Transmigrating into the world of Jade Dynasty, I was targeted by the female lead in a reverse romanc

The wind in the barren mountains was a bit chilly, making people's clothes flutter.

Jiang Xiaochuan stared at the person in front of him, momentarily forgetting to breathe.

Seven years have passed.

His mind went blank for a moment, leaving only this thought, before a flood of other thoughts rushed in:

How did she find this place? She's out of seclusion. She... seems to have grown taller. No, she hasn't grown at all, but most importantly...

Lu Xueqi stood there quietly, her moon-white robes and long, jet-black hair fluttering slightly in the mountain breeze.

Her face remained the same, as if carefully sculpted from ice and snow, every line clean and crisp, without a single flaw.

But it's not quite the same as I remember. The eyebrows and eyes are still the same, the nose is still the same, and the lips are still a light color, but when put together, why is it so... jarring?

It's not the kind of dazzling, eye-catching kind; it's cool and aloof, like snow that has accumulated on a mountaintop for thousands of years. When the morning light shines on it, it makes your eyes sting and your heart race.

She seemed more... He couldn't find the words.

Pretty? Too ordinary. Beautiful? A bit tacky. It's just pretty, so pretty that he couldn't take his eyes off it, his throat went dry, and his tongue felt frozen.

His lips moved, but no sound came out.

Lu Xueqi stared at him intently, her eyes unblinking.

Seeing his lips move slightly, her clear eyes lit up almost imperceptibly, like a small pebble suddenly falling into a cold pool, quickly rippling out a glimmer of light before being swallowed up by the unfathomable darkness.

She waited, her back ramrod straight, her fingers tucked into her sleeves so no one could see them.

"Xueqi..." He looked into her eyes, where his slightly dazed face was clearly reflected. In a moment of impulsiveness, he couldn't control his mouth, and the words slipped out: "...Look closely."

As soon as he finished speaking, he was stunned.

The mountain breeze seemed to stop for a moment.

A clear crack appeared on Lu Xueqi's icy expression.

She blinked, her long eyelashes trembling, as if she hadn't heard clearly, or as if she had heard clearly but didn't understand.

Then, a very faint blush, like rouge, crept up silently from behind her ears, quickly spreading to her cheeks and then to her neck. She didn't move, but her whole body seemed to stiffen for a moment.

Jiang Xiaochuan's face also flushed instantly, the heat shooting straight to the top of his head.

He gestured frantically, "No, I... I didn't mean that!"

After saying that, I realized it wasn't right. Wasn't that saying she wasn't good-looking?

He panicked even more.

"No, that's what I meant, I meant you're really beautiful... Ugh! No... Ugh... Um..."

He was rambling incoherently, wishing he could take back what he had just said.

As Lu Xueqi watched him gesticulate wildly, his face flushed, the initial confusion in her eyes slowly faded, replaced by a deep look that held a hint of annoyance and something else entirely. The thin blush still clung to her face, not fading away, but rather becoming more pronounced as she pursed her lips.

"Don't try to fool me, Jiang Xiaochuan." She spoke, her voice still cold, but if you listened carefully, you could hear something pressing down on it, making it somewhat unsteady.

Hearing his full name, Jiang Xiaochuan's heart skipped a beat. He stopped his futile explanation and his shoulders slumped.

The wind picked up again, carrying the scent of mountain grass and dust. The two stood a few steps apart, neither speaking. Jiang Xiaochuan looked at the withered leaves swirling in the wind on the ground, while Lu Xueqi looked at the strands of hair on his head.

After a long silence, so long that Jiang Xiaochuan felt the heat on his face almost being cooled by the wind, he finally took a breath, raised his head, and looked at a dusty stone next to him instead of at Lu Xueqi.

"After you went into seclusion... I stayed on Dazhu Peak for another two years. My cultivation was the same as before. Later... I went down the mountain to gain experience and went to the Southern Frontier."

He paused.

"In southern Xinjiang, something unexpected happened, and I met... Xiaobai. She... saved me, and also tricked me. Later, I... became attached to her and couldn't get rid of her. We... lived together for a few years."

He spoke very slowly, pausing between each sentence.

Lu Xueqi didn't interrupt him, she just listened, the blush on her face slowly faded, and she returned to her expressionless state, but her eyes were deeper and calmer, like a frozen lake with turbulent undercurrents beneath.

After he finished speaking, she paused for a moment before asking in a flat voice, "Do you like her?"

Jiang Xiaochuan's shoulders trembled slightly.

He stared at the rock, where a withered blade of grass trembled in the wind from a crack in the rock.

"I don't know," he said. His voice was so soft it was almost carried away by the wind.

"I don't know?" Lu Xueqi repeated, her tone flat, but Jiang Xiaochuan felt a chill run down his spine.

She took a step forward, her boots making a soft "crunch" sound as they hit the gravel.

"Jiang Xiaochuan, is this all you like...?"

She seemed to pause for a moment, searching for the right word, and the last word she uttered was icy.

"...Is it that cheap? You just like whoever is with you?"

Her gaze was like needles, piercing him.

"Biyao is like that, and so is Xiaobai, right?"

Jiang Xiaochuan suddenly raised his head, his eyes a little red, whether from embarrassment or something else, it was hard to tell.

He looked at Lu Xueqi, at that beautiful face that made his heart flutter, yet was now as cold as a mask. A surge of anger, mixed with long-standing resentment, self-loathing, and other indescribable feelings, suddenly rose up.

"yes!"

His voice suddenly rose, carrying a hint of reckless ruthlessness: "Is my liking so cheap? Whoever is with me and treats me well, that's who I like! So what?"

He stared straight at her, his chest heaving.

"That's just the kind of person I am, I'm all about one person at a time, heartless and carefree!" He spoke faster and faster, as if he wanted to dig out the dark corners of his heart and expose them to the sun.

"I'm afraid of death, greedy, lustful, lazy, and gluttonous. I have all of these vices: greed, anger, ignorance, pride, and doubt. I'm just not good enough for you, not good enough for Biyao, not good enough for Xiaobai, and certainly not good enough for you, Lu Xueqi!"

After he finished shouting, he was panting heavily, his eyes even redder, staring intently at Lu Xueqi, as if waiting for her judgment, or simply waiting for her Tianya sword to strike him down and end it all.

Lu Xueqi was stunned.

She looked at the man in front of her, at his face flushed with excitement, and at the glimmer of anger, self-abandonment, and a barely perceptible hint of grievance in his eyes.

She had imagined many ways he would defend himself, make excuses, or even remain silent, but she never expected him to admit it so directly, shouting it out.

"Whoever is with you... is that the person you like?"

She murmured and repeated, and in her icy eyes, the undercurrents beneath the surface of the lake suddenly surged violently, shattering a thin layer of ice. A thought, like a tender sprout breaking through the soil, with an undeniable sharpness, suddenly pierced out.

If that's the case...

If that's the case...

Wouldn't that mean...?

She was burned by her own thought.

The ice that had been building up in her heart for seven years seemed to have been scalded open by this burning thought, hissing and steaming. She looked at Jiang Xiaochuan, at his stubborn, "Do whatever you want with me" attitude, and suddenly felt a little…

want to laugh.

But she held back, her lips twitching so slightly it was almost an illusion.

"Did you ever like me?" she asked, her voice soft yet carrying a strange weight that drowned out the sound of the wind.

Jiang Xiaochuan was taken aback by her question and his momentum faltered.

He opened his mouth, but the evil fire, like a punctured balloon, leaked out in an instant, leaving only a bit of ashes, exhaustion, and bewilderment.

"...I liked him."

He lowered his head, his voice muffled: "Of course I liked her. Xueqi, someone like you... who wouldn't like her?"

Yes, who wouldn't like a character like Lu Xueqi?

But the Lu Xueqi in front of him seemed... quite different from the aloof and cold senior sister in his memory, who kept all her thoughts hidden in her heart and would only wait silently. He couldn't quite put his finger on what was different.

When Lu Xueqi heard those three words, her eyes lit up suddenly, like a torch being lit in the dark night.

The light was incredibly hot, burning her heart and causing a crack to appear in the calm self-control she had cultivated through seven years of hard work.

She took another step forward.

The two were very close, close enough that Jiang Xiaochuan could smell her unique scent and see her slightly trembling eyelashes.

Jiang Xiaochuan suddenly had a bad feeling and subconsciously took half a step back.

late.