Closing her eyes would block out the voice of a certain fox. This was what Miss Sang thought.
Qingwu slashed toward Qiu Chengxi. Finally, this person seemed to realize the importance of handling business first. He swiftly retreated, not daring to really sever Sang Dai’s Binding Ribbon, as this was Sang Dai’s life-bound artifact, which had already acknowledged its master. If Qiu Chengxi damaged Changmang, Sang Dai would also suffer consequences.
Just moments ago, while talking to Sang Dai, he had been examining the way Changmang bound him. Now, using a deft twist of spiritual power, he easily escaped from a Heaven-grade artifact.
Changmang: “???”
Is this man an eel?!
Qiu Chengxi swiftly summoned a curved blade that clashed against the Qingwu Sword.
The sharp weapons collided, sword light scattering everywhere like stars, and Sang Dai heard an ear-piercing sound.
The playful expression on Qiu Chengxi’s face faded, his gaze darkened. A man who could hold up Chunqiu Tower alone and endure so many assassination attempts was not an ordinary person. Though he was young, his cultivation had already stepped into the Nascent Soul stage.
He blocked Su Xuan’s sword horizontally and stepped back quickly. At the same time, mechanisms emerged under Su Xuan’s feet, with sharp blades rising from the ground. Without even looking, Su Xuan sliced them all apart.
Seeing that the two of them were about to really start fighting, Sang Dai finally couldn’t hold back. She hurriedly stepped forward and stood between them.
“Stop it, all of you.”
The Qingwu Sword and the curved blade halted in succession. Su Xuan and Qiu Chengxi forcefully stopped their killing moves, their violent energies dissipating into the air, ruffling Sang Dai’s black hair.
Sang Dai let out a sigh of relief. Just as she was about to speak, she heard Qiu Chengxi in front of her call out:
“Sister?”
The little fox who had just been pacified immediately exploded.
“Sister? You’ve got some nerve calling her sister. At your age, don’t you have any self-awareness? Qingwu!”
Qingwu: “You bastard, go die!”
Qingwu flew out from behind Sang Dai, aiming to slash at Qiu Chengxi. The jet-black long sword carried a frightening pressure, and Qiu Chengxi, regaining his composure, prepared to take this strike head-on.
Then—
The hilt of Qingwu Sword was calmly grasped by the sword cultivator.
Qingwu: “Aoo!”
Sang Dai tugged Qingwu Sword back by its hilt. Even then, Qingwu Sword, still brimming with murderous intent, tried to charge at Qiu Chengxi again. The sword cultivator’s expression remained calm as she gently patted the blade.
“Behave yourself.”
Although these words were directed at Qingwu Sword, her gaze was fixed on Su Xuan.
The little fox snapped angrily, “Why should I behave myself!”
Sang Dai, being fair, turned to Qiu Chengxi and said flatly, “You behave yourself, too.”
Qiu Chengxi immediately withdrew his curved blade and obediently said, “Alright, Sister.”
Su Xuan: “…”
He laughed again. “It seems you really don’t want to live.”
Qingwu: “Master, hit him, hit him! Hurry up and hit him! Even I, a sword, can’t stand this anymore!”
Qiu Chengxi raised both hands. “Sister, I didn’t make a move.”
Su Xuan’s face darkened as he strode forward, and the surrounding Karmic Fire suddenly ignited. Even Sang Dai could feel the scorching heat.
She lifted the Qingwu Sword to block in front of Su Xuan. “All of you, behave yourselves. If anyone makes a move, I’ll really hit them.”
Qiu Chengxi: “Okay, Sister.”
Su Xuan: “…………”
Sang Dai turned to look at him, narrowing her eyes slightly. “Your Karmic Fire is burning me.”
The flames on Su Xuan’s body instantly extinguished, but a certain fox was clearly still angry.
[Does Dai Dai like this type? He doesn’t even look as good as me! What’s so special about this pretty boy?!]
[No, no, Dai Dai, don’t look at him. Should I just have Liu Lixue come and take Dai Dai away? She can’t really like Qiu Chengxi, can she?!]
[Dai Dai, don’t like him. He looks all gentle, modest, and proper, but he’s definitely up to no good behind the scenes!]
Hearing his increasingly ridiculous assumptions, Sang Dai closed her eyes briefly to calm herself, resisting the urge to hit someone. She summoned Changmang back to her wrist, sheathed Qingwu, and turned to leave.
Su Xuan still hadn’t recovered when a flash of golden light passed before his eyes. The person who had been standing there was suddenly gone.
“Sister, wait for me! I’ll take you to the big house to sit!”
Su Xuan: “……”
No, he couldn’t bear it anymore. He was going to tear Chunqiu Tower apart!!
Sang Dai didn’t go to whatever big house Qiu Chengxi mentioned. Instead, she returned straight to the room assigned to her and Su Xuan.
Qiu Chengxi followed her, pulled over a chair, and was about to sit beside Sang Dai. Suddenly, someone grabbed the back of his collar and flung him to the side.
“You? Sit? That’s my seat.”
Su Xuan had clearly forgotten that they were in Chunqiu Tower, where everything belonged to Qiu Chengxi.
With a face full of anger, Su Xuan sat down, picked up the brewed tea on the side, and drank a few sips. Yet the fire in his heart still couldn’t be suppressed as he pondered how to get rid of this flashy brat.
Qiu Chengxi didn’t care at all, his eyes sticking to Sang Dai like glue.
Su Xuan was so furious that flames of Karmic Fire threatened to burst out of him again. Changmang, shrinking around Sang Dai’s wrist, poked her to signal that a little fox was about to explode.
Sang Dai remained silent.
She glanced at Su Xuan, only to meet his gaze. Her mind immediately filled with—
[Dai Dai!!!]
Sang Dai closed her eyes again.
No. At a time like this, she must not look at him.
Su Xuan grew even angrier.
What? She wouldn’t even look at him now?!
Meanwhile, Qiu Chengxi, oblivious as ever, cheerfully dragged over another stool and sat down on Sang Dai’s other side with a grin.
“Sister, it’s me. A hundred years ago, in Sifang City, you saved me. Back then, I promised to marry you.”
Sang Dai opened her eyes and, deliberately avoiding Su Xuan, furrowed her brows and looked to her left at Qiu Chengxi.
He blinked eagerly, his eyes full of expectation.
Sang Dai: “…The Blood Fiend incident in Sifang City?”
Qiu Chengxi: “Yes!!”
He became even more excited. “Sister, you remember me now!!”
Sang Dai managed a faint smile. “I have a bit of an impression.”
But not much.
Su Xuan: “You two actually know each other??”
The teacup in his hand shattered, and the scalding tea poured over his palm, turning the back of his pale white hand red.
Qiu Chengxi lazily glanced over, raising an eyebrow. “Yes, we know each other.”
Su Xuan sneered. “If you’re so unhappy, why don’t you go die already.”
The flames of Karmic Fire around him intensified. Qiu Chengxi was just about to defend himself when he saw Sang Dai, sitting quietly beside him, reach out her hand.
Her jade-like fingers slid through the silver strands of the fox’s hair, lifting the silky locks as if they were ribbons. Instantly, the flames around Su Xuan extinguished, and two furry ears popped out. Sang Dai gently cupped the ears, rubbing them lightly.
“Don’t be angry, okay? You’re so scary when you’re angry.”
Su Xuan: “…Then don’t look at him.”
He grumbled and shuffled closer to Sang Dai, just enough for his shoulder to brush against hers, completely ignoring Qiu Chengxi.
Qiu Chengxi’s heart shattered. “Sister, you promised to marry me.”
Suddenly realizing something, he turned to glare at Su Xuan with a murderous look. “Did you take advantage of her when she was weak? Did you interfere in someone else’s relationship? Are you the third party here?”
Su Xuan was enraged again. “Do you have a flowerpot growing out of your neck? When I met Dai Dai, how old were you, huh? Who’s interfering with whom here? Don’t you know?”
Qiu Chengxi crossed his arms and sneered coldly. “Hmph, the one who isn’t loved is the third party. Sister, leave him!”
Su Xuan slammed a palm down, shattering the table in front of him. “Qiu Chengxi, today is your last day alive.”
Sang Dai hurriedly stopped him. “If anyone fights again, I’ll throw them out.”
Qiu Chengxi obediently sat back down.
Su Xuan, still seething, began to smolder again. Sang Dai, now numb to the chaos, absentmindedly soothed him by stroking his head. At the same time, she shot Qiu Chengxi a look to quiet down.
He was quite an obedient person. Immediately sitting upright, he waved his hand, and the shattered table reassembled itself on the spot.
Sang Dai had already seen his mechanical skills; the entire building was constructed of small mechanisms. Fixing a table was child’s play for Qiu Chengxi.
“I remember a bit now, Young Master Qiu.”
As soon as she spoke, as if predicting what was coming, Sang Dai expressionlessly pushed down the about-to-flare Su Xuan, giving him a cold look that told him to sit still.
The little fox looked utterly aggrieved.
[Dai Dai… you’re being mean to me!]
Sang Dai rubbed her forehead.
Pinching the space between her brows with some helplessness, she said, “Let me speak. You two don’t move, and don’t say a word. Just listen to me, okay?”
Qiu Chengxi: “Okay, Sister.”
He was well-behaved, and in an effort to present his best self in front of Sang Dai, he obediently complied with her words.
Su Xuan forcibly suppressed his anger, regretting not killing Qiu Chengxi decades ago when he had the chance.
Sang Dai looked toward Qiu Chengxi and silently sighed.
Her “acquaintance” with Qiu Chengxi happened many years ago, though it barely counted as knowing him. Back then, Sang Dai was only in her twenties and just a Golden Core cultivator.
Sifang City was located within the Zen Sect’s territory in the Immortal Realm. A Nascent Soul-level Xiesui [a malevolent entity] appeared there, and Sang Dai led members of her Sword Sect to eliminate it.
In Sifang City, there was a small sect specializing in mechanical arts. The Blood Fiend had massacred the entire sect. When Sang Dai pursued the fiend and arrived, all she found was a city littered with corpses.
It was at that time she encountered Qiu Chengxi.
The Blood Fiend was sucking his blood. The teenage boy lay pale and motionless on the ground, a pool of blood spreading around him. His breath was so faint that he was hanging on by a thread.
Sang Dai leapt forward just as the Blood Fiend was about to sever his veins. She forced the fiend back and tossed Qiu Chengxi a bottle of healing pills. She then led the Blood Fiend to the mountaintop, where she fought for three days and three nights before finally slaying the creature.
After dealing with the fiend, she rushed to the Qiu family estate, believing that Qiu Chengxi had likely died from his severe injuries. But holding onto a sliver of hope—what if he had managed to take the life-saving pill?
Pushing open the gates of the Qiu family estate, she saw Qiu Chengxi, still unconscious.
He had used his last bit of strength to swallow the pill she gave him, surviving three days purely on the efficacy of that life-sustaining pill.
After a Blood Fiend rampages, it brings with it a great plague. Sifang City was hit by an outbreak, and the entire city was sealed off. Sang Dai couldn’t leave, so she stayed at the Qiu family estate.
During the days Qiu Chengxi was unconscious, Sang Dai dug over a hundred graves in the Qiu family’s back courtyard, burying all the corpses of the Qiu clan. Afterward, she continued living at the Qiu family estate.
Qiu Chengxi woke up on the tenth day.
Perhaps it was because he had witnessed the annihilation of his entire family—the deaths of his parents right before his eyes—and had narrowly escaped death himself, Qiu Chengxi spoke very little. He spent his days curled up inside his room.
At the time, Sang Dai was also someone who rarely spoke. Being only in her twenties, she was still quite young in the cultivation world. Qiu Chengxi was just a boy in his teens. They hardly said a word to one another. Every day, Sang Dai simply placed pills outside Qiu Chengxi’s door. Since cultivators practiced fasting, he didn’t need to eat.
Until one night, Sang Dai sat meditating in the courtyard, a circular disk placed beside her.
When she opened her eyes, the young boy, dressed in gold-colored robes, stood there and said, “This is the Qiu family’s Lifang Formation Disk. It contains all the formation techniques the Qiu family has researched over the years. I’m giving it to you.”
Sang Dai asked, “Why give it to me?”
Qiu Chengxi replied, “To thank you.”
Sang Dai glanced at the Lifang Formation Disk and pushed it back. “There’s no need. It was my duty to eliminate the fiend. It’s my job, and there’s no need to thank me.”
Qiu Chengxi shoved it into her arms again and added, “If you don’t want it, just throw it away. I don’t need it.”
Sang Dai looked at him, and under their silent standoff, she accepted the Lifang Formation Disk. From her spatial pouch, she took out a curved blade.
“Take this weapon. I got it during a trial. You’re alone, so you’ll need something to protect yourself.”
The boy accepted the curved blade and said, “Thank you.”
Qiu Chengxi sat beside her, and the two of them spent half the night in the cool night breeze.
Before dawn, Sang Dai stood up and said to him, “The corpses of the Qiu family are buried in the back mountain. Life is a long journey. You’ve already reached the peak of Foundation Establishment at just a little over ten years old. Your talent is exceptional. Walk the Immortal Path well.”
At this point, she paused for a moment before continuing, “In any case, don’t give up on yourself. That curved blade is yours. Perhaps one day, you can use it to protect someone else.”
Sang Dai was cold by nature, but her thoughts were sharp and perceptive. She had noticed that Qiu Chengxi harbored suicidal thoughts back then; his desire to live was weak.
Qiu Chengxi gripped the curved blade tightly without saying a word.
Sang Dai stayed at the Qiu estate for a few more days. By then, Qiu Chengxi had started joining her for meals, though the two still rarely spoke.
On the seventeenth day after Sifang City’s lockdown, the plague was eradicated, and Sang Dai had to return to the Sword Sect to report her mission.
Before leaving, she turned back to look at the boy standing at the Qiu family’s gate.
“I’m leaving. I hope your Immortal Path will be smooth. Cultivate well in the future.”
In truth, they had barely spoken over the past ten days. Sang Dai’s feelings for Qiu Chengxi were more akin to pity. She didn’t want to see someone with such extraordinary talent give up on life. She saved him because she hoped he would live.
As she walked further away, the boy seemed to shout something behind her. His voice was loud, but it was raining heavily at the time. The sound of the rain drowned out Qiu Chengxi’s words, and Sang Dai didn’t hear what he said.
A hundred years passed. They never saw each other again.
Until now.