15: Chapter 15: Finally United

"I like you."

These four words, she had said to herself for four years.

Her voice trembled slightly when she said the word "like," like a leaf teetering in the autumn wind, yet it never fell.

Tears welled up without warning. They were not tears of sadness, but the relief of finally speaking words held back for four years, the release of a heavy stone finally being pushed off her chest.

"Ever since the day during freshman military training when you carried my luggage for me." She sniffled, her voice nasal but enunciating every word clearly.

"Four years. I... I never said anything because I was afraid that if I did, we wouldn't even be able to be friends. But now..."

She raised her hand to wipe away her tears, but they only kept coming. Her long, dark hair stuck to her cheeks from the tears.

Her tear-streaked face under the moonlight was even more breathtakingly beautiful.

This beauty was not the refinement of makeup, but the most authentic, vulnerable, and moving appearance of a girl after taking off all her armor.

"Now, I don't want to wait anymore." She took a deep breath, using up her last bit of courage.

"I'm afraid that tomorrow there will be another Beast Tide, another Shadow Clan, and all kinds of dangers... I'm afraid it will be too late."

Moonlight poured over her, and the night breeze pressed her spirit-cloth dress gently against her body.

Outlining every captivating curve of her slender figure—her slim waist, full chest, and long legs.

At this moment, it was no longer just a beauty that made it impossible to look away,

but a girl opening her entire heart and body to him, without reservation, without hesitation.

Wang Sheng watched her.

Watching her almond-shaped eyes blurred with tears, watching her slightly trembling lips,

watching her jade-like face under the moonlight. His heart felt as if it had been gripped by someone and then squeezed hard; a sour, scorching, and uncontrollable ache and joy surged up at the same time.

He had never felt this way before.

Not even on the day he awakened as a Holy Light Warrior, not even at the moment he repelled the Beast Tide,

not even the moment he saw the SSS-grade halo when the system activated, was his heart beating with a frequency that shocked him more than it did now.

Four years.

He thought they were the best of friends, the most compatible partners, confidants who could chat by the campfire until dawn.

He thought his feelings for her were "very special," that he "couldn't do without her," that she was the "person he trusted most,"

but he had never found a precise name for this feeling.

But the moment she stood under the moonlight, tears in her eyes, and spoke those four words, that name surfaced on its own.

Not a confidant, not a partner, not a good friend.

It was like.

It was a "like" that he had also hidden for a very, very long time—so long that he thought it was just a habit.

Wang Sheng reached out.

He took her still-trembling hand, interlocking his fingers with hers, palms pressed together.

The coolness of her hand and the warmth of his blended together. Shen Xun'er froze,

looking up at him through tear-blurred eyes, the moonlight in her almond eyes shattering into a pool of silver waves.

"Shen Xuner."

His voice was very soft, as if afraid of shattering this moonlit night.

"Me too."

Three words.

Shen Xun'er's tears flowed even more fiercely, but the corners of her mouth curled up, as if she were smiling through tears, or perhaps weeping with joy.

She covered her mouth with her other hand, her shoulders trembling uncontrollably, tears sliding through her fingers, glistening like crushed diamonds in the moonlight.

"Are you serious?" she asked with a sob, her voice muffled, as if she couldn't believe it.

Wang Sheng let go of her hand and turned to cup her face. His thumb gently brushed away the tear tracks on her face,

his fingertips sliding from her cheekbones to her ears, feeling the warm, smooth, jade-like texture of her skin, feeling her cheeks flush slightly from his touch.

Moonlight spilled onto her face, tears and moonlight blending together; that face he had looked at for four years was now so beautiful it made his heart tighten.

"That day during freshman military training, I carried your luggage to the sixth floor, and you chased after me, panting as you said thank you."

His voice was low, carrying a hint of tenderness he hadn't even realized himself. "That day, I thought, this girl's smile is really pretty."

Shen Xun'er bit her lower lip, tears welling up again, yet she smiled even more brightly.

"Four years. I thought it was habit, compatibility, the best of friends."

Wang Sheng's thumb wiped away the last tear from the corner of her eye. "Today, standing here, I realized it wasn't."

Shen Xun'er couldn't hold back anymore; she stood on tiptoe, grabbed his collar with both hands, and buried her face in his chest.

Her long, dark hair spread out over his arms like black silk, and her body trembled slightly in his embrace,

not because of the cold, but because four years of secret love had finally received a response at this moment,

and the emotions that had been suppressed for too long poured out like a dam breaking, making her whole body tremble.

Wang Sheng's arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her into his embrace.

Her waist was incredibly slender, and in that single grasp, he could feel her warm body temperature coming through the spirit-cloth dress,

and her body pressed tightly against his chest, her slender, full curves fitting perfectly against his frame under the moonlight, like two perfectly matched puzzle pieces.

The sound of the Lingxi River gurgled in the night breeze, and the moonlight stretched their embraced shadows very, very long, extending all the way to the door of the Chiefs Tent.

"Wang Sheng..." Shen Xun'er's voice came muffled from his chest, carrying a nasal tone and a smile. "Why didn't you say something sooner?"

"And you? Why didn't you say something sooner?"

Shen Xun'er gave him a light punch in his chest, the force so gentle it was like coquetry.

Both of them laughed.

After laughing, Shen Xun'er leaned quietly in his arms, her face against his chest, listening to his steady, powerful heartbeat.

A Moonlight Priestess's perception is ten times sharper than an ordinary person's; she could feel the frequency of his heartbeat in his chest, which was a full twice as fast as usual.

She closed her eyes, the corners of her mouth curving into crescents.

So he was nervous too.

So he felt the same way.

Inside the tent, the warm light of the spirit stone flickered like a bean.

Wang Sheng held Shen Xun'er's hand and walked into the Chiefs Tent, their fingers remaining interlocked, as if afraid that if they let go, the other would disappear.

Shen Xun'er's eyes were still red, but the tension and unease were gone from her almond eyes, replaced by a sweetness that spilled from the bottom of her heart and could not be hidden.

"The Chiefs Tent..." She looked around, then suddenly lowered her head, feeling a bit embarrassed, her long, dark hair hanging down on both sides of her cheeks like a curtain,

"I've been in here so many times before, why does it suddenly feel different today?"

"Because before, it was the class monitor coming to report on work." Wang Sheng pulled her to sit down; the spirit stone by the fire pit illuminated her face softly and warmly.

"Today, it's Shen Xuner coming to see Wang Sheng."

Shen Xun'er pursed her lips and smiled, her almond eyes curving like moons. She leaned her head on his shoulder, her long, dark hair covering half of his arm,

the scent of the Savage Beast Forest on him and the fragrance on her blended together, brewing into a comforting scent in the warm light of the spirit stone.

"Four years ago, on the night the military training ended, you treated the whole class to drinks." She spoke softly, her voice sounding as if she were telling a story from a very, very long time ago,

"You handed me a bottle of orange juice. At the time, I wanted to say more than just thank you, but you were the only boy in the liberal arts class, and there were a dozen girls around you... I couldn't squeeze in."

Wang Sheng turned his head to look at her, the light from the fire pit reflecting on her profile as if she were plated with a layer of warm gold.

"At the sophomore New Year's gala, you sang 'Nanshan Nan.' I was sitting in the third row, and I didn't clap from beginning to end because I was looking at your eyes the whole time."

"When you sing, you tilt your head up slightly, and the light hits your profile—it's especially beautiful."

"During the junior year final exams, you saved a seat for me. When I arrived at the classroom, there was a cup of hot coffee and a note on the desk: 'Good luck, Class Monitor.'"

"I tucked that note into my textbook, and it's still there."

"Before the senior graduation trip..." Her voice gradually grew quieter,

"I originally wanted to tell you during that trip. But the whole class discussed it for ages and chose that ancient forest for our autumn outing, and then..."

"Then we transmigrated." Wang Sheng continued.

Shen Xun'er gave a soft "Mm," and buried her face in the crook of his shoulder.

Every day since they transmigrated—him standing in front of her during the Beast Tide, her bandaging his wounds by the campfire, the two of them looking at the spirit-cloth map side-by-side in the Chiefs Tent, him saying "I promise you, I will come back in one piece every time"—

all these fragments connected at this moment, like a Moonlight Priestess's Moonlight Blessing, illuminating every little detail of the past four years.

"Wang Sheng."

"Hm?"

She lifted her head from the crook of his shoulder, her almond eyes reflecting the warm light of the spirit stone and his face, which was inches from her own.

Moonlight poured down through the skylight in the tent, intertwining with the light of the spirit stone, casting a layer of silver veil over her long, dark hair.

"I waited four years; you owe me." Her voice was soft and sweet, with a hint of coquettish nasal tone. "From now on, you are not allowed to make me wait again."

Wang Sheng looked down at her; the moonlight and spirit stone light reflected on her face—her skin like jade, her face like a peach blossom—

her almond eyes glistening like water, her lips slightly curled in a smile; she was so beautiful that she looked like a delicate painting of a lady that had come to life.

He reached out to wrap his arm around her waist, pulling her gently closer, their noses almost touching.

"I won't make you wait again."

His voice was low, like the night wind.

Shen Xun'er closed her eyes, her eyelashes fluttering like butterfly wings.

Moonlight poured from the skylight, falling on their overlapping shadows; the sound of the Lingxi River flowed gently far outside the tent, like the gentlest blessing of the savage world.

The third night of the Bright Tribe, with the moonlight as witness and the Lingxi River as a vow, Wang Sheng and Shen Xun'er, four years of secret love, finally became a couple.

Outside the tent, the moonlight was like a wash. Broken silver jumped on the surface of the Lingxi River, and the entire Mist Valley was shrouded in the gentle radiance of the Moon Goddess.

Deep in the distant Savage Beast Forest, the beast paths of the Shadow Clan were silent in the night, like a dormant snake, waiting for the day it would be awakened.

But tonight, there was only moonlight, only heartbeat, only the four years of waiting that finally had an echo.