The place where Qian Tong had been trapped back then wasn't too far from his current location. Yang Kai followed his memories onward, leaving the garden-like area behind. After passing through a corridor roughly a hundred zhang long, he arrived without trouble inside a palace.
This was the very place where Qian Tong had been trapped before. That stone stele stood right here.
Yang Kai had assumed that a place this deep and secluded would be deserted, but the moment he set foot inside the palace, he realized he was wrong.
Not only had someone been here — there was more than one.
Not far away, roughly seven or eight people stood grouped together, all staring intently in a certain direction. Every one of them radiated powerful auras — men and women, old and young. Among them, one young man stood out as particularly striking.
The young man had a face like polished jade, with crimson lips and white teeth. His exposed skin was so fair that women would envy it. At this moment he held a folding fan, his bearing impossibly elegant, looking for all the world like a young master from some great power taking his servants on a spring outing — his expression utterly carefree.
Compared to him, everyone else present seemed pale and unremarkable. Yang Kai's gaze was drawn involuntarily to him.
But one look was enough to make Yang Kai shrink his neck, wishing he had never set foot in this place!
The reason was simple — that young-master-like figure was none other than Xue Yue, the very person he had been avoiding like a venomous serpent.
How could she be here?! Yang Kai couldn't help but curse inwardly. Though his journey here had been full of twists and turns, things had overall gone smoothly enough. He never expected to run headlong into Xue Yue in a place like this!
What terrible luck! He had clearly shaken her off after entering the Imperial Garden, so how could they cross paths like this?!
If he had known Xue Yue was here, Yang Kai would never have come in, no matter what. Unfortunately, the Imperial Garden restricted the extension of his Divine Sense, making it impossible for him to scout the situation here in advance.
What he found even more curious was which path Xue Yue had taken to reach this place.
The instant he saw this woman, Yang Kai grabbed Biluo and tried to pull her away, desperate to leave immediately.
But Biluo didn't budge an inch. Instead, she stared fixedly in a certain direction, her face cycling through emotions — surprise, joy, and a hint of grievance all at once. She called out: "My lord!"
The moment the words left her lips, her slender figure swirled, enveloped in a waft of fragrant wind, and she rushed over in that direction.
Yang Kai was stunned. He turned to look and saw a woman dressed in red, styled as a young married woman, gazing back at him.
Their eyes locked, and both of them were slightly dazed.
That woman was stunningly alluring, born with a charm that could bewitch all living things and drive any man to madness. Her beautiful eyes sparkled like stars, soul-capturing and entrancing, capable of drawing in anyone's spirit and holding them there, unable to break free.
Her figure was graceful and curvaceous, her full bosom impossible to conceal beneath the crimson robes — which instead accentuated every perfect line. Her skin was fairer than frost or snow, and her fingers were like fresh spring scallions pulled from water.
The moment she saw Yang Kai, this enchanting woman seemed unable to believe her own eyes. Her delicate body trembled slightly.
"Qingluo?" Yang Kai murmured involuntarily.
Though he had known since meeting Biluo that Shan Qingluo had also come to the Imperial Garden, he had never imagined their reunion would be so dramatic. In any other place, Yang Kai would have been glad. But right now…
He turned to look the other way and found Xue Yue staring right at him, her beautiful eyes blazing with nameless fury and a hatred tangled with something more — love and loathing intertwined.
Yang Kai's mouth twitched. He knew that trying to leave now was out of the question. Setting aside the fact that Shan Qingluo was right here and he couldn't possibly walk away, there was also Xue Yue — she would certainly never allow him to leave peacefully.
He hadn't spent much time with this woman. But Yang Kai knew she had an overwhelming need for control — either he submitted to her, or she would destroy him.
Ever since he had left Rainwater Star without so much as a backward glance, their relationship had become adversarial rather than friendly.
The situation was delicate. It was unclear whether the experts on Shan Qingluo and Xue Yue's respective sides had some prior conflict, but before Yang Kai's arrival, the two groups had clearly been in a standoff. Shan Qingluo was standing right in front of the stone stele that harbored the Dao of Artifact Refining. It seemed she had been probing the mysteries hidden within.
"Heh heh…" Yang Kai gave an awkward laugh. "Third Young Master, the mountains and rivers bring us together — we meet again."
"Yes, we meet again." Xue Yue actually smiled at Yang Kai. Though she was dressed as a man, that smile contained boundless charm, every bit the equal of Shan Qingluo's allure. "So it seems — the one who followed me into the Imperial Garden earlier really was you?"
"If I said it wasn't, would you believe me?" Yang Kai shrugged.
"What do you think?" Xue Yue said, biting down lightly on her pearly teeth.
"Third Young Master, do you know this man?" An elder with three long wisps of beard standing beside Xue Yue eyed Yang Kai with suspicion and asked quietly.
"Mm, I do. An old friend." The corner of Xue Yue's mouth curled slightly, and she bit down on the last few words with deliberate weight — anyone could hear the displeasure directed at Yang Kai.
The elder nodded faintly, and when he looked at Yang Kai again, his gaze was filled with ill intent. A mere Return Void Realm Stage One cultivator — regardless of where he came from, anyone who dared offend the Third Young Master was guaranteed to die without a proper burial.