Qian Gu reached out and gently touched my cheek, just as he had on that day when he left me to seek medicine from Yue Lao Hong. His fingertips brushed against my skin, light and deliberate. “You answered the last question wrong,” he murmured by my ear. “Day and night, endlessly and obsessively. Those eight characters fail to capture even a fraction of my thoughts for you.”
Suppressing the turmoil in my chest, I said calmly, “You told me to answer your questions, and I did. You should keep your promise. When you were young…” When you were young, I taught you better than this. But I couldn’t finish the sentence—saying it would only reopen old wounds.
“I did promise to give you the antidote, and I will,” Qian Gu said. “But I never said I’d give it to you right now.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Decades have passed, and you’ve certainly grown more shameless.”
“I’m a man of the demonic path now. Such behavior is hardly out of character. Besides, didn’t Master often act unruly? I’m just following your example,” he said, sitting casually on the ground and tilting his head to look up at me. “And if I give you the antidote now, you’ll take it and immediately leave. I’d rather wait until I’ve seen enough of you… then I’ll let you go.”
His words hit me like a blow to the heart.
“Why do you cling to me?” I asked quietly.
“If I knew why,” he replied, “I wouldn’t cling.”
He truly just sat there quietly, his gaze unwavering as he stared directly at me. I tried my best to maintain a calm demeanor, but being scrutinized with such intensity, I couldn’t help but blush slightly.
The moment my face turned red, he chuckled softly, which only made me furious. I’d snap at him in anger, and my face would stop being red. But after a while, when the irritation subsided and he kept staring, I’d blush again… and so the cycle continued.
“Immortal Master! Immortal Master!” The voice of a junior disciple calling for me came from outside the Ling Xu Cave.
Startled, I instinctively said, “Qian Gu, leave.”
He didn’t seem particularly concerned. Standing up, he leisurely dusted off his robes and said, “If Master truly has no regard for me, you would have called them in to catch me rather than telling me to go.”
I fell silent. He eventually took out a porcelain vial from his sleeve, poured out a pill, and chuckled lightly. “Master is so worried about me that you even forgot about your own antidote. A master’s kindness is as profound as a mountain—it must be repaid.”
Then, to my astonishment, he swallowed the pill himself.
“You!” I exclaimed, but couldn’t get another word out, because Qian Gu had already pressed his lips against mine. He transferred the pill to me, his breath mingling with mine. Aside from the faint medicinal fragrance, all I could sense was his presence.
He didn’t push further, but I was completely stunned. When he finally pulled away, his eyes fixed on mine from close range, I noticed a slight tremor in his gaze. Though he was the one who had taken advantage of me, his ears were flushed bright red.
I wanted so badly to ask him: Why on earth are you blushing? Aren’t you supposed to be a practiced scoundrel by now? Weren’t you the one who was gleefully teasing me earlier? And yet, one kiss makes you blush? Could you not have such…
… such a stark contrast!
He brushed his fingers lightly against my lips. “Master, I’ve missed you for a very long time.”
“Immortal Master?” The voice of the disciple outside the cave rang out again.
Qian Gu smiled faintly, his face still red. “I’ll be back.”
The warmth of the pill spread from my stomach to my entire body. As I flexed my still-stiff fingers, the disciple outside finally entered the cave. “Immortal Master, here you are! A moment ago, someone reported seeing two presences leaving from the summit of Kong Ling.”
I turned and nodded. “It was your Senior Uncle Qian Zhi and Senior Aunt Qian Ling. They’ve defected to the demonic path.”
Seeing the disciple’s horrified and bewildered expression, I suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of defeat.
It seemed that my entire career as a teacher had been a complete failure.
I had… essentially been training recruits for the demonic path all along.
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