footsteps fading into the distance in the corridor. Snow Empress stood by the window, her fingers holding the purple flower, chewing over and over the words in her heart, feeling that every word Sisi, like freshly made sugar cake.
She settled down in the Demon Domain. For the first few days, Yin Wujou took her on a tour of the three cities, from the spirit beast market in the east to the underground black Crimson Flame Mine in the north to the Soul-Severing Gorge in the south. For the first time, Snow Empress discovered that the Demon Domain was much larger and richer than she had imagined. The ore mined from the Crimson Flame Mine emitted a glowing red light in the dark, and the wind in the Soul-Severing Gorge sounded like someone was crying, but the stone walls deep in the gorge were covered with a kind of glowing moss that felt soft underfoot, like walking on a starry river. As they walked, Yin Wujou told her the stories of each place, telling them vividly, occasionally interjecting with a few sarcastic comments, thoroughly criticizing a few old acquaintances who had caused trouble in the Demon Domain back then. Snow Empress listened and laughed, laughing uncontrollably.
On the evening of the seventh day, the two returned from outside the city. Snow Empress suddenly stopped at the city gate. She looked up at the majestic black city tower above the main city, the last rays of the setting Xuantie casting a warm gold glow on its top. She suddenly said, " Yin Wujou, I want to see your wounds."
Yin Wujou paused, turning back to look at her. "What injury?"
"You said you needed to return to the Demon Domain to recuperate from the injuries you sustained at the Ziwei Sect," said the Snow Empress. "You look much better, but as the Lord of the Demon Domain, you should have access to more spiritual medicines than I do. I'd like to confirm this."
Yin Wujou looked at her, then smiled helplessly after a moment, "You really are..." He shook his head, "Alright, I'll show you when we get back."
Back at the Wujou Hall, Yin Wujou sat on the couch in the side hall, unbuttoning his robe to reveal his left shoulder. The wound had almost healed, leaving only a pale pink scar that stretched from his collarbone down to below his shoulder blade. Snow Empress leaned closer to examine it, extending a finger to gently press along the edge of the scar. Yin Wujou's muscles tensed slightly under her fingertip, then slowly relaxed.
"Does it still hurt?" Snow Empress asked.
"It doesn't hurt anymore," Yin Wujou's voice was lower than usual, "It's just a little itchy."
"The itching is due to the growth of flesh. You're recovering better than I expected." Snow Empress withdrew her hand, the warmth of his panel still lingering on her fingertips. She put that hand behind her back, her expression as usual. " The Demonic Qi of the Demon Domain is indeed more beneficial to you. I'm relieved."
Yin Wujou straightened his clothes, looked up at her, and asked, "What do you trust about me?"
Snow Empress was taken aback by his question, and after a long pause, she said, "Don't worry, you won't die halfway. If you die, no one will water my flowers."
Yin Wujou threw his head back and laughed. When he laughed, his eyebrows and eyes relaxed completely, even the corners of his eyes curved, and there wasn't a trace of the ruthlessness one would expect from a Demon Domain Lord. He laughed for a while before stopping, looking at the Snow Empress and saying, "Don't worry, I won't die. How could I bear to die before I've nurtured the flowers to bloom?"
Snow Empress snorted, turned and walked towards the door, then stopped after a couple of steps, turning her back to him and whispering, "Then I'll wait for you to recover."
After saying that, she quickly left the room, her footsteps fading hurriedly into the distance. Yin Wujou sat on the couch, gazing in the direction she disappeared, the smile on his lips lingering for a long time.
Days passed in this way. Snow Empress's life in the Demon Domain was very regular. In the morning, she would practice a set of sword techniques outside the side hall, and then go to the backyard to water the purple flower. During the day, she would sometimes deal with urgent sect affairs sent by the Ziwei Sect, and sometimes stroll around the city with Yin Wujou. In the evening, the two of them would read books or play chess in the front hall of the Wujou Hall. Yin Wujou's chess skills were not very good, and he lost more than he won, but he was not angry when he lost. Whenever Snow Empress surrounded him and he had no way to move, he would casually push the chess pieces away and say that he was not going to play anymore. Snow Empress would throw chess pieces at him, and he would catch them with a smile and then put the chess pieces back into her hand.
One night, it rained. The rain in the Demon Domain was different from that of the Ziwei Sect; it carried a slight metallic smell, and the sound of it hitting the roof of the Xuantie Hall was muffled, like drumbeats. Snow Empress couldn't sleep, so she put on her outer robe and went to the corridor to watch the rain. Yin Wujou had also come out at some point and stood beside her. The two of them leaned against the corridor pillars side by side, watching the rain pour down from the eaves. The copper bells under the corridor tinkled in the wind, and the sound of the rain mixed with the sound of the bells, creating a sense of peace amidst the noise.
"What do you do on rainy days at the Ziwei Sect?" Yin Wujou asked.
"I sit beside the Eye of Chaos," said the Snow Empress. "There's a small stone platform there. When it rains, rainwater leaks down from a crack above the platform, forming a small puddle on its surface. Sometimes I sit there for a whole afternoon, watching the puddle slowly rise and overflow the edge of the platform. I don't think about anything."
"It's fine," Yin Wujou said. "When I was a child, I would sit on the roof of the palace and daydream on rainy days. The rain in the Demon Domain is much fiercer than this; it stings when it hits your face, but I like that kind of pain. It makes me feel alive."
Snow Empress turned her head to look at him. In the dim light of the rainy night, his profile was coated with a layer of damp mist, and tiny water droplets clung to his eyelashes, falling down with a gentle blink.
"And then?" she asked.
"Later, when I grew up and became a domain lord, no one dared to let me get rained on anymore," Yin Wujou chuckled. "But occasionally I'll still find a secluded spot to get soaked. I'm used to it."
Snow Empress didn't speak. She took off her outer robe from her shoulders and handed it to Yin Wujou. Yin Wujou looked down at the robe, paused for a moment, and then took it—not draping it over himself, but unfolding it and covering Snow Empress's head with it, enveloping her completely.
"You're not fully recovered yet, you shouldn't get rained on," he said. "I'm tough, a little rain won't bother me."
The Snow Empress was shrouded in darkness by her outer robe, only able to make out Yin Wujou's blurry outline through the gaps in the fabric. She smelled the lingering scent of soap on her own body on the robe, as well as another scent belonging to Yin Wujou that was close at hand—dry, with a faint hint of grass and wood, like the scent of the Yezi behind his palace after they had been thoroughly dried in the sun.
She stood motionless beneath the outer robe. Her heart was pounding so fast she could hear it herself, and she suspected Yin Wujou could hear it too. But Yin Wujou said nothing, only reaching out to pull the robe tighter around her. Then the two of them stood there on the veranda, the robe covering them both, the sound of rain pouring in from all directions, the copper bells tinkling softly.
That was the twenty-third day that the Snow Empress spent in the Demon Domain.
On the morning of the twenty-fifth day, Snow Empress went to water the plants in the backyard as usual. Squatting by the wall, she noticed a tiny bud emerging from the top of the purple seedling. The bud was only the size of a fingernail, tightly wrapped, and a very pale purple, barely visible until very close. She squatted there, gazing at the bud for a long time, before getting up and going to the front hall to find Yin Wujou. Yin Wujou was reading a scroll. As she pushed open the door, he said without looking up, "The bud has emerged."