Chapter 161: Chapter 110: Ming Yu’s Thoughts (Part 3)

Chu Xuan smiled, "Of course I do."

"Tell me about your life after leaving the mountain." Xiaoxue still snuggled in his arms like before.

Chu Xuan agreed and briefly spoke about his quest for the Dao at the Cyan Lotus Daoist Palace, glossing over the hardships and struggles he faced.

The more Xiaoxue listened, the more sympathy she felt for Chu Xuan, after all, she had witnessed it firsthand.

So she gave Chu Xuan a smack on the cheek, "It’s all in the past, things will only get better from now on."

Chu Xuan rubbed her head, "And what about you? Tell me about your time on the mountain."

Xiaoxue agreed naturally; she dared not reveal her master’s secrets, only saying she still spent every day with her master, and her master’s daily life remained unchanged as before.

Hearing this, Chu Xuan’s lips curled into a wry smile, "I see, my leaving or staying is completely irrelevant to her."

Xiaoxue became anxious, "No, absolutely not, don’t overthink it!"

Chu Xuan just shook his head and asked, "In the years I’ve been away from the mountain, has she ever mentioned me?"

"She has, she misses you a lot," Xiaoxue said firmly.

Chu Xuan looked skeptical.

Indeed, any normal person would have doubts, but the snow ferret couldn’t reveal her master’s intentions, it had to speak well of her, so it braced itself and lied:

"Really, I swear it’s true, Xiaoxue can swear by the heavens!"

Chu Xuan stopped Xiaoxue from raising her hand to swear, he continued, "Does she hate me?"

Xiaoxue shook her head again.

Chu Xuan nodded, "I understand, with Ming Yu’s personality, she probably acted as if I never came, so how could there be love or hate?"

This is what they call a fate worse than hate, when someone has completely forgotten about you.

Even though he had decided to let go, Chu Xuan’s heart still ached, after all, those eight years they spent together day and night were not something that could easily be erased or forgotten.

Xiaoxue was truly anxious, "No, definitely not, she’s always been concerned about you!"

"Then how does she show her concern?" Chu Xuan asked in return.

Xiaoxue was speechless, she couldn’t say that Ming Yu watched over him day and night, even when he was asleep, right?

Chu Xuan sighed, "Don’t comfort me anymore, I understand."

"On one side, there’s the master you respect and are closest to, on the other, there’s the companion who once saved you, you surely wish for the two of us to reconcile."

"But between us, it’s already impossible."

Hearing the despair in Chu Xuan’s voice, Xiaoxue broke into a cold sweat, racking her brains to make up a story quickly:

"Wait, listen to me, I remembered, the clothes you wore on the mountain, the master never threw them away, she would occasionally pick them up to smell them, saying the scent helped her sleep peacefully."

Chu Xuan’s expression turned subtle, "As far as I know, Ming Yu doesn’t sleep."

Xiaoxue was stuck, but she really had secretly seen her master sniffing Chu Xuan’s clothes...

"Listen to me, I really have seen..."

Chu Xuan interrupted Xiaoxue, "Enough, don’t force yourself, you’re not good at lying."

Xiaoxue was truly speechless, her gaze at Chu Xuan was filled with resentment, everything I said was true! Do you believe I’ll bite you?

"Never mind, let me help you recall the happy times with your master."

With that, Xiaoxue began to narrate the past in detail:

For instance, the first time Ji Mingyu told Chu Xuan her name and smiled at him, how excited he was, rolling on the bed while hugging himself.

Or, the first time Chu Xuan held Ming Yu’s small hand, how happy he was, expressing it to himself fervently.

As Xiaoxue described, Chu Xuan’s complexion gradually grew pale, the clearer he remembered the joy from back then, the more pain he felt now, "Stop, don’t go on."

Chu Xuan’s tone was heavy, Xiaoxue opened her mouth but ultimately chose to stay silent.

She was puzzled, this trick was taught to her by the master, who said: if only he could recall those happy days, naturally, he would want to reconcile with me.

But why did it seem ineffective? It even... had the opposite effect.

Xiaoxue didn’t know what to say, so she just held onto Chu Xuan tightly, offering him some comfort.

After a long while, Xiaoxue softly said, "No matter how indifferent the master seems towards you, she still harbors feelings for you in her heart, always remember this, it’s very important."

After hearing this, Chu Xuan seemed indifferent and said, "Did she say this to you directly?"

Xiaoxue shook her head, "No, it’s something I observed carefully myself."

Chu Xuan sighed, "You may not truly understand her thoughts."

"Never mind, I want to ask you something." His tone suddenly became serious.

Xiaoxue felt a bit nervous, "What is it?"

"There’s something I’ve always been curious about, did I really find you by chance back then?"

Xiaoxue’s heart instantly went on high alert, how did Chu Xuan think to ask this?!

"Of course, otherwise what?"

The source of Chu Xuan’s doubt was a dream, a dream of the first time he and Ji Mingyu visited Broken Sword Mountain.

The dream let him realize that during the Celestial Evil Period, they truly loved each other; later Ming Yu intentionally took him back, saying the exact same words, as if trying to make him recall something.

This led Chu Xuan to suspect that Ji Mingyu recognized him as the Celestial Evil from the very beginning. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Including their first meeting, when she said, "My, you were hard to find," it referred not only to the little snow ferret but to Chu Xuan himself.

With this conclusion in mind, was the little snow ferret really just playing outside out of boredom when Ji Mingyu went out to debate Dao, then injured itself, and finally was saved by Chu Xuan?

Could it be, from the very start, this was Ji Mingyu’s arrangement, letting the snow ferret be saved by him first, so she had a valid reason to appear and rightfully take him back to Langhuan Grotto Heaven?