Chapter 3

I packed quickly.

Yun Heng wanted me off Wuqing Mountain before I could seduce any more of his fellow disciples.

With my bundle on my back and the milk-skin treats still in my hand, I grumbled to myself.

“Nothing but cold pines on this mountain. Not a flower or a blade of grass in sight. And every last disciple is a walking glacier with ‘Don’t talk to me’ written across his face. Who could possibly like such a dull place full of dull people?”

Just as I was about to leave, someone knocked.

“Brother-in-law, open up. It’s me.”

That clear, youthful voice belonged to Yun Heng’s youngest martial brother.

Wasn’t he supposed to be down the mountain, slaying demons? Why was he suddenly back?

Yun Heng and I might be getting divorced, but his youngest martial brother had always treated me with respect.

Whenever their junior sister had tried to stir up trouble between us or picked on me, he’d taken my side. So I opened the door.

He stood there in white robes, tall and straight, his dark hair loosely tied behind his head. His features were cool and composed, though there was still something sharp and untempered about him.

His gaze shifted when he saw me.

“So that old bastard finally realized he doesn’t deserve you. About time he stepped aside.”

“Stepped aside?”

I didn’t understand.

He caught my hand. His handsome young face flushed with excitement.

“I know you don’t like our path. You like the bustle of the mortal world. If you’ll be with me, I’ll leave the sect. We can travel the world together.”

How did he know I wanted to travel?

And when, exactly, had he started feeling this way about me?

Yes, I belonged to the Hehuan Sect. But ever since coming here, I’d behaved myself scrupulously. I hadn’t dared cross a single line.

His palm was warm against mine. He looked at me with his face burning red.

I snatched my hand back and stepped away, trying to sound like the senior family member I was supposed to be.

“We can’t do this.”

He frowned. “I don’t care about any of that. Etiquette, sect rules—none of it will stop me from being with you.”

“And what about my reputation? People already think badly enough of Hehuan disciples. What position would you be putting me in?”

He looked close to tears. “It’s not that I haven’t thought about you. I just want to be with you so badly. We could go somewhere no one knows us. No one would ever find out.”

“So you want me to run off with you without any standing at all?”

I sighed.

“Go back. I’m not getting involved with another disciple of your path.”

“Please don’t turn me down. My master brought me to the mountain when I was five. I didn’t get to choose where I came from.”

His pleading grew desperate.

“I kept asking the heavens why I couldn’t have met you sooner. Now I’ve been given another chance. I can’t let it slip away. Please…”

He looked so heartbroken that I almost felt sorry for him.

I closed the door anyway.

He knocked for a long time. Through the door, he told me things I’d never known.

He’d fallen for me the first time he’d seen me. For years, he’d hidden his feelings, afraid to bring them into the light.

Only now had he finally dared confess the love he’d been ashamed of.