A knock sounded at the door of Xie Jian’s room around dinner time. Due to Ye Ming’s high cultivation, Xie Jian had long ago known that someone was heading his way. Of course it could be none other than Bai Li. 

 

Actually, Ye Ming had high enough cultivation to not need to eat any more, but Bai Li was still not strong enough yet. Also, Ye Ming loved spending as much time as he could with Bai Li so he never turned down eating together. Sometimes, Bai Li would even cook for him. Thus, that’s how Bai Li continued to rope along Ye Ming. 

 

“It’s been said that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.” Su Heng commented with a light laugh. 

 

Xie Jian didn’t comment. He silently went over and opened the door. 

 

Bai Li was standing outside in the dark holding a tray of food. Because the night air was a little chilly, the young man’s white cheeks were flushed pink as he stepped into the room. He quickly set down the food in the middle of the room and gestured for Xie Jian to sit comfortably. 

 

Soon, the two of them were seated. Bai Li pointed to a big pot of boiled chicken. “I cooked your favorite chicken dish for you, and I also got your favorite side dishes today. I really am sorry, A’Ming. Please don’t be mad at me anymore. I get lonely when you don’t talk to me.” The beautiful young man put on an extremely aggrieved expression. 

 

“This Bai Li is really something else. Do you know where he was right before this?” Su Heng said. 

 

“Where?” Xie Jian replied in his mind. 

 

“Having tea and eating dessert.” Su Heng replied with a straight voice. And then after a beat, also said, “The dessert is Zhang Ke’s lips.”

 

Xie Jian’s expression stiffened, but Su Heng could feel the disgust rolling off of him. He held back a laugh. His Host was a little crazy, but good thing that Su Heng was already dead or else he felt like his Host would kill him at that moment. 

 

Xie Jian took two bites of the chicken and rice and then stopped eating. 

 

“What’s wrong?” Bai Li looked up at him inquisitively, noticing Xie Jian’s halted movements. 

 

“Done eating.” Xie Jian replied simply. 

 

“Host, you’re being too uptight. Bai Li will see right through you.” Su Heng said with a sigh. “Why don’t you talk about the secret realm? It should’ve been announced a few days ago. In order to reverse Ye Ming’s regret, we have to go there.”

 

Just as Bai Li was about to say something else, Xie Jian spoke up. “The secret realm has been discovered. We should go there.” 

 

Bai Li was surprised by Xie Jian’s words, but he also put down his food and started to speak seriously. “En, I had the same idea. It would be good for A’Ming and I to find some good treasures to help us advance and become stronger. Luckily, anyone can go as long as we register with the sect.” 

 

“Then we’ll sign up tomorrow and head out. The realm should open up in a few days.” Xie Jian said. He knew it would actually open up in just three days’ time. 

 

“Actually, let’s go with a few other disciples, okay? I think it would be safer to go in a group.” Bai Li said quietly. His eyes nervously flickered to Xie Jian, and he reached out as though to touch Xie Jian but hesitated with his hand lingering in the air. “A’Ming…” 

 

Xie Jian knew what was coming. 

 

“Actually, Zhang Ke invited me to go with a group of others… Don’t be mad, okay? I said I wouldn’t agree unless you came with us.” 

 

“Alright.” 

 

“A’Ming, I-- Huh?” Bai Li had obviously already prepared some words of persuasion, so hearing Ye Ming agree so easily was something he was not expecting. However, he quickly recovered from the surprise, and his chestnut eyes curved with happiness. “Thank you, A’Ming!” 

 

Bai Li moved to hug Xie Jian, and Xie Jian steeled himself to accept the hug with a dark expression. 

 

Su Heng lit an imaginary candle for Ye Ming’s clothes. 

 

The next day, Xie Jian got up early and went to register with the sect along with Bai Li. After registering, they ran into a familiar person. 

 

“Senior brother Zhang!” Bai Li called out with a bright smile. However, he seemed to notice his enthusiasm and a pink flush tinted his cheeks as he put down his waving hand. 

 

“Ye Ming is stupid to not have noticed Bai Li’s affectionate gestures towards Zhang Ke.” Su Heng commented. “He was probably blinded by Bai Li’s white moonlight setting.” 

 

There was a moment of silence, and then Su Heng swore he heard a short snort of laughter, but Xie Jian’s expression had not changed, so Su Heng thought he just imagined it. However, if he had looked hard enough, he would’ve seen the tiniest upward tilt of Xie Jian’s corner lip. 

 

“Junior brother Bai, junior brother Ye.” Zhang Ke called out to them respectfully. He looked handsome and kind, but there was a slight awkwardness when he faced Ye Ming. 

 

“Actually, this Zhang Ke is not too bad. He was also played by Bai Li.” Su Heng commented. “It was Bai Li that told him that he didn’t have feelings for Ye Ming and had already turned him down, but he was soft on Ye Ming because the man was his best friend. That’s why Zhang Ke feels awkward around Ye Ming because he is together with Bai Li but is keeping it a secret. It makes him feel like he is having an illicit affair.” 

 

“He should’ve told Ye Ming the truth.” Xie Jian replied to Su Heng. 

 

“Between your lover’s feelings and a potential love rival’s feelings, who would you value more?” Su Heng reasoned with a sigh. “He probably wanted to come clean eventually, but Bai Li told him to wait.” 

 

Xie Jian didn’t have a good expression on his face. 

 

When Zhang Ke saw this, he awkwardly cleared his throat and gave Xie Jian a smile. “I heard from Bai Li that you were willing to join our group. Thank you. You’re very talented, so it’s a relief to know we have another capable person in our team.”

 

Su Heng sighed once more. Such a handsome and righteous sort of man fell victim to a scum male. The world wasn’t fair. “Zhang Ke is telling the truth. He actually feels that Ye Ming is very talented but is just holding back because of Bai Li.”

 

“Foolish.” Xie Jian replied. 

 

“People do stupid things in the name of love.” Su Heng remarked. 

 

They spoke a few words to each other, deciding when to head out to the secret realm, and then parted ways. 

 

As Xie Jian separated from the others, the man headed to the entrance of the sect. “Where is the closest place to make contact with the XinYue sect?”

 

‘Ah…’ Su Heng understood that Xie Jian was also working on the latter part of Ye Ming’s regrets about his sect being destroyed. “Two villages over there is a town called Hechuang. The town’s teahouse owner is part of XinYue.” 

 

In fact, the influences of XinYue reached through many towns, cities, and governments of the secular world, and most importantly, their influence even extended to spies hidden within the biggest sects around the world. Of course, the latter was a secret common practice among big sects, so this was to be expected. Naturally, there had been spies placed in the Qing Jian sect, but Xie Jian was not privy to all their identities. Plus, he didn’t want to raise suspicions by mingling with them. 

 

Using Ye Ming’s memories, Xie Jian successfully used the sword-flying technique to reach just the outer part of Hechuang. He didn’t want to draw suspicion onto himself, so he had changed out of the Qing Jian sect robes into regular civilian clothes and a hooded cloak to obscure his face. 

 

Xie Jian entered the teahouse and was brought to a table. When he requested to meet with the owner, he was politely declined by the server. With a darkened expression, Xie Jian tossed a bag of money to the server who greedily stuffed it into his sleeve before promising to help ‘persuade’ the owner. 

 

“Aiya, I thought the Host was an upright man, but little did I think I would see the day that Host plays dirty like this. It seems like just yesterday that Host even refused to be dirtied by the immoral nature of a scum male, but now he even knows to throw money at his problems…” Su Heng sighed with a shake of his head. He didn’t think that his mischievous words would elicit a response from Xie Jian who seemed to ignore him quite often. 

 

However, Su Heng promptly heard the other man’s voice. 

 

“Roll for me.”