Was it him?
The moment Lian Yin recognized the young man from the previous night, she stopped in her tracks, a bad feeling immediately rising in her chest.
He wasn’t going to hold a grudge over what had happened last night and deliberately refuse to help her, was he?
Perhaps because their first meeting had gone so badly, Lian Yin instinctively felt that Xie Lanyin was exactly the sort of person who would play tricks on others and intentionally give them the wrong divination.
Her gaze quietly drifted toward Xie Sui.
He didn’t seem to dislike the blond young man at all.
So… was the hostility entirely one sided?
While her thoughts were in disarray, she heard Xie Sui say, “Come on. Why are you standing so far away? How are we supposed to talk like that?”
Xie Lanyin smiled softly.
“That’s right. Come sit down. I don’t bite.”
Lian Yin: “…”
As the two approached, Xie Lanyin withdrew his gaze. His fingers shifted slightly, and the swallowtail butterfly resting on his fingertip fluttered its wings and flew away.
“What a coincidence. I never expected that someone who tried to kill me last night would come asking me for help today…”
Lian Yin paused.
She knew he wouldn’t pretend nothing had happened.
Xie Sui sat down and asked, “Who?”
“You don’t know?” Xie Lanyin looked mildly surprised before smiling again. “If you don’t know, then forget it.”
Xie Sui: “?”
Did “forget it” mean he wasn’t going to bring up last night’s incident after all?
Still trying to figure out what he meant, Lian Yin walked over and sat in the only remaining seat beside the stone table.
The table was rather small, and with three people seated around it, it suddenly felt crowded.
The moment she sat down, a pleasant fragrance drifted toward her.
She turned her head just as her eyes met Xie Lanyin’s.
His violet eyes shimmered like flawless gemstones beneath the sunlight.
It was such a gentle, beautiful color.
Yet when he smiled, it reminded her of a witch slowly swirling a bottle of poisonous potion, dazzling and dangerous all at once.
An uncomfortable feeling instantly washed over Lian Yin, as though she had become the prey of a snake.
She quietly looked away.
The next moment, a soft chuckle sounded beside her ear.
“Yesterday you had me pinned down on the bed, but today you can’t even look at me?” Xie Lanyin met her eyes again, wearing an innocent expression. “Is it because someone else is here, so you’re trying to keep your distance from me?”
His tone was lazy and teasing, filled with intimate ambiguity, as though he were flirting instead of provoking an enemy.
Lian Yin: “…?”
Wasn’t he supposed to have let it go?
She had already experienced his talent for spreading misleading rumors last night.
She hadn’t expected him to be just as shameless in front of Xie Sui.
Looking at the astonishment on Xie Sui’s face, it was obvious he truly had no idea what had happened.
Lian Yin immediately explained, “What happened last night wasn’t my fault. You were the one who trapped me inside your killing array and forced me to attack you. Don’t make it sound so strange.”
She took a deep breath before continuing, “And besides, what you were sitting on yesterday was, at most, a chair. It wasn’t a bed. Stop making things up. I never pinned you down either.”
Xie Lanyin drawled leisurely, “Oh? You’re explaining yourself so anxiously. It seems you’re really afraid Young Master will misunderstand the relationship between us.”
Xie Sui finally caught on.
“So the person you were talking about last night was him?”
Lian Yin nodded, unwilling to respond to another word from Xie Lanyin.
Xie Sui clearly trusted her more.
“That’s just how he talks. Don’t take it to heart.”
Xie Lanyin glanced at him.
“We’re not that familiar, are we?”
Xie Sui nodded.
“You’re right. We’re not.”
Lian Yin: “…”
Did he not realize he’d just been mocked?
Apparently losing interest in the conversation, Xie Lanyin turned toward Lian Yin and got straight to the point.
“So, what do you want to ask? Go ahead.”
Lian Yin first briefly explained the situation.
“My parents have been missing for a very long time. Their soul lamps have already gone out, so they’re most likely dead. I’d like you to calculate where my mother is now.”
“You may only choose one.”
“Then calculate my mother’s location.”
After confirming the details, Xie Lanyin extended his hand toward her.
“Give me your hand.”
The Dao of Wisdom required a medium to divine someone’s location.
As the only person in the world directly connected to her parents, Lian Yin herself was the ideal medium.
She placed her hand into the young man’s palm.
His hand felt cool. A moment later, his fingers closed gently around hers.
Closing his eyes, Xie Lanyin began the divination.
After a long silence, he opened them again.
Meeting Lian Yin’s hopeful gaze, he calmly gave his answer.
“I can’t calculate it.”
Lian Yin froze.
Grabbing his hand before he could withdraw it, she asked, “Are you still holding a grudge over last night? Did you deliberately not calculate it properly?”
Xie Lanyin replied, “One matter is one matter. I’m not that petty.”
“Then why can’t you calculate it? Is it because you’re incapable, or is there another reason?”
He didn’t seem offended by her questioning.
Instead, he patiently explained, “There are many reasons a calculation can fail. For example, I might simply lack the ability. Or perhaps the place where she currently is doesn’t yet exist within this world. Understand?”
Lian Yin fell silent.
Seeing the disappointment on her face, Xie Lanyin added, “The second possibility has many variations. Some places appear and disappear over time… You could ask me whether the place where she died has appeared yet.”
Lian Yin was just about to speak when Xie Lanyin sighed regretfully.
“Unfortunately, you only get one question. That’s already your second question. Then after that you’ll probably need a third… and a fourth… What should we do?”
Lian Yin finally realized it.
He had been playing with her from the very beginning.
Angrily releasing his hand, she stood up and prepared to leave.
Xie Sui quickly stopped her.
“Wait! What he means is that this can still be negotiated.”
Lian Yin desperately wanted to refuse on principle.
She didn’t need him!
But cultivators of the Dao of Wisdom weren’t cabbages growing by the roadside.
Outside, countless frauds pretended to practice the Dao of Wisdom just to swindle money.
If she missed this opportunity, there might never be another.
She slowly sat back down.
“What do you want?”
Watching the faint redness gathering around the young woman’s eyes, Xie Lanyin wondered whether he had bullied her a little too much.
He lifted the hand wrapped in bandages.
The inner layers had already been stained red with fresh blood.
Looking at it leisurely, he said, “The fact remains that I was attacked and injured last night…”
Lian Yin recognized the bandage immediately.
It was the one she had wrapped herself.
He hadn’t gone to see a medical cultivator after returning?
He really was choosing to suffer for no reason.
Served him right.
Xie Sui asked, “What kind of compensation do you want?”
“I don’t need compensation.”
Xie Lanyin looked toward Lian Yin and sighed theatrically.
“The guards from before were so useless that I was almost assassinated in full view of everyone. I’d like to dismiss them all and replace them with someone more capable. What do you think?”
Lian Yin replied, “You were the one who dragged me into your killing array…”
Halfway through speaking, realization suddenly dawned on her.
When he said he wanted someone more capable…
Surely he didn’t mean…
He wanted her to become his bodyguard?
Xie Lanyin smiled.
“Well? Want to consider it? If you agree, I’ll answer your second question.”
Lian Yin: “…”
She could already imagine what life as his bodyguard would be like.
Every day would be exactly like last night.
She’d probably develop high blood pressure before long.
Besides, judging by her publicly known cultivation level, she wasn’t even particularly strong.
Did he really need a bodyguard?
This was obviously just revenge.
Before Lian Yin could speak, Xie Sui asked, “Can’t you choose someone else?”
Xie Lanyin sighed regretfully.
“No! If it won’t work, then forget it. You’ll have to seek someone more capable.”
“It’s not impossible to negotiate,” Lian Yin said. “Surely I don’t have to work for you forever just because of one answer. Besides, you already said one question wouldn’t be enough…”
“Exactly.”
Xie Lanyin smiled.
“One question isn’t enough. But if you stay with me, there will always be opportunities for me to continue calculating things for you.”
He smiled again.
“I’m actually a very nice person. Why don’t you give it a try?”
Lian Yin: “…”
A nice person?
Not even close.
Xie Lanyin continued, “As for working for me, it won’t be forever. Once you’ve gotten all the answers you want and no longer need my help, you’re free to leave. And besides…”
“I agree.”
Lian Yin interrupted immediately.
“But you’ll calculate my second question today. Right now.”
Xie Sui started, “He can only…”
“Sure.”
Xie Lanyin agreed without hesitation.
Then he looked at Xie Sui.
“Well then, Young Master, you may head back now. From today onward, she’s one of my people. She’ll be staying here.”
Xie Sui: “…”
How had he suddenly been excluded from everything?
Looking at Lian Yin, Xie Sui seemed as though he wanted to tell her something.
Lian Yin said, “I know what I’m doing. Don’t worry. I won’t hurt your family’s Dao of…”
“I’m not worried about you hurting him.”
Xie Sui lightly patted her shoulder.
“What I wanted to say is that we’re friends. If you ever need anything, you can come to me. I’ll help however I can. And if this path doesn’t work out, I’ll help you think of another.”
Lian Yin paused.
Xie Sui really was… an unusually kind person.
Of course, this wasn’t the first time she’d thought so.
After watching his departing figure disappear at the end of the corridor, she turned back.
“Hurry up and calculate it!”
“All right.”
Xie Lanyin returned to his usual lazy demeanor and held out his hand.
“Who exactly is the bodyguard here? Why are you being so fierce with me?”
Lian Yin placed her hand in his.
“That question can wait until later.”
She intended to collect her wages before she started working.
Xie Lanyin performed the calculation once more.
“The place where your mother died has not yet appeared.”
At last, Lian Yin felt as though a crushing weight had been lifted from her chest.
She finally calmed down.
“The next question,” Xie Lanyin said as he met her gaze with a smile, “is when that place will appear. Behave yourself, and when I’m in a good mood, I’ll tell you.”
Lian Yin frowned.
“Then why didn’t you just calculate that question directly? The second question was completely unnecessary.”
Xie Lanyin nodded approvingly.
“Exactly. The second question was complete nonsense. It had absolutely no value. Yet you still insisted I calculate it. You really wasted an opportunity.”
Lian Yin: “…”
On her very first day as a bodyguard, she already wanted to punch her employer.
She had never wanted to hit anyone this badly before.
Especially since he looked as though one punch might actually knock him over.
Forget it! She still needed his help.
Finding a cultivator of the Dao of Wisdom at this price was impossible anywhere else.
So what if she had to endure a little frustration?
Taking a slow breath, Lian Yin was just about to speak when a gentle breeze brushed across her cheek.
Turning her head, she saw a pair of brilliantly colored wings fluttering before her eyes.
It was the swallowtail butterfly that had flown away earlier.
Xie Lanyin raised his hand and caught the returning butterfly.
As it settled on his fingers, another trace of delicate fragrance drifted through the air, faint and lingering.
Looking at the hand so close before her, Lian Yin felt as though even the surrounding air carried his warmth.
Without drawing attention to it, she quietly shifted farther away, increasing the distance between them.
Watching the butterfly, Xie Lanyin spoke lazily.
“Tell me, do you think the butterfly likes me? Or did it simply have nowhere else to fly, so it came back?”
It was a test of emotional intelligence.
Lian Yin answered, “It likes you.”
“And what about you?”
Light shimmered in Xie Lanyin’s violet eyes as the corners of his lips curved upward.
“Are you becoming my bodyguard because you like me, or because you had no other choice?”
Lian Yin: “…”
From the perspective of emotional intelligence, she should probably say something that pleased her employer.
But Xie Lanyin clearly had no sense of restraint.
If she played along, who knew what outrageous thing he’d say next?
After a brief pause, she abandoned diplomacy altogether.
“I had no other choice.”
“Mm, very good. You’re honest.”
Xie Lanyin smiled happily.
“I like you.”
For an instant, Lian Yin was genuinely caught off guard.
But she quickly adjusted her mindset.
It was obvious that Xie Lanyin treated words like “I like you” as casually as everyday greetings.
People often displayed all kinds of meaningless similarities.
Something this vague didn’t prove anything.
Lian Yin asked, “Can you calculate the third question now?”
Smiling, Xie Lanyin raised his injured hand for her to see.
“I’m not feeling well. I can’t calculate anything else for the time being.”
Her eyes settled on the hand.
“You didn’t see a medical cultivator?”
Following her gaze to the blood seeping faintly through the bandages, Xie Lanyin nodded.
“No! I deliberately waited for you to come and rebandage it.”
He naturally extended the injured hand toward her.
“I was giving you a chance to perform well.”
Smiling, he asked, “Am I nice or what?”
For a brief instant, that strange sense of familiarity returned once more.
Lian Yin suddenly realized there might be another reason she’d disliked Xie Lanyin at first sight.
Besides being incredibly irritating…
He reminded her far too much of Lu Ying.
It was just her imagination.
Forcefully suppressing the strange feeling, she said, “We’d better go see a medical cultivator. Your injury will heal much faster that way. Bandaging it alone takes much longer.”
“If I see a medical cultivator, you won’t get to rebandage me every day.”
His lashes lowered as he slowly unwound the bloodstained bandages layer by layer.
His voice was soft.
“You won’t have the chance to perform in front of me every day.”
“And I don’t like seeing medical cultivators.”
As though recalling something, he added, “Didn’t Xie Sui just tell you? I’m a sickly person. Even the tiniest wound might trigger one of my illnesses and become something very serious.”
“There are only the two of us here.”
Looking completely considerate of her feelings, Xie Lanyin continued, “You’ll have to watch me carefully. Take extra good care of me. Don’t accidentally let me die.”
“If I die, it won’t matter much to me.”
“But what will happen to you?”
Lian Yin: “…”
She stood up.
“Let’s go. Treating your wound can’t wait any longer.”
Then she looked at him seriously.
“Can you still walk? Or do you need me to carry you?”