Li Mo looked at Yun Ruoyan—at her long neck, blade-like shoulders, and exquisite collarbone, all exposed above the surface of the water. Draped in steam and moonlight, she appeared like a goddess descending from the heavens, and Li Mo’s lips curled up in satisfaction.

Suddenly, Yun Ruoyan turned and exposed her right cheek, revealing the twisted scar that snaked up her ear and extended down her neck and turning Li Mo’s smile stiff. He was finding it harder and harder to accept that fake birthmark. He wouldn’t object to Yun Ruoyan hiding her appearance from others, of course, but to do so even in front of him?

“Yan’er, you knew I was coming?” The birthmark on her face was freshly made. In the dark of the night, there was only one person she could be expecting.

“That’s right, I did.” Yun Ruoyan smiled as she leaned against the side of the bathtub.

“How did you know?” Li Mo raised his eyebrows. Her indolent, relaxed posture made it seem as though she wasn’t on guard against him after all, and his smile deepened once more.

“I guessed.”

“You guessed?”

“Right, I guessed.” Yun Ruoyan turned back to Li Mo. “Thank you for preparing these accommodations for me.”

“Yan’er, how will you thank me?” This was the first time Li Mo had heard Yun Ruoyan thank him, and he couldn’t help wanting to tease her a little.

“How would you like me to thank you?”

As soon as Yun Ruoyan spoke, Li Mo darted to her side and held his face right by hers, so close their noses were almost touching and they breathed the same heated air.

“Li Mo, you!” Although it wasn’t the first time that they’d been in such close contact, Yun Ruoyan couldn’t help blushing.

A cool, crisp kiss landed on Yun Ruoyan’s lips, a familiar scent. Just as before, Yun Ruoyan responded woodenly, neither avoiding or dodging the kiss nor accepting of it. However, this time, she didn’t close her eyes. As their gazes met, Yun Ruoyan saw the glimmer in Li Mo’s eyes as though it were a star that had fallen into a deep sea.

They exchanged only a light kiss before Li Mo let go of Yun Ruoyan once more.

“You’re still young, and I promised to wait until you became an adult.” Li Mo chuckled, looking at Yun Ruoyan’s flaming face.

“Yes.” Yun Ruoyan nodded.

Li Mo’s hand brushed by Yun Ruoyan’s right cheek before he vanished out the window in the blink of an eye.

“Can’t you stay for a little longer?” Yun Ruoyan called out urgently. Their current location and the moonlit night reminded Yun Ruoyan of the night she had shared with Li Mo at the tall tower overlooking Kongming Academy, and she had a sudden desire to spend time with him once more.

“I’m unfamiliar with Kongming Academy, and I have a lot of questions for you. What’s the situation with the induction ceremony tomorrow?”

“You possess a sage-grade treasure, and you’ll certainly be a contested student. Just as before, head south,” Li Mo responded. “As for the general scheme of things, I’ll tell you more about it in the future. I still have some tasks that I have to handle today, so you just have a good night’s rest. If any problems arise, you can talk to Shui Yue.

Yun Ruoyan wasn’t surprised to hear Li Mo bring up Shui Yue. Before she had entered the secret realm, Shui Yue had permitted her to bring the serpent-core necklace that Li Mo had made for her. At that point, Yun Ruoyan had guessed that Shui Yue was in Li Mo’s faction.

“Alright,” Yun Ruoyan agreed.

Li Mo found that he immensely enjoyed Yun Ruoyan’s obedience—even a wild kitten would eventually be tamed! How relaxing it would be to curl up by her side and talk the entire night long… but Li Mo glanced up at the skies, where dark clouds were gathering. There was still another task he had to accomplish that night.

“It’ll be a stormy night, so shut your windows tight.” Li Mo turned and left, disappearing within the night skies. He left two porcelain bottles for her on the windowsill.

Yun Ruoyan stared at the window for quite some time in a daze. When she finally stirred and cleaned herself up, she suddenly felt something amiss. Rushing to the mirror, she noticed that her right cheek was shiny and clean: her fake birthmark had vanished!

She rewound her conversation with Li Mo and remembered that he had pinched her right cheek.

He found out, after all… Yun Ruoyan sat in front of the mirror. Or has he always known? Was he watching me act the entire time?!

In order to hide her secret from Li Mo, she had worn the birthmark even during the stifling summer nights, almost developing sweat rashes as a result! If he had known this entire time…

Yun Ruoyan jumped out of her seat and yelled, “Li Mo, you bastard!”

A sudden gale of wind blew into her room, and Yun Ruoyan quickly secured the window even as she seethed with anger. Not long after came the sound of thunder and flashes of lightning.

Kacha! A bolt of lightning descended from the heavens and struck Li Mo, who was bound in iron chains at the peak of the tall tower. The powerful blast singed his body and targeted his vital organs, but Li Mo only trembled a little.

“As expected of the first elder’s disciple, he’s a rather tough fellow.” The tall, thin second elder and equally tall and thin Rong Tianhai stood on a raised dais as they observed the punishment from afar.

“Master, this lightning is the harshest among the available punishments, and ten strikes are sufficient to heavily wound a regular cultivator.”

“Ten strikes of lightning to save a woman by selfishly operating the all-seeing mirror after dark? I’m already going easy on him,” the second elder continued, his face sunken. “If I had my way, he’d be expelled from the academy, but the first elder’s unbelievably protective of his dear disciple. I might not be able to expel him, but as the elder in charge of order and punishment, I can certainly make him feel pain for his transgressions! Continue administering the punishment!”

“Yes, Master!” Rong Tianhai held a crackling sword in his hand. He pointed at the skies as he chanted an incantation. The darkened skies were crackling with lightning, and two bolts descended on Li Mo at the same time.

Kacha, kacha!

Li Mo sat cross-legged within the lightning array. According to the rules of the punishment, he was forbidden from using spiritual energy to counteract the strikes, and could only defend against them with his corporal body.

Even after five strikes, Li Mo continued bearing the punishment in stoic silence, the only hint of any discomfort being the sweat seeping from his forehead.

After seven strikes, blood trickled down the corner of his lips.

“Master, if he’s severely injured, I’m afraid the first elder might…” Rong Tianhai began.

“What, are you afraid?” The second elder glanced at Rong Tianhai. This disciple of his was of noble birth and possessed quite an impressive cultivation, but he really was quite lacking in guts. Otherwise, he would be comparable to the first elder’s disciple in all regards.

“Master, I’m just worried that you might have a hard time dealing with the first elder after this altercation,” Rong Tianhai replied respectfully.

“Inflicting punishment on errant students is within my jurisdiction,” the second elder emphasized. “He shall bear twelve strikes of lightning!”

Rong Tianhai nodded and turned back to Li Mo, his deferential and respectful expression replaced by something colder and more sinister. The second elder had only intended on ten strikes of lightning as punishment, but Rong Tianhai had successfully extended it to twelve. Each strike was harsher than the last, and the twelfth was approximately equal in power to the first ten combined.

Senior Brother, looks like you’ll be in for some pain, hmm? Rong Tianhai smiled icily.

The next day, Yun Ruoyan woke up at the crack of dawn. She pushed a window open to look at the scenic surroundings: after a night fraught with wind and storm and thunder, the skies were a clear cerulean blue. She stretched and took a deep breath of the enervating air, happy and free from worry.

Even her negative emotions toward Li Mo last night had dissipated. After all, she was the one trying to trick him with her false appearance—was she supposed to be annoyed that Li Mo pretended to go along with it? She was to blame for not making her disguise more immaculate. Regardless, it didn’t seem to matter all that much that Li Mo had seen through the fake birthmark when she had already decided to trust him.

“A new scene, a new beginning!” Yun Ruoyan called out toward the sea of clouds before starting her dawn meditation.

On the second floor of the tower, the first elder was helping Li Mo treat his injuries.

“Twelve strikes… the second elder really didn’t hold back on you this time!” The first elder crushed a spiritual pill and smeared its remnants on Li Mo’s back. His jade-white skin had been charred and blackened by long, jagged stripes extending from neck to waist.

“I’ll exact my revenge sooner or later,” Li Mo gritted out, another trickle of blood coming from his mouth. If not for the fact that he still had some unfinished business here, Li Mo could easily have dodged the punishment.

The first elder sighed and asked, “Have you made any progress with your investigation?”

Li Mo shook his head as he put on his customary black robe.

“He’s still unwilling to divulge anything?”

“The old geezer’s too stubborn and skilled. It was only last month that I managed to fight him on an equal footing.” Li Mo inspected his hands. “But I’ve more or less learned his signature scattered palm attack. I’d been planning on heading to the Minghuang Mountain in the next few days, but it seems like I’ll have to postpone my visit.”

“A few more days won’t make a difference when you’ve already waited for so long,” the first elder advised, seeing Li Mo’s anxious expression.

“My father died in battle, and my mother’s whereabouts have been unknown ever since. Every day I go without finding my mother is another day of unease for me.”

Li Mo’s ink-black eyes turned an icy blue, and he looked toward the first elder with a faint sense of sorrow. “I’ve searched every nook and cranny of the Chenyuan continent, and I’ve never found a trace of my mother. Even if that old geezer’s unwilling to divulge anything, I suspect that my mother’s no longer on this continent. Most likely, she’s been transported to a parallel world.”

“We’re no more than mayflies in the countless worlds of the universe,” the first elder sighed. “Even this Chenyuan continent’s only a leaf in the wide expanse of time. Trying to search for a single person amidst these worlds is akin to searching for a needle in a haystack.”

“Even so, I have to continue looking. I believe I’ll be able to pry his mouth open, sooner or later!” Li Mo’s tone was resolute. “The person who took Mother away had to be the same person who killed my father. I will avenge this blood debt!”

At noon, it was still the same outer disciple, Mo Yuan, who came to bring food to Yun Ruoyan and Lin Qingchen. After they had their meal, the belltower in the plaza began to toll. Yun Ruoyan and Lin Qingchen headed to the front yard, where they found the other female students gathered, all waiting for Shui Yun to bring them to the great hall from yesterday.

Yun Ruoyan found that two new girls had appeared: Zhao Xu, from the Chen kingdom, and Miss Li, from the Mo kingdom. She’d seen the two girls only once, but they weren’t at the great hall yesterday. Where had they suddenly popped out from?