After Yun Qingyi left, silence settled over the study at Mirror Cloud Residence.
Li Luoning sat by the bookshelf, turning pages with quiet patience. Mi Xingzhe stood in the middle of the room, rigid and uncertain, as if any movement might make things worse.
Time dragged.
Minutes stretched into something that felt like hours. Mi Xingzhe's legs began to stiffen from standing too long.
I can't just stand here forever. I have to say something.
But the pressure coming off Li Luoning — calm, restrained, and somehow sharper than anger — made Mi Xingzhe hesitate.
He swallowed, drew in a breath, and finally lifted his eyes —
Only to notice Li Luoning's injured arm. The robe was stained where blood had seeped through.
That wound… because of me.
Guilt stabbed through him.
"Sorry," Mi Xingzhe murmured, voice small. "I… I'm sorry."
At the sound of his words, Li Luoning closed the book and looked up.
His gaze was direct, unreadable.
"Do you truly not want to stay here?" Li Luoning asked, tone even. "Why are you so determined to leave?"
"No. It's not that…" Mi Xingzhe's throat tightened. He tried to find the right words — and failed. "I… I…"
He couldn't say it.
He couldn't admit what he was.
Li Luoning exhaled quietly, already realizing this would not be a simple conversation.
This child is a spirit — and not an ordinary one.
But he's reckless. His temperament will invite trouble.
Mu Han's "guidance" still rang in his mind, but Li Luoning had only just brought Mi Xingzhe back. He didn't yet understand him well enough to press too hard.
Li Luoning closed his eyes and rubbed his temples, as if gathering patience.
Mi Xingzhe lowered his head again, shoulders tight, not daring to speak. The fear Li Luoning inspired in him wasn't loud — it was the kind that settled in your bones.
When no response came for a long moment, Mi Xingzhe stole a glance upward.
The blood on the robe made his stomach twist.
"I… caused you harm," he said again, miserable and clumsy with it. "I'm sorry."
Li Luoning's brows lifted slightly. His fingers tapped the table once — soft, but stern.
"Do you know," he said, "that if we had arrived even a moment later today, you would have been beyond saving?"
"I… I know." Mi Xingzhe's stutter returned as panic rose. "Th-thank you… for saving me again."
His gaze flicked to the wooden ruler lying beside Li Luoning. He flinched without meaning to and took a half-step back.
Li Luoning watched him — calmly, deliberately.
He already knew what Mi Xingzhe had tried to do. Still, he wanted to hear it from his own mouth.
"I-I just…" Mi Xingzhe forced the words out. "I just went out… for a walk."
Then he stumbled over himself, rushing to fix what he'd almost revealed.
"But I promise I won't run away again — no, I mean, I won't wander outside alone. I can stay. I can work. I can be a handyman, repay you for… for saving me twice."
Li Luoning closed his eyes, a faint crease forming between his brows. Annoyance flickered — then settled back into restraint.
His hand brushed his temple again, then paused as his fingers grazed the ruler.
He didn't pick it up.
Instead, his gaze dropped — briefly — to Mi Xingzhe's injured leg.
Something in him softened. Just a fraction.
This boy's fear wasn't only stubbornness. It had roots.
Li Luoning's voice lowered. "Just a walk. Did it make you feel better?"
Mi Xingzhe's ears burned. "I… I just wanted to go outside for a bit."
"If you want to go out," Li Luoning said, "ask Qingyi to accompany you."
Mi Xingzhe shook his head quickly. After what had happened, the thought of wandering anywhere — fog, trees, silence — made his skin crawl.
"I… I'd rather stay inside."
Li Luoning didn't comment.
He lifted two fingers slightly.
A thread of golden light rose and looped gently around Mi Xingzhe's wrist — once, twice — then sank into his skin and vanished as if it had never been there.
Mi Xingzhe jolted, startled, and immediately tugged at his sleeve, checking himself.
"W-where did it go?"
"It's called Guiding ," Li Luoning said. "If you get lost or encounter danger again, it will lead you back to Mirror Cloud Residence."
Mi Xingzhe stared at his wrist, then lowered his head, fingertips brushing the faint warmth he could still feel. "Oh… I see. Thank you."
"The Liao Yin Immortal Realm is complicated," Li Luoning continued, picking up a brush and jotting something down on paper. "You don't know the terrain. Going out alone makes it easy to lose your way. If you grow bored here, ask Qingyi to take you out. It will also help you learn more about people and things."
Mi Xingzhe listened, then seemed to remember something. He hesitated, lifted his hand a little, and asked timidly, "Can I ask… a question?"
Li Luoning looked up, faint surprise flashing across his eyes. A small smile appeared, almost imperceptible.
"Go ahead."
Mi Xingzhe swallowed. "I heard… people who enter an immortal sect to cultivate — maybe not all of them ascend, but most have abilities. And I heard immortals in the Liao Yin Immortal Realm wear white, with golden light around them. Even their spells have their own colors and symbols."
He spoke earnestly, like someone reciting what he'd heard all his life.
"So… shouldn't that divine beast have been golden too? Why was the one I saw today so… strange? Its eyes were dark. It felt eerie. And it was so aggressive."
Li Luoning's lips curved slightly.
He hadn't expected Mi Xingzhe to know this much — though rumors, of course, traveled farther than truth. To mortals, cultivators of the Liao Yin Immortal Realm were practically gods.
"In recent years," Li Luoning said, "the nobles of Vanri Valley have indulged in hunting fierce beasts near Jiuling. The area has grown restless. And around the Peach Blossom Forest and Jiuling, beasts that escape from the Kunlun Hills occasionally appear."
He paused, choosing his words carefully. "That monster likely wandered over from Kunlun and entered the Peach Blossom Forest by accident."
Mi Xingzhe's jaw tightened.
"They hunt beasts…" he muttered. "…and not only beasts."
His voice was low, bitter — too practiced for someone so young.
Li Luoning didn't catch every word, but something in Mi Xingzhe's tone struck him.
He leaned forward slightly. "You said the day you see that things, it eyes were black. Are you certain?"
"yes!" Mi Xingzhe blurted, suddenly animated. "It was right in front of me. I could see everything — its breath, the sweat on its face — " He waved his hands as he spoke, grimacing. "It even sprayed saliva all over me. How could I not see?"
Li Luoning's expression tightened.
"Tu Lou monster…" he said slowly, thinking aloud, "should have camel-colored fur, four horns, claws… and snow-white eyes. I have never heard of abnormal coloration."
His fingers hovered over the page, then stilled.
During the fight, he had seen blackish-green smoke — he'd assumed it was residue, burned haze, something external. But if Mi Xingzhe had seen it too…
Then it wasn't a coincidence.
"Tu Lou…" Mi Xingzhe's eyes widened. "Eating people? That sheep-thing — no, the Tu Lou look like a sheep — shouldn't it eat grass? Why would it eat people?"
Li Luoning glanced at him, voice low and warning. "Then why do you think it chased you so relentlessly?"
Mi Xingzhe went quiet, throat dry.
"If you sneak out again without saying a word," Li Luoning continued, "you may not be so lucky next time."
"I understand," Mi Xingzhe said, forcing a stiff smile that didn't reach his eyes. "I… I won't do it again."
Li Luoning studied him for a moment, then seemed to decide something.
He lifted his gaze — serious, intent — and Mi Xingzhe felt the weight of it like sunlight through glass: clear, unavoidable.
"In the future," Li Luoning said, "stay here with Qingyi. Learn some medicinal skills."
His lips curved into a smile so sudden and perfect that Mi Xingzhe blinked, half-convinced he was imagining it. Only a moment ago Li Luoning had been all stern distance — now he looked almost gentle.
"Why?" Mi Xingzhe asked nervously. "What are you planning?"
Li Luoning said, "I've already saved you twice. Shouldn't you repay that kindness?"
Mi Xingzhe's voice dropped. "How… should I repay it?"
"As for the specifics," Li Luoning replied, feigning thoughtfulness, "I haven't decided yet."
Then, as if it were the most reasonable arrangement in the world, he added, "So for now, stay here. I'll decide later."
Mi Xingzhe's eyes widened.
"I — I can do anything!" he rushed out, anxious to prove himself. "Laundry, cooking, cleaning — anything. I'm good at all of that. But medicine and pharmacology, that's…"
Li Luoning said, without looking up, his tone casual, "So…that is means…you're willing to stay."
Mi Xingzhe choked on the words he hadn't yet said.
He lowered his head and thought hard, the way someone starving evaluates a bowl of food: not for pride, not for dignity — only for survival.
He had nowhere else to go. He might not be able to cultivate here, but at least he would eat. At least he wouldn't have to scavenge.
And Li Luoning and Yun Qingyi… they didn't feel like the kind of people who bought and sold lives for silver.
"…Alright," Mi Xingzhe said at last, voice barely above a whisper. "I'll stay."
He hesitated, then added, even smaller, "I…I am hunger…"
Li Luoning finally lifted his head.
The smile this time was real — quietly satisfied.
"What would you like to eat?" he asked. "I'll have Qingyi prepare it."