Chapter 9: Night Talk

Shen Guang’s injuries were severe, and he had long since fallen into a coma.

Every moment the treatment of his wounds was delayed increased the danger. Clearly, rushing back to the city for healing was the best option right now.

Though Shang Si had little fondness for the man, she refrained from making things difficult for him out of consideration for Lu Shiyuan.

She could tell he was quite important to Lu Shiyuan.

The Sword Spirit Sect group had no idea what streak of bad luck had befallen them on this journey. They had departed as a cheerful party of seven, yet in a mere few months, Shen Guang was the only one left alive.

Nan Jin had visited the Official Residence once after returning to the city at sunset, but he had only seen Lu Shiyuan standing guard at the door. Shang Si had been busy treating the wounded man at the time.

It was not until nightfall, when a silver moon hung high in the branches and a thin layer of frost seemed to cloak all of Yedu City, that the tightly shut door finally creaked open. The woman who emerged caught sight first of Lu Shiyuan, leaning anxiously against the long corridor as she waited.

Their eyes met briefly. Shang Si pressed a hand heavily to her brow and broke the silence. “He’s out of immediate danger now, though the wounds are vicious enough that he’ll suffer considerable pain.” Her cool voice melded seamlessly with the long night.

Even for a cultivator of Shang Si’s profound attainment, dragging someone back from the brink—one foot already in the ghost gate—had exacted a heavy toll.

The cloaked assailant’s kick had been delivered with full force. It wasn’t meant to kill, but it had certainly taught Shen Guang a brutal lesson: several ribs cracked from that blow alone, to say nothing of the earlier scrapes and the final, near-fatal strike.

Lu Shiyuan’s timely arrival was the only reason the attacker’s ruthless temperament hadn’t led to further rounds of torment and violation for Shen Guang.

Notably, while treating him, Shang Si had uncovered something rather intriguing: a curse, identical to the one she had previously detected on Shang Luo.

Dealing with it had cost her no small effort.

A mere disciple from some cultivation sect—dying outside Yedu City’s walls, or even meeting an untimely end within them—would normally have nothing to do with her. Personally tending to him was entirely for Lu Shiyuan’s sake tonight.

Yet now that the deed was done, Shang Si felt a belated twinge of sourness.

It stemmed from the man lying inside, whom Lu Shiyuan clearly cared for so deeply that she had kept vigil at this door from afternoon straight through till now.

“That’s a relief.” Lu Shiyuan let out a long breath at Shang Si’s words, the worry clouding her eyes finally lifting by more than half.

Unaware of Shang Si’s subtle shift in mood, she only noticed, upon lowering her gaze, the bloodstains marring her emerald skirt hem. The once-bright red had darkened to black over the hours, standing out starkly.

Since returning to the city, Lu Shiyuan hadn’t gone anywhere else. Apart from sending word to her sect, her every thought had been fixed on what lay behind this door.

If she had noticed the stain, so had Shang Si.

Sensing Shang Si’s eyes drifting downward, Lu Shiyuan tugged self-consciously at her skirt, trying to tuck the soiled section behind her. She spoke up abruptly, changing the subject to divert attention. “Nan Jin stopped by at sunset.”

“Mm. Taking this long to catch two people—they must have slipped away.”

“We can discuss those matters tomorrow.”

Official business held no interest for Shang Si at the moment.

Perhaps sensing Lu Shiyuan’s discomfort, she withdrew her gaze without a word and stepped past her to the corridor’s edge.

Her hands rested lightly on the suddenly chill railing as she tilted her face upward, contemplating the boundless vault of heaven.

The pristine moon lay half-veiled in drifting clouds, now peeking, now vanishing. Yedu City enforced a strict curfew; ghosts and monsters of every stripe were bound to halt their activities at the appointed hour—a rule upheld for thousands of years.

From this vantage, the city sprawled below resembled a vast necropolis.

The clear, cold moonlight only heightened the icy aura surrounding Shang Si. Lu Shiyuan sensed that the woman bore heavy burdens; she always wore a smile for Lu Shiyuan by day, yet a thick mist seemed to shroud her, rendering her true self indistinct.

“So… no dual cultivation tonight?” The words slipped out as Lu Shiyuan drifted unconsciously to Shang Si’s side. Even uttering “dual cultivation,” she felt a lingering awkwardness.

She knew full well the term carried no romantic connotation here.

They stood shoulder to shoulder, gazing out from the corridor’s side, as though leaning into one another.

Shang Si’s vermilion lips parted slightly, her eyes darkening under the moonlight’s glow. She spoke softly. “Your damaged spirit veins have mended swiftly these past few months. Nourishing them now with my spiritual power alone yields diminishing returns. From here, special medicinal baths are required alongside it—we’ll begin that phase tomorrow.”

Lu Shiyuan: “Oh.”

Shang Si: “Mm.”

A few fragmented words hung in the air, and the two women lapsed into an eerie silence.

When Shang Si didn’t want to speak, even a single glance or word from her could convey her clear rejection.

But Lu Shiyuan wasn’t accustomed to such an atmosphere, so she took the initiative to break it. “Shang Si, it seems you don’t like Senior Brother Shen much. Has he… offended you in some way?”

It was as if a switch had been flipped. At the mention of Shen Guang, a flicker of impatience and annoyance—tinged with exasperation—finally crossed Shang Si’s otherwise impassive face.

Shang Si was straightforward about it. “Yes, I don’t like him.”

“He hasn’t offended me, and he couldn’t even if he tried. It’s just that you care about him too much. That’s why I don’t like him.”

The willful, stubborn words made Lu Shiyuan’s mind buzz, leaving it blank for a moment.

Only then did Shang Si crook her finger, somewhat awkwardly tucking a few stray locks of hair behind her ear before turning her face slightly to meet the other woman’s gaze. “It might sound ridiculous when I say it, but this isn’t exactly a secret… Lu Shiyuan, I’ve had this odd quirk since I was little. I don’t like other people touching my things.”

People are even more off-limits.

Lu Shiyuan quietly let out a breath of relief.

It was a strange sensation—her heart had clenched fiercely in her chest, and now that it relaxed, she felt a faint sense of loss.

It was almost exactly as she had guessed.

Shang Si’s voice continued from beside her, carrying an ethereal quality. “Sometimes I forget that you’ll eventually leave Yedu and return to Sword Spirit Sect. In the end, the only reason we came together was mutual need. But over these past few months, I’ve already started seeing you as one of my own.”

With that, she fully turned to gaze at Lu Shiyuan. “Do you understand what I mean?”

Her eyes were clear, without a trace of impropriety or desire.

“I do.” Lu Shiyuan bloomed into a sweet, clear smile, her eyes sparkling like they held the dazzling stars of the night sky.

Yedu’s prized daughter naturally had her quirks.

She was treating her like an important friend or family member!

The awkward atmosphere from moments ago eased considerably.

Shang Si had been frank, so Lu Shiyuan lightly pressed her red lips together and couldn’t help but share her own feelings in a soft whisper. “Actually, I don’t see you as the lofty Female Lord of Yedu either. It’s strange, but from the first moment I saw you, I felt this inexplicable urge to get close.”

As she finished speaking, Lu Shiyuan shyly lowered her eyes. But when she lifted them again, she met Shang Si’s gaze, which was laden with deep meaning.

That look…

“Do you feel it too?” The words slipped out of Lu Shiyuan almost unbidden, as if she’d just matched a secret signal with someone.

The instant she asked, Shang Si turned her face away with a smile, her lips curving slightly upward.

Lu Shiyuan understood immediately. “In that case, maybe we really do have some karmic tie from a past life.”

Her playful remark blended with the cool evening breeze, her soft, laughter-tinged voice melting quietly into the night. Below them, the leaves in the courtyard rustled, moonlight spilled like silk, and their shadows stretched across the wooden veranda, overlapping in layers.

Shang Si was actually a bit surprised to hear Lu Shiyuan say those words. She’d thought the feeling was unique to her, but it turned out Lu Shiyuan felt it too.

After opening up tonight, it truly seemed like some inexplicable bond connected them.

But talk of past and present lives was too illusory. Shang Si had no intention of delving into it. The Underworld had perished millennia ago, and even the cycle of reincarnation no longer had the Book of Life and Death to record it. Someone like her, born to bear a heavy destiny, had no time to chase after such ethereal notions.

“So, is the man lying in there the one you care about?” The topic shifted abruptly as another question occurred to Shang Si. The amusement in her eyes had faded, returning to her usual demeanor, though the tassels on the hairpin in her hair still swayed gently. “If he’s the one you care about, I could…”

“Of course not!”

In the tranquil night, Lu Shiyuan heard her own voice rise sharply on the wind.

Realizing her reaction had been too strong, she paused, then forced herself to lower her voice and explain slowly. “Senior Brother Shen and I share at most a brother-sister bond. He treats me like a little sister… And all my fellow disciples, master, and sect leader in Sword Spirit Sect treat me well too. Sword Spirit Sect is my home.”

How could she possibly like Shen Guang?

Shang Si really dared to imagine things.

Before Shang Si could respond, Lu Shiyuan shot back, “What about you?”

“Since you asked me, now it’s my turn to ask you something.”

“You always treat me a little more specially than others. Besides that inexplicable sense of closeness, is it also because I resemble some senior of yours in appearance?” Adhering to the principle of fair exchange, Lu Shiyuan wasn’t about to pass up the chance to probe deeper into Shang Si.

These days, the Three Realms were abuzz with rumors—and her senior brother had impressed them upon her time and again—making it impossible for her to feign ignorance.

Everyone said Shang Si had long harbored feelings for a certain woman who bore three or four points of resemblance to her, though that woman had vanished millennia ago.

Word was that in the early years, Shang Si had sent people far and wide in search of her, all to no avail.

Lu Shiyuan was simply curious. Would someone like Shang Si truly mistake a stand-in for her white moonlight? Such a melodramatic tale of devotion.

She steeled herself for the likelihood that her question would go unanswered.

Yet—

“No,” Shang Si said. Perhaps weary from standing in that rigid pose for so long, she shifted to lean bonelessly against a nearby pillar. Her eyes, though, brimmed with countless tiny hooks, clinging fast to Lu Shiyuan’s face. “I can tell you two apart. You’re not the same person.”

“Besides, there’s no one in my heart. That senior you mentioned is indeed important to me—she was both teacher and friend.” Shang Si closed her beautiful eyes, as if sinking into some ancient memory. “All I care about is why a living person could suddenly vanish without a trace across the Three Realms.”

Lu Shiyuan had asked, and Shang Si had answered.

She didn’t seem to regard it as some shameful secret, but the lightness of her reply left a faint sense of unreality in its wake.

In other words, Lu Shiyuan couldn’t help wondering if she was just being brushed off.

But then Shang Si opened her eyes again, those limpid autumn pools meeting her own, and Lu Shiyuan’s doubts evaporated in an instant.

Fine then.

It looked like Shang Si really didn’t have anyone she liked.