Two hours later.
The room was littered with shattered wine jars, and the heavy aroma of wine hung thickly in the air. Breathing in too deeply might just get you drunk.
Chen Yin sat on the edge of the bed, looking at the chaos around him, and sighed quietly.
Next to him, Luo Qiaoqiao was lying on the bed, her breathing even, eyes peacefully shut.
—He had narrowly escaped by relying on his alcohol tolerance.
Convincing Luo Qiaoqiao to drink a bit more had been a stroke of luck, but once the inn's wine supply ran out, she waved her hand and miraculously summoned the finest wine from the whole city.
This time, the drinking was beyond intense.
They had agreed not to use their spiritual energy, so even the resilient Luo Qiaoqiao grew increasingly hazy, her eyes dazed from the start.
In the end, though she stubbornly clung to Chen Yin's hand, she couldn't hold out against the alcohol and finally drifted into a deep sleep.
To be honest, a drunk Luo Qiaoqiao was even more fervent and passionate. Even in a drunken stupor, she clung tightly to Chen Yin, her delicate robe pressed against his chest, the softness and scent of her warm skin evident through the light fabric.
In her sleep, she mumbled:
"Don't go... don't leave..."
"I'll be good... please don't leave, okay?"
Chen Yin did want to leave.
But with the spiritual chains she had bound him with, he couldn't escape even if he tried.
All he could do was hope to get her drunk enough to fall into a deep sleep, creating an opportunity to slip away.
Sure enough, once she was out, the spiritual chains binding him lost control and began to slacken.
Chen Yin rubbed his sore wrists and sighed. Just as he was about to leave, he noticed that she was still holding his hand.
But this time, there was no spiritual energy or strength behind her grip.
It was just like a child clinging tightly to a cherished old toy, not letting it be thrown away.
Chen Yin turned to look at the sleeping Luo Qiaoqiao.
Dressed in that crimson dress like the morning sun, she lay quietly on the large bed, like a blooming red spider lily.
Her delicate brows glistened slightly with a sheen of fragrant sweat.
—She looked like a rain-soaked sculpture. Exquisite, beautiful, mesmerizing.
At this moment, though, the face that drove countless men in the cultivation world wild wore an expression as vulnerable as a child's.
It reminded Chen Yin of himself as a child, after a nightmare.
After hesitating a moment, he softly said,
"…I have to go."
No response.
"You don't need to punish yourself like this."
Chen Yin murmured as if talking to himself, "If there's something troubling you, punishing yourself won't change anything."
"All it'll do is make you regret it even more when you sober up."
"I'm hardly a virtuous gentleman, more of a hopeless romantic. Normally, if a beautiful girl like you threw herself at me, I'd hardly resist."
He paused and gave a small smile.
"But… I can tell. You're a good person."
"If you ever decide to spend the night with someone, it should be beneath a wedding canopy of red silk."
"…And not in some random inn you hardly know."
He noticed that her grip on his wrist, damp with sweat, had loosened slightly.
Gently, he laid her hand back under the blanket and tucked her in carefully.
After a moment's hesitation, he leaned down and lightly kissed her soft lips.
"…You took my first kiss. Let's consider this as even."
"With this, we owe each other nothing."
He shut the door behind him, setting up a spiritual barrier to prevent anyone from approaching. By the time he left the inn, dawn had already begun to color the sky.
He knew that by the time the sun rose fully, Luo Qiaoqiao would likely be awake.
And when she found out he had truly left her and sneaked away on his own…
—The fury of the Luo Shang Fairy would probably keep Liuyun City in a stormy uproar for days to come.
<+>
And that's how it happened.
Chen Yin thought it was nothing more than a fleeting, ambiguous incident—something neither of them would remember once the night passed.
With Yushan Mountain and the Tianluo Sect never crossing paths, there was a good chance he'd go his whole life without seeing her again.
But he had no idea that less than a year later, he would, by some twist of fate, run into this goddess once more.
And from the look on her face this time, she definitely wasn't letting him off so easily.
Nor would he be able to ply her with an entire city's worth of wine again.
"Well," he said with a sigh.
"Why, Sister Qiaoqiao, are you so fixated on this? There are so many fish in the sea."
"I'm just an insignificant cultivator. There are so many dashing, talented men in the world of cultivation. Why settle for me?"
Luo Qiaoqiao simply kept her gaze fixed on him.
"Nothing you say is what I want to hear."
"This time, I refuse to let go."
Her red dress flowed gracefully around her, and with one long step forward, she reached out and tilted his chin up with her slender fingers.
"…You're coming with me." Her head tilted slightly upward, her gaze holding an unmistakable resolve.
Any other man would find it impossible to refuse such a passionate and straightforward invitation.
But Chen Yin truly couldn't say yes to her.
He took a deep breath and replied with a bitter smile,
"…I'm sorry. I really can't go with you."
"Then I'll just take you by force."
"I don't want to hurt you," he said seriously, meeting her eyes. "Don't make me."
Luo Qiaoqiao looked back and asked in return, "Would you really hurt me?"
There was no fear in her eyes; in fact, she looked almost defiant as she took another step closer.
Chen Yin was utterly stumped.
When a woman refuses to be reasonable, she's terrifying beyond belief.
There was nothing he could do.
With only his cultivation to rely on, he'd likely have to harm her just to escape. But Chen Yin couldn't bring himself to do that.
He couldn't deny he had grown fond of this girl.
She was direct, fierce, and without pretense. She simply, bluntly told him:
—You're coming with me.
Once you've decided on the right person to rely on, it seems you can follow them without a second thought for the rest of your life.
But Chen Yin still believed that his little junior sister's matter was far more important. Lingering here would only hinder his future plans.
"Why are you so set on me, Sister?" Chen Yin asked in confusion. "We were only passing acquaintances back then. Aren't you afraid I might be a bad person?"
"Well, are you a bad person?" Luo Qiaoqiao replied, her expression teasing, her smile playful.
"…"
"If you were a bad person, why would I have stayed alone all this time?" She laughed, her smile brightening the world around her.
"If you were a bad person, you would have done what you wanted that night."
Chen Yin covered his face helplessly.
This girl was bolder than even his bawdy, crass-speaking master, who, despite looking like a young girl, was a centuries-old granny.
"So, if I went through with things that night, could we then just pretend we don't know each other?"
"No," she replied, raising her head proudly. "One time wouldn't be enough for me."
"Once a day at the very least."
"…You win."
Chen Yin surrendered, both hands up in defeat.
This time, he was genuinely out of options.
He was already thinking of when he'd be able to slip away if he were really taken away by force. Xiang'er was still waiting for him back in the city.
"All right then." He sighed regretfully. "I'll go with you."
"But this trip, I came with my junior sister to attend the Heavenly Beauty Summit. You'd at least wait for me to finish my duties, wouldn't you?"
"The Heavenly Beauty Summit, huh? Perfect."
Luo Qiaoqiao smiled sweetly. "I'm headed there too, so we'll travel together."
—'Travel together'? She just wants to keep me in sight. Chen Yin sighed deeply.
"Ah. Who'd have thought that after a lifetime of flirting, I, Chen Yin, would finally be brought down by a red dress," he sighed dramatically.
Seeing him stop resisting, Luo Qiaoqiao's mood lightened even more, and she couldn't help but laugh.
<+>
That morning.
When Luo Qiaoqiao woke from her drunken slumber, she stared at the wine jars scattered across the room and breathed in the thick scent of wine, staying silent for a long while.
A lingering warmth on her hand felt as if someone else's warmth was still there. A strange emptiness settled in her heart, as if a piece of herself had gone missing.
At length, she finally spoke, dazedly:
"System, did he leave?"
[He left last night.]
The mechanical voice echoed in her mind. [I don't understand. This person didn't appear in any of the recorded story arcs. He should be an unremarkable character.]
[Why are you so captivated by him?]
Luo Qiaoqiao was silent for a long time before asking softly:
"Do you know why he said our meeting should have happened on a rainy day?"
The system answered matter-of-factly, [I don't know. I assumed you two were speaking in riddles.]
She didn't respond, only giving a bitter laugh.
"…Of course, you wouldn't understand."
Rain is like a window. Hidden behind it, we can look at each other without restraint.
Rain is also an excuse.
It's his excuse not to approach me.
"Rather have it rain every day so I could blame the rain for your absence…"
She murmured to herself, "When I exchanged for that book from the system, I was drawn to that line."
"Sometimes… liking a person is like liking a line from a book."
It's something that doesn't require a reason.
And it's something that can blossom in a single moment.
"You wouldn't understand, being what you are."
The system seemed accustomed to her outbursts and merely replied with a sigh, [Fine. As long as it doesn't affect the main plot, you're free to act as you like.]
A hint of sadness appeared in Luo Qiaoqiao's eyes.
"Yes…"
"As long as it doesn't interfere with the plot."
"At most… I only have five years left to live, right?" She gazed calmly at her hand.
There, the warmth of someone else still lingered.
As if he were still holding her hand.
<+>
As Luo Qiaoqiao cheerfully took Chen Yin's hand and was about to lead him forward, she suddenly furrowed her brows and turned sharply, overhearing the low murmurs of nearby Tianluo Sect disciples.
"What's going on here?"
A cool, ethereal voice drifted over from not far away.
Chen Yin froze.
That voice—he had only heard it twice, once before he was reborn and once after.
But it was so unique, one couldn't forget it after hearing it just once.
—It was his senior sister's voice, the Frost Moon Sword Immortal, Shen Shuanglian.
<+>
Tn: If you want to see more chapter of this story, please join my Patreon, for $5 each month, you can read all of the available chapter.
Patreon Account:
Latest Chapter In Patreon:
Link to the latest chapter: