"Will you please?"
She looked at Ming Xuan with earnest eyes, her pure and innocent pupils glowing with the longing for freedom, much like a little bird trapped in a cage.
Ming Xuan looked down at the eagerness in her eyes and the pout on her lips, and finally compromised.
"Alright, but I can only accompany you for a short distance."
Chen Liushang happily skipped over, took Ming Xuan's hand, and walked out through the arched dragon-patterned doorway of the Xiuxian Hall's outer pavilion.
The Xiuxian Continent was bathed in brilliant sunlight at that moment. As a gentle breeze swept past, the petals falling from the ancient trees around the outer pavilion fluttered in the wind. The spirits of the ancient trees seemed to sense the arrival of someone familiar, swaying their branches and causing even more petals to drift down!
Chen Liushang let go of Ming Xuan's hand and spun around happily under the ancient tree, the hem of her golden dress fluttering in the breeze. She cupped her small hands together, trying to catch the falling pink petals.
"This place feels so familiar. Why do I feel like I've been here before? But aren't I just a mortal?"
Half-doubtful, she spoke with innocent eyes, turning around in a small circle as she happily asked Ming Xuan.
Ming Xuan felt a jolt in his heart, his eyebrows twitching in a sudden rush. His sorrowful eyes held back a surge of tears—was the doubt hidden deep in his heart for hundreds of years finally about to be resolved?
"Is it really you?"
Ming Xuan flashed instantly before her, his entire body radiating bursts of golden light. He eagerly grabbed Chen Liushang's small hand, fixing an anxious gaze upon her startled face.
Startled by this sudden reaction from Ming Xuan, she whispered softly, "It hurts. You're holding on too much."
"I'm sorry, Shang'er. I... didn't mean to."
With tears welling in his eyes, Ming Xuan's hands trembled with nervous helplessness as he stared intently at her mortal form, a clear thought flashing through his mind.
*No, now is not the time to tell her. It's better that she has forgotten all of this.*
Seeing this, Ming Xuan immediately reined in the divine aura surrounding him, swallowing the pain in his heart back down, and pulled his thoughts—spanning nine hundred years—back to the present reality of her mortal existence.
"What's wrong with you?"
With a puzzled and worried expression, Chen Liushang tugged at his dark sleeve, her innocent eyes fixed on Ming Xuan's sorrowful face.
"Nothing, Shang'er. Let's go."
Ming Xuan took her small hand and said gently to the bewildered girl, raising his left hand to wave it through the air. The golden light around him transformed into a massive celestial artifact.
A magnificent golden Dragon Boat carved with dragon patterns slowly materialized in mid-air.
Ming Xuan took Chen Liushang's hand and gently helped her aboard the giant Dragon Boat.
*Ting...*
As the bell hanging at the bow of the Dragon Boat rang, the dragon-patterned oars on either side of Chen Liushang slowly began to row through the air.
"We'll be there soon."
Her mind was still unable to shake the image of Ming Xuan acting so strangely and startling her outside the Xiuxian Hall. With a blank gaze and a momentary loss of focus, she tapped her little head.
"Shang'er, what is it?"
Ming Xuan looked at her absent gaze with eager concern.
"Hm? It's nothing."
Recovering her senses, she offered a faint, smiling response.
The giant golden Dragon Boat artifact flashed and vanished into the sky above Qianchen Pavilion. The golden divine aura receded back into Ming Xuan's body as he wrapped his left arm around Chen Liushang's slender waist, carefully and slowly descending from mid-air.
"Alright, Shang'er, how do you feel? Any discomfort?"
"None."
She smiled brightly and happily replied to the worried-looking Ming Xuan.
"I'm wearing the golden flowing-light fairy dress you gave me. Aside from making me look a little uglier, there's nothing wrong with my body at all."
"I made this dress specifically to protect you."
Ming Xuan looked at the innocent Chen Liushang with a deep, worried gaze.
"You've been through a lot today, you should rest now."
Holding her small hand, Ming Xuan crossed the threshold of the Liushang Pavilion gates, walked slowly into her bedchamber, and led her to the edge of her clean, simple bed.
Chen Liushang sat on the edge of the bed, rubbed her drowsy little head, and wiped her sleep-heavy eyes with her small hands.
"Mm."
She obediently climbed into bed, and Ming Xuan tucked the blanket around her. Chen Liushang fell peacefully asleep in her small bed.
Standing by the bedside, Ming Xuan flicked his left sleeve to cast a circular golden Barrier around the bed, then pulled out the list of rare medicinal herbs given to him by the Great Elder outside the Xiuxian Hall.
He examined the list with a serious expression.
A flicker of suspicion crossed his cold eyes, his stern face turning grave as his brows locked into a deep frown.
"These are all advanced and rare medicinal herbs. With my current cultivation, finding them will likely be difficult."
Clenching his hands slightly, his cold gaze grew even dimmer. Burdened by hidden sorrow, his lips parted with difficulty as he murmured Chen Liushang's pet name.
"Shang'er..."
"Mhm?"
As if sensing the unease in Ming Xuan's heart, the sleeping Chen Liushang furrowed her brows, letting out a soft murmur from her lips unintentionally.
Ming Xuan flashed forward, squatting down with his dark robes touching the floor, and immediately grasped Chen Liushang's small hand. He looked with worry at the sleeping girl whose brow remained furrowed.
Gently smoothing the furrowed brow of the sleeping girl, a hint of surprised relief broke across his originally stern face.
"Shang'er, have you awakened your heart aperture?"
Chen Liushang rolled over, her small hand landing right on Ming Xuan's stern left cheek.
Ming Xuan tightly grasped her slender hand, his uneasy expression giving way to a trace of comfort.