However, just as the chatter among the crowd grew louder, Lin Lumi added calmly: “Oh right, to avoid any misunderstanding, I must clarify first. I want to enter the Mystic Dharma Hall not because of you, but because of Wei Lingfeng.”
The crowd fell silent all of a sudden.
Mu Heng frowned: “Wei Lingfeng? You know him?”
“Yes.”
“When did this happen? How come I didn’t know?”
Lin Lumi raised her eyes to meet Mu Heng’s gaze and asked back: “Should you know?”
“Lingfeng and I are as close as brothers. He hasn’t taken any missions in the Yue Kingdom, so I am truly curious as to how Miss Lin got to know him. Is it convenient to tell me?”
Lin Lumi smiled: “Sorry, it’s not convenient.”
The two looked at each other. Clearly, every word was spoken in a calm tone, but somehow, a sense of tension began to spark between them.
Below, two disciples from the Spirit Gathering Sect who were standing close together began to whisper.
The male disciple tugged at the sleeve of the female disciple next to him and lowered his voice to gossip: “What’s going on? Why do I feel like this first-place winner is a bit different from what you all said? That look in her eyes isn’t one of admiration at all… rather, it feels like they are secretly competing.”
The female disciple nodded: “Indeed. Usually, when girls look at Senior Brother Mu, they blush, their hearts race, and they can’t even speak. But this first-place winner is too calm. It’s a bit strange. And Senior Brother Mu is also acting a bit strange. Normally, he wouldn’t get involved in this kind of thing.”
“What’s strange about being calm? Only gold can make everyone lose their composure, and Senior Brother Mu isn’t gold. Besides, didn’t she already say so? She is interested in Senior Brother Wei. Maybe Senior Brother Mu just isn’t her type? I wonder how she met Senior Brother Wei anyway.”
“I get it!” The female disciple suddenly realized, “I know what’s strange!”
“Where? Where?”
“I don’t think they just met. It feels like they’ve known each other for a long time.”
The female disciple kept her voice as low as possible while talking to others, but she didn’t know who overheard her.
In the crowd, someone immediately asked out loud: “Senior Brother Mu, have the two of you known each other for a long time!?”
Lin Lumi frowned instinctively. Just as she was thinking about what to say to distance herself, she heard Mu Heng say casually: “Of course we do.”
“I knew it! Then what is your relationship!?”
Mu Heng: “Childhood sweethearts.”
Lin Lumi: “Sworn enemies.”
The two spoke almost in unison, leaving everyone around them completely bewildered.
Mu Heng raised an eyebrow slightly: “Lumi, how can you say we are enemies? Aren’t we good friends? Not long ago, I even saved you. Oh right, after that, I even went into the palace—”
Without any hesitation, Lin Lumi took a few steps forward and covered Mu Heng’s mouth.
Her voice wasn’t loud, but it was enough for Mu Heng to hear clearly.
“If you say one more word you shouldn’t, believe it or not, I will rip your mouth apart?”
Mu Heng tilted his head, his eyes full of amusement.
“Tonight at the hour of the Pig, meet me in the alley to the left of the cafeteria. I have something to tell you.”
With that, Lin Lumi left this troubled place and walked straight toward the dormitory.
The door was pushed open with a creak.
Seeing her return, Hua Tian stopped her writing and asked: “Lumi, how did it go? Did some sect come to snatch you up this time? What terms did they offer?”
Lin Lumi didn’t answer. She slumped directly onto the soft couch by the bed.
Seeing this, Hua Tian was a bit puzzled: “What happened to you? How did you go out for a bit and return looking like your life force was sucked dry by a demon?”
Lin Lumi’s eyes were lifeless as she stared blankly at the ceiling: “More terrifying than a demon. It’s like seeing a ghost in broad daylight.”
“Look at you. Just who is this sacred being who called you out? Other than Mu Heng, I really can’t think of anyone who could make you lose your composure like this.”
Lin Lumi turned her head abruptly and said calmly: “Yeah, it was Mu Heng.”
Hua Tian’s hand froze. She quickly put down her brush and sat down at the edge of the soft couch: “Is there something wrong with my ears? Did you just say that the person who called you down was Mu Heng? Wasn’t he absent from the assessment list!”
“Yeah.” Lin Lumi nodded, “Because he is already an inner disciple of the Spirit Gathering Sect, so he didn’t need to take the assessment at all. Although I don’t know how he got in, once I enter the Spirit Gathering Sect in the future, I will indeed have to call him Senior Brother.”
Lin Lumi wanted to cry but had no tears: “What a disaster…”
Hearing this, Hua Tian couldn’t help but clap: “The two of you really have an tangled, unbreakable bond. You’ve fought all the way from the Yue Kingdom to the Eastern Ridge Lingshu?”
“Why else would I call it a disaster… My heart is so tired, I’m going to rest a bit more.” Saying that, Lin Lumi cast a Clothes-Cleansing Spell on herself and lay back down on her small bed.
Hua Tian clicked her tongue. If Lin Lumi hadn’t mentioned in the carriage before that she already had someone she liked, she would have urged the two of them to just be together.
After all, they even had a marriage contract. A disastrous fate is still fate~
She shook her head, returned to her desk, and lifted her brush to draw talismans again.
After nightfall, Lin Lumi deliberately changed into black clothes and walked toward the alley near the cafeteria.
In any case, that alley was a prime spot handpicked by the bullies, so no one should be passing by.
Lin Lumi deliberately arrived a bit early. To her surprise, Mu Heng was already waiting at the entrance of the alley.
“You’re finally here.” The youth crossed his arms, his tone lazy, yet carrying a hint of grievance as if he were collecting a debt. “You really made me wait.”
Lin Lumi kept walking, her expression cold: “We agreed on the hour of the Pig, and I’m not late. You waiting is your own doing.”
Mu Heng shook his head: “How heartless. I am your fiancé after all, how can you bear to leave me standing here in the cold wind late at night?”
Lin Lumi didn’t indulge him at all: “What, are you really that fragile? Can a summer breeze make you catch a cold?”
“Tsk.” Mu Heng shook his head, his thin lips curving upward. “How heartless. I am your nominal fiancé after all, do you have the heart to leave me alone blowing in the wind in this broken alley?”
“What, are you fragile or something?”
Mu Heng shrugged: “Who knows. Other winds won’t, but tonight’s wind is exceptionally chilly.”
“That’s weakness.” Lin Lumi glanced at him sideways and spat out three words coldly: “Kidney-deficient man.”
Mu Heng: “…?”
“I—”
Without waiting for him to finish, Lin Lumi cut him off: “Alright, stop arguing, let’s talk business. Regarding our marriage contract, I hope you keep your mouth shut.”
The smile in Mu Heng’s eyes instantly vanished, replaced by a trace of gloom. His voice grew low: “Why?”
“Is there even a need to ask?” Lin Lumi replied coldly, “If this kind of thing gets out, it won’t benefit either of us. If we meet someone we truly like in the future, how can we openly become cultivation partners?”
Mu Heng’s expression darkened, and the smile on the corners of his lips froze with coldness: “Who do you plan to become cultivation partners with?”
Well, she really couldn’t say for sure. After all, the Second Senior Brother from the book had already been squeezed out by Mu Heng, so she had to look for someone new.
But since the Eastern Ridge Lingshu was so vast, she didn’t believe she couldn’t find one!
Lin Lumi said calmly: “This is my private matter, none of your business. You just need to keep this secret.”