After Being Struck By The Love Gu, I Reached A Happy Ending With My Frail Best Friend - Chapter 7

Xie Guiwan seemed entirely unconcerned by the arrangement. She merely shook her head.

“I came here on a flying-sword talisman, while you spent the entire day traveling on horseback. Zhouzhou, will I disturb your rest?”

The innkeeper had already swiftly arranged a room for Tang Xing. With that, not a single vacant room remained in the entire inn.

“You won’t, you won’t. It’s just… just…”

Shen Fangzhou stumbled over her words.

It was all the system’s fault. If it had not said that Sect Master Xie had feelings for her, she would not be stammering now as though she were reluctant to share a room.

Ning Ruyue leaned over the railing, delighted to add fuel to the fire.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. Shen Fangzhou, why do you look so hesitant? No way. What’s wrong with two friends sleeping in the same room?”

Shen Fangzhou pretended to cough twice. Where Xie Guiwan could not see, she frantically gestured for Ning Ruyue to stop making things worse.

But when she turned back, she found herself looking directly into the sect master’s clear, luminous eyes.

They were like autumn waters, quietly fixed upon her with a faintly lingering intensity. The dim yellow lamplight flickered, illuminating the warm, jade-like contours of the woman before her.

Shen Fangzhou paused.

Under the system’s horrified gaze—

She was moved nearly to tears.

She’s so beautiful. As expected of my female lead!

The system: “…I knew it.”

Shen Fangzhou sighed sincerely.

At this rate, she was going to turn from a shipper into someone who supported both of them equally, and then from that into an obsessive solo fan.

Senior Sister, hurry up and work harder. You need to gain some ground.

After all this commotion, Shen Fangzhou had mostly regained her composure. She nodded and smiled.

“Why would you say that, Sect Master? I’m only worried that I’ll disturb you. It’s already late, so shall we return to the room and rest?”

Xie Guiwan smiled faintly.

“All right.”

After giving Ning Ruyue a cold snort, Shen Fangzhou led the way upstairs.

She pushed open the door and sighed in relief when she saw that the bed was unusually wide. She first warmed it with spiritual power, then used washing up as an excuse to escape the room.

By the time she returned, Xie Guiwan had indeed already lain down.

Shen Fangzhou extinguished the lamp and slowly walked toward the bed in complete darkness.

For some reason, those few steps seemed strangely long.

She rubbed her slightly damp palm and thought once again that it was all the system’s fault for filling her head with nonsense.

Gritting her teeth, she removed her outer robe.

Unfortunately, the inn’s mattress was of poor quality. The instant she climbed onto the bed, she felt the figure lying on the innermost side sway slightly.

“Sect Master?”

Shen Fangzhou called tentatively.

“It’s fine. I’m not asleep yet.”

Xie Guiwan’s voice was soft. She could sense that the person beside her was trying not to disturb her.

However, the Tianji Sect Master’s senses were equally sharp. The instant Shen Fangzhou lay flat, the sword cultivator’s distinctive warmth rolled toward her.

After a long while, Xie Guiwan heard the person beside her ask hesitantly,

“Sect Master, does my senior sister know you came here?”

Endless darkness surrounded them.

In this position, Shen Fangzhou could not make out even the slightest trace of Xie Guiwan’s expression.

Xie Guiwan still wore that almost detached gentleness as she answered in her usual mild voice,

“She knows. Your senior sister was also quite willing to have someone come and help you.”

As expected, Shen Fangzhou smiled.

“My senior sister has always treated me very well. Wait, Sect Master. What I mean is that you’ve also been treating me a little too well.”

It was nearly midnight.

The night in Two Realms Mountain was so dark that nothing could be distinguished.

With sight lost, hearing became even more sensitive.

Xie Guiwan closed her eyes and heard the faint rustling of cloth beside her. She thought Zhouzhou had perhaps turned over.

The next instant, the warm breath near her ear confirmed it.

Shen Fangzhou curled deeper beneath the blanket.

“Sect Master, will you go back tomorrow morning?”

“Senior Sister Bian is in Huizhou City. Sword Master Zhaoshuang may soon break through to the middle Golden Core realm. With her there, Huizhou Pass should be safe.”

“I’m not worried about Huizhou Pass.”

Shen Fangzhou hesitated, then deliberately lightened her tone.

“I’m worried about you, Wan—Sect Master. Part of your soul is missing, and this journey is far too dangerous. I truly don’t want to see you get hurt.”

“If we travel together, I may end up worrying about you twice as much.”

She skimmed so lightly over the first syllable of A-Wan.

And just as easily, she said that she did not want to see Xie Guiwan hurt.

Xie Guiwan did not know what kind of person could say such words so naturally, as though being good to someone required no thought at all.

She remained silent for a moment.

Only after a long pause did she speak, still sounding as though she were joking.

“Do you dislike that my cultivation is too low?”

“Of course not.”

Xie Guiwan could be considered a talisman cultivator, and talisman cultivators had little ability to protect themselves.

On an immortal-demon battlefield, they were even more firmly relegated to a supporting role.

If the Tianji Sect Master saw through fate, she could ascend to immortality in a single step.

But before that happened, she was merely an ordinary cultivator.

Shen Fangzhou sighed repeatedly and suddenly found herself unsure how to persuade Xie Guiwan.

Besides, having a talisman cultivator with them would make infiltrating the Boundary Monument much easier.

She had the system as her hidden advantage anyway. At worst, she would let herself be struck half to death and send the female lead back safely.

At that moment, Xie Guiwan added,

“I won’t hide this from you, Zhouzhou. You know my master left behind a divination before passing away and instructed me to calculate and interpret it day after day.”

“For more than ten years, I have never once neglected it.”

“This time, perhaps I can find a different answer within Two Realms Mountain.”

With that reason, Shen Fangzhou stopped struggling over the matter.

She even made a point of telling the system, See? See? The sect master came because she has something important to do.

After thinking for a moment, she finally instructed,

“Then, Sect Master, you must stay close to me. If anything unusual happens, don’t hide it from me.”

Sect Master Xie gave a quiet hum and said nothing else.

Shen Fangzhou assumed she was tired. She wished her goodnight and stopped thinking about it.

Just as she was about to fall asleep, Xie Guiwan seemed to speak again from somewhere in the haze between waking and dreaming.

“Zhouzhou, it seems you haven’t called me A-Wan in a very long time.”

Half asleep, Shen Fangzhou could no longer distinguish dreams from reality, and her words came without logic.

“Oh… oh, that.”

Xie Guiwan said quietly,

“I remember someone congratulated you on becoming my cultivation partner. After that, you stopped calling me that.”

“That’s right, Sect Master.”

Shen Fangzhou’s voice gradually grew softer.

“If I keep calling you that, I’m worried people will misunderstand. After all, I’m not…”

Your cultivation partner.

Her voice faded away completely.

Xie Guiwan closed her eyes.

Whether Shen Fangzhou said she worried about her or missed her, she felt neither embarrassment nor much hesitation.

That was because she was open and unguarded.

She had not yet entered the realm of romantic love, so her heart remained as pure as a child’s.

She saw Xie Guiwan as a friend, untouched by desire.

Thus, even when old matters were mentioned again, she remained perfectly at ease.

But Xie Guiwan did not possess that same openness.

Nor could she stand by and watch Shen Fangzhou push her toward someone else.

Xie Guiwan took a deep breath and steadied her wavering soul.

As expected, a voice sounded in her mind the next moment.

“Your soul trembles over something so insignificant. Xie Guiwan, should you not reconsider the path ahead?”

The voice was as cold as Kunlun’s snow and as sharp as the Longming Sword.

It came from nowhere.

“At least I know how to adapt instead of stubbornly clinging to a single realm,” Xie Guiwan replied coldly, without the slightest courtesy.

The voice faltered for an instant before calmly continuing,

“I merely wish to remind you that if you enter Two Realms Mountain, I may not be able to save you immediately.”

“I have never needed you to save me.”

“Heh.”

At last, emotion entered the voice.

“For the sake of a sword cultivator, you are willing to delay a plan that has consumed countless drops of blood essence. How laughable.”

Xie Guiwan sneered as well and directly severed the connection.

There was no need to explain.

Nor was an explanation necessary.

That voice did not understand how precious such a pure heart was.

It understood even less how rare it was for someone to stand alone with a sword drawn for a complete stranger.

The world did not lack cultivators who tirelessly pursued immortality.

What it lacked was someone like Shen Fangzhou, who, while hurrying toward her own destination, still remembered to turn and look at the people beside her.

She would belong to Xie Guiwan.

After so many years, after so much time—

Whatever Xie Guiwan wanted would inevitably become hers.

The night was deep, and it was time to rest.

After talking for some time, Ning Ruyue stretched and prepared to bid Cheng Che goodnight.

Cheng Che suddenly asked,

“Xiaoyue, I heard that on the city walls that day, Sword Venerable Shen killed a Golden Core demon general?”

“Oh, that?”

Ning Ruyue shook her head, looking deeply aggrieved.

“It was her. Sister Cheng, I’m telling you, I nearly want to fight these geniuses to the death.”

“That was a peak Golden Core demon general, yet it actually died beneath a single strike from her.”

Peak Golden Core?

Cheng Che lowered her eyes and looked at the hand gripping her sword.

She was also at the peak of Foundation Establishment.

She was clearly in the same realm as Shen Fangzhou.

Yet forget a peak Golden Core cultivator—even the Five-Legged Horse from earlier had been beyond her ability to confront.

But Shen Fangzhou had done it.

Noticing Cheng Che’s silence, Ning Ruyue immediately began making worried noises.

She knew Cheng Che placed tremendous importance on cultivation.

There were even rumors that she had once suffered qi deviation.

During her year at Huizhou Pass, Cheng Che had also gained considerable prestige.

In the brief minutes after the city lord fell, some people had even asked her to take command and organize the defense.

“Sister Cheng, don’t overthink it!”

Ning Ruyue hurriedly continued,

“How rare are Innate Sword Bones? There has only been one Shen Fangzhou in several hundred years.”

“Besides, the celestial phenomenon when she struck that day was extraordinary. Perhaps she used some treasure given to her by the Sword Pavilion.”

Cheng Che raised her eyes, her expression as restrained and gentle as ever.

“Thank you for trying to reassure me, Xiaoyue. But I’m not as obsessed as you think.”

“It’s late. You should go rest as well.”

Seeing her expression, Ning Ruyue sighed in relief.

She yawned and obediently left the room.

She did not look back.

Given how close they were, she was too lazy even to exchange polite farewells.

Thus, she missed the increasingly dense black mist gathering in Cheng Che’s eyes.

“Sword Bones… Sword Bones…”

“If you want something, seize it.”

“Even Innate Sword Bones can be carved out and replaced!”

“Deception, struggle, life and death—so it is between immortals and demons, and so it is between immortals themselves.”

“Only those who survive have the right to decide what is black and what is white…”

A shrill chant drifted through the empty room.