Pursing her lips in embarrassment, Feng Xianyue pushed his chest, creating a distance between them.
She slipped the dagger into her sleeve before sitting down on the straw mat opposite the wooden table leaning back against the wall.
“The dagger seems important to you” Feng Xianyue carefully began watching as Qin Wuchen sat beside her.
“Hmm, it is, unfortunately a greedy person stole it”
Feng Xianyue coughed in embarrassment.
How could he say that with a straight face?
“I didn’t steal anything, I just wanted to defend myself, and the dagger happened to be at the right place” Feng Xianyue said, giving him a pointed look, remembering how he was after her life the first time they met.
Qin Wuchen casually glanced at Feng Xianyue and asked, “Why are you so strongly holding onto it”
Feng Xianyue clenched and unclenched her fingers, it might seem unreasonable to others, but the dagger held meaning to her.
Whenever she saw it, she remembered the satisfaction she felt taking Luo Wei’s life, it was that feeling she was holding onto.
she didn’t want to forget.
“Ha”Feng Xianyue let out a sigh, she only now realised that she was deeply scarred by Luo Wei’s attempt to rape her.
For now, she wanted to hold onto the dagger until the scar was healed.
It was her coping mechanism.
Looking at Qin Wuchen’s expressionless face, Feng Xianyue gave a self-deprecating smile.
“I don’t know why you are patient with me, or why you haven’t simply taken back what rightfully belongs to you when you are far stronger than i am…” She paused her fingers tightening slightly around the dagger.
“But if you want to know why I am holding onto it….I will tell you, if you are willing to listen”
When Qin Wuchen gave a slight nod Feng Xianyue began.
“Just a month ago, I was a sickly child waiting for death.
Back then I didn’t know my illness was caused by my physique.
Before I joined the sect, three young cultivators tried…” She faltered, lowering her gaze.
“….to take advantage of me, but i was fortunate enough to escape”
Qin Wuchen remained silent watching as her expression shifted from nostalgia to frustration, then finally to relief as though the memories were unfolding before her eyes.
For the first time his unusually unwavering gaze, trembled almost imperceptibly.
“I never expected to meet them again in the secret realm, ” Feng Xianyue slowly drew the dagger from its sheath.
“Here…I took their filthy lives with this dagger”
Hatred flashed across her eyes.
The dagger’s polished blade reflected the eerie blue glow of her irises, casting an unsettling chill over the room.
A tense silence descended.
Qin Wuchen gazed at Feng Xianyue, as if seeing her for the first time, then calmly looked away.
Noticing the tense atmosphere, Feng Xianyue let out a laugh.
“Now you understand my attachment right?” She began turning fully to look at him.
“Can I keep it for a while?”
“We would be leaving the secret realm tomorrow” Qin Wuchen began unfazed by her enthusiasm, “The next time we meet i will be taking back what belongs to me”
Stunned, Feng Xianyue stared at the heartless man who closed his eyes and began cultivating.
Was she wrong?
“Humph” Feng Xianyue pursed her lips, but slowly it pulled into a small smile.
He didn’t insist on taking it now, but the next time they met…who knows when that would be?
No matter how heartless he pretended to be, there was still warmth in him after all.
When her gaze settled on his impassive face again, Feng Xianyue watched Qin Wuchen shamelessly bewitched by his good looks.
“It’s a good thing all that beauty wasn’t a waste” She unconsciously muttered.
Shocked that it came out loud, Feng Xianyue gasped, clamping her hands over her mouth.
When she took a glance at Qin Wuchen, she sighed in relief at his expressionless face.
It seemed like he didn’t hear her.
“Ahh, what am I doing?” Feng Xianyue chastised herself, dragging her hands through her hair.
Since they were leaving the secret realm tomorrow, it was the perfect time for her to cultivate.
She might have unknowingly garnered too much attention, whether it was good or Feng Xianyue sensed trouble, so she had to grow stronger.
However for some unknown reason, the moment she closed her eyes, exhaustion washed over her and Feng Xianyue fell asleep.
Feng Xianyue had a troubling dream, she saw the little dumpling’s mother in her human form, a woman of breathtaking beauty, with eyes that held the weight of centuries.
She was injured and bloodied, desperately running away from some black figures chasing after her.
She ran for a long time, heartbroken, terrified and enraged….Feng Xianyue felt all the emotions that shifted through her and soon started breathing heavily.
Just then, a comforting warmth wrapped around Feng Xianyue.
A faint, unfamiliar scent lingered within it, coiling gently around her.
Her head came to rest gently against a soft surface.
Soon, the figure in her dream vanished without a trace, and the turmoil in her heart dissolved into a tranquil silence.
**********
Feng Xianyue woke up to the noise outside the dilapidated house.
She blinked, disoriented, the straw mat beneath her was still warm.
How come she fell asleep when she had planned to cultivate?
what a mess, she muttered
Looking around, she found the place empty, the space beside her was vacant and cold, Qin Wuchen was no where to be found.
When she fully sat up, a cloth fell from her shoulders, when she reached for it, she saw a black and white robe recognizing it as Qin Wuchen’s cloak.
why was it here?
Feng Xianyue wondered running her hands through it.
Was she covered with it…
A familiar scent drifted past her nose….it was the same scent as last night….
clean, faintly woody and something she couldn’t name.
Feng Xianyue absently sniffed the robe and her eyes abruptly flashed in recognition.
Her heart skipped a beat.
Did…did he cover her in his own robe while she slept?
Why?
Or was it someone else?Tsk!
Feng Xianyue hurriedly stood up and ran to the door.
Outside, she saw Qin Wuchen surrounded by about twenty cultivators.
They all wore black and white robes like him, only he stood with only a black robe.
They were probably his sect members.
Feng Xianyue glanced at the black and white outer garment, and her face bloomed into a soft smile.
This person carried himself with an icy indifference, yet beneath that unyielding exterior, laid a quiet gentleness.
“I should return this at least…he must be cold” Feng Xianyue muttered to herself.
Before she could approach them though, Feng Xianyue noticed a young lady who stood out from the group.
She wore a colour different from the sect members, pale silver-robe that seemed to shimmer in their own light.
The lady was called Tang Meiyin, the precious young Miss of the Tang family, she had a face blessed in all the right places, with a high cheekbone and full lips.
Though she had a gentle aura, her eyes held a sharpness in contrast, making her bewitching yet hard to approach.
However at present she held onto Qin Wuchen’s arm saying, “Wuchen, are you okay?
You had everyone worried”
“Hmm, I am fine” Qin Wuchen nodded the coldness in his eyes retreating, he didn’t take her hands off his arm.
Wuchen, Feng Xianyue was surprised, she noticed only Tang Meiyin called him by his given name….
were they close?
She had thought he was cold with everyone, but it seems, around certain people he let down his guard.
“Brother Qin, what about your cloak” Liu Yang asked closely looking at Qin Wuchen.
“Yes Wuchen, the cold in the secret realm is extreme, why are you not covered” Tang Meiyin asked, looking worried.
Amusement flickered in Qin Wuchen’s eyes but vanished as fast as it came, “Someone stole it”
Feng Xianyue caught the flicker from where she stood, her cheeks flushed.
He knew she was looking, and he was enjoying this.
“Jerk”she whispered faintly.
“Hahaha!” Liu Yang laughed, oblivious to the tension.
“Who would dare steal from you, brother Qin?
You must have lost it somewhere.
Feng Xianyue, watching this, rubbed her neck in embarrassment, she did dare to steal from him…
twice.
As she was about to head towards them, Feng Xianyue came to a stop when she saw Tang Meiyin pass a white fur-lined cloak to Qin Wuchen, saying, “Luckily I packed extra clothing, Wuchen put this on.
The hand holding onto the black and white cloak tightened momentarily, her knuckles turning white.
Beneath Feng Xianyue, the once wooden ground was now encased in ice.
Frost spread in silent, jagged patterns, crawling towards the door….
towards the group.
Feng Xianyue inhaled deeply and let out a slow breath, forcing herself to calm the strange raging storm in her heart.
if you have time, tell me what you think about the story.