You Clearly Went to ... the Moon Pavilion

Yun Ying: "…You're the shameless one!"

He nearly roared it out.

That roar finally startled Yun Yao awake from her dreams.

"Hmm?"

Yun Yao groggily opened her eyes, rubbed them, and let out a yawn.

"Junior Brother? What's wrong? Why are you yelling so loudly?"

She sat up, and only then realized she had spent the whole night clinging to Yun Ying's leg.

"Ah!"

Behind Su Ji, Su Jiu poked out a little head.

In her hands was a paper-wrapped bundle of steamed buns.

Yun Yao's attention was instantly drawn away.

"Wow! Steamed buns!"

She forgot all about being embarrassed, her eyes brightening as she scrambled over.

Watching this, the turmoil in Yun Ying's heart gradually began to settle.

He struggled to sit up, leaning against the headboard, and looked at Su Ji with a complicated expression.

"Thank you for saving us, Senior. This one dares to ask... what happened to the attacker last night?"

Su Ji casually took one of Su Jiu's buns, blew on it to cool it down, and took a bite.

"Don't know."

He answered vaguely.

His dismissive attitude meant Yun Ying didn't press further.

If he was still alive, then at the very least, in last night's clash, that attacker hadn't gotten any advantage over Su Ji.

"Then... then what about my Master?!"

Yun Ying's voice suddenly rose, carrying a tremble even he hadn't noticed.

"Did you save my Master?!"

Su Ji paused mid-bite.

He raised his eyes and calmly looked at the boy full of desperate hope.

"You two siblings were lucky, so you ran into me."

"But in this world, the lucky ones aren't many."

Su Ji stuffed the remaining half of the bun into his mouth and chewed slowly.

"Unfortunately."

"Your Master probably wasn't one of them."

Boom—!

It felt like something exploded inside Yun Ying's head.

All the color drained from his face in an instant.

"You... you didn't save her?!"

Yun Ying tumbled off the bed in a panic.

The wound on his chest hadn't healed yet, and the fall left him seeing stars.

But he didn't care about the pain.

He crawled on his hands and knees for four or five steps, desperately grabbing hold of Su Ji's leg, looking up with bloodshot eyes.

"Why didn't you save her?!"

Su Ji looked down at him, his gaze like he was watching a fool throwing a tantrum.

"Why would I save her?"

"You clearly could have—" Yun Ying's voice was hoarse, full of resentment.

"No, I couldn't."

Su Ji rolled his eyes.

"Being able to hold off a Void Refinement expert for you two siblings was already me going above and beyond."

...

Last night.

In the wind and snow.

Just as Su Ji was about to turn and leave that ruined battlefield.

An extremely weak voice came from behind him.

"Wait."

It was Yun Xi.

She had awakened.

Su Ji stopped, turning around.

Yun Xi was leaning against a relatively intact section of broken wall, her face as pale as paper.

"Thank you for your help, Daoist friend."

Her voice was faint.

"No need." Su Ji's reply was clipped. "We're even."

Hearing this, a faint bitter smile tugged at the corner of Yun Xi's lips.

"I have an inappropriate request."

Su Ji's brows furrowed.

"Don't push your luck."

It was the thing he hated most—saving someone, only for them to latch onto him.

"I won't ask for your help for nothing."

Yun Xi struggled to pull out a storage ring from her robes and pushed it in front of Su Ji.

"Inside this is the last legacy of the Thousand Illusion Sect, as well as all the savings my Yin-Yang Sect has accumulated over these past sixteen years."

Su Ji glanced at the ring but didn't take it.

"Say what you need first. I'll consider it."

Yun Xi was silent for a moment, as if organizing her words.

"The one who came this time was only a disciple of his."

"The next time..."

Yun Xi's voice carried an unfathomable weariness.

"The next time, it might be him personally."

"I won't have such good fortune again, to run into a variable like you."

She lifted her head and looked at Su Ji, her eyes carrying a pleading so desperate it bordered on begging.

"So..."

"I want to ask you to pass a message to Yao'er and Ying'er."

"Tell them..."

Yun Xi's lips trembled, but in the end, she forced out those words.

"I am already dead."

Su Ji looked at her, saying nothing.

"Only if I'm dead will they truly leave, truly forget this place, forget Kongxuan Mountain, forget the Yin-Yang Sect."

"Only then can they survive."

"This is my fate. It shouldn't drag them in..."

"They still have a bright future..."

"Or perhaps I'll be lucky enough to escape, or perhaps that man dies unexpectedly, and we may yet have a chance to meet again..."

"But for now..."

Yun Xi's eyes glistened with tears, but she held them back.

"I... beg you."

A Void Refinement realm sect master uttered the word "beg."

Su Ji looked at her for a long moment.

In the end, he simply nodded.

"Fine."

...

The memory ended.

Su Ji looked down at the boy clinging to his ankle, crying like a child.

He said nothing more.

He just lifted his foot, trying to kick him off.

Yun Yao scrambled to pull Yun Ying up.

But Yun Ying seemed crazed, desperately holding onto Su Ji's ankle, refusing to let go.

"I want to avenge Master!"

Yun Ying roared, his voice filled with despair.

Yun Yao was terrified by his state, so anxious tears were about to fall.

"Junior Brother, calm down!"

"Fine."

"You want revenge, huh?"

"Go ahead."

"I don't know where the Blade Sect is. Go ask around yourself."

"In their sect, Void Refinement experts are probably as common as cabbages. There might even be immortals sitting at the top."

Su Ji looked at him like he was an idiot.

"Go right now. Perfect timing—you can keep your Master company on the road to the Yellow Springs."

"You—"

"Or, I have another idea. It's more reliable than you throwing your life away."

"I hear the reigning Great Emperor doesn't allow too much friction between factions."

"Just go report the Blade Sect for mass slaughter and wiping out your sect."

"Maybe the Immortal Emperor gets angry, coughs once, and wipes out the entire Blade Sect in return."

Yun Ying was choked by these words, his chest heaving violently: "That's easy to say... but sometimes it's not like you can just go and it'll work..."

"Not to mention I can't even see the Great Emperor..."

"Even if I did, he probably wouldn't care. He'd blame me—why didn't I report to the local governing sect first? If every Tom, Dick, and Harry came to him with trivial matters, how could he possibly keep up?"

"Then go find the sect that governs the Chaotic Star Sea region?"

Yun Ying shook his head again: "Not to mention the Chaotic Star Sea isn't under anyone's jurisdiction..."

"Even if it were, the big sects all have mutual interests. They wouldn't be so righteous as to stand up for a nobody like me..."

Su Ji continued munching on his bun: "You can analyze things pretty clearly. Seem pretty smart. But in reality, you're just a fool. Wasting all the effort your Master put into you."

Su Ji let out a sneer, his tone dripping with mockery.

These words were like a thunderclap out of a clear sky, exploding instantly in Yun Ying's mind.

He jerked his head up, those bloodshot eyes locked onto Su Ji's face, his voice turning sharp and hoarse with agitation.

"What did you say?"

"Master's... painstaking effort?"

In that moment, Yun Ying's thoughts raced.

Something was wrong!

Su Ji said he hadn't saved Master!

Then how could there have been "painstaking effort"?

Unless...

"You actually went to... Lan Yue Pavilion?!"