Chapter 130: The Choice (Part 2)

Shen Suwei didn’t respond, his gaze still following the stuffed doll. “Do you still want it?”
“Of course,” Xu Qianyu replied, finding his question strange. “It’s just broken; even if it turned to ashes, it would still be mine.”

Whether it was her imagination or not, after she said this, Shen Suwei’s expression softened.
She tucked the stuffed doll under her pillow, preventing him from looking at it any longer.

“Senior Brother, could you…” Xu Qianyu’s eyes flickered. Shen Suwei understood her meaning and gently asked, “Do you want me to take on a female form?”

Xu Qianyu nodded eagerly. Following her wish, he used transformation magic to shift into his female form, watching as Xu Qianyu’s gaze became one of admiration and attachment.

It seemed Xu Qianyu really liked his female form.
Moreover, she was less nervous around him in this form, more at ease.

Since it made her happy, he didn’t mind being seen as a substitute for someone else. With this thought, the cold, icy female form raised her dark eyes, lifting her sleeve and opening her arms to her.

Hesitating for a moment, Xu Qianyu couldn’t resist falling into his embrace, where he held her tightly. Xu Qianyu closed her eyes, feeling a strange contentment: this version of her senior brother seemed closer to the mother she had always imagined.

Just this embrace brought a deep sense of satisfaction to her heart.
Outside the wooden lattice window, the intense sunlight blazed like molten gold on a summer day. White curtains drifted down, enclosing them in a secluded, shaded space.

“This place was where I slept alone as a child,” Xu Qianyu said. “This is the first time I’ve shared it with someone.”

Though that wasn’t quite accurate, she was practically lying on top of him.

As Xu Qianyu rambled on, Shen Suwei’s hands gently moved around her, carefully removing her hair accessories to make her more comfortable. “No maids to serve you?”

“I didn’t let them get too close; they wouldn’t dare get into my bed, afraid of disturbing me.”
Finally, Shen Suwei finished removing all her hairpins and set them by the pillow.

“Do you want me to pat your back?” he asked.

But Xu Qianyu’s hair was now down, her eyelashes trembling slightly, and she was already breathing steadily, no longer responding.

With her eyes closed, her thick, curled lashes gave her a sense of innocence and charm. The lock of hair curling over her forehead moved with each breath.

Shen Suwei gently pressed it down with his knuckle, but it stubbornly sprung back up.
His fingers slowly moved to the crimson mark at the center of her forehead, needing to get very close to appreciate its vividness.

Half asleep, Xu Qianyu sensed the shift in his form and aura.

It wasn’t the first time this had happened; last time, Shen Suwei had shifted back midway. She knew he disliked changing into a female form unless absolutely necessary.

So she didn’t complain, still holding onto his neck, inhaling the familiar fragrance from his clothes as she drifted back to sleep.

This time, though, she felt something hard pressing between them. “What…”
It seemed like some object had rolled between them on the bed, making her quite uncomfortable. She was about to reach down to move it when Shen Suwei firmly grasped her wrist.

Unable to free herself, Xu Qianyu stopped trying. She had been pushing herself hard these days in the demon realm, and now she was too exhausted to even open her eyes. After a moment, she grew used to it and fell into a deep sleep.

Once she was truly asleep, Shen Suwei let out a quiet breath, his lashes trembling as his breathing became slightly uneven.
He hadn’t intentionally changed back.

Normally, he could maintain the transformation for the time it took three incense sticks to burn, but a single stray thought had broken the spell. His inability to control his desires had triggered a physical change, something that was rare for him.

For a cultivator, self-control was crucial; losing control was the greatest taboo.
Shen Suwei felt two distinct forces in his spirit pool battling each other—light and dark, cold and heat. The demonic energy was eroding everything he had worked so hard to uphold over the years, a trace of self-loathing flickering in his dark eyes.

But the deeply sleeping Xu Qianyu, though frowning, still clung tightly to him.
Even like this, she could tolerate it?
It surprised him. Xu Qianyu was clearly more accepting than he had expected.

Gently stroking her satin-like black hair, he couldn’t help feeling a creeping sense of greed quietly growing within him.

Shen Suwei then laid her flat on the bed, covered her with a blanket, and smoothed her hair.
He moved to sit and meditate beside her, pulling the stuffed rabbit from beneath the pillow.

The white rabbit was torn, in shambles. He held it in his hand, studying the damage before using his healing abilities to stitch it back together, bit by bit.

He was accustomed to forcing himself to do small, meticulous tasks to keep his mind occupied, suppressing his inner turmoil.

As the curtains drifted quietly around them, he continued mending the rabbit, occasionally glancing at Xu Qianyu.

She lay on the bed, sleeping peacefully, her hair shifting with each breath she took.

By the time he finished sewing, he realized that the cotton inside the doll had shrunk over the years; no matter how he adjusted it, it couldn’t be filled up. He then took some dried flower petals from the flowers he had carefully stored and placed them in a fabric pouch, stuffing it into the doll.

He shaped it with his hands and cleaned it with frost, revealing a fluffy, dried white rabbit. Gently, he placed the doll into Xu Qianyu’s arms.

Xu Qianyu vaguely caught the scent of flowers in her dreams.

She didn’t know how long she had slept, but when her hand moved, she realized the floral scent was coming from the doll in her arms. She hugged it tightly. The doll was soft and fluffy, emitting a clean fragrance.

She was moved and quickly reached out beside her.

In the past, when her senior brother had placed the doll back in her arms, he would always quietly leave her space. When she woke up, she would be alone.

But this time, her hand brushed against a sleeve and then a hand lying next to her.
He hadn’t left.

He was actually sleeping next to her on her small bed. Xu Qianyu thought it must be the same in their world, lying together on a bed, resting briefly, giving her a sense of unparalleled peace.

How wonderful.

Xu Qianyu held the doll and felt Shen Suwei’s hand. She quietly interlaced her fingers with his, locking him in place. She smiled softly and closed her eyes again.
She wanted to sleep like this forever, until the end of time.

*
On the other side, Lin Shuyue took a deep breath and knocked on You Yin’s door.
“What do you want?” A disapproving voice came from behind her.

Lin Shuyue was startled, turning to see the young man wearing a silver mask standing behind her. He coldly said, “What do you want now?”
“Don’t overthink it.” Lin Shuyue turned her head to the side and said coldly, “I’m here to talk business.”

“Oh? No more pretending?” You Yin mocked. “Not the fragile, pitiful one who needs protection anymore? It’s all an act,” he sneered. “Didn’t you say you’re a dim star while other men are guiding moons? I see you’re so confident, thinking you’re the center of the universe, that everyone else is just a puppet in your hands.”

Lin Shuyue’s face flushed with embarrassment. She stomped her foot and turned to leave.

“Stop.” You Yin licked his lips, realizing he had gone too far. He stopped the teasing and walked over to hand her a box. “I was looking for you.”

Lin Shuyue hesitated, then opened the box to find it full of ice-skin mooncakes.
“Take it,” You Yin said. “You were thinking about food even when life was on the line, so it’s on me.”

Lin Shuyue looked at him with a puzzled, charming gaze.

“Don’t think too much about it. This was a request from your Shen Suwei of Penglai. If not for your spirit butterfly, we wouldn’t have managed to escape. Consider it a thank you.”

Lin Shuyue held the box for a long time, then smiled and said, “Thank you.”

You Yin couldn’t stand seeing someone with a forced smile, barely holding on. He became serious and asked, “What were you going to say just now?”

“I wanted to say sorry, You Yin. I shouldn’t have lied to you. But I haven’t had time to do anything with your sect members; it was just some casual conversation.” The breeze gently brushed her purple robe as Lin Shuyue said, “Forget it, return the spirit butterfly to me. Once I go back to Penglai and you return to Tianshan, we’ll go our separate ways.”

You Yin froze for a moment, his gloved hand pulling the spirit butterfly from his chest. For some reason, he felt a sense of melancholy, as if the end of a story was approaching. As he handed over the spirit butterfly, he hesitated and said, “Why should we give you our Tianshan spirit butterfly?”

Lin Shuyue yanked the butterfly away. “I modified this spirit butterfly with my spiritual energy.”
You Yin pulled it back. “I was going to keep it as a souvenir.”

Lin Shuyue paused and said, “It is worth remembering—don’t misunderstand, I’m not talking about me, but about the experience in the demon domain. Fine, you can keep it as a memento.”
She smiled, seemingly relieved, and turned to leave.

“Thank you,” she said, turning back at the courtyard exit, waving the box of mooncakes with a charming yet mischievous expression. “Until we meet again.”
You Yin looked at the spirit butterfly in his hand, sighed, and felt a sense of melancholy.