Unsurprisingly, after the two heard Guang Zhenqiang’s suggestion, the two could not help but look at her in confusion. After all, how would one even come to such a conclusion in the first place?

Nevertheless, after realizing that they couldn’t fully trust the people they knew, Jian and Qin could not help but narrow their eyes, with Qin asking soon after, “Is there a specific reason as to why you want to move in with us?”

Seeing how they did not instantly accept her suggestion, Lady Guang did not get mad at all. In fact, she could not help but let out an inward sigh of relief as a light smile appeared on her face, recalling that the two would easily fall for such tricks back then while the three of them traveled. It was to the point that only an incident in the past where the two lost a substantial amount of items did they start to wise up.

“Well, let’s move the topic of me moving in aside for now,” Guang Zhenqiang said in response to Qin’s question, prompting Jian to take a seat beside his wife. Once he was seated, she took a deep breath and asked the two, “How long has it been since we’ve first met?”

“What’s with the sudden question?” Jian could not help but ask, to which Lady Guang replied, her tone slightly solemn, “Just answer the questions for now.”

“Well… if my memory serves me correctly, we first met each other around one and a half years ago, about six months after both Qin and I left our respective clans.” Seeing as the conversation wouldn’t continue if one of them didn’t reply, Jian went ahead and responded, scratching his head in the process.

Nodding in response to his words, Lady Guang said, “Indeed, us three first met each other around one and a half years ago. Now, let me ask you something related to that.”

“What happened during that time when we first met?” she asked soon after.

Surprisingly, Qin was the one to answer this time. “Er… I remember me and Jian being ambushed by a group of bandits just before we could enter the town in front of us.”

“And then I showed up to help you two, right?” Zhenqiang could not help but ask, to which the two nodded in response.

“Now, the next few words that’ll come out of my mouth will totally shock you, but hear me out,” she told them, taking in a deep breath before she continued, “What if I told you… I hired that group of bandits to ambush you?”

Bang!

At that moment, Jian could not help but stand up from his seat, stomping his feet as he gave off murderous intent not long after. Soon, his entire aura suffused throughout the living room, allowing the other two to know that Jian had now reached the 7th Stage of the Essence Gathering Realm.

In response to that, Lady Guang also stood up, allowing her aura to gradually spread throughout the room. Seeing this, Jian could not help but think such a move was useless as he knew that the person in front of her was at a lower cultivation realm. However, once their auras clashed, it was quickly apparent to him that the woman in front of her had some secrets she kept to herself.

Nevertheless, Jian would not relent, allowing his qi to act more wanton as he tried his best to fight back against the suffocating aura Guang Zhenqiang was exuding. While doing so, he snarled, “You… which clan tasked you to do this? The Huang clan? The Xu clan? Were you acting a spy for them all this time?”

Only when she heard that did Qin realize why Jian acted like that, making her look at Lady Guang, who the two of them considered as a good friend, with a gaze that felt like she was betrayed.

As for Lady Guang, who was nonchalantly pushing back the aura Jian gave off, she looked at Jian with a solemn expression before shaking her head, telling him, “No. I’ve never even come into contact with them back then. The very first time was when you invited those two, including me, to your house.”

“Lies!” Jian shouted, his fists trembling as he clenched them tightly. “I could understand if you did it under the name of the Xu clan. After all, I only escaped because I did not want to continue my arranged marriage with the Huo clan.”

“But you had to bring Qin into this…” he murmured, his anger gradually bubbling. “Unlike me, she couldn’t reject an arranged marriage just because she wanted to. She was even locked in their clan’s jail for a month without food, for fuck’s sake!”

“And now that she had escaped that shithole of a place thanks to her father’s sacrifice, here you are telling me… here you are telling us, two years in the future, that our carefree lives so far aren’t what we seemed they were?”

As he finished his sentence, the ferocious aura he exuded a while ago to combat Zhenqiang’s aura gradually waned, gaining a sullen feeling to it as the expression on his face slowly turned into that of defeat. In fact, Qin could not help but have tears brimming around her eyes when she heard her husband’s words.

After a couple minutes of silence, Jian retracted his aura, to which Guang Zhenqiang retracted hers as well. Looking at her with an expression of being forced to accept everything, he asked her once more, “Just tell us straight, Lady Guang. Which clan are you colluding with?”

“Man. This is why I can’t help but hate you sometimes, Jian. You come to conclusions too quickly,” Guang Zhenqiang said in response, prompting Jian to tilt his head in slight puzzlement, only for his eyes to widen as the former showed off a golden badge.

A badge that Jian and Qin recognized all too well.

“That’s…” Qin hurriedly wiped off her tears, wanting to get a better look at the badge. On the badge was an emblem of a mirror with a longsword piercing through it. To the two, those who had such badges could only be part of one organization, an organization that every person in their kingdom knew.

The Mirror Heart Sect!

“A badge from the Mirror Heart Sect…” Seeing the badge, Jian’s expression could not help but quickly change, prompting him to look at Lady Guang from another perspective as he asked her, “Why would a person from the kingdom’s top sect try to become friends with us two?”

“And this is why I also like you sometimes, Jian,” said Zhenqiang with a light chuckle, knowing very well that Zhoujian had scratched off the possibility of her colluding with either of the two clans. After all, no one from the Xu or Huang clan was part of the Mirror Heart Sect.

With a solemn expression, she then replied to Jian’s question, telling him, “As for the reason why…”

“To be honest, even I don’t know.”

“Huh?” Hearing that, Jian and Qin could not help but wonder if Lady Guang was messing with them or not. Though, once she continued her words, only then did they realize why she had become acquainted with them.

“Well, to be more exact, I don’t know. However… the Mirror Heart Saint does,” Guang Zhenqiang clarified, prompting expressions of understanding on the faces of the two. “According to her, the two of you are part of a large prophecy wherein success would mean the prosperity of the entire kingdom. Which part to be exact? No clue.”

Once they heard from Guang Zhenqiang that the Mirror Heart Saint deemed the two of them as important people, Jian and Qin could not help but look at each other with gazes of excitement, only for it to turn into confusion as they had no idea as to why they were chosen at all. After all, the Mirror Heart Saint could be considered as a being that stood at the peak of strength in the kingdom they were in.

A few seconds later, Qin could not help but ask Lady Guang, “Is there a possibility that the whole conspiracy with the Xu clan has been prophesied by the Mirror Heart Saint?”

“The Mirror Heart Saint’s mind is an enigma,” replied Lady Guang. “Perhaps she has, perhaps not.”

“All I know is that I was tasked to help you two in the dark,” she added, only to stick out her tongue as she continued, “But that’s boring, so I’d rather help you two out with you two knowing.”

“Anyways, is this enough proof that I’m not colluding with the two clans?” she asked soon after, to which Jian replied, “Can we at least get a reason why you decided to hire a group of bandits to ambush us?”

“Well…” Guang Zhenqiang scratched her cheeks as she let out an awkward chuckle. “Let’s just say I don’t wanna feel like I’m forcing you guys to become friends with me. I wanted the progression of our friendship to feel natural, if you get what I mean.”

“So, social anxiety. Got it,” Jian said soon after, making Qin let out a peal of laughter while Zhenqiang’s face turned red from seemingly being read so easily.

At first, Zhenqiang planned to refute Jian’s words as she still wanted to protect a shred of her pride at least. But in the end, she decided to let it be as it was the truth. As a light smile appeared on her face, she was about to return to her original topic, only for her to recall something important. “Ah, right! You two have to make sure that the secret of me being part of the Mirror Heart Sect doesn’t spread, okay?”

“I’d suggest you use a contract for that, Lady Guang,” Jian replied. “Although we trust you and you trust us, information like that could be easily pried out from our mouths, no?”

“Well, true,” Zhenqiang said in response, shrugging her shoulders as she then told them, “I guess we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.”

“For now, let’s move back to the part where I’m suggesting I move in with you two.” Lady Guang looked at the two with a solemn expression before letting out a long, drawn-out sigh. Then, with a light breath, she explained, “As I’m part of the Mirror Heart Sect, I have access to some skills that would allow me to peer through the true intentions of people. After all, the Mirror Heart Sect wouldn’t be called that if we didn’t have such a skill.”

“Naturally, I used the skill while Qin’s Third Uncle and your brother were at your house, including me,” she continued, looking at Jian before asking, “Wanna know what I discovered?”

Hearing that, Jian took a look at Qin, who lightly nodded as if she knew he wanted her permission. With that, he nodded as well as he replied, “Go ahead.”

“To cut a long story short, layers upon layers of lies and deceit,” Lady Guang replied. “In other words, they weren’t aiming to help you out in your quest to awaken Qin’s father at all, even though they said they would. They were really just there to relay to their clans as to how you two were faring. After all, even if you two left your respective clans, both of you are still prominent figures in your clan’s current generation.”

“And who’s to say you’re not fooling us as well?” Qin asked in response, prompting the other two to look at her with a hint of surprise. “What? Did I say something weird?”

“No, not at all. It’s just rare for you to say something like that,” said Lady Guang before retrieving a parchment from the insides of the robe she wore, grinning as she said soon after, “Anyways, this is my guarantee that I’m truly here to help you two.”

Once Qin took a look at the parchment Lady Guang brought out, she could not help but tilt her head to and fro, wondering what was so different with the parchment. As for Jian, once he took a look at the parchment, a solemn expression appeared on his face as he looked Zhenqiang in the eye before saying, “Alright. If you want to move in with us, then be our guest, Lady Guang.”

“Since we’ll be living together from now on, I don’t mind you two calling me Zhenqiang,” replied Lady Guang as she lightly smiled.

“Eh? So sudden? What’s so different with the parchment?” Naturally, Qin was still clueless as to what the parchment entailed. With that, Jian told her, “I’ll explain to you what the parchment does later.”

“For now, it seems our night life will become more interesting than before.”

“…Qin, would it be possible for you to build a small cabin beside your house?”

“Ah, sure! Do you want me to build it right now?”

“Although I appreciate the thought, let’s save it for later, dear.”

“…I was just joking, though…”