I Must Take Good Care of You

Then she saw him open a golden gu dish, and inside was a single gu worm.

Azure Flame's eyes flew wide open—she'd seen this before!

It was the Immortal Love Hex!

And not just any Immortal Love Hex—this one had ascended!

This thing feeds on feelings. Once its host falls in love, it’s like being gnawed by a thousand bugs—pure agony.

If you pull it out, the host loses every memory of love they've ever had!

Wait, was he planning to plant this Immortal Love Hex inside Lily Bai or Sean Shaw?

No way she could let that happen!

Azure Flame stared wide-eyed as he carefully lifted the gu worm, ready to put it into a bamboo vial.

She had to stop him!

What should she do?

Suddenly, Azure Flame crashed into a gu dish hanging on the wall. The dish clanged against the wall, making a loud noise.

Soren Lann frowned and looked over. In a flash, Azure Flame teleported, snatched up the Immortal Love Hex, and swallowed it whole.

Soren Lann realized what happened and burst into anger: "How dare you! Spit it out!"

Azure Flame made a retching motion, then fluttered her wings to say, Nope, not coming out.

That was a gu worm he'd raised for a thousand years!

Soren Lann, furious, raised his hand to kill her.

But that little swallow, who he could crush with a finger, stared right back at him, bold and unyielding, as if to say, 'You’re the one in the wrong—not me.'

Soren Lann’s killing finger stalled. After a while, he crouched down and asked, "Do you know what that was?"

The Golden Swallow nodded, pointed her wing at him, and shook her head.

"You mean, I was wrong? I shouldn’t have done this?"

Azure Flame nodded.

"But you don’t understand…" Soren Lann’s face, usually so calm, now looked a little lost. "You don’t know what it’s like to raise a flower yourself, only to have someone else pick it… You don’t know how much it hurts inside…"

Azure Flame really didn’t understand.

But her main problem wasn’t understanding—it was that the Immortal Love Hex she’d just swallowed was still alive inside her.

It kept trying to burrow into her body.

Azure Flame squirmed, itching all over from the bug’s antics.

Soren Lann watched her, surprised, then suddenly burst out laughing—a dazzling smile, bright as sunlight after snow.

For a moment, Azure Flame forgot all about the bug and just stared at him.

That smile etched itself into her memory, like a brand burned deep in her eyes.

"What’s wrong?" Soren Lann noticed something was off, cast a spell to check, and found the Immortal Love Hex had burrowed into her body.

"Good thing you’re just a Golden Swallow who doesn’t even know what love is," Soren Lann muttered, then used magic to pull the gu worm out of her.

Azure Flame glared at the gu worm, then tried to peck it again.

This time, she wasn’t trying to eat it—she wanted to peck it to death.

Soren Lann sighed, pinched the Immortal Love Hex between his fingers, and crushed it.

"You’re right, little one," Soren Lann said, picking her up. "I shouldn’t be so selfish. I should let her stay with the man she loves…"

Azure Flame nodded.

Finally, the kid had figured it out…

"Little Swallow, will you leave me too one day?" Soren Lann gazed into her clear eyes. "Once you’ve cultivated enough to become human, will you just fly away and never come back?"

The little bird looked at him for a long time, then shook her head.

Soren Lann smiled softly. "Then I guess I’ll just have to take good care of you."

...

Before reaching the Sigil Sect, Lily Bai met with Adrian Drake first.

Of course, to avoid being recorded, she went in invisible to observe him.

She discovered he really did have a talisman inside his body.