“Mm. I will make a trip over to the Divine Healers Sect over the next few days where I will bring Aunt Lan’s soul fragments that we’ve gathered. It will definitely help her recover much faster.” Lou Jun Yao said with a soft sigh. He then embraced the young lady and said reluctantly: “It’s getting late, get some rest!”

“Aren’t you going to leave tonight?” Qing Yu raised her head up to ask.

“I’ll leave after you have fallen asleep.” Lou Jun Yao said as he held her close to her chest, not allowing her to gaze at his face anymore. “Alright, be good and go to sleep now. I’ll keep watch here.”

Qing Yu’s eyes flashed briefly with a glint, like a certain emotion had suddenly passed highly fleetingly over her eyes. But she did not say anything, but just gripped the large hand holding hers tighter quietly.

She had always been a very light sleeper all along, where even the soft rustle of grass under the breeze would wake her. But after Lou Jun Yao started to come accompany her night after night here, she gradually started to sleep more deeply, almost feeling like she was able to fall asleep the moment she shut her eyes, strangely feeling so at ease that she was able to let down her guard.

That was because she knew that the man beside her would definitely protect her well, and that she had nothing to worry about at all.

But what she did not know was that everytime Lou Jun Yao said he would wait till she was asleep before he leaves, he always only left just before dawn broke, seeking to accompany her for a little while longer.

Time trickled by bit by bit, and the darkness of night was slowly starting to fade. Lou Jun Yao bent down and planted a light kiss on the young lady’s cheek, before he left the same way that he came, without a single sound.

——

It was an icy and bitterly cold wintry winter.

It was abnormally cold that year, with snow falling incessantly for an entire seven days and nights. Even the animals clad in thick hides and many layers of fur could not withstand the bitter chill, where a great number of them froze to death.

Upon a great pile of snow, the bodies of several wolves lay scattered over it, not moving in the slightest, and it looked like they were all dead. But beneath them, something seemed to be slowing stirring.

A small hand suddenly stuck out from under one of the wolves’ body, and the movement underneath grew stronger. Several of the wolves’ bodies were then pushed to the side and a tiny figure emerged, climbing out from underneath.

The figure looked to be a child that was merely about six or seven years of age, seemingly frail and weak. His whole body was trembling hard, as too long a period of time had passed since the wolves’ deaths, so his body was frozen stiff. As they were not able to give him anymore warmth, he could not stand the cold any longer and decided to climb out from under that snow pile.

He might possibly pass away silently under this unnatural weather phenomenon.

That was until, he heard a voice, that almost seemed like he might have just imagined it.