Chapter 11

Lou Yue settled down comfortably and closed her eyes.

Xuanba landed beside Lou Yue, looking at the person who had finally calmed down, and for the first time, a flicker of hesitation crossed its mind.

"If you regret it now, there is still time. Once you take this step, there will be no turning back, and your entire future will be completely changed."

Lou Yue opened her eyes to look at it and said with a soft laugh, "You were just lecturing me, but who is being long-winded now?"

She stretched out her hand, her slender fingers spreading out under the vast blue sky: "Xuanba, I believe fate is in my own hands. My heart is telling me to move forward and never look back."

Xuanba fell silent. After a moment, it spoke in a cold tone, "Stop being so emotional. Close your eyes and stop moving."

Lou Yue curled her lips into a smile, "Yes, Lord Xuan!"

Xuanba took a deep breath and opened its mouth, letting a half inner elixir float out slowly. The elixir was missing half, yet it still glowed brilliantly with dazzling seven-colored light.

Almost at the same instant, streams of seven-colored radiance surged out from Lou Yue's body, echoing the half elixir from afar.

She could not see what Xuanba was doing. She only felt her forehead suddenly grow hot, and all the blood in her body seemed to boil. Contrary to that sensation, her consciousness grew drowsy and blurred.

The moment before she completely lost consciousness, dense sun-shaped golden patterns slowly emerged on the surface of her skin, spreading out from the sun mark right in the center of her forehead to every part of her body, even wrapping around her strands of hair.

Xuanba rose into the air, its front paws pressed together, and shouted in a deep voice, "Open, Illusionary Form!"

In the blink of an eye, the golden patterns on Lou Yue's body lit up sharply, detached from her body like cicada wings, and floated gently in the air above.

After the golden patterns left her, Lou Yue's figure changed quietly. The outline of her facial features did not alter much, but her lip color became all the more bright and rosy. The faint Adam's apple that had been there vanished, smoothing into a graceful line of the neck that extended down to her collarbone.

Her originally flat front of clothing was now propped up into a full, soft curve that rose and fell gently with her breath. The slightly open collar revealed a hint of delicate, fair skin. The whole person had completely transformed from a noble, handsome young man into a strikingly bright and beautiful young girl.

Xuanba was not surprised by this at all. It took out a drop of its own heart blood and injected it into the stripped golden patterns. The next moment, the golden patterns trembled violently, and half a seven-colored inner elixir slowly precipitated out from the sun mark at its core.

The moment this half elixir appeared, the two halves of the elixir were drawn to each other, eager to merge into one. Xuanba stopped the elixirs from fusing. It looked calmly at that half of the elixir which had been separated from its owner for eighteen years, then lowered its eyes.

"Crack!"

Drawn by the other half of the elixir, the newly separated half shattered inch by inch. The vast spiritual power contained within the elixir surged towards the golden patterns like a tidal wave.

For Lou Yue, this step she took left her with no way to turn back, and for Xuanba, it was the same.

The Illusionary Form Secret Art was an ancient forbidden spell. It could mask one's appearance and turn a person into a completely different look, such that even a cultivator with supreme cultivation could not see through the disguise. If the person under the spell did not know of its existence, even they themselves would not notice the change.

But in exchange, the person under the spell would have their perception and absorption of the spiritual energy from the outside world extremely reduced.

To regain that perception, retrieve the inner elixir and undo the Illusionary Form Secret Art, that was all it took. But once the spell was undone, the secret of Lou Yue's real female identity would be exposed, and at that time, she would draw the covetous gaze of everyone around her.

This was an unsolvable dilemma. The only thing Xuanba could do was to do its utmost to delay that day after the spell was undone, even at the cost of losing half of its inner elixir forever, making it almost impossible for its cultivation to advance further.

Xuanba glanced at Lou Yue's peaceful sleeping face, and thought of another face that looked so similar to hers. It sighed silently. Perhaps encountering this mother and daughter in its life was the tribulation fated for it.

Under the infusion of the vast spiritual power, the golden patterns gave off a dazzling, blinding light. As the half inner elixir was completely reduced to ashes, the golden patterns suddenly went into turmoil, as if trying to break free from the restraints and fly away through the air.

The formation array around lit up instantly. Several golden threads darted out like agile spirit serpents, coiling tightly around the fleeing golden patterns. Several more threads stretched out, pulling Lou Yue's body up into the air. Five-colored spiritual light from the water depths, the water surface, the earth, the karmic fire vine, and the Cinnabar Phoenix Tree converged, all rushing towards the golden patterns, forcing them back into Lou Yue's body.

The golden patterns could resist no longer. They slowly returned to their place and sank back into Lou Yue's body.

All that was left now was to wait quietly for the golden patterns to fully merge with Lou Yue. Xuanba lay down, turning a blind eye to the rumbling thunder from the outside world, and guarded Lou Yue silently.

At this very moment, above the capital of Xuandu, silver heavenly lightning curled down like a green dragon stretching its claws, striking fiercely. It hit the barrier that enveloped the entire Xuandu capital and was blocked, scattering into dancing electric sparks all over the sky.

People in both the Xuantian Capital and the Xuandi City all looked up at the sky, guessing that someone in the city must have broken through their cultivation and failed to rush to the designated tribulation ground in time.

At the highest point of Xuantian Capital, under the towering tower corridor that pierced the clouds, stood an old man in a black robe. His white hair fell loosely, yet there was no trace of decrepitude about him.

"Patriarch."

An old servant with white hair and beard walked out from the corner, his voice loud and clear, "Young Master Yue has arrived at Xuandi City with the Third Master's jade token. Do we need to send someone to bring him up?"

"No need." Lou Mo did not turn his head. He tossed a dark square object over, "Lou Zhongyan, put this thing in an inconspicuous corner of the Queyun Residence."

Lou Zhongyan caught it steadily, and a knowing smile flashed in his eyes, "After all, the Patriarch has decided to give it to Young Master Yue."

"Who said I'm giving it to her!" Lou Mo snapped, his voice loud enough to drown out the thunder outside.

Lou Zhongyan had served him for seventy years, so how could he not know his master's habit of saying one thing but meaning another? He also understood the hardships and trade-offs that came with managing such a large aristocratic clan.

"It was my slip of the tongue, Patriarch." He bowed to beg for forgiveness, a smile still on his lips, "I will head to Queyun Residence right now."

The lightning outside the barrier was still striking, making people feel irritated. Lou Mo's white eyebrows shot up, he gave a cold snort, and waved his sleeve. A powerful burst of spiritual power shot straight to the sky. With a loud boom, all the lightning that had gathered above the barrier was swept away.

The world fell back into silence.

None of the changes happening outside affected Xuanba in the slightest, much less Lou Yue, who was in the middle of the merging process.

The sun set and rose again. Xuanba fought to stay awake despite its overdrawn spiritual power and the backlash from its damaged inner elixir, refusing to fall into a state of hibernation. It was not until Lou Yue shifted back to her young man's form, and the merging process only had the final steps left, that it could hold on no longer. In an instant, icy frost wrapped its entire body.

Shortly after Xuanba was sealed in ice, a fluctuation of spiritual power suddenly arose within the barrier.

"Splash --" The sound of water breaking the surface broke the silence.

The moment Xiao Rangchen emerged, the previously dormant golden threads in the formation array woke up abruptly, and with a swish, coiled around his limbs and waist.

Xiao Rangchen's expression sank. He had used the power of the Green Spirit to escape from outside the city to this spirit-gathering ground, but he never expected there would be a formation array here. The seemingly thin golden threads contained spiritual power far beyond what he could resist at his current cultivation level.

Xiao Rangchen quickly scanned his surroundings for a way out, and his peripheral vision caught sight of Lou Yue in the air. Before he could react, the golden threads tightened sharply, pulling him upwards with an overbearing force that left no room for resistance.

In his field of vision, the face that was always unruly and free drew close all of a sudden.

The next second, a soft touch landed on his lips.

Xiao Rangchen froze all over, his dark eyes filled with utter shock, and even his breath came to a halt.

He tried to pull back hard, but the golden threads wrapped around him seemed to have a mind of their own. Not only did they not allow him to retreat, they tightened even more, as if trying to press his entire body into Lou Yue's.

"Lou Yue!" Xiao Rangchen growled in a low voice, trying to wake her up.

As their lips moved, that softness slipped into his mouth.

Xiao Rangchen froze up again. He did not dare make the slightest movement, but even as he stayed perfectly still, that strange, warm sensation made its presence unignorable. He could even taste the faint, lingering sweetness of spring berry fruit left on those lips.

Xiao Rangchen's Adam's apple bobbed. He shut his eyes tightly all at once, and wrenched his head sharply to the side.

Their gliding lips brushed past each other's cheeks, landing on nothing but empty air.

Xiao Rangchen let out an inexplicable quiet breath of relief, his taut back trembling faintly. Before he could even fully steady his frayed nerves, a scorching warm breath washed over his right ear.

Lou Yue's lips parted slightly, hovering right beside his ear, almost touching but not quite.

Xiao Rangchen had never been this close to anyone in his entire life, much less a man...

Time dragged on unbearably, as if a full year had passed in that span, yet at the same time it felt no longer than a fleeting second.

The golden threads binding him suddenly loosened their hold, and the glow of the surrounding formation faded away little by little. Xiao Rangchen broke free the very instant he could, and dropped back down to the ground.

Once he was steady on his feet, he lifted a hand and scrubbed hard across his lips. The back of his hand brushed the corner of his mouth, his movement paused for a beat, then he unconsciously swiped at his burning hot right ear.

He did not so much as glance at Lou Yue, just clenched his fists tight and started walking straight for the exit.

"Xiao Rangchen?"

A slightly dazed voice called out from behind him, and Xiao Rangchen's steps halted.

Lou Yue stared at the familiar figure of his back below him, and his foggy, muddled wits slowly cleared.

"What are you doing here!"

"How did you get in?"

"When did you arrive?!"

Lou Yue fired off three panicked questions in a row. He had never expected a person to pop out of thin air right there, and that person turned out to be Long Aotian, the very last person he could stand.

The last of the golden threads dissolved completely. Lou Yue pushed off the ground with the tip of his toe to land softly, then swept Xuanba wrapped in a layer of icy cold into his arms. His clear crisp voice was sharp with full vigilance and suspicion. "What did you do to Xuanba?"

Xiao Rangchen's eyes narrowed at the corners as he slowly turned around to look at Xuanba in Lou Yue's arms. His tone held not a shred of warmth. "Can't you tell it's fallen into a tortoise sleep from overexerting its spiritual energy? I'm a useless cripple with a damaged spiritual vein. What could I possibly do to it? You're vastly overestimating me."

As someone who had wandered into this world from somewhere else, Lou Yue really did not know as much about the hidden underlying rules of this realm as Xiao Rangchen did. Hearing that Xuanba's state was just tortoise sleep, he relaxed a little. Even though he disliked Xiao Rangchen, he knew full well that Xiao Rangchen was a man who owned up to his actions.

But still... why was he so riled up? With his usual cold, detached temperament, he would normally just toss out a single line of "I didn't do it" and walk away. Now he not only offered an explanation, he even called himself a useless cripple... that was so completely out of character.

While Lou Yue was puzzling over this in his head, Xiao Rangchen's gaze slowly settled on him too.

By some strange coincidence, the peacock-green brocade robe Lou Yue was wearing was the exact same shade as the one he had worn the very first time Xiao Rangchen met him three years ago.

His hair was never tied up in a topknot like all the other men, only loosely pinned behind his ear with an ornate hairpin. It framed his peach blossom eyes that always looked like they were half-smiling, making him stand out so sharply in any crowd that no one who had seen him could ever forget him.

But he was like the blazing sun hanging high in the sky, shining unapologetically straight into everyone's line of sight, yet no one could ever leave a single mark on that sun.

Xiao Rangchen thought that in Lou Yue's eyes, he was probably nothing more than a lowly commoner that Lou Yue wanted nothing to do with. Even if they were not enemies, there was no way they could ever be friends.

"When did you get here? Did anything out of the ordinary happen?"

Xiao Rangchen's voice was deep and succinct. "Just got here. Nothing happened."

"Good then..."

"Now, can I leave?" Before Lou Yue could even answer, Xiao Rangchen turned on his heel and strode away with long, firm steps.

Lou Yue stood rooted to the spot, staring at that tall, straight back, feeling that something was very strange.

His gaze drifted over the thorn stud on Xiao Rangchen's right ear, and the abnormal flush high on the tip of that ear, and that odd, uneasy feeling grew even stronger.

It stayed that way until the break of dawn the next day...