Ye Yang claimed he was going to work, but in reality, he was mainly going for the gossip.
That morning, as soon as he woke up, he saw a message from Zhuang Li sent late the night before. It was an internal YCG news flash—”A wolf demon stormed the Sword Sect and was killed by the sect’s leading disciple!”
Before Ye Yang could even open it, Zhuang Li sent another message: “Second Brother’s little wolf finally came back for him. This ship is kind of fun to sail.”
What?
Completely confused, Ye Yang clicked into the internal forum. Xuan Lu, who had been missing, had returned as the chieftain of the Snowfield Ice Wolf Clan. The moment he came back, he led a bunch of his subordinates straight to the Sword Sect in a grand display, demanding to see Qin Zhi.
At first, Qin Zhi refused to see him. Xuan Lu stayed at the foot of the mountain outside the Sword Sect for several days, spending every day figuring out how to get in, until he had annoyed the gatekeeping disciples to their breaking point.
Finally, Qin Zhi came out. But he didn’t say a single word to Xuan Lu. He immediately unleashed a set of demon-slaying sword techniques he had spent the past two years developing—and then, he killed that insolent wolf demon.
“Killed him?!” Ye Yang yelped out loud in shock.
How could he just kill him???
Not to mention, how was it that he didn’t know a thing about such a huge event, and instead had to be informed by his third brother, who was competing abroad?
And his third brother was even shipping them… shipping what, a pure-hatred couple? The guy was already dead…
Ye Yang felt a wave of melancholy. He sat there in a daze for a while before continuing to scroll.
Further down, another person said the wolf demon wasn’t dead. He had only pretended to be injured in an attempt to latch onto the Sword Sect’s leading disciple.
Ye Yang’s heart relaxed. Then someone else swore up and down that he was dead, that he had reverted to his true form and wasn’t moving at all.
Another person said, “That leading disciple is extremely cold-hearted. He kicked the wolf demon’s corpse down the mountain.”
Then a healer cultivator added that the wolf demon’s aura had never changed from start to finish. He hadn’t been injured at all, let alone killed.
The two sides started arguing, going back and forth for nearly four hundred posts without reaching a conclusion.
Ye Yang had always felt that Qin Zhi couldn’t be that heartless, but no one responded to his private messages or in the dorm group chat.
When he got to the company and asked, Sister Wu said, “Of course he didn’t kill him. That was a false rumor.”
She had turned into an inconspicuous little crow and gone to watch the spectacle herself. The disciples around hadn’t been strong enough to see clearly, but she had seen everything.
The truth was, when Qin Zhi struck, Xuan Lu didn’t even dodge. Qin Zhi’s heart softened in that moment—he never actually brought his blade down. Xuan Lu took advantage of the moment, transformed into a little puppy, and latched onto Qin Zhi as if he were faking an injury to scam him.
But Qin Zhi didn’t indulge him. He simply pinched the pup by the scruff of his neck and tossed him down the mountain.
“I also know that little wolf hasn’t given up. I don’t know where he got his information, but right now he’s shamelessly camped out at the Sword Sect’s back mountain.”
The Sword Sect’s back mountain is a trial ground, half inside the sect and half outside. It’s hard to forcibly evict someone from there. And Qin Zhi takes the newly initiated disciples there every day for training. Xuan Lu keeps finding ways to talk to him, give him things, and follow him around all day.
“Oh, right.” Sister Wu kicked her desk, and her wheeled chair slid right over to Ye Yang. “Since when are you such a gossip, Ye Ye? Why are you so interested in the Sword Sect’s leading disciple?”
“Qin Zhi was my upperclassman in college. Also my roommate. And my good friend.”
“What a coincidence.”
Sister Wu’s eyes darted around. Suddenly, she threw an arm around Ye Yang, a sly smile spreading across her face. “Hey, since we’ve got nothing to do right now, how about we go check out the commotion at the Sword Sect?”
“Ah?” Ye Yang blinked. “That doesn’t seem right.”
“What’s wrong with it? You’re going to see an old friend. The Sword Sect won’t stop you, and your second brother won’t refuse to see you.”
Seeing Ye Yang still hesitating, Sister Wu gave him another nudge. “Come on, come on. Just send that leading disciple a message.”
Ye Yang resigned. “Can’t you just go watch the drama yourself?”
Sister Wu guiltily averted her gaze. “Well… last time I went to watch the drama, I got caught by an elder of the Sword Sect…”
Ye Yang: “…”
·
The three of them made it smoothly into the Sword Sect.
In the end, Ye Yang couldn’t refuse Sister Wu. Plus, he was a little worried about Qin Zhi and Xuan Lu himself. So after getting Qin Zhi’s consent, they visited the Sword Sect the next day.
The extra person was their third brother, Zhuang Li.
Speaking of Zhuang Li, Ye Yang was truly speechless. It was obvious how much he shipped the Xuan Lu/Qin Zhi couple. His competition in Italy had just ended the day before. He hadn’t even gone home after getting off the plane—he came straight to see Qin Zhi, coincidentally running into Ye Yang and the others at the foot of the mountain.
Zhuang Li was even dragging his suitcase!
Because Qin Zhi had given the word ahead of time, a young disciple led the way as soon as they entered the Sword Sect, taking them all the way to the back mountain.
“The trial ground is just ahead. Senior Uncle Qin is waiting inside for our guests.” The young disciple was chubby and white, only reaching Ye Yang’s waist, looking like he was still in elementary school.
After thanking the young disciple, the three of them entered the back mountain.
The Sword Sect’s trial ground has always been open to all sects. Thanks to years of coordination by YCG, the occasional demon could also be seen there.
Passing through various small pocket dimensions, they found Qin Zhi in an open valley.
He stood on a treetop with his hands behind his back, overlooking a group of over a dozen disciples who were battling sword spirits from the Sword Tomb.
Years had passed, but Qin Zhi looked almost unchanged—except for a newfound maturity and steadiness in his expression that gave him the air of a true master.
“Second Brother!” Zhuang Li called out. Qin Zhi turned his head, and the moment he saw his two good friends, he immediately broke into a smile. With a light leap, he jumped down from the treetop.
“You’re here. You’ll have to wait a little longer. Once this batch of disciples finishes their training, I’ll take you around for a proper tour. We’ve known each other all these years, but this is your first time visiting the Sword Sect.”
Zhuang Li laughed and feigned a complaint: “Exactly. You never once invited us to come.”
Just as Qin Zhi was about to respond, his expression suddenly shifted. A sharp, murderous aura shot straight toward the space behind Zhuang Li—
The next second, a tiny puppy lunged forward at a speed most people couldn’t even track—only to be swatted away by Qin Zhi’s scabbard.
Ye Yang instinctively reached out, but the little puppy, who had seemed completely defenseless, twisted mid-air, dodged Ye Yang’s hand with effort, and landed steadily on the ground.
Qin Zhi took a breath, acted as if he hadn’t seen anything, muttered “Excuse me” to the three of them, and flew back to the treetop, casually setting up a barrier as he went.
The little puppy didn’t dare bark. It just ran circles around the tree, its tail wagging so fast it was nothing but a blur.
Ye Yang: “…Xuan Lu?”
The puppy turned its head, tilted it slightly, and suddenly transformed back into human form. “Oh, it’s you. I didn’t notice earlier.”
So he hadn’t even bothered to look at them properly just now…
Ye Yang couldn’t help but take a step back. Xuan Lu’s human form had changed dramatically. He was at least two meters tall, radiating an overwhelming sense of presence. His wheat-colored skin had a healthy glow, and his silver hair was strikingly dazzling. Paired with his sharp, chiseled features, he was handsome to the point of being intimidating—hard to look at directly.
Ye Yang noticed that several of the disciples training nearby were sneaking glances in their direction.
Zhuang Li looked at Qin Zhi, who was radiating cold air from the distant treetop, then swept his gaze over the clearly distracted disciples. With great interest, he spoke up: “Hey, little dog, do you still remember me?”
That tone of addressing a pet made a vein bulge on Xuan Lu’s forehead. But he glanced at Qin Zhi and forcibly suppressed his anger. “…Yes.”
Ye Yang was covered in black lines as he watched Zhuang Li continue: “Wow, I didn’t expect you to grow this tall. You match Second Brother pretty well.”
The moment those words left his mouth, Xuan Lu’s entire demeanor changed. “You really think so?”
“Of course. I came all the way here to see how you two—um, get along.” Zhuang Li kept a perfectly straight face as he spun his nonsense.
“Man, it looks like there’s still some misunderstanding between you two. How about you tell me about it? I can give you some advice.”
“You know Second Brother and I are close. He’ll at least listen to what I have to say.”
Ye Yang and Sister Wu could only watch as Zhuang Li, with just a few sentences, wrapped the new chieftain of the Silver Wolf Clan around his finger. Xuan Lu spilled everything.
The reason Xuan Lu had first appeared by Qin Zhi’s side was due to internal conflict within his clan. Wounded and captured, he had been sealed inside a puppy’s body, unable to do anything. That was when Qin Zhi had found him and taken him in.
At first, Xuan Lu’s powers were sealed, his subordinates were missing, and his entire family had been slaughtered. He couldn’t trust anyone. But Qin Zhi’s sincere and pure character quickly won him over.
“If it weren’t for him, I might have died long ago.”
Ye Yang couldn’t help asking, “Then why did you suddenly run away? Without even saying goodbye?”
Back then, Ye Yang had even helped cover for them so Qin Zhi and Xuan Lu could leave safely. Later, Xuan Lu had disappeared on his own, leaving Qin Zhi to search for him for a long time.
Xuan Lu lowered his head. “Those people came looking for me. I didn’t want to drag him into it.”
The Silver Wolf Clan, to which Xuan Lu belonged, had ruled the Snow Plains for generations, subduing many other wolf packs. The position of clan leader had always been held by the most capable. But by the time of Xuan Lu’s mother’s generation, problems had arisen.
Xuan Lu’s mother had only given birth to him. His father had many siblings, and those siblings had many children of their own, but all were mediocre in talent.
The only outstanding member of the entire Silver Wolf Clan in that generation was Xuan Lu—and he was still very young.
The Gray Wolf Clan, which had been subjugated, harbored malicious intentions.
They had allied with other wolf packs to massacre the Silver Wolf Clan and seal Xuan Lu. They had spared Xuan Lu’s life only to imprison him, waiting until he grew a bit older so they could seize his demon core.
But Xuan Lu turned out to be more resilient than they expected. He escaped on his own.
After he and Qin Zhi left Dongzhou, they lived a fairly sweet life for a while. Life was so comfortable that Xuan Lu couldn’t resist confessing his feelings to Qin Zhi.
Sister Wu leaned in excitedly. “Did he accept? Did you get together?”
Xuan Lu nodded. “But the next night, those traitors found me.”
At that time, Xuan Lu hadn’t regained much of his strength. Even with the two of them combined, they couldn’t have defeated those traitors. To keep Qin Zhi from being discovered, Xuan Lu revealed himself voluntarily and led the traitors away.
“There’s not much to say about what happened after that. In the end, I managed to regroup with my subordinates, broke the seal, and fought back. As soon as I got the Snow Plains in order, I came straight to find him.”
Xuan Lu pursed his lips. The over-two-meter-tall, dark-skinned handsome man hung his head, looking utterly aggrieved. “But he won’t listen to any of my explanations. He won’t accept my apologies either.”
Ye Yang couldn’t hold back anymore. “In all that time in between, didn’t it ever cross your mind to contact Second Brother?”
“Those were clan affairs. I shouldn’t have asked anyone else for help. Besides, I didn’t want him to get hurt.”
The moment Xuan Lu finished saying this, a streak of sword energy flew past, grazing his ear. Close behind it came Qin Zhi’s icy voice: “You look down on me? You think I couldn’t take them?”
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