After infiltrating the main characters' group, I became the most beautiful woman in the world.

"good."

He didn't ask why they went to the eaves instead of the pavilion, as if he would agree to whatever the person in front of him said tonight.

With a slight turn of his wrist, he steadily lifted the girl into his arms. His embrace was very stable, and Su Ning naturally wrapped her arms around the back of his neck, her eyes fixed on his face.

The young Taoist priest had delicate features, as light as the first snow in the mountains or a lonely moon in the clouds. His calm and undisturbed eyes seemed to see through all evil. Su Ning couldn't help but touch his eyebrows and eyes.

Those eyes, too, once moved me deeply; she was truly beautiful.

Lin Ci did not stop her. With a light touch of her toes, she leaped across the stone steps under the eaves like a startled swan, and in an instant landed on the eaves of Tingsong Pavilion.

The roof tiles were slightly cool. The young Taoist priest carefully put the person in his arms down, but still held her waist with one hand, afraid that she might lose her balance and fall.

The moon in the sky is full and round, its clear light shining everywhere. One is as cold and aloof as the moon, the other as delicate and beautiful as a fairy. The wind stirs their clothes, and they are even more captivating than the moonlight in the sky.

Su Ning nonchalantly sat down on the ledge, then pointed to the seat next to her and asked him, "Aren't you curious why I asked you to carry me up here?"

Lin Ci obediently sat down beside the girl, and upon hearing this, simply whispered, "You want to see the stars."

"The little Taoist priest understands me better and better now," Su Ning said, pointing to the night sky. "Look, the stars are so beautiful." As the moonlight flowed, fragments of stars fell onto the night sky, making it exceptionally beautiful.

Lin Ci followed her fingertip and let out a soft response.

The evening breeze rustled through the pines, brushing against the ends of his dark hair, and the wooden hairpin gleamed warmly in the moonlight.

He turned his head and saw Su Ning resting her chin on her hand, her eyelashes trembling slightly, like butterfly wings resting on snow. Suddenly, he forgot the precept of a pure Dao heart and felt that the moonlight on the eaves was more moving than the myriad laws in the scriptures.

Su Ning suddenly laughed and gently poked his cheek with her fingertip: "Little Taoist, you're blushing."

His ears burned slightly, and he turned his face away, but did not dodge her hand. He only said in a low voice, "It's chilly at night, don't stay too long." But before he finished speaking, he pulled her closer to him and draped his outer robe over her shoulders, as if protecting a rare treasure.

The wind stirred the eaves, stars fell into their eyes, even the rustling of the pines seemed to soften, leaving only their breaths and the sound of moonlight washing over the tiles.

The fabric covering him was soft and still warm from his body.

Su Ning then took out the peach wood sword that he had given her earlier from the small cloth bag, as well as the sword tassel from his Shao Gu sword when they parted on Xia Guang Mountain.

"Now the peach wood sword is mine, and the tassel is mine too. And you are mine too."

Su Ning rested her head lightly on the boy's shoulder, threaded the sword tassel onto the peach wood sword with her fingers, and tied it tightly into a bow.

"Is it pretty?"

"Yes, it looks good."

Despite all that happened tonight, Lin Ci, by Su Ning's side, felt that all those troublesome and chaotic things from the past had quietly become unimportant.

Things didn't go as smoothly as he had expected after returning to the temple. Instead, he faced numerous difficulties, with his teachers strongly opposing him on one hand and his own uneasy feelings on the other.

Even though he spent his days cultivating in the Cold Pool, those thoughts about the girl never left his mind. On the contrary, as time went on, those fragments unconsciously occupied his entire brain.

Lin Ci felt a sense of bewilderment for the first time in a long time.

Su Ning leaned on his shoulder, listening to the boy speak to her for the first time tonight: "I'm sorry, I was the one who wrote you the letter, but later, I couldn't reply."

Is it because of your sect's affairs?

Su Ning sensed the guilt in the words of the person beside her, so she naturally pointed it out.

Lin Ci didn't know how to start the conversation. Su Ning had saved him, but she had also lost her innocence in his hands. He should be responsible for her, both morally and logically. However, the usually amiable sect was now arguing fiercely over this matter.

He lowered his head, his long eyelashes casting a shadow on his eyelids. "Well, my eldest uncle... doesn't agree."

Although the young Taoist priest didn't say anything explicitly on Xiaguang Mountain that day, Su Ning understood his thoughts perfectly.

Of course, she couldn't directly point out Lin Ci's guilt; she didn't need his remorse or apology.

The young Taoist priest grew up in the temple and was ignorant of worldly affairs. Everyone regarded him as the next abbot, and he only needed to cultivate Taoism, and he didn't need to care about anything else.

But his innate sense of responsibility and morality made it impossible for him to ignore a woman who had lost her virginity in order to save him.

The safest way is to leave the monastic life, marry her, and then take care of her for the rest of his life.

This is the most suitable remedy in Lin Ci's opinion.

The Taihang Temple would support all of Lin Ci's demands, except for allowing him to return to secular life and marry a woman who would bring disaster to the country.

Therefore, his idea was impossible to realize from the very beginning.

Therefore, Su Ning could flirt with him without hesitation. If he succeeded, she would have to think about how to cancel the marriage.

Nonsense, she's destined to be a femme fatale in the martial arts world. No matter how delicious the young Taoist priest is, he can't possibly be hung up on one tree.

Although this would be tough on the young Taoist priest, after all, his intelligent and perceptive mind had never suffered such torment before, with opposition from his sect and guilt in his heart.

But Su Ning wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to engrave her name even more deeply in his heart.

"Lin Ci, do you like me?"

The girl's voice was clear and melodious, yet it resonated deeply in the boy's heart.

She touched his face and then looked into his eyes, and sure enough, she was met with the blankness in his eyes.

Those eyes, once untouched by worldly affairs, like an eternally frozen lake on a snow-capped mountain, now showed signs of melting because of the person before them.

She suddenly smiled, tiptoed, and gently touched his slightly cool lips, like a butterfly fluttering across a petal, before asking him:

"Will you hate it if I do this to you?"

Lin Ci's breath hitched, her ears instantly turning bright red, but she didn't back down. She simply shook her head at the person in front of her, "I don't dislike you."

"I don't dislike you, I like you, so you like me."

"That's enough."

Even if you don't reply, I won't blame you, because... I like you too.

The moonlight was cool and clear, and even the Milky Way in the sky was not as captivating as the eyes of the person before him. Lin Ci's usually calm heart began to beat faster because of these words.

Flowers that only grow in high mountains and snowy ridges are now feeling the warmth of the sun.

He raised his hand and gently pressed it against the back of her neck, deepening the kiss that had just ended. Their lips met briefly, followed by an even deeper and more passionate embrace.

The girl's lips were incredibly soft, carrying a delicate fragrance.

Lin Ci had never calculated his marriage destiny line; he thought he didn't have such a thing. It turned out he just hadn't met the right person yet.

The stars twinkled in the night sky, and the moonlight on the eaves was so gentle it seemed like time had slowed down.

After what seemed like an eternity, he finally released her, his forehead pressed against hers, his voice low and husky: "Su Ning, A Ning, I... I like you."

It turns out everything had a traceable origin: the longing in the temple, the anger when the elders objected, the panic upon learning of the Sword Forging Manor's misfortune... all stemmed from...

I like you.