Chapter 1
My cultivation partner, Hengzhou, had reached the pinnacle of his cultivation. His ascension was imminent.
Yet he didn’t seem particularly happy.
Half asleep one night, I dimly saw him gazing at me, his face full of worry.
His fingertips brushed the corner of my mouth.
“What will become of you?” he murmured.
“You love me so much. How will you ever let go once I’ve ascended?”
“Your resolve on the path of cultivation is unsteady enough already. If you keep dwelling on me, you may never advance another step. You might even develop an inner demon and lose control of your cultivation…”
My eyelids were too heavy to lift. Instinctively, I rubbed my cheek against his hand. Before I could ask what was wrong, I had fallen deeply asleep again.
Hengzhou’s hand remained suspended in the air.
Suddenly, a long sigh sounded through the quiet night.
Hengzhou had been getting stranger by the day.
Whenever he looked at me, his expression was often torn, as though he was struggling with himself.
One day, he suddenly asked me a question.
“If you forgot me, would you fall in love with someone else?”
I nearly swore an oath to the heavens. “How could I possibly forget you?! Even if my mind forgot you, my body and my heart would remember. I’ll never love anyone but you!”
Tears welled in my eyes and finally spilled over.
“Hengzhou, how can you think so little of my love?”
“Do you think I’d fall for just anyone?”
His brow twitched, and he pulled me firmly into his arms.
“I was wrong.”
His voice softened, carrying the faintest sigh.
“When you love me like this, how can I stop worrying about you?”
I kissed the corner of his mouth.
“Then don’t. Always miss me. Always worry about me.”
Hengzhou paused, then answered solemnly, “All right.”
He had been very busy lately.
He said he was developing a miraculous medicine.
Taking it would make a person forget their troubles.
I told him that developing such a marvelous drug was just what I would expect from someone about to ascend.
His expression grew complicated.
“Manxi, would you like to try it?”
“Of course,” I replied casually. “A miraculous medicine my husband developed? Of course I’d like to try it.”
Hengzhou fell silent for a moment, then managed a rather strained smile.
“All right. You’ll be the first to take it.”
The medicine was ready in less than a month.
Hengzhou came to see me with Buying, the master of the Alchemy Hall.
They placed the pill in my hand.
One watched me gravely; the other looked expectant.
They were taking this far too seriously.
For some reason, I felt immense pressure.
Steeling myself, I lifted the pill to swallow it.
But Hengzhou suddenly stopped me.
He said nothing, studying me carefully for a long time, as though looking long enough could make my image permanent. Eventually, he said something entirely beside the point. “Manxi, I hope you’ll live freely, following your heart every day. Don’t let… anything hold you captive.”
“I’ll wait for you in the immortal realm, until the day you ascend and come to find me.”
The hand holding the pill trembled.
I was only taking some medicine. Why was he acting as though we’d never see each other again? Was he all right?!
Still, if they wanted to kill me, they shouldn’t need to go to so much trouble.
One flick of a finger, and I’d drop dead on the spot.
I swallowed the pill.
My consciousness suddenly started to blur.
As I drifted dizzily into unconsciousness, I seemed to hear someone speaking beside me.
“I’m leaving her in your care. I can no longer appear before her, in case she falls in love with me at first sight all over again.”
“Please look after her, Junior Brother. Help her cultivation proceed smoothly, so she can attain the Dao and ascend as soon as possible.”