Chu Qingchen was leaving.
As the branch nominally responsible for hosting Chu Qingchen, Soaring Moon Peak was expected to have Ling Qingxue, Xiao Luoyi, and Lin Xiao see her off.
It was called a group, but it consisted of only three people.
It wasn’t that they didn’t care about appearances.
There were simply only three people of any note on Soaring Moon Peak.
Xiao Luoyi hadn’t wanted to come, but Lin Xiao had, so she came too.
At the foot of Soaring Moon Peak, the sound of hoofbeats came from the distance.
Chu Qingchen and Qingluan rode toward them and reined in before Lin Xiao and the others.
Chu Qingchen dismounted in one fluid motion, then walked up to Ling Qingxue and bowed.
“Thank you for discussing the Dao with me these past few days, Elder Ling,” she said.
“I’ve gained a great deal from it.”
Ling Qingxue looked at her expressionlessly.
She paused.
“With Your Highness’s talent, if you devoted yourself to seeking the immortal path, you might yet attain the Dao.”
“Be careful not to stray onto the wrong path or make a misstep.”
Chu Qingchen’s expression shifted slightly, then she smiled.
“Thank you for your guidance, Elder Ling.”
Chu Qingchen met Ling Qingxue’s gaze.
“But I am first and foremost the Third Princess,” she said.
“Chu Qingchen comes second.”
She offered no explanation, and Ling Qingxue asked nothing more.
Chu Qingchen turned and walked over to Lin Xiao.
As Lin Xiao watched the woman approach one step at a time, he felt an unexpected sense of pressure.
“Young Master Lin, you won your wager with me,” Chu Qingchen said.
“I’ll honor my promise and refrain from bringing up taking you back to Zhongzhou for now.”
She paused.
“But only for now.”
He’d known this woman wouldn’t be so easy to get rid of.
“Then when will you bring it up again?”
Chu Qingchen blinked.
“What do you think, Young Master Lin?”
She tilted her head.
“But it can’t be too long, you know. I’ll be pining for you all the while~”
Lin Xiao looked at Chu Qingchen.
It seemed she’d given him the choice, but she’d actually tossed the problem right back to him with effortless ease.
If the time was too short, Chu Qingchen would easily have him in her grasp again before he had a chance to grow.
If it was too long and exceeded Chu Qingchen’s expectations, she’d refuse without hesitation.
“Three-Year Pact.”
Lin Xiao decided to follow the advice of those who came before him.
“Do not bully a poor youth. When the time comes, Princess, you can see whether you still want to take me back—and whether you still have the power to do it.”
Chu Qingchen stared at Lin Xiao for a long time, then smiled.
Her laughter grew louder and brighter until it turned into unrestrained laughter.
She bent over laughing, nearly squeezing tears from her eyes.
Behind her, Qingluan looked completely bewildered.
It was the first time she’d seen Her Highness laugh so hard without any regard for etiquette.
Lin Xiao watched her expressionlessly.
“What’s so funny, Princess?”
“Sorry, Young Master Lin. I’m not laughing at you.”
Chu Qingchen finally stopped laughing.
She straightened, tears of laughter still at the corners of her eyes, and looked at Lin Xiao.
“I was expecting three years, too.”
“I just thought you and I really were on the same wavelength…”
“Three-Year Pact. Do not bully a poor youth.”
She repeated the words.
“All right.”
She held out her hand.
“It’s a promise?”
Lin Xiao raised his hand and gave hers a light tap.
“It’s a promise.”
Chu Qingchen withdrew her hand and turned toward Xiao Luoyi.
Xiao Luoyi stood there with a cold expression.
As she watched Chu Qingchen approach, her hands clenched around her skirt.
Chu Qingchen stopped in front of her and softly called out.
“Little sister.”
“Who are you calling your little sister?!”
Xiao Luoyi’s face instantly flushed red.
Chu Qingchen admired her expression, her eyes curving into crescents as she smiled.
“Little sister, shall I be off, then?”
Xiao Luoyi took a deep breath.
“Just go!! The farther away, the better!!”
Chu Qingchen nodded without a hint of anger, then mounted her horse in one smooth motion.
She pulled on the reins, took one last look at the three of them, and raised her riding crop.
“Hyah!”
The horse whinnied, all four hooves lifting off the ground as it charged down the mountain.
Qingluan mounted as well and galloped after her.
Two horses and two figures disappeared at the end of the road.
The Mountain Gate soon fell quiet again.
Lin Xiao stood where he was, staring at the empty road, his mind filled with the words “Three-Year Pact” and “It’s a promise.”
“Lin Xiao.”
Ling Qingxue suddenly spoke, interrupting his thoughts.
“You’re now the great hero who rescued the princess from Shadow Pavilion,” she said.
Lin Xiao froze.
Why did that sound so sarcastic?
“But…”
Ling Qingxue said, “with your cultivation at Qi Refining Level 3, you’re not worthy of that heroic title.”
Lin Xiao was speechless.
He lowered his head and looked at himself.
Qi Refining Level 3.
That was true.
He’d beaten Chen Tianhao at the Sword Discussion Ceremony by turning his opponent’s strength against him, not through his own cultivation.
Ling Qingxue’s gaze shifted from him to Xiao Luoyi, then returned to him.
“You two became my disciples, but the princess’s visit kept you from training properly.”
“Starting tomorrow, you’ll have to take up the responsibilities of True Disciples.”
“We’ll obey your orders, Master…”
In the days that followed, Lin Xiao’s life changed completely.
The three of them spent every day training on Soaring Moon Peak.
Sword technique, footwork, mental cultivation—nothing was left out.
Ling Qingxue’s standards were absurdly strict.
Lin Xiao was often left battered and disheveled after being scolded, while Xiao Luoyi had it a little easier, though she was often punished with extra practice as well.
Perhaps because the two of them were gradually getting the hang of it, they also started to understand their master’s rhythm.
Ling Qingxue watched them train less and less.
In the end, after teaching them the key points of each technique, she simply had Xiao Luoyi train with Lin Xiao.
It was just like the saying: “The master opens the door; the rest is up to the student.”
Xiao Luoyi was delighted to become her senior brother’s training partner.
Once, when Lin Xiao was tired of practicing and tried to slack off, she crouched in front of him and looked at him with her bright, light-purple eyes.
“Senior Brother, practice just a little longer.”
“…Are you pleading with me or giving me an order?”
Xiao Luoyi blinked.
“Both.”
Lin Xiao resigned himself to getting back up and continuing.
Sincerity was the ultimate weapon.
The days passed one by one.
After struggling through his training, Lin Xiao’s cultivation finally reached Qi Refining Level 7.
Meanwhile, Xiao Luoyi had already broken through the peak of Qi Refining.
She was advancing far faster than Lin Xiao, practically shooting upward like a firework.
Sometimes, Lin Xiao wondered if the cheat ability that was supposed to come standard with being a transmigrator had somehow ended up with his junior sister.
He wondered if her mind chimed nonstop while she cultivated.
His spirit root, which had given him the start of a “born loser,” was still far too poor.
He couldn’t just endure hardship for hardship’s sake.
He needed a chance to defy fate and change his life, like the Secret Realm that was about to open.
Today, Lin Xiao sat at his desk, organizing his plan for changing his fate in the Secret Realm, when the door quietly creaked open.
Xiao Luoyi poked her head in.
“Senior Brother?”
Lin Xiao looked up.
She slipped inside, walked over to him, took off her embroidered shoes, and sat on the desk.
Without hesitation, she tucked her little feet into his lap.
Lin Xiao kneaded them with practiced ease.
“Why are they so cold?”
Lin Xiao was used to it by now.
For the past three months, Xiao Luoyi had come by almost every night.
Sometimes she only sat with him for a while; sometimes she leaned against him and fell asleep; and sometimes she quietly told him about the little things that had happened during the day.
Tonight, she didn’t say anything.
She only watched the moon outside the window, occasionally curling her toes when Lin Xiao tickled them.
The moonlight fell across her face, making her features look sweet and gentle.
“Senior Brother,” Xiao Luoyi finally said.
“I’ve been thinking about something today.”
Lin Xiao looked up at her.
“What is it?”
“I know it’s good to become stronger.”
Xiao Luoyi paused.
“But…I’m afraid, too.”
“Afraid of what?”
“I’m afraid the stronger we become, the more trouble we’ll have to deal with,” Xiao Luoyi said.
“When I was an Outer Disciple, all I had to think about was how to cultivate, and how to spend more time with you.”
“But now we’re True Disciples.”
“I have a bad feeling that we’ll have to face a lot more difficulties…”
“Senior Brother, sometimes I wish we could’ve stayed Outer Disciples forever.”
“Even if people bullied us, as long as you were there, that would’ve been enough.”
“We wouldn’t have had to worry about anything.”
Lin Xiao saw the unease in her eyes.
He remembered the game’s story.
The seal at the Northern Border would break, and the Demon Clan would sweep south, leaving devastation in its wake.
Restarting the Protective Clan Grand Array was their hope of turning the tide.
Only the royal family of the Kingdom of Moonlight knew the location of one of the five legacy relics.
More precisely, only Xiao Luoyi knew.
For the sake of making the game more playable, the relic’s burial coordinates had been randomized.
That had robbed him, a transmigrator, of his innate advantage.
Xiao Luoyi had sealed those memories away.
Remembering where the relic was buried was equivalent to remembering the blood of her family and the flames consuming her home.
How could he bring it up?
Tell her: “Junior Sister, to save the world, could you recall your most painful memories again?”
Lin Xiao raised a hand, intending to touch her hair.
“Don’t think about it so much.”
“Getting stronger gives you more options when trouble comes.”
“We’ll deal with tomorrow when it gets here.”
“You’re right, Senior Brother.”
Xiao Luoyi was sitting so high up that she lowered her head and rubbed it against his hand.
“We’ll deal with tomorrow when it gets here.”