She walked out of the cold, deserted alley.
Jingliu wrapped the black veil over her eyes again and walked ahead, while Bai Heng followed behind her.
Perhaps Bai Heng's sincere answer had satisfied Jingliu, so she stopped making things difficult for him and instead took him... shopping?
Though Bai Heng was already somewhat sleepy and had originally intended to find an inn for the night, when Jingliu told him to follow, he said nothing and obediently went along.
However, halfway there, Bai Heng still raised a question:
"Master Jingliu, given how well-known you are on the Xianzhou 'Luofu' right now, do you really not need to worry about being recognized by the local people?"
When Bai Heng asked that, Jingliu stopped at a stall selling candied hawthorns. As she gazed from afar at the glistening skewers of candied hawthorns on the rack, she replied,
"To the people of the Xianzhou, Jingliu—the former Sword Champion, one of the Five Kasas of the Cloud, bearer of the title Wuxia Feiguang—has long since vanished without a trace. Even if stage plays and storybooks have allowed today's Xianzhou citizens to remember someone like me, they would never believe that the person striding openly through the streets was that former Sword Champion."
"Even if someone thinks I resemble that Sword Champion, at most they would take me for her actress, a clumsy imitator... Besides, the beautified Sword Champion of the Luofu would not wear a black veil over her eyes as I do."
After hearing Jingliu's explanation, Bai Heng understood.
It was like seeing a historical figure from a textbook walking down the street.
Would you think that person had traveled through time, or that the historical figure was actually just a cosplayer?
After explaining this to Bai Heng, Jingliu took two quick steps forward and plucked two candied hawthorn skewers from the rack.
She held one herself and handed the other to Bai Heng.
"Consider it my treat."
"Hm?" Bai Heng accepted the candied hawthorn in surprise and thanked her.
But after he finished thanking her,
the two of them stood before the candied hawthorn rack for quite a while without moving.
Bai Heng did not know why Jingliu was not moving.
The reason he was not moving was because he was waiting for Jingliu to pay.
The candied hawthorn vendor blinked as he sized up the man and woman before him, who looked quite like a couple.
"You two..."
"I'll pay..." Bai Heng covered his forehead and stepped forward to swipe his Credits.
Thankfully, even such a small vendor accepted Credits. Otherwise, with no Credits on him, he could only have dragged Jingliu off and run.
After leaving the candied hawthorn stall, Bai Heng quietly asked,
"Master Jingliu, didn't you say it was your treat?"
"I have no money. I am no longer the Sword Champion of the Luofu; I have no salary, so I do not have a single Credit on me." Jingliu said without changing expression.
"Also, I only said I would treat you to food. I never said I would pay."
Hearing those calm yet astonishing words, Bai Heng could not help but sigh.
"Master Jingliu... you really are as willful as ever."
The two continued down the street, occasionally buying snacks, eating as they walked and walking off the food as they ate.
But honestly, Bai Heng was truly getting sleepy.
Jingliu, however, did not seem tired in the slightest. And whenever Bai Heng called her Master Jingliu,
she would vaguely reveal an emotion of being deeply pleased.
Bai Heng could understand that feeling.
After all... seven hundred years had passed. The Five Kasas of the Cloud would never gather again. Their former comrades had either fallen Mara-Struck or died in the Shuhuo Uprising.
Bai Heng did not know just how much weight he held in her heart.
But if he had been made to kill Jingliu with his own hands twice, perhaps he would have become a madman too—perhaps even more thoroughly mad than she was.
Now, her stories circulated everywhere throughout the Luofu, but in the eyes of the Xianzhou people, she was already a former Sword Champion who had vanished without a trace.
Perhaps the Jingliu of the past had already died.
If so, what did the turmoil of this world have to do with her?
For seven hundred years, she had merely wandered the Star Sea alone, enduring the pain brought by being Mara-Struck.
The records said that those who became Mara-Struck would have their six senses overturned and lose all human bonds.
Even if she had not completely descended into madness, those memories from the past would gradually fade away.
Under such circumstances, she had waited for him for seven hundred years... Perhaps it truly was only for that lingering "Master Jingliu" buried deep in her memories.
By the time Bai Heng thought of this, he and Jingliu were seated at a teahouse. Bai Heng went into the shop to buy some pastries and fruit, intending to pass some time here with Jingliu.
At the very least... during his time on the Xianzhou, he wanted to keep her company more.
"Oh, right, Master Jingliu. Can I take off your black veil and see what you look like now?" Bai Heng asked as he sampled the pastries and fruit.
Jingliu froze slightly at his words, then nodded after a moment of hesitation.
Having obtained her consent,
Bai Heng tentatively reached out, using his long fingers to gently brush aside the strands of hair by Jingliu's ear.
She did not dodge. From such a close distance, she merely watched Bai Heng in silence until he gently pulled away the black veil covering her eyes.
Revealing a peerlessly beautiful face: a delicate jade-like nose, clearly defined lips, skin fair as jade, exquisite as the moon.
Beneath her long lashes, her dark-red almond eyes drank in the moonlight and met his gaze.
Her eyes were exceptionally tranquil, yet Bai Heng could read too much obsession and madness within them.
Just as Bai Heng was about to say something,
Jingliu beat him to the question she had held in all night, the very question she had been looking for a chance to ask:
"Bai Heng, when... will you marry me?"
I got scolded for cutting the chapter there. The pitiful, weak, helpless Bread wants updates and gifts.
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