With each sentence, the hand hanging by Chong Yan’s side tightened a little.

Finally, he sat down slowly under the tree.

He didn’t know where this bitter feeling came from.

Yao Yao listened silently.

Her brother was indeed a straightforward person, with simple and grand visions. However…

“No, no,” Yao Yao said firmly.

Chong Yan suddenly froze, lowering his head to look at the bone spur between his sleeves. It emerged and then retracted, uncertain.

Yao Yao, as a child who judges solely by appearances, if she finds those characters on the Spirit Continent attractive, didn’t she spend money on them in the beginning?

In this obscure corner of the world, she found no one more good-looking than Chong Yan.

So Yao Yao carefully chose her words and said, “I pay a lot of attention to appearances.”

Chong Yan’s eyelashes trembled, and all the protruding bone spurs retracted into his sleeves. Even though she didn’t say it for him to hear, Chong Yan still felt a bit embarrassed.

Appearance.

His body was covered in old scars and blemishes. Twisted and deformed dragon ridge. Degenerated bone spurs. And the tattered bat wings, rotten after the scales were plucked. His ugly, authentic body was hidden away.

“Why don’t you go change your clothes?”

Chong Yan lifted his head and realized that Yao Yao had finished her conversation with her family without him noticing.

Her rosy face filled his vision, with a small dimple on her cheek.

Yao Yao changed into a new dress, a warm and beautiful shade of light yellow, like a blossoming spring. After her bath, a sweet fragrance emanated from her, with drops of water falling from her hair.

Plop, it landed on Chong Yan’s hand.

“Oh,” he slowly stood up, “okay.”

Yao Yao watched Chong Yan’s tall and slender figure, his silver-white hair trailing behind him, his narrow and powerful physique exuding a sense of youthful innocence. Yao Yao thought that he would look good in new clothes for sure.

Yao Yao rolled up the sleeves of her new dress and excitedly took out the soul nail and a small rose.

“Chong Yan, I’ll go find the ancient demon first.”

Chong Yan froze.

But Yao Yao, excited and blushing, didn’t notice.

“Let’s meet under the ice platform later.”

The wind and snow in the abyss grew stronger, just like the day Yao Yao arrived.

Yao Yao held the soul anchoring nail and followed the directions to find the ancient Demon.

As guided, the soul anchoring nail seemed to hum a few times.

Yao Yao remembered that the ancient demon collided with a blood array during her last visit at the Wuji Sect. Since then, it had been absent. Even when its eyes appeared in the Naitian Secret Realm, it didn’t come out to snatch.

What a gentle big dog it was.

Yao Yao couldn’t help but think about its lifetime of suffering. She always felt that if her own little demon had endured such pain, she would be unable to breathe from the heartache.

Yao Yao couldn’t even imagine what she would do if Chong Yan encountered those things.

So Yao Yao really wanted to return its eyes.

But the wind and snow howled, and the sky was filled with ice mist. There was no colossal body piercing through the heavens.

“Are you here?” she asked into the void.

The soul anchoring nail in her arms faintly hummed.

Chong Yan silently followed behind the girl.

The wind and snow wrinkled her light yellow dress, and though she was small and fragile, she possessed infinite courage and kindness.

When she first appeared, Chong Yan didn’t know she was the one who gave him roses. He could have casually told her who he was or even frightened her with his true identity.

But now, Chong Yan tightly clenched the bone spur that protruded from his palm, engraved with scars from many years.

The girl was ignorant and fearless, but she hadn’t seen his true form entirely.

Even he himself thought he was ugly, so he hadn’t revealed even a hint of it in thirty thousand years. He didn’t want her to feel pity for him.

“Still not here.”

Yao Yao sighed. Was it hibernating?

The girl had no choice but to leave.

Blinded by the wind and snow, she didn’t see the faint red light flashing from the soul anchoring nail in her hand.

Chong Yan in the distant lowered his eyes and tightly clenched the bone spur in his hand.

He wanted to tell her.

Li Cangyan stared intently at the projection of the soul anchoring nail. When Yao Yao went to find the ancient demon, his heart filled with joy, but soon turned into strong disappointment.

“It didn’t appear.”

His “opportunity” was right in front of him, yet he missed it again.

“But it must be nearby.”

The flame flickered, accompanied by the indistinct voice.

“Otherwise, why are there no demons around her?”

It not taking human form didn’t mean his physical body wasn’t present.

Li Cangyan was startled, then a sense of excitement rose in his eyes once again. Along with it came an indescribable jealousy.

That monster was guarding his fiancée.

An unknown creature, much stronger than him, competing for her as a male.

“Ancient spells, traceless and invisible.”

“They can attach and transfer.”

Li Cangyan suppressed his feelings of jealousy and nodded, slowly raising his eyes.

The devil should understand on its own.

It’s not worthy.

Yao Yao put away the soul anchoring nail and returned to their agreed location, taking out the rose she carefully nurtured.

She secretly placed it aside while taking a bath, and now the rose had droplets of water on it, looking fresh and exquisite, with a vibrant red color.

Yao Yao extended her finger and gently poked the petals, as if recalling the days when she lay in bed, checking in on her little demon every day with her phone. Sometimes she would have blood drawn and receive intravenous fluids all day, feeling dizzy and unable to think clearly, but she still cared, getting up to check in and give a rose to him.

It was like a companionship.

And now, this rose had even more significance than the ones she gave for checking in.

With her hands behind her back, Yao Yao hid the flowerpot and stood under the moonlit ice platform with a beaming smile.

In a certain moment, the rose in the small flowerpot behind her seemed to emit a radiant red light.

Yao Yao saw Chong Yan quietly approaching in his new clothes.

Indeed, he looked incredibly handsome.

The little demon had pale white skin and refined facial features. Against the backdrop of the embroidered gold edges, he exuded an extraordinary nobility.

As he walked towards her, Yao Yao suddenly felt a strong aura, as if ice and snow were descending and even the surrounding ice mist had to make way for him.

Wow, Yao Yao thought, it must be the blessing of the fine clothes.

With her hands behind her back, Yao Yao watched him approach and smiled with curved lips.

“Chong Yan.”

“Mm.”

“I want to reveal a huge secret to you.”

“Okay.” He felt the same.

“Let me formally introduce myself,” Yao Yao’s eyes sparkled, “Maybe for you, we haven’t known each other for long, but actually, I’ve been watching over you for a long time.”

Yao Yao shyly said, “The fruit bearing tree here, I planted it. The little lake, I dug it myself. Although it may sound unbelievable, in the past, I could do all these things through a mysterious square object.”

Chong Yan pursed his lips, “Mm.”

Her sincerity was evident, making it even more difficult for him.

“Now, even though I no longer have that mysterious square object, I’ve come up with the best proof.”

So Yao Yao took out the small flowerpot from behind.

The rose on the branch gently swayed.

“This is the 366th rose I’ve given you, Chong Yan.”

The girl smiled brighter than the starry sky, “Would you accept it?”

Under the moonlit night, serene and gentle, the Chong Yan’s heart ached from her sincerity.

He looked at her with his mismatched pupils, following her smiling cheeks, and landed on the rose she held in her hands.

Because of the rose, Chong Yan had broken a taboo for the first time in thirty thousand years when it didn’t appear for three days. Now, she was presenting a new rose to him. Countless moments were contained in her fingertips.

Chong Yan clenched his finger bones tightly and reached out to accept her rose, finally dispelling his self-doubt.

“Actually, I am…”

But at that moment, Yao Yao suddenly noticed a burst of red light from the rose. The light quickly circulated, not very noticeable, but this was the most ordinary little rose she had personally nurtured—how could it emit light?

She suddenly felt that something was wrong and wanted to take it back, “Wait, Chong Yan.”

However, Chong Yan’s expression turned blank for a moment, thinking that she no longer wanted to give it to him.

He subconsciously reached out and grasped it firmly.

This was the rose he had been waiting for, the one she had painstakingly grown and handed to him. It was his most precious, most beloved.

Baby.

In the instant he caught it, the rose erupted with a series of intense and malevolent symbols, like a venomous serpent, biting his pale arm along the flower stem.

Someone appeared out of nowhere, its voice filled with disdain and mockery.

“What right do you have to meddle with my fiancée?”

“Devil.”