Two o'clock in the morning.

「Sea City Riviera Villa District」

A black Mercedes-Benz drove into the premier villa and stopped in front of Lin Xiyue. As the car door opened, a pair of slender, elegant legs wrapped in flesh-colored thermal tights stepped out.

"Xi Yue, why did you bring that bitch Lin Fei out here?" Sun Li asked as she walked up to her, full of curiosity.

Lin Xiyue didn't answer, simply saying, "Thanks, Xiao Li."

Sun Li waved her hand dismissively. "Don't thank me. I'd have been thrilled for that bitch to spend the rest of her life working a sewing machine in there. It was your master, Long Shuai himself, who called Sea City to get her released. I just ran the errand."

She looked at Lin Xiyue with envy and sighed. "Having a marshal as a master is great. It's nothing like us grunts at the bottom, having to claw our way up."

Lin Xiyue smiled. "Have you had supper?"

"Nope, and I'm a little hungry. Are you cooking for me?"

"I'll have the housekeeper do it."

"I want your wine. The not-for-sale, limited-edition stuff from the Lin Family's private cellar."

"No way. I'm saving that for my master."

"Stingy."

"Fine. But only one bottle. I really don't have any more to spare."

"Deal. With my tolerance, I can't even finish a whole bottle anyway. Go on, get things ready. And tell the housekeeper to make it extra spicy. I'm going to go see my precious Shan Shan."

"Shan Shan is asleep. Don't wake her."

"Got it!"

After Sun Li went inside, Lin Xiyue walked toward the Mercedes-Benz and opened the rear door.

Lin Fei, dressed in a prison uniform and looking terrified, sat inside with her hands cuffed.

"Xi... Xi Yue?"

Lin Xiyue looked at her with indifference. "You were supposed to spend the rest of your life working on a sewing machine. Now, I'm giving you a chance to start over."

Lin Fei hung her head. "Xi Yue, during my time in prison... I've reflected deeply. I know how despicable I was... Can you forgive me?"

Lin Xiyue replied coolly, "Do you have the nerve to forgive yourself? I can overlook the petty squabbles we had in the past. But you colluded with Guan Hao for your own selfish gain, destroyed our family's century-old business, and caused the deaths of so many loyal employees in the wine cellar. Grandpa and my dad almost died. Do you think I would forgive you? For someone like you, dying a hundred times wouldn't be enough to atone! A life sentence was letting you off easy."

Lin Fei gritted her teeth and all but roared, "Just because of one mistake, I'm supposed to be cast into Hell, never to see the light of day again?!"

"Hell was made for people like you," Lin Xiyue said, her face devoid of expression.

Lin Fei sighed. "Since it has come to this, I have nothing more to say. With your power now, you could do whatever you want to me in an instant."

Lin Xiyue turned to leave. "Take her away."

As she spoke, Guan Changyun materialized from the darkness, as silent and traceless as a ghost. The old man yanked Lin Fei out of the car. "Come with me."

…

Inside the living room, at the dining table, Sun Li ate without any semblance of manners, her mouth greasy.

"Ever since I joined the Audit Bureau, I've been running around nonstop every day for a meager eight or nine thousand a month. It's only now I realize how amazing food can taste."

Lin Xiyue sat across from her, taking a delicate sip from her wine glass. She smiled. "Who told you to give up being the young lady of the Sun Family?"

Sun Li said, "Living your whole life as a rich family's daughter is so boring. I want to be like my aunt—walking the line at the edge of darkness, protecting our country and punishing evil."

Lin Xiyue remarked, "I find it boring too. I used to think that with enough money, if I climbed to the top of this materialistic society, I would be standing at the pinnacle of the world. With a single word or decision, I could decide the fates of many and play them in the palm of my hand."

Sun Li raised her glass and drained it in one gulp, her cheeks flushing. "And now?"

Lin Xiyue said slowly, "Now, I realize this world is vast—far bigger than you can imagine. And I'm just a slightly wealthier ant. If it weren't for him, I might have stayed that ant forever, wielding power in my small circle, full of myself, until the day some stronger power decided to play with my life."

Hearing this, Sun Li fell silent. She knew exactly who Lin Xiyue meant by "him."

"By the way… where is he now?"

Lin Xiyue raised her glass. "I don't know. I thought he would go to Capital City with Your Majesty."

Sun Li sighed softly, her thoughts drifting to Luo Xiu's terminal illness. "That's just how he is, always so mysterious."

"By the way, Xi Yue, where's that wooden slip he had me give you? He said you could use it to summon him anytime, from anywhere. Maybe we should…"

Lin Xiyue gently shook her head, cutting her off. "He might be doing something very important. Summoning him suddenly like this might disturb him. And even if we did summon him, what would be the point? He'd just keep avoiding me. As for the wooden slip, I made it into an Amulet for Shan Shan. Just think of it as a memento from him."

Sun Li asked, "Do you hate him?"

Lin Xiyue's face was expressionless. "Neither of us owes the other anything. I wouldn't call it hate."

Sun Li was quiet for a moment. "He has his reasons, you know."

Lin Xiyue replied, "I still remember what he told me at your family's banquet—people who make others miserable because of their own 'reasons' aren't very likable."

Sun Li hummed softly. "Listening to you, it's clear you do hate him, right? You hate him for avoiding you, for running away from you."

Lin Xiyue said nothing.

"The truth is," Sun Li said, "we can all see that you're the one he truly loves."

"That doesn't matter anymore," Lin Xiyue said coolly.

"What doesn't matter?" Sun Li suddenly flared up, likely fueled by the wine. She slammed her palm on the table, startling Lin Xiyue.

"Xiao Li, are you getting drunk and disorderly?"

"The truth is, I've been bottling something up for a long time," Sun Li said in a heavy tone. "Every time I think about Xiu out there suffering, while you're here living this serene, detached life like you've renounced the world, it pisses me off! I just have to tell you the truth! Even though Xiu told me to keep it a secret, I can't hold it in any longer!"

Lin Xiyue asked, "Keep what secret?"

Sun Li stared at her. "Xiu is dying."

At her words, Lin Xiyue's gaze faltered, her heart feeling as if it had been stabbed by a needle. "What did you say?"

Sun Li continued, "He has a terminal illness. He won't live past thirty. My aunt, Xiao Xue, Qian Qing, and I all know about it! But Xiu has never given up. He's still chasing that one sliver of hope.

"And you, Lin Xiyue? Do you think you can just sit here, spouting grand philosophies about life? Living carefree, without a worry in the world, with a bright future ahead of you? Who do you think gave you all this?

"Without a doubt, if it weren't for Xiu, you wouldn't be where you are today!

"And him? He's shouldering his own tragic fate all alone, yet he's still loving you in his own way. So what right do you have to be unhappy? What right do you have to hate him?

"Do you remember the Holy Origin Golden Pill?

"To refine that elixir for you, to cure your illness, he didn't hesitate to sacrifice himself, consuming all his Essence Blood!

"You're a Cultivator now, so you should understand the agony of consuming Essence Blood, and what it means to use it all up!

"He was about to die! Luckily, my aunt was there and saved his life by giving him her Essence Blood.

"Later, thinking you had life all figured out, you tried to forget him, only to invite a wolf into your house by getting engaged to that fiancé from the Ye Family! And in the end, that elixir was stolen.

"To help you get it back, Xiu went to Capital City alone. With a single sword, he decimated the entire Ye Family. Afterward, he was forced to adopt a new identity, living as Chen Shuisheng.

"But even with a new identity, he was still protecting you in secret.

"Remember the day Long Shuai injured you? The very next day, when he found out, he went and beat Long Shuai up.

"That's Long Shuai we're talking about! The second-strongest expert on the Celestial Ranking! Who in the world would dare to beat him up? But Xiu did it just to get even for you!

"Honestly, sometimes I'm really envious of you.

"Xiu might not be a good man; he likes to flirt around. But with you, he's completely different than he is with anyone else.

"ARGH… Why did I say so much? I'm drunk, so drunk… I didn't say anything. I'm going to bed!"

...

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