Lying together on the bed, Chu Yue and Yun Wuji were cuddling. A few beads of sweat g to her hair, giving her a gently radiant and charming appearahe light sheen on her skin made her look even mlossy and captivating.

  "You're not mad at all?" Yun Wuji asked curiously.

  "I'm not mad," Chu Yue replied softly, giving his head a ge.

  "Really?" Wuji asked, resting his head against her soft chest.

  "Well, what you did retty despicable," she said, "but it did work out in the end." After a few days of calming down and refleg, she had e to see through Wuji's maniputions.

  inally, she felt both angry and disappointed, and she even started to question if everythiween them had been a lie.

  Still, she decided to stay quiet and act like she didn't know anything. After all, she reasoned, even if he lied to her, it was because he cared about her.

  That's what she kept telling herself.

  But, uedly, a few days ter, Yun Wuji faced her and told her the whole truth.

  To his surprise, Chu Yue didn't react as strongly as he'd expected. Instead, she fave him and calmly said she already knew. She only warned him o pull that kind of thing on anyone else again.

  She felt that since he was still young, he had room to make mistakes, as long as he was willing to learn from them and make things right.

  As for whether Yun Wuji had known how she'd rea advahat's something we'll never really know.

  *I Guess We'll Never Know.*

  Yun Wuji stared at her beautiful face silently.

  "What? Is there something on my face?" she asked, looking puzzled.

  "I'm not used to seeing you aature," he said, shaking his head.

  "Are you saying I was dumb before?" she asked, g her fist.

  "No, no," he stammered, scratg his cheek. "I just thought you were sweet and cute before. Now you're ag like a mature big sister, and I'm still getting used to it."

  --------

  "Are you sure you don't wao e with you?" Yun Wuji asked, holding Chu Yue's hands.

  It had been a week since Yue got her memories back, and now she wao head back to her sect after being away for so long.

  "No, nht now," Chu Yue shook her head. "If my master sees you, it might cause some trouble. I'll expihing to them first, and then I'll e back."

  She knew her master had a strong aversion to men and preferred to keep her distance from them. Bringing Wuji along would almost certainly lead to a fight.

  She wasn't worried about Wuji but about her sect.

  Yue po go back to her sect first and show them her cultivation level and the upgraded Frozen Cloud arts. She hoped that by doing this, she might vince her master to make an exception to the sect's rules and allow her to stay with Wuji.

  Of course, if her master still refused to accept their retionship, Yue was ready to walk away from the seo matter how much it hurt. She was determio stay with Yun Wuji, whatever the cost.

  "Sigh, alright, but if you stay away for too long, I'll e over and 'persuade' your master myself," Yun Wuji said with a resigned sigh, pulling her into a hug.

  "Hmm~" Chu Yue nodded, ing her arms around him aing her on his shoulder.

  "Go ahead," Yun Wuji said with a gentle smile. After holding her for a moment longer, he waved his hand, creating a space crack that led to the Snion of Extreme Ice.

  "Goodbye," Chu Yue whispered, pnting o kiss on his lips before stepping through the crack, and disappearing from view.

  Yun Wuji watched as the space crack closed behind Chu Yue, his gaze lingering on the spot where she had vanished. After a moment, he took a deep breath, turned away, and teleported.

  -------

  On this day, five men showed up in the busy capital of the Grand Asura Nation.

  Four of them were middle-aged and all wore the same dark blue uniforms, looki and in sync.

  Leading the group was an uy in a fshy purple robe. His robe had fancy designs that made it clear he was someone important. With his silver hair bed ly and a anding presence, he gave off a wise and authoritative aura. As he walked in the air, his sharp eyes took ihing around him

  "This is where the young master died," the old man said, his voice slow and steady as he looked down oy.

  Their Heavenly Monarch, Ye Meixie, had left his soul imprint on his son. When his son died, Ye Meixie was furious and ordered them to track down and bring the culprit.

  "Lord Elder, should we head to the royal family first?" one of the men on his right asked.

  "You two head to the royal family," the old man said casually, his hands csped behind his back as he stared out over the city. "If they don't cooperate, you know what to do."

  People from the great sacred grounds generally looked down on all the major nations except the Divine Phoenix Nation. Even a regur disciple wouldn't give them much respect, let alone an elder like him.

  "Right away!" The two men behind him responded promptly and took off toward the royal pace.

  --------

  "Let's see what we have here," After parting ways with Chu Yue, Yun Wuji finally had the time to check his loot. He pulled out the ste rings he had 'picked' from Ye Xinghan and his es and began examining its tents.

  Ihe ste ring, Yun Wuji found a variety of items, a pill of money, a sele of clothes, a few strange pills and powders, and, several manuals. The manuals were clearly Ye Xinghan's cultivation teiques and focused entirely on dual cultivation.

  "Aphrodisiac? Of course, it's just what you'd expect from a 'young master'," Yun Wuji chuckled, fiddling with the pill for a while before tossing everything into his Sky Poison Pearl.

  "It feels strange being alone again," Yun Wuji said, rolling a cigarette he'd made himself between his fingers. Even though he'd spent more than five years on his own, the emptiness now felt oddly new. He lit up the cigarette and took a deep drag, letting the smoke curl up as he leaned bad let his mind wander.

  "So this is Floating Cloud City," Yun Wuji muttered, puffing out a cloud of smoke as he gazed at the se before him.

  It iovice vilge for any novel's protagonist, small, unassuming, aled in the most insignifit er of the world. The smallest city in the smallest try, and likely ii p in the lowest realm.

  Finishing his cigarette, Yun Wuji flicked it away and soared toward the city.

  ------

  Floating Cloud City was a tiny, almost fotten part of the Blue Wind Empire. Located in the Far East, it was so small and isoted that it barely qualified as a city. With the lowest popution, ey, and Profound Strength in the empire, no one from here had reached the Sky Profound Realm iuries. The locals often joked about their city being a fotten er of the empire.

  The biggest Floating Cloud City was the Xiao . It was established by Xiao Bieli, a discarded disciple from the Xiao Sect, more than 160 years ago. Driven by his ambition to earn reition aually rejoin the Xiao Sect, the carried forward his dream.

  In short, their whole existence revolves around trying to curry favor with the Xiao Sect.

  Today, a crushing aura desded upon Floating Cloud City, suffog every inch of the space. The air itself seemed to press down on everyone, like an invisible force was squeezing the life out of the pce.

  People gasped for breath, feeling like the very atmosphere was being crushed. The buildings seemed to tremble, and even the breeze turifling. The usual buzz of the city died down as everyohis intense pressure like they were all caught in a giant, invisible grip.

  "What's going on?!"

  "I 't move!"

  "Look up!"

  "Someone's flying!"

  "It's someo the legendary Sky Profound Realm!"

  Panic spread quickly through the city as the heavy aura pressed down on everyone. People's faces turned white, and their voices were filled with arm. Parents grabbed their kids, trying to keep them close, while merts and vendors hurriedly abaheir stalls.

  In the chaos, some people just froze, uo hahe crushing pressure, while others ran around in a panic. Their eyes were locked on the young man floating high above, who seemed to be radiating a power that made the air feel thid oppressive.

  The once-bustling city now felt like a ghost town, with the oppressive atmosphere turning every breath into a struggle. The sight of the figure floating effortlessly in the sky was both mesmerizing and terrifying.

  Meanwhile, in the Xiao , everyohered in front of the tral hall, their eyes fixed on the man floating above them. Fear alpable in the air; some members were trembling so violently that their knees buckled, and they colpsed to the ground.

  The leader Xiao Yunhai, was visibly pale and shaking, and struggled to maintain his posure. He cleared his throat, but his voice came out shaky and strained. "W-What do we owe this honor, my lord?" he stammered, desperately trying to sound respectful despite his visible terror.

  "o be afraid," Yun Wuji said, his voice calm and steady. "I'm here because I need your help to build a pae on the east side of the city." As soon as he spoke, the overwhelming aura he had released vanished.

  A collective sigh of relief swept through the city as the pressure lifted, and the residents, who had been frozen in fear, began to rex. The once-panic-stri crowd now exged relieved gnces.

  ---------

  I've realized I've been insistent about Yun Wuji's battle strength, my apologies for that.

  Thanks to those who poihat out.

  Yun Wuji's battle strength is around the 1st or sed level of the Sn Profound Realm.

  However, his spatial power allows him to escape easily, which is where his fidenes from.

  This does not include the Sky Poison Pearl.