Chapter 71

When his eyes met Ling Luo’s, Lin Xiao froze for a moment. Flashing through his mind was an image of those two terrified faces. Ling Luo’s parents. Lin Xiao turned his head. Two innocent lives lost and now their son stood not far away.

How was Lin Xiao supposed to face him?

When Ling Luo saw the strange man drop his gaze, he frowned. The man felt somehow familiar. Just that one look he gave Ling Luo, it stirred up some baffling feeling in Ling Luo’s heart.

Ling Luo examined the stranger carefully. He didn’t recognize the appearance…

“Let’s go sit down there, with that man. He’s the only one sitting there anyway…” Murong Xue intruded in on Ling Luo’s thoughts. But he nodded his head at her words.

So at Yu Weiwei, who was staring at him closely, he shook his head and said, “Thank you for the offer, but I’ll be sitting there,” gesturing towards Lin Xiao’s table. He softened his words with an apologetic smile, but Yu Weiwei, disappointed, lowered her head.

Yu Zheng pulled at Yu Weiwei to sit back down, unhappily sneaking a glare at Ling Luo. Yu Weiwei’s appearance always been delicately pretty, though her personality could be objectionable. But she had changed in the last few years, and her temperament was far more pleasing.

And now Yu Weiwei invited a man to sit with them, and the man rejected her? Instead he preferred a stranger?

Yu Zheng considered Yu Weiwei, a flowering beauty, and himself, from a first-class family of the refining country, not to be taken lightly. Who did the man think he was? Was he from some big family in Xuan Huang? Yu Zheng scoffed to himself, then turned his attention back to the crest-fallen Yu Weiwei, recalling his own unsuccessful pursuit of Huangfu Ling. Sighing, he tried to be comforting: “Wei-Wei, don’t be sad, don’t you see he’s with a woman?”

Yu Luohua, on the other side of Yu Weiwei, snorted but otherwise stayed silent. In the past, she would have taunted Yu Weiwei, but had lost the desire due to the changes in Yu Weiwei. Just how much Yu Weiwei liked Ling Luo was painfully obvious. And Yu Luohua couldn’t understand it, Ling Luo just wasn’t that attractive…and clearly didn’t care for Yu Weiwei…

But Yu Zheng’s words broke through Yu Weiwei’s single-minded focus on Ling Luo, and she finally noticed the woman with Ling Luo. The woman was pretty enough, and she appeared warm, someone who would make others comfortable, still…Yu Weiwei pursed her lips. Regardless of any other woman, she, Yu Weiwei, had liked Ling Luo for so long. Naturally she wouldn’t give up.

Meanwhile, Lin Xiao’s head was lowered. He dared not look up, he didn’t want to take the chance of meeting Ling Luo’s eyes again. But the more he didn’t want something, the more reality went in that direction.

A pleasant female voice sounded in his ear. “Please, would you be willing to share your table with us?”

Recognizing Murong Xue’s voice, Lin Xiao’s hands clenched under the table. He wanted to refuse, and raised his face to do so. He found that Ling Luo, Murong Xue, and Cheng Yan were all staring at him.

Ling Luo’s eyes bored into Lin Xiao quizzically, and Lin Xiao’s hands started shaking. Lin Xiao wanted to refuse the request, but when he opened his mouth, “Yes, it’s fine,” came out. As soon as he said it, he wanted to slap himself.

He’d said what he’d said, though, too late now. If he had refused, he might’ve drawn even more of their attention. As the others sat down, Lin Xiao told himself to just go step by step…He couldn’t tell Ling Luo about his parents until after the assembly was over.
Ling Luo seated himself opposite of Lin Xiao.

Lin Xiao lowered his eyes, trying to force himself not to care about what they said or did.

Ling Luo, sipping tea, kept his attention on the stranger. He didn’t know why, but the closer he got, there were more and more feelings of familiarity.

……

There were still a few days before the assembly began.

Xuan Huang’s cultivators were mulling everywhere, but Lin Xiao stayed in his room. He was afraid of running into Ling Luo. Formerly, Lin Xiao would have been elated that Murong Tian had sent him to this assembly. Now it was only troublesome. The state he was in, he wouldn’t be able to get a high ranking.

His heart was in chaos, and refining dan medicine required calm.

Ling Luo, not far away, was about to leave his room and knock on Lin Xiao’s door.

The past few days, Ling Luo had mostly been practicing in his room. But his mind kept straying to the stranger, and the more he considered that figure, the more familiar he thought it was. He’d already guessed in his heart…He recalled Murong Tian saying he would send Lin Xiao to the assembly once he returned with the grass. And the assembly was about to begin…

And Lin Xiao had not yet appeared.

So that stranger was likely Lin Xiao. The notion made Ling Luo excited. He couldn’t completely be sure, however. He had been going downstairs periodically, waiting for the man, so he could observe him more and confirm that he really was Lin Xiao.

Ling Luo hadn’t expected that that person would stay shut in his room. If Ling Luo hadn’t asked the innkeeper, he would have thought the man had already left. Finally, after not seeing him for a couple of days, Ling Luo lost his patience. He decided to knock on the stranger’s door immediately…and then ask him to go on a walk…

If it was Lin Xiao…

Lin Xiao, occupied with his thoughts, suddenly heard a pounding on his door.

“Who is it?” Lin Xiao asked cautiously. Who would come to his door here?

“It’s me.”

Hearing those words, Lin Xiao’s face went white. Speak of the devil…He was still deeply afraid of seeing Ling Luo, even though he knew he couldn’t avoid it forever. And now Ling Luo was at his door.

Lin Xiao knew he couldn’t just lock the door and refuse to see Ling Luo forever. He opened the door, faintly asking: “What is it?” His hand hidden behind the door shaky.

Ling Luo carefully searched the face of the man in front of him, but the man looked merely indifferent. Still, faintly smiling, Ling Luo said: “We’re all friends here. If you’ve got time, come outside with me.”

“No!” Lin Xiao blurted it out before even thinking. Ling Luo started giving him a strange look. Realizing he was being awkward, Lin Xiao coughed, adding: “Don’t you have two other friends who can go shopping with you?”

Ling Luo laughed. “They’re busy with practice. You felt familiar from first sight. So I wanted to invite you out today.”
Actually, Murong Xue and Cheng Yan had already come to find Ling Luo to go shopping with them, but Ling Luo had declined. Only then had the two of them gone off to practice.

Lin Xiao had no idea if what Ling Luo had said was the truth or not. He didn’t know if Ling Luo had found something out, and that was why Ling Luo was at his door. It wasn’t usually Ling Luo’s personality to go and find random people to take strolling.

But Lin Xiao reasoned he might be reveal more by refusing Ling Luo’s invitation, than accepting. After all, he can’t hide from Ling Luo for the rest of his life. Besides, he’d be seeing Ling Luo at the assembly. The assembly that would probably be Lin Xiao’s last chance to refine.

Why was he being so resistant? His hand was still trembling, but he faced Ling Luo. There was a limit to hiding.

He’d have to reap what he had sowed.

“Very well, I’ll go.”

Ling Luo, anticipating more rejection, was pleasantly surprised. He stiffened for a second, but shook it off. Excellent. The other has agreed.

Together they walked out onto the street. Ling Luo kept pestering Lin Xiao with questions. And from time to time, he would put his arm around Lin Xiao’s shoulders.

To Ling Luo’s questions, Lin Xiao replied with one or two words answers. He tried to dodge Ling Luo’s arms. However, he didn’t completely succeed, and then he had to wait for an excuse to pull the offending hand off.

Lin Xiao was becoming more and more sure that Ling Luo had found out some nebulous something. Otherwise, Ling Luo just wouldn’t have acted this way with a stranger.

But under Lin Xiao’s steady barrage of lies, Ling Luo was retreating. He went silent and his hands stayed at his side.

It didn’t matter what Ling Luo did. It made Lin Xiao nervous, and his heart would start beating faster…

He was so afraid.

He couldn’t resist sneaking a glance at Ling Luo. What was he up to? As a result, the two men’s eyes met. Ling Luo’s eyes were deep and rich, and when he caught Lin Xiao secretly looking at him, he grinned at Lin Xiao.

Lin Xiao wasn’t completely sure of what lay in those incomprehensible eyes.

But he gulped, his intuition telling him…Ling Luo knew who he was.