Chapter 212: Chatterbox

The disciples trembled violently, foreheads pressed to the ground. Not one person dared to look up.

The system chimed happily.

[Ding~ Host, success! Bad elders got thoroughly beaten and their dignity stripped off to the ground, storyline corrected! Host, you’re the ultimate cheat code!]

Yun Shu exhaled slowly, letting her aura dissipate. Her expression softened slightly as she turned her gaze toward the distant lake.

No one will cage you this time, Yun yun.

With a final glance at the groaning elders, she melted back into the mist.

Meanwhile, Bai Yunxian sat by the water’s edge, the crowd around him swelling as cultivators jostled for position. Yet he remained calm, staring at the mirrored surface of the lake.

For a moment, his chest tightened.

A strange pulse in the air, like a storm briefly brushing past, sent shivers through him. He couldn’t explain it, but it felt like someone had just raised a sword on his behalf, far away.

He frowned, fingers brushing the surface of the lake.

Why… does it feel like I am being guarded?

His thoughts returned, unbidden, to Yun Shu. The person who had spoken to him each time with such gentle coaxing, as if afraid he would get lost like a child. No one had ever spoken to him like that.

’To treat me like that… only one person ever dared.’ His eyes darkened.

Could it really be Lord Yun? But… that’s impossible.

He shook his head, trying to banish the absurdity. Yet the feeling lingered, an invisible warmth against his heart, like the faint touch of sunlight after endless winter.

Unseen by him, deep in the forest, his protector was already moving heaven and earth to keep him free.

***

When Yun Shu returned, it was with the guise she had carefully prepared. A fluttering figure in a woman’s dress, light steps brushing the lakeside stones like the wings of a butterfly.

Her presence was like spring flowers breaking into bloom, seemingly harmless and fragile, like a chatterbox that was too simple to be taken seriously.

Bai Yunxian’s lashes lowered slightly as she approached, though he said nothing.

“Ah, Palace Lord!” she greeted brightly, hands folded behind her back as she leaned toward the lake. “The water looks especially pretty today, doesn’t it? Like a giant mirror. If you stare at it long enough, you might see your past life, haha!”

Her voice lilted with innocent cheer, though her eyes that were hidden beneath her long, beautiful lashes, studied him carefully.

Bai Yunxian did not respond, his expression unreadable. Yet his silence was not dismissive, merely habitual.

Yun Shu prattled on, her words flowing like a babbling brook.

She spoke of the colors of the lotus leaves, of the way the wind teased the surface of the lake, of a bird that had swooped down earlier to snatch a fish, only to fall into the water itself. She strung together these trivialities like a necklace of pebbles, clumsy but oddly endearing.

Bai Yunxian did not look at her, but he also did not tell her to leave. That, in itself, was telling that to him, noise was disturbance.

Yet for some reason, though her chatter was incessant, it did not carve at his nerves as other voices did. It merely… existed, a background hum that oddly softened the edges of his solitude.

’I’ll just take care of this flashy mouthed girl for the sake of Lord Yun, nothing else matters.’

The Bai Clan elders arrived soon after, robes swishing and eyes sharp. The crowd shifted, murmurs rippling like waves.

But the moment the elders’ gazes fell upon the figure beside Bai Yunxian, they faltered.

Yun Shu smiled brightly, tilting her head like a curious maiden.

Recognition struck them like lightning, their memories flashing back to the merciless beating earlier. They flinched in unison, faces paling as though they had glimpsed a demon in broad daylight.

Not one dared to look her in the eye.

They skirted sideways, making wide circles to avoid drawing near, their backs stiff, their gazes deliberately averted. Some even kept their heads bowed, refusing to speak lest they invite disaster upon themselves.

Bai Yunxian noticed. His brows furrowed faintly.

’Why… are the elders behaving like this?’

He had expected confrontation, perhaps even open hostility. But instead, their steps were hesitant, almost trembling. Their eyes flickered with a wariness that made no sense.

He glanced at the young woman standing beside him, her hands folded innocently as she bent to study the water lilies.

She appeared utterly harmless, a chatterbox too naïve to even notice the change in the atmosphere.

Yet the elders’ fear was clearly directed at her.

What happened?

Though he did not voice the question, he was silently relieved. At the very least, the elders would not act recklessly while she was beside him. And for that, oddly enough, he felt… grateful.

Yun Shu, meanwhile, was basking in the success of her disguise.

She clasped her hands dramatically against her chest, lowering her lashes as though heartbroken.

“Ah, Palace Lord,” she sighed, voice quivering ever so slightly. “You never listen to me. Am I really that boring? Sob sob~”

She dabbed at her eyes, squeezing out a pair of crocodile tears that clung like dew to her lashes.

Inside her mind, the system cackled.

[Hahaha! Host, you’re terrible at flirting! Your acting skills are like a cabbage pretending to be a jade beauty! Aiya, so pitiful, so fake, but so funny!]

Yun Shu twitched at the commentary, her expression stiff for a heartbeat before she smoothed it over.

Bai Yunxian, however, simply looked at her. Not mocking or sympathetic, just… staring.

For a brief instant, she thought she caught a flicker of something in his eyes, something warm that he quickly buried.

Her heart skipped.

But then he turned away, dismissing her tears without a word.

She pouted dramatically, stamping her foot. “Fine, don’t comfort me! See if I care!”

The system wheezed with laughter.

[Host, you look like a child throwing a tantrum! Ahahahaha, this is gold! If Bai Yunxian really falls for this, I’ll uninstall myself!]

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