Her eyes widened in alarm. "No! That was enough!"
Shu Mingye laughed, leaning back on one hand, clearly enjoying her reaction. "Fine. That was enough," he said, tilting his head. Then with a wicked little smile, he added, "For now."
Linyue gave him a look that said she didn't trust him one bit. But she still scooted a little closer and leaned against his shoulder. Her arms wrapped around his waist. Her head rested gently on his chest. She closed her eyes and listened to his heartbeat, slow and steady.
In a soft voice, she whispered, "If you ask me… I'll tell you anything you want to know."
Shu Mingye tilted his head, looking down at her. She really said it. She was offering her trust, fully and willingly this time. His chest tightened with warmth. He gently placed a hand on her back, letting it rest there. He didn't want to scare her off by rushing.
He asked carefully, "Will you tell me who that masked man is?"
Linyue's hands curled gently against his chest. Her voice came soft and even but there was a distant edge to it. "He was the one who saved me… thirteen years ago."
Shu Mingye's brow furrowed. "He saved you? But…" He trailed off, remembering how stiff she had gone when that man appeared. "You're really wary of him."
"Yes. I don't understand it either," she admitted quietly.
There was a faint sigh in her voice, like she had been holding something heavy for too long. Shu Mingye caught it right away. And there was something else too. It wasn't just confusion in her tone. It was closer to fear.
"What happened?" he asked softly, his concern creeping into every word.
Linyue drew a slow breath. "His name is Qi Heng. The one I asked you to look into. I only found out his name from the pendant he carried."
Shu Mingye froze.
Qi Heng?
That name. She had said it before. The man who might have lived hundreds of years ago. A figure wrapped in mystery, maybe even legend. But the man they saw, he had looked alive, young, and strong. Not a trace of age or frailty.
Shu Mingye's brows drew tight. His jaw tensed slightly. "What does that mean, Pie?" His voice was calm but there was a faint edge now, a thread of tension he could not hide. "Just who is he?"
Something didn't feel right. Shu Mingye's mind turned it over again and again.
Yes, cultivators could live longer than normal people. Decades longer. Some even reached a hundred. But not like that. Not without wrinkles or white hair. Not with the same strong steps and steady hands. He had read countless old records and heard endless stories. None of them spoke of someone staying that young for so long.
Beside him, Linyue's calm voice broke his thoughts. She spoke softly, like these words had been sitting in her chest for years. "I'm not sure either," she said. "I don't even know why he saved me. Maybe it was because I have lightning spiritual energy. That's really rare. Maybe he needed someone to pass his legacy to. So he took me in."
Her voice held no anger. No sadness either. Just quiet thoughtfulness.
"Anyway," she continued, "he became my master. He taught me, trained me, and watched after me."
She paused for a moment as if weighing her next words. Then she added softly, "You know Linyue is not my real name. It's the name I made up later, after I went to Xuanyi Pavilion. I took Yue from my real name… Yun Yuexuan."
Shu Mingye's arms tightened around her just a little. Not enough to crush her. Just enough to remind her he was there.
So that's her real name, he thought. Yun Yuexuan. The imperial princess of Yun. She had said it so plainly. So quietly. Like it didn't hurt anymore. Or maybe she just didn't want him to see how much it still did. He had never asked before. Not because he didn't want to know, but because he wanted her to speak when she was ready. And now she was. Bit by bit, she was opening up.
No wonder she had survived outside the wall. No wonder her spiritual weapon looked just like the one that man used. And their sword style, it carried the same rhythm, the same sharp precision.
That man must have been powerful. Maybe too powerful. Still, something about him didn't sit right in Shu Mingye's chest. He kept his hand on her back, brushing his fingers lightly across her back.
"Then… what happened, Pie?" he asked gently. "Why do you seem afraid of him?"
She didn't answer right away. She leaned quietly against his chest like the question had brushed against memories she hadn't dared to touch for years.
Finally, her voice broke the silence. "You know… there's no place to live outside the wall," Linyue whispered. "The demons are everywhere. The land is dangerous. Everything felt too big and too scary for the young me back then."
Her words came slow and quiet, like she was afraid the memory might hear her and come back to life. "He made an array under a big tree," she continued softly. "He built a house out of creepy wood and broken stone. It looked terrible—like a haunted hut. I thought it would fall apart every time the wind blew."
Her gaze drifted somewhere far away, her voice trembling just a little. "I still don't know what kind of array it was. But it protected me. The demons couldn't sense me there. I could sleep. I could rest."
For a moment, her expression softened, a faint smile ghosting across her lips. "The roof leaked every time it rained, though. And the floor creaked so much it sounded like ghosts were gossiping underneath it."
Shu Mingye said nothing. He simply held her a little closer, as if by doing so, he could protect the small, trembling version of her that still lived in those memories. He could almost picture it—her tiny figure in a ruined hut, pretending not to be afraid, waiting for dawn in a world full of shadows.
She gave a small shrug. "It wasn't much," she said quietly. "But it felt like home."
Her voice stayed calm, steady, though the air around her seemed to grow heavier. "I don't know how long he lived there either. He always wore that mask. He didn't speak much. Sometimes he stayed near me. Other times, he disappeared for days."
A faint, almost nostalgic smile tugged at her lips. "He gave me scrolls, books, all kinds of martial techniques to old, boring texts about cultivation and philosophy. I learned a lot. And then…" her voice trailed off for a second, "he built another array. One that could call down lightning, so I could cultivate."
The smile faded completely. Her eyes lowered. "After I began to get stronger… he started throwing me at demons."
Shu Mingye's jaw tensed. His hands stilled against her back, but he still didn't speak. He let her continue.
"I think he wanted me to be strong," she said. Her tone didn't carry anger or bitterness. It was calm. Just the truth. "Strong enough to survive without him. So I fought. I got knocked down, a lot. I bled, I cried. But I kept getting back up."
She let out a quiet breath and rested her head against his chest again. His heartbeat was steady. Warm. Steady in a way her old memories never had been.
"I knew he was always watching from somewhere nearby," she said softly. "So I wasn't really afraid. I always knew… when I couldn't walk anymore, when I couldn't even lift my sword, he would come and carry me back."
Her voice was calm, but Shu Mingye could feel the weight in her words.
"When I was thirteen, he gave me a mask. A white one. At least, it looked more normal than his, with eye holes and everything. The place where I stayed was in the northeast part of the realm. Later, he brought me near the north wall to help soldiers fight demons. Then he would leave again and watch from somewhere."
She paused for a moment. He felt the steady rise and fall of her breath against him. Suddenly it made sense. That was why she had been there four years ago. Why she had been able to find him when he was injured and half-dead. She had been living near that place, helping the north fight demons from the shadows. Maybe if she hadn't been there, he would already be dead.
Linyue's voice pulled him back. "With him guiding me, I grew stronger very fast. But the stronger I got… the more he left me alone."
Shu Mingye lowered his chin slightly until it rested against the top of her head.
So this was how she survived. How she became so sharp, so controlled, so powerful and also so quiet, so guarded, and so used to being alone. And yet, even after all that, she was here now. In his arms, willing to share all of this with him.
Shu Mingye still didn't say a word, but his arms around Linyue grew firmer. Protective. Like if he just held her close enough, maybe he could keep those memories from touching her ever again. He was going to protect her. No matter what came next.
Her voice stayed quiet, but steady. "That's the version of him I knew for a long time," she said. "The one who trained me. The one who saved me. The one who raised me. The one we met the other day." Her eyes lowered slightly, her fingers curling against the fabric of his robe.