Entertainment: A song that brought his deceased wife back to life.

On the way back, the news spread faster than the sword light. By the time he got home, Xu Qing's communication talismans had been bombarded with 137 messages.

Ma Dongteng posted: "Brother Suixing, did your deceased wife suddenly rise from the dead in public? Do you need me to issue a statement to refute the rumors about 'the pain of losing a wife'?"

Chen Che posted: "Congratulations, the living are more valuable than paper money."

Fang Hongfa said, "I always said there's no such thing as true divine jealousy in the cultivation world. A lucky koi fish wouldn't perish so early, but you wouldn't listen."

Xu Qing has read all the messages but hasn't replied, especially the last one, which was sent by Luo Tianxiong.

"You little brat, did you take my precious sword to ward off evil spirits? Next time you go into seclusion, bring enough provisions. You've completely disgraced your father—the daughter of the richest man is cultivating by eating spirit stones at the bottom of the Abyss of Ten Thousand Souls, is that even acceptable?"

Luo Qianyu peeked over from the side, then snatched the communication talisman.

"How did my dad send you that message?"

"He came to see me on the third day after you 'died'."

"What do you want?"

"Bring me a jar of wine, let's drink together until dawn."

Luo Qianyu tightened her grip on the communication talisman.

Xu Qing didn't continue, but she could imagine the scene—her father and Xu Qing, one having lost their daughter and the other their wife, silently drinking under the moonlight, not saying a single word of nonsense.

My nose stung a little.

"Stop being so sour." Xu Qing's voice drifted over from the side. "You're standing right here, nobody's feeling down."

"Shut up."

---

The two of them followed the path and turned the last bend in the mountain. Xu Qing's place was nestled in the cliff halfway up the mountain.

Luo Qianyu stood at the door, stunned.

The stone chamber was sparsely furnished—a stone bed, a stone table, and on the table lay the teacup she had used three years ago, upside down, a layer of fine dust accumulated at the bottom. In the corner was a box of her belongings, a few changes of clothes, a comb, and a half-empty bottle of rouge, all neatly arranged.

The stone chamber was very clean.

Someone cleans it every day, but there's no sign of life—no wine, no extra food, no books, not even a single object for entertainment. The Shattered Star Sword is sealed in its box, its scabbard covered in three years' worth of dust.

Luo Qianyu stood in the middle of the stone chamber and slowly turned around.

He spent three years in this kind of place.

"Are you in jail or practicing Buddhism?" Her voice was a little tense.

"I'm used to it."

"Habit my ass."

Luo Qianyu walked to the stone table and turned the upside-down teacup over. There was a small koi fish pattern on the bottom of the cup, which she had made herself years ago.

Her movements stopped when her fingertips touched the side of the cup.

The cup hasn't been used for three years, but there isn't a single tea stain on it.

I wipe it every day.

Luo Qianyu gently placed the cup back in its original place, rubbed her fingers along the rim of the cup twice, and then turned around.

"Xu Qing."

"Um."

Why did you seal your sword?

Xu Qing leaned against the door frame, her expression unchanged.

"Without you, the sword has no meaning."

"What about your cultivation level? You've been in the late Golden Core stage for three years without undergoing tribulation, and your spiritual power hasn't declined?"

"He was demoted by half a rank."

"You—" Luo Qianyu took two steps to stand in front of him, raised her hand to grab his wrist and probed his spiritual sense into it.

Upon closer inspection, her expression changed.

He had regressed by more than half a level—his spiritual energy in his dantian was depleted, and three old injuries in his meridians had not yet healed. For three years, he had neither improved nor replenished his cultivation, and his cultivation level had gradually dissipated.

At this rate, even the Golden Core will shatter in two more years.

Luo Qianyu loosened her grip.

Her expression was calm, but it was strangely calm.

"Xu Qing."

"explain."

a slap.

It slapped Xu Qing's left cheek crisply and firmly.

Xu Qing tilted her head slightly, and five finger marks appeared on her left cheek.

The stone chamber was silent for three seconds.

"You're ruining your body, do you think I don't care?" Luo Qianyu's voice trembled. "Sealing your sword, not eating, not undergoing tribulation, living in this godforsaken place—you call this missing me? This is self-torture."

"Don't—"

"I'm not dead." Luo Qianyu grabbed his collar and pulled him off the doorframe. "I'm alive, I'm standing in front of you. So from today onwards, you'd better eat properly, cultivate properly, and take out that broken sword to practice on."

Xu Qing looked at her.

His left cheek was burning with pain, but he managed a slight smile.

"Your aim is still as off as ever when you hit someone."

"My aim is excellent."

"You were aiming at the right cheek."

"...How did you know I was looking at the right cheek?"

"Because you're left-handed, it's easier for left-handed people to slap the right cheek than the left. The fact that you hit the left cheek means your hand was shaking."

Luo Qianyu's tears fell and landed on Xu Qing's hand.

Xu Qing reached out and pulled her into his arms.

There were no three thousand pairs of eyes watching from the edge of the Abyss of Ten Thousand Souls, no gossipy cultivators observing, and no peach blossom wine or mushy noodles.

There was only the wind blowing from halfway up the mountain and the moonlight filtering into the stone chamber.

Luo Qianyu buried her face in his chest, her shoulders trembling.

"Three years...you didn't even cry to anyone...you just endured it all alone in this broken place..."

"Now we don't have to stay up all night."

"You're not allowed to hurt yourself anymore."

"OK."

"The sword must not be sealed."

"OK."

"You are not allowed to skip meals."

"OK."

"Make me a bowl of noodles."

"Didn't you already eat?"

"That bowl didn't have any salt." Luo Qianyu looked up, her nose bright red, glaring at him fiercely. "Are you stupid? How can you not put salt in noodles?"

"When you were alive, you complained that I put too much salt in your food."

"So you're just not going to release it? Don't you understand the concept of overcorrection?"

Xu Qing looked at her red nose and the way she was arguing with him, and the thing that had been blocking his chest for three years eased a little, and moonlight leaked in through the gap.

"Okay, add salt."

"How much?"

"Normal amount, neither more nor less."

"Your normal dosage was half a bag before."

"Stop bringing up my weaknesses."

---

Xu Qing turned and walked towards the simple stove next to the stone table. The pot and bowls were old, but his movements were very efficient—lighting the fire, boiling water, and cooking the noodles, all in one go.

I grabbed a pinch of salt, paused, and then added another half pinch.

Luo Qianyu sat on the stone bed, hugging her knees as she looked at him.

The noodles are cooked, a bowl of hot soup noodles with a poached egg on top.

Xu Qing brought it over and handed it to her.

"Try it salty."

Luo Qianyu lowered her head and took a sip of the soup—the saltiness was just right.

She moved her mouth and took another bite of noodles, then two, then three, eating faster and faster until she licked the last bit of soup from the bottom of the bowl clean.

After she finished eating, she placed the empty bowl on the stone table, next to the teacup with the koi fish pattern.

"Xu Qing."

"Um."

"This noodle tastes better than it did three years ago."

Xu Qing sat down next to her, reached out and tucked her messy, bird's nest-like long hair behind her ear. When her fingers touched her temples, her movements were very gentle, as if afraid that she would disappear again.

"I'll make it for you every day from now on."

"Then you need to fatten yourself up first. You'll be skinny as a stick when you cook."

"You eat first."

"Let's eat together." Luo Qianyu grabbed his hand and intertwined their fingers tightly. "From now on, we'll eat together, sleep together, Yuan isn't allowed to jump, you have to practice your swordsmanship, and you have to take your pills—understand?"

"I heard you."

The moonlight fell on the floor of the stone chamber, casting the shadows of the two people into one.

Luo Qianyu rested her head on Xu Qing's shoulder.

"Xu Qing."

"What's wrong now?"

"I'll reimburse you for the original price of the 500,000 spirit stones you spent on paper money and magic items."

"Need not."

Why?

"Because they all fell into your secluded cultivation pool." Xu Qing's lips curved into a smile. "Consider it an investment. You invested and produced a Demon Lord. The return on investment is not bad."

Luo Qianyu paused for two seconds, then burst out laughing, and then reached out and pinched him.

"You're just being sarcastic."

The moonlight outside the window was bright, and the black mist in the direction of the Abyss of Ten Thousand Souls had already dissipated.

Xu Qing leaned against the wall, and Luo Qianyu leaned against him.

After three years, the stone chamber finally began to smell of living people.