The moon hung low over Azure Sky Mountain, silver clouds drifting lazily across its face like whispers of fate. Beneath its glow, Yue Qingxue sat alone within her crystalline meditation chamber, surrounded by glacial lotus petals suspended in midair.
She opened her eyes.
The breath she exhaled frosted the air around her.
> "It was him again…"
That nameless warmth. That veiled presence. That... unexplainable peace she had felt just moments ago. It stirred something inside her—a strange contradiction to her cold Dao of the Frozen Moon.
Her fingers gently traced the rim of her jade tea cup. She hadn't known why she ventured outside her sect-protected Dao Field earlier. Something had drawn her spiritual sense southward… and it brushed a place so perfectly concealed, it should not have existed at all.
> A place not even Heaven's Will could touch…
A chill ran down her spine.
Not from fear.
But anticipation.
Her mind drifted back to a year ago—during the disciple trials. Among the sea of outer disciples, she had briefly glanced at a young man meditating beneath a half-dead tree. His robe was simple, his cultivation unremarkable—merely at the Qi Condensation stage.
But his face—
No, more than that.
> His presence.
It had lingered in her soul like the echo of a forgotten dream.
Ever since, she had searched for him in silence, watching from afar during public gatherings, only to find him completely… ordinary. Quiet. Modest. Forgettable.
Yet tonight, she had sensed a spiritual concealment so profound it nearly escaped even her Frozen Moon Divine Sense.
And beneath it…
That same warmth.
> "Li Xuan…"
She whispered the name for the first time in months.
Just saying it left her heart beating a shade faster.
Yue Qingxue wasn't foolish. She understood something—someone—was hiding in plain sight. And instinct told her, that someone was far beyond the so-called geniuses who clamored for her attention.
> "I need to know."
---
Later That Night – Outer Sect Gardens
Disguised in a veil of mist and moonlight, Yue Qingxue stepped lightly across the dewy garden paths, her breath silent, her aura hidden. No disciples noticed her. She had used the Moon-Swallowing Phantom Steps—a technique only she had mastered.
Ahead, she saw it again.
A faint trace of divine resonance lingering in the air… but only detectable for those who had transcended the Nascent Soul realm.
She followed it.
Into the quiet bamboo forest that encircled the outer disciple courtyard.
And there, under a weathered tree—
> He was sitting.
Li Xuan.
Eyes closed, calm as still water.
Not cultivating.
Just breathing.
> Why… does he feel so far away?
Though he was just meters from her, it felt like he sat beyond time.
Like he wasn't part of this world at all.
She approached cautiously, concealing her presence.
Then, his eyes opened.
For a moment, their gazes met—and Yue Qingxue froze.
Not from fear.
But because she saw something she had never seen in any cultivator's eyes.
> Boundless serenity… like eternity sealed within a mortal vessel.
She stepped back instinctively, then vanished into the night before he could speak.
---
Back in Her Pavilion
Heart pounding softly, Yue Qingxue closed her door and leaned against it.
> "What are you… Li Xuan?"
And why, when I look at you… does everything I've ever cultivated feel like frost against the sun?