Chen Yixin walked out of the forbidden grounds with a dark expression. The moment he saw Wenren Li waiting outside for him, however, his face immediately changed. “A-Li, why did you come? Didn’t I tell you to wait for me outside?”
Even as he said this, he happily took Wenren Li’s hand. After walking a few steps, he explained, “I was only scaring them a little, making sure they behave themselves.”
“Mm.” Wenren Li answered, the pad of his thumb gently rubbing over Chen Yixin’s hand. “As long as A-Rong doesn’t let it affect him.”
“I know.” Chen Yixin had not gone to the divine well again and again because he wanted to predict the future. What he wanted to see was Wenren Li’s past. He had always felt that whatever Wenren Li had experienced before Chen Yixin found him could not have been good. He wanted to know exactly who had hurt his A-Li.
In addition to the original eight people and one pet, the group heading toward the place where the immortal light had appeared now included a squad of nearly a hundred Nascent Soul merfolk guards. News of the immortal light had leaked, and both the sea clans of the North Sea and the cultivation sects on the opposite shore had sent people.
Naturally, the more experts they had, the better. The Demon Guards, along with Ze Fang’s people and the Great Peng Yao Emperor’s, were still inside the Fentian Nether Abode. Chen Yixin would let them out once they reached the place where the immortal light was appearing.
Chen Yixin certainly could not keep them shut inside the Fentian Nether Abode forever. Even with powerful rivals watching from all sides, they could not avoid the trials they ought to face. That was the real meaning of going out to gain experience.
Chen Yixin and Wenren Li continued riding on Yinzi. Yinzi was even faster than these Soul Transformation experts. Taking a different sea route, they once again returned to the edge of Mingfeng Domain, which could already be considered the central waters of the North Sea.
“Mother, there are lots of tasty things here.”
As Yinzi traveled onward, his long whiskers did not forget to rub against Chen Yixin, conveniently begging for something to eat at the same time.
Back in the Upper Realm, Yinzi had been fairly particular about what he ate. Unless something was a genuine spiritual treasure, he generally would not put it in his mouth. But after being trapped inside the Fentian Nether Abode for thirty thousand years, he had eaten whatever he could simply to avoid starving to death. The picky Yinzi of the past had become a Yinzi who instinctively drooled whenever he saw anything remotely appetizing.
Chen Yixin caught one of his long whiskers, a thoughtful look passing through his eyes. “Hold back for now. When I tell you to eat, then you can eat to your heart’s content.”
Whenever an extraordinary treasure appeared, bloodshed was inevitable. Chen Yixin had already set his sights on whatever treasure lay within the immortal light, and he was determined to have it. Since killing would be unavoidable anyway, he could feed Yinzi while he was at it.
Only after saying this did Chen Yixin remember that Wenren Li was sitting beside him. He turned his head and gave Wenren Li an exceptionally gentle, well-behaved smile, as though those murderous words just now had come from someone else entirely.
Naturally, Wenren Li had no objection to Chen Yixin’s way of doing things. He raised a hand and rubbed Chen Yixin’s hair, then lightly pinched one of the feathers on his forehead. Only after making Chen Yixin’s body tremble did he withdraw his hand.
This time Chen Yixin openly glared at Wenren Li. “A-Li, just you wait.”
Wenren Li had weaknesses in Chen Yixin’s hands too. Who was afraid of whom, anyway?
Wenren Li had no idea that Chen Yixin’s thoughts had already wandered in that direction. He looked at him with slight surprise, thinking perhaps he had pinched too hard. He gently pulled Chen Yixin a little closer, then blew softly over the feather he had just pinched.
Chen Yixin pursed his lips. His face flushed another shade deeper, but he still endured it in silence.
The two of them were being intimate right beneath everyone else’s noses. Even if the others wanted to pretend they neither saw nor heard anything, they could not. Ze Fang nudged the Great Peng Yao Emperor with his elbow. When the emperor turned an expressionless look on him, Ze Fang awkwardly rubbed his nose.
All right. Perhaps Chen Yixin had rubbed off on him. Even Ze Fang was starting to feel an urge to misbehave.
“Fellow Daoists ahead, may we ask who you are? We are cultivators from Lai Continent.”
They encountered a cultivator group of roughly equal strength on a small island where they had temporarily stopped to rest. By now they were already quite close to the place where the immortal light had appeared.
“So it is fellow Daoists of the Merfolk Sea Clan.” The aura of the Merfolk Sea Clan was extremely distinctive, especially that nearly hundred-strong merfolk guard. Before Soul Transformation experts, there was no concealing it.
“Why have cultivators from Lai Continent come into the territory of my Merfolk Sea Clan?” The Merfolk Emperor personally stepped forward. The Merfolk Clan had never been friendly toward humans and had a poor reputation throughout the North Sea. They readily resorted to killing and could mobilize their entire clan at once, so neither human cultivators nor other sea clans dared offend them lightly.
“Mingfeng Domain does not belong to the Merfolk Clan, does it?” The cultivators opposite them naturally were not going to retreat simply because of the Merfolk Emperor’s words, but neither did they want to clash with the impulsive, hot-tempered Merfolk Clan just yet. “Until we meet again.”
Their attempt at intimidation had failed, and just like that they withdrew. Chen Yixin, who had been waiting to watch a battle, shrugged in boredom.
Ze Fang and the Great Peng Yao Emperor found it somewhat disappointing as well, though both of them turned their gazes toward Wenren Li. They had witnessed Wenren Li utterly crush his opponents that day and were very much looking forward to seeing it again.
Their decision to stop here was not because anyone was actually tired. They were waiting for news from within Mingfeng Domain—how many sea clans and cultivators had become involved, and how many enemies they would ultimately have to face.
Different circumstances called for different strategies, which was why they needed to pause briefly and wait.
The Merfolk Emperor took a group away and returned nearly one hour later. He walked over to Chen Yixin and Wenren Li and bowed. “An envoy arrived in Lai Continent. He was the one who made the news public. By now, practically everyone who can come has already come.”
Regardless of whether their cultivation was strong or weak, there were probably very few people who did not want to test their luck and see whether fortune might fall into their hands. These waters were likely about to become livelier than ever before.
“An envoy?” Chen Yixin repeated the two words, already holding a grudge.
“They say he came from the western shore of the North Sea, just like the Divine Lord.”
Even the Merfolk Emperor could not help feeling angry. Originally, if Chen Yixin and Wenren Li obtained the great treasure, the Merfolk Clan ought to have been able to divide up some scraps afterward. Now that so many people were pouring in, there was no possible way nothing would slip through their fingers—and that was already the most optimistic scenario.
Ze Fang and the Great Peng Yao Emperor were probably thinking along the same lines. Everyone fell silent with worry. Only Chen Yixin’s eyes grew bright. He said nothing, simply stroking Yinzi again and again as though he were petting some enormous treasure.
The only one who understood Chen Yixin’s thinking was Wenren Li, who remained silent along with him. Since Chen Yixin intended to give everyone a surprise, if Wenren Li revealed it ahead of time, it would hardly be much of a surprise anymore.
Chen Yixin turned and blinked at Wenren Li, then looked toward the Merfolk Emperor. “Since that’s the case, there’s no point calculating everything in advance. We’ll adapt as we go. For now, preserve your strength.”
His gaze swept across the others, and he could not resist adding with some disdain, “All of you, stay sharp.”
“Yes.” Even Ze Fang answered along with everyone else, although inwardly he did not know whether to laugh or cry. Whether they could seize any benefits was another matter, but preserving their own lives should not be a problem. Yet from the way Chen Yixin spoke, it sounded as though one careless moment would spell disaster for them.
It was not that one careless moment would necessarily get them killed. It was that if they were not sharp enough, Yinzi might accidentally eat them along with the snacks.
They set off again toward the place where the immortal light had appeared. The journey was relatively smooth, though the sea vortices that appeared almost constantly throughout Mingfeng Domain kept slowing their progress.
“Immortal light! It really is immortal light!”
Chen Yixin stood up on Yinzi’s back, his eyes practically glowing as he stared at the immortal light. In all of Taixuan, only he could gather immortal light for Wenren Li, but doing so through Phoenix Flowers required a long process. Here, however, that did not seem to be the case.
Everyone except Wenren Li assumed Chen Yixin was excited about the hidden site within the immortal light. None of them realized that, to Chen Yixin, the immortal light itself was far more important than any hidden site.
Chen Yixin did not hesitate. Spiritual light swept around him as he shifted from his half-yao form into the shape of a tiny fledgling, then shot away like a blue arrow. Wenren Li reached out, but even he failed to stop him.
Still, Wenren Li slowly withdrew his hand. His divine sense spread outward, and he made no attempt to stop what Chen Yixin did next.
The little blue bird repeatedly darted through the immortal light beneath the water. Soon, he called Yinzi over, and the two of them worked together to stop the immortal light from dispersing. Only after a full six hours did Chen Yixin finally return carrying a fist-sized cluster of immortal light.
He glanced at Wenren Li and swept a hand across it. The immortal light entered Wenren Li’s brow, while a sincere and beautiful smile spread across Chen Yixin’s face.
Ze Fang, the Great Peng Yao Emperor, and the others had watched for all that time, yet none of them had expected everything Chen Yixin had done to be for Wenren Li. The smile on his face at that moment dazzled not only Wenren Li, but everyone who saw it.
Chen Yixin was domineering, willful, impossible to persuade, and sometimes shameless beyond belief, but when it came to Wenren Li, he was utterly wholehearted and held nothing back. On this point, the Great Peng Yao Emperor could not compare to him at all. It would be more accurate to say he was not even qualified to compare.
Wenren Li’s gaze rested on Chen Yixin’s face. He gave a gentle tug and pulled him into his arms. “Thank you.”
Chen Yixin hugged Wenren Li back and said happily, proudly, “I promised you. I said I would gather immortal light for you and help nourish your little sapling.”
Wenren Li continued holding Chen Yixin for a while before finally releasing him. They moved onward, searching for more immortal light. Chen Yixin had intercepted quite a lot of it already. The legendary immortal-light hidden site probably was not far from truly opening.
Inside an underwater reef cave, Wenren Li sat cross-legged in the form of a young boy, a silver rune flickering faintly between his brows. A little blue bird rested in his arms. Three steps away, a round silver bundle rolled its eyes around vigilantly as it kept watch.
Two days earlier, Chen Yixin and Wenren Li had become separated from the Merfolk Emperor and the others. More precisely, during a clash with another group of cultivators, a spatial rift had suddenly appeared and split them apart.
They were in no hurry to regroup with the Merfolk Emperor’s party. After escaping the spatial rift, they continued searching for and gathering immortal light. Then Wenren Li and Chen Yixin both reached a breakthrough at the same time, leaving Yinzi as the only one who could protect them.
The little blue bird in Wenren Li’s arms opened his eyes first. He flew out of the reef cave and all the way above the surface, then transformed into his half-yao form. A lightning tribulation descended and did not disperse until an entire day had passed. Chen Yixin advanced directly from mid-stage Golden Core to late-stage Golden Core Great Perfection. One step farther, and he could attempt to form his Nascent Soul.
A beam of immortal light descended. Chen Yixin transformed back into the little blue bird and gathered every last trace of it without wasting any. Then silver light flashed. When the cultivators who had been drawn over by the lightning tribulation finally arrived, there was nothing left for them to find.
“A-Li?”
Chen Yixin could not sense any aura at all, but the spiritual power binding him felt inexplicably familiar.
“Mother, it’s Yinzi. Father told me to take you away.”
The fastest way to leave was by escaping through the void. In Taixuan, aside from Wenren Li, only Yinzi was capable of doing so.
“Then what about A-Li?”
“Father said for you to wait for him at the Water Palace.”
Chen Yixin remained bound inside a sphere of silver light. Only this way could his safety be guaranteed while traveling through the void.
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