The young man before her wore a robe of pale jade silk, fastened with brilliant red jade buttons. His platinum blond hair flowed loosely down his back, and on the wrist resting against the couch were two strands of white and crimson jade beads. Like the man himself, everything about him was breathtakingly beautiful, from his exquisite features to the sickly pallor of his fragile skin.
She had rushed in too quickly earlier, pressing her sword too close. A thin line of blood had already appeared across his neck.
Almost instinctively, Lian Yin eased her sword back a little.
“What are you trying to do?”
“Have fun.” The young man tilted his head up to look at her. Even with a cold blade pressed against his throat, he showed not the slightest trace of nervousness. Under the lamplight, his violet eyes glowed with a harmless warmth. “Don’t you think this is fun?”
Who would ever want to play with him?
Speechless, Lian Yin said, “Not at all. Dismiss the killing array.”
“If I do, the people outside will see us.” His lashes lifted slightly as he smiled. “Or would you rather they misunderstand the two of us?”
The young man was seated, and for her sword to remain level across his throat, her arm naturally had to stay at the same height as his body. From where anyone was looking, it appeared as though she were pressing him down beneath her.
“…”
Who wanted to be misunderstood with him?
Lian Yin had no mood for jokes. She pressed the blade a little closer, but before she could decide what threat to make, the young man suddenly reached up and grabbed the sword.
The razor sharp edge sliced open his palm at once. Beads of blood rolled silently onto his robes, blooming into vivid crimson stains.
Startled, Lian Yin noticed he was actually trying to drag the blade across his own neck.
She immediately caught his hand.
“What are you doing?!”
“Helping you.” He looked down at the hand holding his own. “Weren’t you trying to threaten me? Kill me?”
“If I kill you, I won’t survive either.” Lian Yin frowned. “We don’t even have a grudge against each other. There’s no reason for you to throw away your life just to drag me down with you.”
This was the Xie family’s main city. Judging from his identity, he was either wealthy or of noble status. If he died, it would definitely become a major incident.
“Isn’t it nice when someone’s willing to throw away their life for you?” he encouraged. “There are guards everywhere outside, but you could still try running.”
Lian Yin: “…”
Talking to this person felt like talking across an impossible generation gap.
Bright red blood continued to stream between his pale, slender fingers. The sight irritated Lian Yin. She tried to pull her sword back, only to discover he refused to let go.
Lian Yin: “?”
The two remained locked in a stalemate for a while, until Lian Yin was forced to find something to say.
“You know I don’t want to kill you. I was just passing by… Can we let go first and talk?”
The young man neither spoke nor released the blade.
Lian Yin sighed.
“You’re so handsome, and you’re obviously rich too. Why are you so determined to throw your life away?”
For the first time, something in his expression seemed to waver.
“Because…”
He had barely uttered the first word when a crisp crack echoed through the room.
Lian Yin had snapped his wrist.
She swiftly withdrew her sword, pulled out the VIP token Xie Sui had given her, and bluffed with borrowed authority.
“I’m friends with Young Master Xie. You’d better let me leave immediately!”
“Xie Sui can’t threaten me.”
The warmth gradually faded from his expression. His lips curved into a malicious smile, though his eyes remained cold.
“If you don’t believe me, stay here tonight and wait for him to come pick you up. Do you think he’ll come tonight?”
Lian Yin: “…”
Why did this somehow make the situation even worse? Did he have a grudge against Xie Sui?
Besides, Xie Sui really couldn’t come tonight. She couldn’t rely on him.
Left with no other choice, she asked, “What will it take for you to let me go?”
Instead of answering, he asked, “Do you hate being with me that much?”
Lian Yin had the distinct feeling that if she answered yes, he would immediately smash his own head against something just to frame her.
“I don’t. Don’t twist my words…”
He stared at her.
“Oh? Do you like me?”
Lian Yin: “…”
Next time, she absolutely would not believe in free windfalls from heaven. And she would never join another bet again.
With a helpless sigh, she said, “The world isn’t just black and white. Is it possible that I neither dislike nor like you? I only want to leave because we’re strangers.”
He replied flatly, “If I dismiss the killing array now, you’ll leave immediately anyway. What’s the difference?”
A killing array was a technique only cultivators who had reached a certain level could comprehend. Yet the young man’s array seemed capable of trapping people within its domain and even manipulating the stars themselves.
Lian Yin gave up.
“Fine! I’ll stay here until you run out of spiritual power.”
Maintaining a killing array consumed enormous spiritual energy. She refused to believe he could sustain it for very long.
Instead, he suddenly held out his hand.
“Bandage my wound, and I’ll let you go.”
As he spoke, he wasn’t even looking at her, as though he didn’t care what she chose.
“I didn’t bring any medicine.”
“There’s some in the room.”
Lian Yin glanced around the boat cabin and actually found what appeared to be a medicine chest.
This situation was becoming stranger by the second.
How could someone threaten her with his own life one moment, then ask her to treat his injuries the next?
She brought the medicine box over and set it on the couch.
“You’re not planning to trick me into treating you, then sneak attack me, are you?”
The young man lazily extended his hand.
“You can break my other hand and both my legs too if you want.”
Opening the medicine box, Lian Yin said, “I wasn’t trying to take revenge. I’ll set your wrist back afterward.”
He didn’t respond.
Lowering his eyes slightly, he watched in silence as she took out the medicine and bandages. The focused profile of her face, softened beneath the warm lamplight, seemed wrapped in the gentle beauty of distant memories.
Though the wound looked bloody, it was only superficial. Once a medical cultivator treated it, it would heal quickly.
So Lian Yin simply wrapped a single layer of bandage around it, partly because she had little patience to spare.
“There.”
She looked up, only to meet his gaze.
His eyes seemed to have remained fixed on her all this time, unmoving. Within them, an emotion as sorrowful as falling rain slowly spread.
Lian Yin paused. “Is something wrong?”
“Nothing.”
The lamplight flickered in the depths of the young man’s eyes before he quietly looked away, toward the River of Stars killing array outside that was gradually dissolving. Sounds from the real world drifted across the distant lakeshore.
“You may leave.”
Seeing he was finally willing to let her go, Lian Yin immediately lifted the curtain and hurried out, afraid he might change his mind.
Yet the instant she stepped out of the boat cabin, the River of Stars killing array, which had nearly dispersed, abruptly reformed.
Lian Yin’s expression changed. She turned around, anger flashing in her eyes.
“You…”
The treacherous young man reclined lazily against the couch. His violet eyes curved into a smile as he lifted his hand wrapped in white bandages. His bloodstained sleeve draped over the edge of the couch while he pointed upward.
“Be careful.”
The next instant, countless stars hanging overhead reversed their course, transforming into streams of brilliant arrows that rained down upon her.
Lian Yin drew her sword as she dodged sideways.
Blade and starlight collided, and the violent surge of spiritual power sent the curtains flying open.
The young man remained seated on the couch, watching her cut down the incoming arrows. Every now and then, a few slipped past her sword, yet the moment they brushed against the hem of her clothes, they dissolved into tiny points of starlight that floated around her like dancing fireflies.
He watched for a while before leisurely picking up a single chess piece and placing it upon the board.
The stars in the sky shifted and rearranged themselves, gradually forming the ominous constellation known as Dangerous Moon Swallow Chasing the Moon.
Within astrology, Dangerous Moon Swallow was regarded as a sign of great calamity. Appearing inside a killing array, its destructive power was naturally terrifying.
But such overwhelming offensive force inevitably sacrificed part of the array’s stability.
Forcing herself to stay calm, Lian Yin quickly found the flaw within the formation.
Seizing the opportunity before Dangerous Moon Swallow fully took shape, she followed the hidden flow of the array and tore open one corner of it.
The true night sky outside the pleasure boat finally appeared.
The moment Lian Yin escaped the killing array, she heard the young man behind her say,
“That person just tried to assassinate me…”
She didn’t even need to think to know he was tattling on her.
How shameless!
But she had no time to curse him.
The instant his words fell, several figures from the crowd across the lake immediately rushed toward them.
She had to run!
“What happened?”
“I don’t know… What is this…”
The cultivators across the lake had only seen the young woman suddenly disappear, then abruptly reappear with a sword in hand before taking off at full speed.
“Catch her! Catch that assassin!”
…
Lian Yin ran as fast as she could, weaving through streets and alleys beneath the cover of night to throw off her pursuers.
After an hour, she actually managed to shake the guards chasing after her.
The unsuccessful guards shouted,
“Move! Search over there!”
Their footsteps gradually faded into the distance.
Separated from them by only a single wall, Lian Yin leaned against it, breathing heavily.
“…”
They were unbelievably persistent.
That young man had actually been able to command the Xie family’s city guards.
Who exactly was he?
Forget it.
She will be leaving Zhaoyang City soon anyway. They would probably never meet again. If she had offended him, so be it.
The moment Lian Yin stepped out of the alley, footsteps suddenly sounded from both ends of the street.
The guards had doubled back and were closing in around her.
Her heart began pounding violently, as though a countdown had begun, urging her to act immediately.
Just as Lian Yin was about to choose a direction and break through, someone suddenly wrapped an arm lightly around her waist from behind.
One hand pressed gently against the hilt of the sword she was about to draw.
With a soft pull, the person’s arm drew her close while their outer robe swept over her head, concealing her completely as they enclosed her securely in their embrace.
Lian Yin froze.
The instant she collided against the person’s chest, she caught the faint scent of blood lingering on their robes.
It should have been a nauseating smell that inspired fear.
Instead, her senses seemed strangely accustomed to it.
It even made her feel… safe.
The footsteps along both sides of the street drew steadily closer…