Bailu had gone out to play in Aurum Alley.
The greatest advantage of staying with Su Ran was the amount of freedom she enjoyed.
Before leaving, she even gave a perfectly reasonable excuse, saying she wanted to give the reunited couple some private space.
She didn't want to be a third wheel.
But in Su Ran's eyes...
Wasn't this just an excuse to go out and have fun?
The little girl really was clever beyond her years...
However, Su Ran soon fell silent.
If Bailu had been born after the Sedition of Imbibitor Lunae...
Then didn't that mean Bailu might actually be older than him?
...Wait a second.
The seniority of his "big brother" title seemed a little lacking.
He couldn't even compare to Bailu.
"What are you thinking about?"
Jingliu noticed the changing expressions on Su Ran's face.
"I'm wondering whether Bailu might actually be older than me."
You're seriously thinking about something like that?
Looking at Su Ran's youthful appearance and then recalling his actual age...
"Then she could probably be your great-grandmother, little brother."
Not only did Jingliu drastically lower his generation ranking—
Even the way she addressed him changed.
"It's fine. There's still a certain big sister here who could be Bailu's great-grandmother."
Su Ran wasn't lacking in offensiveness either.
Unfortunately, age-based attacks held no power on the Xianzhou.
Against long-life species, attacking someone's age was utterly ineffective.
Who among them wasn't several hundred years old?
Some people were still considered minors even after living for over a century.
"I wouldn't mind being Bailu's great-grandmother."
"..."
Was that like kicking cotton?
It seemed this kind of attack had lost all effectiveness against long-life species.
Times had changed.
Back in the past, saying something like that to a certain purple old hag would've resulted in someone face-rolling their keyboard in rage.
"So, are you more interested in older women, Sir? There are certainly no shortage of older women among the Lord Ravagers..."
Phantylia suddenly interjected.
Instantly attracting both of their attention.
If she had simply remained a decoration, perhaps no one would have noticed her.
Unfortunately...
She had a mouth.
Which meant she had heard every word of their previous conversation.
Though Jingliu held no sword in hand...
Killing intent quietly began to rise.
Snowflakes even started drifting through the air.
"Oh? Is the former Sword Champion perhaps afraid that someone has uncovered a certain secret? Are you planning to silence me?"
Skilled at manipulating people's hearts, Phantylia immediately sensed the killing intent radiating from Jingliu.
What was she afraid of?
Was she worried that news of her secretly meeting with a young man would spread throughout the Luofu?
The former Sword Champion of the Luofu, over a thousand years old, involved with a young man.
That certainly sounded like the kind of scandal capable of shaking the entire Xianzhou.
"Do you need me to permanently shut her up?"
An ice sword gradually formed in Jingliu's hand.
"It's fine. There are no third parties here."
It didn't matter much if Phantylia had heard.
Besides, trapped as she was now, no one would likely come to rescue her.
Surely no fool would dare associate with a Lord Ravager.
Unless it was another Lord Ravager.
But ironically, even among fellow Emanators of Destruction, the Lord Ravagers weren't exactly close.
Quite a few of them looked down on Phantylia.
Compared to the direct and straightforward methods of destruction favored by others, Phantylia's schemes were seen as unimpressive by some.
Jingliu pointed at Phantylia.
"Isn't she the third party?"
"..."
Wasn't Phantylia indeed the third person present besides them?
Or was one of the two of them somehow not human?
Or perhaps they simply weren't treating Phantylia as a person?
"Alright. What I meant was that she won't have the opportunity to spread any rumors."
Phantylia might not be human...
But she was still quite alluring.
Besides, since Su Ran had kept Phantylia's consciousness intact until now, he clearly had a purpose.
Turning her into a weapon wasn't just talk.
He really meant a weapon.
Not that kind of toy.
"You'd better make sure your guarantee doesn't fail."
Jingliu wiped her sword blade while issuing the warning.
Su Ran found this rather surprising.
"I thought you didn't care about your reputation at all."
Jingliu shook her head.
"I'm worried that when Baiheng returns, she might misunderstand."
She didn't care what others thought of her.
But if Baiheng misunderstood...
That would trouble her deeply.
She couldn't allow Baiheng's first experience after returning to be hearing such rumors.
The collapse of the High-Cloud Quintet would already deal Baiheng a significant blow.
After all, Baiheng had been the one who brought them together.
If Jingliu herself had become the subject of scandalous rumors...
Baiheng would only suffer more.
"As if Baiheng wouldn't find out even if Phantylia didn't say anything."
Su Ran muttered under his breath.
After all...
Jingliu hadn't objected to what he'd said earlier.
Which meant...
She had accepted the idea of dating him.
In a sense, she had become his first girlfriend in this universe.
Though admittedly, it was later than Ei and Makoto.
Noticing that Jingliu was still staring at him, Su Ran grew puzzled.
"What are you looking at?"
Could it be...
That I really am that handsome?
Had she finally been captivated?
"...Did you steal something?"
The room fell silent.
Even Phantylia became curious.
She admitted she enjoyed gossip just a little.
As a Lord Ravager devoted to destruction—and one whose philosophy of destruction differed greatly from that of the others—she naturally preferred mingling among people.
So she found gossip rather interesting.
Besides...
Whatever could make a genius resort to theft certainly couldn't be ordinary.
"So that's why you came?"
Su Ran had thought she'd wanted to see Bailu.
Turns out it was because of this.
"Yes."
"Do you have any evidence?" he asked.
"My intuition," Jingliu answered honestly.
Su Ran let out a sigh of relief.
"Good. As long as you don't have evidence. I did it."
"Return it."
This matter concerned whether they could ultimately kill the Plagues Author.
Naturally, Jingliu couldn't allow Su Ran to fool around.
Other matters were one thing.
But not this.
"Big Sister, compare me to Luocha. Who do you think is more capable?"
Su Ran tossed Jingliu a flirtatious wink.
"...You shouldn't involve yourself in this. This is a struggle between gods."
For reasons even she herself couldn't fully explain...
Jingliu didn't want Su Ran to become involved.
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