Chapter 9: Close Enough to Burn
That evening, Mei Xiao couldn't sleep.
Between the mystery sword and Murong Jing He's suspicious stare, her nerves were like fireworks ready to explode. She turned over in bed for the tenth time and groaned.
This place is too quiet. No city noise. No phone. No social media. Just crickets and danger.
Suddenly, a knock at her door.
Before she could answer, it slid open with martial arts smoothness. Of course.
Murong Jing He entered, holding a rolled scroll and wearing his usual expression: controlled, unreadable, annoyingly beautiful.
"You… you could knock," she said, pulling her blanket higher.
"I did."
"You waited one second."
"That's a courtesy."
She sat up with a glare. "Is it customary here to barge into a lady's room at night?"
He approached, placing the scroll on her table. "It's your lineage record. You're from the Mei family, one of the four noble martial clans. This proves your eligibility to stand beside me."
She blinked. "Okay… romantic, in a kind of... administrative way."
He looked at her a beat longer than usual. "Tomorrow, you'll begin your internal cultivation again. You used to be among the top female cultivators."
Used to be. She swallowed. "And now?"
"Now," he said, stepping closer, "you fall over your own feet and make jokes."
A smirk rose to her lips. "Are you saying I'm disappointing?"
"No," he said, unexpectedly soft. "I'm saying… you confuse me."
Her heart skipped.
He was right in front of her now, just a breath away. The distance between them crackled—not just from attraction, but something deeper, older.
"You knew the old Mei Lin," she said quietly. "But I'm not her."
"I know."
"And yet… you're still here."
He reached out, gently brushing a loose strand of hair from her cheek. His fingers were warm.
"There's something in your eyes," he said. "Something she never had. Fire. Madness. Life."
A beat passed.
"Do you say that to all the girls who almost trip over your sword?"
He chuckled—he actually chuckled—then turned away. "Rest. You'll need it."
As he left, Mei Xiao sank back onto the bed, her pulse racing.
What just happened? Did I flirt with a living martial god? And did he… flirt back?
She buried her face in her pillow and screamed.