Xuan arrived in front of Yuelan, his expression slightly puzzled.

"Why the big charade?" he asked. "Couldn’t you have just... I don’t know, sent the people away?"

"She looks like an idol," Yuelan replied with a scoff. "How would you feel if you heard so many rumors about her being some sort of saint of the cultivation world, and then that saint just wakes up out of nowhere?"

"I would probably ignore her," Xuan said honestly, earning a bonk from Yuelan.

"Well, that’s just you." She clicked her tongue. "Now, I’ll tell the others to kindly fuc—Leave... You go do whatever you need to. Just don’t sleep with her in the infirmary, the walls are literal cloth."

"Don’t worry, my body is as pure as the Spirit Pond we bathed in." Xuan smiled, stepping past her.

Yuelan hummed. "What a fancy way of saying you’re a virgin. But go on."

Xuan rolled his eyes at her unusually pestering behavior and walked inside the tent. The shadows from earlier were gone, and the only person present was Hanbi, who lay on the bed, staring at her hands.

However, when she realized that he had stepped inside, her gaze landed on him. Immediately, a startled look appeared on her face as she winced, closing one eye.

"Still in pain?" Xuan asked, sitting down beside her and placing his hand over her forehead, inspecting her temperature. "Your temperature’s fine... It’s probably because you have been in a coma for the last six weeks."

Hanbi remained silent for a few moments, and when he finally removed his hand from her forehead, she spoke:

"What happened...? I remember we were training, and then..."

She winced in pain again.

"I can’t remember after that..."

"It’s fine," Xuan assured. "We have a lot of time on our hands, so I’ll tell you..."

.

.

.

(1 hour later...)

Hanbi clenched her fists in anger.

"Just who do those monks think they are? Just because we were nice to them, they dared to try using me?" she spat. "I’ll let my father know. He’ll pay a visit to them in the Lower Heavens. I’ll make sure of it."

"Father again, huh?" Xuan whistled.

Hanbi narrowed her eyes. "What?"

"It’s nothing. I guess I just expected you to not return to factory settings right after waking up," Xuan replied with a hum.

"Factory... What are you talking about?" she asked, confused.

Yeah, didn’t expect her to understand this world’s metaphors. Xuan sighed.

"What I’m trying to say is... You wanted to be more independent, right? Why turn to your father for help every time something goes wrong?"

Before she could reply, he placed a finger on her lips and continued: 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

"Oh? Those people are stronger than you? Great. Set a goal to become strong enough to get revenge. Asking your daddy to swoop in and solve all your problems just kind of stumps your growth, don’t you think?"

Although she was a little flustered when he placed his finger on her lips, hearing his words, she couldn’t help but grow serious.

She pushed aside his finger and lowered her gaze. She wanted to speak up, but it seemed as though her words didn’t dare to come out.

And so, the next couple of minutes were blanketed in silence, until eventually, the tent flaps parted as Yuelan stepped inside. Without a care in the world, she sat down on Hanbi’s bed and waved with a smile.

"Sup."

"...?"

"Yuelan..." Xuan facepalmed. "Hanbi, this is my sister Yuelan. Yuelan... This is Xue Hanbi. She’s someone I trained with for a month straight. I trust her."

"Mmm... How scandalous." Yuelan smirked, putting a hand over her mouth. "A man and a woman all alone for a month..."

Hanbi’s cheeks flushed slightly. "We didn’t do anything."

"Yeah, I know," Yuelan replied. "If I sensed that you two did something... then I’d have talked to you first. Woman to woman, you know?"

"Jeez, Yuelan, just stop already. You’re embarrassing me," Xuan grumbled. "Be nice, okay?"

Yuelan gave the two a thumbs up, then said:

"I overheard you two talking. And yeah, I agree that you’re a little too spoiled for your own good. Don’t call papa for help. Join us instead. What do you say?"

Xuan was surprised by the proposition.

He might act naive on the surface, but ever since the apocalypse happened, he had become aware of Yuelan, and especially of how she acted around him.

She was obsessed over him, and whether it was just genuine care or something else, he wasn’t sure.

However, that all led him to one simple conclusion.

Yuelan was a yandere.

"You two are really alike," Hanbi said. "Yuelan, is it? I’m sorry, but I can’t give you an answer right now. I just woke up, and my head is all cloudy. Give me a few days, and I’ll—"

"No problem." Yuelan abruptly stood up. "Make up your mind by tomorrow, since we’ll be going on an expedition."

"Huh?" Xuan flinched. "We are?"

Yuelan puffed out her chest. "Well, having spent the month not doing anything myself... I gave my shadows a mission to find a few tombs... Remember the tomb you found in the waterfall?"

Xuan nodded, and so she continued:

"Yeah, my shadows found two more. I was thinking we stop by those tombs before moving on to something bigger." Her grin widened. "While I was out exploring the world, I found a dungeon. It didn’t let me go inside, since to unlock it, I needed someone with a Supreme-ranked or higher physique."

She pointed at him. "And that’s where you come in. Just imagine the rewards that we’d get from a dungeon like that."

"Hmm, sure. But don’t you think it’s a little too dangerous?" Xuan asked, tilting his head.

"It’s definitely dangerous," Yuelan replied plainly. "However, we’ll be together. This Hanbi woman is going to probably come with us as well, so we’ll have three powerful people. I’ll also fetch a couple of Spirit Grandmasters. If that isn’t enough to clear a dungeon on a Tier 1 world, then we’re better off retiring."

Xuan chuckled. "When you put it like that, I guess it’s fine. You said we’re moving out tomorrow?"

"Mhm." Yuelan nodded. "It’s in Europe, so the journey’s around three days if we move at full speed. Since Hanbi just woke up and she’s a little messed up, it’ll probably take up to a week. Basically, don’t shy away from packing a bunch of rations."

With those words, Yuelan reached the exit of the tent and turned back with a slight, yet ominous smile.

"No doing naughty stuff in my camp. Bye~!"

And just like that, she left.

Xuan sighed, turning toward Hanbi, who was still slightly flustered.

"Don’t worry about her. She’s always this eccentric," he assured.

"It’s not that, I just feel a little weak. I probably need to cultivate until tomorrow if I want to go with you," Hanbi replied, determined.

Weak, huh? Xuan fiddled with the Vermilion Blood Essence Pill inside his pocket, then shook his head.

No matter how important Hanbi is, Yuelan will always be the person I care about the most, Xuan thought, stashing the pill deeper into his pocket and standing up with a faint smile.

"I’ll bring you dinner. You can at least eat that before cultivating, can’t you?"