Volume 3, Chapter 437 – Woman, You Lit This Fire First

Chi Muxue stared at her cheek for a long while, and then a look of relief spread across her face.

“Since Xiyan already has a plan in mind, then I can rest easy.”

Chi Xiyan fell silent for a moment, then asked, “Aren’t you going to ask me what method I intend to use?”

Chi Muxue shook her head. “No need. I trust you.”

“I know Xiyan would not casually agree to something she has no confidence in.”

Chi Xiyan opened her mouth slightly.

In truth, if one were to weigh the gains and losses rationally, having Chi Muxue marry Song Shixuan would tie together the influence of both the Nanhe Song Clan and the Lingxiao Sword Sect, a deal that was guaranteed to be profitable.

But Chi Xiyan could not accept such an outcome.

The moment she thought of that beast looking at Chi Muxue with such a disgusting gaze, an indescribable rage would rise endlessly within her.

“Muxue.” Chi Xiyan said in a low voice. “I cannot stand by and watch you give yourself to that beast for my sake.”

She clenched her fist.

“So no matter what the cost, I will stop that beast.”

“In the duel three years from now, I will win, without question.”

Chi Muxue looked deeply at her.

Then she stepped forward and leaned into her embrace.

Chi Xiyan lowered her head, looking in surprise at the girl in her arms.

Over these past days, the girl had often made intimate gestures.

But this time was different from before.

The girl in her arms buried her head helplessly against her chest.

A pair of arms wrapped around Chi Xiyan’s waist.

Chi Xiyan raised her hands, at a loss for what to do.

The girl’s voice trembled softly.

“Thank you, Xiyan.”

“I was so scared. I was truly so scared…”

“I thought the nightmare I feared most was about to become real…”

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“Having you by my side, it is truly wonderful…”

Chi Xiyan felt somewhat dazed.

As the eldest daughter of the Chi family, one who possessed a sword dao sacred body, would she truly show such a helpless and fragile side?

Her raised hands slowly lowered, gently wrapping around the girl’s back.

“It is fine now. We will be fine.” Chi Xiyan patted her back softly, comforting her.

“No matter how powerful Song Shixuan’s background is, in the duel three years from now, he can only face me alone.”

“He is merely a cultivator of the same generation as us, not some old monster like Qu Qingtang.”

“So he is not unbeatable.”

“Mm…” Chi Muxue kept her head buried, rubbing it against Chi Xiyan’s chest a few times before reluctantly letting go.

She pursed her lips.

“It is just… such a fine hairpin ceremony, ruined by that scoundrel.”

She muttered, “And here I spent so long preparing for it.”

Chi Xiyan heard her mutter.

Preparing, she said? Could she mean those absurd procedures during the hairpin ceremony?

That exquisite phoenix hairpin, and those two sets of custom made wedding robes.

This girl, it was not a spur of the moment idea, but something planned long in advance?

Could it be that this girl… could it really be as I thought?

Thinking of this, Chi Xiyan felt her heartbeat quicken again, uncontrollably.

Earlier at the hairpin ceremony, swept up by the mood around her, she had not had time to consider the many strange things about the ceremony, and had let her blood rush to her head and simply gone along with Chi Muxue.

She had crossed a line she should not have, straying from all propriety.

Of course, Chi Xiyan knew well enough herself. The reason she had gone along with that atmosphere, cooperating with that absurd hairpin ceremony, was also because, deep down, that was what she had wanted to do all along.

She only needed an opening, a reason to convince herself, so she could set aside those shackles in her heart for a moment.

Yet she had never expected all of it to be interrupted by Song Shixuan suddenly appearing.

Now, Song Shixuan was gone, and the hairpin ceremony had ended. There was no one else around to watch.

At this moment, Chi Xiyan found herself recalling what had happened before, uncontrollably.

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The feelings that Song Shixuan had extinguished rose up once more.

Before, it had been the mood that swept her along, letting her cross that line as if carried by the current.

So what about now?

Without that atmosphere, how should she view this hard to suppress feeling in her heart now?

Should she simply treat it as though nothing had happened. Or perhaps, she could allow herself to be a little bolder.

Chi Xiyan narrowed her eyes, looking at the girl before her.

Chi Muxue said nothing, only silently gazing at Chi Xiyan.

In those watery eyes, the feeling contained within them was like a burning spark.

Within Chi Xiyan’s suppressed emotions, it lit a flame that would not easily go out.

No, that was not right.

That flame had already been lit long ago.

It had been burning in her heart for years.

So, should she ask?

Right now, right here.

Ask clearly what was in her heart.

Ask clearly the deeper meaning behind that absurd hairpin ceremony.

She wanted to know whether the girl’s feelings were the same as her own, defying human bonds and moral order, straying from all propriety.

Chi Xiyan drew in a deep breath.

She felt as though she had gone mad.

Not only had she gone mad herself, she was even hoping to drag the girl she loved into madness alongside her.

Heh… even if she had gone mad, so what.

If she did not ask, how could she ever be certain whether Muxue’s actions before were her own wishful misunderstanding, or a hand willingly extended toward her.

The hesitation and second guessing from before had cost her the courage to take that step forward.

Ask, then!

If she did not even have the courage to bear the consequences, how could she ever question her own heart and see through to her true feelings.

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“Muxue. I have a question I want to ask you.”

Chi Xiyan raised her head.

Now that she had made up her mind, she would not retreat again.

“I want to know, at the hairpin ceremony earlier, were you…”

Before Chi Xiyan could finish her question, the expression on the girl’s face suddenly changed.

She rushed forward in a panic, raising a hand to cover Chi Xiyan’s mouth, pushing all of Chi Xiyan’s words back inside.

Chi Xiyan did not understand, and questioned her with her eyes.

The girl did not raise her head, only pressing herself against her with her head lowered.

But from the way her body trembled without pause, one could tell how unsettled her heart was.

“Xiyan…”

“Can you not ask now?”

Chi Xiyan’s gaze drifted downward, and she saw the girl’s flushed profile, and her chest rising and falling without pause.

She thought she already had her answer.

The flame in her heart, as though someone had poured oil over it.

That hard to restrain warmth hidden in her chest made her feel parched, her mouth and throat dry.

But she did not understand why the girl in front of her would react this way.

Clearly, this fire had been lit by her first.

Clearly, she had been the one to reach out to her first.

Chi Xiyan very much wanted to ask her directly why.

“Muxue…” Chi Xiyan moved the girl’s hand away. “That hairpin, I have not yet had the chance to put it on you.”

As she spoke, Chi Xiyan took out the flower hairpin and held it up before Chi Muxue.

Chi Muxue looked at the flower hairpin, hesitation in her eyes.

She bit her lip lightly, and a trace of resolve gathered in her eyes.

“I am sorry, Xiyan.”

“…Now is not the time.”

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Chi Xiyan looked at her expression, and felt as though a needle had pricked her heart.

Why?!

She clearly felt the same way!

Why?

“Is it because of Song Shixuan?” Chi Xiyan lowered her voice. “Or because of the Lingxiao Sword Sect?”

“It is my own problem.” Chi Muxue said with her head lowered.

“We still have many problems left unresolved, Song Shixuan is only one of them.”

“Xiyan, we cannot be too hasty.”

Chi Xiyan understood now.

She had concerns, concerns brought about by the matter with Song Shixuan.

Clearly, she had been the one to provoke this feeling first, teasing Chi Xiyan for so many years.

But now, this girl was the one retreating.

She had lit the fire herself, and now wanted to run off as though nothing had happened?

Chi Xiyan said hoarsely, “Chi Muxue, when did you become even more timid than me?”

“Eh?” A look of shock crossed the girl’s face.

Chi Xiyan’s sudden shift in tone made the girl instinctively step back half a pace.

Like a startled little rabbit.

But things had already progressed this far, and Chi Xiyan was not about to let her slip away now.

Just as Chi Muxue was stepping back, Chi Xiyan reached out and pulled her back in.

Her mouth was sealed shut, a scorching fragrance rushing toward her, and the startled rabbit’s eyes flew wide open.

She raised her hands and struck out with force, landing blows on the person before her, though they carried no strength at all.

Chi Xiyan wrapped one arm around her waist, and used the other hand to hold the back of her neck, giving her not the slightest chance to break free.

The eldest daughter of the Chi family had always been domineering.

When it came to a rabbit that had delivered itself to her very lips, there was no reason to ever let go.