Night fell.
Dreamlike aurora lights once again shimmered across the horizon.
Ye Chen set off once more towards the aurora, accompanied by three stunning beauties.
This time, Lin Waner had specially packed an enormous travel bag and asked Ye Chen to carry it for her. Several dozen jin meant nothing to him, but for her, lugging it through the snow would have been exhausting.
Yun Ruoge and Song Ruyu moved lightly like swallows. At the thought that they might receive even stronger Buddhist mudras tonight, excitement was impossible to hide.
Ye Chen was also filled with anticipation. Yesterday’s mudras could indeed break through from zero to one spiritual energy in the Dharma-ending Age, but for him they were rather useless. He could temporarily accept Xiao Churan leaving his side so he could focus on revenge, yet how long “temporarily” would last depended entirely on his own fortune.
If he failed to break through quickly, if he could not open the Niwan Palace for years, his grand revenge might take decades to complete.
Although he knew Xiao Churan still loved him deep down, Ye Chen had no idea how long that love could endure once they were apart.
One or two years might be fine. Three to five years, or even ten to eight, was anyone’s guess.
That was why Ye Chen urgently craved a fast track to raise his cultivation. He wanted every grudge with the Po Qing Society and Wu Feiyan settled within the next five years.
Beneath the aurora, the three of them sat cross-legged, heads raised to the sky. Lin Waner stayed by Ye Chen’s side and began unpacking the bag he had carried. She took out a folding egg-roll table and a moon chair, set them up, then produced a small charcoal stove and a cast-iron kettle. Using the kettle lid as a scoop, she carefully gathered untouched snow from the ground and filled the kettle.
Next, she fetched charcoal made from olive stones, tossed in a small block of solid alcohol, struck a match, and soon had a cheerful fire burning.
While the water heated, she arranged a travel tea set on the table.
Clearly, she intended to brew tea with melted snow.
Ye Chen genuinely admired her. No matter the circumstances, she always remained calm and never forgot her cherished elegance.
The snow melted, boiled, and soon the boiling water released the fragrance of Pu’er tea into the air. Yet the aurora overhead showed no sign of forming new mudras.
Ye Chen found it strange. Could it be that this mysterious thing only had the one useful set from last night?
Yun Ruoge and Song Ruyu were puzzled too, but they understood that opportunities could not be forced or spoken of carelessly, so they stayed silent.
It was Lin Waner who broke the silence first. She poured four cups of tea and said softly, “Young Master, the mudras are late tonight. Has something changed?”
Ye Chen’s face darkened. He muttered, “It’s not a change. I suspect this thing won’t move until it sees the rabbit.”
Lin Waner looked confused. “Young Master, why do you say that?”
Ye Chen sighed. “The first time, it suddenly produced eight mudras that drained nearly all my spiritual energy. Yesterday, only after I performed those eight again and spent most of my spiritual energy did the aurora show the second set of sixteen. So I think it wants me to feed it spiritual energy first. Pay first, goods later.”
He continued, “Today, while we were in seclusion, I deliberately taught the first eight mudras to Miss Yun and Miss Song. When they used them, nothing happened. Only when I perform the full set correctly does my spiritual energy pour out. That confirms something inside me is absorbing it. The first eight mudras were given to me precisely so I would feed it. Yesterday, I paid, then it gave me the real set. It’s a transaction.”
