“Okay, there’s no meaning in talking about something like this.” Bai Yichen closed his eyes, clearly feeling like there was no need to continue the discussion.

　　He pushed the wheelchair around and rolled it to his room, his voice slightly cold, “If he comes again, tell him that I’m not around. There’s no need for him and I to be too familiar with each other. As long as Huangfu Jin has Leng Jixue by his side to accompany him through this period, it’ll be enough.”

　　Looking at Bai Yichen’s solitary figure, Bai Wuya couldn’t help but think, no need to be too familiar, is that because you’re not willing to let Huangfu Jin suddenly realise one day that you and Leng Jixue are one and the same?

　　However, it has already been more than a hundred years since coming to the Five Continents from the Nine Lands. In this hundred years or so, you’ve never had any friends or close ones. While you’re accompanied by magic tools every day, have you really never felt lonely?

　　Humans aren’t plants, so how could they have no feelings?

　　Even Bai Wuya would go out from time to time for some fun because he was too bored during this period. On the other hand, Bai Yichen spent most of his time alone in this Dustfall courtyard, fiddled with his magic tools, or spent his time coming up with some deductions.

　　When Huangfu Jin was born, Bai Yichen left the Bai residence once and went thousands of miles away to search for the legendary prophet.

　　After that, Bai Yichen chose to set off for Profound City in the East Continent and waited for the fated one to arrive.

　　Aside from that, he’d had no other opportunity to come into contact with the outside world.

　　Today, Bai Yichen suddenly wanted to see Huangfu Jin, yet all he did was tease him a little and made Huangfu Jin remain at a respectful distance…

　　Bitterness spread throughout Bai Wuya’s tongue.

　　Bai Yichen was a schemer, and schemers were probably destined to be lonely by nature.

　　When Huangfu Jin returned to the city lord manor, he heard a servant say, “Young Master, Young Master Biao is here.”

　　Huangfu Jin still looked glum at first, but it instantly cleared up. “When did he come?”

　　“He’s been here a while.” The servant answered.

　　Huangfu Jin quickened his pace and entered his room.

　　Leng Jixue was no outsider. Whenever he came without any forewarning, he would go straight into his room to wait.

　　It was clearly much warmer in the room than the outside, and this was thanks to the four basins of Flaming Cloud stones placed in each corner of the room to raise the temperature.

　　Leng Jixue was sitting by the window, enjoying the scenery outside. Looking from this angle, a peach divine flower was blooming splendidly.

　　Upon hearing the sound of the door opening, Leng Jixue turned his head and stood up, smiling slightly at Huangfu Jin. “Ah Jin, where did you go? Why are you back so late?”

　　Huangfu Jin had felt slightly dissatisfied about Leng Jixue handing his sword over to Bai Yichen without discussing it with him beforehand, but this sort of dissatisfaction was fed to the dogs the moment he saw Leng Jixue.

　　Huangfu Jin walked over and took the sword out of his storage bag, handing it to Leng Jixue as if he was offering a treasure. “Shixiong, I’ve demanded for the sword you gave me from Lin Xuanzhi.”

　　“Demanded?” Leng Jixue smiled enigmatically, “Are you bullying others with your influence again?”

　　“Am I that kind of person? I just used the wrong word. I made an exchange for this sword.”

　　“What did you use in exchange?”

　　“The Yin Ghost Banner from before.”

　　“What does Lin Xuanzhi want the Yin Ghost Banner for?” Leng Jixue asked.

　　“Who knows?” Huangfu Jin said indifferently, “Them craftsmen are probably curious about all sorts of magic treasures ba.”

　　Leng Jixue merely squinted as he fell deep into thought.

　　It can be considered to have gone quite smoothly on Lin Xuanzhi’s side, but when Huangfu Jin thought of Bai Yichen, his mood turned particularly complicated.

　　“Shixiong.” Huangfu Jin considered how he should word it, “Are you familiar with Bai Yichen?”

　　Leng Jixue shook his head. “We’re not, we’ve only met each other once.”

　　Huangfu Jin muttered to himself in secret, you two have only met once, yet you gave him my sword.

　　From Leng Jixue’s enigmatic smile, Huangfu Jin could tell that he had accidentally blurted his true thoughts.

　　Since it had come to this point, Huangfu Jin decided that he might as well go all the way. “Shixiong, why did you hand my sword to him? What if some subpar craftsman had completely destroyed my sword during the competition?”

　　“Even if it gets destroyed, I can give you another one.” Leng Jixue was quite carefree about it. He smiled as he looked at Huangfu Jin, “I just didn’t want to see you hold onto a broken sword that’s not of much use all the time as if it’s a treasure. If it’s broken, it should be fixed; if it’s unusable, it should be thrown away. I can always give you a better treasure.e”

　　Huangfu Jin heard him with his ears and kept his words in his heart. He felt warm all over and smiled, but still refused. “No, I still like this one that Shixiong gave me.”

　　Huangfu Jin held the sword that was clearly made for a child in his hand and looked at the perfect, smooth, sharp sword. “This was Biaoge’s first gift to me.” (biaoge = older male cousin)

　　Biaoge, “…”

　　Leng Jixue was slightly stunned, remaining in a slight daze even after a moment had passed. “You haven’t called me that in a long time.”

　　Huangfu Jin’s gaze was rather complicated as he stared at Leng Jixue. “I don’t want to call you that, because that will make me recall that we’re related by blood. But I don’t want you to just be my cousin.”

　　“Yeah, and I don’t want to be too involved with the Huangfu family.” Leng Jixue casually put aside the wheel that Huangfu Jin had handed over to him. “It’s the same even as Shixiong and Shidi.”

　　Huangfu Jin revealed a trace of disappoint.

　　He just knew that Leng Jixue would pull the topic away from the brink of danger.

　　Leng Jixue had never even left him an opportunity to confess before. Every time he was about to, Leng Jixue would change the topic.

　　It was like this every single time, and even with how slow-witted Huangfu Jin was and how much he tried to deceive himself, he had to admit that Leng Jixue probably wasn’t interested in him in that way. Yet he didn’t want their relationship to become too rigid either, so he would just casually throw him a reminder like this.

　　Huangfu Jin had been quite anxious, but he wasn’t anymore now.

　　In any case, there would always be an opportunity on some other day.

　　“What did you guys talk about when you went over to look for Young Master Bai?” Leng Jixue took the initiative in asking.

　　Huangfu Jin took a deep breath and said lightly, “It was nothing much, I just suddenly felt like paying him a visit.”

　　“How did it feel?”

　　“It felt…okay.”

　　Actually, it wasn’t okay at all.

　　There was a dark cloud over Huangfu Jin’s head. He had been scolding Bai Yichen in his heart the whole way back for taking advantage of him verbally with his seniority, he was truly shameless. It was only just now that he suddenly realised that he had somehow forgotten that his original intention of going over was to interrogate Bai Yichen!

　　He was so pissed off!

　　Yunlai Inn.

　　Three days later, Lin Xuanzhi finished refining a magic treasure for Ling Chigu.

　　In order for the magic treasure to be carried around more conveniently, it was refined into an ornamental thumb ring. It was completely black and looked like an ornament on the surface, so if someone saw it, they wouldn’t think that it was used to conceal corpse Qi.

　　Lin Xuanzhi had wanted to go look for Ah Hen, who he hadn’t seen in three days, but as soon as he went out, he was stopped by Lin Liuchun who had been hiding someplace to drink and just letting the younger ones in the Lin family run free to do whatever they wanted.

　　Lin Liuchun went straight into Lin Xuanzhi’s room on his own and scrutinised him, his stare making Lin Xuanzhi feel a little baffled.

　　“Truly a man of striking appearance.” Lin Liuchun said.

　　Lin Xuanzhi was utterly confused. “Fourth Elder, please speak if you have something to say.”

　　Lin Liuchun smiled. “Kid, you really have a good life. You had just exposed your face during the Hundred Families’ Gathering and you managed to provoke a top-grade peach blossom.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi was slightly stunned. He didn’t expect it to actually have something to do with peach blossoms,  “Fourth Elder, what do you mean?”

　　Lin Liuchun said, “Have you heard of Shen Rubing of Cloud Jade Sect?”

　　How could he have not? Cloud Jade Sect can stand shoulder to shoulder with Sky Peak Sect in the Five Continent’s mainlands, and Shen Rubing just so happens to be the most famous  young sect master of Cloud Jade Sect. She is also the direct daughter of the elite Shen family.

　　Lin Xuanzhi said, “I do, and what about it?”

　　“What about it and what not about it, listen before saying anything else.” Lin Liuchun dove straight to the point and didn’t leave anyone on a hanging, “The Shen family went to pass a message to the Lin family recently, saying that Shen Rubing has taken a fancy to you and hopes that the two families can be joined together through marriage. Today, I got news from the family saying that they think it’s not a bad proposal, so they entrusted me with the task of urging you to take the initiative to express your goodwill to the Shen’s eldest daughter, and it’s enough as long as the meaning is more or less there.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi, “…”

　　Disaster has descended from the skies.

　　Lin Xuanzhi just felt that it was both amusing and funny. “Fourth Elder, you seem to be telling me a joke to make fun of me. I don’t even know if that Shen Rubing is fat, skinny, beautiful, ugly, or rude, so how can I express my goodwill? Let alone get married and becoming a Dao Couple.”

　　That was practically impossible, and he didn’t know what Shen Rubing was thinking to actually take a fancy to him. And she even took action this quickly, which could be said to have been a really swift and decisive decision.

　　Lin Liuchun glanced lazily at Lin Xuanzhi with slanted eyes. “I’ve seen Shen Rubing before, not fat, but well-rounded in the places that should be. She’s very beautiful.”

　　“It’s not a matter of beauty.”

　　“That’s right, you shouldn’t care about the other person’s appearance. It’s not like they can be more beautiful than you.”

　　When Lin Xuanzhi heard his teasing, he didn’t know whether he should cry or laugh. “Fourth Elder, please spare me. I’m really not in the mood to be in a relationship or become Dao couple with someone right now.”

　　“The Shen family is an elite family and Shen Rubing is the Shen family’s one and only direct daughter, as well as the next sect master of Cloud Jade Sect.” Lin Liuchun struck right at the critical point and didn’t drag it through the mud at all, being very clear about the pros and cons.

　　Yet Lin Xuanzhi sternly replied, “It’s precisely because the Shen family is an influential one and Shen Rubing has a sensitive status that I can’t be involved with that kind of person.”

　　“And Young Master Bai isn’t?” Lin Liuchun pointed out.

　　Lin Xuanzhi paused. He looked at Lin Liuchun, “Do you have some sort of misunderstanding about my relationship with Young Master Bai?”

　　“You treat the young master of the Bai family differently from everyone else. Do you think I have the blurred vision of an old person and am unable to see anything?” Lin Liuchun said lightly, “Bai Yichen and I can be considered to be old acquaintances. Ever since he returned to the Middle Continent, I’ve had some drinks with him, and the two of us often talk about you– the wine flask that never leaves his arms should be an item you specially crafted for him ba?”

　　Lin Xuanzhi was really surprised this time. He had never known that Lin Liuchun and Bai Yichen were friends in his previous life.

　　But after thinking about it, he could figure it out. Bai Yichen is an extremely mysterious person after all. He only knew that he and Leng Jixue were the same person at the end of his past life. No matter how many unexpected occurrences appear on that person, they would still all be expected unexpectations.

　　When Lin Liuchun saw that he stopped talking, he thought that he had guessed right and looked pensive. “If you have taken a fancy to him, then it makes sense. Compared to Bai Yichen, that Shen Rubing is truly far worse. However, Bai Yichen’s a little old and isn’t really easy to grasp, so I’m afraid you’ll have to suffer a little.”

　　—