Chapter 1: Moonlight

Xia Ningshang searched for several days and eventually found contacts in other cities. The news she received was that everything was fine and nothing had happened.

But that did not match the carrier-pigeon messages sent by the Great Witch Priest. If nothing had gone wrong, the Great Witch Priest would never have sent five pigeons in succession.

Only the Great Witch Priest herself could have written that kind of cipher.

The reassuring reports obtained by her subordinates could only mean that their intelligence rank was insufficient and they had failed to obtain accurate information from the Dragon Kingdom.

Moreover, the Zhao Kingdom lay between them and the Dragon Kingdom, making it extremely difficult for news to pass through.

For a moment, Xia Ningshang became even more hesitant.

“If you’re worried, why not use the Demon Dragon Spear as a courier, just as you did with the Human Emperor Sword?” Ji Huo asked in puzzlement as he sipped his tea.

Xia Ningshang explained, “For one thing, if my brother is currently fighting an enemy, suddenly recalling the Demon Dragon Spear might put him in danger.”

Ji Huo understood and nodded.

“There’s another reason…” Xia Ningshang glanced at him. Her eyes seemed both real and illusory, and her shifting expression held an indescribable emotion.

In the end, she could not bring herself to say the rest.

That single glance made Ji Huo’s heart give a sudden jolt. He immediately turned his gaze toward the distance.

He already understood what she meant.

The method of using divine weapons to transmit messages had been discovered on Ji Huo’s side. Xia Ningshang’s overprotective brother probably still knew nothing about it.

If Xia Ningshang sent a letter that way, would her brother not start sending flying-spears every day, keeping tabs on her movements at all times?

As a girl who was rebellious by nature and fond of wandering wherever she pleased, that would be unbearable. And if her brother accidentally followed the Demon Dragon Spear and came across Ji Huo…

All right. However he imagined it, the scene was bound to end badly.

Ji Huo silently drank a little wine and looked up at the night sky, his expression distant, as though lost in thought.

The cicadas sang loudly in the summer night, yet somehow their cries were not irritating.

Xia Ningshang leaned against the table and pondered for a long while, but still could not figure out what sort of situation would drive her brother to recall the Demon Dragon Spear for a fight. By all rights, the Dragon Kingdom’s circumstances should have stabilized by now.

Surely her brother had not charged alone across the border of the Zhao Kingdom, killing his way over?

The moment that thought arose, Xia Ningshang shook her head. He probably had not. Her elder brother was usually quite levelheaded and would never do anything so insane.

Forget it!

She would stop thinking about it.

At worst, she would stay a few more days, have someone investigate the Dragon Kingdom’s situation again, and secretly return herself if necessary.

With that thought, Xia Ningshang cast her worries aside and looked toward Ji Huo.

Only then did she notice that he had been gazing at the night sky all along, as though staring at the bright moon. Yet his eyes seemed never to have truly focused on anything.

In other words, he was daydreaming.

Xia Ningshang suddenly remembered that this fool had seemed to drift off like this quite often over the past few days.

“Fool,” she said softly.

Ji Huo started and came back to himself, turning to look at her.

Across the stone table, Xia Ningshang rested her cheek on one hand, her little head tilted to the side. Her right cheek was slightly puffed beneath her palm, creating an irresistible urge to pinch it.

Her glossy black hair fell loosely over her shoulders. A strand slid down the side of her face, smooth as a waterfall.

Her eyes sparkled, reflecting the moonlight of the night like brilliant gems.

Countless emotions flowed through them, at once real and illusory, at once seductive and pure. They were so rich and misty that they seemed almost ready to overflow.

Ji Huo stared blankly for a moment, then suddenly turned away to look at the wine cup on the table. Almost unconsciously, he lifted the wine jug and poured himself another cup.

“What is it?” he asked.

Xia Ningshang froze. For some inexplicable reason, panic stirred in her heart, and she instinctively touched her face.

She had washed her face today, surely. It could not be so terrible that he could not bear to look at her, could it?

“Well…” Xia Ningshang suppressed her strange unease and carefully asked, “What’s wrong with you lately? Why do you seem so absent-minded?”

Ji Huo was silent for two seconds. He gazed at the full moon above them. It was the sixteenth night of the lunar month, and the moon hung in the sky like a flawless jade disk, breathtakingly beautiful.

“Perhaps…” Ji Huo said instinctively, “the moonlight is simply too beautiful tonight.”

“…”

Xia Ningshang held her breath slightly. She felt certain that something was wrong with this fool. Even the things he said were inexplicably strange.

Ji Huo smiled, his eyes once again resting on the moonlight. He said nothing more.

Several seconds later, Xia Ningshang suddenly rose to her feet and spread her arms wide, as though embracing the moonlit, star-sprinkled sky.

A cool breeze brushed past, bringing waves of refreshing air. For some reason, her face grew warm as well. Smiling, she replied, “The wind is very gentle too.”

With that, she ran straight back to her room.

Ji Huo remained seated where he was, staring blankly for quite some time.

Moonlight spilled over him, lending the scene an indescribable stillness, though not the slightest sense of loneliness.

Xia Ningshang rushed back to her room and slammed the door shut. Then, in a fluster, she pulled a well-thumbed romance storybook from beneath the bed, flipped skillfully to a certain page, and carefully read the dialogue printed there.

“See? I didn’t say anything wrong, did I?”

“I suppose not?”

“No, what did he mean by that?”

“Did he mean what I think he meant?”

“Or was he saying that the moonlight really is beautiful tonight?”

“But the moonlight really is quite beautiful tonight.”

“Does he know that I meant what I meant?”

“I don’t even know what exactly I meant…”

She muttered to herself for a while, feeling her cheeks grow hotter and hotter. At last, Xia Ningshang rolled over and lay stiffly on the bed in utter defeat, covering her face with the storybook.

“I’m finished.”

“I must have gone mad.”

…

The next morning.

The two doors of the rooms in the little courtyard opened at the same time. The two of them froze, their eyes meeting in midair before darting away again.

“Morning.”

“Morning.”

After exchanging those simple greetings, they each went about washing up.

Ji Huo entered the kitchen with practiced ease to prepare breakfast, while Xia Ningshang sat facing the rising sun and cultivated.

Smoke soon rose from the kitchen, and before long, the enticing fragrance of food drifted through the courtyard.

Several times, Xia Ningshang wanted to glance in that direction, but each time she restrained herself.

Her mind was so troubled that she nearly lost control of her breathing and energy circulation during her cultivation.

This was simply too torturous…

Before long, two bowls of simple scallion-oil noodles were served, each topped with a fried egg.

“Eat,” Ji Huo said quietly without looking at her, then lowered his head and began devouring his noodles.

“All right.” Xia Ningshang likewise kept her head down.

An eerie silence settled over the little courtyard.

It lasted until Big Brother sauntered leisurely through the gate.

He took a casual look around, then immediately backed up several steps to inspect the plaque above the courtyard entrance. After confirming that he had not come to the wrong place, he took out the folding fan he always carried, opened it with a flourish, and fanned himself with elegant composure.

“Looks like I arrived at just the right time.”