Lily Zhao gazed at Evan, her voice soft and gentle, words tender.
She looked at Evan, reached out her hand, hesitated for a moment, then finally placed her palm atop Evan's head, ruffling his hair.
"Right now, you're still just a kid."
Her eyebrows curved in a smile, and the look she gave Evan was full of indescribable doting affection.
Evan sat there, instinctively wanting to dodge, but for some reason, he didn’t move at all.
Feeling Lily Zhao’s palm on his head, Evan’s expression, rarely seen, showed a hint of embarrassment.
He sat there, looking at Lily Zhao before him; his steadfast dao heart, unwavering for so long, finally trembled slightly.
With Evan’s temperament, even he found it hard to keep up his usual calm and indifferent expression now—his eyes reddened a bit.
"Such a kid—are you going to cry?"
Lily Zhao withdrew her hand, deliberately putting on a cold, indifferent face and spoke icily: "I am Lily Zhao, Palace Master of Glazed Glass Palace. Today, I accept you as my disciple. Are you willing to enter my sect and become my disciple?"
"From now on, if anyone bullies you, use my name. If that’s not enough, tell me—anyone who bullies my disciple should be crippled; anyone who insults my disciple should die. That’s all there is to it."
That expression, that demeanor—it was exactly the same as when Evan first met Lily Zhao.
"Master."
Evan looked at Lily Zhao before him, his eyes a little red, fists clenched, heart surging with emotion.
Lily Zhao’s brows furrowed slightly, but her tone softened: "A real man shouldn’t always be crying. If you’re so weak, you’ll let down any girl you need to protect in the future."
"Don’t cry—save your tears for when your cultivation isn’t up to standard and your master is beating you. That’s when you can cry."
Every sentence Lily Zhao spoke changed her expression and demeanor several times.
That was the time Lily Zhao fought a tough opponent on the marriage arena, came back to the palace and coughed up blood. Evan, whose cultivation was shallow and heart unsteady then, anxiously burst into tears—and those were the words Lily Zhao said to him.
Evan still remembered: when he first arrived in the Immortal Martial Continent and was taken in by Glazed Glass Palace, every night when darkness fell, he’d toss and turn, unable to sleep. He’d always hide under his blanket, thinking of his mom, weakly crying alone.
He worried Lily Zhao would find out, so every time he cried, he did it quietly. The loneliness of coming to a new world raged in his heart, with nowhere to express it.
Until one night, worn out from crying under his blanket, Evan found it too stuffy. He lifted a corner to get some air.
As soon as he lifted the blanket, Evan saw Lily Zhao crouched by his bed, head tilted, eyes wide, watching him—he had no idea when she’d gotten there.
Lily Zhao blinked. In front of outsiders, she was the cold, aloof Palace Master of Glazed Glass Palace, but when alone with Evan, she always showed a bit of gentle emotion she couldn’t put into words.
Big eyes stared at little eyes.
Evan was stunned for a long time.
"Crying again—such a crybaby."
Lily Zhao spoke, but her voice carried little real reproach.
"I’m not, I just caught a cold."
Evan shook his head, a little flustered, like a child who’d done something wrong.
"Are you homesick?"
Lily Zhao was straightforward—she seemed to always see right through people’s thoughts.
"I kind of miss my mom."
After Evan spoke softly and fell silent, still uneasy inside...
...Lily Zhao crouched there, seeming just as conflicted.
"My home has always been Glazed Glass Palace since I was little. I don’t even know who my mom is, so I’m sorry—I can’t really understand how you feel."
She apologized, then thought for a moment: "If you really miss your mom..."
"Why don’t you call me ‘Mom’?"
"I can, for now, not be your master—just pretend to be your mom for a bit."
Lily Zhao looked completely serious.
In that moment, Evan was stunned for a long time. He’d thought it was just a joke.
The woman before him was his master—Lily Zhao, Palace Master of Glazed Glass Palace.
On the Immortal Martial Continent, she was a fairy-like figure who amazed countless people just by her name.
But tonight, she actually wanted to be his mom?
That night, Evan still couldn’t bring himself to say it.
Facing Lily Zhao’s earnest, stunning face and those pure, baby-like eyes, Evan’s mind was just blank.
It really was a bit unbelievable.
Even later, when Evan became the Nine Mysteries Immortal Lord, that moment from that night still resurfaced in his mind again and again.
Every frown and smile of Lily Zhao, every word she spoke, her aloof silhouette, her sudden turns of gentle emotion...
And that absurd but incredibly warm suggestion—each time, it shook Evan’s heart.
Now, looking at Lily Zhao before him, everything from those days in Glazed Glass Palace kept flashing through Evan’s mind, one after another.
That emotional impact left Evan sitting there, staring at Lily Zhao, dazed for a long time.
"You’re not planning to just keep staring at me forever, are you?"
After a while...
Lily Zhao broke the silence, speaking with a hint of a smile.
Evan snapped out of it, took a deep breath, steadied his emotions, and calmed his mind: "How did you know what my master said to me back then?"
"I am her—not the same version of her, but as a person, there are habits you just can’t change."
Lily Zhao propped her chin on her hand: "Besides, the things I’ve said—someone once said them to me, too."
"He’d buy me tasty food and fun things, pick the prettiest flowers from the Cloud Sea at the End of the World and put them in my hair."
"He’d praise my beauty, deal with anyone who bullied me, and wipe out the family of anyone who insulted me."
As Lily Zhao spoke, she smiled, seeming lost in memories, thinking of someone from many years ago.
Her gaze, however, remained fixed on Evan, never shifting for even a moment.
"Tell me—if you take on a disciple someday, and she’s beautiful and has profound cultivation, so few in the world could defeat her..."
"And one day, your disciple tells you she likes you, doesn’t want to just be your disciple—what would you do?"
Lily Zhao suddenly changed the topic, her gaze fixed on Evan.
That look, pure yet tinged with expectation and curiosity.
"I..."
Evan was startled by her gaze, his mind suddenly in a whirl.
He hesitated for a long time.
"I don’t know, either."
"Maybe, when it really happens, that’s when you’ll know the answer."
"Before it happens, no one knows what choice they’ll make."
Just as Evan was about to say something...
Sitting there, Lily Zhao suddenly let out a few sighs.