After persuading Lin Ruofu, both Yan Shouyi and Lin Zitong felt a great weight lifted from their hearts.
Lin Ruofu, in particular, was considerably more relaxed after receiving Yan Shouyi's assurances.
In good spirits, Lin Ruofu even wanted Yan Shouyi to stay the night.
However, Yan Shouyi, remembering the decisive battle scheduled for the next day, made an excuse and politely declined.
Seeing Yan Shouyi's sense of responsibility, Lin Ruofu felt even more at ease entrusting his daughter to him.
He then asked Lin Zitong to see Yan Shouyi off.
The two walked out of the tea room, spotting Ye Chengfu still waiting below.
"This is as far as I go," Yan Shouyi said. "You should get some rest early tonight, aren't you meeting Sect Leader Lu tomorrow?"
Lin Zitong looked at Yan Shouyi with a hint of melancholy, "My father invited you, why couldn't you stay just one night? Rushing off like this, did you have another appointment?"
Yan Shouyi found himself between a laugh and a cry, "What are you talking about!"
Lin Zitong leaned closer to Yan Shouyi's face, her eyes fixed intently on his.
She could easily tell that Yan Shouyi was lying.
But she simply pouted and said, "You can lie to me about anything, but you cannot lie to my feelings. I've waited for you for so long. If you betray me, I'll have nothing left."
"I won't," Yan Shouyi said earnestly, "I just have something important to attend to."
"Hmph, what is it that keeps you so busy all day," Lin Zitong said, then she smiled and reached out to adjust Yan Shouyi's clothes.
"Alright, you don't need to worry about me. I won't just sit idly by regarding my own life. I'll ask my master tomorrow. You focus on your own matters."
Though Lin Zitong occasionally displayed a bit of a temper, she was always rational when it came to important matters.
With her, Yan Shouyi felt no pressure at all.
So, Yan Shouyi nodded, hesitated, and then leaned in.
Lin Zitong had kissed him several times, and this time Yan Shouyi wanted to be more proactive.
But he lacked experience and didn't know where it would be appropriate to kiss.
Seeing his awkward, pouting expression, Lin Zitong couldn't help but laugh. She then cupped Yan Shouyi's head in her hands and gently pressed his head to her cheek for a peck.
Yan Shouyi, his face flushing red, said, "I'm sorry, I've never done this before... I'll practice more and do better next time!"
"You!" Lin Zitong exclaimed angrily, "Who are you going to practice with?"
"Ah? This..." Yan Shouyi's face turned red, and he stammered, unable to speak.
Lin Zitong loved seeing Yan Shouyi in such a flustered state.
It was as if teasing Yan Shouyi was her greatest joy.
"Alright, you can go now," she said, waving him off with a smile.
Yan Shouyi regained his composure and nodded.
They parted ways, Yan Shouyi walked down the steps and got into Ye Chengfu's car.
As soon as they were in the car, Ye Chengfu eagerly asked, "How did the marriage talks go?"
"Pretty much settled," Yan Shouyi replied with a smile.
"That's wonderful!" Ye Chengfu exclaimed. "This old man has watched the young lady grow up, and now that she has a good match like you, this old man can finally rest easy!"
The car drove back the way they came. Whether it was due to his mood or not, Yan Shouyi felt the road back was much wider than the road there.
In the blink of an eye, they returned to Shanghang Art School.
Ye Chengfu said, "Shouyi, although Shanghang Art School has beautiful scenery, working here is not a long-term plan. After marrying the young lady, what are your plans?"
Yan Shouyi replied, "This is just a temporary stop. I might leave next month, but I haven't thought about my plans after that."
Ye Chengfu nodded and said nothing more.
After bidding farewell to Ye Chengfu, Yan Shouyi ambled back to the dormitory.
In the dormitory, Long Feicheng was sleeping soundly, clutching a paper RPG.
Yan Shouyi quietly washed up and sat on his bed, turning on his small desk lamp.
He took out the compass he used for fortune-telling and cast a hexagram for himself.
In fact, Yan Shouyi couldn't fully calculate his own destiny.
However, he could at least perform a simple divination of good or bad fortune.
But the result of this divination was completely different from before.
On the compass, eight gates were carved: Xiu, Sheng, Shang, Du, Jing, Jing, Si, Kai.
The result Yan Shouyi obtained pointed directly to the "Du" gate.
The Du gate signified hiding oneself, concealing one's form, and avoiding disaster and seeking refuge. The result of this hexagram was to guide Yan Shouyi to seek advantage and avoid harm, and not to get involved in other matters.
Seeing this result, Yan Shouyi furrowed his brow and remained silent.
After a long while, he put away the compass, lay on the bed, tossing and turning until the early hours of dawn, when he finally fell into a deep sleep.
...
The next day.
"Brother Yan, look at my outfit, isn't it cool? Isn't it flashy?!"
"And this RPG of mine, although I haven't used it yet, its effect is definitely going to be great!"
"Later, you guys can handle the big bosses, and I'll take care of the little ghosts. I'll charge in with my assault rifle and mow them all down!"
It must be said that A Gong truly knew what it meant to keep up with the times.
In earlier times, paper effigies were lucky to be able to make horse-drawn carriages for travel.
But A Gong actually made a pile of modern firearms for Long Feicheng.
There were RPGs, assault rifles, and even paper grenades.
Long Feicheng, equipped with the "gear" made by A Gong, was fully armed, only his teeth weren't armed.
What's more, he had rushed to several funeral supply streets overnight and, from who knows where, managed to find a tattered Taoist robe.
So, from the moment he woke up, Long Feicheng was wearing a Taoist robe, holding an assault rifle, carrying an RPG on his back, and a bunch of grenades strapped to his waist.
He looked like a cyberpunk Taoist.
However, setting aside everything else, the Taoist robe that Long Feicheng found was truly not simple.
The robe was yellow, with an eight trigrams diagram printed on the back. This was an authentic Taoist robe of the Maoshan sect, not a fake.
This robe naturally had a suppressing effect on ghosts. Ordinary ghosts encountering this robe would likely be so scorched that they would cry out in pain.
It was unknown how Long Feicheng got his hands on this Taoist robe.
Long Feicheng struck a pose in front of the mirror for a while. Seeing that Yan Shouyi still looked a bit dazed, he asked, "Brother Yan, why do you look like you haven't rested well? What time did you get back yesterday? Didn't you get enough sleep?"
Yan Shouyi waved his hand and walked to the balcony, splashing cold water on his face.
Only then did he feel a bit more refreshed.
He said, "Hurry up and pack your things. We're going to meet everyone at Old Jin's place."
"You got it!"
The two packed their belongings, gathered all their gear, and left Shanghang Art School laden with bags.
Meanwhile, Lin Zitong had also woken up early.
After offering incense, praying, and performing a ritual cleansing, she finally put on the Taoist robe of the Lüshan sect.
Escorted by Ye Chengfu, she arrived at Wenru Fang in the Sanfang Qixiang area, outside the mountain gate of the Lüshan sect.
The young Taoist acolytes of the Lüshan sect naturally recognized the direct disciple of the sect leader.
Thus, she entered without any hindrance.
"The sect is usually lively, why is it so quiet today?" Lin Zitong asked, confused.
The young acolyte replied, "Senior Sister, many disciples of the sect have been taken out for training by the Great Elder."
"I see," Lin Zitong asked again, "Where is the Sect Leader Master? Is he reading in the library?"
"The Sect Leader has been in seclusion for many days, in the Ink Bamboo Forest in the backyard."
"Seclusion?" Lin Zitong was taken aback, "Then I've come at the wrong time?"
However, the young acolyte replied, "Before going into seclusion, the Sect Leader specifically instructed that if Senior Sister came looking for him, she should wait outside the Ink Bamboo Forest, and the Sect Leader would emerge from seclusion as the sun set."
Lin Zitong frowned. Did Master know in advance that I would come looking for him today? Could there be other secrets regarding my affairs?
With a head full of questions, Lin Zitong went to the area outside the Ink Bamboo Forest.
The Ink Bamboo Forest was where Lü Jingsheng practiced seclusion. To isolate himself from worldly influences, outsiders were not allowed in, and even mobile phones had no signal here.
Lin Zitong could only sit in the tea pavilion outside the Ink Bamboo Forest, bored, brewing tea and studying ancient texts of the Lüshan sect.
She passed the time like this.
...