Ling Xue’s cheeks flushed slightly. Just as she was about to speak, she saw Hu Mazi jump down from the stone platform. With his hands clasped behind his back, he paced back and forth, his brows tightly furrowed, looking thoroughly displeased.
“Master Hu, you have just broken through to the ninth rank of the Earth Immortal Realm! Such a joyous occasion, why the long face?” Chen Ping asked in puzzlement.
Hu Mazi suddenly stopped, turned and glared at Chen Ping, his expression full of grievance. “Joy, my foot! You two have been groaning and sighing over there every day, I have been itching all over from listening. I could not cultivate in peace! Finally I broke through, but I am holding in a belly full of fire. Do you think I can be happy?”
As soon as he said this, Chen Ping burst into hearty laughter, while Ling Xue wished she could find a hole in the ground to crawl into. She covered her face with both hands, her ears red to the point of dripping blood.
“My oversight, my oversight.”
Chen Ping waved with a smile. “Once we are out, I will find a few female cultivators for Master Hu to enjoy, so you too can indulge a little.”
Hearing this, Hu Mazi finally gave a snort, his face easing somewhat, though the look he cast at Chen Ping still carried more than a hint of envy and frustration.
After putting themselves in order, the three left the Demon Suppressing Tower together. Chen Ping stowed the tower away and stepped out of the stone cave.
As the stone door closed behind them, sunlight spilled down, carrying with it a long-lost warmth.
By calculation, they had spent a full year inside the tower, while outside only three days had passed.
The door closed slowly, the last flicker of the ancient runes fading into the shadows of the cave.
Ling Xue stood still, her fingertips still holding the lingering warmth of the dense immortal energy, though her ears now caught only the gentle sound of the mountain breeze brushing through pine needles.
“The air outside is fresher than inside the tower.”
Chen Ping stretched, his joints cracking in succession. The spiritual power of the Earth Immortal Realm flowed calmly through his meridians, carrying a sense of stability he had never known before.
Turning his head toward Ling Xue, he saw her lowering her gaze, the pale skin of her neck tinged with faint pink, her hands twisting at her sleeves unconsciously.
“What is it?”
Chen Ping took two steps closer, catching the faint scent of spirit herbs in her hair. It was from the “Condensed Dew Grass” that grew at the cave’s edge. Its petals, infused with immortal energy, were said to calm the mind. She must have secretly plucked some during their cultivation and tucked it into her hair.
Ling Xue suddenly looked up, her eyes colliding with his smiling gaze, then hurriedly looked down again. Her voice was soft as a mosquito’s hum. “N-nothing… it is just that… the sunlight outside is a little dazzling.”
As she spoke, a mountain breeze swept past with drifting leaves. A stray lock of her hair blew across her cheek, tickling lightly.
She raised a hand to brush it aside, but her wrist was gently caught.
Chen Ping’s palm still held the residual warmth from the tower, warmer than the mountain wind. His fingertips brushed her pulse, making her heart skip a beat.
“When you broke through in the tower, your spiritual power was somewhat restless.”
His voice was lower, carrying serious concern. “When we return, brew some calming tea with Clear Mind Grass.”
He paused, his eyes falling on her faintly flushed ears, then could not help but add, “Do not stay up too late. You have only just reached the seventh rank of the Earth Immortal Realm, your foundation must be stabilised.”
“You should find me for dual cultivation from time to time, to steady your foundation…”
Ling Xue glanced at him. How could she not understand what Chen Ping meant?
He was making it clear that even outside the Demon Suppressing Tower, he would still find opportunities for that matter.
Truthfully, over this period she had grown to enjoy it.
It was both pleasurable and a means of cultivation, and it advanced her progress rapidly. Why not embrace it?
Only her legs had suffered for it, even now walking left her sore.
She gave a soft hum of assent, nodding slightly, without pulling her hand away.
The mountain wind rose again, lifting the hem of her skirt so that it brushed against Chen Ping’s trouser leg.
Suddenly she remembered the last night inside the tower, when the tides of the spirit veins surged. To help her stabilise her spiritual power, Chen Ping had kept at it for three whole hours.
