Dusk, at Green Luan Academy, was most tranquil.

The sunlight that already became extremely warm scattered across the mottled stone walls, the varying depths of white color painted a faint golden-yellow, this scene carrying quite the artistic aesthetic.

This place wasn’t far from the Self Defense Freshman Dormitory that rested on a cliff, but because there was only a piece of an old wall here in the weeds, no other buildings in the surroundings, few people came here. It was extremely peaceful.

Lin Xi looked at the side profile of Gao Yanan who stood next to him, remembering the first time he saw this tall and slender female student by Summer Spirit Lake… Regardless of whether it was back then or now, in his eyes, she was still just as beautiful as the day he first laid his eyes on her.

Previously, it was always Gao Yanan who took the initiative to seek him out, this time, he originally wanted to look for her, but never expected her to still be a step faster.

The two of them both had things they were preoccupied with, momentarily not saying anything. Because the surroundings were especially quiet, even the rustling sounds of footsteps became especially clear.

“I originally wanted to be the one to seek you out first.”

When he felt that he should still be a bit more proactive in this matter, Lin Xi was the first to speak. He looked at Gao Yanan and seriously said, “I never expected you to already seek me out.”

“This doesn’t really matter.”

Gao Yanan stopped. She looked at her own toes, saying, “What plans do you have in the future, do you plan on heading to the border army or some other place?”

“I haven’t decided yet.”

Lin Xi shook his head. He looked at Gao Yanan’s long and thin eyelashes, seriously saying, “Even though most people feel that Self Defense Department students definitely have to develop themselves in the border army, I really haven’t thought through whether I have to go to the border armies or not.”

“What about you?” While looking at the calm faced Gao Yanan, Lin Xi asked.

Gao Yanan’s eyelashes shook slightly, replying, “I will most likely go to Capital City.”

Lin Xi looked at her, asking another question. “Then where are you going for your practical cultivation this time?”

Gao Yanan raised her head slightly, looking at him and saying, “What about you?”

Their words sounded like they were trying to compete against each other, but neither of them had this intention.

Lin Xi seriously replied, “If everything goes as planned, I want to go back to East Port Town and serve as an enforcer under Judicial Sector. East Port Town and Deerwood Town both belong to Deereast City, only half a day’s journey apart.”

Gao Yanan also replied, “I might head to Jingfu City, help with the city guards’ military affairs.”

Lin Xi looked at Gao Yanan, saying, “Then it should be a really long time before we’ll see each other again.”

Gao Yanan nodded. “It should be a very long time before we’ll meet again.”

“Then, seeking me out today, was there anything in particular you wanted to say to me?” Lin Xi looked at Gao Yanan, taking a deep breath and asking.

Gao Yanan turned her head slightly, becoming momentarily silent.

Lin Xi looked at her pretty side profile, saying, “What I said that day was serious.”

Lin Xi didn’t say which words exactly he was referring to, but Gao Yanan seemed to know what Lin Xi was talking about. Her body became slightly rigid, her originally calm face suddenly displaying a bit of obscure emotions. The left hand that was near Lin Xi unconsciously shrunk into her sleeves, as if trying to hide.

“Since what you said was serious, then you can’t forget what you said before… even if it is in the border army, you have to be more careful, can’t offend too many people.”

After saying this extremely quickly, Gao Yanan directly turned around and left.

…

“Can’t forget what I said before?”

“Even if I am not in the border army, I need to be more careful, to not offend too many people… Isn’t this out of worry that by offending too many people, I’ll provoke a lot of trouble, making it hard for me to climb the ranks?”

Lin Xi stared blankly for a moment. Immediately afterwards, he reacted to the meaning behind the words Gao Yanan spoke of, becoming extremely happy.

These words, for this exceptionally conservative world, were already no different than a confession.

This was already enough for Lin Xi to be overjoyed.

After all, if it wasn’t because of the life and death experience they went through in Ten Fingers Ridge, not because they were going to part soon, even if Gao Yanan had favorable feelings towards him, with her reserved nature, she definitely wouldn’t show even a bit of her true feelings through these ambiguous words.

“Her hand subconsciously shrunk into her sleeves just now, was it because she was scared that I would hold her hand?”

“That means there’s now a game for passing her bottom line?”

He was already pleasantly surprised, but when he recalled the warmth from just now, watched Gao Yanan’s rear figure quickly disappear, he instead felt like things weren’t perfect.

“Return!”

He opened his mouth, quietly saying these two words, using the ability he hadn’t used yet today.

A fast and familiar change in scenery immediately flashed past his eyes.

“This…?!”

However, what immediately left him stunned was that it wasn’t like before, returning to ten minutes ago, instead just a bit ago. Gao Yanan’s body became a bit tense, her calm face suddenly producing some different emotions. The hand that was at her side subconsciously shrunk into her sleeves.

“Wait!”

Because this type of change was too shocking, and because he also knew that this perfect ‘chance’ was fleeting, he inadvertently shouted out.

Gao Yanan was stunned, the courage to speak the words she normally couldn’t speak waning. The feeling of having her thoughts suddenly cut short was extremely uncomfortable, this also momentarily threw her mind into chaos, not knowing what Lin Xi wanted to do.

At this moment, Lin Xi already firmly made his decision.

He knew that in the future, he would have more than enough time to test things out and get to the bottom of what exactly happened today, he also knew that it definitely had something to do with the change Principal Zhang said would take place at the initial stage Soul Expert breakthrough, but this matter at hand had to be taken care of immediately.

That was why he took a step forward with great resolution, while Gao Yanan took a step back, startled by his abnormal serious and resolute attitude, once again grabbing Gao Yanan’s hand.

When he grabbed her soft hand again, he immediately said to Gao Yanan in a ‘domineering’ manner, “You’re not allowed to hit me.”

Gao Yanan’s body went rigid once more.

“I know you feel that I am normally extremely daring. We might not meet again for a long time, so please just let me be daring for a bit.” Right at this time, Lin Xi instead looked at her, and then with a softer voice, seriously said this.

Gao Yanan only felt like this warm sunlight was blinding to the point of making her feel a bit dizzy.

Lin Xi, who made a tremendous breakthrough, only felt like the scene below his eyes was extremely perfect.

“Just now, I told you that what I said to you last time was serious. You also know that my memory has always been quite good, so I definitely won’t forget the things I’ve spoken. That is why in the future, regardless of whether I am in the border army or in a different place, I will definitely be a bit more careful.” He said while looking at Gao Yanan seriously.

Gao Yanan’s heart was jumping wildly like a little deer.

The other party actually said everything she wanted to say, moreover saying these things so seriously, in such an exaggerated manner. How was she even supposed to react?

Only after several dozen breaths of time, did this girl who normally didn’t take many things to heart, moreover exceptionally intelligent, realize she really couldn’t think of anything to say. At the same time, she also reacted, realizing that her hand had already been held by Lin Xi for several dozen breaths, always in his palm.

“I’m going.” She tried to retract her hand in a somewhat hurried manner, turning around to leave.

Lin Xi didn’t let go. Gao Yanan struggled about a while, her cascading beautiful hair moving a bit. As Lin Xi looked at her picturesque face, her lips that were tightly pursed like a red line, eyes that were a bit panicked and pure, he himself instead became a bit lacking in confidence and nervous. He chuckled in embarrassment, letting her go.

Even though he had seen far more things than his peers in this world, in that world he was familiar with, he didn’t have much experience with affection. Moreover, he already used up his ability today, so even he himself was a bit ‘scared’.

“Hey… don’t forget what I said.” When Gao Yanan was a dozen or so steps from him, only then did Lin Xi recover his normal calmness, loudly shouting at her rear figure.

Gao Yanan’s body froze momentarily. She didn’t turn around, with a bit of an unstable voice, she said, “I know…”

Lin Xi smiled, his smile extremely brilliant. Now that he could say what he wanted to say, moreover receiving this type of response from the other party, at the very least, he now had no more regrets before leaving.

“Should I leave behind a deeper impression?”

Suddenly, his brows furrowed slightly, and then he said to himself, “As an existence who has seen a world’s worth of things more than Liu Ziyu and his gang, before leaving, should I let those fellas see some romance those fellas still know absolutely nothing about?”

“What a pity, this world doesn’t have fireworks… However, fortunately, there is fire, and there are candles…”

He immediately made his decision. He shouted again towards Gao Yanan’s rear figure, “Yanan, tomorrow is the last day. Tomorrow night, stay inside your freshman dormitory, don’t leave. I’m going to release some flames for you to see!”

“Release some flames?”

Gao Yanan was given a fright, her face turning a bit pale. She turned around, nervously looking at Lin Xi from the distance, “Lin Xi, what do you want to do? You better not cause trouble!”

“Don’t worry, I won’t cause any trouble. All you need to do is remember to watch from your freshman dormitory tomorrow night.” Lin Xi made a gesture for her to relax, and then laughed.

“When have I ever made the teachers worry, cause trouble in the academy?” While looking at Gao Yanan’s suspicious expression, Lin Xi patted his own chest, once again giving his guarantee.

Gao Yanan didn’t doubt him anymore, turning around somewhat helplessly. As she continued to leave, she finally completely calmed down, starting to recall everything that just happened.

“You aren’t allowed to hit me.”

When she recalled how Lin Xi grabbed her hand just now, and then said this in such a ‘domineering’ manner, she instead couldn’t help but release a soft chuckle.

“If you dare act randomly again, see if I won’t hit you then…”

She released a light hmph inwardly, but her footsteps instead became a bit faster.

…

Lin Xi saw Gao Yanan off with his eyes.

He was going to leave the academy the day after tomorrow, but he still had many things he needed to do.

𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Meng Bai, Li Kaiyun and the others should have made their choices. He at least needed to know where they were going.

“Might as well just hold an evening bonfire party, right?”

When he thought about how he already decided to release some flames, he then laughed, muttering this to himself.

His hand held the small black scroll Luo Houyuan gave him within his sleeve. Starting to turn around, he headed towards his own Self Defense Freshman Dormitory.