The two of them returned to their inn, but Qingzhi still hadn’t come back.
In stark contrast to the bustling prosperity of the daytime, Chang’an City now resembled a swaddled infant lost in deep slumber—eerily quiet.
The wind was fierce tonight, hinting at rain in the latter half of the night, and the moon had vanished behind thick, oppressive clouds.
The gusts rustled the leaves in the courtyard. Lu Shiyuan simply rose and walked to the window, intending to close it.
But as she reached out to rest a hand on the sill, she paused.
“Someone’s watching us—about three of them.” She shut the window panels and raised her hand, weaving a small barrier that sealed the entire room off from the outside world. This way, no one could eavesdrop on their conversation.
However, the moment she turned around, she caught sight of Shang Si on the bed. The woman had already shed her outer robes and lounged lazily against the headboard in just her inner shirt. Her raven hair cascaded like a waterfall, strands spilling over her shoulders. Leaning as she was, the thin fabric of her collar had slipped, revealing a tantalizing glimpse of snow-white skin.
For a moment, Lu Shiyuan didn’t know where to direct her gaze, her breath hitching faintly.
Just then, Shang Si spoke up. “Mm, just some small-time lackeys. Ignore them. Qingzhi will probably take care of them when she gets back.”
Lu Shiyuan’s words didn’t seem to surprise her much. She had no interest in dealing with them, her nasal hum carrying a hint of stuffiness, as if she were utterly exhausted and on the verge of drifting off.
These people had been tailing them all the way back to the inn. Shang Si had spotted them earlier on the main street but hadn’t bothered to act—too lazy.
They were likely men sent by Li Xian to keep tabs on them.
Shang Si was in an exceptionally good mood tonight. She didn’t want to make a fuss and alert anyone unnecessarily, so she’d let them be.
She still hadn’t recovered from that sudden kiss earlier. As she pondered it, the flickering candlelight danced in her beautiful eyes, lending them a bewitching, demonic allure—like a blazing fire lotus.
Suddenly, she waved her hand lightly, snuffing out the flames of several oil lamps in the room. Darkness fell at once.
Even so, Lu Shiyuan could still make out Shang Si’s face clearly.
Not just her face—a scorching, clingy gaze settled on her body. Lu Shiyuan moved her feet slowly, stepping toward the bed.
It was just past midnight. By her usual routine, she ought to be dead tired by now, but tonight she felt no sleepiness at all. She couldn’t say whether she was anticipating something more between her and Shang Si.
She sat down on the edge of the bed and turned halfway to gaze at the woman reclining there. Suddenly, her mind flashed back to that moment on the street not long ago.
Her original intent had been just a light brush of the lips, nothing more. Yet Shang Si’s reaction had caught her off guard, and even now, recalling it sent the lingering sensation of warm, moist breath tingling on her lower lip.
What she didn’t know was that Shang Si was thinking the exact same thing.
“Shiyuan, come closer.”
“Kiss me again.”
In the span of a few breaths, Shang Si uttered those two sentences.
The blunt, brazen demand left Lu Shiyuan momentarily stunned. Moments later, her face burned as if aflame. But when she glanced at Shang Si again, she realized it was only her who found such a request embarrassing.
As for Shang Si… the woman seemed utterly oblivious to the concept of shame.
Seeing Lu Shiyuan fall silent, Shang Si blinked and smiled. “Shiyuan, I remember telling you before—our Ye Capital Untransmitted Dual Cultivation Secret Art originated between husbands and wives.” Her beautiful eyes shimmered with a thread of seductive charm as emotion stirred within them.
“I remember.” Lu Shiyuan shifted, lifting her right hand to rest directly on the other’s collar as she whispered softly.
Of course she remembered.
She also recalled the flicker of tension in her heart when Shang Si had first mentioned “dual cultivation.” She’d thought, fine, transmigration was one thing—but a clichéd trope like dual cultivation for healing? How could that happen to her?
Fortunately, Shang Si had later clarified that it wasn’t like that at all.
Even so, Lu Shiyuan hadn’t imagined that after all the twists and turns, their relationship would end up here by some twist of fate.
Pretending not to understand at this point would make her no better than a block of wood.
Lu Shiyuan lightly pressed her red lips together and leaned in naturally toward the other woman.
The deluxe room’s bed in the inn was spacious enough for both of them to lie down comfortably. Lu Shiyuan lightly gripped Shang Si’s inner shirt collar and tilted her face up to meet her.
This wasn’t the street; there was no need for a fleeting dragonfly skim.
The emotions pent up in their hearts unfurled between their lips and teeth, rippling like waves crashing against the now-turbulent lake of their hearts.
Whether it was pure instinct or something else, by the time Lu Shiyuan snapped back to her senses, she realized she had already yanked Shang Si’s shoulder garment halfway down. That elegant curve of her neck and the exquisitely defined collarbones were utterly irresistible to her.
Shang Si’s eyes were glazed over. It was her first time experiencing anything like this.
She felt like a drowning swimmer, engulfed by wave after crashing wave, sinking deeper with every moment, her body bereft of even the slightest strength. Lu Shiyuan was the only lifeline she could cling to right now.
She pulled her close, the two of them locked in a tight embrace.
Time itself seemed to halt in that instant. It should have been a moment of lingering tenderness, impossible to tear away from, yet for some inexplicable reason, a pang of sorrow welled up unbidden in Shang Si’s heart—like reclaiming something long lost, something she had given up on ever finding again.
That strange sorrow swiftly diluted the budding affection in her chest.
Neither of them made another move. They simply held each other in warm silence.
Until—
“You two done in there?” Qingzhi’s voice drifted in from outside the room, laced with an undercurrent of complicated emotion, as if she had sensed something. “If you’re finished, come on out. I’ve got something to say.”
From her tone, it sounded like she had been standing there for quite some time.
She hadn’t bothered with a voice transmission. Instead, she stood slender and alone under the eaves outside the guest room, confident the pair inside would hear her clearly.
Sure enough, the door slid open moments later.
The oil lamp within flickered back to life, as if banishing the awkwardness from that little pocket of space. Both sides pretended nothing was amiss, making no mention of Qingzhi’s prolonged wait outside.
It had been much the same scene the last time, on the eve of their departure from the Fire Phoenix Clan.
This time… Yun Qu, who had been walking silently at Qingzhi’s side, let out a couple of light coughs. She was far less composed than Qingzhi, faint traces of embarrassment still lingering on her face. “A Si, it’s been a while.”
After that brief greeting to Shang Si, Yun Qu shifted her gaze to Lu Shiyuan and gave her a nod.
Among the Ghost Generals of Yedu, Yun Qu was the most aloof by nature—reserved to the point that she seldom even exchanged voice transmissions with the others. Seemingly, Qingzhi was the only one who could draw more than a few words out of her.
So once she opened her mouth, she cut straight to the chase. “I arrived in Chang’an half a month before you all. Over that time, I’ve conducted multiple investigations and reached out to nearby sects with inquiries. Nothing seemed off. Stranger still, the Soul-Inspecting Device hasn’t reacted at all since I got here…”
“When you arrived today, I was off visiting a few local cultivation sects. I ran into Qingzhi on my way back tonight.” That’s how they had ended up coming together.
But upon returning to the inn, they had dealt with a handful of shadowy stalkers and stumbled across this hastily erected barrier.
Qingzhi, having been through something similar once before, grasped the situation immediately. The two of them had simply taken a detour through the streets afterward, checking for any other lookouts.
“The intel we got from Li Xian lines up with that too. He had no reason to lie.” After quickly comparing notes, the group realized they had hit a dead end.
They had all converged on Chang’an one after another because of the Soul-Inspecting Device’s strange reactions. Yet once here, the device had fallen silent, and every scrap of overt information pointed to the same conclusion: Chang’an City was perfectly peaceful, with no sign of demonic mischief.
That left just two possibilities.
First, the Soul-Inspecting Device had malfunctioned, its prior warnings nothing but false alarms.
Second, someone had orchestrated this in secret—artificially tampering with the device’s directional readings, then pulling back the interference before they arrived.
“So… is there anyone in the Three Realms capable of pulling off something like that?” Lu Shiyuan mused aloud after hearing the two theories.
She wasn’t from Yedu, so she lacked insight into its intricacies and couldn’t match the worldly experience of the women before her. But she did know one thing: artifacts like the Soul-Inspecting Device were ancient relics from the Underworld. They shouldn’t fail or misfire.
Which left only one option.
They exchanged knowing glances. Moments later, Qingzhi let out an awkward laugh.
Rubbing her brow with a troubled frown, she sighed. “Yes. Ancient records mention using soul-shifting techniques to lay down an array and fool the senses. But erecting a Soul-Shifting Array demands exceptional skill from the formation master—only those deeply versed in the art with profound cultivation can manage it.” Most crucially, there were scarcely any such experts left in the world these days. Suspicion instantly swung back toward the Fire Phoenix Clan.
It involved Qin Xinying once more, and Qingzhi’s emotions were an utter tangle in that moment. She continued, “If someone truly set up a Soul-Shifting Array within Chang’an City, then only one location meets the requirements for the array’s nexus. We need only go there to check and know for certain.”
Gathering spiritual energy from the four directions, protected by the dragon vein.
This place lay right at the heart of Chang’an—in the Imperial City.
