The Past

"...Zhujian Valley?" Staring at him blankly for several breaths, Tianyan gripped the hem of her skirt, her breathing turning slightly ragged. "How do you know about that?" Xu Yuan rolled his eyes. "What do you think?" "Historical records?" "..." Xu Yuan smacked his lips, an amused glint entering his eyes. "Do you have any idea how many years have passed since the timeline of that illusion?" With that, he put on a hurt expression and sighed faintly. "You would rather believe in something so far-fetched than believe I recovered my memories, wouldn't you?" Time could wear away anything. Ten thousand years ago, the Heavenly Yan Divine Art had struck awe into the world's greatest powerhouses; yet in today's Great Yan, it had already faded into an obscure secret. If even the Heaven-Deducing Art had met such a fate, Zhujian Valley, which dated back even further, was naturally all the more forgotten. Seeing his despondent expression, Tianyan gently bit her lip with her small, pearly canine teeth, but a moment later, she let out a cold huff. "Hmph. What are you posturing for, Xu Yuan? The only reason I doubt you is because not a single word out of your mouth can be trusted!" Well then. The washboard Saintess had clearly learned her lesson from being tricked too many times. Not at all embarrassed at being seen through, Xu Yuan's sorrow instantly morphed into a chuckling grin. "You can't blame me for that. When we first entered the mystic realm, we were enemies. What if I'd treated you with total sincerity and you'd suddenly stabbed me in the back?" Tianyan's eyes turned slightly cold as if recalling something. "I never did anything to betray you. You, on the other hand..." "I couldn't beat you in a fight, so shouldn't I have kept a few tricks up my sleeve? Besides, Tianyan, you know me. I've never been some peerless, jade-like gentleman." "A despicable scoundrel." "So isn't it perfectly normal for a despicable scoundrel to use a few schemes and ploys?" "..." Tianyan trembled with fury. Her modest chest heaved as she took a deep breath, her tone frigid. "You truly are as shameless as ever." "Shamelessness is a skill, too." Xu Yuan paid it no mind at all. Instead, he stared straight into her eyes with a grin. "In fact, if I hadn't been a little shameless, you might still be guarding your chastity even now~" "You bastard!" *Hum!* A flash of embarrassed fury crossed Tianyan's eyes, and she raised her fist, driving it straight toward the area just above his lower abdomen. A chill ran through Xu Yuan's heart. This washboard Saintess's punch was nothing like the playful 'little fists pounding your chest' from his previous life's girlfriends. Yet that jade-like fist did not touch his body in the end, halting an inch above him. *Phew, thank goodness. The washboard Saintess couldn't bear to do it.* Xu Yuan breathed a sigh of relief and looked up, only to meet Tianyan's somewhat teasing gaze. Beneath the dim light filtering through the rain, her eyes shimmered like stars. She was smiling. *Tsk, the washboard Saintess has gone bad. She even knows how to bluff now.* Her slender fingertips lightly grazed the defined contours of his muscles. Her voice was soft, laced with complex emotion. "You're right... "If you truly were an honorable gentleman, I wouldn't have fallen in love with you." "..." Xu Yuan's heart skipped a beat. An involuntary smile tugged at the corner of his lips, but he held it back and said softly, "Oh? With looks like mine and nearly twenty years of sharing hardships, you wouldn't have been moved?" Tianyan's fingertips paused. She stared at his handsome face for several breaths. "I likely would have only regarded you as a dear friend through adversity." See? The honorable gentleman archetype was obsolete; the classic nice guy only ever got friend-zoned. As Tianyan spoke, she withdrew her gaze from his face. "To me, physical appearance is nothing more than withered bones..." "Well, if you weren't good-looking, I wouldn't have wasted my energy on you." "..." Tianyan's fist suddenly clenched tight. "Though I never expected you were the type to fall in love after the deed was done. Was it because the physical pleas—" *Bam!* The fist crashed down heavily. "*Cough!*" Xu Yuan coughed up a mouthful of sour bile. His face twitched slightly in pain, his eyes flaring with indignance. "Hmph." After a brief locking of gazes, Tianyan let out a soft snort, withdrew her hand, and climbed off Xu Yuan, shuffling on her knees over to sit at the edge of the bed. Xu Yuan gave a wry chuckle and pushed himself up. Pulling out the splinters embedded in his flesh to stop the bleeding, he said faintly, "I haven't fully recovered yet, you know. If you keep aggravating me like this and the intent-soul damages my brain, making me an idiot, will you take care of me?" "I can't afford to keep the Third Young Master of the Prime Minister's Manor." Tianyan glanced back at him from the corner of her eye. "Though turning into an idiot wouldn't be so bad. At least it would keep you from running around philandering." With that, she looked away, sitting upright on the edge of the bed. Xu Yuan chuckled. Ignoring the stinging pain of the wood splinters, he shifted over, intending to wrap his arms around the girl. "I told you not to touch me." Tianyan's crisp voice rang out, and Xu Yuan instantly froze in place. It wasn't that he chose not to move; he simply couldn't. Tianyan had immobilized him again. In that moment, staring at her slender back within arm's reach, Xu Yuan suddenly felt an urge to learn the Heaven Character True Words. When the time came, he would take ruthless revenge for all these immobilizations! *Wait, actually, that sounds pretty thrilling.* After all, it was practically a literal time-stop roleplay. "Filthy." Even with her back to him, Tianyan could clearly sense the shift in his expression, her voice dripping with disgust. "Repulsive." *Then in the illusion, weren't you even more repulsive?* Xu Yuan thought to himself, but he didn't realize he had spoken the words aloud until he noticed Tianyan had only bound his physical body this time. Tianyan fell silent for a moment. Her petite figure did not turn around, and her voice remained calm. "That was because of the Charm God cherry poison." "Oh?" Xu Yuan feigned just the right amount of perplexity. "Suppressing the Charm God cherry poison once should have been enough, right? So why did we have to keep going right until the end every time, to the point where you made me circulate my cultivation to recover—" "Will you shut up!" Tianyan sprang to her feet, her pale cheeks flushed crimson as she glared at him furiously. Xu Yuan blinked, his expression completely innocent. Tianyan trembled with anger once more, snapping harshly, "One more word, and I'll keep you bound for another day." "Think you're so great just because your cultivation is higher?" "What did you say?" "I said I'm sorry." "Hmph." "..." Silence fell, accompanied only by the patter of rain. After a long quiet, Tianyan sat back down on the edge of the bed, her back to Xu Yuan, her posture straight. She asked coolly, "Do you truly remember Zhujian Valley?" "..." Xu Yuan kept his mouth shut. "Well?" "..." "Speak!" "..." "Xu Changtian!" "If I speak now, are you going to use the 'Bind' Character True Word on me?" "...Is angering me that fun to you?" "Shouldn't you be used to it by now?" "..." Tianyan said nothing more. With a flip of her left hand, the iron pestle she had used to discipline Bai Muxi appeared directly in her grip. "Xu Yuan, I am not joking with you." "..." Xu Yuan glanced at the iron pestle, which was nearly a foot around, then glanced at Tianyan, the corner of his eye twitching. This little block of ice was even more ruthless than the big block of ice; at least the big one knew to use a wooden stick. With that thought, Xu Yuan followed his instincts for self-preservation and spoke with solemn gravity: "In our seventh year after entering the mystic realm, we were pursued and fled to Zhujian Valley." Tianyan did not speak. Gripping the iron pestle tightly, she waited for what he would say next. "Well..." Pausing thoughtfully, Xu Yuan caught the faint glimmer of anticipation deep in Tianyan's eyes. "Well, it was also the place where I first slept with you." *Snap.* The tough, specially forged iron pestle broke clean in two. Tianyan lowered her head, her body trembling. Suddenly, she wondered whether it might be better to just castrate this bastard after all. Crude, insolent, repulsive, despicable, utterly shameless! What did he mean, 'slept with'?! How could the grand Prime Minister's Manor produce such a vulgar Third Young Master? Were the words 'pledged our love' really that difficult to say?! "*Huff... huff... ah...*" Suppressing her murderous urge, Tianyan maintained a dignified, indifferent facade on the surface. "You really did remember." Xu Yuan offered a gentle smile and said leisurely, "Heh, naturally. After all, back then, I nearly died in that desperate trap just to save you." Tianyan's trembling instantly ceased. Looking at his calm demeanor, she averted her gaze, her voice as faint as a mosquito's hum: "If I hadn't taken pity on you, I never would have given a scoundrel like you the chance to take advantage of me."