The scene, for a moment, was still.
A peerless woman of exceptional grace.
A Young Master in white.
One was a Quasi-Immortal from the Otherworld, King Luo.
The other was the Immortal Domain Jun Family Divine Child, Jun Xiaoyao.
The atmosphere seemed to freeze at this moment.
"You deceived everyone," Luo Xiangling said, her voice trembling slightly.
She wasn't afraid, because Jun Xiaoyao couldn't threaten her at all.
Her voice trembled because of disbelief, because of the deception.
"That's right, I deceived everyone," Jun Xiaoyao said frankly.
"And you deceived me!"
Luo Xiangling's tone grew heavier, and the ice crystal sword in her hand advanced another half-inch, pressing against Jun Xiaoyao's heart.
"I didn't deceive you," Jun Xiaoyao said.
"You still say you didn't deceive me? It turns out you've always used me as a shield. I was so worried when you were injured in the Borderland that I even sent someone to give you a Dragon Vein for healing."
Luo Xiangling was truly heartbroken.
With a Heart-Nature that carried purity, she had never felt affection for anyone.
Yet, this first time, she encountered Jun Xiaoyao, this heart-wrenching bastard.
It was truly bad luck.
"If you consider it deception regarding my identity, then yes, that's correct."
"But... when I was with you, there was no pretense whatsoever."
"I drew paintings and wrote poems for you."
"I enjoyed playing chess with you and discussing the Dao."
"In my eyes, you weren't the high and mighty King Luo, but someone I could treat with genuine sincerity."
"A lovely woman."
Jun Xiaoyao's face didn't redden, nor did his heart pound.
His acting was truly lifelike.
Although his words were a bit cheesy, they were crucial for Jun Xiaoyao's subsequent plans.
So, there could be no mistakes.
"You, stop..." Luo Xiangling's heart was in turmoil upon hearing these words.
She recalled all the moments she had shared with Jun Xiaoyao.
"Do you know that if your identity were to be exposed, death would be the easiest thing for you?"
"You could have continued to hide and deceive," Luo Xiangling said, biting her red lips.
"Yes, I could have kept it hidden forever, but I didn't want to do that."
"I can deceive everyone, but I don't want to keep deceiving you," Jun Xiaoyao said.
"Then you will die," Luo Xiangling's eyes were slightly red.
"Then let me die. To die by King Luo's hand, it wouldn't be in vain," Jun Xiaoyao said calmly.
He looked into Luo Xiangling's luminous eyes.
He was gambling!
This was a high-stakes gamble!
If he won, he could establish a stable relationship with Luo Xiangling.
If he lost...
Sorry, Jun Xiaoyao wouldn't seek his own death.
He had already prepared his plans and contingencies.
It was simply impossible for him to die by Luo Xiangling's hand.
Jun Xiaoyao was not some eternal romantic or a lovesick fool.
With his Heart-Nature, it was even more impossible for him to die at a woman's hands.
"You..."
Seeing Jun Xiaoyao's unyielding demeanor, Luo Xiangling's jade hand clenched, trembling slightly.
She asked herself.
Even knowing that Jun Xiaoyao was the Immortal Domain Jun Family Divine Child.
Could she bring herself to do it?
Jun Xiaoyao could have kept it hidden from her all along.
But he was willing to open his Heart-Nature and tell her the truth.
The ice crystal sword was pointed at Jun Xiaoyao's chest, yet it lingered, unable to fall.
Jun Xiaoyao raised his hand and grasped the ice crystal sword.
"Xiangling, with your strength, killing me is but a single thought, isn't it?"
No matter how much of a Prodigy Jun Xiaoyao was.
The Supreme and Quasi-Immortal were insurmountable chasms.
Of course, this was assuming Jun Xiaoyao didn't use his other trump cards.
"You are forcing me!" Luo Xiangling's chest heaved.
Jun Xiaoyao was forcing her to make a choice.
To choose to kill him and expose him.
Or...
To help him hide, to become an accomplice.
After all, the closest relationship in this world is that of accomplices.
"How could I force you, Xiangling? I merely trust you," Jun Xiaoyao smiled gently and brightly.
Almost no woman could resist Jun Xiaoyao's smile.
Including Xuan Yue before, it was the same.
The ice crystal sword silently dissolved into specks of light.
Luo Xiangling turned around.
"Is this your biggest secret?"
"Of course," Jun Xiaoyao said.
In his heart, he let out a sigh of relief.
It seemed he had passed this hurdle.
He had gambled correctly.
"You also know that I have a secret of my own, don't you?" Luo Xiangling said with a faint sigh.
"I said I wouldn't force you to tell me, unless you are willing, then I can be a listener," Jun Xiaoyao said gently.
"What if I told you that I am not human?"
Luo Xiangling's single sentence caused the atmosphere to instantly quiet down.
Jun Xiaoyao's expression paused slightly.
To be honest, it was a bit unexpected.
But, it also seemed reasonable.
Because Jun Xiaoyao had sensed it before.
Luo Xiangling had a pure and clear Heart-Nature, sometimes even a bit naive.
So naive that she didn't possess the complex thoughts and cunning of humans.
It was precisely because of this that Jun Xiaoyao dared to take this gamble.
Seeing Jun Xiaoyao's silence, Luo Xiangling smiled, with a hint of bitterness.
However, the next moment, Jun Xiaoyao smiled faintly and said, "So what if you are, so what if you aren't? I only know that you are Xiangling, and that's enough."
Luo Xiangling's heart trembled once more.
Then, she gave a bitter laugh and said, "Perhaps, I don't have the right to expose you."
"Oh?" Jun Xiaoyao was surprised again.
"What if I told you that I also come from the Immortal Domain?"
Luo Xiangling's words made Jun Xiaoyao's expression stiffen.
"What, you don't believe me? I can tell you my story," Luo Xiangling sighed softly.
She was indeed not human.
She wasn't even any other living being.
Instead, she was a river.
A river named Xiang River.
Like any river found everywhere.
The Xiang River was just an ordinary river.
But one day.
A middle-aged man came to the riverbank, his entire body enveloped in Chaos Energy.
He sat cross-legged by the river, Cultivating and comprehending.
Returning to simplicity, verifying the Heavenly Dao of the world.
An ordinary Xiang River, because of the man's arrival, was no longer ordinary.
Every day, the sounds of the Great Dao resonated.
Heavenly Dao profound runes flickered, occasionally falling into the river.
Luo Xiangling also didn't know when she began to gain consciousness.
She saw the man by the river.
Day after day, year after year.
The Xiang River was no longer just an ordinary river.
It gained sentience and transformed into a River Spirit.
By the Luo River, the Xiang River had a Spirit.
Called, Luo Xiangling.
She regarded that middle-aged man as family, because he had given her life.
However, when Luo Xiangling condensed her form and stood before the man.
The man's expression was incredibly indifferent, like the Heavenly Dao itself.
"Between Heaven and Earth, there is order. You are originally an ordinary river, and you should remain an ordinary river."
"Because of my arrival, I have become involved in your Karma, so this Karma must be erased."
"The rules of the Heavenly Dao cannot be defied. Those who defy Heaven-Defying will surely be punished."
The man made his move, Chaos Qi overflowed, erasing Luo Xiangling's sentience.
But he couldn't have imagined.
The water of the Xiang River evaporated and ascended, turning into rain.
Within one drop of rain, a trace of Luo Xiangling's spiritual consciousness remained.
This raindrop drifted and drifted.
It drifted for an unknown period, for an unknown number of years and epochs.
It fell into a river.
That river was a branch of the Otherworld Nether River.
And the Nether River was precisely the mother river-like existence that spanned the Otherworld Ten Great States.
The Nether River Great State, where the War God Academy was located, was named after the Nether River.
After an immeasurably long period, Luo Xiangling reappeared.
And when she re-condensed her form, her power was no longer what it used to be.
Perhaps due to the power of the Nether River, she became a Quasi-Immortal revered by all quarters.
And without family or relatives, her best place to settle was the War God Academy in the Nether River Great State.
Since then, deep within the War God Academy, in the purple bamboo forest, there was an ancient, Supreme, and peerless King Luo.
This was Luo Xiangling's story.