The night wind drifted across the courtyard of Jishan Ward, carrying a faint sweetness of osmanthus.
Gu Chengming sat by the stone table, cradling the bowl of white porridge now scraped to its bottom.
He recounted, picking and choosing, the events that had taken place within the Tianque Secret Realm: how he'd shattered the Dharma-Station, how he'd delivered the Fifth Realm old monster of the Eternal Life Sect, and how, in passing, he'd refined and carried back to the Capital that Sword-Burial Clan buried with its ancient sword intent.
Yu Wenqiu was nestled in the bamboo chair, still pinching half an uneaten white flour bun in her hand. As Gu Chengming's account went on, one enormous question mark after another seemed to materialize above her head, solid enough to touch.
Honestly, Yu Wenqiu felt she'd practically been reborn these past weeks.
For a slacker Elder whose life creed was "if the sky falls, the tall folks will hold it up, better to lie down and catch another nap," her recent level of effort could genuinely be recorded in the annals of the Wenjian Sect.
Ever since coming to the Great Qian's Capital, and especially after that one trip to Snowfall Pass, Yu Wenqiu had come to a keen awareness of just how poor her own combat strength was.
She was, after all, a senior, an upstanding Elder of the Wenjian Sect.
She couldn't very well duck expertly behind her disciple-nephew every time trouble arose and cry "Little Gu, save me," could she? How mortifying.
To protect this teetering dignity of hers, Yu Wenqiu overturned her usual sloth. She not only missed the debut release of the new storybook at the eastern garden, she even gave up the afternoon snack she'd never once skipped.
Whenever Gu Chengming went off to his duties at the Night-Watch Bureau, she would sit in the courtyard and meditate in earnest, circulating her qi through the grand cycle, even digging out the sect's advancement swordplay that had gathered dust for years and drilling it over and over. That desperate drive of hers ran several times fiercer than the cramming she'd done back at the sect for the Elder qualification assessment.
But cultivation, at times, could really crush a person.
Here she'd been laboring away, gritting her teeth to push her cultivation forward by that infinitesimally tiny step, cheerfully believing she could finally shoulder a bit of the pressure for Gu Chengming.
And then this junior of hers went out for one trip and came back to say, offhandedly: the Eternal Life Sect's Fifth Realm Jìntiān Elder has already been physically delivered by my fist.
The more she stayed by Gu Chengming's side, the harder she worked, the more strained she felt.
Other people's genius disciples advanced steadily, step by solid step. This one had simply flipped on berserk ascension mode, leaving her, the senior, so far behind she couldn't even glimpse his taillights.
Yu Wenqiu looked at the half bun in her hand and found the food in her mouth suddenly tasteless. "Haah..."
She heaved a long sigh, set the bun back on the plate, and slumped into the depths of the bamboo chair like a deflated ball.
At this moment she couldn't put a name to her feelings.
Should she be proud that the sect had produced a genius, or ashamed that she was a team-leading Elder in name only, or should she just give up struggling altogether and calmly accept the fact that she was nothing more than an accessory?
Gu Chengming naturally noticed the subtle dip in Yu Wenqiu's mood, and after a moment's thought guessed that his Elder's pride was acting up again, so he steered the topic away easily enough.
"Come to think of it, in the Tianque Secret Realm I ran into an extremely rare spirit-creature."
Gu Chengming lifted the teapot and poured himself a cup of water, his tone light. "It was a cat that looked exactly like Big Orange."
Sure enough, at these words Yu Wenqiu's attention was diverted in a heartbeat. Frustration tossed aside, curiosity claimed the high ground.
She stretched out her toe and gently prodded the fat orange cat snoozing away beside her. "There's a cat as fat as this one?"
"Not only the same build, even the temper's identical."
Gu Chengming smiled and gave a brief account of how he'd come across the cat-fruit, along with the record that unscrupulous Sixth Realm senior had left in his biography.
Yu Wenqiu marveled again and again. "There are even cats you can eat!"
The words had barely left her mouth when the orange cat, which had been sprawled belly-up in a dead sleep on the ground, jolted awake.
Every strand of its orange fur stood on end, and its bulk swelled by more than half out of nowhere.
Though it was only an ordinary cat, understanding nothing of Sixth Realm great powers or spirit-creatures, it had clearly caught those few words: cats you can eat.
Its four paws scrabbled madly against the flagstones, scraping out a shrill screech.
Then it turned into a bolt of orange lightning, shot straight up the courtyard wall, and, not even daring to look back, vanished into the vast night.
"Hey! What are you running for? I wasn't talking about you!"
Yu Wenqiu, tickled by the cat's panicked reaction, shouted after it with a laughing curse.
Quiet settled over the courtyard once more, only a few osmanthus leaves from the wall-top spinning in the wind.
The mood eased. Gu Chengming set down his teacup and suddenly recalled the parting instructions of Shen Ganqiu and Ren Wencai.
"That reminds me, Elder. Before leaving Tianque, both the sect head and my master specifically told me to make a trip back to the Wenjian Sect as soon as my reporting duties here in the Capital were completely finished."
Yu Wenqiu peeled a fresh melon seed into her mouth and answered indistinctly: "That's perfectly normal. Counting the days, the sect's Grand Tournament really is almost here."
Gu Chengming blinked, and at once all sorts of hackneyed plots from storybooks surfaced in his mind.
"Grand Tournament?" He couldn't hold back a wry remark. "It's not what I'm thinking, is it? Disciples of every peak gathered together, drawing lots to fight on an arena, Elders passing judgment from on high, and in the end crowning a number one of the outer sect and a number one of the inner sect?"
Yu Wenqiu shot him a look and answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "What else? If cultivation sects don't hold arena bouts, are people supposed to gather and compete over who's memorized the most Dao scriptures? Naturally the outstanding disciples of each great sect test their skills against one another, and that's how next year's cultivation resources get allocated. On top of that, the Elders of each peak spar as well, to showcase the strength and depth of their peaks."
Hearing this explanation, Gu Chengming was certain: this was the most standard, most stereotyped Grand Tournament procedure there was.
He'd just finished a life-and-death struggle inside the Tianque Secret Realm against a thousand-year cult bent on toppling the Great Qian, and now he was to go back to the sect and duke it out on an arena with his peers. The plot leap was frankly a little absurd.
Yu Wenqiu seemed to see through his thoughts. She clapped the melon-seed crumbs from her hands and helpfully began to analyze the situation.
"Actually, by the route the sect originally laid out for you, it all makes perfect sense. The process was supposed to go like this: first you descend the mountain to temper yourself, roughing it among the lower rungs of the Great Qian. Then, on the strength of your standing as a Wenjian Sect disciple and your solid swordsmanship, you land a minor post in the Night-Watch Bureau, some small banner-officer or the like, then crack case after strange case, your fame rising fast; and finally, bearing the honors won abroad, you return to the sect for the Grand Tournament, stun the whole assembly, and take first place."
At this she raised a finger and waggled it before Gu Chengming's face.
Who could have known Gu Chengming's own experience wouldn't follow the script at all.
Straight from "descend the mountain to temper yourself" to "holding high office in the Great Qian."
Yu Wenqiu suspected that if he didn't go back to the sect soon, Gu Chengming would practically become the Night-Watch Bureau's Deputy Director.
Gu Chengming laughed despite himself.
Come to think of it, the Wenjian Sect really was a place of extraordinary meaning to him.
Though he'd seen the sect head and his master not long ago in Tianque, there were still many familiar faces back at the sect.
Having lingered so long in the Capital's mire of interwoven power and hidden currents, going back now and then to that sword-mountain rising above the sea of clouds, to hear the wind pass through the Sword Pavilion, that too would be a fine thing.
[The Huiyuan Sword Formula, hearing they were to return to the sect, seemed both excited and a touch nervous. It thought to itself: at last we're going back. Back in the Scripture Repository, seeing all those high-tier sword techniques had always left it feeling inferior in spite of itself; this time, going back, it would surely prove that it was the best!]
This notion happened to be exactly in sync with the Hundred Bones Resonance.
[The Hundred Bones Resonance cheered: When we return to the sect, we'll smash straight through every main peak!]
"Fine."
Gu Chengming made up his mind and rose to his feet. "I'll make a trip to the Night-Watch Bureau tomorrow and report my itinerary to Director Zhou."
The next morning, the Night-Watch Bureau, the Director's office.
The room was steeped in a faint scent of sandalwood. Zhou Qingmu sat upright behind the great rosewood desk.
The official documents piled mountain-high on the desk nearly swallowed her whole, all of it the mopping-up work following the Tianque Secret Realm incident.
The vermilion brush in her hand flew across the pages, her brow slightly furrowed.
When Gu Chengming walked into the office and announced his decision to set out for the Wenjian Sect to attend the Grand Tournament, Zhou Qingmu's brush-holding hand jerked to a stop.
Zhou Qingmu lifted her head, her gaze settling on Gu Chengming, her red lips parting as if to speak, then hesitating.
In truth, the workings of Zhou Qingmu's mind at this moment were far more violent than her surface let on. She was simply too satisfied with this subordinate, satisfied to the point of an intensely strong possessiveness.
Just before Gu Chengming came in, she'd finished sketching out a whole perfect scheme of personnel reassignments in her head.
She meant to petition the court for merit, hoisting Gu Chengming's rank up several grades in one hard push, and requisition a large batch of top-grade cultivation resources from the imperial treasury as reward.
She'd even planned that once the storm blew over, she'd arrange for Gu Chengming to become Deputy Director of the Night-Watch Bureau, making him the true power at its core.
And then, abacus clacking away for all it was worth, the man himself came trotting up to tell her: I'm going home to fight in the arena.
Zhou Qingmu grumbled inwardly.
She knew all too well the fierce protectiveness of those renowned great sects in the cultivation world. If that pack of old foxes at the Wenjian Sect saw Gu Chengming's current strength, would they still let him come back to the Night-Watch Bureau to keep serving?
More likely they'd name him an Elder on the spot and shut him away on the mountain in death-seclusion, sprinting for the Fourth Realm.
She worried greatly that once Gu Chengming left, he'd be like a clay ox sinking into the sea, never again returning to this arena of fame and fortune that was the Capital.
She wanted to find some pretext to forcibly detain him, "the Capital's demon troubles aren't settled," "remnants of the Eternal Life Sect still linger," "the Night-Watch Bureau is at its hour of need for men," and so on. Every high-sounding excuse rolled once across the tip of her tongue, only to be forcibly swallowed back down.
However domineering the Night-Watch Bureau might be, there was no rule that barred a disciple of another sect from returning home for the Grand Tournament.
To truly keep him against his will would only make her, Zhou Qingmu, look small and narrow-minded, might even drive the Wenjian Sect's Shen Ganqiu to come to the Capital sword in hand to demand his man back.
Zhou Qingmu drew a deep breath, set the cinnabar-soaked brush on the inkstone, and did her best to make her expression look strictly businesslike, free of any private feeling.
"As for the merits you earned in the Tianque Secret Realm, and the documents for your subsequent promotion and advancement, this seat had them all put in order yesterday and delivered to the court."
Zhou Qingmu chose her words carefully and spoke slowly, tapping the desktop lightly with her fingertip to underscore the weight of what she said. This was not merely stating a fact; it was casting out bait, as if to say: all your rewards are sitting here in the Capital, remember to come back for them, don't stay off in the sect and never return.
Gu Chengming naturally caught the intent to keep him behind those words. He cupped his hands in a bow and answered gravely:
"Many thanks for the Director's cultivation. This subordinate will not fail your expectations."
Hearing Gu Chengming still call himself "this subordinate," the tension in Zhou Qingmu's shoulders eased by an imperceptible degree.
Since the man couldn't be kept, all she could do was grant him the favor and let the current carry it.
Zhou Qingmu leaned back into her chair, her gaze softening considerably, and at last set aside the authority of the Chief Commander to speak in the tone of a senior giving parting counsel:
"The road back is long, remember to take great care. Though the Eternal Life Sect suffered a heavy loss at Tianque, there's no guarantee some fish that slipped the net won't lie in ambush along the way. Also..."
She paused, looking at Gu Chengming's young face, one that had already passed through countless brushes with death.
"These past stretches of battle after battle have worn you out too. Once you're back at the sect, don't concern yourself with anything, just rest well for a while."
Warmth stirred in Gu Chengming at her words.
"This subordinate understands. Take care, Director."
Gu Chengming bowed once more, then turned and withdrew from the office.
The door closed again. Zhou Qingmu looked at the empty doorway, rubbed at her brow with some irritation, picked the vermilion brush back up, and gazing at the deskful of documents, found she couldn't muster any drive for today's work at all.
"The Grand Tournament... no telling how long that'll take," she muttered under her breath, sighed, and buried herself once more in the paperwork.
The Capital's autumn wind swept down the long streets, rolling up a few fallen leaves. The busy days belonging to the Night-Watch Bureau's Deputy Commander had, for now, come to a close.
The next day.
In the courtyard of Jishan Ward, the autumn wind swept up a few golden osmanthus leaves, sending them spinning down onto the bluestone flags.
Yu Wenqiu was tucked deep into the bamboo chair, that familiar thin blanket over her knees, the storybook in her hand open to some page it hadn't turned from in a long while.
Her gaze drifted past the storybook's edge, landing unfocused on the ivy climbing the courtyard wall while her mind turned over the matters awaiting her back at the Wenjian Sect.
Counting the days, the Grand Tournament truly was upon them.
Had this been the old days, faced with such a grand event where the whole sect got hauled out and paraded to compare cultivation, Yu Wenqiu would absolutely have started faking illness half a month in advance.
Either she'd announce that she'd caught a chill and needed rest, or she'd simply shut herself in death-seclusion and refuse to emerge until the tournament was over.
In short, so long as it let her dodge those headache-inducing arena bouts and everyone's eyes, she had no end of bizarre tricks for skipping out.
But now the situation was entirely different.
She, Yu Wenqiu, dignified Elder of the Wenjian Sect, was now a bona fide Fourth Realm great cultivator.
Across the whole cultivation world of the Great Qian, that counted as a realm well past the threshold.
If she really did return to the sect, by rights it should be her grand moment to hold her head high and bask in the disciples' admiration.
And yet...
Yu Wenqiu slowly shifted her gaze to the figure by the stone table not far off.
Why did it feel like her strength had improved, yet she herself was shrinking smaller and smaller?
Yu Wenqiu let out a long sigh, propped her chin dispiritedly on the storybook, her expression exceedingly complicated.
Meanwhile, Gu Chengming, seated by the stone table, hadn't noticed the winding, wistful sulk brewing in his Elder Little Yu.
His eyes were half-shut, seemingly resting, but in truth his spiritual sense had long since sunk into the depths of his Sea of Consciousness, where he was studying his system panel with total concentration.
Within his field of view, the interface of "Special CG / Love Laboratory" gave off a soft halo of light.
The pure-white space was far roomier than before. Gu Chengming strolled along the corridor paved in gray mist, his gaze sweeping over the doors to either side.
Sure enough, his earlier guess was confirmed. Besides the existing private rooms for "Love's Qingxin Formula" and "Love's Hundred Bones Resonance," a brand-new door had appeared at the far end of the corridor. Several archaic characters were clearly carved into its nameplate: Love's Zhouli Heavenly Harmony Righteous Heart Method.
Gu Chengming nodded thoughtfully.
The pattern was quite clear by now: so long as a technique's affection value hit maximum and its final bond was successfully unlocked, the Love Laboratory would automatically open a dedicated, independent room for it.
[The Hundred Bones Resonance suddenly spoke up: Heavenly Emperor Gu, let's defeat a mighty foe together!]
Honestly, if the Clear-Heart Formula had said this, he'd have been sure the mighty foe it wanted to defeat was himself, but when the Hundred Bones Resonance said it, he only felt the Hundred Bones Resonance genuinely did want to defeat a mighty foe.
He opened his eyes, and his vision came back into focus.
Only then did Gu Chengming notice that Yu Wenqiu, not far away, was staring straight at him, those lovely peach-blossom eyes brimming with melancholy. She hadn't even realized the pastry in her hand was dropping crumbs.
Something turned over in Gu Chengming's mind and he understood most of it at once. His Elder, in this state, had most likely fallen into some spiral of self-doubt again.
There was still ample time before returning to the Wenjian Sect, and there was indeed a certain matter he ought to see to.
"Elder."
Gu Chengming was the first to break the courtyard's silence, his voice gentle and clear. "Come to think of it, we've been in the Capital for some time now. Apart from that one lucky outing during the Lantern Festival, the two of us have been tangled up in all manner of trivial affairs and never really taken in the Capital's splendor. How about, since we're about to leave, we go out today and have a proper look around?"
At these words, the dullness in Yu Wenqiu's eyes brightened in an instant.
She sat straight up at once, tossing the storybook aside onto the bamboo chair, nodding again and again in agreement, all the melancholy that had filled her a moment ago scattered clean away by this sudden invitation.
In truth, Yu Wenqiu harbored a little secret.
She'd long since compiled a thick list: "Ten Places You Absolutely Must Visit in the Capital." All of them gleaned, on her usual runs to buy storybooks in the wards, from neighbors and storytellers.
She'd been yearning all along to walk through them one by one, yet had never managed it.
The reason was simple: if she went alone to browse those bustling markets and sample those tempting snacks, it always felt empty at her side, so much of the fun missing. Deep down, she'd wanted Little Gu to go along with her.
It was only that Little Gu was so busy with his duties at the Night-Watch Bureau day to day, off to the Northern Territory, into the Secret Realm, that she truly hadn't the heart to bother him with such trifling matters of food and fun.
What Yu Wenqiu didn't know, however, was that Gu Chengming had in fact happened upon that list once already, tucked into the storybook and crammed with dense writing. Not only had he seen it, he'd committed every item on it to memory.
Half an hour later, the two of them changed into everyday clothes and walked out of Jishan Ward side by side.
The Capital was bright with sun today. Beneath Tianqiao Bridge, the cries of the acrobats and street performers wove together with the calls of the vendors along the way, brimming with the vivid, earthy warmth of the mortal world.
Their first stop headed straight for the eastern city's most renowned Jade Treasure Tower.
The moment they reached the street corner, they could smell the rich, milky fragrance of freshly baked thousand-layer pastry. Gu Chengming quite naturally went to the tail of the long line and joined the queue, while Yu Wenqiu stood in the shade of a nearby eave, rising on her toes to peer toward the counter, unable to keep from swallowing.
When Gu Chengming came back with two steaming packets of thousand-layer pastry and handed them to her, Yu Wenqiu couldn't wait to pinch up a piece and pop it into her mouth.
The crisp, flaky shell melting together with the sweet filling on the tip of her tongue, Yu Wenqiu narrowed her eyes in contentment and remarked indistinctly:
"It really does live up to its name. Compared to those dry, stale pastries from our sect's dining hall, it's like heaven and earth apart."
Watching her cheeks puff out like a hamster's, a smile tugged at the corner of Gu Chengming's mouth. He passed over the waterskin he carried:
"Eat slowly, Elder. There are several more places to go up ahead."
For the better part of the day that followed, their footsteps ranged across the Capital's every street and lane.
They went to the antiques and calligraphy street in the southern market, where Yu Wenqiu lingered a long while before a small stall crowded with curious stones, until at last Gu Chengming produced his silver and bought a paperweight carved with a comically dopey orange cat. They went to the theater houses and pleasure quarters beneath Tianqiao Bridge and listened to a storyteller with a wispy mustache spray spittle as he spun all manner of strange tales of the martial world; Yu Wenqiu listened with great relish, now and then even debating with Gu Chengming the plausibility of the protagonist's techniques.
After that they crossed the bustling Vermilion Bird Avenue, admiring the newly arrived cloud-brocade in a century-old tailor's shop, and identifying poison herbs shipped from the Southern Frontier at a market that dealt in rare flowers and exotic plants.
The whole day's itinerary was packed to the brim, without pause, yet it felt remarkably unhurried and at ease.
By the time the setting sun sank in the west and the sunset clouds at the horizon blazed like brocade set alight, wrapping the entire Capital in a soft glow of golden red, the two of them climbed a tall flight of bluestone steps side by side.
Only in this moment, as the breeze brushed her cheek, did Yu Wenqiu come to herself.
She stopped, turned to look back the way they'd come, and swiftly strung together in her mind all the places they'd visited that day. The Jade Treasure Tower's thousand-layer pastry, the southern market's cat paperweight, the storytelling at Tianqiao Bridge, the flower market on Vermilion Bird Avenue...
These places, without a single exception, were all the destinations listed on that secret list of hers.
Yu Wenqiu turned her head to look at Gu Chengming, who was walking slowly ahead.
At the top of the bluestone steps stood a towering pavilion called the Moon-Gazing Pavilion.
The ground here rose exceedingly high, one of the very few spots in the Capital from which one could overlook the entire city without any obstruction.
The two of them stood before the railing.
It was that most exquisite moment where dusk gives way to night. The red glow at the horizon had not yet fully faded, while below, as night quietly fell, the lamps of thousands of households kindled one after another, like the myriad stars of the ninth heaven tumbling down into the mortal world, turning into these countless hearth-fires, point after point of light joined into a single dazzling sea of radiance.
The clamor of the city's teeming traffic, carried here across the vast distance, had become a kind of reassuring background hum.
The evening wind swept over the pavilion, lifting the strands of Yu Wenqiu's hair.
The scene was magnificent and tender all at once.
Gu Chengming braced both hands on the railing, his gaze resting a moment on the myriad lamps below, then he turned his head to look at Yu Wenqiu beside him.
These past two days, seeing Elder Little Yu with her brow knit tight, she'd seemed rather troubled.
Gu Chengming's voice sounded especially gentle in the evening wind.
He paused, his tone utterly sincere. "Though I don't know exactly what's weighing on you, Elder, I thought that bringing you out to wander a bit and take in the world's hearth-fires ought to be of some use."
Yu Wenqiu opened her mouth, only to find that for once she had no idea what to say in reply.
Gu Chengming didn't look away. Gazing into Yu Wenqiu's eyes, he went on: "Ever since our days back at the Wenjian Sect, Elder, you've helped me in so many ways. Whether it was speaking up for me out of fairness, or teaching me and answering my questions, or this whole journey south and north."
"This road we've walked has been thick with thorns, danger at every turn. Had you not been at my side all along, I imagine I'd have walked it with great difficulty indeed."
These words were by no means empty courtesy.
Even if in the beginning it had only been to borrow the Elder's standing as a shield against calamity, in all their time together since, Yu Wenqiu's concern, unreliable-seeming yet fiercely protective, had long since come to occupy an extremely important place in Gu Chengming's heart.
"Whatever the case, I want to express this gratitude to you, Elder Little Yu."
Gu Chengming smiled as he spoke. "From now on, Elder, whatever knotty predicament you meet, or whatever frustration and gloom sits in your heart, you may tell me without the slightest reservation. I'll be here."
The evening wind seemed to still in that instant.
Only after finishing did Gu Chengming realize Yu Wenqiu was standing there in a daze.
Those peach-blossom eyes, always carrying a trace of languor and mischief, were now fixed on him without a single blink, light rippling in their depths, her whole person struck oddly blank.
Yu Wenqiu's heart pounded violently in her chest, so fast it flustered even her.
Little Gu's words were just too much against the rules!
He was supposed to be nothing but a junior. She'd been the one struggling all along to keep up the dignity of a senior, so why was it that when he stood there now and said these things in that impossibly steady tone, it made him feel so dependable, made her almost want to lean on him?
A wave of heat rushed up her cheeks, and Yu Wenqiu realized that if she didn't react somehow, the little tender feelings overflowing from her being moved were about to be laid utterly bare.
To cover the fluster inside, she quickly reined in her dazed look and forced on a fierce, threatening face.
She thrust out one slender finger and jabbed it, without the least courtesy, into Gu Chengming's chest, not hard, but full of momentum.
"Don't go saying pretty words here!"
Yu Wenqiu glared ferociously at him, striving to make her voice sound thoroughly confident. "The days ahead where I'll be looking out for you still stretch on and on! How is it that coming out of your mouth, it sounds instead like I'm going to become some useless thing who'll need your care in every little matter?"
She lifted her chin and gave a snort, then withdrew the finger jabbing at his chest and planted both hands on her hips.
"What I ask of you, Elder, has been one thing and one thing only, from beginning to end."
Yu Wenqiu shifted her gaze from Gu Chengming's face to that dazzling sea of lamplight, her voice coming light on the night wind yet crystal clear:
"And that is, from now on, no matter what demons or monsters you meet, you're to stay safe and sound. Whole and unharmed at this Elder's side, and then..."
She turned her head back. The breeze came gently, painting the scene like a picture.
The night wind stirred the loose strands at her temples, brushing softly across her fair cheek. Those eyes now seemed to hold the myriad lamps and the sky full of stars behind her, crushed to glittering fragments. She tilted her chin up a little, a faint, certain smile playing at the corners of her lips, gazing steadily into his eyes:
"Write storybooks for me to read, for the rest of your life!"
Gu Chengming parted his lips, just about to answer.
At that very moment, a flash crossed his vision, and that familiar system interface popped up without any warning.
[Skill "Piercing Insight" activated]
Then three option boxes, each colored with a different emotional shade and causal bent, surfaced with perfect clarity in the empty air between Gu Chengming and Yu Wenqiu.
Option One: Respond rationally. Tell the Elder that the road of cultivation is long, that life and death are fated, that he'd do his utmost to preserve himself, but writing storybooks for a lifetime was truly hard to guarantee.
Option Two: Tease and jest. Laugh that the Elder was treating a dignified Deputy Commander of the Night-Watch Bureau as a book-writing hack, and that it'd cost extra.
Option Three: Follow your heart.
Gu Chengming looked at these three options and stared for a long moment.
This so-called Piercing Insight was forever leaping out at moments like this to flaunt its presence.
Had it been when he was still green and untried, he might yet have carefully weighed the shift in affection value or the plot direction each option might bring.
But now, standing atop this Star-Plucking Tower, facing the woman before him, who, though she often shirked and slacked, was willing to plant herself in front of him in the moment of danger, Gu Chengming suddenly felt that the options this system offered were rather superfluous.
He didn't reach out to touch any of the option boxes in the void, but let them fade slowly from his sight.
Gu Chengming gazed into Yu Wenqiu's eyes, in which the myriad lamps were mirrored, and a gentle smile rose at the corner of his mouth.
"All right."
____
________________________________________
If you want more chapters, please consider supporting my page on (P). with 50 advanced chapters available on (P)
👻 Join the crew by searching Leanzin on (P). You know the spot! 😉