If you are out and about, remember to listen to your junior fellow disciple and don't throw a tantrum.

Empty Suspension Mountain, Moon Embrace Pavilion.

Yun Xi sat alone by the window, her fingertips gently stroking the white jade hairpin, now slightly warm, while she stared blankly at the sea of clouds outside.

The wind and snow had finally stopped.

"Thump, thump, thump!"

A flurry of knocks, so urgent they bordered on rude, shattered the stillness.

"Come in."

A dense scent of medicinal herbs, mixed with the biting cold wind, instantly flooded the entire room.

Yun Xi furrowed her delicate brows and looked up.

Before her stood the gaunt figure of Elder Yao, his aging face flushed crimson with excitement.

"Sect Leader!"

He rushed to Yun Xi in three hurried steps, nearly tripping over the threshold despite his Nascent Soul cultivation.

"There is hope! There is hope!"

"Sect Leader! The hidden injuries on your body... there is hope!"

Yun Xi was taken aback by his sudden outburst. Her voice was cool. "Elder Yao, what has you so unsettled?"

"Return to Ruins Pill! It is the Return to Ruins Pill!"

"Sect Leader, do you recall the pill formula I mentioned before, the one I found in a fragment of an ancient text?"

Yun Xi nodded.

Of course, she remembered.

For the sake of that formula, Elder Yao had been almost obsessed lately, having blown up who knows how many pill furnaces.

"Return to what it was before the ruins were destroyed!"

"It is about breaking down to rebuild! Nothing ventured, nothing gained!"

Elder Yao grew more agitated as he spoke.

"Sect Leader! Though your hidden injuries are severe, they have not yet reached the point of an irreparable golden core shattering!"

"If... if we can truly refine the Return to Ruins Pill, your damaged foundation can surely be recast!"

"Then, not only will you return to your former state, but you might even breach your limits and ascend to a higher realm!"

When he finished, the entire Moon Embrace Pavilion fell silent, so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Only Elder Yao's heavy, excited breathing filled the air.

Yun Xi listened quietly. Her stunning face remained composed, showing no great emotion.

She simply picked up the cup of tea that had already gone cold on the table and took a gentle sip.

A long moment passed.

She set the cup down with a faint sigh.

"Elder Yao."

Her voice was soft, yet carried a certain detached calm.

"I know what you're thinking."

The fervor on Elder Yao's face froze in an instant.

He opened his mouth, as if to say something, but found his throat clenched, unable to utter a single word.

"You have expended endless effort for my sake. I, Yun Xi, will remember this kindness."

Yun Xi rose and walked to the window, her back to him.

"But..."

"Elder Yao, you should go down the mountain and take a look around."

Her voice drifted, as if carried from the clouds.

"With your mastery of alchemy, whether you become a guest elder at a top-tier sect or establish your own school, you could forge a far brighter future than here on Empty Suspension Mountain."

"Why... waste your time on a tree that has already withered?"

Elder Yao's body trembled violently. The color drained from his wrinkled face.

"Sect Leader... I..."

"A man's affection terrifies me."

Yun Xi did not turn around. Her voice carried a heartbreaking weariness.

"It reminds me of... something terrifying."

"So..."

"Stop doing these things for me."

"I am not worth it."

"Leave."

"I have advised you several times now, haven't I?"

"I truly do not wish for the day when I must drive you away."

Her final words, light as air, struck like a heavy hammer against Elder Yao's heart.

His lips quivered. The spark that had barely kindled in his eyes dimmed and died, little by little.

"Then let me refine the Return to Ruins Pill first."

After that, he turned, hunched his back, and walked out of the Moon Embrace Pavilion step by step.

His retreating figure was as desolate as autumn leaves.

...

Shortly after Elder Yao left.

Yun Yao entered softly, carrying a bowl of steaming lotus seed soup.

"Master?"

She set the soup on the table, walked behind Yun Xi, and expertly began massaging her shoulders.

"Did Elder Yao just come by?"

"Mm." Yun Xi replied indifferently, without turning around.

Yun Yao stuck out her tongue and muttered under her breath, "That old man, always fussing over you at his age..."

Yun Xi said nothing.

She only felt an inexplicable unease.

A wave of irritation, like a tide, rose and refused to subside.

Against her will, her mind drifted back to that rainy night.

The cold rain, mixed with warm blood, clung sticky to her face.

And that sword.

The sword that had severed all her innocence and illusions.

And... the one who held it.

That gentle smile she had once believed would be her lifelong support.

"Master?"

Yun Yao sensed Yun Xi's tension and asked with concern, "What's wrong? Are you unwell?"

"Nothing."

Yun Xi snapped back, forcibly driving those images from her mind.

She turned to face her naive apprentice. A sudden, powerful impulse surged within her.

She wanted to tell her how treacherous this world was, how unpredictable people's hearts could be.

She wanted to tell her never to trust anyone easily, especially men.

But the words died on her lips as she looked into Yun Yao's clear, innocent eyes.

Wasn't she the same at that age?

Yun Xi smiled bitterly to herself.

She reached out and tousled Yun Yao's hair, her voice laden with a fatigue even she didn't fully recognize.

"Yao'er."

"I have raised you and your junior brother since you were young."

"I feared he might stray from the path... so I spent most of my time teaching him how to be a man, but I neglected you."

"Not at all! I think you take very good care of me."

Yun Xi shook her head. "If you go out to wander the world, remember to listen to your junior brother. Don't throw any tantrums."

Yun Yao beamed with joy. "Master, does that mean you're allowing me to go on a training journey?"

Yun Xi smiled wearily. "Consider it so."