After the spiritual energy was restored: Goddess girlfriends came knocking.

Cang Yao walked on the streets of Chang'an.

His divine sense swept across the entire city, and every aura was clearly discernible.

The moment I entered the city, I sensed two familiar presences.

One of them was Ao Tianxin; she wouldn't mistake the teacher's spiritual energy fluctuations.

Another force... appeared faintly beside the teacher. The moment Cang Yao's divine sense detected it, she stopped in her tracks.

She was all too familiar with that aura.

So familiar that even across eight hundred years, I can still recognize it instantly.

Cang Yao stood on the main street of Chang'an City, surrounded by a bustling crowd, but everyone seemed to ignore her and walked past her.

She took a deep breath and continued walking forward.

My pace slowed down a bit compared to before.

The things I heard on the way came to mind one by one.

Jiang Yan, the lord of Chang'an City.

His surname is Jiang, not Lin.

Cang Yao felt a pang of anxiety and uncertainty.

What if that person is just a stranger who has offended you?

What if it's just a similar aura?

What if he doesn't remember himself at all?

Therefore, instead of flying away immediately, she concealed her aura and walked step by step toward the city lord's mansion.

……

Inside the main hall of the city lord's mansion.

Lin Chu sat behind his desk reviewing official documents, his pen gliding across the paper, occasionally pausing to tap the tabletop with his fingers.

Jian Li sat on the futon next to her, wiping her sword sheath and chattering about what she had seen and heard in the city over the past two days.

He nodded in response, his hands continuing to work on the official documents.

Ao Tianxin suddenly raised her head.

His gaze suddenly turned towards the direction of the palace gate, and the fingers holding the wine pot stiffened.

She sensed Cang Yao's presence, which was gradually approaching.

Ao Tianxin didn't know why her first reaction was to feel guilty. She put down the wine pot and subconsciously tried to stand up and walk out of the hall.

But Cang Yao had already appeared at the palace entrance, and then she saw her.

Lin Chu sat behind his desk reviewing official documents.

The contours of her eyebrows and eyes, the curve of her lips when she purses them, and the hand holding the pen—all perfectly matched the boy who taught her to read in Qinghe Village in her memory.

Cang Yao stood outside the hall watching him, the finger tapping the table seemed to be tapping on her heart.

Ao Tianxin opened her mouth as if to speak.

Cang Yao gently shook her head at her.

But Lin Chu seemed to sense something as well.

He raised his head.

Eyes facing each other.

The official document slipped from his hand and fell to the ground.

The paper pages scattered and landed on the ground.

Lin Chu tried to stand up, but her body suddenly seemed to disobey her commands.

He opened his mouth, his voice trembling as it came out from deep in his throat.

"Cang...Madam."

Cangyao reached out and took off her veil.

She has matured compared to eight hundred years ago. Her eyebrows and eyes have lost the roundness of a young girl, and her jawline is more defined than before. Her peach blossom eyes are still exactly the same as they were back then.

Clear and clean, reflecting the setting sun like the autumn waters of a stream reflecting the moonlight that night.

The gold ring with fish-scale pattern on the ring finger of his right hand gleamed with a warm luster under the candlelight.

"My husband has lost weight."

She looked at Lin Chu, her eyes glistening with tears, but her face bearing a smile.

The sound was like sandpaper rubbing against stone, as if every separation and search, every wait and disappointment over the past eight hundred years was compressed into this one sentence.

Upon seeing this, Ao Tianxin's expression softened.

He walked over, grabbed Jian Li by the back of her collar, and lifted the little girl up. Before Jian Li could react, she was lifted into the air, her legs dangling in the air: "Sister Tianxin."

Ao Tianxin didn't answer, but carried her out of the main hall and closed the door behind her.

Jian Li was carried to a side hall before being put down. After regaining her balance, she looked back at the tightly closed doors of the main hall, then at Ao Tianxin, and whispered, "Sister Tianxin, who is that?"

Ao Tian thought for a moment, then leaned against a pillar, took out his wine flask, and took a sip.

"The person your master has been waiting for for a long time, and who has been waiting for your master for a long time."

Jian Li said "oh" and looked back at the tightly closed palace door, but didn't ask any more questions.

Only two people remained inside the hall.

Lin Chu walked around the scattered documents, stood in front of her, and pulled her into his arms.

Cang Yao buried her face in the crook of his shoulder, her arms wrapped around his waist with such force that you could feel her whole body trembling even through his robes.

She didn't cry out loud, but simply buried her face even deeper.

Lin Chu's chin rested on the top of her head.

Eight hundred years of distance shrank to a single point in this embrace.

"I've finally found you." Cang Yao's voice came from under his shoulder, muffled and tinged with grievance. "I'm going to settle the score with you for running away from me last time."

Lin Chu did not answer.

He just held her a little tighter.

Cang Yao buried her face even deeper into his shoulder.

These two sentences were spoken casually, but eight hundred years passed between them. During those eight hundred years, she searched all over the Xuan Tian Realm, lingering and sensing in every place where his soul might be imprinted, only to leave in disappointment.

But at this moment, all the long and bumpy journey was silently accepted in this shoulder hollow.

The two were completely at ease with each other.

Just like when Cang Yao woke up after her seclusion and saw Lin Chu, with white hair and a cane, walking towards her at the entrance of Qinghe Village, she only said with red eyes, "Did you pass the exam?"

Cang Yao leaned on his shoulder and began to speak intermittently.

They said they sensed the aura of the reverse scale.

Then, along the way, I heard about the deeds of "Jiang Yan, the Lord of Chang'an City".

As she spoke of these things, the corners of her mouth curled up, revealing a hint of undisguised pride.

But she couldn't help getting angry. He clearly remembered everything, so why didn't he come to find her?

She was no longer the little girl who needed his protection; now, there were very few people in the world she could be wary of.

With her by his side, he wouldn't need to shoulder so much alone.

Lin Chu held her hand and slowly told her about her experiences in this life, starting from her birth into the Jiang family.

As the story continued until Ao Tianxin found him and protected him on the battlefield, Cang Yao puffed out her cheeks.

"The teacher didn't tell me right away."

She was somewhat indignant.

Lin Chu smiled and said that Tianxin was also trying to confirm his identity, afraid that you would be disappointed.

Cang Yao snorted.

The two talked inside the hall for the entire night.

……

The next morning, Jian Li practiced her swordplay at the training ground.

The doors to the main hall opened.

Lin Chu walked out holding a woman's hand.

The pale red palace dress swayed slightly in the morning breeze.

Jian Li sheathed her sword and stood still.

She glanced at her master holding the woman's hand, then at the woman's slightly reddened eyes and smiling peach blossom eyes.

"Master, who is this?" she asked cautiously.

Lin Chu thought for a moment: "Master's wife."

Jian Li blinked, a fleeting look of melancholy flashing in her eyes, but she quickly suppressed it.

She sheathed her wooden sword, gave Cang Yao a proper junior swordsman's salute, and called out in a clear voice, "Master's wife."

Cang Yao already knew Jian Li, and with a smile, she stepped forward, took Jian Li's hand, said a few words, and took out a pill from her storage bag for the little girl.

As for what kind of pill it was, Jian Li didn't have time to take a closer look. She only felt that the vermilion pill was heavy in her palm and had a clear and refreshing fragrance. Just smelling it made her sword intent in her body more active.

On a stone table in the distance, Ao Tianxin held a wine pot and watched this scene. Across half of the training ground, he raised the wine pot and waved it at Cang Yao.

Cang Yao saw this, said something to Lin Chu, and walked over to her.

When they reached the stone table, Cang Yao puffed out her cheeks.

"Teacher, you should have told me immediately." Her voice was a little muffled, with a hint of resentment, but more so with grievance.

Ao Tianxin was silent for a moment, then his gaze fell on Cang Yao's face.

She couldn't remember the last time she had seen such a vivid expression on her apprentice's face.

For hundreds of years, that face has remained as somber as frost, as if covered with a layer of indelible ash.

"At first it was uncertain, but later the war became too intense and I couldn't leave."

Cang Yao puffed out her cheeks but didn't say anything.

"There's another reason," Ao Tianxin said, "I want to see for myself whether he's still worth waiting for in this life."

Cang Yao raised her eyes.

"worth."