The Moonlight is Beautiful

Tonight was Yuanchun, and the Wanjian Sect was more lively than ever.

The distant sound of fireworks and firecrackers echoed outside, startling Gu Baiyi from her nightmare.

She abruptly opened her eyes, remnants of crimson still flickering within them.

Once again, she had dreamt of that sunset.

Rising slowly, she walked to the window and gazed outside, white birds took flight as fireworks burst into the sky.

Yuanchun was naturally a day worth celebrating, yet to her, the place and occasion made little difference.

She had been tormented by nightmares the entire night, leaving her still somewhat drowsy.

Just as she was about to return to sleep, she suddenly recalled that Wanjian Sect disciples had a tradition of gathering on Yuanchun.

Whether she attended or not hardly mattered.

But then she thought of that familiar figure from her past life, the woman who had unsheathed her sword without hesitation.

This time, she didn't want to be a burden to Qiu Sushuang, but merely observing should be fine.

So she put on her outer robe and pushed open the door.

—

Outside Yan Hui Pavilion stood a stone table.

It spanned ten feet in width and stretched dozens of feet long, flanked by a welcoming pine tree and several green plum blossoms, exuding an air of elegance.

Sitting at the far left was Dou Weiyi, idly cracking sunflower seeds. She lazily remarked, "Young Master Wei, you won a thousand jade spirit stones from me, yet you won't even treat us to a pot of fine Huadiao wine?"

Wei Zongqiu raised his cup with a slight smile. "Junior Sister Dou, you misunderstand me. The wine today is the renowned 'Eternal Drunkenness' from Chang'an, far more exquisite than the Huadiao of Zuiyue Tower."

Eternal Drunkenness?

Ji Rong's hand trembled slightly as she lifted her cup. That was a god-tier consumable in the game, granting a 10% damage boost. It was so rare that it was only obtainable from the merchant guild after logging in daily for an entire year.

Feeling as though she had just unearthed a treasure, she took a sip, and a rich, intoxicating fragrance spread through her senses.

Good wine!

The taste of real money was indeed pure and unforgettable.

Just as she was relishing the moment, her gaze inadvertently landed on Gu Baiyi, who was seated diagonally across from her.

The heroine didn't look well today. Her expression was unreadable, as if detached from the gathering.

Even when she occasionally glanced up, it was only to search for something in the distance.

"Hey, Gu Baiyi, you made me lose a thousand jade spirit stones yesterday, and now you're sitting here looking all mournful, what's with that face?"

Gu Baiyi snapped out of her thoughts and turned to Dou Weiyi, smiling faintly. "I truly feel ashamed for causing Senior Sister Dou such a loss..."

Ji Rong frowned slightly. Was the protagonist possessed? Since when was she this timid?

Then she heard Gu Baiyi continue, "It's a pity I lack Senior Sister Dou's talent in both literature and combat, ranking fourth in the sect examination."

Dou Weiyi was most proud of her skills, but finishing fourth had always been a sore spot. Hearing Gu Baiyi bring it up, her temper flared instantly.

She slammed the table and stood up, cursing, "You, an unknown stray, dare mock me? Do you even know your place?"

Ji Rong sighed. Here we go. The heroine hated being called a 'stray' more than anything, Dou Weiyi was practically asking for trouble.

"An unknown stray, huh…"

Sure enough, Gu Baiyi picked up her wine cup. Though her lips curled into a smile, they were pressed into a firm line.

That's the face of someone about to kill.

Dou Weiyi smirked. "Am I wrong? If Sect Master Mei hadn't picked you up, would you even be standing here, daring to challenge me?"

"Enough."

Ji Rong, seeing that Dou Weiyi was still obliviously digging her own grave, decided to intervene.

Her expression was indifferent as she coldly said, "Did we all gather here just to argue?"

In reality, she wanted to say: We're all NPCs in the same game, why make things harder for each other?

Dou Weiyi, irritated by Ji Rong's provocation, was about to retort when she suddenly noticed Ji Rong's hand lifting her wine cup.

She recalled the same hand pulling her up yesterday.

Swallowing back her sharp words, she surprisingly held her temper, merely huffing and returning to her meal.

Ji Rong was satisfied.

Good. This is how an NPC should behave.

Lifting her cup, she prepared to reward herself with another sip of Eternal Drunkenness, only to meet Gu Baiyi's gaze.

The heroine's eyes held something complicated, puzzlement, with a flicker of emotion beneath the surface.

Ji Rong's expression remained calm. She sipped her wine indifferently, thinking, You don't understand? Good. You're not supposed to.

—

After several rounds of drinking, the atmosphere grew lighthearted.

The usual grudges seemed to dissipate as idle chatter and nonsense filled the air.

The first to break character was Dou Weiyi. As she drank, her cheeks flushed red.

Staring at the now-empty cup, she suddenly unsheathed her sword and roared at Wei Zongqiu, "Annoying! You can't even serve enough wine! If you're a real man, fight me!"

Wei Zongqiu narrowed his eyes. He had wanted to deal with Dou Weiyi for a while. Without hesitation, he replied, "I'll gladly oblige."

With that, the two of them leapt into the air and vanished, presumably to settle their dispute elsewhere.

Next was Liu Ningxue. Normally a gentle and delicate girl, she now clung to Ji Rong's sleeve, teary-eyed. "Mother, after all these years, you finally came to see me. Ningxue missed you so much…"

Ji Rong, still sober, certainly wasn't drunk enough to believe she had a long-lost daughter at twenty.

But who wouldn't want to play along just a little?

Maintaining a composed expression, she patted Liu Ningxue's head. Unfortunately, she had to stay in character and couldn't bring herself to say, "There, there. Mommy loves you."

"Please don't leave me, Mother. Ningxue will be good. I'll always stay by your side…"

Her silky hair and tear-streaked face were truly pitiful.

Ji Rong's heart softened. She took out a silk handkerchief and gently wiped away her tears. Meanwhile, when no one was looking, she sneakily brushed her hand against her smooth cheek.

Ah, the softness of youth…

Yet her voice remained cool and detached. "Junior Sister, you've mistaken me for someone else."

Liu Ningxue sobbed even harder, choking out, "Liar! Just like back then! You're so beautiful, how could you not be my mother? Mother was the most beautiful!"

Zhuang Fei and Mo Yan fell into silence, watching Liu Ningxue with secondhand embarrassment. The immersion was too strong, they were already cringing on her behalf.

But Ji Rong saw it differently. A beauty like this was clearly just complimenting her in a roundabout way, praising her for being stunning, as if she were a celestial fairy.

Unfortunately, given her current persona, all she could do was furrowed her brows slightly and remain silent.

Even so, she hadn't expected...

[Beep! Gu Baiyi's favorability -20]

A loss of twenty points in one go!?

What the hell.

Ji Rong's expression turned cold. When she looked up, she found the heroine standing before her, sipping wine with a smile, eyes filled with amusement.

She loathed Gu Baiyi's sweet yet deceptive demeanor, that delicate white lotus act. With a calm tone, she asked, "Junior Sister Gu, what brings you here? Surely you're not drunk as well?"

To her surprise, Gu Baiyi actually smiled and softly said, "Yes, I'm drunk."

Ji Rong: "?"

She had never seen someone so brazen, claiming to be drunk while clearly sober.

Ji Rong's expression remained indifferent, her face practically screaming "Oh."

But then, a hint of dark red flickered in Gu Baiyi's eyes as she murmured in a husky voice, "I'm drunk, and I want Mother to keep me company."

Ji Rong: "..."

Aren't you supposed to be an orphan in the game? Where is this "mother" coming from?

She was starting to suspect this wine had an absurdly high alcohol content—perhaps even sixty percent, because the heroine was going from unhinged to outright deranged.

"You don't want to keep me company?"

Gu Baiyi gazed at Ji Rong with wounded eyes, her expression carrying a hint of melancholy.

Ji Rong had to admit, the heroine's features were breathtaking.

The moon's glow haloed her face, casting a soft light over her delicate brows and deep, rippling gaze. Even the tiny hint of crimson in her pupils couldn't obscure her beauty.

Her face was as clear as an autumn mountain, yet there was something bewitching about her, something otherworldly.

If one must die beneath a peony, even as a ghost, it would be a seductive fate.

At this moment, Ji Rong found herself momentarily ensnared by beauty. She thought to herself that, given how Gu Baiyi was acting, maybe she really was drunk.

So she answered lightly, "I don't mind."

Forget just chatting, just for this face alone, even if it meant something more, she'd still come out ahead.

Then, she heard a soft chuckle.

Before she could react, a pair of arms wrapped around her waist.

The scent of mint and strong liquor surrounded her, and strands of Gu Baiyi's dark hair floated in the wind, brushing against Ji Rong's face.

Liu Ningxue seemed to shrink into the background, becoming a mere speck. Only her faint sobbing from Yan Hui Pavilion lingered in the distance.

Ji Rong's mind turned to mush, ceasing all rational thought. If she wasn't mistaken—

She was flying.

Gu Baiyi was carrying her through the air, her entire body rigid as a board. She had only one thought in her head—

Help! It's too high! I do NOT want to soar into the sunset with you!

...

During the brief flight, Ji Rong let Gu Baiyi showcase her impeccable qinggong, but she herself remained as stiff as a stone statue.

She was terrified, terrified she'd become the first villain in history to fall to their death.

What a humiliating way to go.

Meanwhile, Ji Rong tried to convince herself that maybe Gu Baiyi hadn't actually mistaken her for her mother. Maybe she had said something that just sounded like "Mother."

Yes, she had probably meant something like, "I'm cold, come keep me warm."

Just as Ji Rong's mind spun with ridiculous scenarios, Gu Baiyi suddenly landed, her steps light as she touched down on a rooftop.

She released Ji Rong, watching as she straightened herself and stood tall, sword in hand, gazing at her indifferently.

Gu Baiyi met Ji Rong's eyes, the crimson in her pupils growing deeper, as though a lurking demon was ready to seize control of her.

The woman before her was so close, her sharp features illuminated by the moonlight, lips pressed into a thin line.

At that moment, countless thoughts surged through Gu Baiyi's mind. Things she wanted to do.

But in the end, she only raised her hand—

And pointed toward the moon floating amid the drifting clouds.

Her eyes, dark as the night itself, gleamed with something unreadable as she smiled and said, "Stay with me and watch the moon."

Ji Rong: "?"

...

The two of them sat on the hundred-foot-high Chonghua Tower of Wanjian Sect, robes brushing against the cold stone. They raised their cups, drinking in silence under the vast sky.

Gu Baiyi truly seemed to have mistaken Ji Rong for her mother, speaking to her in fragments throughout the night.

She talked about the lonely moon over the desert, about the desolation of the Nether City, where only sandstorms roamed.

Cup after cup, she spoke with a gentle smile, recounting tales of merchant caravans traversing the northern frontier, the bone-chilling wind carrying the distant jingle of camel bells.

Ji Rong, a little tipsy herself, listened in a daze. Even in her drunken state, she maintained her character's indifferent façade.

She had seen all these landscapes in the game.

After running across endless maps, surrounded only by pre-programmed NPCs, the solitude of late-night dungeon runs was endless.

Suddenly, the sharp sound of firecrackers exploding filled the air, cutting off Gu Baiyi's words.

Ji Rong looked up and saw a thousand lanterns rising into the sky, fireworks bursting into dazzling light, stars trembling in the heavens before falling back to the earth.

The spectacle was fleeting. The lanterns ascended higher and higher, only to vanish into the darkness.

The fireworks and the clamor faded, all the brilliance dissolving in the blink of an eye.

But the full moon remained, quietly watching over the world.

In the silence, Gu Baiyi raised her cup to the sky and softly murmured, "The moonlight is beautiful."

Ji Rong, her eyes half-lidded from intoxication, took a slow sip of wine. Gazing at the soft glow surrounding Gu Baiyi, she gave a slight nod.

It's truly beautiful.