Li Meirong reassured the fox cub with a pat on his furry head and helplessly succumbed to her companions' demands. She brought Snowball, Feng Huang, and Chou back to the material plane with her.

The next two and a half months passed by rather uneventfully.

During that time, she settled into a casual routine which included the daily Bestiary Division's lessons and evening martial arts training sessions. As the tournament grew closer and closer, time was running short and almost less than a full moon's cycle was left to prepare for the approaching event. She found herself focusing more on the battle techniques Zhu Qingyue had previously taught her.

Since Li Meirong officially became an inner sect disciple, the servant duties which were once hers had now been transferred to another outer sect disciple. Her now emptied schedule provided her with ample time to hone her skills and focus on her studies.

With the passing of each day, her thoughts always reverted to a certain fair-haired man who hadn't returned since his disappearance from their rendezvous at her home.

At first, all she had felt for Zhu Qingyue was a furious rage, then, later on, she was filled with disappointment, shock, and disbelief brought about by Feng Huang's suggestion that he might be "a lover of men". Though ultimately, her emotions all culminated with the most worrying thought.

What if something happened to Zhu Qingyue?

Li Meirong suddenly realized that instead of letting him go as she intended, she found herself all the more enamoured with him.

She was second-guessing her own feelings and decisions yet again. Did Senior Zhu's absence really make her heart grow fonder?

With all her previous relationships, when she had decided that it was time to let go, she was always capable of officially discarding the old flames in her heart and never looking back, not even once.

"Out of sight and out of mind," as people said. Li Meirong would feel sad, shed a few tears, but in the end, she would continue with her life and look forward to something else to occupy her time with.

However, this wasn't the case now. Not this time.

She kept wondering if Zhu Qingyue's terminal disease had finally killed him. So what if he was homosexual? She still cared for the man. If he had died in some ditch somewhere out there, all alone, lost and forgotten...

Li Meirong shook her head. She'd rather not think about that.