The next morning,

a considerable commotion suddenly broke out on Lingyun Peak at Cold Mountain Academy.

Xu Chu, the son of the sect master of the Moonless Sect, had actually been blocked at the gate of his own courtyard by a young woman.

“Xu Chu! Get out here!”

Hands on her hips, the young woman stood outside the courtyard, her voice bright and ringing as she shouted without the slightest attempt at restraint.

“What, you had the nerve to write that letter breaking off the engagement, to go all by yourself and cancel the marriage with my entire Sea Moon Sect—but now you don’t have the nerve to come out and face me?”

“Xu Chu! Come out!”

Xu Bei’er stood outside Xu Chu’s courtyard, fierce and imposing, her round almond eyes opened wide as she stared straight at the tightly shut gate in the fence.

Before long, quite a few people came over after hearing the noise. In twos and threes, they gathered outside the courtyard, stretching their necks to watch the spectacle, whispering to one another and murmuring behind their hands.

After all, most of the people living on Lingyun Peak were men. A woman showing up at someone’s door like this really was a rare sight.

And though Xu Chu was of the demon race, perhaps because of his natural disposition, and perhaps because he had spent all these years at Cold Mountain Academy devoting himself wholeheartedly to study and cultivation—truly studying in earnest, truly cultivating with care—his temperament was refined and gentle.

It could even be said that the moment he encountered some sudden situation that fell outside the bounds of propriety, he would become flustered and lose his bearings.

Just like now. With Xu Bei’er shouting his name outside the courtyard like this, Xu Chu was genuinely startled.

“Miss Xu, how can something like this... be said so loudly... We... we should speak somewhere else...”

He hurried out of the house and immediately reached for Xu Bei’er, trying to pull her away.

He was not worried about his own reputation.

He was worried about the reputation of the woman he loved.

The letter breaking off the engagement had been sent quietly to the Sea Moon Sect.

He and Bei’er had never even held an engagement banquet to begin with, so very few people knew of the arrangement. If the engagement disappeared, then it disappeared.

But now Bei’er was making such a public scene of it here. How could that possibly do?

“Why can’t it be said? Why should we go somewhere else to talk? I’m saying it right here!”

Xu Bei’er flung out her sleeve and shook his hand off. Then she fixed those almond eyes on Xu Chu and spoke to him with utter seriousness.

“Xu Chu, let me tell you this! I do not accept that letter of yours breaking off the engagement!”

“The Moonless Sect is gone, not you! What, now you’re afraid of dragging me down? Afraid I’ll suffer if I stay with you?”

“Xu Chu! Tell me this clearly—is it you who wants to marry me, or is it your family that wants to marry me?”

By the time she reached the end, her eyes had already reddened. The corners were damp with tears, glittering drops trembling there, ready to fall.

And yet she still gritted her teeth, raised a hand, and wiped them away hard, cleaning every trace of them from her face as she lifted her chin stubbornly.

“I’m telling you now, I’m sticking to you for the rest of my life! If you dare cast me aside, then get ready to collect my corpse!”

“Either you marry me, or you watch me die! Pick one!”

“...”

The people gathered around to watch had no idea what to say anymore. They could only stand there in a daze.

They looked at the young woman standing there with her chin stubbornly raised, tear tracks not yet dry but her gaze still blazing, and at the young demon standing opposite her, flushed red and completely at a loss.

All across Lingyun Peak, everything fell silent.

Only the rustling of the wind through the treetops could still be heard.

At first, when the onlookers had seen Xu Bei’er shouting outside the courtyard like this, they had thought she must be some girl who had run into a heartless scoundrel—someone who had taken her money and taken her body, leaving her furious enough to come storming over and demand an explanation.

But who could have guessed that as they listened on, the truth would turn out to be this?

The two of them had already been bound by an engagement to begin with. It was only because the man felt that his sect had fallen and his family fortunes had collapsed, and that he was no longer worthy of marrying her, that he had written that letter on his own initiative—unwilling to let her suffer alongside him, and even more unwilling to let her bear any stain upon her name.

And as for the woman, she simply refused to accept such thoughtfulness at all. No matter what, she would not agree to cut things cleanly apart.

Even if his sect was gone, even if her own family opposed it, even if the road ahead was hard and full of suffering, she had set her heart on staying with him. No matter what anyone said, she was not going to let go.

The onlookers could only feel that they themselves were like clowns on a stage, toyed with for someone else’s amusement—or like dogs tricked over to watch some excitement, only to have a mouthful of tenderness and devotion shoved straight down their throats in the end.

This pair of lovers really were beasts.

And after these two beasts had pulled and tangled with each other for more than half an hour, Xu Chu finally understood Xu Bei’er’s heart, and the two of them made up.

Once the crowd had spent enough time playing the fool and realized there was no more °• N o v e l i g h t •° fun in it, they gradually dispersed.

Xu Bei’er stayed in Xu Chu’s courtyard for the whole morning.

After lunch, the two of them went together to Cold Mountain Academy’s Administrative Hall. Once they had finished handling a few formalities, they came to Tushan Jingci’s courtyard.

They had come to say goodbye to her.

“Hm? Bei’er, are you leaving already?”

Looking at Xu Bei’er standing in front of her, Tushan Jingci’s eyes filled with unmistakable reluctance.

“Mhm. We’ve already spoken to Master, and we’re planning to leave for a while.” Xu Bei’er smiled gently as she spoke, her hand clasped tightly around Xu Chu’s large one, their fingers interlocked, full of dependence and attachment.

“I intend to go to the Sea Moon Sect and speak properly with Bei’er’s father. I hope to ask for his blessing for the marriage between the two of us.”

Xu Chu released Xu Bei’er’s hand and gave Tushan Jingci a solemn bow.

“My many thanks to Young Lady Tushan for this. If Bei’er had not come looking for me, I fear I would only have gone on making one mistake after another, casting away the one I truly love—”

“—and regretting it for the rest of your life,” Xu Bei’er finished for him, smiling.

Tushan Jingci smiled faintly and shook her head.

“I didn’t really do anything. What mattered was that Bei’er has a fierce temperament and figured it out herself. I only supported what she had already decided.”

“That alone was enough,” Xu Bei’er said, taking over at once, her eyes curved into crescents with her smile. “If you hadn’t supported me, Jingci, I wouldn’t have felt nearly this certain.”

“This time, when I go back to the sect, it won’t matter even if my father refuses. No matter what, I’m not separating from Xu Chu. At worst... we’ll just elope.”

She paused, then went on.

“I heard that recently, over in the demon-race world, there’s a Confucian sword immortal who came from the Ten Thousand Arts world. He also eloped here with someone from the demon race. If they can elope, why can’t we?”

“Bei’er, you mustn’t say that so casually.” Xu Chu immediately straightened, his tone earnest and serious. “Don’t worry. I will never let you fall into that kind of situation.”

In Xu Chu’s heart, he was naturally not afraid of something like eloping.

But that was still only the very last choice—one to be made only if there was truly no other way.

Because it would mean Bei’er would have to choose between the man she loved and her own sect and kin.

Xu Chu did not want the woman he loved to be driven to that point.

Even less did he want her to be thrown into such pain and torn in two because of him.

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