He finally couldn't help himself and got up to check.
She was lying on her back underwater, eyes shut and completely still—like she was dead.
No way, right?
Is she really that fragile?
He hadn’t even used enough force to kill her!
He fished Azure Flame out of the water and patted her face. "Hey! If you keep playing dead, I’ll toss you into a volcano!"
She still didn’t move.
Soren Lann frowned and checked her pulse.
Just then, she suddenly grabbed Soren and planted a solid kiss right on his face.
"You—" Soren nearly died of exasperation.
"I'm leaving! I'm leaving!" She spun around and bolted.
"Azure Flame!" Soren called out.
Azure Flame stopped in her tracks.
"You know my heart only holds Lucia," Soren said. "Even though she's married now, I can never forget her! You're top-tier in cultivation and looks—why lower yourself like this?"
"Heh!" Azure Flame gave a little laugh. "Divine Lord Soren, do you know why I still cling to you even though I know you love Lu Xianyu?"
Soren shot her a sideways look and said nothing.
"Because I've lived longer than you! Way, way longer," Azure Flame said. "The longer you live, the more you realize—everything in this world changes! The only thing that never changes is change itself. No one should talk big about 'forever.'"
She laughed again. "I bet you'll forget her sooner or later! And when you do, I hope you'll like me instead. That's why I keep popping up in front of you—to make sure you remember me!"
Soren took a deep breath. "So you're lecturing me just because you're older?"
"Can you not keep harping on my age?" Azure Flame snapped. "For us Infernal Drakes, I'm just a young girl!"
Soren took a deep breath. "Senior Azure Flame, can you tell me—what would it take for you to give up?"
"Divine Lord Soren, what would it take for you to let me stay?"
Soren hesitated. "How about this: if you can help me with one thing, I'll let you stay."
"What thing?"
"I heard Lord Noctis found a door in the desert near the Underworld," Soren said. "Can you open that door for me? If you do, I'll let you stay by my side."
"You know about that door too?" Azure Flame shook her head. "We just got back from there—the Void Gate can't be opened."
Soren: "Then just give up!"
"You could at least give me another condition!"
"No other conditions. Only this one."
"Why? What do you even want with that door? It's not like your dad ran off to the Otherworld!"
"You can just assume I'm doing it to make things hard for you."
Azure Flame shrugged and walked away.
Soren let out a sigh of relief.
She probably won't come back, right?
......
That day, Sean Shaw came back and saw Lily Bai in the middle of a divination.
"What are you calculating?" Sean asked.
"Fate."
"For whom?"
"For the Consort we're enfeoffing tomorrow."
"So what did you find?"
"A really strange fate," Lily Bai said, puzzled.
"Strange how?"
Lily replied, "From now on, don't ask me about these divinations! Heavenly secrets aren't meant to be revealed. Knowing too much isn't good for you."
"But it's fine for you to know too much?"
"I'm a Rune Master!" Lily said. "Rune Masters don't have to worry about that!"
Sean was not pleased.
"I'm doing this for your own good, so don't give me that look, okay?"