Yun Xiang sat beneath the withered peach tree and waited.

After all these years, she was about to see Mr. Chen once more. A flutter of nerves stirred in her chest.

She held a book in her hand. It was old and yellowed, but aside from that, it bore no damage at all. Clearly, it had been preserved with great care whenever opened.

This was the very book Mr. Chen had once used to test her knowledge. Now, she knew every word of it.

She wanted to wait for his return, so she could read it aloud to him.

Yun Xiang pressed her lips together. She reached down and took the jade pendant hanging at her waist into her hand. She studied it intently, lost in a flood of memories.

Inside the temple, Tao’er watched this scene and sighed. “If only it were someone else…”

Tong Zhihuan turned to her. “Someone else? What do you mean?”

Tao’er said, “Miss Yun… she clings too tightly.”

“Her feelings for Mr. Chen?”

“Mhm.”

Tao’er looked at Tong Zhihuan. “Both you and I know catching up to Mr. Chen is nearly impossible. You understand that. I understand that. But Miss Yun… she doesn’t.”

Tong Zhihuan fell silent for a moment. He didn’t disagree; in fact, he completely agreed with Tao’er’s words.

A pond fish dreams of the ocean. Not only is it as hard as scaling the heavens, but even if it did reach the sea, how could fresh water survive in the salt?

Yun Xiang kept sitting and waiting. As the sun traveled west, the sky gradually deepened into twilight.

Dusk seeped into the courtyard. Yun Xiang simply went to wait by the entrance of the temple.

Tong Zhihuan called out, “Miss Yun, why not come inside and wait?”

Yun Xiang shook her head, offering a small smile. “It’s fine. I’ll just watch a while longer. I’ll come in later.”

Truthfully, she just wanted to see Mr. Chen as soon as possible.

But as the dusk deepened, the last traces of fading light disappeared completely.

The sky darkened further, yet Mr. Chen still hadn’t returned.

Her accompanying Maid spoke up. “Mistress, perhaps we should come back tomorrow?”

Yun Xiang paused. She clutched the pendant, hesitating.

After a moment, she still said, “Let’s wait a little longer.”

Who knew that ‘a little longer’ would stretch well into the night, under the pitch-black sky.

Tong Zhihuan lit an oil lamp and urged Miss Yun to come inside the temple. Though summer had brought heat, the mountain stream winds still carried a biting chill.

Yun Xiang snapped out of her thoughts. She lifted her head to the bright moon in the sky, which seemed especially dim tonight.

Yet, lowering her gaze, she saw the moonlight illuminating the entire mountain stream with unusual clarity.

It seemed even the moon this night was behaving strangely.

Ultimately, Mr. Chen didn’t come.

Yun Xiang turned and asked, “May… may I come back tomorrow to wait?”

Tong Zhihuan nodded. “Of course you may.”

Yun Xiang gave a slight nod. When she lowered her head, a trace of desolation shone in her eyes.

She thought, if only she had come just one step earlier.

But being off by even a little meant she’d missed him entirely.

Holding an oil lamp, Tong Zhihuan stood in the temple doorway and watched Miss Yun make her way down the mountain.

Tao’er stood beside him, watching too.

“If Mr. Chen knew, I wonder what he’d think?”

Tong Zhihuan uttered a soft sigh, then closed the temple’s large door.

But early the very next morning, Miss Yun came again.

Earlier than yesterday. She arrived and immediately began waiting by the temple doorstep, staring down the mountain path steps as if she could see right through them.

Yet…

On the second day, Mr. Chen again did not return.

Tao’er couldn’t bear to watch. She said, “Miss Yun, perhaps it’s better to return to the mountain village? If Mr. Chen returns, I’ll come tell you.”

Yun Xiang thought for a moment. “I’ll wait one more day.”

Tao’er nodded. “That might be best.”

Better than standing foolishly here endlessly.

Yun Xiang arrived at the temple very early. At nightfall, she descended the mountain. This went on for two days.

But on the third day, she still did not see him.

Mr. Chen had not returned.

On that evening after descending the mountain, she did not climb back up at dawn the next day.

“Miss Yun didn’t come?” Tong Zhihuan asked.

Tao’er nodded. “Maybe she felt waiting so long might seem improper if Mr. Chen knew, so she stopped coming.”

Tong Zhihuan sighed and shook his head. “She’s just waiting somewhere else now.”

Miss Tao’er didn’t answer. She deeply understood how Miss Yun felt. After all, she herself had once waited in this very temple for a certain fool for years…

She turned her gaze to Tong Zhihuan and suddenly smiled.

At least he had come back.

Tong Zhihuan paused. “Miss Tao’er, why are you looking at me?”

Tao’er shook her head, offering no explanation.

Tong Zhihuan scratched his head, perplexed by Miss Tao’er’s thoughts.

…

What was known as the Desolate Sea was a forsaken place, utterly unreachable by Mortals.

The endless expanse of ocean lay incredibly still. By day it might appear majestic and vast, but come night, all that met the eye was pitch darkness, swallowing everything.

If the sea was calm, not even the sound of waves could be heard.

This profound, silent darkness shattered only by the abyss fed the deepest fears within people. Ships had ventured into it, but those who returned were often driven to madness, minds unraveled.

People suspected Monsters. Yet the truth was often simply enduring a few nights within that crushing silence, that total absence.

It wasn’t just the night. Beneath the unnerving stillness lurked countless Water Demons and creatures beneath the surface. The Desolate Sea knew no laws, a place of utter chaos where Great Demons roamed unchecked.

A streak of sword light flashed across the Desolate Sea.

Beneath the waves, a Demon raised its head and scoffed mockingly. “Another fool courting death…”

Chen Changsheng flew onward. Suddenly, he noticed figures surfacing in the water below, trailing him.

“Why are these Water Demons following me?” Chen Changsheng frowned.

“They’re waiting to pick up the scraps,” Black Pagoda chimed in. “But these are just small fry. The real trouble will confront you directly.”

No sooner had Black Pagoda spoken than a thunderous boom erupted from the sea below.

“ROAR!!”

A massive Demon surged upward from the ocean’s depths.

The Water Demons trailing Chen Changsheng instantly scattered in panic.

Chen Changsheng narrowed his eyes, focusing. Amid the churning waves, multiple massive heads erupted, pairs of eyes fixed directly on him, appraising a tasty meal.

“A Seventh-Realm Water Demon,” Black Pagoda stated. “You can take it…”

Its words were cut short as a streak of sword light shot past.

“Hummm!”

A crisp sword hum rang out, turning into a dazzling arc as it cleaved downward.

Black Pagoda froze, momentarily speechless.

What it witnessed was akin to the sea itself being forcibly torn asunder. Where that strike landed, the immense shadow of the Seventh-Realm Great Demon, not yet fully formed, was instantly obliterated, reduced to unrecognizable pulp.

“SPLASHHH…”

Waves crashed down, churning loudly.

The gap carved into the sea slowly knitted back together, a cloud of deep crimson blooming within the dark water.

Black Pagoda looked again.

Chen Changsheng was merely withdrawing his extended fingers – two fingers pointed like a sword hilt. He resumed his Sword Flight, flying forward without pause.

Black Pagoda stared, stunned. “Turning fingers into a sword… One sword splitting the sea… Slaying a Seventh-Realm Great Demon…”

“All with a mere flick of his wrist?”

Black Pagoda looked back at Chen Changsheng. He hadn’t uttered a single word; his gaze remained fixed dead ahead.

He hadn’t even bothered to speak.