The Mirror of Startling Beauty: Her courtiers are everywhere

Tang Xixue turned her head and glanced at him.

There was so much in that one look, so much that she didn't say anything.

Feng Zhuo's expression changed. He hesitated, then finally couldn't help but whisper:

"Ah Xue, you heard what he said. What if Ah Qiao ends up like that too..."

"He won't."

How did you know...?

"Because I believe in him."

Tangxi Xue said.

Feng Zhuo looked at her, his lips moved, but he finally stopped asking.

Tang Xixue lowered her head and took Chu Qiao out of Cang Xue's heart.

The boy trapped in ice scales.

The deep blue scales refracted countless tiny rays of light, as if draping him in a cloak of stars.

He slept so peacefully, as if he were just tired, as if he might open his eyes at any moment, then smile and call her "sister."

Tang Xixue checked the pond and found it dry. When she reached out to touch the water, she felt a sharp pain that went straight to her soul.

"This water...?"

"Washing away obsessions is naturally painful; the deeper the obsession, the more painful it is."

The Xuan Tian Pavilion Master did not stop her from inspecting Wu Chi, knowing that she was always cautious.

"It's alright, he's already dead, he won't feel any pain."

The Xuan Tian Pavilion Master offered a word of comfort.

"If you don't know how to comfort people, you don't need to say anything."

Feng Zhuo said angrily.

"Ah Xue, let me help you."

He helped Tang Xixue put Chuqiao into the pond.

The ice scales made a very faint cracking sound the moment they touched the water.

The sound was soft and gentle, like the first crack that appeared on the surface of a river when the ice first melted in spring.

At the end of the long night, the first bird song was finally heard before dawn.

The scorching wind and the cool evening air both looked up at the same time.

"Ah Xue..."

"I heard you."

Tang Xixue straightened up, her gaze never leaving the face beneath the water.

She heard hope in that voice.

The pool water overflowed Chu Qiao's body, and the deep blue light gently supported him, as if a gentle hand reached out from the bottom of the water to take in this extremely tired boy.

The cracks in the ice scales began to spread from that point, with fine lines spreading out like a spider web, and each crack revealing water and starlight.

The dark blue scales covering his body peeled off his skin piece by piece, like melting winter snow, revealing the pale skin underneath.

Feng Zhuo stared blankly, speechless.

Mu Liang stood beside him, a look of near daze on her face.

"Ah Qiao will wake up, right?"

Feng Zhuo's voice was strained.

"Those ice scales... are disappearing."

"Um."

Mu Liang responded with a softer voice than usual.

"He will wake up."

Tang Xixue stood by the pond, her white clothes tinged with a faint blue by the pond's light.

She gazed quietly at the Chu Bridge beneath the water.

That face, once as pale as paper, seemed to have regained a touch of color in the dim blue light.

The Xuan Tian Pavilion Master stood beside her, two steps away.

He neither spoke nor moved.

The way he stood there didn't look like he was guarding some prisoner; it looked more like he was protecting something fragile.

He slightly raised his hand, his slender fingers gently flicking through the air.

The lights around the pool rose up in response, illuminating in concentric circles and surrounding Chu Qiao's body in the center.

The array patterns were intricate and exquisite, each stroke like moonlight carved on jade.

"Did you make this?"

Tang Xixue looked at the array patterns.

"Um."

"To protect the formation or to trap it?"

"Yes, we have them all."

The Xuan Tian Pavilion Master's voice remained calm, but as he withdrew his hand, his fingertips inadvertently brushed against her sleeve, and then he pulled back as if he had been burned.

"There are people outside who don't want him to live. There are also people inside who don't want him to wake up."

Tang Xixue turned her head and looked at his face, which was covered by a mask, from a distance of two steps.

"And what about you?"

He did not answer.

He simply turned his head slightly to avoid her gaze.

The mask covered his face, but it couldn't hide the small patch of slightly reddish skin behind his ear.

He didn't care about the people in the pool at all; he only cared about her.

She wanted that person to live, so he helped her.

"It's okay if you don't tell me. I'll ask you again when you're ready to talk."

After a long while, Tang Xixue gently lowered her eyes.

The Xuan Tian Pavilion Master stood beside her, his gaze fixed on the young man in the pool.

He stared at it for a long time, so long that even Feng Zhuo sensed something was wrong.

Then he spoke very softly, his voice tinged with bitterness.

"It seems... you care about him a lot."

This is a statement, not a question.

He thought the mask could conceal what was hidden in his statements.

Tang Xixue nodded.

"Yes, he is my friend."

"That's all? Just ordinary friends?"

The Xuan Tian Pavilion Master pressed for an answer.

The words left his mouth faster than his reasoning could take effect, so fast that he didn't even have time to soften his tone or make it more nonchalant.

"Um?"

Tang Xixue finally turned her head and glanced at him.

Her gaze was calm, as if she had already seen something through that mask.

If you don't want to talk about something, you don't have to.

"You seem to care a lot about why I care about him."

she says.

The Xuan Tian Pavilion Master's hands were behind his back, but his fingers slowly tightened in his sleeves, his knuckles turning white.

"Lord Pavilion Master."

Tang Xixue gazed at him.

"You've asked so many questions... but who really cares more?"

The handsome face beneath the mask of the Xuan Tian Pavilion Master immediately flushed red.

"This master is simply acting according to the rules."

"What you just said to your subordinates."

Tang Xixue said softly.

"That doesn't sound like something a rule-abiding person would say."

He was silent.

He couldn't respond to that.

She was terrifyingly perceptive, and he felt as if he had nowhere to escape.

They were two steps apart.

Neither of them took another step forward nor retreated, like two banks facing each other across the water.

An invisible tug-of-war stretched between the two of them.

He is the Xuan Tian Pavilion Master of Guixu Palace, and she is the usurper whom the gods have specifically ordered to be eliminated.

According to the rules, he should have taken her.

Given his status, he shouldn't have even glanced at her.

But not only did he not take action, he also personally opened the stone door at the deepest part of Guixu Palace for her and personally set up a protective array.

Everything he did went against his own identity and stance, yet he was doing everything to fulfill her wishes.

She knew who he was, but she didn't reveal it.

She simply shattered all his pretense with a light, casual remark every time he deliberately acted coldly.

Then give him enough leeway to continue pretending.

This tacit understanding was unspoken by anyone, yet it was clearer than any words could express.

He indulged her, and there was nothing he could do about it.

a long time.

"if……"

The Xuan Tian Pavilion Master suddenly spoke.

He only said two words before stopping.

"If what?"

Tangxi Snow Question.

"No...it's nothing."

The Xuan Tian Pavilion Master withdrew his gaze, his voice returning to its icy tone.

"The array patterns in the pool will protect him, but that's all. Whether he can wake up depends on his own fate."

At the same time, the Palace Master of Guixu Palace is personally heading to this place.

"Palace Master, we truly did not expect that the Xuan Tian Pavilion Master would be alerted by the grand formation..."

"Please don't be angry! The Pavilion Master would never disobey your orders."