Yun Ruoyan and Yun Moxiao immediately dumped everything they were carrying in front of Lin Qingchen.

“Qingchen, look after our goods. We’ll go catch that thief!” Yun Ruoyan ran off behind Yun Moxiao.

“Thief, thief! Don’t let that thief escape!” Lin Qingxue continued to yell out as she ran.

Yun Ruoyan could see that the sea of people in front of her was already in a state of disorder. Lin Qingxue had been using her spiritual energy as she chased the thief, and a large number of stalls had been knocked over as a result. In addition, quite a few regular civilians had been hurt by waves of spiritual energy, and were lying on the ground rubbing their bruises.

“Qingxue, don’t hurt any bystanders!” Yun Moxiao shouted.

Then, Yun Ruoyan saw a yellow sword aura emerge from underneath Yun Moxiao’s feet as he soared into the skies.

“Ruoyan, take my hand!” Yun Moxiao reached out to her as he balanced on the sword.

She leaped up onto the sword behind Yun Moxiao as he steered the sword in Lin Qingxue’s direction.

“Over there!” Yun Ruoyan could see Lin Qingxue talking to a youth at a restaurant not too far ahead, a youth who looked unusually familiar.

As they landed in front of Lin Qingxue, Yun Ruoyan recognized the youth as a person whom they hadn’t seen for quite some time: Zhuo Yifeng. Clutched in Zhuo Yifeng’s hand was the collar of a man who looked like a skinny monkey, likely none other than the pickpocket.

“Sister Ruoyan, look! I met Brother Zhuo!” Lin Qingxue was so happy that she began jumping up and down, waving the red money pouch in her hand. “Brother Zhuo helped me catch the thief.”

Yun Ruoyan looked toward Zhuo Yifeng. He was dressed in rough fabrics, and seemed even darker and thinner than when she’d met him within the imperial territory. Nevertheless, his eyes remained as bright as ever.

However, when Zhuo Yifeng met Yun Ruoyan’s gaze, he seemed stupefied. When he split up from Yun Ruoyan, her poison still hadn’t been purged, and she appeared far uglier than she did now.

At that time, Yun Ruoyan was dressed in loose red clothing, and the birthmark on her face was only partially covered by her hair. She looked more like a female pugilist than the daughter of a noble family. 

In contrast, the Yun Ruoyan in front of him right now was dressed in an egg-yellow dress, her hair combed simply into two coils, a few strands of hair dangling by her earlobes. The birthmark on her right cheek was covered by a sakura-blossom gauze patch, revealing tender, rosy cheeks.

It had been little more than three months, and yet Yun Ruoyan looked completely different from the girl she had once been!

The Lin siblings would see their cousin quite frequently. Despite having witnessed the entirety of Yun Ruoyan’s transformation, they were still amazed at her near-miraculous transformation. Likewise, when Yun Moxiao first met his sister again, he too was amazed.

However, Zhuo Yifeng seemed completely shell-shocked by Yun Ruoyan’s new appearance. His mouth was hanging open, as if he could hardly reconcile her new appearance with her old one.

“Zhuo Yifeng, where’s your sister?” Yun Ruyoan asked.

But Zhuo Yifeng didn’t respond, still entranced by Yun Ruoyan’s new looks. 

“Brother Zhuo, this is Sister Ruoyan! Don’t you recognize her?” Lin Qingchen tugged on his sleeve when she saw him looking dazedly at her.

Only then did Zhuo Yifeng react, scratching at his head and at a loss for words.

“Brother Zhuo, where’s Lin’er? Why isn’t she with you?” Lin Qingxue repeated Yun Ruoyan’s question as she looked all around her for her.

“Lin’er’s at the inn,” Zhuo Yifeng replied. “I’m only here to get some herbs, and I’ll return straight away. How do you want to deal with this thief?”

“Hand him to me,” Yun Moxiao said, stepping forward.

“This is my brother, Yun Moxiao,” Yun Ruoyan introduced. “And this is a friend we met in the imperial territory, Zhuo Yifeng.”

Seeing Yun Moxiao’s gentlemanly appearance, and noting both his flight and advanced cultivation, Zhuo Yifeng barely hesitated before turning the thief over to Yun Moxiao.

Yun Moxiao had joined the army at a young age, and he had a rather developed sense for people. Zhuo Yifeng’s eyes were bright and clear, so although he didn’t seem very talkative, he appeared to be an honest man.

“I have to return to the inn, or Lin’er will be upset with me.” Zhuo Yifeng bowed and picked up a pouch from the floor.

“What inn are you guys at? Let me go with you!” Lin Qingxue grabbed Zhuo Yifeng by the elbow. “It’s been so long since I’ve seen Lin’er, hehe!”

It seemed that Lin Qingxue was adamant on following Zhuo Yifeng to his inn. Yun Ruoyan was also quite interested in checking the place out.

Not wanting to waste time bringing the thief to the magistrate, Yun Moxiao kicked the thief away. Knocked onto the ground and afraid that they’d change their mind, the thief hurriedly picked himself up and ran off.

Yun Ruoyan glanced at the thief’s back as he made his escape and inadvertently met his gaze when he turned back to look at them. The thief was ratty, with a pointed chin, long, flappy ears, and a bald patch in the middle of his head. She suddenly thought of a figure from her memories, but when she tried to scrutinize his appearance more carefully, the skinny monkey had already vanished around a corner.

“Ruoyan, what’s the matter?” Yun Moxiao asked after seeing his sister in a daze.

Yun Ruoyan shook her head, not saying anything.

Yun Moxiao was preparing to fly back to grab Lin Qingchen when he saw her walking past the crowd in their direction.

“Sister, where’s everything I bought?” Lin Qingxue noticed at once that Lin Qingchen’s hands were empty.

“I had all the items dropped off at a store for a servant to reclaim once we return home.”

Lin Qingchen was equally surprised to see Zhuo Yifeng. She still had some of his spoils from the imperial territory, and she would finally be able to give him his share. After exchanging a few greetings, the crowd followed Zhuo Yifeng to the inn he was staying at with Zhuo Lin’er.

At the top floor of a nearby restaurant, a black-clad Li Mo was sitting by the window as he enjoyed a cup of tea, staring at Yun Ruoyan’s dazzling form as she walked away.

“That’s the eldest young master of the Yun family,” Li Qianhan pointed out, sitting opposite him.

Yun Ruoyan had saved Li Mo, and he had offered her a promise as thanks. Yun Ruoyan’s request was for him to guarantee Yun Moxiao’s safety for at least three years.

Li Mo put the cup in his hands back on the table. “Prepare me a dossier involving this Yun Moxiao. I want it ready by the time I return to the mansion.”

Su Bei, standing behind Li Mo, nodded immediately as he turned to leave.

“Although the two siblings didn’t grow up together, they seem to be on very good terms,” Li Qianhan commented as he watched them walk off. Yun Moxiao stood behind and to the side of Yun Ruoyan, ready to react to any unforeseen circumstance.

Li Mo thought back to Yun Ruoyan getting onto Yun Moxiao’s sword. Despite how high he’d flown when he was with her, Yun Ruoyan stubbornly insisted on keeping her back straight and away from his grasp. On the other hand, Yun Moxiao had flown barely above the crowd’s heads, and yet Yun Ruoyan was gripping his waist so tightly!

When Yun Ruoyan and the others heard that Zhuo Yifeng was staying at an inn, they’d naturally thought that the beastkin siblings were staying in one of the rooms. However, Zhuo Yifeng brought them into a shack for firewood instead. The interior of the shack was small and cramped, consisting solely of a single bed. Zhuo Lin’er was lying in the bed, her frail body looking even frailer than usual.

“Lin’er, we’re here to see you!” 

“Qingxue!” Zhuo Lin’er clearly didn’t expect Lin Qingxue to show up, and she sounded very excited to see her. When she saw Lin Qingchen and Yun Ruoyan, she began to smile.

“Sister Qingchen, Sister Ruoyan, why are the two of you here?”

“We met on the streets,” Lin Qingxue answered. “My money pouch was stolen, but luckily Brother Zhuo helped me catch the thief.”

Zhuo Lin’er was about to reply when she began to cough.

“Lin’er, you’re sick!” Lin Qingxue glanced at her in concern. “Is it serious?”

Lin Qingxue and Zhuo Lin’er hadn’t liked each other at first, but they’d gradually become good friends. After splitting up at the end of the imperial expedition, it had been over two months since they last saw each other. However, not only did they not feel unaccustomed to each other, they even seemed to have developed a closer intimacy.

“No, it’s nothing but a slight cold. My body’s just so thin that it looks more serious than it actually is.”

“Don’t worry, my sister’s here! You’ll be right as rain in no time with her around.” Lin Qingxue turned to her sister, who motioned for Lin Qingxue to let her speak with Zhuo Lin’er.

She took Zhuo Lin’er’s pulse and confirmed that it was only a slight cold. However, Zhuo Lin’er’s constitution wasn’t very good, and she needed to recuperate slowly.

“When did the two of you arrive at the capital, and why are you staying at a place like this?” Yun Ruoyan asked, looking at Zhuo Yifeng.

She’d heard Zhuo Yifeng mention that they were staying at the city of Bian, eight hundred miles from the capital. He’d saved the lord of a noble family while hunting in the mountains, and the reason they were even able to enter the imperial territory was with the favor of that lord. At the end of the expedition, Zhuo Yifeng had quickly left with his sister in tow in order to thank him for his generosity.

But how did they end up at a shack in the capital?

“It’s been more than two weeks now,” Zhuo Yifeng replied. “I do have some money on hand, but you need identification to stay in the capital. Neither Lin’er nor I have such identification, and it took some time to even find this little shack for shelter.”

There had been quite a few high-profile incidents of demons hurting civilians in the capital, and the local authorities had taken to handing each citizen tokens of identification as a result. Only with such tokens could people stay in the capital for the long term. Zhuo Yifeng and Zhuo Lin’er’s identities were rather special, so it was hard for them to get ahold of them.

“Why didn’t you two come searching for us?” Lin Qingxue asked.

“Oh, we did,” Zhuo Lin’er replied, “but the capital was so big and the noble families so numerous that we didn’t know where to start.”

Actually, Zhuo Yifeng had found the Yun family, but he was barred at the entrance by the household guards. As for the Lin family, Lin Zainan had been in seclusion, and all guests had been turned away at the entrance.

“There’s still half a month left before it’s time to enter Kongming Academy, so why have the two of you arrived so early?” Yun Ruoyan asked.

Zhuo Yifeng was silent for quite a while before he continued, “I unintentionally heard a secret and had to escape in the night with Lin’er.”

Previous Chapter

Next Chapter