Su Yingsnow looked up and took in Luo Qingchuan’s “home.”

“Sit for a bit first,” Luo Qingchuan said. “Thirsty? Want something to drink?”

The girl shook her head.

“Um, Xiaoxue, I want to ask you something.”

In the spacious living room, Luo Qingchuan took out an apron and slipped it on. He looked at the girl sitting on the sofa in a daze.

“Mm?”

Su Yingsnow turned her head and gave Luo Qingchuan a light smile. Quiet and sweet, she had that unmistakable teenage-girl air, like a rosy first-love impression.

Luo Qingchuan got a little nervous from looking at her. “You…”

As he walked toward the kitchen, he asked casually, “What kind of people do you think demonic cultivators are?”

Su Yingsnow tilted her head. “Probably people who do evil, or want to do evil,” she said offhandedly. “What do you think?”

“I’m not sure.”

Luo Qingchuan walked up to the cabinet and reached for a kitchen knife. “I saw the news about Qinggang Bar. I was thinking... why do demonic cultivators have to do bad things?”

“Because they want to become stronger. Some vicious demonic arts are shortcuts.”

Luo Qingchuan’s hand suddenly paused.

The Blood Demon God-Refining Art that Peony cultivated had helped him rise quickly to Qi Refining Eighth Layer.

If Peony had devoured all the customers in the bar, he would’ve succeeded in Foundation Establishment.

Luo Qingchuan hadn’t wanted to hide things from Su Yingsnow.

He’d even always had the urge to tell her everything. He’d been trying to guide things calmly toward a confession, so he wouldn’t scare her.

Only now did he realize that yes, he could lie about where the Scripture of Calamitous Chaos came from. Yes, he could make Su Yingsnow believe he was a good person...

But how was he supposed to explain the “miracle” of reaching Foundation Establishment overnight?

She would definitely suspect him. There were too many things he couldn’t explain clearly, and Su Yingsnow was exactly the kind of girl who overthought things.

So complicated...

Luo Qingchuan pressed his lips together.

“Xiaochuanchuan, are you scared?”

Luo Qingchuan turned around and saw Su Yingsnow on the sofa, half-turned toward him, her gaze gentle.

“I’ll protect you.” Su Yingsnow smiled softly, but with firm resolve.

Luo Qingchuan gave a bitter smile. Somehow, he seemed to have become the passive one in this relationship.

But when that bitter smile fell into Su Yingsnow’s eyes, she froze slightly. The watery shine in her eyes dimmed a little.

Luo Qingchuan was rubbing hand soap over his hands when the girl’s footsteps came softly closer, and she wrapped her arms around his waist.

“What’s wrong?” he asked gently.

“You’re not allowed to take pills anymore,” Su Yingsnow said.

Luo Qingchuan shook his head. “I won’t.”

“And you’re not allowed to get ideas about cultivating demonic arts either. You don’t need to rush to become stronger. Stuff like ‘Ten thousand years is too long; seize the day’ sounds cool, but I don’t like it.”

This girl, usually a member of the literature club, recited word by word, “If two hearts stay true for long, why cling to every morning and night? You’ve heard that one, right?”

“Magpie Bridge Immortal: Slender Clouds Make Tricks.”

Luo Qingchuan felt the waist she was hugging go weak.

That one line had him completely pinned down.

Su Yingsnow’s voice was beautiful, like pure warm snow melting in early spring. It fell into Luo Qingchuan’s heart, not cold at all, but faintly warm.

Then she murmured again, “I don’t want to eat.”

“Not hungry?”

“I’m a super genius at Qi Refining Ninth Layer. I wouldn’t be hungry even if I didn’t eat for a month.”

“Then I’m not hungry either.”

Luo Qingchuan thought to himself that he was a great devil in the Foundation Establishment Realm, after all.

“Then I want you to keep me company.”

“Sure.”

“To take a bath.”

“?”

The swaying rush of water stopped with a creak as the faucet turned, and silence fell.

Drip. Drip.

Clear streams of water slid down the warming wall.

Slender, pale little toes touched the bathwater lightly. It was as if they’d been scalded. Her pearl-like toes curled up, and only then did those beautifully curved calves slowly sink into the water, stirring gentle ripples.

As she entered the bath, her graceful figure was elegant and delicate. Her long black hair fell down, covering large stretches of her smooth, flawless, slender back.

Only when the girl’s soft, jade-white body sat in his lap did Luo Qingchuan finally come back to himself in the bathtub.

Luo Qingchuan held the lightly trembling Su Yingsnow in his arms and asked in a low voice, “Too hot?”

Su Yingsnow shook her head lightly. The tips of her ears were adorably red. It was hard to tell whether it was from the steamy heat of the bathroom, or from her blood rushing under the push of shyness.

“Your hand...”

“What about it?”

“Your fingertips are hot...”

Luo Qingchuan gave a small cough. “A boy’s instinct.”

“...You want to touch?”

“...Mm.”

Su Yingsnow took Luo Qingchuan’s hand and pressed it over her body. She stretched her waist like a cat and leaned against his chest, her dark eyes gazing up at the white mist in the air.

Su Yingsnow’s skin felt to Luo Qingchuan even warmer and softer than the hot water in the tub.

So his other hand, with no good intentions at all, slid down along her flat stomach toward a quieter place.

“It’s warm,” she said with a smile. “Your hands are really smooth. Almost like a girl’s.”

“As long as you like them,” Luo Qingchuan said.

Su Yingsnow silently closed her eyes and quietly felt Luo Qingchuan’s slow, gentle movements. Her cheeks were flushed and enticing.

“There’s water making noise,” Su Yingsnow said, as if she wanted to melt her whole body into Luo Qingchuan’s embrace, hiding in that gentle warmth, like a cat that always loves sleeping in the sun.

Luo Qingchuan’s hand paused.

“I hate noise.” Her lips moved, and she spoke softly. “I don’t like arguing with people, but my mom and dad fight every single day, like they can never run out of things to argue about...”

“They work from dawn to night every day. The time they have to see each other and talk is so short, and they use all of it to complain about each other.”

A lonely curve rose at Su Yingsnow’s lips. “When people don’t truly communicate, even tiny everyday things turn into thorns that stab into the heart. After long enough, both sides end up covered in wounds. But...”

Her voice turned weak and plaintive. “I don’t know what to do. And my mom and dad won’t even spare a little of that arguing time to listen to me.”

Luo Qingchuan felt the Su Yingsnow in his arms go completely soft, so soft she seemed boneless, like she might melt away.

“I’ve always been obedient,” Su Yingsnow said, lowering her lashes. “Before, they told me to study hard.”

“Recently, they started saying I should become an immortal who governs life and death. And they told me to separate from you.”

The girl said quietly, “Luo Qingchuan, it’s like everyone has a dream, but I don’t. I don’t know what kind of person I want to become. The more I think, the less I understand myself. Sometimes, I even get some really scary thoughts.”

Su Yingsnow opened her eyes and looked up at the boy behind her. “What about you?”

“Me?”

The boy smiled and answered without thinking,

“Like a lot of kids do when they’re little, I always wanted to grow up into one of those outstanding adults in society.”

Su Yingsnow froze for a moment, curious and confused. “What does it take to count as outstanding?”

“Well... that should be...”

Su Yingsnow felt the boy seem to stiffen for an instant.

Luo Qingchuan lightly rested his chin on Su Yingsnow’s faintly pink, delicate shoulder.

“I’m still looking for the answer.”

The light was quiet, and the sound of dripping water gradually faded.

Su Yingsnow turned around and kissed Luo Qingchuan.

A long while later.

“Take me with you while you look,” Su Yingsnow said, arms around his neck, smiling in a soft, moving way.

...