Chapter 12

Dawn spilled through the lattice window and fell across Lou Yue’s bed.

Xiao Rangchen slowly awoke amid a sweltering restlessness. He had unexpectedly grown drowsy while meditating the night before and, for once, slept soundly through the entire night. Even now, his consciousness still felt hazy and sluggish.

What met his eyes was an unfamiliar ceiling. Before he could think it through, a faint, sweet floral warmth curled into his nose, accompanied by a heavy pressure against his body. He lowered his eyes—and a familiar profile crashed into view.

Lou Yue was sprawled over him without the slightest hint of decorum. One arm lay across his chest, the sleeve having slipped to the crook of his elbow and exposing skin so white it was almost dazzling. One leg rested against the root of his thigh, his slender bare ankle and faintly pink toes hanging beside the black fabric of Xiao Rangchen’s clothes like a handful of snow fallen into an inkstone.

Xiao Rangchen’s breathing abruptly stalled. He raised a hand and shoved Lou Yue away with considerable force.

“Mm...” Lou Yue mumbled. His thick, dark lashes fluttered as his eyes opened, and from the corner of his vision, the tall figure’s broad back and taut waist gradually came into focus.

Lou Yue rolled over and sat up. His voice shot up an octave. “Xiao Rangchen?!”

Xiao Rangchen was straightening his loosened belt. At the sound of his name, his hand paused for a moment before he continued as though nothing had happened.

Lou Yue jumped off the bed and circled around to face him. Seeing that it really was Xiao Rangchen, his eyes widened. “You actually dared sneak into my room? Have you no shame?!”

Anyone would be unhappy to wake up and be cursed at first thing in the morning, especially when the person doing the cursing was Lou Yue. Xiao Rangchen lifted his eyes toward him, but the sharpness in his gaze froze the moment it landed on Lou Yue.

Lou Yue’s chest rose and fell. His slightly curled hair spilled over his shoulders, with a few strands hanging over his chest. The collar of his plain white silk robe gaped wide, revealing smooth, lustrous skin. A sleepy softness still lingered between his brows and eyes. At a glance, it was difficult to tell whether he was male or female.

In Lou Yue’s eyes, Xiao Rangchen’s momentary stiffness became confirmation of the truth. He gritted his teeth. “What did you do behind my back? Are you trying to assassinate me?”

Xiao Rangchen came back to himself. “I came to assassinate you dressed like this? Are you sick? I’m not.”

Lou Yue folded his arms over his chest, his tone hostile. “Then explain why you’re in my room.”

Xiao Rangchen pressed his lips together. Explain? He wanted someone to explain this to him.

“What’s the matter? Can’t explain yourself?” Lou Yue sneered.

A wave of irritation rose in Xiao Rangchen’s chest. “I woke up here.”

Lou Yue lifted his chin. “If you heard that excuse from someone else, would you believe it?”

He wouldn’t. But he couldn’t find a reason for what had happened either. Xiao Rangchen suppressed his vexation and said coolly, “Whether you believe me is your business.”

He walked around Lou Yue toward the door, but Lou Yue slipped in front of him and blocked his path.

The two of them were less than half an arm’s length apart. That faint, sweet fragrance curled toward Xiao Rangchen once more. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he countered, “Or perhaps you did something to me, and that’s why I ended up here?”

“So I dragged you into my room?” Lou Yue laughed in exasperation. “Why don’t you just say I put a spell on you, so you can’t bear to stay away from me?”

The moment the words fell, they both froze. Remembering what had happened the day before, they spoke at the same time.

“When exactly did you arrive yesterday?”

“What were you doing setting up that formation yesterday?”

Lou Yue frowned. Xiao Rangchen concealed the flicker of emotion that had crossed his eyes.

Each harboring his own suspicions, neither was willing to answer the other. For a moment, the room held nothing but their shallow breathing, its silence strangely eerie.

Lou Yue recalled Xuanba’s mention of being “entangled.” If Xiao Rangchen had lied and arrived earlier than he claimed, could the grand formation have identified him as Lou Yue himself, causing him to appear by her side? Lou Yue glanced toward Xuanba, who was still in a state of breath-concealment on the table. It seemed only Xuanba could give her an answer.

But on the bright side, even if they had become entangled, perhaps this would be the only time. One had to stay optimistic.

Deciding to look on the bright side, Lou Yue magnanimously stepped aside. “Forget it. I’ll let you off today. But if there’s a next time, don’t expect to get away with it so easily.”

Xiao Rangchen sneered. He had no idea which of them was trying to get away with something easily. Still, he had no desire to say more and strode toward the door.

“Wait.” Lou Yue suddenly called out. There was an unnatural note in his voice. “You... sneak out through the window.”

Xiao Rangchen fell silent.

Lou Yue felt a little awkward under his gaze, but he still stubbornly held his chin high. “Do you want people to see you leaving my room first thing in the morning?” Though they were both men and no one would draw any strange conclusions if they were discovered, Lou Yue still felt that it was better to avoid unnecessary trouble.

Xiao Rangchen had no wish to be seen either, but leaving through the window would truly make him look as if he had done something shameful.

“No one will see me,” he said, then opened the door and walked out.

Lou Yue poked his head through the doorway, but Xiao Rangchen’s figure had already vanished. He curled his lip. Fine. Long Aotian really was Long Aotian. Even with his spiritual meridians crippled, he could still act so arrogantly.

Lou Yue closed the door again, carried Xuanba to the bed, and observed him for a long while, but could not see any sign that he was about to end his breath-concealment state.

He sighed and muttered to himself, “See? You wouldn’t let me ask at the time, and now everything’s become a complete mystery. Still, at least nothing else happened.”

“Besides, your method yesterday really worked. The speed at which I absorb spiritual power is so much faster now. I feel like I can break through to the late Core Formation stage with just a little more cultivation today. Ha ha, maybe by the time you wake up, I’ll already have reached the Nascent Soul stage!”

The icy chill in his hands was piercing. Before long, Lou Yue’s hands had frozen purple, but he continued to hold Xuanba and murmured, “So you have to wake up soon, Xuanba. Otherwise, you won’t get to see how powerful I’ve become...”

The morning mist had only just dispersed, and the courtyard remained quiet.

Xiao Rangchen evaded the guards on night duty. He had originally planned to take the opportunity to find Xiao Aiai and leave with her, but after considering it, that would truly make him look like the “sneak” Lou Yue had called him. In the end, he left alone.

The moment he stepped outside the courtyard, he ran into someone he least wanted to see.

Fortunately, he had not brought Xiao Aiai with him, he thought.

“Well, speak of the devil. This is truly finding what I’ve searched for without the slightest effort.” Cang Wu’s voice was full of contempt.

Before Cangya Xun, who stood beside him, could say anything, Cang Wu had already drawn his sword and thrust it at Xiao Rangchen.

Xiao Rangchen spread his right hand, summoning his spear from thin air, and knocked the sword aside. With a clang, sparks flew through the morning light. The two figures moved as swiftly as ghosts, exchanging more than a dozen blows in the blink of an eye.

“What’s going on?”

The speaker was Lou Weixiao. He had come to find Cangya Xun over the imprisoned Cang Youshan and was escorting him toward the prison when he suddenly saw one of his men attacking the person who had emerged from the nearby courtyard.

Cangya Xun’s fingertip brushed leisurely over the dragon pattern on his sword sheath. His expression was inscrutable. “He is merely a traitor who abandoned my Cangya clan. What? Young Master Lou, do you intend to interfere?”

His voice was icy and carried an unmistakable arrogance.

Lou Weixiao’s hand tightened imperceptibly. Unlike the Lou clan, which had never settled on its next clan head, the Northern Dark Cangya clan had long since designated Cangya Xun as its heir. So long as Cangya Xun did not die, he was guaranteed to become the next head of the Cangya clan. His power and status were far beyond what Lou Weixiao, the current Young Master Lou, possessed.

“Since this is a matter concerning the Cangya clan, I naturally will not interfere.”

Lou Weixiao forced a smile, though it did not reach his eyes. At that moment, Lou Haina suddenly stepped forward and whispered several words into his ear.

Lou Weixiao’s gaze shifted toward the courtyard bearing the sign “Sleeping Clouds.” His brows drew together. “Lou Yue?”

“Yes,” Lou Haina replied. He had already told Lou Weixiao yesterday about how Lou Yue had seen through the guiwang at the city gate, adding plenty of embellishment as he recounted Lou Yue’s disrespect toward the Young Master.

Only then did Lou Weixiao take a closer look at the situation before him.

Xiao Rangchen was already at a disadvantage, a sword from Cang Wu piercing his abdomen.

The silver-glinting blade in Cang Wu's hand pointed straight at Xiao Rangchen's heart. Xiao Rangchen darted to the side, and the tip of the sword brushed past his left chest before sinking deep into his shoulder.

"Puchi—" the blade slid clear through his shoulder.

Xiao Rangchen pushed off the ground with the tip of his foot, letting his body lurch backward. Fresh blood gushed the moment the sword was wrenched free, but he seemed not to feel the pain at all. As he spun, both his right hand and the spear he held wrapped in a rippling water-colored halo, and he thrust the weapon toward Lou Weixiao with a force that split the air.

The second he laid eyes on Cangya Xun, Xiao Rangchen knew there was almost no chance he would walk away from this alive. Cangya Xun had broken through to the Mahayana stage two years prior. If his spiritual meridian had not been damaged, the outcome might have been anyone's guess, but now he could barely maintain a foothold at the Foundation Establishment stage—fighting Cangya Xun was nothing less than hurling an egg against a rock.

Since death was inevitable, the least he could do was wound Cangya Xun. How else could he rest in peace?

This strike from Xiao Rangchen was driven by total resolve to die. The spear trembled as it tore through the air, letting out a low, wailing whistle, and a faint dragon shadow coiled around its tip, its momentum utterly terrifying.

Cangya Xun looked at the familiar spear technique, a flicker of dark malice crossing his eyes.

Back on the summit of Cangya Peak, his father had once said, "If this boy takes up the sword, I fear his comprehension of the sword path will not be inferior to Xun's." Even then, Xiao Rangchen's spiritual power had been an entire great realm below his own, and he was nothing but a commoner of humble birth. What right did he have to stand equal to him? Cangya Xun had never once fought Xiao Rangchen, even after the latter skipped all the usual procedures to go from an outer sect disciple to an inner sect one, then climbed the ranks of cultivation at an almost dizzying speed.

He had always kept a full great realm of cultivation above Xiao Rangchen. But only he himself knew that the gap was growing harder and harder to maintain.

When Cang Wu attacked Xiao Rangchen during the trial, he had turned a blind eye. The damage to Xiao Rangchen's spiritual meridian had been an "unfortunate accident". If anyone was to blame, it was Xiao Rangchen's own stubborn pride, for forcing himself to refine a demon core two full stages above his own level. If he had just bowed his head and submitted, Cang Wu would not have pushed him so far, and his parents would never have lost their lives afterward.

At the end of the day, Xiao Rangchen was nothing but a commoner. Where did he get such unyielding pride? And what gave him the right to compare himself to Cangya Xun?

Disgust welled up in Cangya Xun's eyes. He did not even bother to draw his sword, raising his palm to meet the oncoming spear tip directly. No matter how fierce the spear's momentum was, Xiao Rangchen was only a Foundation Establishment cultivator now, and he had long since left the other man far, far behind.

That was exactly the moment Xiao Rangchen had been waiting for.

His left hand flicked outward sharply, sending three silver needles shooting straight for the vital points on Cangya Xun's face.

"Futile last struggle," Cangya Xun scoffed, brushing the needles aside effortlessly. But he had not expected that Xiao Rangchen's move was only meant to buy a split second of time.

A wash of blood-red light spread from Xiao Rangchen's body to the black spear that had been blocked. The instant the bloody glow wrapped around the spear tip, a dragon's roar that shook the surrounding wilderness exploded through the air. The next second, the spear tore straight through Cangya Xun's palm, its sharp edge grazing the side of his face and leaving a stinging, bleeding gash.

Cangya Xun's expression darkened. He let out a cold huff, and the sword at his waist flew out of its sheath on its own, slashing straight for Xiao Rangchen's neck.

Those few earlier moves had already exhausted every last bit of Xiao Rangchen's strength and every trick he had up his sleeve. To land that one wound on Cangya Xun, he had left himself completely open, with no way to defend himself now.

That was the very best he could do...

Xiao Rangchen closed his eyes, a bleak, sorrowful smile tugging faintly at the corner of his lips as he waited for death to claim him—

"Clang!"

A clear, ringing crash of metal against jade burst right beside his ears.

The next moment, something coiled around his waist and abdomen, yanking him sharply backward out of harm's way.