Can We Please Postpone This?

"I was just visiting my sister."

"Sister?" Long Wen raised her brows.

"How long, just how long are you going to play innocent?"

Yu Xuelan's heart skipped, but maintained the same expression of a stone wall. She knew this conversation was bound to happen eventually, but she didn't expect it to happen right now after all this mess.

"How long are you going to pretend innocent for?" Long Wen repeated, but Yu Xuelan stayed silent, waiting for her to speak more.

"When I escaped the illusionary room created by the Woman Eater, I did a lot of thinking," Long Wen said, "You knew way too much."

Yu Xuelan remained silent.

"You knew all the techniques that I had kept hidden from everyone, even my father. The only person who knew I could use the noise nullification room was Yu Xuelan."

She gripped her fists as veins popped out of her temples. "The way you knew what I could do, the way you behave around others, the way you have no sense of danger, and the way you dismiss everything you don't like with a smile."

"Why?!" Long Wen fumed.

"Young Madam Long," Yu Xuelan called out in an attempt to calm her down.

Even though she knew this conversation was to be expected, dealing with this right after she just had that talk with Lin Changying made her just want to fake fainting to avoid it.

"Stop calling me that! Do you really want to create such a distance between us? Do you hate me that much? Do you really not want to be involved with me?"

The more Long Wen spoke, her throat gradually dried up as the syllables of her words began blurring together. Her voice became unsettled, as though she was attempting to hold her emotions back.

Yu Xuelan was not expecting those words to come out of her mouth but rather "You are possessed by a demon! You deserve to die!" or something like that.

"You really thought you would fool me. We've been friends before we even achieved insight. We've been friends since birth. I have never treated you wrong, so why?"

Luckily, Long Wen had already cast a noise nullification room around them so no one could hear their conversation.

It surprised Yu Xuelan that the discussion had sprung in this direction. If outsiders were to listen to this conversation without context, it would seem like Xuelan was a married man who had just played with this young girl's feelings.

"I never said I hated you," Yu Xuelan responded calmly with a smile.

Hate was too harsh of a word. Hate sings with a different cadence throughout our lifetime. When we first learn of it, it's foreign, formidable and hindering, almost like a curse word.

Long Wen was right. It was definitely a habit for Yu Xuelan to just smile at everything no matter what she was feeling. In the end, she hoped that the smile that she offered would soothe the atmosphere down.

"Yu Xuelan!" Long Wen exclaimed.

However, Yu Xuelan's upturned lips soon faded away and displayed an indescribable, vacuous expression. Somehow, she had no energy left to raise them up.

Long Wen continued, "Even though you avoided me in the past, I forgave you because you had your reasoning after all, but why do you still distant yourself away from me like we are strangers?"

Yu Xuelan was in utter confusion. She did not know what Long Wen was talking about but seeing her so angry, she must have done something wrong and her memory had just failed to remind her. But what? She forgave her?

"Long Wen," Yu Xuelan firmly called.

Long Wen ignored her call and continued, "Was our friendship that shallow to you?"

"I'm not saying you should forgive me, but," Yu Xuelan sighed, "Shouldn't you be asking for my forgiveness?"

Long Wen raised her brows, "What?"

"During the time when I had nowhere to go, and when everyone was hunting me down," Yu Xuelan said coldly. "When I was literally eating dirt for a living..."

Long Wen furrowed her brows upon hearing Yu Xuelan's words. Soon, her eyes widened slightly in disbelief, wondering how Xuelan could remember such a moment.

"Do you remember? Along with everyone else, you also," Yu Xuelan prompted.

She took a step forward with a bitter smile that almost pierced through Long Wen's strong demeanour.

"You tried to kill me."

Long Wen took a step back and lowered her eyes with her brows still furrowed.

"I still remember the feeling of Huo Yan, sinking through my stomach."

"Well, I don't really care about you trying to kill me since I really wanted to die during that time," Yu Xuelan explained and changed her cold expression to a tender smile, however, the supposedly warm smile still sent shivers down Long Wen's spine.

"And you too, had your reasons."

Long Wen was speechless and her usual stern manner was destroyed. No matter how hard she tried to control her facial expressions, only distress and confusion riddled her face.

"Long Wen, It would've been better if you just forgot about me," Yu Xuelan added. "After all, you expect too much from me. Just like everyone else."

Long Wen's eyes were now smeared with guilt but Yu Xuelan continued, "It would've been better if you and I stayed oblivious."

Long Wen remained quiet, unable to speak or retaliate any further.

"Thank you, though."

Those three unusual words made her crinkle her brow as she glanced up at Yu Xuelan.

"You treated me nicely during my time as Lin Yuhe. Those bowl of noodles really saved my life," Yu Xuelan laughed softly. "Let's not be so awkward."

Long Wen clenched her jaw, "You know nothing."

Yu Xuelan rubbed her temples and deeply sighed upon seeing her attempts to ease the atmosphere had sadly failed.

"You don't understand how people see you now."

Yu Xuelan sighed. "I could not care less about what people say about me. Demon? Demonic witch? Demon God? Murder? Whatever."

"No. It's not what you think."

Long Wen's voice slowly trailed off, "Both you and Yu Yang. Everything has changed."

Hearing Yu Yang's name once again made Yu Xuelan's heart thump. How come his name was appearing up so many times today?

"If Yu Yang finds out about you. What are you going to do?"

Many excuses ran through Yu Xuelan's head, but she chose to not speak. The breeze had gotten colder. Each slight brush upon her skin caused goosebumps to rise. However, even though the wind was cold, it could not cool down the boiling blood within Long Wen.

There was a gap of silence that filled the atmosphere until Long Wen asked once again, "Why don't you come back to the Tiger Palace with me?"

Yu Xuelan could no longer fake a smile in this situation and felt irritated, "Why do people-"

Before she could finish her answer, someone interrupted her, abruptly pulling her back.

Long Wen clenched her fists and narrowed her brows, muttering while gritting her teeth, "Wu Zhitian!"

Yu Xuelan looked back to confirm her words, and it was definitely the white-robed cultivator. Upon his presence, she instantly felt relaxed but also intrigued by how neither she nor Long Wen could sense him. Her relaxation soon transformed into guilt when she realized that she'd left him alone for too long.

"How did he break my room?" Long Wen mumbled in confusion.

"Trying to steal my disciple away, aren't you getting too bold?" Wu Zhitian commented, glaring straight into the green-robed cultivator's harsh eyes.

She clicked her tongue and turned her head away.

"Sorry, did you wait long?" Yu Xuelan asked guiltily.

The white-haired boy shook his head while still holding gently on Xuelan's arm.

Yu Xuelan cleared her throat, "Sorry, but I'll have to decline your offer, Young Madam Long."

Although Yu Xuelan was the one that rejected her offer, Long Wen glared at Wu Zhitian, who still clung onto Yu Xuelan's sleeves like he was some parasite. Wu Zhitian scoffed subtly and gazed down at Long Wen in a demeaning manner, which made her blood boil even more.

Yu Xuelan noticed Long Wen's face growing red, possibly even redder than when her arm was dyed in blood. She followed her glare and looked back, only to see Wu Zhitian looking extremely innocent once again.

She scratched her head in confusion and thought maybe she was simply overlooking things.

"We'll take our leave now," Yu Xuelan said.

She hurriedly dragged Wu Zhitian away from Long Wen since her instincts were telling her to separate the two as fast as possible, or something disastrous would happen.

"The person next to you," Long Wen said quietly, "Is dangerous."

Yu Xuelan glanced back, but her expression remained indifferent.

"I'm trying to save you for your own sake," Long Wen concluded and walked off.