“To be honest, you—”
“Yes...?”
“How should I put this?”
The ears of the girl in the jade-green gown twitched.
“You're really impressive. Out of all the female cultivators I've ever met, you have the greatest strength—well, second only to Su Jinxue!”
!
The head of the girl in the jade-green gown instantly popped up from between her knees!
“Aaaaah!!!”
“Xiao Lingzhi, you massive idiot!”
She punched the chest of the white-robed cultivator sitting to her right!
A loud bang echoed along the riverbank, sending ripples through the water.
The white-robed cultivator clutched his chest, barely able to catch his breath!
“Ah! Bai Lumian, are you crazy?! Are you trying to kill me?”
“I absolutely am!”
“Why did you suddenly hit me?!”
“Because you're stupid!”
“Where am I stupid? In this world, This Seat has achieved great success in cultivating the spatial Great Dao, and my skills in arrays are top-tier! Tell me, among all the cultivators in the Xuanling Realm, who would dare challenge me in this field? And yet you call me stupid?”
“Aaaaah!!! You're just stupid! Stupid to death!!!” The girl in the jade-green gown was truly going mad. She raised her fist again. “I might as well beat you to death!”
“Hey, hey, hey, can you be a bit reasonable?” The white-robed cultivator quickly stood up.
He wanted to run!
“You think you can run? Take a punch from this Valley Master!”
Bang!
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The massive sounds echoed through the green mountains on both sides of the river.
The setting sun gradually sank, leaving only half of its disk hanging on the peak of the mountain.
The orange-red light illuminated everything, including a massive blue stone on the riverbank.
The white-robed cultivator sat on the stone. His robe had been pulled down, revealing his back, which was covered in black and blue bruises.
The girl in the jade-green gown sat behind him, holding silver needles and inserting them one by one into his back to promote blood circulation and resolve the bruising.
“Sigh, Lumian, can you please not hit me next time? It hurts like hell!”
“Shut up! I'll hit you next time too! Who told you to be so stupid?”
“I already said I'm not stupid!”
“This Valley Master says you're stupid, so you're stupid!”
The white-robed cultivator choked on his words. Only after a long while did he say, “Yes, yes, yes, I'm stupid. Happy now?”
“Hmph, that's more like it!”
Before long, all the silver needles were in place.
A warm, green light flowed from the fingertips of the girl in the jade-green gown. Spiritual energy slowly seeped into his meridians along the needles, dispersing the pain and bruises in his flesh.
During this process, she even stealthily touched the white-robed cultivator's back, as if trying to steal a star.
“Alright, put your clothes back on. Does it still hurt?”
“No, it doesn't hurt anymore. But...”
The white-robed cultivator put on his clothes and turned around.
“But what?” she asked.
“Can you not hit me next time?”
“No.”
“...”
The white-robed cultivator was speechless. Then he added:
“Go ahead and hit me. I'm about to prove my Dao and ascend to immortality soon anyway. You won't be able to beat me then.”
“You're about to become an immortal?”
The heart of the girl in the jade-green gown suddenly tightened. She asked in a hurry:
“Then... are you going to ascend to the upper world... or...?”
The white-robed cultivator shook his head.
“What do you mean?”
“I'm not sure yet.”
“You must be sure!”
“Let me think about it some more.”
“There's nothing to think about! You're staying in the Xuanling Realm to be a Red Dust Immortal!”
“Why?”
“No why!” she answered decisively. Suddenly, her lovely face flushed red, and her eyes darted away.
Only after a long while did she add:
“The Heavenly Dao and Zhang Mingyuan are busy upgrading the Xuanling Realm. Why would you ascend? By then, the Xuanling Realm will also be an immortal realm... This Valley Master simply means there's no need for you to do something so redundant!”
“Oh... I see...”
The white-robed cultivator's eyes dimmed. For some reason, his heart suddenly felt heavy, and his body felt drained of strength.
This wasn't what he wanted to hear—at least, that was what his heart was telling him.
Seeing his deflated state, the girl in the jade-green gown lightly punched him.
“Dummy, what are you thinking? What's so good about the upper world? Do you have family there? Do you have friends? Do... do you have this Valley Master?”
“No,” the white-robed cultivator answered gloomily.
“Then what are you still thinking about?”
“Aside from the few in the past ten thousand years, cultivators in the past have always ascended.”
“Just because others go, you have to go too?” The girl in the jade-green gown tapped him on the head.
“I also want to see what the upper world is like.”
The girl's eyes dimmed as she looked down. She stared at her interlaced fingers, suddenly not knowing what to say...
“But what if...” After a long while, the girl in the jade-green gown spoke, stammering.
She felt as if she had no right to say such things, but she still wanted to say it. She had to. Her love manual told her so.
“I mean, what if... what if I want you to stay?”
The white-robed cultivator froze. Hearing her question, the heaviness in his heart instantly vanished. And...
And a voice in his mind was screaming at him to agree, to agree quickly!
If he didn't, he would definitely regret it—even more than he would regret accidentally causing his ten-thousand-acre tea plantation to blow up.
His eyes lit up, and he stared straight at the girl in the jade-green gown. He was about to speak—
“Wait!”
The girl in the jade-green gown immediately covered his mouth.
“Don't say anything!”
“Mmph, mmph, mmph? (Why?)”
“I have a bad feeling. You're definitely going to say something shockingly stupid again.”
“Mmph, mmph, mmph, mmph, mmph, mmph? (How do you know if I don't say it?)”
“I just know!”
“Mmph! Mmph, mmph, mmph, mmph! Mmph, mmph, mmph, mmph! (No! You don't know this time! I promise, and I absolutely have to say it!)”
“Fine, then.” Only then did she release his mouth.
The white-robed cultivator stared intently at her, while she covered her ears with both hands.
He spoke very loudly, afraid she wouldn't hear him: “Lumian! I'm willing to stay for you!”
She caught the words faintly. Lowering her hands, her amber eyes went wide.
“What did you say?!”
“Lumian! Since you want me to stay, I want to stay! That's what my heart is telling me!” the white-robed cultivator almost roared.
The girl in the jade-green gown froze. She had heard him perfectly clearly, down to every single word.
Her cheeks flushed a deep, thorough crimson, like clouds set ablaze by the setting sun.
Cradling her face in her hands, her amber eyes stared blankly at the white-robed cultivator.
His face was silhouetted against the twilight of the sinking sun. As the wind swept by, his hair fluttered gently.
This idiot... how could he say something like that? Since when was he so good with words? He was clearly just a blockhead...
The green river rippled, and the cicadas chirped endlessly.
She suddenly snapped back to her senses.
“Idiot! Who told you to speak so loudly? This Valley Master isn't hard of hearing!”
“I was afraid you wouldn't hear me.”
“And what if I didn't?”
The white-robed cultivator blushed. “I would have said it again...”
“Hmph.” The corners of her lips finally curled up in satisfaction. She felt that this blockhead had actually suddenly opened his eyes to love!
The two sat side by side on the massive blue stone. Behind them lay a continuous stretch of dark, beautiful mountains. The evening glow painted the sky, and the shimmering river flowed gently, reflecting the broken light of the setting sun.
The evening breeze blew back and forth, seemingly drawing the distance between them much closer.
She looked at his eyes again, pouting. Her hand resting on the stone moved slightly closer to his, and then closer still.
“Hey, Little Ling, this Valley Master allows you to hold my hand now. Don't overthink it; this is a privilege.”
The white-robed cultivator looked puzzled under the sunset. “Why should I hold your hand?”
The girl's fist clenched again. This was already the countless time she had clenched her fist today.
Thud—
Her fist hammered his chest.
“I'm ignoring you, you idiot!”
“I already said I'm not stupid!”
“You are! And you'll never open your eyes!”
“My array formations are unrivaled under heaven.”
“Aaaaah!!!”
“What are you screaming for? Could it be that you don't agree?”
The white-robed cultivator's brow furrowed in sudden seriousness.
“Do you believe that once I become an immortal, even a Red Dust Immortal won't be able to break the arrays I set up? No... wait, the spiritual energy in heaven and earth isn't enough to support a Red Dust Immortal in a prolonged assault. Strictly speaking, do you believe that even a Red Dust Immortal would find it difficult to breach my arrays?”
Seeing his serious expression, the girl in the jade-green gown was completely defeated by him...
“Yes, yes, yes! Your arrays are the absolute best...”
“Nonsense! With that look on your face, you clearly don't believe me. You're being too perfunctory!”
“Alright, alright. This Valley Master will be more serious.” She reined in her thoughts.
She blossomed into a smile and said, word by word, “Xiao Lingzhi's mastery of arrays is the absolute best!”
The white-robed cultivator was utterly dazed. He had never seen such a breathtaking smile.
The twilight fell upon her face. Her features softened, and a wave of warmth washed over him, making him feel as though he were bathed in a spring breeze.
It took him a long time to snap out of it. He said, “Since you acknowledge my arrays so much, once I become an immortal, I'll set up a Taixu Limitless Heaven and Earth Array for your Spring-Return Valley! I guarantee even a Red Dust Immortal will find it difficult to breach!”
“Oh, wait.” He thought of something else. “But that's the array left behind by your late master...”
Just as she was about to speak, he cut her off.
“Actually, that's not right either. With my realm at that time, I can completely overlay a new array on the outside of the old one, and even fully repair the old one. By then, the spiritual runes will connect, complementing each other as a twin array, taking its effectiveness to a whole new level! I really am a genius!”
Listening to him speak, her eyes also lit up.
She had to admit that Little Ling's talent in arrays was indeed irreplaceable. Just the ability to adapt and use arrays set up by others was something other array cultivators would spend a lifetime trying to learn.
“Then it's a promise! You have to set up that whatever-it's-called Heaven and Earth Array for my Spring-Return Valley!”
“It's the Taixu Limitless Heaven and Earth Array!”
“Alright, alright. The Taixu... Limitless Heaven and Earth Array!”
She intentionally put a little extra emphasis on the word "Taixu".
“You're hinting at something!”
“Am not!”
“Are you calling me weak?”
“Aren't you?”
“You haven't even tried, so how do you know if I'm weak or not?”
!!!
The moment those words were spoken, both of their faces flushed red at the same time.
“Little Ling, you rogue!”
“Cough... I didn't mean it that way!”
“You absolutely did!”
“I really didn't!”
“Then swear it!”
“I swear, if I did it on purpose, may lightning strike—”
A cool, delicate hand covered his mouth.
“Idiot, who asked you to make a deadly oath?”
“I just wanted to prove myself!”
“Alright, alright, you've proved yourself. You're not weak, and you didn't say it on purpose. Also, your arrays are indeed the best!”
“Hmph, of course! Once I set up the array for you, no one will ever be able to easily disturb you while you cultivate your spiritual herbs!”
“Alright, you're not allowed to go back on your word!”
“Hah, This Seat's word is as good as gold!”
“Hmph, you're just Little Ling after all.”
...
Rate on N.U.
