Maybe the tide was coming in, because the sound of the waves grew closer and closer.
Nan Shan smoothed back her wind-tousled hair, always facing the direction Ji Yue had gone.
After saying that reassuring sentence, Ji Yue fell silent. Nan Shan leaned on the rock and called out to him loudly, “Ji Yue!”
“I’m here.”
Hearing his reply, she let out a small breath of relief.
The sea breeze grew stronger and stung her eyes.
She blinked hard, but her eyes still felt sore, and tears began to form.
They gathered in her eyes and spilled out as she squeezed them shut.
When she opened them again, a shimmer of light trickled in.
When Ji Yue returned with a handful of flowers, he saw her quietly standing in front of the rock, her eyes staring intently in his direction.
Worried she’d grown impatient waiting, he hurried toward her, comforting her as he came.
“I’m back.”
“Don’t move,” Nan Shan suddenly said
Ji Yue immediately stopped.
His usually gentle brows showed a hint of confusion.
“What’s wrong?”
Nan Shan blinked again.
“So Xiangcaique really is a flower, and it’s blue. I thought you were tricking me.”
“Why would I trick you? The flower really is blu—”
He suddenly realized… he had never mentioned the color of the flower.
Ji Yue abruptly looked up, only to see someone coming at him like a gust of wind. |
Instinctively, he opened his arms, and in the next second, Nan Shan jumped onto him, wrapping arms and legs around him, shouting with joy:
“I can see! I can see!”
Ji Yue also laughed and took two steps back under her wild momentum.
Nan Shan was overjoyed.
After laughing and fooling around for a while, she finally realized what she had done and quickly climbed down from him.
Ji Yue didn’t mind at all—he held her by the waist until she was steady before letting go.
“Ji Yue, I can see again.”
Nan Shan looked at him, smiling.
Ji Yue’s eyes were warm and gentle.
“Mm, that’s wonderful.”
They stared at each other for a long time.
Slowly, the corners of Nan Shan’s lips fell, and the joy in her heart was replaced by something else.
Even though she wasn’t standing in the sea, her heartbeat was chaotic—pounding, loud in her ears like a little drum.
The sound of waves seemed to vanish in an instant, and the entire Dongyi world grew quiet.
Nan Shan blinked slowly and began to rise on her tiptoes.
Ji Yue quietly watched her.
He hadn’t moved, yet he saw his own face growing clearer and clearer in her pupils.
At the moment their breaths mingled, Ji Yue’s Adam’s apple bobbed, and he suddenly turned his face away.
Nan Shan froze for a second.
They had stepped in water, picked the flower, and now she could see.
The two of them headed back to the courtyard.
“Even though you can see now, don’t get careless.
Avoid reading cultivation methods for a while, and focus on resting. Definitely don’t use your spiritual power.”
“Okay.”
“Your spiritual bone still needs to be nourished by your own cultivation. That’s a big issue. Until we find a real solution, you’ll have to keep using spiritual energy in its place. But that’s for later. Once you’ve rested, I’ll reinforce that section of spiritual power for you, so it won’t scatter if your focus slips again.”
“Got it.”
“Remember—no more training until you’ve completely recovered.”
“I know.”
While chatting, they arrived at the entrance to Nan Shan’s room.
Ji Yue cleared his throat.
“Go rest. I’ll leave now.”
“Goodbye,” Nan Shan responded politely.
They exchanged a glance. Ji Yue turned and left.
Nan Shan smiled, watching until his figure disappeared—only then did her expression slowly turn blank.
“What are you standing there alone for?”
Shou Xin appeared from who-knows-where.
Nan Shan glanced at him and noticed he was wearing dusty gray clothes.
She frowned.
“What are you wearing? That’s hideous.”
“What’s wrong with—wait… You can see?!”
Nan Shan raised an eyebrow proudly.
“You’re just now realizing?”
“That’s amazing! Congrats, congrats!”
Shou Xin gleefully ran around the courtyard like a happy little rabbit.
Watching his joy, Nan Shan couldn’t help but laugh too.
But the happiness didn’t last long—soon a child approached and asked:
“It’s a good thing you can see again, so why don’t you look happy?”
Nan Shan’s smile faded.
“Who says I’m not? I’m very happy.”
“…That’s your version of happy?”
Shou Xin was skeptical.
Nan Shan huffed and turned away proudly, heading back to her room.
She closed the door, walked to the bed, took off her shoes, climbed under the covers… then grabbed her head and let out a silent scream, rolling madly back and forth until the blanket fell to the floor and her hair was a mess.
Only then did she sit up, eyes blank.
…So what exactly had she done?!
Even if she was that happy, she shouldn’t have tried to kiss him!
Would Ji Yue think she had issues?
Or think she was shameless and flirty?
Oh no!
Why did she do that?!
Nan Shan screamed again in silence, then collapsed on the bed, utterly drained.
Because of her moment of madness, she thought things between her and Ji Yue would be awkward for a while.
But the next time they met, Ji Yue acted completely normal—as if nothing had happened on the beach.
She breathed a sigh of relief and quietly pretended the same.
After regaining her sight, Nan Shan’s eyes were still uncomfortable for a while.
She had learned her lesson.
She rested diligently every day and didn’t dare cultivate on her own.
Once she fully recovered, Ji Yue reshaped the spiritual power that had replaced her spiritual bone. It instantly became solid and stone-like—indistinguishable from a real spiritual bone.
“It’s still not a true spiritual bone. You’ll only be able to use it for ten years. But within those ten years, you’re free to cultivate.”
Ji Yue said gently, “Don’t worry too much. I’ve read the celestial signs and seen that there’s another way—though what it is exactly, I haven’t yet discovered.”
Nan Shan nodded obediently.
“Thank you, Immortal Ji Yue.”
Ji Yue paused, then nodded.
“No need to thank me.”
Nan Shan smiled. Ji Yue also smiled faintly.
Shou Xin looked at the two of them, then immediately put his hands on his hips and questioned
Nan Shan: “Did you bully the Immortal again?”
“Why would I bully him?”
Nan Shan gave him a look.
“Didn’t you see how polite I was? I even thanked him!”
“That’s the problem. Since when have you ever been polite to him? Why are you suddenly acting like a decent person?”
Nan Shan turned her face away guiltily.
“You’re just biased… I’m ignoring you.”
Shou Xin grumbled and tried to keep interrogating her, but Nan Shan found an excuse and ran off.
The reshaped spiritual energy was much more stable than before.
Still, the ten-year limit felt short and urgent.
Nan Shan didn’t dare slack off—she trained night and day.
Ji Yue came to the courtyard a few times but never saw her.
In the end, he had to leave jade slips at her door.
Every time Nan Shan received one, she marveled at Ji Yue’s foresight.
She used to know nothing about cultivation and couldn’t tell where those jade slips came from.
But now, on the right path, she could see they were among the top-tier techniques in all three realms—no way could someone gather them overnight.
It was as if he had predicted, long ago, that she would need them, and had been preparing ever since.
She once told this to Ji Yue.
He was silent for a while, then suddenly smiled.
“Yeah, I’ve known for a long, long time that you’d need these. So I started collecting them early.”
He said it so casually.
Nan Shan gave him a sidelong glance, momentarily forgetting the beach incident.
“You think you’re what, more calculating than the Patriarch of Kunlun?”
Ji Yue had no idea who that was and just smiled.
Looking at the gentle smile on his face, Nan Shan’s heart skipped a beat again.
The air grew still.
Their eyes met, then they both quickly looked away.
A long pause, then Ji Yue cleared his throat.
“I’ll head to the front hall…”
“Oh, okay.”
Nan Shan nodded quickly.
Once he left, she pressed a hand to her chest, then returned to her room to cultivate.
She had stayed in Dongyi for so long, the first twenty years of her life now felt far, far away.
At first, she often missed the people and things outside, sometimes even crying under the covers.
But over time, those memories faded.
Only two things remained in her mind:
To break the barrier between Dongyi and the mortal realm.
And—
To live a little longer.
The alternation of day and night in Dongyi was abnormal, and she had no idea how much time was left in her “ten-year limit.”
She only knew that after the seventh black night, her cultivation had already reached the peak that the spirit bone formed by spiritual power could bear.
The early morning sky looked no different from any other time; only the moisture in the air was slightly heavier.
Nan Shan stepped out of her room and glanced up at the blood-red sun hanging high overhead.
Forming a hand seal, she instantly appeared above the sea.
It was said that cultivators should cultivate their hearts as well — the higher the cultivation, the broader the mind.
But Nan Shan felt that, even though this was her third time here, she was just as afraid of drowning as the first two times.
Though with her current level of cultivation, it would be hard for her to actually drown, she had grown up on land and just couldn’t shake her fear of the sea.
“There’s nothing to be afraid of. I didn’t drown when I had no spiritual power at all — what could possibly go wrong now?”
She muttered to herself for reassurance.
She steadied her breathing and gathered her spiritual energy, pushing it toward the void-like shore on the opposite side.
In an instant, the sky and sea changed color, furious waves surged, and a previously hidden barrier gradually surfaced in the air — a vast shield that covered the entire Dongyi Island.
The sea wind was harsh.
Nan Shan’s long hair was tied high, her short clothes puffed up in the wind, making her look nothing like a mighty cultivator.
But the spiritual energy radiating from her body was even more piercing than the sea breeze.
The barrier, tangled in black and red energy, seemed to sense the threat coming from her and trembled lightly.
Nan Shan closed her eyes and focused.
After a long pause, she suddenly opened her eyes, and a surge of spiritual power shot out from her fingertip, slamming directly into the barrier.
The sea instantly rose to a height of ten meters — one half forming a towering wall to block her attack, the other half crashing straight toward her.
Nan Shan quickly retreated, flipped mid-air, and launched another spiritual strike.
Her powerful energy hit the barrier, which responded with a thunderous crack — like jade shattering, or the wailing of vengeful ghosts.
Outside the island, Lingye suddenly looked up.
Amidst the rising aura of resentment, he vaguely saw a familiar figure — seemingly about to be crushed by the monstrous wave.
“……”