I raised stunning young ladies, but they all wanted to possess me.

Gu Yan finally relaxed, nodded again, and quickly climbed the gangway.

The hatch closed behind them, isolating them from the outside world.

He leaned against the inner wall and exhaled a long, silent breath that he had been holding for a long time.

A thin layer of sweat broke out on my back.

He had no choice but to say that.

Are you suggesting I confess that your daughter was dressed very scantily and then took my hand and pressed it against her chest?

If you said that out loud, you wouldn't even be able to get on a plane.

He suspected that he would be stuffed into a sack tonight and sunk to the bottom of a section of the river near the Beijing Bund to feed the fish.

As for whether Jin Yu will tell Lin Zhenting, it's impossible...

The plane began to taxi, accelerated, and roared into the night sky.

On the tarmac, Lin Zhenting stood still, watching the silver plane disappear into the starlit night sky until its taillights completely vanished from sight.

His face was expressionless, but his eyes held a complex look.

The specially made encrypted phone in my pocket suddenly vibrated, emitting a low, continuous buzzing sound.

Lin Zhenting took out his phone, the screen lit up, the caller ID showed a number that wasn't saved in his contacts, but he recognized the numbers.

His thumb hovered above the answer button, pausing for two seconds, the night breeze ruffling the slightly frosty hair at his temples.

In the end, he pressed the answer button and put the phone to his ear.

When the voice came from the other end of the phone, Lin Zhenting's brows furrowed almost imperceptibly, then slowly relaxed.

He spoke only a few words into the microphone.

"He just left."

"Yes, the plane has taken off."

"..."

"I see."

The call has ended.

"Alas, Master Gu Yan, I'm so sorry..."

Lin Zhenting put away his phone, took one last look at the now empty night sky, and turned to get into his car.

......

Deep within the Pei family mansion lies a quiet courtyard.

The moonlight washed over the bluestone slabs, casting the shadow of a solitary old plum tree.

A night breeze swept through the corridor, carrying the slight chill of early autumn.

Pei Yuran sat on the stone bench, dressed in pure white.

Her dark hair was unbound, flowing down her shoulders and back.

She lowered her head slightly, and in her hand, a dark velvet cloth was slowly wiping a long sword that rested on her lap.

The sword was over three feet long, entirely black, resembling wood but not quite, its surface covered with a specially made matte coating that swallowed all luster, silent like a frozen night.

Only at the hilt of the sword was a slightly worn, finely stitched red amulet, which became the only warm color under the cold white moonlight.

Her movements were slow; her fingertips traced the spine of the sword through the velvet cloth, over and over again.

Standing beside him was a beautiful woman whose eyebrows and eyes vaguely resembled Pei Yuran's, but whose temperament was much gentler. Time had left its mark and accumulated a charm.

She is Pei Yuran's mother, Pei Youyi.

"mom."

Pei Yuran didn't look up, her voice clear and sharp, like shards of ice clashing together, "Is the treatment over?"

"Yes, it's over. Uncle Lin sent word that Master Gu Yan... has completed the final channeling."

Pei Youyi's gaze shifted from her daughter's hand wiping the longsword to her pale profile. A deep-seated heartache flashed in her eyes, then transformed into a gentle smile as she nodded.

"The last time..."

Pei Yuran's hand holding the velvet cloth paused almost imperceptibly in the middle of the sword.

As Pei Youyi gazed at her daughter's serene profile, her thoughts were suddenly pulled back to a few years ago.

When Pei Yuran returned from the southwestern border, she was like a delicate doll whose soul had been emptied.

From the outside, he still appears to be the Pei family's once-in-a-century genius. At the age of twenty, he overwhelmed his peers with his superb sword control skills and was hailed as the Pei family's number one sword immortal.

But inside, it was completely broken, cold, and dead.

She would sit up in the middle of the night, drenched in cold sweat, curl up in the corner of the bed with her head in her hands, biting the corner of the blanket tightly with her teeth, squeezing out broken sobs like a trapped beast, but not allowing anyone to come near or touch her.

The food that was brought in was often brought out untouched.

He would occasionally manage to swallow a few mouthfuls, only to rush to the bathroom the next moment and vomit violently until he coughed up bitter liquid.

The way she looked at everyone was filled with a chilling wariness and suspicion, as if beneath every gentle smile lay a poisoned dagger and a bloody scheme.

The Pei family mobilized all their connections, spending huge sums of money to hire top psychologists from home and abroad, and even sought out several highly capable individuals specializing in the field of mental health.

result?

Anyone who gets within three meters of her will have their bones and muscles frozen by the chilling aura she unconsciously emits, which carries a fierce sword intent.

If someone tries to forcefully break through her defenses without considering the consequences, they will suffer emotional trauma and headaches for months.

In severe cases, they may be injured by her instinctive counterattack using her magical powers when she loses control.

The shattered ice crystals were comparable to bullets. In the most dangerous incident, a highly respected old professor was forced to retreat repeatedly by several ice spikes that suddenly appeared out of nowhere, putting him in grave danger.

Just when the Pei family was almost in despair, thinking that their daughter was really going to completely freeze herself up and head towards the end, the Lin family reached out their hand.

The Lin family, which had been on good terms for generations, had their patriarch, Lin Zhenting, personally vouch for them, saying that perhaps they could give it a try if they had a child.

Upon hearing that the boy was only twelve years old, the entire Pei family felt their hearts sink.

But as they watched their daughter wither away day by day, her eyes losing all light, they had no choice but to grasp at this last straw.

Who would have thought that the pale, thin boy, who looked like he could be blown away by a gust of wind, would actually...

Inch by inch, they chiseled open the thick, foot-deep ice that had been covering Yu Ran.

The process was incredibly brutal.

Pei Youyi witnessed firsthand how, when Gu Yan tried to approach, the chill emanating from Yu Ran instantly condensed into white frost, which covered the boy's eyelashes and hair.

His thin body visibly began to tremble, his lips turned a dark purple from the cold, yet he stubbornly kept his unusually calm and gentle eyes open, looking at Yu Ran, and speaking slowly, word by word.

Several times, Yu Ran's emotions completely collapsed, and the sharp ice shards of the envoy flew past Gu Yan's neck and cheek, leaving blood streaks.

The boy only let out a muffled groan, raised his hand to wipe away the blood, his eyes showing no fear or retreat, only an almost obsessive focus and... gentleness.

Her heart was breaking; she thought the boy would collapse at any moment, or even die silently in that icy cold.

But miraculously, he pulled through time and time again.

With an almost clumsy patience and reckless tenderness, she painstakingly carved out a thin path through that frozen wasteland, leading to the depths of her daughter's heart.

Yu Ran gradually changed.

Although most of the time she still has that cold and aloof demeanor, she speaks so little that she can split a single word in two.

But at least, the number of nightmares and screams has decreased, and he can eat on time. When facing her and a very few close elders, the stagnant pool in his eyes will occasionally show a very faint ripple.

Barely... he can be considered a living person who can communicate and respond.