"Why wouldn't I dare?"

"You're just a mere mortal, and mere mortals always have something they wouldn't dare to do."

Chen Yi raised an eyebrow and said, "So, you look down on mortals then?"

"I look down on you," Lu Ying snorted.

This demeanor reminded Chen Yi of someone.

Yin Weiyin—he still remembered how breathtakingly ethereal she was when he first met her.

Calling him a mere mortal with every word, speaking of the path to immortality with every breath, yet in the end...

Chen Yi chuckled, "There was once a so-called Immortal who looked down on me just like you.

But later, well...

We all know how that turned out."

"Of course I know,"

Lu Ying glanced at him and said:

"You became her furnace, didn't you? Such a pitiful fate!"

Chen Yi: "..."

He didn't know whether to laugh or cry, so with a stiff face, he concurred, "Yeah, really pitiful."

"Such a poor soul."

"Utterly pitiful."

"Yet the pitiful always have something hateful about them," Lu Ying said seriously. "Do you know what makes you so hateful?"

Chen Yi thought about it. He had indeed been the subject of much hatred from various women, so he asked her, "What's so hateful about me, then?"

Lu Ying looked at him with a blend of pity and severity and said, "Come closer. I'll tell you. Surely you don't want people to keep hating you, do you?"

Chen Yi leaned in.

In an instant, Lu Ying flipped a pig-faced mask onto his face. "Haha, it's because you're a pig!"

Chen Yi flew into a rage, hoping to grab Lu Ying, but Lu Ying had already bounced away, darting out of the alley like a whirlwind.

In Shantong City, the two dashed after one another, their footsteps echoing against the shaky cobblestones. Dust rose in their wake, flitting past street market stalls, almost overturning them.

A laughing young girl raced ahead, followed closely by a giant pig-faced figure.

A group of Daoists strolled leisurely out of a nearby alley, chatting and laughing about the recent Dao debates, phrases like "overflow with vigor" punctuating their conversation.

At first, Lu Ying wanted to slow down and appear a bit more composed in front of the Daoists, but with the pig mask hot on her heels, she dared not stop!

Her feet flew, tearing through the streets like leaves swept by the wind.

Her face flashed by, and amidst the group of Daoists, a female crown bore a slightly puzzled expression.

When the pig-faced figure behind Lu Ying darted past, the female crown's serene gaze widened in surprise.

A man and a woman lost themselves in playful chasing, their raucous antics causing pedestrians to dodge with cries of "Ah!" and drawing onlookers' attention away from the storyteller's stall. The protective windscreen on the stall fluttered in the breeze as the pair darted into another alley, leaving behind a haze of dust in their hurried wake. Amid laughter, the girl laughed so hard her stomach hurt, tears welling up in her eyes as she tumbled to the ground, her arm scraped and bleeding slightly from its youthful flesh. Gasping heavily, Lu Ying slumped against a wall with a thud.

Turning the corner, Chen Yi appeared once more with his pig mask.

Lu Ying laughed even harder, feeling entirely unafraid now.

"Lonely?" she suddenly heard a question whispered in her ear.

Lu Ying froze, recalling the moment she had once asked Chen Yi the same thing.

Chen Yi removed the mask, his voice soft as he asked, "Why did you ask me if I was lonely back then?"

Lu Ying returned to her senses, her gaze lowering as she replied, "Because I felt like my master is quite lonely."

"Oh?"

"My master… she never seems to show much concern for worldly matters. I can't quite put it into words, but it's as if she looks down from a very, very high place, very…" Lu Ying paused for a long moment before finally saying, "Detached."

In Lu Ying's eyes, Zhou Yitang and Chen Yi's perspective of Zhou Yitang were almost identical.

Indeed, she faintly felt that Chen Yi was closer to Zhou Yitang than she herself could ever be.

To Lu Ying, Zhou Yitang stood too high, veiled in misty clouds that inspired reverence but prevented closeness. Humanity was separated from the mountain's summit by layers of dense fog; standing there, she seemed not of this world, as though wherever she stood, that place itself became a lofty peak.

And from those heights, she overlooked the bustling mortal realm with profound indifference.

So in Lu Ying's view, Zhou Yitang was terribly lonely.

"The more exquisitely one masters the sword, the lonelier they become. It's not just the sword—anyone who ascends to the pinnacle of martial arts faces loneliness."

If they were atop Cangwu Peak at Yin Sword Mountain, Lu Ying would never have dared voice such thoughts, but here, she felt free to lay her feelings bare.

Chen Yi listened, amused.

Ordinary folks would exhaust every effort, risking their lives to climb to the pinnacle of martial arts, yet here was Sword Armor's first disciple Lu Ying, preoccupied with concerns about solitude. Chen Yi didn't know how to respond; surely others who heard would call it small-minded.

Then again, this was simply Lu Ying—his senior master.

"Are you afraid of loneliness?"

"…Afraid. That's why I don't dare train too much with the sword…" Lu Ying hesitated, then added, "I'm afraid that, like my master, I'll sever the Three Corpses and become indifferent, uncommunicative. Now my master has me, but where would I find another Lu Ying?"

Chen Yi stretched lazily. He neither comforted her nor offered an answer.

He simply let out a casual, somewhat childish sigh:

"Life is truly lonely as snow."

Lu Ying shot him a glance and asked, "Are you alluding to Tingxue?"

Chen Yi froze for a moment, surprised that Lu Ying would mention the little fox, then followed her lead and asked, "How is she doing? Lonely?"

"How could she be lonely?" Lu Ying scoffed. "Even if I weren't on Cangwu Peak, she still has her yellow flower with her."

"Yellow flower?"

"The old yellow dog she keeps. Looks like it's grown quite old," Lu Ying recalled. "She even brought a little pup up the mountain and gave it away to someone."

Chen Yi imagined the little fox holding a puppy in its arms and couldn't help but smile.

She was doing well—that was fantastic.

Lu Ying gave him a wary look, as if afraid he might drag Yin Tingxue down from the mountain.

Chen Yi snapped out of his thoughts and guessed her concern, saying, "I won't drag her down. She's happy—I'm happy."

Lu Ying scoffed lightly, "Glad to hear it."

"We should head to the inn."

As Chen Yi spoke, he stood up and extended a hand to Lu Ying.

When Lu Ying heard "head to the inn," she felt a twinge of fear, but after he helped her up, he calmly let go.

Instead of lecherously holding onto her hand, his clean actions left her a little surprised.

"Are you not leaving?"

"…Hmm."

Lu Ying replied softly, quickly catching up.

The alley grew quiet.

Lu Ying adjusted her slightly disheveled clothing and stared at Chen Yi's back for a long while; he didn't turn back to glance once and just kept walking forward.

All that talk of him being a lecher—yet in this moment, he seemed so properly behaved...

Lu Ying recalled for a moment. Truth be told, although he was undoubtedly lecherous, in the cave when she had been powerless, he hadn't forced himself upon her.

…He wasn't the type to force himself on women, more like the persistent suitor.

Even the fiercest woman fears the persistent suitor...

Lu Ying mulled this over for a while and decided it was better to reject him early and extinguish his thoughts entirely. She said, "Uh..."

"What is it?"

After hesitating, Lu Ying replied, "You're a good man."

"You have good judgment."

Lu Ying shot him a sideways glance and said, "I wasn't complimenting you."

"You're too modest."

"..."

Amidst playful banter, the silhouettes of the man and woman gradually faded into the shadows of the alley.

On the bustling street, the group of Daoists halted, exchanging confused glances among themselves. None of them could discern why Taichua Goddess Yin Wei Yin had suddenly stopped walking.

Someone couldn't help but ask, "Immortal Yin, why have you stopped here?"

The female crown stood still, her sleeves fluttering gracefully in the wind, her transcendence making her seem far removed from the mortal world. Her gaze lingered in muted contemplation, her expression enigmatic.

In the lands of Taihua Mountain, playful pursuits, teasing banter, hearty laughter...

How carefree and merry, every day bringing fresh faces and good days...

If you won't come find me first,

then what's the story with these other Immortals?!

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