novelraw Chapter 120 : The Moon-White Sword
Chapter 120 : The Moon-White Sword
Chapter 120: The Moon-White Sword
Bang!
A dazzling firework burst into the sky.
Lu Changyuan gathered and dispersed the blood mass in his hand; it twisted strangely, blooming into blood-red flowers before exploding with a loud boom.
His mastery of the Blood Demon’s power was still rough—he needed more practice.
“Young Master.”
Xia Lianxue came over carrying several pieces of rice cake. “Try some. Jiayi and I made them together. We’ll have dinner soon.”
Lu Changyuan smiled, took one piece, and tasted it. Soft and slightly sweet, it clung to his throat.
Seeing his expression, the Little Fairy in White covered her mouth with a laugh and left. She said she would personally cook today—just like when they were still in the mortal realm. Every New Year, she would make pastries and deliver them to the nearby young doctor, then, seeing his helpless face, she would say how things would be once they were married.
Even after marriage, things hadn’t changed—it made no difference at all.
Everyone seemed busy and bustling. Lu Changyuan, however, found some peace. Watching the rising kitchen smoke, his thoughts drifted.
He was thinking of someone—not the Palace Mistress of the Sun-Moon Palace, nor any other woman—but the old doctor.
This life, he had been found on a mountain by an old doctor gathering herbs, and raised by him. No one knew who had abandoned the infant on that mountain. Had the old man not picked him up, he might have been eaten by tigers.
The old doctor had no wife or children, so he raised Lu Changyuan as his own son and taught him some medical skills. Thus, Lu Changyuan became a doctor himself. But about five or six years before his memories returned, the old doctor had died.
Not murdered—simply of old age.
In Lu Changyuan’s memories, the old doctor had grown ancient beyond recognition—white hair, white beard, eyes that barely opened—yet his medical skill had nearly reached the level of Dao attainment.
If he had a chance of Immortal Fate, he might have ascended to the Fifth Realm.
When Lu Changyuan was little, he had once asked the old doctor his age. The old man had only joked that he was so old he’d forgotten. Lu Changyuan hadn’t thought much about it before, but now, looking back, it seemed strange.
Why would such a person live alone in a tiny mountain village?
“How did he even survive that long?”
The reason he thought of the old doctor now was that Lu Changyuan wanted to know why he himself had survived Heaven’s Punishment.
Even with the Little Fairy in White’s Time Technique, it shouldn’t have been possible to bring him back so completely. Someone else must have intervened. Who? The Desire Demon?
Could the Desire Demon even do such a thing?
Lu Changyuan narrowed his eyes, carefully retracing the memories.
Someone approached quietly—cold and serene like the moon above. “Teach me to use the sword.”
Qiu Yuehan stepped closer, her lotus steps graceful. Though she had already bought the clothes, she had hesitated for several days before finally seeking him out on New Year’s Eve.
The fairy bit her silver teeth. She felt strange—an urge to approach Lu Changyuan lingered in her mind, born from the scenes she had witnessed within the bridal sedan chair.
Although he was her junior sister’s man… wasn’t he also her Guardian Spirit? It felt as though her junior sister had stolen her Guardian Spirit away.
The inexplicable turmoil inside her never ceased, and even the Supreme Pure-Spirit Forget-Immortal Technique was of no help.
Lu Changyuan came back to himself and asked blankly, “What sword technique?”
The cold fairy’s cheeks flushed. “I am, after all, your registered disciple. Shouldn’t you teach me? Moreover, it was with your Red Dust Intent that I entered the Red Dust Sword Dao. How should I continue on that path?”
That was true.
When facing the Fifth Realm elder of the Blood Demon Palace, Lu Changyuan had given her a wisp of Red Dust Intent through the Demon Mark, allowing the Moon Fairy to enter the Dao with her sword.
“Besides, my use of One Sword from the West isn’t refined enough. Come with me.”
Lu Changyuan wanted to say, “As the Nether Lord, why are you even learning swordsmanship? Once we return to the Nether Kingdom and reclaim the Jade Radiance Technique, wouldn’t it be easier to just point and kill whoever you wish?”
But before he could speak, Qiu Yuehan pulled him toward the bamboo grove behind the mountain. “I’ll change into something more suitable for practice.”
Moonlight scattered across the bamboo, spilling silvery brilliance.
When Lu Changyuan saw her again, he was nearly dazzled by that hint of moonlight.
“Where did you buy that training outfit?”
Qiu Yuehan’s face turned red to her ears. She bit her lip. “The shopkeeper at the foot of the mountain said this is what people wear for training these days.”
“Did you… buy men’s clothing by mistake?”
Lu Changyuan looked at her. The fairy’s cold, stunning features and moonlike eyes were full of shyness; her delicate nose was high, and her lips soft as plum blossoms blooming in winter.
Looking down, the black outfit she wore was seamless top to bottom—but the skirt was shockingly short. As the fairy was tall and slender, her jade-like legs were exposed to his sight, dazzling his eyes. Worst of all, the sides of the outfit were slit like a cheongsam, tied loosely with fragile ribbons that failed to conceal her slender waist. Through the gaps, one could glimpse moon-white underclothing.
Qiu Yuehan lifted her head and tried to sound calm. “The shopkeeper said it’s breathable.”
She stepped closer.
Lu Changyuan then noticed she was barefoot. Her dainty feet pressed against the soft earth, adorned only with green anklets that made her unpainted toes seem all the more exquisite.
“What are you looking at?”
“Am I not allowed to?”
Her cheeks flushed. “Practice!”
To his surprise, Lu Changyuan’s body began to move on its own.
Qiu Yuehan was controlling him!
He did not immediately reclaim control, curious instead to see what the Moon Fairy intended. Her slightly cool body pressed into his embrace. Lu Changyuan’s left hand unconsciously touched her slender waist, while his right hand clasped her soft palm.
Teaching the sword hand in hand, indeed.
Her firm, elastic hips brushed against his thigh.
Lu Changyuan couldn’t help but click his tongue—Qiu Yuehan’s legs were long and captivating, perhaps even more so than the Little Fairy’s.
“How much of your memory has returned?”
She paused before answering softly, “Not much. I only remember you carrying me… all the way to Mount Long, wounded badly, yet you never left me.”
In the space between life and death, the Nether Lord’s loneliness had been gently eroded away.
The Nether Lord had once said that a Guardian Spirit was one’s destined companion. Then, to Qiu Yuehan, what was Lu Changyuan?
“I also remember you and me bathing in the lake…” The Moon Fairy bit her lip, shifting slightly against him.
“In the future, you’ll stay with us. You won’t be lonely anymore.”
Feeling his breath against her neck made her body go soft. She whispered, “Will you let me go?”
Lu Changyuan answered earnestly, “Only if you let me go.”
Her voice was faint. “The relationship between us is so tangled I no longer understand it—and I don’t want to.”
Sword light flared.
Lu Changyuan, still holding her hand, executed a move of the Pure Yang Sword.
They did look like they were practicing.
Qiu Yuehan said, “My junior sister told me before that since I bear your mark, I must never touch another man for the rest of my life.”
“When did she say that?”
“Before you went to the Nether Kingdom.”
What a domineering Little Fairy.
Qiu Yuehan snorted. “I think she just wants me laid on the bed—but if I actually did, she’d be unhappy.”
What could Lu Changyuan do but smile silently?
The Moon Fairy suddenly turned around, her glassy eyes fixed on him, slightly dazed. “Do you think I’m not beautiful?”
That was pure nonsense.
Qiu Yuehan was breathtakingly beautiful—a solitary beauty, like a lotus blooming in clear water. Anyone who saw her would think she was a piece of the moon fallen from the heavens.
“Beautiful.”
“Then why, from the first time we met until now… Forget it.” She stopped herself, realizing she was being petulant.
Sensing the cool fragrance in his hands, Lu Changyuan said quietly, “Because there’s no need.”
Coldly, she asked, “Do you know why my junior sister never questions you, even though she knows you have many secrets?”
“She’s gentle by nature. Always has been.”
“Gentle? The Palace Mistress of Jade, who fought her way through chaos, gentle? Only in front of you.” Qiu Yuehan turned back, locking eyes with him.
Such a fierce Moon Fairy.
She said, “Because she knows—you don’t love her.”
“That was in the past.”
Lu Changyuan recalled the time when the Desire Demon had invaded his body. Among his Five Desires, the one that nearly made him fall was Xia Lianxue.
Was that love?
He didn’t know. He had once loved someone, but too long had passed—he had forgotten the feeling. He only knew that Xia Lianxue was now an inseparable part of his life.
So he said, “Between her and me, it isn’t a matter of love or not. I am her anchor; she is my past. That bond outweighs the so-called love.”
Qiu Yuehan dropped her light sword and wrapped her arms around his neck—the Nether Lord’s domineering nature showing through.
“That sounds nice. If she heard that, she would stop asking. But I must say this—you’ve cultivated to the Taiyi Realm. It’s nearly impossible for you to love someone. That’s why my junior sister tries every way to stay by your side.”
Lu Changyuan didn’t know how to respond.
Qiu Yuehan raised her hand and pressed it to his chest. “She feels guilty—thinks she wronged you by making you marry someone you don’t love. So she wants me to make up for it.”
“There’s no guilt. If anything, I owe her more. And now, it’s not that I don’t love her.”
Love at first sight in the mortal world could never compare to affection built over time.
The Little Fairy had already wed him—their bond grew naturally through life’s ordinary moments.
Her voice was softer than moonlight. “How much truth is there in that?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It matters a lot,” she murmured coldly.
Lu Changyuan only shook his head in silence.
“I used to worry,” she whispered, “that if you ever gave in to your beastly side, forcing me into something shameful… But before coming tonight, I realized—you wouldn’t. Because you don’t love me.” She muttered, “Yet if you don’t love me, who will ease my loneliness through two lifetimes?”
If anyone else could control the Jade Palace’s chief fairy, they would have indulged in every imaginable sin—but Lu Changyuan did nothing.
Not only that, but ever since she had recovered her memories as the Nether Lord, Qiu Yuehan had felt there was always a wall between them—and lately, she realized that wall was only growing thicker.
If it wasn’t torn down, she would remain alone, while her junior sister and her Guardian Spirit stayed together forever.
Leaving her solitary and forgotten—was that fair?
Lu Changyuan said, “That isn’t love either. Love is only a part of emotion. So-called love and affection both eventually turn into long-lasting companionship.”
Qiu Yuehan clenched her teeth, glaring at him in frustration. “Then you’ll teach me swordsmanship every night from now on! I’ll wait for you here!”
She no longer understood herself—but that was fine. She would, someday.
Lu Changyuan could only watch as the fairy walked away over the snow, thinking that from now on, he would have to see the Moon Fairy practice in such attire every night.
Was there any difference between that and practicing without clothes?
There was, of course—
Half-concealed beauty always tempted the most.