Linyue blinked. Of all the things to bring up during a quiet moment, he chose this?
"Have you gotten the masters' permission yet?" she asked.
"Not yet," he replied with complete confidence, "but I will."
She studied him for a second, then sighed softly and curled a little closer against him. "Anywhere is fine."
His lips curved in clear satisfaction, a hum vibrating low in his chest. "Alright. Then what about the wedding? Do you want a grand wedding or a simple one?"
Linyue hesitated. She thought about it carefully. She didn't like crowds. She didn't like fireworks. She didn't like loud drums. Most of all, she didn't like people staring at her. "I like peace," she said at last.
Shu Mingye chuckled, the sound warm and indulgent. "So simple one it is."
She turned her head to look at him. "What about you?"
His eyes softened. The smile he gave her was one of those rare ones, stripped of smugness or teasing, so full of love it made her chest tighten.
"You know I don't really care about those things," he said. His thumb brushed gently over her hand, steady and sure. "I only care about you."
Linyue muttered softly, "You're getting better at saying these things."
"I've been practicing," he said proudly.
Suspicion flickered across her face. "On who?"
"Trees."
Linyue stared at him, expression flat.
"But they don't blush like you do," he added, his grin wicked.
She rolled her eyes and twisted away, only for him to tug her right back into his arms.
"You're warm," he mumbled, already halfway to sleep.
Linyue raised an eyebrow. "You're lying. I know I'm cold as ice."
"Mhm," he murmured, nuzzling closer until his breath tickled her hair. "But to me, you're really warm."
Her heart gave a startled skip, the kind she hated admitting to. Oh no. He was getting good at this. These quiet, sneaky words slipped past her defenses and wrapped around her before she could stop them. She hesitated, then muttered back, "You're also… warm. And comfortable."
The corners of Shu Mingye's lips curved in a satisfied smile even as his eyes stayed closed. "Of course I am," he said lazily.
Chaos couple: still cuddling, casually planning a wedding, and so far, not a single blessing in sight. Romantic. Slightly illegal. Completely soft.
The next morning, Shu Mingye was gone by the time the sun came up. Linyue cracked one eye open just in time to feel him kiss her forehead. He whispered something about going to greet Master Tian Mo before slipping out quietly. She didn't say it aloud, but she was starting to suspect something. Very suspicious.
Master Tian Mo yesterday.
Master Yin Xue the day before.
Now back to Master Tian Mo.
Did they really make a schedule to take turns bullying him? And yet Shu Mingye, the so-called terrifying Demon King, was out there doing his rounds like a polite suitor trying to win over angry in-laws. No kidnapping. No threats. No dramatic speeches. Just sheer, stubborn effort. Linyue felt her heart grow warm. This man who once said he'd steal her away was now working so hard for a blessing. Truly unbelievable.
As for her, she had her own mission today.
Testing arrays.
She stood alone at the training ground, sleeves tied neatly, her expression calm and serious.
Song Meiyu had run off to help Master Yin Xue treat patients. Shen Zhenyu and He Yuying were meditating somewhere in the back garden like responsible adults. Master Tian Mo was probably bullying Shu Mingye over tea while giving long, confusing lectures about marriage.
Perfect timing.
Linyue took a deep breath. Today, she would try forming arrays using only her mind. No brush. No ink. No scrolls. And, hopefully, no explosions. No sudden smoke. No one screaming, "My eyebrows!" from the sidelines.
She sat cross-legged right in the middle of the training ground. Inside her head, she was already building a mental checklist titled "Things I Might Accidentally Destroy Today."
She decided to start simple. Just a lifting array. Nothing fancy. Nothing deadly. She closed her eyes, steadying her breath. Slowly, she visualized a hand—soft, elegant, very lifty. With careful focus, she guided her energy, drawing the array in the air. Lines shimmered faintly, glowing as they came together.
So far, so good. Almost a full hand now. Fingers included. Well… the thumb was slightly crooked, and the pinky was doing something suspicious. But overall, it resembled a hand as long as no one inspected it too closely. She exhaled slowly and moved the glowing hand downward. Its target: a small, harmless stone.
"Lift," she whispered.
The hand hovered over the stone, then made contact.
Crack.
CRUNCH.
The stone shattered instantly, crumbling like a biscuit under too much weight. The spiritual hand gave a small twitch before dissolving into a puff of nothingness.
"…"
The air was painfully silent. Even the wind seemed confused.
Was it too much spiritual energy? Probably. Maybe it had been a little too excited. A little too eager to lift. Still, for a first try, it wasn't that bad. The hand had moved. The stone had reacted. Sure, the reaction involved violent destruction, but technically… it was progress. Nothing was on fire. There was no smoke. No one had lost their eyebrows. Only one innocent rock had been reduced to crumbs. She gave herself a small nod. Next time, maybe she could make a hand that didn't crush things to death. That was the goal. That was the dream.
Hours later, Linyue was still sitting in the middle of the training ground. The scene around her now looked less like training and more like the results of a very intense rock-smashing competition.
The lifting array? Still a murderous hand.
The victim counts? At least a hundred shattered stones.
She stared at the ground littered with broken pieces, her face calm but her thoughts mildly offended. Was her spiritual energy secretly trying to apply for a job in demolition?
She let out a long sigh. Why wasn't it working? Was it because of her lightning spiritual energy? Was it only good for exploding things? But no, that couldn't be. Her master had placed protective arrays in her body, and she hadn't exploded even once. Not even a little. So clearly, it was user error. Probably.
She decided to try something different. Something peaceful. Something that didn't involve rocks or the risk of accidental destruction.
A breeze array.
That had to be safe. No fire. No explosions. No smoke involved.
After a whole morning of cursed ghost hands, Linyue felt slightly more confident. At least she could now draw circles that mostly looked like circles. This time, she stood up. No more sitting cross-legged. No more closed eyes. She would face this array with her eyes open and her back straight. In her mind, she pictured the vortex pattern. A soft spiral. Gentle. Kind. Nonviolent. Slowly, with careful focus, she guided her spiritual sense to trace the array in the air. Step by step. Slowly. Precisely.
Vortex: done. It was a little tilted, but it looked like a decent snail. Encouraged, she added a circle around it to hold the wind. Or maybe it was an oval. Possibly a fat egg.
She tilted her head, examining her work. It resembled a breeze trap for chickens, but fine. Not bad. By her standards. Taking a deep breath, she pushed her spiritual energy into it.
Activate.
This was it. The moment of truth.
Linyue stood proudly in the middle of the training ground, her arms crossed as she admired the slightly tilted, slightly egg-shaped breeze array glowing faintly in the air.
At first, it was perfect. She could feel the wind begin to gather gently, like a soft breath.
She smiled. Finally, something that actually worked. Her fingers twitched, ready for a small victory dance. She even had a triumphant arm wave planned. But then the wind shifted. It grew stronger and louder. The soft swirl turned sharp, pulling at her sleeves. Sparks crackled in the center of the vortex. Tiny threads of lightning began snapping across the air.
"…Huh? Is it… supposed to be like that?" she muttered to herself.
Her notes had been clear. The breeze array was for clearing dust, removing smoke, maybe gathering leaves if someone felt too lazy to sweep. Nowhere did it say summon violent storm and destroy everything in sight.