Inside the Undying Mountain, within the formation.
“Achoo!”
Ye Qiu suddenly sneezed.
“Changsheng, have you caught a chill?” Yun Xi asked with concern, pressing herself tightly against him. “Let me warm you up.”
Ye Qiu turned to look at her, a trace of puzzlement in his eyes. “I just felt as though someone was watching me.”
“Xi’er, we’re here. No one can discover us, right?”
He phrased it delicately, but what he really meant was: while we’re here like this, your father won’t find out, will he?
Yun Xi misunderstood completely and gave a dazzling smile. “Don’t worry. The formation on this jade pendant was carved by my father himself. No outsider could ever detect us.”
“But… just imagine, if someone did discover us, wouldn’t it be even more thrilling?”
Ye Qiu was speechless.
On the surface this woman was dignified and refined, but inside she was pure fire.
“It’s almost time. We should head out, or those old fellows will have waited too long,” Ye Qiu said.
Yun Xi clung reluctantly. “Changsheng, once we leave, let me stay with you, alright?”
“Azure Cloud Sword Sect is so boring. All I do there is cultivate, day after day. I want to be with you forever.”
Ye Qiu felt a shiver of fear. If you stayed with me all the time, I’d have to swallow Ten-Complete Great Restoration Pills non-stop. Even with my sturdy constitution, I wouldn’t survive!
Besides, if your father found out and flew into a rage, he’d try to kill me.
“Xi’er, have you forgotten what I told you earlier?”
“If love is true and lasting, how can it be confined to morning and evening togetherness?”
“A daughter is her father’s little padded jacket. You’ve been away so long, he must miss you terribly. Go back soon, so he doesn’t worry.”
Yun Xi began, “But…”
Ye Qiu cut her off quickly. “Also, I have countless enemies. The Yin-Yang Sect and the three great holy lands all want me dead.”
“This time I killed Cao Mao and Wei Wuji fell by my hand. I’ve offended two imperial dynasties of the Central Continent as well. Wu Hua has been crippled, so Great Thunderclap Temple won’t let me off either.”
“If you follow me, every day will be danger. We might have to live on the run.”
Yun Xi declared, “I’m not afraid! Changsheng, as long as I’m with you, whether the path ahead is thick with thorns or a bottomless abyss, I fear nothing!”
Ye Qiu replied, “You may not be afraid, but I am.”
“How can a man allow the woman he loves to live a fugitive life?”
“The greatest responsibility a man can show a woman is to give her a safe and comfortable home.”
“Xi’er, I love you.”
How could Yun Xi withstand such sweet words? She immediately kissed him fiercely, as if trying to melt him into her very bones.
Only when both were breathless did she release him. Looking at him with watery, loving eyes, she murmured, “Changsheng, shall we go another round?”
Ye Qiu’s heart nearly stopped.
The old saying was true: only exhausted oxen, never ploughed-out fields. The wisdom of the ancients truly knew no bounds.
At that thought, he hurriedly said, “Xi’er, we’re about to leave the mountain. I need to conserve my strength.”
“You stay still, I’ll move,” Yun Xi purred, already tugging at his clothes. “Ye-lang, come on~”
Ye Qiu caught her hands firmly. “Xi’er, let’s stop here for today!”
Yun Xi gave a seductive smile. “Changsheng, are you… unable?”
Ye Qiu put on a ferocious expression. “Xi’er, don’t provoke me, or I’ll fight you for another eight hundred bouts.”
Far from being frightened, Yun Xi’s lips curved higher. “Eight hundred isn’t enough. How about three thousand?”
Good heavens, you want my life!
Smack.
Ye Qiu gave a light slap to a certain part of her body, then said, “Those old fellows are still waiting. We shouldn’t keep them too long.”
“Let’s go!”
Yun Xi pouted. “Then you owe me this time. Next time we meet, you’ll pay me back double?”
“Fine,” Ye Qiu agreed instantly. He only wanted to escape this place as quickly as possible; staying any longer was far too dangerous.
Little did he know that this casual promise would nearly ruin him in the future.
That, however, is a story for another day.
“Changsheng, you promised. Next time we meet, we fight to the end!”
Having said that, Yun Xi gently straightened his clothes for him, looking every inch the virtuous wife, with none of the airs of a pampered young miss.
Then she tidied her own appearance, put away the jade pendant, took Ye Qiu’s arm, and left with him.
Half an hour later.
Ye Qiu and Yun Xi caught up with Elder Longbrow and the others. More accurately, Elder Longbrow’s group had been waiting for them.
They were now only a few hundred metres from the spatial rift that served as the entrance. Even Lin Da’niao, the weakest among them, could reach it in a single flash.
They stood in a concealed spot, clearly not wishing to be noticed.
Elder Longbrow’s eyes roamed over Ye Qiu and Yun Xi, then he chuckled wickedly. “Little brat, if I’m not mistaken, you two fought quite fiercely?”
“What? Big Brother, you went off to fight?” Lin Da’niao looked astonished. “Who with? Casualties?”
Elder Longbrow answered, “Several billion dead.”
Lin Da’niao and Mo Tianji were stunned, though mostly confused. Were there really that many cultivators in the Undying Mountain?
Why did it sound so strange?
Yun Xi was so embarrassed she wanted to find a crack in the ground to hide in. She kept her head down and said nothing.
“Don’t listen to the old man’s nonsense,” Ye Qiu snapped, glaring at Elder Longbrow before asking, “Has anyone left the mountain?”
Lin Da’niao shook his head. “No one yet, and we haven’t noticed anything unusual.”
Ye Qiu nodded, then said, “Then we wait here. When the rest of the Azure Cloud Sword Sect disciples arrive, we leave in separate groups as planned.”
“By the way, where’s the little fox?”
“Where did she run off to?”
Lin Da’niao was about to answer when Little White Fox’s voice rang out.
“Ye Changsheng, I’ve been watching you for ages. Didn’t you see me?”
Ye Qiu looked up and saw her perched on the branch of an ancient tree, hidden by thick foliage.
He found it odd. At this distance he should have sensed her aura long ago, yet he had not noticed a thing.
“What are you doing up so high?” Ye Qiu laughed. “Trying to stand tall so you can pee farther?”
“Ye Changsheng, you vulgar creature!” Little White Fox huffed angrily. “You’re infuriating!”
Ye Qiu grinned. “Good, get angry and die. Then I won’t have to drag an oil bottle like you out of the mountain.”
Little White Fox fumed. “Ye Changsheng, you think you can abandon me? Dream on. I’m sticking to you forever.”
At that moment, Mo Tianji spoke. “Big Brother, Fairy Yun Xi, while you two were… absent, Martial Brother came up with another plan for leaving the mountain. I think it’s excellent. Would you like to hear it?”
