Chapter 4: Life Is Short—Why Not Give It a Try?

By the lakeside, a graceful figure in purple stood in lonely silence, gazing at the still surface of the water. Her eyes were like autumn waters, yet her mind had drifted far away.

“Miss Xia.”

Ji Huo approached step by step from a distance and called out to her.

Xia Ningshang trembled, then turned around. The delight that had appeared on her face instantly vanished, replaced by an expressionless gaze.

“What brings you here?”

Ji Huo kept his face stern. When he reached her, he clasped his hands and said solemnly, “There is something I wish to ask you about.”

Xia Ningshang turned her head toward the lake and asked softly, “What is it?”

Ji Huo drew a breath. His mind was filled with tangled thoughts. He had rehearsed this moment countless times on the way here, considering all the questions he wanted to ask. Yet the words that finally escaped his lips were:

“Have you ever tried to seduce me?”

The instant he said it, he regretted it and wanted nothing more than to slap himself.

Xia Ningshang wheeled around and fixed him with a cold stare. With a mocking smile, she said, “What? Does Young Master Ji think that when I was severely wounded in the Peach Blossom Forest and happened to meet you, it was all part of some brilliant plan of mine? That I deliberately approached you? Approached you, the son of the Flying Bear, the Lord of the Qiankun Cult?”

Ji Huo looked at her calmly, his voice low. “The Dragon Maiden of Great Xia is someone one must guard against.”

Xia Ningshang’s brows shot upward. She had already been in a foul mood, and now Ji Huo had poured oil straight onto the fire. Her voice turned icy.

“You have investigated me already? Very well. I am a princess of the Dragon Kingdom. When have I ever needed to resort to such a beauty trap?”

Ji Huo looked at her and refused to yield. “Then why have you stayed by my side all this time, constantly testing me?”

Xia Ningshang was half furious and half amused. “Yes! I realized later that your identity was extraordinary, so I tested you and tried to approach you. But did you not turn the tables and try to seduce me as well?”

Ji Huo immediately snapped, “When did I ever use a beauty trap on you? Do not slander me!”

“Many times!” Xia Ningshang shot back loudly. “Do you dare say you did not?”

Then she added in a quiet, eerie tone, “It was seduction, at any rate—not a beauty trap.”

“You!”

“You what?”

Ji Huo argued, “Was the matter of the Demon Dragon Spear not deliberately arranged by you? And when you later learned that I intended to deal with it, did you not deliberately follow me?”

“And was coming to the capital to retrieve the Demon Dragon Spear not part of your plan as well?”

Xia Ningshang sneered. “Young Master Ji, even if I did try to seduce you, even if I deliberately approached you, so what? Did you not deliberately set a trap for me on Mount Tianjue and lure me into it? And you still dare say you never tried to seduce me?”

The two glared furiously at each other, neither willing to give an inch.

Xia Ningshang continued, “I even suspect that you deliberately ate my pigeons these past few days!”

Ji Huo was stunned. Without thinking, he replied, “That really was not deliberate. I simply thought they tasted good.”

“…”

The fierce tension between them faltered at the same time. Though they were still glaring at each other, their anger had unknowingly begun to ebb away.

A few seconds later, they both looked aside—one at the sky, the other at the lake.

Silence descended once more.

The lake rippled gently.

A breeze from somewhere stirred the lush leaves, making them whisper and rustle.

Right and wrong, gratitude and resentment, truth and illusion, reality and falsehood—no one knew when it had begun, but everything had long since become hopelessly entangled.

Both of them breathed deeply, striving to calm themselves.

Suddenly, Ji Huo laughed. With complete openness, he said, “I admit that I entered the trap of my own accord, yet I also became trapped within it, unable to escape.”

Xia Ningshang’s pupils widened at once. She turned sharply to look at him, her eyes filled with disbelief. Deep within them, a glimmer of light began to flicker.

“What did you say?”

Ji Huo met her gaze calmly. His eyes were clear and pure, as though he had laid himself bare before her.

Slowly, he said, “I admit that I do not know when it began, but I have long since found myself thinking of you, Miss Xia.”

The wind passed by, gently stirring the hem of the young woman’s dress.

Xia Ningshang said nothing. She stared blankly at Ji Huo, her pupils dilated, her cheeks burning unbearably hot.

She did not want to admit that her heartbeat at that moment was probably more violent than the sound of the Dragon Kingdom’s strongest warrior pounding its thickest war drum.

Ji Huo gazed at the quiet girl before him. His eyes held a trace of gentleness and pain, along with tenderness he made no attempt to conceal.

“What do you mean by suddenly saying something so embarrassing?” Xia Ningshang asked seriously, looking straight into his eyes.

Ji Huo smiled candidly, already looking like a man who had thrown caution to the winds.

“I merely said what was in my heart. These past few days, I have hesitated, worried, and felt lost. In the end, I realized it would be better to say it outright. Whether the answer brings joy or sorrow, whether it is good or bad, there must be an answer in the end, must there not?”

Xia Ningshang’s breathing stopped for several seconds. Then, all at once, she smiled.

It was like a hundred thousand flowers blooming together, brightening heaven and earth in an instant.

“I must have gone mad.” The corners of Xia Ningshang’s eyes curved like crescent moons. She murmured, “I feel the same way about you.”

Ji Huo smiled as well. His smile was somewhat desolate, yet overflowing with joy.

Xia Ningshang stepped closer. A mist glimmered in her eyes, and her voice trembled, thick with emotion.

“I have fallen into your trap too. We are hopelessly entangled, and… I can no longer sever myself from you.”

Both of them did their utmost to restrain themselves. They knew that once everything was spoken aloud, the peaceful days of the past would vanish like smoke in the wind. They would also have to face a certain truth.

A truth neither of them wished to confront.

Neither spoke. They did not even share a simple embrace.

They merely stood face to face, smiling. And as they continued to smile, the mist in their eyes grew ever thicker.

At last, Ji Huo spoke.

“Miss Xia, are you willing to abandon everything in the Dragon Kingdom and come to Great Qi?”

Xia Ningshang had long anticipated that he would ask this. She smiled and shook her head, tears already beginning to fall from her eyes.

“Then are you willing to give up attacking Great Qi in the future?” Ji Huo asked with another smile.

Xia Ningshang shook her head again and replied with a smile, “I am the eldest princess of the Dragon Kingdom. Its people cannot do without me, and the Dragon Kingdom’s army will certainly march south. I have reasons that leave me no choice but to do this.”

Ji Huo gave a bleak smile, as though he had cast everything aside.

“In that case, there is no solution.”

Xia Ningshang gazed at him as well and asked, one word at a time, “Young Master Ji, are you willing to abandon everything in Great Qi and return to the Dragon Kingdom with me?”

Ji Huo smiled too. “That is impossible.”

Xia Ningshang began to laugh, though her voice trembled. “Then there truly is no solution.”

“Not necessarily,” Ji Huo teased with a smile. “You could always knock me unconscious and take me away. If you can bring me to the Dragon Kingdom, I will devote myself to helping you.”

Those had been Xia Ningshang’s own words a few days earlier. Yet when he repeated them now, they carried a strange significance.

Xia Ningshang did not smile. Her expression turned solemn as she seriously considered the idea.

The bleak smile that had remained fixed on Ji Huo’s face stiffened.

Wait—what did that expression of hers mean?

After several seconds, Xia Ningshang suddenly raised her head. Her eyes were resolute, like those of a young leopard watching its prey.

“Life is short. Why not give it a try?”

With that, she suddenly pounced at him. Her body transformed into a small black dragon, which slammed Ji Huo to the ground. Two sturdy dragon claws pinned his arms firmly in place.

Ji Huo was still dazed when the black dragon opened its jaws and lunged for his head.

Just as it was about to bite him, the black dragon vanished.

Soft, scarlet lips, moist and warm, pressed against his own.

Ji Huo’s pupils widened instantly. His mind short-circuited, and he completely forgot to struggle.