Yuncheng is a very suitable place for retirement.
Sometimes Shang Can couldn’t help but feel this way. After all, the people here were simple and kind, everyone was quite warm, the food was delicious, and even the wind seemed gentler than in Yan Yang.
Her days in Yuncheng were uneventful, unlike those past years filled with thrilling battles and the heavy burden of dancing on the edge of a knife. It was as if a white curtain in front of her had shielded her from many of the mundane worries of the world. Shang Can had temporarily set aside the Dao Heart Lotus Seeds and the issues with Qin Yi, living a carefree life. Each day, she did nothing but sit idly in the Cloud Residence, with her greatest annoyance being the three doses of bitter medicinal soup she had to take daily.
Since she couldn’t see, many typical ways of passing the time were no longer available to her. Yet Yun Duan was always attentive to her, constantly by her side. Even though Shang Can tried to dissuade her, she eventually gave in and accepted the not-so-willing demon lord’s company, keeping Yun Duan by her side.
However, whenever Shang Can ordered Wan Shao to read aloud to her, nine times out of ten, the task would end up falling to Yun Duan. Shang Can would lean quietly against the back of her chair, listening to Yun Duan’s cool voice. In those moments of daze, it felt like she could hear the crisp sound of a qin being played on the Yuheng Peak of Qingyu in the past.
She had stolen half a day’s leisure.
During this time, Chu Ming visited once, chattering on as usual with a bunch of trivialities, before casually suggesting, “Why don’t you return to Qingyu?”
Shang Can ignored him, having already zoned out. She absentmindedly stroked her chin, secretly wondering if she had gained some weight from being pampered by Yun Duan recently.
Impatient, Chu Ming dropped all pretense and openly urged her, “Even though you are the Canzhe, changing your identity is as simple as when you went from being Shang Can to the Canzhe. Even if you don’t want to, we have ways to clear your name from your demon cultivator identity. At most, all you’d need to do is stop using Tianhuo.”
He kept repeating his points, urging her to return to Qingyu. Shang Can, long unused to this kind of persistence, started to get a headache. Frowning, she rubbed her temples distractedly and replied, “I know what I’m doing.”
Perhaps sensing that she didn’t want to continue the topic, Chu Ming reluctantly changed the subject, concerned, “Why haven’t your eyes healed yet?”
Shang Can hesitated, her fingers instinctively sliding down to touch the white cloth covering her eyes as she heard Chu Ming continue, worried, “As the saying goes, prolonged illness becomes chronic. Although Yuncheng has plenty of medicinal herbs, it still can’t compare to the resources of a major sect like Qingyu. Why not return to Qingyu and have the medical cultivators on Yaoguang Peak take a look at you?”
Before he could finish, Chu Ming stopped himself, forcing a sheepish smile, and added, “Oh, and Yun Duan’s jade token has been repaired, but Master Wangyue won’t let me deliver it for her. She has to retrieve it herself. Come to think of it, with the lack of news about Yunzhong-jun lately, people in the cultivation world are starting to get worried.”
His words had a way of stirring unease, and even as the moon reached its zenith, Shang Can remained lost in thought. Sitting in the courtyard pavilion, she muttered as if talking to herself, “Has it been some time since I came to Yuncheng?”
“Twenty-three days. Not too long.”
A voice she had grown accustomed to echoed nearby, closer than Shang Can expected. She lifted her head in a daze, catching the faint scent of a cool, snowy fragrance beside her.
Sensing her confusion, the person in front of her bent down, gently tucking a rebellious strand of hair behind her ear, speaking with a warmth that carried deep concern, “If you’re tired, let’s go inside and rest.”
The cool fingertips brushed lightly against her ear, and Shang Can’s breath caught. Despite the alarm bells ringing loudly in her mind, urging her to maintain her distance, her body seemed to have dulled, sinking into this gentle comfort. She had no intention of avoiding the touch when the hand reached out to her.
She couldn’t quite remember where she had heard it, but it was said that forming a habit takes twenty-one days.
Shang Can stared blankly for a while, then quietly lowered her head.
“Mm, I want to sleep now.”
Slender, soft fingers entwined with hers, and though Shang Can pursed her lips slightly, she eventually followed Yun Duan’s lead and stood up obediently.
In those twenty-three days, Yun Duan hadn’t gone night-walking even once.
Yun Duan never guarded against her, but Shang Can often felt guilty for taking advantage of this trust to deceive Yun Duan.
“… If you drink at night and get caught, I really won’t have a place to live.”
Wan Shao grumbled in frustration, hesitating for a long time before finally handing the wine jar to Shang Can. The latter sniffed it and, unsatisfied, remarked, “It doesn’t smell like good wine.”
“You think your body can handle good wine? Isn’t the whole point of good wine to get drunk?” Wan Shao glared at her, then remembered that Shang Can couldn’t see and snatched the jar back. “If you’re not drinking, give it back!”
Shang Can easily dodged Wan Shao’s hand and lifted the jar to take a sip. In the moonlight, her pale complexion took on a faint blush, and she chuckled, “Fine, since you’re short on money, I’ll settle for this.”
Wan Shao, feeling stung by her words, reluctantly withdrew her hand and opened another jar for herself. As she drank, she asked, “So? What’s the deal? Why did you sneak out in the middle of the night, asking me to drink with you?”
Heaven help her. As a demon lord with a strict sleep schedule, she had been deep in slumber when she felt someone’s presence beside her bed. Upon opening her eyes, she saw Shang Can standing there like a ghost, asking for wine—what a pain!
“…”
Shang Can remained silent, only lazily responding after a few more sips of wine, “Nothing, I just felt like drinking.”
What a reckless drinker!
Wan Shao knew all too well about Shang Can’s low alcohol tolerance, and while frustrated, she somehow understood the behavior. After all, Yun Duan was so strict with Shang Can that even slightly strong tea was off-limits. This rebellious drinking was something she could only do behind Yun Duan’s back.
Concerned for her friend’s freedom in the future, Wan Shao clinked her cup against Shang Can’s quietly and whispered, “What if Yunzhong-jun finds out? What will you say?”
“No excuses,” Shang Can said, fidgeting with the rim of the wine jar. She seemed to be drinking faster tonight, as the jar was already half empty. Her voice grew slightly lazy as she added, “I already told her I was going to sleep, so this is just another lie.”
Wan Shao was indignant, raising her hand with a dramatic flourish to accuse her, “How could you lie to Yunzhong-jun like that?”
“…” Shang Can was silent for a long time, then took a large gulp of wine and laughed softly. “Yeah, I guess I don’t have a conscience, huh?”
Even someone as slow as Wan Shao realized that something was off with her friend tonight. She put down her wine jar and turned to stare at Shang Can, noticing how her hands trembled slightly as she continued to drink recklessly. Alarmed, Wan Shao snatched the jar from her.
“What’s wrong with you?”
Fuming, Wan Shao felt her temper rise as she looked at Shang Can’s downcast expression. “Life was going well, so why the sudden need to drown your sorrows in alcohol?”
Shang Can, never a great drinker, had downed so much so quickly that she was already dizzy. After a moment of dazed silence, she slowly turned to face Wan Shao, her speech sluggish as she muttered, “I wasn’t really trying to drown my sorrows. I just wanted to say… I haven’t drunk anything in a while…”
Her words were still clear, but they lacked coherence, trailing off into a long pause before she added softly, “Once you get used to something, it’s hard to give it up. But picking it up again is so easy.”
Wan Shao had no idea what philosophical nonsense Shang Can was rambling about in the middle of the night, and she was about to scold her further when suddenly, Shang Can, clearly drunk, stood up, startling her.
“…I’m going to sleep now,” said Shang Can, as she started to walk away. Her steps were unsteady, but when Wan Shao reached out to support her, she stubbornly shook off the hand, muttering softly, “I shouldn’t… I really shouldn’t drink anymore.”
Regret only came after the drinking.
Wan Shao rolled her eyes but held her tongue, reminding herself not to argue with a drunk and injured person. She was just about to grudgingly help the drunkard back to her room when she glanced up and froze. Standing by the door not far from them was a figure dressed in white, silently watching them.
Wan Shao’s shout of surprise got stuck in her throat as she watched the oblivious Shang Can stumble past Yun Duan, fumbling her way back to her room. The entire time, Yun Duan’s gaze was fixed on Shang Can, unwavering even as the door finally closed, her eyes lingering long after.
The scene could have been touching—intensely emotional—if it weren’t for Wan Shao standing nearby, feeling guilty and too nervous to meet Yun Duan’s gaze.
The dignified demon lord was now left feeling anxious and inadequate. She could only envy how quickly Shang Can, who had drunk a lot, was drifting off into an intoxicated slumber. As Yun Duan finally withdrew her gaze from Shang Can’s door, Wan Shao decided honesty was the best policy and stammered, “She—Shang Can, well, maybe she just missed drinking. Ever since she attended the Heaven Beyond Heaven Dao Debate, she hasn’t had many chances to drink…”
Yun Duan remained silent for a moment before softly asking, “Did she often drink before?”
Wan Shao hesitated but then decided to tell the full story, betraying her friend with a firm nod. “Yeah, she used to drink quite often when she was in the Netherworld, though her tolerance was never great. Thankfully, her drinking behavior isn’t too bad—she just passes out and sleeps.”
Under the heavy blanket of night, even with her superior vision, Wan Shao could see Yun Duan lower her gaze, her expression unreadable but tinged with complexity. Feeling the need to justify further, Wan Shao added a few more details to defend her friend: “But… but she only drank a lot when she first arrived in the Netherworld. It was probably just to keep warm—our place is freezing cold. Over time, she got better and only drank occasionally.”
As she said this, Wan Shao suddenly realized that Shang Can’s state tonight reminded her a lot of those early days in the Netherworld—like someone who didn’t necessarily want to drink but didn’t know how else to pass the long stretches of time.
Wan Shao remembered when she first brought Shang Can back, the deadness in her eyes was startling, but her will to live had been fiercely unshakable, enduring even the gravest of injuries. Yet, after she recovered, Shang Can seemed to live with only the bare minimum effort to survive, treating her body as disposable. If it weren’t for the occasional spark in her eyes when the Dao Heart Lotus Seed was mentioned, Wan Shao would have doubted whether Shang Can even had the will to live.
Caught in her memories, Wan Shao was momentarily lost in thought. When she snapped back to reality, she saw Yun Duan still standing quietly by Shang Can’s door, her clean white robes softly glowing under the moonlight, making her look ethereal, almost translucent. Her expression remained low, her thoughts unreadable, but there was a faint sense of sadness hanging over her.
Wan Shao suddenly recalled the banquet in Yun City that day. She guessed Yun Duan must have heard everything that was said, but she had remained silent, merely following Shang Can back to their seats without a word. After that, she acted as though nothing had happened, continuing their usual routine.
She never hesitated to show how much she cared about Shang Can. Every glance, every gesture revealed her deep affection. Wan Shao, in frustration, often wondered what on earth was going on in Shang Can’s head and wished she could pry it open to understand. But if there was one thing Wan Shao knew for certain, it was this—no matter how dead inside Shang Can had seemed, the mere mention of Yun Duan’s name had always made her eyes light up.
After a long silence, Wan Shao suddenly broke the quiet, saying, “She’s definitely drunk now.”
Yun Duan turned her gaze toward her, looking slightly puzzled. Wan Shao simply repeated what she’d just said. “I bet she’s already asleep by now. After all, she’s a quiet drunk.”
“Shang Can drank a lot tonight. I wasn’t paying attention, and she nearly emptied the whole jar.” She gestured toward the wine jar she had taken from Shang Can, continuing, “Whenever she drinks this much… by the time she wakes up, she never remembers what happened the night before.”
She paused, then met Yun Duan’s gaze with a firm expression, speaking slowly and clearly: “—No matter what anyone does to her now, she won’t remember a thing.”
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