After nine lifetimes of reincarnation, the yandere villainous heroine descends.

Feeling the warmth of her body against his chest, Shen Shuchou instinctively tried to break free.

"Don't move, let your sister hold you for a while."

The next moment, Si Anhe's gentle voice rang in my ears.

"Sister, I'm not a child anymore."

Shen Shuchou said softly.

Instead of letting go, Si Anhe hugged him even tighter: "That's my brother too."

Shen Shuchou said nothing more and could only let her hold him.

After a long while, Si Anhe slowly opened her arms, her peach blossom eyes, filled with moisture, remained fixed on his face.

"My younger brother has become even more outstanding in the past five years than he was when he was a child."

Si Anhe chuckled softly.

"I still remember when I first met you, you were covered in dirt."

"People never stay the same forever."

Shen Shuchou said calmly.

"It's okay if it changes."

Si Anhe stubbornly turned his face towards her, making him look at her with a serious yet gentle gaze.

"No matter how you change, you'll always be the younger brother I raised. That will never change."

As the sun gradually moved past the corner of the yard, the wind swept across the freshly cleaned ground, carrying away the last wisp of weeds and debris.

Shen Shuchou and Si Anhe sat side by side on the stone bench in the courtyard. With the absence of messy weeds, the courtyard seemed exceptionally quiet.

"Little brother, how have you been doing in the Qingxuan Holy Land these past few years?"

Si Anhe turned her head and looked at him with concern.

"fine."

Shen Shuchou smiled, recalling his five years of cultivation.

"So, which elder of the Qingxuan Holy Land are you currently studying under?"

Si Anhe suddenly asked curiously.

Shen Shuchou paused, but did not answer immediately.

Seeing this, Si Anhe quickly smiled and said, "It's okay if you don't want to say, I was just asking casually."

"I am a disciple of the Holy Maiden Qingxuan."

Shen Shuchou came to his senses and told the truth.

"The Holy Maiden of Qingxuan?"

Si Anhe frowned slightly, then seemed to remember something, "If I remember correctly, Sister, the Holy Maiden of Qingxuan should be called Lu Wanheng, right?"

"Does your sister know her too?"

Shen Shuchou was somewhat surprised.

I saw her once from afar when I was very young.

Si Anhe spoke calmly, as if she were talking about something ordinary, "A long time ago."

Shen Shuchou was even more surprised and was about to ask more questions when he noticed that Si Anhe's emotions seemed to have calmed down and the smile in her eyes had faded.

"People used to tell me that I should be like Lu Wanheng, who was born with a halo and became famous as soon as he was born."

She gazed at the distant wall, her voice soft, tinged with a faint sense of melancholy.

"But I don't want to become like her at all."

Why?

Shen Shuchou couldn't help but ask.

Si Anhe turned her head and smiled at him, "She's too much like snow in the sky—pure, cold, and dazzling. As for me, I still prefer to be a flower on the ground, lively and bustling, with someone to accompany me and someone to think of me; that's enough."

As Shen Shuchou looked at the warmth in Si Anhe's eyes, Lu Wanheng's usual appearance came to mind again.

For five years after entering Qingxuan, he still couldn't see through his master. She was like a bottomless cold spring, and no one knew what lay hidden beneath her cold exterior.

"I only have one goal: to be good to my younger brother."

As Si Anhe spoke, her gaze remained fixed on him, the intensity in her eyes almost overflowing.

Shen Shuchou's heart stirred slightly, and he clearly sensed that this gaze was different from that of nine years ago.

Back then, it was an older sister's affection for her younger brother, but now it has become a complex and inexplicable emotion, so intense that it leaves him somewhat at a loss.

He subconsciously looked away, avoiding that overly focused gaze.

A hint of sadness flashed across Si Anhe's eyes, but it was quickly masked by a smile: "What are your plans for the future, little brother?"

"I'm going to the ancient, desolate land."

Shen Shuchou replied.

Before leaving Qingxuan, he had made a plan: first meet Si Anhe, then head to the desolate ancient lands beyond the Southern Continent.

During his time in Qingxuan, he had consulted the ancient records of this world. The desolate ancient land was a training ground that all the geniuses of the sects had to go to, where danger and opportunity coexisted.

In this life, he did not display his extraordinary cultivation level from the very beginning, unlike in his previous lives.

Although he had reached the Golden Core realm after five years of arduous cultivation, the threshold of the Nascent Soul stage seemed to be separated by an invisible barrier, and he was unable to break through it for a long time.

The system remained silent. He knew that if he wanted anything to change, he couldn't stay trapped in Qingxuan's comfort forever.

"I'll go with you."

As soon as Shen Shuchou finished speaking, Si Anhe replied without hesitation.

Shen Shuchou was taken aback: "The ancient and desolate land is extremely dangerous, sister, there's no need for that..."

"You are my brother. Wherever you go, I will go."

Si Anhe interrupted him, her brows furrowed with a familiar stubbornness, "I could protect you nine years ago, and I can now too."

Looking at the earnestness in her eyes, Shen Shuchou knew he couldn't dissuade her, so he nodded and said, "Okay!"

Upon hearing this, a smile instantly appeared on Si Anhe's face, and the gloom on her face just now vanished in an instant.

"That's more like it! But little brother will have to stay here with his sister for a couple of days first."

Si Anhe smiled.

"I'll make you your favorite dish from when you were little tonight."

After saying that, Si Anhe stood up without saying a word, grabbed Shen Shuchou's hand, and headed straight for the town.

Not long after the two left, a cold and aloof figure walked into the small courtyard.

Lu Wanheng slowly surveyed everything around him, his fingertips gently brushing against the edge of the stone bench and table, as if picking up the lingering warmth of his presence.

His cold eyes were colder than the depths of winter this month, and were also shrouded in a layer of almost greedy infatuation.

She had been following behind Shen Shuchou ever since he left Qingxuan Holy Land.

At first, she thought it was just because she was worried about her apprentice's safety, but as she walked, she couldn't even explain what was hidden in her following him.

Just like the past five years in Qingxuan, she always watched him from the shadows.

Watch him practice his sword among the dew-covered bamboo, watch him frown as he reads ancient books, watch him occasionally stare blankly at the horizon.

Having lived in the Holy Maiden Temple for so long, with no one else by her side, she had long forgotten how to speak to people. Even if she had a thousand words to say, all that remained when they reached her lips was silence.

Five years of watching from the shadows, like a secret habit, allowed her to quietly feel a sense of satisfaction in a corner unknown to anyone.

But now, looking at the traces in the courtyard, and feeling the other lingering scent in the air.

That sense of satisfaction vanished completely, leaving only a bone-chilling cold, as if something had been forcibly torn apart.

Lu Wanheng stood there for a long time, the chill around him almost freezing the withered grass in the corner of the yard into icicles.

Only when she heard faint footsteps in the distance did she, like a snowflake blown by the wind, silently slip out of the courtyard, but she did not actually leave.

When Si Anhe led Shen Shuchou back to the courtyard, she did not notice anything unusual.

Shen Shuchou, however, suddenly felt a slight pang in his heart, vaguely sensing that someone had been in the courtyard. A lingering chill in the air allowed him to detect a familiar presence.

"What's wrong with you?"

Seeing that he was lost in thought, Si Anhe reached out and gently waved her hand in front of his eyes, and asked with a smile.

"It's nothing."

Shen Shuchou chuckled dryly, dismissing it as his own overthinking.

Shen Shuchou could only laugh helplessly and turn to go to the main room to tidy up.

All of this was reflected in the vast sky above, in Lu Wanheng's clear and cold eyes.