The battlefield fell quiet after the final strike.
It was not a peaceful silence.
The mountain gate of Azure Cloud Sect stood damaged, several defensive formations flickered weakly, and countless disciples remained in position with their swords drawn.
Above them, the dark-robed cultivator staggered beneath the force of Shen Yan Ting’s final attack.
His robes were torn along one shoulder, but his eyes remained fixed on Luo Yanhe.
That look carried the same expectation as before.
He was waiting for Luo Yanhe to remember something.
Unknown Cultivator : “You truly remember nothing?
”
Chao Lun Hui had no answer that would not create several more dangerous questions.
Before the man could say anything else, Shen Yan Ting’s sword light crossed the space between them.
The unknown cultivator raised a dark barrier, but the impact drove him through the wounded opening in Azure Cloud Sect’s outer formation.
The barrier folded around him.
His cold laughter lingered after his figure disappeared.
Unknown Cultivator : “We will meet again, Luo Yanhe.”
The formation sealed behind him.
Nobody lowered their weapon.
The enemy had retreated, but no one considered it a victory.
A cultivator who entered Azure Cloud Sect alone, challenged Shen Yan Ting and escaped through a passage recognised by the mountain barrier was unlikely to vanish out of courtesy.
Luo Yanhe watched the place where the stranger had disappeared.
This attack had not happened so early in the novel.
The barrier had never been opened.
No mysterious enemy had accused Shen Yan Ting of abandoning his followers, and nobody had looked at Luo Yanhe as though they shared a history.
Chao Lun Hui had once believed transmigration came with the respectable advantage of spoilers.
Unfortunately, his spoilers had begun expiring after three chapters.
The original story was no longer a map.
At best, it was an eyewitness account written by someone who had spent most of the important events standing in the wrong room.
Shen Yan Ting : “Luo Yanhe.”
The familiar voice pulled him away from the damaged barrier.
Shen Yan Ting stood several steps ahead.
His white robes remained almost untouched despite the battle, and the golden embroidery along his sleeves still rested neatly against the fabric.
That seemed unreasonable.
Most cultivators fought by releasing as much power as possible.
Shen Yan Ting fought as though every thread of spiritual energy had signed an agreement to behave properly.
Luo Yanhe : “Yes, Master.”
Shen Yan Ting sheathed his sword.
Shen Yan Ting : “Come with me.”
The surrounding disciples became attentive at once.
Luo Yanhe could feel their curiosity gathering with impressive efficiency.
Their Immortal Master had personally summoned his most troublesome disciple immediately after an enemy entered the sect and called that disciple by name.
By midday, Luo Yanhe would probably have betrayed the sect, saved the sect, secretly owned the sect and become engaged to the intruder.
Rumours were highly productive when freed from evidence.
Luo Yanhe followed Shen Yan Ting towards the inner mountain.
The disciples parted to let them pass, although several gazes remained fixed upon his back.
Some were curious.
Some were cautious.
Others had clearly begun constructing theories that would survive longer than the damaged barrier.
Shen Yan Ting : “Disciple looks troubled.”
Luo Yanhe nearly missed a step.
His master was walking ahead of him.
Shen Yan Ting had not turned around once.
Luo Yanhe : “Disciple is considering how many rumours will exist by tomorrow morning.”
Shen Yan Ting continued along the stone path.
Shen Yan Ting : “You worry about rumours?”
Luo Yanhe : “I worry about inaccurate rumours.”
Shen Yan Ting’s pace slowed by a fraction.
Shen Yan Ting : “Is there a difference?”
Luo Yanhe considered the question far more seriously than it deserved.
Luo Yanhe : “Of course.”
Mist drifted between the surrounding pines as they climbed towards the private cultivation halls.
Luo Yanhe : “If people are going to misunderstand me, they should at least misunderstand me correctly.”
For several breaths, Shen Yan Ting said nothing.
Then Luo Yanhe heard it.
A quiet laugh.
The sound was so restrained that another person might have mistaken it for a breath.
Luo Yanhe stared at Shen Yan Ting’s back, but his master’s posture remained perfectly composed.
That was dangerous information.
Shen Yan Ting could laugh.
The legendary Immortal Master was not a beautifully carved sect statue after all.
He was merely committed to creating that impression.
They reached Shen Yan Ting’s private cultivation hall.
The doors closed behind them, shutting out the movement and speculation spreading through the sect.
Shen Yan Ting turned to face him.
Shen Yan Ting : “The person who attacked today knew your name.”
The humour left the room.
Luo Yanhe : “Perhaps he meant another Luo Yanhe.”
Shen Yan Ting looked at him.
Luo Yanhe maintained a sincere expression for as long as dignity allowed.
Luo Yanhe : “It is not impossible.”
Shen Yan Ting : “He was looking directly at you.”
Luo Yanhe : “An unfortunate detail.”
The stranger had known more than his name.
He had known where Luo Yanhe would stand beside Shen Yan Ting.
He had spoken as if that position had meaning.
Chao Lun Hui knew the future villain written in the novel.
The intruder knew the person who had existed before those pages began.
Shen Yan Ting : “Do you know why he recognised you?”
Luo Yanhe remained quiet.
He could invent an enemy.
He could claim memory loss.
He could offer a complicated answer containing enough truth to survive several questions.
Instead, he chose the only answer he could defend.
Luo Yanhe : “I do not know.”
Shen Yan Ting watched him carefully.
His protection outside had prevented suspicious disciples from turning fear into an accusation.
Inside this hall, however, his attention remained precise and unsparing.
He had chosen to bring Luo Yanhe here.
That did not mean he had chosen to believe everything Luo Yanhe said.
Shen Yan Ting : “That answer is more honest than your previous ones.”
Luo Yanhe raised his eyebrows.
Luo Yanhe : “Master is saying this disciple usually lies?”
Shen Yan Ting : “I am saying you usually choose your words carefully.”
Luo Yanhe : “That sounds like a polite way of saying I lie.”
Shen Yan Ting : “Yes.”
Luo Yanhe looked offended.
Luo Yanhe : “Master is surprisingly direct.”
Shen Yan Ting walked towards the low table beside the window.
Shen Yan Ting : “Most people waste time pretending.”
That answer was unmistakably Shen Yan Ting.
He valued the truth more than comfort, even when the truth was inconvenient, impolite or standing before him in black robes with several missing memories.
It made him dangerous.
It also made him reliable.
Luo Yanhe : “Master.”
Shen Yan Ting : “Yes?”
Luo Yanhe hesitated.
The question had existed since Chao Lun Hui awakened in this world.
It had grown heavier after Shen Yan Ting protected him from public interrogation, supervised his recovery and placed himself between Luo Yanhe and the intruder.
Luo Yanhe : “Why did you accept me as your disciple?”
There were countless talented cultivators in Azure Cloud Sect.
Many possessed better reputations, stable foundations and fewer unknown enemies capable of entering through invited barriers.
Choosing Luo Yanhe seemed less like selecting a disciple and more like adopting an unsolved disaster.
Shen Yan Ting did not answer immediately.
He stopped beside the window.
Beyond it, the mountain peaks disappeared beneath morning mist.
Shen Yan Ting : “Because you looked like someone waiting to be abandoned.”
Luo Yanhe went still.
He had expected talent, potential or cultivation compatibility.
He had not expected Shen Yan Ting to look beneath everything Luo Yanhe had used to keep people away.
Luo Yanhe : “Master…”
Shen Yan Ting : “You hide behind arrogance.”
His voice remained calm.
Shen Yan Ting : “You behave as though nothing matters because caring gives other people something they can use against you.”
For once, Luo Yanhe found no quick reply.
The words might have described the original Luo Yanhe.
They also reached Chao Lun Hui more accurately than he wanted to admit.
A life spent alone in the modern world had taught him how to need very little from other people.
Depending on no one was practical.
It also ensured that nobody could disappoint him by leaving.
Luo Yanhe : “Master is mistaken.”
Shen Yan Ting turned his pure golden gaze towards him.
Shen Yan Ting : “Am I?”
Luo Yanhe opened his mouth.
Nothing useful emerged.
His master had an irritating habit of asking questions whose answers were already standing in the room.
Shen Yan Ting : “Your cultivation foundation is damaged.”
He returned to the table and poured tea into two cups.
Shen Yan Ting : “Your reputation is poor.”
Luo Yanhe accepted that statement with the composure of a man who had already received the outstanding balance of someone else’s social debts.
Shen Yan Ting : “Your enemies are unknown.”
The dark-robed cultivator’s final words returned to him.
Shen Yan Ting : “Your future is unstable.”
Each sentence added another reason why accepting Luo Yanhe as a disciple had been objectively unwise.
Shen Yan Ting placed one cup before him.
Shen Yan Ting : “None of that changes my decision.”
Luo Yanhe looked at the tea, then at his master.
Shen Yan Ting : “When danger arrived, you were afraid.”
There was no accusation in the observation.
Shen Yan Ting : “You still chose to stand.”
Luo Yanhe : “Many people stood today.”
Shen Yan Ting : “Many people were ordered to.”
The difference settled between them.
Luo Yanhe had followed Shen Yan Ting because the attack was a deviation from the novel.
He had needed information.
Remaining behind might not have been safer.
Those reasons were true.
They were no longer complete.
When hostile pressure descended upon the sect, he had wanted the disciples behind him to survive.
When Shen Yan Ting faced the intruder, remaining alone on the western steps had become impossible to consider.
They had once been fictional people.
Now they had voices, fears, irritating habits and an alarming ability to become important.
Luo Yanhe : “Then why me?”
Shen Yan Ting’s expression softened without losing its restraint.
Shen Yan Ting : “Because fear did not decide where you stood.”
The words remained with Chao Lun Hui.
Accepting Shen Yan Ting as his master meant becoming more deeply tied to Luo Yanhe’s life.
The position beside this man had belonged to someone whose past Chao Lun Hui did not remember.
Perhaps he was borrowing that place.
Perhaps he had no right to keep it.
Yet Shen Yan Ting had made the choice with open eyes.
He knew about the damaged foundation, the poor reputation and the lies wrapped carefully around selective honesty.
He had chosen Luo Yanhe anyway.
For the first time, survival no longer meant escaping every dangerous event and leaving everyone else to fulfil the plot.
Chao Lun Hui wanted to protect Luo Yanhe’s future, but that future now contained real people standing directly in front of him.
He could not treat them as disposable simply because he had once read their names on a screen.
Shen Yan Ting : “Luo Yanhe.”
Luo Yanhe : “Yes, Master?”
Shen Yan Ting lifted his tea.
Shen Yan Ting : “From tomorrow onwards, your training will become more difficult.”
The emotional weight of the conversation collapsed with remarkable efficiency.
Luo Yanhe stared at him.
Luo Yanhe : “Master.”
Shen Yan Ting : “Yes?”
Luo Yanhe : “Was that necessary after such a meaningful conversation?”
Shen Yan Ting drank his tea.
Shen Yan Ting : “Yes.”
Luo Yanhe : “Why?”
Shen Yan Ting : “Your enemies will not become weaker because you experienced emotional clarity.”
Luo Yanhe fell silent.
That was, unfortunately, reasonable.
He sighed and accepted the second cup.
Luo Yanhe : “Master is truly incapable of being gentle.”
Shen Yan Ting turned towards the window.
Shen Yan Ting : “Incorrect.”
Luo Yanhe looked up.
Shen Yan Ting : “I am gentle.”
He allowed Luo Yanhe enough time to question every event since sunrise.
Shen Yan Ting : “Compared with most people.”
Luo Yanhe laughed.
The sound came naturally, escaping before he could decide whether a disciple with his reputation was permitted to laugh inside the private hall of an Immortal Master.
Shen Yan Ting did not object.
Chao Lun Hui had entered this world intending to change Luo Yanhe’s fate and survive long enough to escape the ending written for him.
That goal remained.
It simply no longer felt sufficient.
The people surrounding Luo Yanhe were not pages waiting to be turned.
Shen Yan Ting was not one of a distant main characters, and Azure Cloud Sect was not merely the setting in which the villain’s tragedy began.
They were here.
For now, Chao Lun Hui still knew where his own identity ended and Luo Yanhe’s borrowed life began.
But when he looked at the master who had chosen him despite every sensible reason not to, he made a decision that belonged entirely to the present.
He would not allow the future he remembered to destroy the people standing before him.
The chapter has now been updated to the latest revised version.
I truly appreciate everyone who waited and continued supporting this story while I worked on improving it.
I hope this updated version gives you a smoother and more enjoyable reading experience.
Thank you for staying with me.
Happy reading!