The darkness ahead suddenly parted. Lian Yin froze for a moment, then saw Xie Sui’s figure standing against the light.
So they had reached the end of the hidden passage.
She stepped out.
It looked as though it had just rained. A pale mist lingered in the air, and everything in sight was a filthy, trampled path. The grass and small flowers by the roadside had been crushed as if something had ruthlessly stomped over them, leaving only flattened, broken remnants.
“Another illusion?”
“Seems like it.”
The thick white fog limited visibility so much that it felt as though, if they walked even a little faster, they would lose each other.
Xie Sui seemed to have realized this as well. He slowed his pace, keeping a steady distance from Lian Yin, neither too close nor too far.
They walked forward, their footsteps echoing softly in the emptiness.
Before long, a small stream appeared ahead. The water carried faint streaks of red.
Lian Yin’s gaze was quickly drawn to the young man lying in the stream.
His skin was so pale it was almost translucent. His long black hair spread through the water like ink-dark seaweed. Threads of red flowed from his body, dissolving into the stream and tinting it a light crimson. His eyes were closed, motionless, like a beautiful corpse.
Was he dead?
The moment the thought arose, the young man opened his eyes. His gaze was unfocused as he stared blankly at the sky for a while, then he sat up. The cracks across his skin healed rapidly with the movement.
He stood and walked toward the opposite bank.
Xie Sui immediately moved to follow, but the crimson water suddenly seemed to awaken, surging upward to entangle him.
Water could not be cut. It appeared gentle, yet concealed killing intent. All Xie Sui could do was keep it from getting close to him.
He turned to Lian Yin. “Go around the water and follow the master of the secret realm.”
As he spoke, another stream was split apart.
“Alright.” Lian Yin responded and quickly crossed the stream, catching up to the other side.
It was a dense forest where no light could penetrate. Her slender figure moved through it, her shadow stretched long behind her.
The young man walked ahead without turning back, though when she slowed, he would occasionally pause to wait.
Realm spirits inherited the memories of their original host. Lian Yin wanted to speak with Lu Ying alone and find out what had truly happened on the day of the heavenly punishment.
After walking for some time, she asked, “Lu Ying, where are you taking me?”
Her voice echoed through the empty forest.
But he did not answer and continued forward.
She could only follow him deeper into the eerie woods.
When the first ray of light finally broke into view, the solitary young man was suddenly embraced.
The girl who rushed forward quickly let go and examined him from head to toe, concern written across her face.
“Why were you gone so long—”
Before she could finish, his body swayed, and he fell back into her arms.
She hurriedly caught him and soon caught the faint scent of blood on him. Her brows knit slightly. “Are you hurt?”
“Yes, I ran into a group of demonic cultivators just now.” The young man leaned against her, resting his head lightly on her shoulder, his voice soft and pitiful. “They wanted to kill me, so I took a detour to shake them off.”
A sliver of moonlight fell across his pale, beautiful face. The faint smile at the corner of his lips vanished in an instant.
Lian Yin could not help but mutter, “What an act.”
But this was only an illusion, and her words had no effect.
She could only watch as he succeeded step by step.
Thinking of what would come next, her breathing grew uneven. She wanted to turn away, but her feet felt heavy, as if she were rooted in place.
At the same time, her heartbeat quickened, her skin heating up, as though she were reliving that night.
“Lu Ying, you’re not a child anymore. You can’t just hold people and sleep like this…” She lay stiffly in his arms, unable to move, yet her mind struggled to form words. “If you have someone else you want to sleep with in the future, we need to keep our distance. You can’t kill me to silence me. I won’t talk about today’s—”
They had grown up together, childhood sweethearts for more than ten years. That kind of bond was rare. Lu Ying might like her, but Lian Yin always felt he was the type of tyrant who would kill without hesitation just to please himself.
If he liked something, he would cherish it. If he did not, he would discard it like trash.
Lu Ying was dangerous.
Lian Yin was satisfied with her current life. She only wanted to maintain things as they were.
His warm breath drew closer.
At some point, she suddenly realized how close he was. She could feel the faint air of her own words brushing against his lips. It was something her eyes could not perceive, yet she was certain of it.
So she stopped speaking.
At a distance where even the slightest movement might lead to a kiss, Lu Ying chuckled softly. “Anything else?”
When she did not respond, he continued, “Yinyin, I only like holding you when I sleep. Once I’ve held you, I won’t hold anyone else. I never have before.”
Lian Yin froze. Before she could process what sounded like a confession, she suddenly felt something change within his embrace. Her face flushed as she struggled. “You—”
“So this is what you’re afraid of,” Lu Ying murmured. “Then if I don’t have this, does that mean I can hold you?”
“No!” Lian Yin stopped moving at once, afraid he might do something drastic. “Don’t think like that, this is—”
“Then do you like it?” he asked.
“… ”
She did not know how to answer. She disliked talking about such things.
In that instant, she suddenly realized she was like Lu Ying. She was just too afraid.
Afraid that once their relationship changed, they would find they were incompatible.
Afraid that even if they were incompatible, they would not be able to separate.
Afraid that if she tried to leave, he would kill her.
She was afraid of everything.
She did not believe they would stay together for a lifetime.
Time seemed to stretch endlessly, yet also pass in a fleeting moment. She could not remain silent any longer.
“You can stop talking about this—”
Suddenly, a light kiss fell on her lips.
That was the day they kissed.
“After that day, Yinyin kept avoiding me… for about two months, right?”
A soft sigh sounded from behind.
Lian Yin turned instantly.
Reflected in the young man’s dark, glass-like eyes, he looked at her with a faint smile.
“Looking for me?”
A pointless question.
Lian Yin looked at him. He was no longer the ghostly figure that crawled out of the painting, but solid, like a living person.
“Wondering if I’m dead?” Lu Ying smiled. “Do you want to touch and see?”
Lian Yin said nothing. She directly lit a talisman and pressed it onto his body. The half-burning talisman froze the moment it touched him.
“You’re a realm spirit,” she said calmly.
The spirit smiled. “There’s no difference. We can still stay together in this secret realm for a lifetime… until I fade away.”
Lian Yin sneered. “Something impossible in life, and you think it becomes possible after death?”
His smile did not waver. “Why not?”
“… ”
For a brief moment, she felt the difference between a realm spirit and a living person and fell silent.
She asked directly, “What happened with the heavenly punishment? How did Lu Ying die?”
He did not answer. Instead, as if avoiding the question, he blinked and said, “Oh dear, someone’s coming. You don’t want others to see us, do you? I’d like to play a bit longer too. Yinyin, can we talk next time? I’ll come find you again.”
Next time?
He had only appeared for a moment.
Lian Yin was about to stop him when the faint ringing of a bell sounded near her ear. She froze for an instant, and the spirit vanished.
“See you next time, very soon…”
“…Miss, are you alright?”
Two voices overlapped, the latter gradually drowning out the former.
“You haven’t come back yet?”
A female cultivator’s concerned face came into view. She wore a pale blue and white dress, her long dark hair draped over her shoulders. Her face was bare of makeup, her gaze gentle, giving off a strangely familiar warmth.
Lian Yin asked instinctively, “Have we met somewhere before?”
The woman smiled, accustomed to such questions. “You’re from Zhongzhou, right? I’m Shen Qingle from the Jiuxiao Sect. I joined earlier, so perhaps we met at some gathering.”
“I see, Senior Sister Shen…” Lian Yin replied.
In truth, she had no memory of her.
Perhaps the sense of familiarity was just an illusion.
Lian Yin quickly gave herself the identity of an obscure rogue cultivator to avoid awkwardness if the other did not recognize her.
After exchanging names, their conversation naturally became more lively.
From Shen Qingle, Lian Yin learned that this secret realm was located in the Western Continent.
Shen Qingle had come to help the Xie family obtain the divine artifact. However, she had yet to find it and had become separated from the Xie family cultivators.
At the mention of being separated, Lian Yin immediately asked, “Senior Sister Shen, there was a young man with me just now. He’s also from the Xie family. Have you seen him?”
Shen Qingle shook her head. “When I arrived, I only saw you. You were walking forward in a trance, clearly trapped in an illusion, so I hurried to wake you.”
She sighed softly. “Once someone falls deep into an illusion, their body becomes uncontrollable. Many Xie family cultivators got separated this way…”
Lian Yin felt uneasy.
The realm spirit had said he wanted to play a little longer. If he was not here now, was he dealing with someone else? Was he going after Xie Sui?
She decided to go back and look for him.
Hearing this, Shen Qingle looked surprised. “You only met him after entering the secret realm, right? It hasn’t been long. Are you that worried about him?”
Worried?
Not really.
They had only gone through some things together and exchanged a few words…
“If someone I know is in danger, wanting to help them is normal, isn’t it?” Lian Yin said.
“That’s exactly what worrying is,” Shen Qingle replied. “Why explain it? It’s perfectly normal to worry about a friend.”
Lian Yin wanted to argue that they were not quite friends yet.
But that would sound even stranger.
She did not pursue the topic further and simply turned. “I’ll go find him first…”
Shen Qingle grabbed her hand and followed with a smile. “I’ll come with you. It’s dangerous here, having someone along will be safer.”
Shen Qingle was talkative, chatting constantly along the way. The hand she had used to stop Lian Yin did not let go, and as they walked, she naturally linked arms with her.
When walking with Xie Sui, they had kept a clear distance, but between girls, that boundary seemed to disappear.
Lian Yin felt slightly uncomfortable, though not to the point of rejection.
As Shen Qingle had said, it was normal.
They were both girls. Walking together like this was normal. Perhaps she was just not used to interacting with others after so long.
Just as Lian Yin convinced herself to adapt, Shen Qingle suddenly asked, “By the way, Xiao Lian, we’re friends now. If I were in danger, would you come save me too?”
Lian Yin instinctively nodded.
Shen Qingle laughed. “You’re so adorable, Xiao Lian. Where do you plan to go after leaving the secret realm? Do you want to come back to the Jiuxiao Sect with me?”
After leaving the secret realm…
Lian Yin suddenly remembered what the realm spirit had said.
He would come find her again. If that happened, would Shen Qingle die?
Her gaze fell on Shen Qingle’s face as unsettling fragments flashed through her mind. She reminded her, “We’re still in the secret realm. It’s dangerous here.”
Since being separated from Xie Sui, Lian Yin had been uneasy about his uncertain fate. She wanted to confirm his safety herself. Yet after walking for a long time, the corridor still had no end.
It was also a corridor, but the previous one had rooms lining its sides. This one…
She turned to look.
Half-hidden garden structures, vast ponds, and in the distance, a tall, slender pavilion rising several stories high.
“I wanted to go there earlier,” Shen Qingle suddenly said.
Lian Yin knew she meant the pavilion. Its position was strange. Anyone exploring the secret realm would feel compelled to investigate it.
But if the master of this realm was Lu Ying, then it was unlikely anything valuable was placed there. Something arranged so deliberately was most likely a trap.
Just as Lian Yin was about to persuade Shen Qingle otherwise, a voice sounded nearby.
“What a coincidence, I was thinking of going there too.”