Shui Han Yin, bewildered, casually cried out: "It's you!" but Yang Ming's reaction completely surpassed all her expectations.
His body trembled and his face went slightly pale. He didn't answer, but simply shut the door.
She couldn't figure out what she had done wrong. She just wanted to know the answers to her questions, but he just ignored her.
Slightly narrowing her cold eyes, Shui Han Yin no longer began to hide from the members of the Shui Clan. She no longer cared what anyone thought of her. All she could think about now was a young man named Yang Ming.
She wouldn't leave his yard and decided to be a little stubborn and sat down by Yang Ming's door and waited for him.
"Sooner or later you'll come out anyway," thought Shui Han Yin, looking up at the night sky.
**********
While Shui Han Yin was puzzled by Yang Ming's behavior, Bai Lin made his way to her court to inquire about their engagement, though his father said that the patriarch was only waiting for a request from Yang Ming, and the engagement would be broken off in an instant.
Bai Lin didn't believe that at all. He knew that Shui Han Yin loved him, really loved him. Otherwise, would she have left the prenuptial agreement knowing that it was complete garbage with no hope for the future?
He thought that Shui Han Yin had been in love with him since childhood and had tried every way to dissuade the patriarch from breaking off the engagement. She is the only reason the engagement still exists.
Bai Lin didn't even consider for a second the other point of view held by all clan members, that the breakup of the engagement was not because of Shui Han Yin's entreaties, but because of the patriarch.
On the one hand, he didn't want to break Shui Han Yin's engagement with Bai Lin because of the promise made at their birth, but on the other hand, he was the patriarch of the clan and Shui Han Yin's father first and foremost.
He didn't want his daughter and himself to be stuck at the bottom. Unlike the others, he knew that not only the Shui Clan but also the Eastern Region was chased into a corner. The war was almost upon us, and there was no longer any chance of victory.
Still, he kept the marriage contract for the time being, waiting for a miracle. Perhaps he believed that Bai Lin could shine again, or perhaps that another person would be found; a person who could make his daughter happy, one who would find a way to survive not only for her, but the entire Shui clan.
And just when his hopes for a better future almost faded, a star appeared that would shine not sometime in the future, but was already shining, illuminating the sky. And, like a good father, he decided to bring his daughter as close as possible to a man like Yang Ming, and about the engagement, which he had previously decided to keep, now he decided to annul.
But Bai Lin had no idea what the patriarch was thinking about. He thought only of Shui Han Yin's tears, which he imagined she shed while thinking of him.
Indeed, he is a strange man, no, a presumptuous man who didn't even think about the fact that they had not spoken to each other practically all this time, not because Shui Han Yin was avoiding him, but because of himself.
He was ashamed of himself, ashamed that a worthless trash like himself had not only a beautiful, but also such an outstanding bride. Everything was going perfectly in his eyes; soon they would be married, and just before the wedding he would be able to prove to her father, no, to himself, that he was no longer the trash he had been.
He wanted to show all the members of the Shui clan who had mocked or even humiliated him all this time that he was no longer trash and could protect not only himself but also his new wife.
But! What a pity that all his beautiful dreams were blown away like a turd in the wind, and it was all the fault of that man, whom no one would dare touch or say anything against.
But he didn't care about Yang Ming's position, he believed that love was like war: whoever could get the affection of Shui Han Yin would win. He was delusional about Shui Han Yin madly in love with him and that there was no way she could like Yang Ming.
Still, there is a chance that she might personally break the marriage contract between them if the patriarch forced her to. And what his father said completely convinced Bai Lin. The patriarch wanted to break the engagement and try to marry off his daughter to Yang Ming.
He hated himself for being so weak, and he hated Yang Ming even more. He thought that Yang Ming knew about their engagement, but he ignored it all, succumbing to his lust like an animal.
"I'll save you!" - Like a true hero, Bai Lin kept repeating this phrase to himself,
For his sake, he thought, Shui Han Yin had gone to great lengths, her whole life was very difficult, and now it was his time to protect her instead.
With these thoughts, he slowly made his way to Shui Han Yin's courtyard. It was already nighttime, so Bai Lin crept in the shadows. There were many dark places on the way, which played into his hands, he could easily sneak into her courtyard.
Once again repeating everything he had long wanted and needed to say, Bai Lin knocked on the door several times and waited for an answer.
But about a minute passed and there was still no answer. Bai Lin thought she must be asleep, so he knocked on the door a few more times, but a little louder. But even this time he heard no answer.
Frowning slightly, Bai Lin decided to see if she was even in her room in the first place. Taking a few breaths, he proceeded to use the technique that his teacher had just recently taught him. The technique he was taught was called Divine Sense. The teacher explained that there were only a few steps needed in order to learn it but since Bai Lin had only recently begun to learn it, he was only on the initial, that is, the first stage. With this he could detect signs of life from more than fifty meters away.
Although his teacher had not explained to him how he could benefit from learning the second and third stages, Bai Lin was already satisfied. In his opinion, this technique was a treasure that defied the heavens.
Activating his divine sense, he scanned Shui Han Yin's room and found himself puzzled as there was no one in it.
'Where has Shui Han Yin gone ?' he began to think with a frown.
And when he remembered his conversation with his father today, his heart practically stopped when he thought that the patriarch might have sent Shui Han Yin to serve him all night.
Without wasting time he went to Yang Ming's court, no longer caring that he could be seen. All his thoughts were completely on Shui Han Yin. As he approached his courtyard, he noticed someone's figure and as he got closer and closer to it, he could recognize it. But the figure didn't notice him, so he hid nearby, silently watching from the shadows.
**********
Cultivation levels: Lower realm.
Initial Ascension(1) — Initial stage — Middle stage — Late stage.
Earth Ascension (2) — Initial stage — Middle stage — Late stage.
Heavenly ascension (3) — Initial stage — Middle stage — Late stage.
Mortal ascension(4) — Initial stage — Middle stage — Late stage.