Nan Shan’s footsteps faltered as she returned to her room at the foot of the southern mountain.
She quietly closed the door, pressing her hand to her heart, which was pounding wildly beneath her clothes.
“…”
A soft laugh echoed through the air, causing Nan Shan’s back to tense up instantly.
Sure enough, the uninvited guest had arrived.
“Didn’t we agree on three days? It’s only been one. What are you doing here?”
She stared intently at the figure reclining on her bed—Xiye.
Leaning casually against the bed, Xiye toyed with the Wan Sheng Ding, a precious artifact that Nan Shan had carefully hidden earlier.
His long, elegant fingers seemed even more enchanting under the translucent glow of the jade artifact.
Without looking at Nan Shan, he calmly observed the Wan Sheng Ding.
“I was afraid you’d forget. Came to remind you,” he said in a flat tone.
“No need. Within three days, I’ll definitely lift the tracking spell,” Nan Shan replied with a solemn face.
Xiye finally raised his gaze, locking eyes with her for a moment before a faint smile spread across his lips.
“You better. Or else…”
Before she could react, the beautiful figure on the bed suddenly transformed into a wisp of blue smoke, vanishing, leaving only the Wan Sheng Ding to fall heavily onto the bed.
Nan Shan frowned deeply, her face expressionless as she walked over to the bed.
The missing piece of the Wan Sheng Ding only added to her frustration.
She sat in silence for what felt like ages, until dawn broke, at which point she collapsed onto the bed, exhausted.
However, after only two hours of sleep, she was awoken by a sense of urgency.
Xiye’s repeated reminders had made her realize that her time was truly running out.
After splashing her face with cold water from the well in the yard, she felt slightly more awake.
No matter what needed to be done, first she had to cultivate enough spiritual energy to use her magical tools.
With a deep breath, Nan Shan decisively headed toward the Buye Pavilion.
Ling Ye had stayed up late last night and, as a result, woke up later than usual, missing the usual mealtime.
But regardless, breakfast could not be skipped.
After all, “The morning determines the day,” as they say. Breakfast was essential.
Thus, Ling Ye took his time eating.
He had barely finished one bowl of porridge when Nan Shan suddenly burst in, looking vibrant and full of energy.
She waved her hand at him cheerfully, “Good morning, young master.”
Nan Shan had recently taken to calling him “young master” just like Zhi Can, but unlike Zhi Can’s tone, her address felt oddly intimate.
“Have you eaten?” she asked brightly.
Ling Ye glanced up, slightly surprised by her sudden arrival.
“Not yet,” he replied.
Nan Shan, completely at ease, sat down beside him.
The servant with the frog-shaped head quickly brought her a bowl, and she accepted it without hesitation.
What was supposed to be a solitary breakfast quickly turned into a shared meal.
Seeing that Nan Shan’s appetite was good, Ling Ye subconsciously ate less than usual.
After finishing her porridge, Nan Shan set down her bowl and eagerly looked at him.
“Can we cultivate together now?”
The servant, startled, glanced back and forth between them, his eyes wide in panic, before fleeing from the room in haste.
Ling Ye blinked at her, his gaze slightly dazed.
“Now?”
“Yes, now!”
Nan Shan answered eagerly.
“I can’t wait any longer.”
Ling Ye hesitated, then suggested, “Maybe we should wait until evening.”
“No, now!”
Nan Shan insisted, grabbing his arm and pulling him up.
“Hurry!”
Resigned, Ling Ye led her toward his room, calling over his shoulder, “Follow me.”
Once inside, he gestured for her to close the door.
“Come here,” he said, his voice flat.
Nan Shan obediently walked toward him, but as soon as she did, she was startled when he began to untie her waist tie.
“What are you doing?” she exclaimed, retreating in shock.
Ling Ye looked at her silently, then, after a long pause, he asked, “You didn’t realize… this is what dual cultivation means?”
Nan Shan stared at him, stunned.
“You knew this all along, didn’t you? You just wanted to scare me, didn’t you?”
Ling Ye simply said, “Of course not.”
She didn’t care about the pain, struggling to prop up Yan Yue and settle him back down.
“Y-You… what happened? Don’t worry, I’ll go find Ling Ye right now…”
She tried to stand, but was stopped when Yan Yue grabbed her wrist.
His face was pale, and he weakly shook his head.
“Why not let Ling Ye come? But… you’re still listening to me…”
Her voice trembled with urgency.
“But… but right now… Ah, I just learned how to use spiritual power yesterday, and Ling Ye even taught me how to heal injuries. I… I will save you now.”
She concentrated with all her might, releasing a faint surge of spiritual energy from her fingertips, pressing it directly to Yan Yue’s forehead.
Yan Yue couldn’t stop her and had no choice but to let her spiritual power flow into his body.
The weak spiritual energy sped through his meridians, barely mending his wounds as it passed over them, like a cup of water for a parched desert.
Nan Shan grew more anxious in her heart, unable to stop herself from wanting to find Ling Ye, when suddenly, the last bit of her spiritual power reached Yan Yue’s heart.
The next instant, it collided with something hard.
…?
Her spiritual energy shattered, and her chest tightened with pain.
Blood suddenly trickled from the corner of her lips.
She stared at Yan Yue, unable to comprehend why there was something resembling snake scales on his heart, and why it felt so familiar.
In the moment she was stunned, Yan Yue had already managed to stabilize his breathing and forced himself to stand.
Nan Shan snapped back to her senses and quickly got to her feet.
Before she could ask, Yan Yue smiled wryly.
“In the end, I’m getting old. I was too reckless in the battle. It’s my fault.”
“Why do you have snake scales on your heart?”
Nan Shan blurted out without thinking.
Yan Yue froze, his expression turning strange.
“How did you know they were snake scales?”
“Ah…” Nan Shan paused, taken aback.
Why was she so certain they were snake scales?
There were countless creatures with scales in the world.
“I… I just guessed…” she muttered.
“But you still haven’t answered my question! Don’t lie to me, okay? I’m very smart, and if I catch you lying, I’ll immediately tell Ling Ye!”
“You little brat, now you’re threatening me,” Yan Yue sighed and shrugged, looking resigned.
“Well, it’s not a big deal. When Ling Ye was possessed by his inner demon, I spent too much of my spiritual power saving him, and my heart was pierced. Luckily, an elder gave me a piece of reverse scales and patched up the hole in my heart. I never told Ling Ye about this, so you have to promise me to keep it a secret.”
Nan Shan frowned, staring at him in silence, troubled.
Fearing she wouldn’t take him seriously, Yan Yue sighed again.
“I think I’ve mentioned before that Ling Ye will ascend to the throne in a hundred years.”
“Yes, you did,” Nan Shan nodded.
Yan Yue asked, “Then do you know that once the new King of the Underworld ascends, anyone with strength can challenge him, and once a battle starts, it’s to the death?”
Nan Shan widened her eyes.
Yan Yue smiled.
“Don’t worry. When Ling Ye ascends, I’ll step down as his protector, and I’ll guard him along with Zhican’s father. Anyone who wants to challenge him will have to get past us first… After the shock today, they’ll at least be quiet for two hundred years. By then, when you’ve fully cultivated, they won’t dare to touch him anymore.”
He wanted Ling Ye to give up the throne, but unfortunately, power succession in the Underworld made no sense.
Once one person in a lineage became the ruler of the Underworld, every succeeding generation had to have an heir until the ruler’s entire family was wiped out in battle.
As long as the protector’s strength was strong enough, the ruler, even if weak, could still keep their position.
Nan Shan didn’t expect this to be the case, and after thinking about Ling Ye’s inner demon and his dangerous determination to keep cultivating, she couldn’t help but ask, “What if Ling Ye can protect himself?”
Yan Yue looked at her, puzzled.
“Besides, even if he could… his cultivation was long destroyed by his inner demon. How could he protect himself? If he could regain his power, I would never allow it. Someone who had an inner demon sprout from something as trivial as an untasted candied hawthorn… Who knows what kind of trouble he’d cause next time? I don’t have the ability to save him a second time.”
Nan Shan found it hard to argue, so she switched the topic.
“Earlier in the hall, Ling Ye was confident you could handle it easily, but you still got injured… Is your cultivation not what it once was? Is it because of saving Ling Ye?”
“…You’re really sharp. You guessed it,” Yan Yue paused, trying to brush it off.
Nan Shan looked at him seriously.
Seeing he couldn’t avoid it, Yan Yue finally asked, “Please, don’t tell Ling Ye, okay?”
It was like a father pretending to be strong for his son, and a son pretending to be weak for his father, but Nan Shan knew everything and couldn’t speak out.
After a long moment, Nan Shan sighed deeply, “Alright, I promise.”
Yan Yue smiled in satisfaction.
“By the way, why did you come to find me?”
Nan Shan remembered her original purpose and replied, “It’s nothing, I just wanted to ask you to help me break a tracking spell.”
Yan Yue nodded, and with a simple gesture, wiped away the spiritual energy he had left on her brow.
“…You’re not going to ask why?”
Nan Shan was surprised.
Yan Yue chuckled.
“What’s there to ask? You two lovebirds went out for a secret meeting, and you didn’t want an old man like me to know. It’s normal. As a former immortal father, I understand.”
He even winked at her, making her laugh in exasperation.
After confirming that he was fine, Nan Shan finally left the hall.
The moment she stepped outside, she saw Zhican’s father leading a group of ghost soldiers patrolling the area.
“Protector Uncle!”
Nan Shan walked over curiously.
“What’s going on?”
“I don’t know where some demon came from, but they snuck into the palace and beat up the tenth King of Hell, Mo San,” the protector said darkly, “He’s supposed to be guarding the Underworld, yet he got beaten up in Canglan Palace without being able to fight back. What a disgrace!”
Nan Shan blinked.
“Miss Nan Shan, have you seen Young Master and Zhican? They’ve disappeared. There’s such a big issue in the palace, and they didn’t even show up. It’s too much. I’m going to report it to the King of the Underworld right now.”
“Wait, wait!”
Nan Shan hurriedly stopped him.
“The King of the Underworld is meditating right now and can’t be disturbed… Why don’t you look for Ling Ye and Zhican?”
“I want to find them too, but I can’t!” the protector sighed, frustrated.
Nan Shan nodded, understanding.
Because of Mo San’s beating, Canglan Palace was on high alert, even opening the long-unused defensive array.
Though the protector didn’t like Mo San, he still cared deeply about the reputation of Canglan Palace.
Nan Shan, however, had no time to worry about that.
After breaking the tracking spell, she returned to her quarters, waiting quietly for Xiyuan to arrive.
She waited the entire night, nearly falling asleep several times, but Xiyuan never appeared.
She wondered if something had happened to him.
Suddenly, a knock sounded on her door, and Nan Shan stiffened.
“Who’s there?”
“It’s me.”
Nan Shan froze and quickly rushed to open the door.
Ling Ye stood outside in a white robe, his waist adorned with a narrow golden belt, his demeanor cold yet dignified.
Nan Shan glanced behind him, confirming no one else was with him, then asked, “Did you beat up Mo San?”
“Yes.”
“Why did you bring Zhican with you? Is he good at fighting too?”
“He was just keeping watch for me.”
Nan Shan fell silent for a moment and then said, “Next time, let me join in on the fun.”
Ling Ye smiled faintly, the corner of his lips lifting.
“Zhican took a few sweet potatoes from the kitchen, trying to roast them like mortals do, but he couldn’t control the heat. Want to help him?”
“Sure!”
Nan Shan’s eyes lit up.
“I’m really good at roasting sweet potatoes! Where is he?”
“At the Midnight Pavilion. I’ll get someone to prepare some meat skewers, too. Let’s roast those as well.”
“Great! I love meat skewers!”
Nan Shan was delighted and immediately followed him to the Midnight Pavilion.
The sky was cloudy and heavy with dark clouds, giving the afternoon an early nightfall feel.
As she walked behind Ling Ye, observing the ghost soldiers bowing to him, her pace slowed.
Ling Ye immediately noticed her lagging behind and slowed down as well.
“What’s wrong?”
“Seems like there are more patrols today than yesterday,” Nan Shan remarked as another group of soldiers passed by.
“Is it because of you beating up Mo San?”
Ling Ye answered with a calm nod.
“It’s not just that, there’s something else.”
“What is it?”
Nan Shan asked.
“Someone tried to infiltrate Canglan Palace last night. The protective array stopped them, but the intruder escaped, damaging the formation.”
Ling Ye frowned as he explained the situation.
“The protective array was set up by the leader of the Qingqiu clan long ago. It’s strange that someone managed to escape from such a complex formation.”
Nan Shan thought for a moment, then said, “If I’m not mistaken, that person must be Xiyuan.”
She couldn’t help but feel the situation was full of coincidences.
If Ling Ye hadn’t beaten up Mo San, the protector wouldn’t have activated the defensive array.
If the protector hadn’t done that, Xiyuan wouldn’t have tried to break into the palace, and she wouldn’t have been waiting all night…
But at least waiting was safer than taking a risk.
She once again found herself secretly praying for Xiyuan’s safety.
The two continued speaking as they arrived at the Midnight Pavilion.
As soon as they entered the courtyard, they saw Zhican sulking as he stacked stones.
“You’re doing it wrong. You should mix in some mud first,” Nan Shan pointed out.
“You can’t even stack stones properly, and you want to learn how to roast sweet potatoes like mortals?”
“Who said I want to learn…” Zhican started, but then, seeing Ling Ye’s warning look, quickly changed his tune.
“I want to learn! I really want to learn! Nan Shan, please teach me!”
Nan Shan put on a dignified air.
“Step aside.”
Zhican quickly cleared the space, inviting Ling Ye to join them in the waterside pavilion, but Ling Ye didn’t respond, simply squatting down to hand Nan Shan some stones.
Zhican could only watch, completely baffled.
Nan Shan spent the rest of the day in the Midnight Pavilion, and by nightfall, she returned to her room, feeling both happy and uneasy.
At least Xiyuan didn’t appear tonight…
Maybe something really did happen.
She looked out at the gradually lightening sky and found herself quietly relieved.
As the wedding day approached, Xiyuan still hadn’t shown up.
After Yan Yue secluded himself for three days, he appeared in the palace as usual, and even Ling Ye couldn’t sense that he had been injured.
It seemed like everything was going according to plan.
When the red silk was hung up in Canglan Palace and the bright red bridal gown was delivered to her small courtyard, Nan Shan finally realized: she was really about to get married.
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