Fang Shuwen was tempted to lie and say she looked old.

But after what he had just seen, he couldn’t bring himself to say it.

He could only sigh.

"These days, a handsome man like me faces danger at every turn."

"You silver-tongued devil."

Yu Yaoguang shot him a cool glance.

"I’m leaving. I need to return to my residence and change."

"Then why did you take mine?"

Fang Shuwen fumed.

"...So, you expected me to walk around in the dead of night looking like that?"

"No one would have seen you..."

"And I’m not a person?"

"Hey, now you’re just insulting me."

The two went back and forth, neither willing to back down.

In the blink of an eye, they had walked out of the Cold Ice Pavilion.

Xu Wenwan was waiting right there. Seeing the two of them emerge, her face lit up with joy.

"Sect Leader, your injuries?"

"Young Master Fang is a miracle worker. A minor injury like mine was no challenge for him."

Yu Yaoguang said softly,

"Now that my chronic ailment is gone, you no longer have to stay in hiding."

"Yes."

Xu Wenwan replied, then her gaze fell upon the clothes Yu Yaoguang was wearing. She glanced at Fang Shuwen, hesitating for a moment as if she wanted to say something but held back.

Yu Yaoguang gave her no chance to ask. With a final glance at Fang Shuwen, she leaped away, disappearing from sight in just a few bounds.

Fang Shuwen watched her go, speechless for a long moment.

Xu Wenwan cleared her throat.

"Still staring?"

"..."

Fang Shuwen reluctantly tore his eyes away. When he looked at Xu Wenwan, his expression grew complicated.

"Young Master Fang, shall we?"

"Let’s go."

Fang Shuwen nodded. The two of them descended from the Cold Ice Pavilion. They made no effort to hide this time, so after only a few steps, they were surrounded by people from Yuqing Pavilion.

The disciples had assumed they were thieves trying to steal the Yuqing Fruit, but a closer look revealed Fang Shuwen and Xu Wenwan.

"Young Master Fang? Elder Xu?"

"What are you two doing here?"

"Elder Xu, where have you been these past few days? We’ve been looking everywhere for you! Thank goodness you’re all right."

Everyone started talking at once, their attention focused on Xu Wenwan.

Someone had already turned to report to Zhai Xing and Lan Yue.

Xu Wenwan addressed them one by one, quickly calming everyone’s emotions.

They parted the crowd and headed down the mountain toward the main complex of Yuqing Pavilion.

Disciples of Yuqing Pavilion were stationed everywhere along the path. Any uninformed intruder trying to steal the Yuqing Fruit would have been captured long before they got close.

Fang Shuwen and Xu Wenwan were not well acquainted, so they walked in silence.

Just as the silence began to feel awkward, Fang Shuwen suddenly asked,

"Was it worth it?"

The question came out of nowhere, making Xu Wenwan flinch slightly.

After a long pause, she answered in a strained voice,

"Why do you ask such a thing, Young Master Fang?"

Fang Shuwen sighed.

"Years ago, your father, Xu Zeyuan, asked Yuqing Pavilion to hide the Hundred-Pound Saber."

"That matter had nothing to do with you, really... You must know the reason you were placed in Yuqing Pavilion."

"Even if you didn’t know then, you must have figured it out later."

"Oh?"

Xu Wenwan smiled faintly.

"Then allow me to ask you, Young Master Fang, what exactly was my late father’s reason for placing me in Yuqing Pavilion?"

Fang Shuwen glanced at her.

"You were a safeguard..."

Xu Wenwan fell silent, and Fang Shuwen continued,

"He knew how important the Hundred-Pound Saber was, and he knew that those people would come looking for it sooner or later."

"The Xu Family might not survive... and your existence couldn’t remain a secret forever."

"Many people knew he had a daughter."

"And though few knew you were at Yuqing Pavilion, finding that out was only a matter of time."

"That group would follow the trail right to you."

"The moment something happened to you, it would serve as a warning to Yuqing Pavilion that the people plotting to take the Hundred-Pound Saber... had arrived."

Calling her a safeguard wasn’t quite accurate.

To be precise, Xu Wenwan was a tripwire.

If anyone set it off, it would almost certainly be over the Hundred-Pound Saber.

Or rather, the Asura Iron.

Xu Wenwan didn’t seem disheartened by Fang Shuwen’s words, only sighing softly in admiration.

"For Young Master Fang to have pieced this all together in such a short time... is truly impressive."

"You knew?"

"I’ve always known."

Xu Wenwan said with a smile,

"My father... he was a great hero of his generation."

"He used to say that being a hero was exhausting... and often a thankless task."

"But I’ve known since I was a child that even though he helped some beasts who repaid his kindness with malice..."

"...so many more people genuinely received his aid."

"That’s why my late father is my role model."

"When he made this decision, he told me."

"That I would lose a great deal..."

"That if those people came for us, the Xu Family would be annihilated."

"And that I might die."

"But do you know what has been the hardest to endure all these years? It was never the potential danger, nor the outcomes I had long ago foreseen."

"Then what was it?"

"I suppose... it was the misery of being a self-imposed prisoner on Qingyang Mountain."

Xu Wenwan laughed.

"Ever since I came up the mountain with my father all those years ago, I haven’t taken a single step off Qingyang Mountain."

"Life like that is hard to bear."

"Especially when I hear my martial sisters talk about the wonders of the Jianghu."

"I can’t help but get lost in daydreams... But alas, I cannot leave, nor do I dare."

"As long as I stay on Qingyang Mountain and never step outside Yuqing Pavilion, very few people in the Jianghu will ever know of me."

"Even if they eventually wipe out the Xu Family, they won’t find me so quickly."

"And as long as those people don’t come looking for me..."

"I know they haven’t succeeded. The Asura Iron will not reemerge in the Jianghu, the Asura Three Dao will not see the light of day, and indirectly, many people will get to live because of it."