Miss Fairy, Please Hear Me Out

Outside Stillwater, Mount Farewell rose rather high. From its peak, one could look down over the whole of the city. At this moment, a man stood quietly on the steep cliff at the mountain summit, gazing into the city at a vast estate. A faint, almost invisible smile rested at the corner of his lips.

Suddenly, a graceful figure descended from the sky and landed a little over ten meters away from him.

The faint sound of her footsteps made the man glance sideways. When he saw who it was, he smiled at once.

“You came?”

There was no smile on Yu Lan’s face. Her delicate brows were tightly furrowed. “Qin Weijiu, what are you playing at?”

Qin Weijiu gave a soft sound of surprise and asked in return, “What do you mean, what am I playing at?”

Yu Lan’s tone grew a little heavier. “Don’t play dumb with me. Why did you let that Qin Mo enter the Xu residence?”

Qin Weijiu did not answer immediately. He lowered his eyes and began to toy with an ancient, unadorned token in his hand. This was something he and Yu Lan had found together in that secret realm.

When Yu Lan saw the token, the anger on her face deepened. “Qin Weijiu, I’m asking you a question.”

Qin Weijiu raised his eyes and smiled, his voice slow and unhurried. “Yu Lan, why are you so anxious?”

“Why am I anxious?” Yu Lan narrowed her beautiful eyes slightly. “After coming out of that secret realm, don’t tell me you still don’t know who that Sage living inside the soul ring is.”

At this, Qin Weijiu let out a faint sigh and tossed the ancient token to Yu Lan. The Sumeru Ring was with her. “Of course I know.”

Yu Lan caught it with a frown and put the ancient token into the Sumeru ring, but her tone grew heavier again. “If you know, then how dare you send Qin Mo into the Xu estate?”

“Precisely because I know, I sent him in.” Qin Weijiu shook his head lightly. “Don’t you understand the saying that true feelings are revealed in times of trouble? Qin Mo is willing to risk himself to save Jinxuan. Giving things a little push from behind is a fine way to deepen the feelings between the two youngsters, isn’t it?”

Yu Lan took a deep breath, as if trying to calm herself down. In the end, she failed. Her voice turned cold. “But if something happens to Qin Mo, the soul ring will fall into Xu Yinhe’s hands. Don’t tell me you don’t know what that means. That is a Sage we’re talking about.”

“Yu Lan, don’t be anxious.” Qin Weijiu shook his head, his tone turning soothing. “Qin Mo was the one who decided to sneak into the estate and rescue her. I merely gave him a little nudge from behind. Even without my help, he would have done it anyway.

“Besides, if he dared to sneak in, then he must have some confidence of his own. Heh. Besides, even if Qin Mo is young and reckless, do you think the Sage helping him sneak into the Xu residence would be just as foolish?”

Yu Lan fell silent.

Qin Weijiu turned his head and continued gazing at Stillwater, his voice soft and even. “Yu Lan, where in this world does anything come with absolute certainty?”

Yu Lan’s eyes flickered for a moment before she said, “I hope you know what you’re doing.”

Qin Weijiu smiled faintly, his tone still calm. “Don’t worry. If something happens inside the Xu residence, we can just enter Stillwater and take him away, can’t we? This prefectural city is not some heavily guarded frontier military stronghold. The formations inside the city cannot threaten us. If the two of us make a move, who in this world could...”

His calm words stopped abruptly halfway through.

After a brief silence, Qin Weijiu and Yu Lan almost simultaneously snapped their gazes toward the southeast.

As far as the eye could see, there was only a clear sky, calm and still. Yet both of them sensed the source qi at the edge of the heavens being faintly disturbed.

Someone was rushing toward Stillwater at full speed.

At the summit of Mount Farewell, the silence suddenly became so deep one could hear a pin drop. Who was it? An Origin Awakener powerhouse? Coming to Stillwater at a time like this?

After several seconds of silence, as the rushing fluctuations of source qi grew clearer and clearer, Qin Weijiu’s steady breathing began to quicken bit by bit.

That familiar ripple of source qi from the horizon dragged certain images, long buried in the depths of his memory, back into his mind.

Before the age of 20, he had been confident and proud. At 17, he reached fourth rank Body Integration. At 20, he became a Grandmaster. By the age when most young men had barely tied up their hair, he was already unmatched among his peers. He had every reason to be proud. Yet laughably, the greatest praise the world had ever given him was that he could stand shoulder to shoulder with the son of the Chancellor.

One journey into the outside world. One Celeste Assembly. Those had given Qin Weijiu the chance to prove that it was others who could stand shoulder to shoulder with him. It had been a vast canyon under the eyes of countless spectators. It had been the Chancellor’s son, who had traveled with him for months as a companion.

It had been... three sword slashes, so powerful they made it impossible to breathe. The sword beams flashed, and everything shattered. His former pride became laughably absurd. What was even more laughable was that afterward, some people actually used that battle as praise for him.

Three swords. He had not died. But his state of mind had already collapsed.

“Xu Chang...”

“Qin Weijiu! What are you standing there in a daze for?!” The woman beside him snapped in a low voice, startling Qin Weijiu awake from his memories.

Once he came back to himself, Qin Weijiu paused for a moment, then suddenly let out a low laugh. His laugh was full of self-mockery. As he sensed the fluctuations of source qi in the distance, the trembling in his hand gradually stopped. He raised that hand and rubbed the space between his brows.

“How ugly of me.”

“What?” Yu Lan asked, confused.

Qin Weijiu looked toward the horizon and shook his head. “Nothing. I just remembered some things from the past. That aura in the distance should be Xu Changge’s.”

“Xu... Xu Changge?” Yu Lan suddenly understood why the man before her had reacted so violently. She had heard a little about what happened back then as well. Her pupils trembled faintly. “Why is he here?!”

“No idea.” Qin Weijiu shook his head and slowly rose into the air, his tone once again returning to calm. “But I think we need to stop him now. After all, that soul ring absolutely cannot fall into Xu Yinhe’s hands.”

As he spoke, Qin Weijiu flicked his finger. A streak of white light shot out instantly, racing toward the Xu residence in Stillwater.

Standing in midair, Qin Weijiu glanced at Yu Lan, who was still standing on the mountain peak, and smiled. “I’ve already sent a message to that kid Qin Mo. Are you planning to keep standing there?”

Hearing this, Yu Lan rubbed the space between her brows, casually tossed Qin Weijiu a mask, then put one on herself. “What excuse do we use when we face Xu Changge later?”

Qin Weijiu put on the mask, and his figure gradually turned illusory. He chuckled softly. “Naturally, we’ll go as old friends of the elders from Burial Village.”

Yu Lan also slowly rose into the air. “We stall him for a while, then leave. The two of us may not be a match for Xu Changge.”

Qin Weijiu shrugged. “Can’t you have a little faith in my strength? What if I can cut him down?”

Yu Lan glanced at him. “Back then, three sword strikes nearly shaved your head off. Just now, sensing his qi scared you half to death. And you still have the nerve to say that?”

Qin Weijiu sighed. His mind had finally settled completely, and he smiled. “It was a heart demon planted all the way back then, after all. Now that more than ten years have passed, and I’ve entered the Origin Awakener Realm, I ought to have made at least a little progress, no?”

Emotions churned in Yu Lan’s heart, but she no longer had the strength to curse him. She rubbed her brow. “Let’s go.”

“Heh. Women.” As his words fell, the two of them transformed into two streaks of light and shot toward the southwest.