Chapter 107: Do You Want Power?

Chapter 107: Chapter 107: Do You Want Power?

Five days had passed since the accident.

In that time, the incident had attracted considerable attention, and an investigation had been carried out to determine what had caused the truck to veer into Huo Yuning’s car. Witnesses had been questioned, the damaged vehicles had been examined, and the authorities had gathered whatever evidence they could find. Yet, despite their efforts, the conclusion remained frustratingly simple: the truck’s brake had malfunctioned, causing the driver to lose control of the vehicle.

There had been no clear evidence of foul play, and without anything more substantial to work with, the investigation had made little progress beyond that conclusion.

Xi Yunxui, however, wasn’t entirely satisfied.

It wasn’t that she expected every accident to conceal some elaborate conspiracy, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that something about that night had been wrong. The system had assigned her a mission to ensure Huo Yuning returned home safely, and the accident had occurred before she could complete it. Surely, there had to be a connection between the two.

After all, the system had never given her that particular mission without a reason.

At least, that was what she believed.

Unfortunately, when she had questioned the system about whether it had known the accident would happen, she had received no useful answer.

[The system’s mission assignments are generated according to established parameters.]

That had been the extent of its explanation.

Xi Yunxui had stared at the notification for a long time, waiting for something more, but the system had offered nothing else. When she tried asking whether the mission had been intended to protect Huo Yuning from the accident, it merely repeated its earlier response, leaving her with more questions than answers.

In the end, she had given up.

Arguing with the system was rarely productive, especially when it had decided to behave like an official who had mastered the art of answering questions without actually providing any information.

There was another matter that continued to bother her, too.

Her daily problem-solving tasks had been going well. Since the accident, she had made a point of resolving at least one problem each day, ensuring that her progress continued instead of allowing herself to become distracted by everything else happening around her.

The system had acknowledged her completed tasks as usual, and she had gradually grown accustomed to the routine.

However, the mission involving Huo Yuning remained unresolved.

There had been no notification confirming its success, nor had the system informed her that she had failed. The task simply remained without a clear conclusion, as though the events of that night had left it suspended in some strange state.

Xi Yunxui had tried asking about it several times, but the system had been no more helpful than before.

Consequently, she had decided to stop thinking about it for a while.

There were only so many unanswered questions one person could entertain before they began to affect her appetite, and Xi Yunxui had no intention of allowing mysterious system notifications to interfere with something as important as food.

Besides, she had more immediate concerns. Huo Yuning was recovering from the accident, the Huo residence had returned to its usual routine, and Xi Yunxui herself had escaped the incident with considerably fewer injuries than she might have expected. Her shoulder had ached for a while, but the pain had gradually subsided, leaving her more puzzled than relieved by how well she had recovered.

She still remembered the strange surge of spiritual energy inside the car, the faint shimmer that had appeared around her, and the peculiar sensation that something within her had reacted instinctively to Huo Yuning’s danger.

Whenever she tried to examine that memory, however, she found herself unable to make sense of it.

Her spiritual energy had behaved as though it possessed a will of its own, yet she couldn’t identify what had triggered the response or how she had managed to produce that protective barrier without consciously using a technique.

Jianshan might have been able to explain it, but she hadn’t asked him yet. For one thing, he had a habit of speaking in riddles whenever he knew something she didn’t. For another, she suspected that if she brought up the subject, he would immediately begin asking questions of his own.

She wasn’t in the mood to deal with that.

At present, Xi Yunxui had found herself a peaceful corner of the Huo residence’s garden, where she sat beneath the shade of a tree with her hands resting loosely in her lap.

The afternoon was pleasant, with a gentle breeze moving through the branches overhead. Sunlight filtered between the leaves, scattering patches of gold across the stone path, while butterflies drifted among the flowers and birds called to one another from the surrounding trees.

For once, Xi Yunxui wasn’t doing anything in particular.

She wasn’t cultivating, completing a system task, or investigating the strange properties of the mountain she had received as a reward. She wasn’t even thinking about what she might eat for dinner, which, considering her usual priorities, was perhaps the clearest indication that she had finally managed to relax.

She was simply sitting there, enjoying the rare opportunity to do absolutely nothing.

Or, at least, she had been.

Without warning, a figure materialized in front of her.

Xi Yunxui nearly jumped out of her skin.

She shot to her feet so quickly that the hem of her dress caught against the edge of the stone bench, and for one bewildered moment, she could only stare at the handsome young man standing before her.

Long black hair fell over his shoulders, framing a face that was almost unnaturally handsome. His black robes moved faintly in the breeze, while his crimson irises, set against black pupils, regarded her with the same calm composure she had come to associate with him.

Jianshan.

Xi Yunxui’s eyes widened.

"What are you doing here?!"

Her voice came out louder than she intended, and she immediately glanced around the garden, checking whether anyone had witnessed the sudden appearance of a strange young man beside her.

Fortunately, the nearby paths appeared empty.

She turned back to him, lowering her voice but doing little to conceal her alarm.

"Are you trying to give me a heart attack? What if someone sees you?"

Jianshan looked at her startled expression before a low chuckle escaped him.

"Relax."

"Relax?" Xi Yunxui repeated incredulously. "You just appeared out of nowhere!"

"And?"

"And you can’t simply appear in the middle of someone’s garden like that!"

"Why not?"

Xi Yunxui stared at him.

For a moment, she genuinely wondered whether thousands of years of existence had damaged his common sense.

Jianshan, apparently unconcerned by the judgment in her eyes, continued, "No one can see me unless I allow them to, with the exception of someone whose cultivation is sufficiently high to perceive my presence."

Xi Yunxui paused.

"Really?"

"Would I lie to you?"

She gave him a look.

Considering how little she knew about him, she wasn’t prepared to rule out the possibility.

Jianshan seemed to understand exactly what she was thinking, because his lips curved into a faint smile.

"You needn’t worry. As far as ordinary people are concerned, you are sitting here alone."

That finally put her mind at ease.

Xi Yunxui glanced around the garden once more before letting out a breath of relief. She had no desire to explain to the Huo family why she had suddenly begun talking to an invisible man, especially when her position in the household was already unusual enough without adding mysterious companions to the list.

Satisfied that nobody was nearby, she sat down again.

Jianshan followed her example, settling onto the stone bench beside her as though he had every right to be there.

For a while, neither of them spoke.

Xi Yunxui leaned back slightly, allowing the afternoon breeze to brush against her face. She had only just begun to enjoy the peaceful atmosphere again when she became aware of Jianshan’s gaze resting on her.

At first, she ignored it.

When the staring continued, however, she turned her head and found him studying her with an intensity that made her feel as though he were attempting to look straight through her.

Xi Yunxui raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

Jianshan didn’t answer immediately.

His gaze lingered on her face, moving over her features as though he were searching for something he had once known but could no longer remember. There was no mockery in his expression this time, nor the usual hint of amusement that accompanied his observations of her.

Instead, he looked strangely contemplative.

"I have been thinking about something," he finally said.

"That sounds dangerous."

His eyes shifted toward hers.

Xi Yunxui smiled innocently.

"What? You usually say things that make my life more complicated, so I think it’s a reasonable concern."

Rather than responding to her teasing, Jianshan continued to study her.

"I have a strange feeling whenever I am near you."

Xi Yunxui’s smile faded slightly.

"What kind of feeling?"

"Familiarity."

She blinked.

"Familiarity?"

He nodded, his expression growing more thoughtful.

"It’s difficult to explain. Whenever I look at you, I feel as though I have known you for a very long time. Not merely for a few years or even a few centuries, but for thousands of years, perhaps longer."

Xi Yunxui stared at him.

Then one of her eyebrows slowly rose.

"Thousands of years?"

"Yes."

She looked him up and down before asking, with genuine bewilderment, "Do I look that old to you?"

For the first time since he had begun speaking, Jianshan seemed momentarily caught off guard.

Xi Yunxui folded her arms.

"I’m twenty-four years old. Twenty-four. I haven’t even lived long enough to complain about my back hurting whenever the weather changes, and you’re already talking about knowing me for thousands of years."

Jianshan’s lips twitched.

"I didn’t say you were old."

"Your explanation certainly suggests that you have mistaken me for someone who has been wandering around since the beginning of time."

"I said the feeling was familiar. I did not say I understood it."

"Well, I hope you find an explanation soon, because I certainly don’t have one."

Although she spoke lightly, the remark left her thinking.

’Thousands of years? How could that possibly be true?’

Even if she considered the possibility of them having met in her previous life, the idea made no sense. Her previous life had been no different from an ordinary human existence, and she certainly hadn’t lived for thousands of years before transmigrating into this world.

Unless Jianshan was referring to someone else entirely, there was no reasonable explanation for his strange sense of familiarity.

And if he was referring to someone else, she had absolutely no idea who that person could be.

Could he have known someone who looked like me?

Xi Yunxui glanced at him again, but Jianshan had fallen silent.

He seemed to be lost in his own thoughts, his crimson eyes fixed on the distant flowers as though he were trying to retrieve a memory buried beneath countless years of existence.

For once, he didn’t press her for answers or make some cryptic remark that left her wondering whether he was deliberately teasing her.

He simply sat beside her, quiet and thoughtful.

Xi Yunxui decided not to question him further.

If he wanted to explain himself, he would do so when he was ready. Until then, she saw no reason to waste a perfectly pleasant afternoon trying to solve a mystery neither of them understood.

The garden gradually reclaimed its peaceful atmosphere.

A butterfly drifted past the bench, its delicate wings catching the sunlight as it settled briefly on a nearby flower. Birds chirped from the branches overhead, answering one another in a lively chorus, while the leaves swayed in the breeze and cast shifting shadows across the ground.

The scent of flowers lingered in the air, mingling with the fresh fragrance of grass and damp earth.

Xi Yunxui watched the butterfly for a while, allowing her thoughts to wander without settling on anything in particular.

Beside her, Jianshan remained silent.

There was something strangely comfortable about sharing the quiet with him. Despite his ancient origins, his inexplicable knowledge, and his tendency to make her question everything she thought she understood, his presence did not feel particularly oppressive.

He was simply there.

And for the moment, that was enough.

Several minutes passed before Jianshan finally spoke again.

"Xi Yunxui."

"Hmm?"

His voice was calm, almost casual, but something about its tone made her turn toward him.

He was no longer looking at the flowers or the trees. Instead, his crimson eyes were fixed directly on her, and the contemplative expression she had noticed earlier had disappeared.

In its place was a seriousness she had rarely seen from him.

"Do you want power?"

The question was so unexpected that Xi Yunxui forgot to answer.

She looked at him, wondering whether she had heard correctly.

"Power?"

Jianshan nodded.

"Yes. Power."

He didn’t elaborate, nor did he explain what had prompted the question. He simply waited, his gaze steady and his expression unreadable.

Yet Xi Yunxui could tell that he wasn’t asking out of idle curiosity.

There was a weight behind his words, something that transformed an otherwise simple question into a decision that might carry consequences far beyond this quiet afternoon in the garden.

Her earlier amusement faded.

Xi Yunxui studied his face, searching for some indication of what he meant, but Jianshan gave nothing away.

For the first time since he had appeared beside her, she felt that he was about to reveal something important.

And whatever it was, she suspected it would change more than just her cultivation.

She drew a quiet breath before answering.

"Why are you asking me that?"