Reunion

Yu Jinli's anxious and heartbroken cry of "Stop!" exploded like a thunderclap in everyone's ears! Lin Shu's longsword, burning with flames and exuding an aura of destruction, stopped just an inch away from Feng Jinxuan's brow! The sharp sword energy severed a few strands of black hair on the man's forehead, and also snapped the taut string on the martial arts field.

Time seemed to stand still at that moment, and everyone's eyes turned in unison towards the direction from which the sound came. A petite figure in a light blue dress was seen rushing towards them like a swallow returning to its nest.

It's Yu Jinli.

She ran so fast that she even lost a shoe, leaving her barefoot on the cold flagstones, her face filled with lingering fear and heartache. Her peach blossom eyes, which always held a hint of mischief and playfulness, were now brimming with glistening tears that seemed about to spill.

Feng Jinxuan watched the figure rushing towards him, looked at the girl he thought he would never see again, and felt his mind go completely blank for a moment. He even wondered if he was already dead, and what he was seeing was just the most beautiful illusion before his death.

In the instant he was stunned, that petite, warm body, carrying the lemongrass scent he had longed for, slammed into him—no, not into his arms, but shielding him. Yu Jinli spread her arms wide, like a mother hen protecting her chicks, tightly protecting the man, a head taller than her and still in a daze, behind her. She looked up, her eyes, already blurred with tears, now filled with hostility and warning for the first time as she gazed at the senior sister she had always revered: "You're not allowed to touch him again!"

Lin Shu: "..."

The fellow students watching the spectacle were speechless.

Feng Jinxuan, now protected: "..."

The entire training ground fell into an even more eerie silence than before. Lin Shu looked at her junior sister, who was baring her teeth at her for the sake of an outsider, and felt her temples throbbing. She took a deep breath, sheathed her sword, and showed a helpless expression of exasperation: "Alright, alright, I won't touch him anymore, okay? Don't you even see how badly he beat me?"

Yu Jinli then turned around, nervously looking the "victim" behind her up and down. The man's black windbreaker had several cuts in it from the sword energy, revealing his solid muscles. Although he looked a bit disheveled, he didn't seem to be seriously injured. On the other hand, the senior sister, although her clothes were neat, had a clear and comical fist mark on her handsome face. Moreover, her usually meticulously combed high ponytail was now a mess, looking more like a bird's nest. She looked like she had been unilaterally "beaten up."

Yu Jinli: "..."

Looking at the man in front of her, who had fought against a master of the Xuanmen sect with his mortal body and even beat him up, she felt a mix of emotions—what kind of monster was this guy?

"Are you...are you alright?" she asked softly, her voice trembling with a sob she herself didn't even realize.

Feng Jinxuan didn't answer, but simply reached out and gently stroked her cheek with his uninjured, slightly trembling hand. The touch was warm and real, not an illusion. He looked at the living, breathing girl before him, who could cry and laugh, radiating sunshine, no longer the cold phantom of his dream. He felt his heart, which had long since sunk into the abyss, being lifted up by a warm, soft hand.

"I'm fine." His voice was hoarse, as if answering her, or perhaps answering himself, "Now that you're here, I'm alright."

After saying that, he could no longer control himself. He stepped forward and, to everyone's astonishment, pulled the still-dazed girl tightly into his arms. The force was so great that it seemed he wanted to embed her into his very bones, never to be separated again.

"Feng Jinxuan! Let me go! You're hurting me!"

"I won't let go."

"You bastard! You son of a bitch! You coward!"

"Yes, that's me."

Do you know how worried I was about you?

"I know."

"Then why did you come here alone to die!"

"Because... I'm afraid I'll never see you again."

The two, oblivious to everyone else, staged a long-awaited reunion scene full of "violent aesthetics" and "corny pickup lines" on the sacred martial arts arena of Tianyan Pavilion. The surrounding disciples of Tianyan Pavilion were dumbfounded. They looked at the lecherous man who wouldn't let go of their junior sister (senior sister), and then at their senior sister whose face was as black as the bottom of a pot. For a moment, they didn't know whether to go up and help or continue to watch the drama unfold.

Finally, Yuehua, who had rushed over upon hearing the news, broke the awkward situation. Looking at the cloyingly sweet scene before her, she couldn't bear to watch and felt her blood pressure rising: "Ahem!" She coughed heavily twice.

Yu Jinli suddenly snapped out of her daze and quickly broke free from Feng Jinxuan's embrace, her face as red as a ripe tomato. Feng Jinxuan also loosened his grip somewhat awkwardly, but his other hand still tightly clutched the girl's clothes, as if afraid she would run away.

"mom……"

"Don't call me Mom." Yuehua glared at her irritably, then took her hand with concern. When she saw her bare feet, her brows furrowed instantly. "What happened? Where are your shoes? Running around barefoot in this cold weather, are you crazy?" As she spoke, she tried to take off her coat to wrap her up.

"I'm fine, Mom." Looking at the complex expression of worry, self-blame, and maternal love on her mother's face, Yu Jinli felt the last bit of resentment that had risen in her heart due to the reunion vanish. She knew that they truly cared about her.

Just then, Yu Zhengdao, who had been silent all along, finally spoke. He looked at the tall man who had been protecting his daughter the whole time, and slowly said, "Feng Jinxuan, right? Come with me, let's talk."

...

Half an hour later, in the council hall of Tianyan Pavilion.

Feng Jinxuan stood alone, facing the four highest authority figures of the Tianyan Pavilion—Pavilion Master Yu Zhengdao, Pavilion Master's wife Yuehua, Senior Brother Gu Yanzhi, and Senior Sister Lin Shu. The scene resembled a joint trial.

"Speak," Yu Zhengdao said, sitting in the main seat and getting straight to the point, "What exactly do you want from my Tianyan Pavilion?"

“I’ll take her home.” Feng Jinxuan’s answer was simple and direct, leaving no room for negotiation.

"Go home?" Lin Shu sneered. "She's in her own home right now. As for you, a mere mortal, a jinx, what right do you have to take her away?"

“Just because…” Feng Jinxuan met her provocative gaze and declared clearly, word by word, “She likes me.”

Lin Shu: "..."

She felt her sword getting itchy again.

“President Feng,” Gu Yanzhi, who had been silent all along, finally spoke. His voice was still gentle, but it carried a hint of coldness that was hard to detect. “Love can’t put food on the table. You can’t give her stability or a future. You’ll only drag her into endless danger. Let go. It’s better for you and for her.”

Feng Jinxuan looked at his nominal rival in love and suddenly laughed, a laugh full of mockery: "Mr. Gu, what makes you think that letting go is for her own good? What makes you think that what you're giving her is what she wants? Have you even asked her what she wants?"

Gu Yanzhi's expression changed slightly.

“You all,” Feng Jinxuan surveyed the entire room, his dark eyes burning with an unprecedented brilliance, “you keep saying you’re doing this for her own good, that you want to protect her, but not one of you has ever truly asked her what she really wants. You treat her like a fragile treasure that needs to be protected, like a saint who needs to be planned for and has no thoughts of her own, but you’ve forgotten that she is first and foremost a person—a living, breathing person who can cry, laugh, love, and hate.”

“What she wants,” he looked at them, his voice soft but firm, “is not a safe cage, but a sky where she can fly freely. And I,” he paused, a confident, flamboyant smile—Chase’s—curving his lips, “are just able to give her that.”