For a long moment, the three of them stood in a strange silence.
The temple, which had once been a place of reverence, now felt like a stage where too many secrets had gathered.
Sunlight filtered through cracks in the roof and broken window frames, spilling pale beams across the stone floor. Dust floated lazily in the air, turning slowly in the light like drifting snow. Outside, the fog that had dominated the mountain the previous night was now thinning, revealing the slopes and trees in faint outlines.
And yet, despite the morning light—
The atmosphere inside the temple remained heavy. Xing Yue stared at Jiang Yunxian as though he were a ghost who had casually walked out of a grave.
It was truly astonishing that he was standing here. The last time she had known his whereabouts, he had been trapped between two raging spirits in the ancient ruins beyond the eastern plains. That situation had not been simple at all. Those spirits had been powerful enough to twist the laws of the mortal realm itself.
There had been no easy escape.
And yet— Here he was. Alive. Smiling, like it was any normal day. As infuriatingly carefree as ever.
Xing Yue's patience snapped.
"Jiang Yunxian," she demanded sharply, "where the hell have you been?" Her voice echoed lightly through the temple hall.
"Do you have any idea—" She stopped.
Because Jiang Yunxian was smiling.
But something about the smile was wrong.
It was the familiar curve of his lips, the same relaxed expression he always wore—but it did not reach his eyes.
His gaze had shifted.
And he was no longer looking at Xing Yue.
Instead— His eyes were fixed on the girl standing between them.
He stared at her with unsettling intensity. Not hostile. Not curious. But deliberate. As if he were examining every detail of her existence.
The girl tried to maintain her composure, but after several seconds under that unblinking gaze, her confidence began to crack. She shifted awkwardly on her feet. Her fingers twisted together in front of her robes.
Finally she blurted out, flustered,
"W–why are you looking at me like that?"
Jiang Yunxian tilted his head slightly. His voice was gentle. Almost polite.
"May I know who you are, miss?"
The girl blinked. Then—
To Xing Yue's complete disbelief— She blushed.
A faint rosy color crept across her cheeks.
Xing Yue nearly choked on her own breath.
This girl has the nerve to blush?
Here she was—tied up in a temple, clearly kidnapped, manipulated, and forced into this absurd situation— And someone was blushing?!
Xing Yue felt a wave of irritation. What exactly is happening here?! The girl lowered her head slightly.
"My name is… Dingying." Her voice had grown softer.
Jiang Yunxian hummed thoughtfully.
"Dingying." He repeated the name slowly.
Then he added, with complete indifference,
"What an ordinary name."
He had not even bothered lowering his voice. The comment echoed faintly across the hall. Dingying froze.
Xing Yue almost laughed.
Jiang Yunxian had already turned away.
He began pacing across the temple floor as if inspecting the building itself.
His footsteps were slow and measured.
And only then did Xing Yue begin noticing something she had overlooked earlier.
The temple… Was different.
When she and Hong Tian Luo had entered yesterday, the entire hall had been a grotesque nightmare.
Flesh. Blood. Rotting remains.
The stench alone had nearly suffocated them.
But now—
The floor was clean. Not polished.
Not restored. But the horrifying piles of flesh were gone. The grotesque remains had completely vanished. Only the dark stains of blood still marked the walls, stubborn reminders of what had happened here.
Xing Yue frowned.
She had been too distracted earlier to notice the change. Her senses had been dulled by the artificial darkness surrounding her.
But now, in the daylight, everything looked… different.
Her gaze drifted further across the hall. At the far end of the temple— Hong Tian Luo lay against one of the stone pillars.
Sleeping.
Exactly the same position she had seen earlier. Xing Yue narrowed her eyes. That alone was suspicious.
Hong Tian Luo was not someone who slept deeply.
In fact, he was notoriously alert.
Even a small disturbance should have woken him instantly. Unless… He had been drugged. Or poisoned. Or placed under some kind of spell.
Her thoughts returned to Dingying.
The more Xing Yue considered everything, the more troubling the situation became.
The first time they had met the girl—
She had walked through the fog without the slightest difficulty. Even though she herself had warned them about the dangers of being outside when the fog descended.
Yet every night, she had calmly returned to the cottage even when the village had been swallowed by mist so thick that visibility was impossible.
She had not shown fear.
Nor confusion. Nor concern.
Xing Yue slowly turned her gaze toward her again. Her eyes sharpened.
"Who are you?"
The question came out carefully. Slowly.
As if she were trying to pry open the mouth of a dangerous beast.
Dingying stiffened slightly.
But before she could respond— Jiang Yunxian clicked his tongue.
The sound was sharp in the quiet hall.
His face twisted into an exaggerated scowl, as though he had suffered tremendous injustice.
"Why do you even need to ask?" he muttered. He folded his arms and leaned against one of the pillars.
"I bet she and those spirits were working together from the beginning."
His tone was almost lazy.
But his eyes were anything but relaxed. "They separated us on purpose."
He glanced briefly at Xing Yue. "One group asked for help. The other conveniently led you into town."
He shrugged slightly.
"Both knowing perfectly well that we were already heading here."
He paused.
Then clicked his tongue again.
"I bet you were guided here step by step."
His gaze returned to Dingying.
Cool. Unblinking. "So asking who she is…"
He tilted his head slightly.
"…is the wrong question."
A faint smile appeared on his lips. The kind that usually meant trouble. "The real question," he said softly, "is why someone this young would hatch such an elaborate plan."
___
For a moment after Jiang Yunxian spoke, the temple fell into a strange, brittle silence.
Dust drifted lazily through the shafts of light that fell from the broken roof. Outside, the thinning fog curled across the mountain slope like pale smoke retreating before the sun. Somewhere in the forest below, a crow cried once and then fell quiet again.
Inside the temple, however, the air had grown tight.
Xing Yue slowly lowered her gaze.
Jiang Yunxian's deduction had made sense.
Too much sense.
And as the pieces aligned in her mind, something else surfaced—something the girl had said days ago when they had first arrived at the cottage. At the time, Xing Yue had thought nothing of it.
She had merely been curious.
A girl so young living alone in a cottage large enough to house an entire family—it had struck her as odd. She had asked casually.
Where are your parents? Your family?
And the girl had replied without hesitation.
"Why should I care about them? They made my life a living hell!"
At the time, Xing Yue had only noticed the bitterness, not pity, but bitterness.
Now—
The memory returned with a weight that made her stomach sink. Her face paled slightly.
Jiang Yunxian noticed immediately.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
Xing Yue did not answer right away.
Instead, she lifted her eyes slowly and looked at the girl standing across the temple floor.
Dingying looked exactly the same as before.
Calm. Unbothered. Her small figure stood beneath the light pouring through the doorway, her expression composed, her chin slightly lifted in quiet arrogance.
The more Xing Yue looked at her, the more a cold agitation spread through her chest.
She forced herself to keep her voice steady.
"All the calamities in this village…" Her words came out slowly. "…were your doing?"
Dingying's lips curved faintly. "Why should I answer you?"
Her voice was sharp with disdain. "You are just a goddess with fading immortality."
The words were spoken with such casual cruelty that even the dust in the air seemed to freeze.
Xing Yue did not react to the insult. Her eyes only grew colder. "Did you kill your family?" she asked.
The question cut straight through the room.
Dingying's brows lifted slightly.
Xing Yue continued to stare at her. She no longer cared that the girl had revealed something she had never wanted spoken aloud—that her immortality was fading. That secret was nothing now. Not compared to the growing dread twisting in her chest.
"I told you," Dingying said lightly, "I admire you. But admiration does not mean you get to question me." Her smile sharpened.
"I decide what gets answered. Who are you to demand anything?"
Jiang Yunxian shifted slightly beside the pillar. His expression still held that familiar carefree laziness, but the faint tension in his shoulders betrayed him.
Xing Yue's voice came again.
Lower. And, harder. "I will ask you one last time."
Her gaze did not waver. "Did you kill your family? And why?"
Something in her tone changed. It was subtle. But unmistakable. The temple itself seemed to hold its breath.
Dingying felt it too.
Her eyes flickered.
For the first time since revealing herself, uncertainty crept across her face. Wasn't she losing her immortality? Shouldn't she be powerless? Dingying had read enough records, enough stories. Immortals without their power were nothing.
Just empty shells. So why—
Why did the air suddenly feel heavier?
Why did the woman tied to that pillar suddenly feel… dangerous?
Impossible.
Her eyes darted briefly toward Jiang Yunxian. He was watching Xing Yue as well.
But not with fear. With recognition.
Because he had seen that expression before. Not exactly like this. But close enough. And something about it made his head ache. Like something he himself could not phantom. A sharp pulse of pain throbbed behind his temples. He frowned and turned his gaze away from Xing Yue.
"Hah."
Dingying scoffed loudly, forcing confidence back into her voice.
"What are you getting so angry about? They were just humans who didn't know how to behave."
Xing Yue's head tilted slightly. "Humans who didn't know how to behave?" Her voice was quiet now. "Are you telling me…"
"…you are not human?"
Dingying straightened proudly. "I am a Mind Demon."
Her eyes gleamed with dark pride. "I can read everything that is not spoken. The thoughts of humans. The whispers of trees. The murmurs of flowers. Every hidden intention." Her gaze sharpened.
"But strangely…"
"…I could not read you." Her eyes flicked briefly toward Hong Tian Luo's sleeping form. "So I assumed the reason. That neat freak is a descendant of Yanli. And you are a fading immortal."
"It is only natural that your minds would be harder to read."
Xing Yue did not comment on that. Instead she asked quietly, "What did you do to those families?"
Dingying smiled. It was not a pleasant smile.
"That part…"
She tilted her head slightly. "…was quite gruesome. But if I must be honest…" Her eyes lit with twisted delight.
"I enjoyed it."
Xing Yue stared at her. "Enjoyed it?" She sounded almost bewildered.
Dingying nodded happily.
"Yes."
"At first I wanted to act human. They found me wandering and took me in." Her voice softened for a brief moment.
"To be honest… That day was the happiest moment of my life."
Xing Yue's brows drew together. "Then why?"
"Why kill them if they gave you happiness?"
Dingying's smile widened again. "I loved someone." Her tone changed. Not softer.
Sharper.
"But they gave him to that ugly girl. They said they were betrothed since birth." Her eyes darkened.
"But I saw him first."
Her voice turned cold. "Why should I let him go?"
The temple fell silent again. "So you killed them," Xing Yue said.
Dingying shook her head slightly.
"No. First I smiled at them. Then I fed them the Soul–Squashing Pill."
Her voice remained disturbingly cheerful.
"It happened here in this temple."
She paused.
"The only thing I couldn't take…"
"…was the jade anklet on that girl's leg." Her lips curled with irritation. "That was a mistake."
Xing Yue's mind exploded with realization.
The jade anklet. The woman she had seen.
The children. Her chest tightened.
Dingying continued casually. "And to be honest…"
Her eyes turned toward Xing Yue.
"I think you helped me."
The words landed like a stone dropped into still water.
Xing Yue's head lifted slowly. "What?"
"That night."
Dingying laughed lightly. "When the parade came up the mountain. You and that neat freak were inside the temple. Investigating."
Her smile widened.
"You saw them."
Her voice grew softer. "They weren't unconscious. They were awake. Breathing. They saw you."
Her eyes glittered with cruel amusement.
"Of course they did. They begged you.
Begged you to save them." Her laughter echoed through the temple.
"And you let me walk away."
Her eyes twisted with manic delight.
"You killed them."
Jiang Yunxian's brows drew together deeply.
Even he looked disturbed now.
But Xing Yue—
She did not move. She simply sat there.
Listening. Each word struck her like a hammer. The faces returned to her mind.
The womenn. The children. The jade anklet.
She had thought they were unconscious.
She had thought she could return in the morning.
Investigate properly. Save them later. Understand everything first.
But instead—
They had died. Right there. While she walked away. Her chest tightened painfully.
What a fool.
The thought echoed hollowly in her mind.
For someone who had lived so long…
She had been unbelievably foolish.
And now—. All that remained of those people— Was regret.