“You—” Pi Batian was momentarily at a loss as to Feng Yicheng’s curious logic. “I won’t waste my breath arguing with the likes of you. This is a chit that you can redeem at any of the Pi businesses in the area. Go retrieve your twenty thousand spirit crystals,” Pi Batian hissed, tossing it into Feng Yicheng’s hands. 

Feng Yicheng held it against the sun, as if trying to verify its authenticity.

“Well? Aren’t you going to let your dogs make way?” Pi Batian continued hissing.

“Brothers, the Pi family’s calling all of us dogs! What’re we going to do about it?” one of the swordsmen at the inn entrance hollered.

“Feng Yicheng, if you keep messing with me, don’t blame me for striking back.”

Sensing that Pi Batian was at his limits, Feng Yicheng relented. He didn’t want to force them to fight just yet, so he motioned to the swordsmen, “Everyone, make way! Young Master Pi and Lord Pi are homesick, so let’s not delay them any further!”

Only then did the Feng swordsmen grudgingly move away from the gate.

Pi Batian leapt onto his horse. As the horse trotted by Feng Yicheng’s side, Pi Batian pinned him with a look. “The Pi family won’t take this offense lying down.” He kicked his horse, sending it galloping toward the front of the carriages.

“Best of luck on your journey, Young Master Pi! I look forward to meeting you again!” Feng Yicheng shouted, his voice infused with spiritual energy.

Yun Ruoyan lay motionless in bed for weeks on end. All the spiritual herbs and pills that the Feng family could obtain had all been tried on Yun Ruoyan to no obvious effect. However, unlike what Feng Bo had predicted, Yun Ruoyan was clinging onto life with a tenacity that shocked one and all.

Unbelievably, her spiritual vortex, which had collapsed from being overly distended, was slowly but steadily rebuilding itself, and it seemed as though it would recover stronger than before. Her spiritual pathways, once ravaged by opposing and overwhelming amounts of spiritual energy, were gradually snapping back in place, becoming stronger than ever before. All sorts of small changes were happening throughout Yun Ruoyan’s body, coalescing into a massive strengthening of her constitution…

Li Mo had spent those weeks right by Yun Ruoyan’s side. He watched on as her face gradually turned from an ashen gray to a stark white, then a pale white, and gradually a faint red. Her ragged breathing turned stable, and his heart finally seemed to settle.

Feng Bo had paid Yun Ruoyan regular visits, and he was extremely shocked at what he saw. He had never seen a cultivator suffering such grave injuries live, let alone recover.

“Feng Bo, how’s Ruoyan doing?” Li Mo knew the basics of medicine, but he felt that his feelings would get in the way of giving an accurate diagnosis for Yun Ruoyan.

“She’s going to live, at the very least. I don’t know when she’ll wake up, but it looks like it’s just a matter of time now.”

The fifth day after Feng Bo’s pronouncement, Yun Ruoyan finally opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was Li Mo’s haggard appearance. Li Mo was currently cleaning Yun Ruoyan’s body with a damp cloth. He knew how much she liked to be clean and how she would wash up at least once daily, but that she hadn’t had a chance to bathe ever since arriving on the Mingyuan continent.

Li Mo had originally wanted to soak her in a bathtub, but Feng Bo dissuaded him from the idea, saying that it wouldn’t be suitable to move her too much. Instead, Li Mo could only wipe down her body daily.

When Li Mo’s towel touched a sensitive spot of hers, Yun Ruoyan suddenly exclaimed, “Ah, it’s itchy!”

Li Mo stopped moving and looked toward her serene face. Her lips were slightly open and somewhat parched, but she didn’t look as though she had spoken.

Thinking that he had misheard, Li Mo briefly sighed before continuing to clean her body. When his towel touched a sensitive spot of hers again, Yun Ruoyan opened her eyes. “Li Mo, don’t touch me there. It makes me itch!”

Li Mo raised his head again and looked into Yun Ruoyan’s bright eyes. “Yan’er, you’re finally awake!” His face, which had settled into an icy mask, finally showed some emotion.

Two days later, Yun Ruoyan’s body had recovered to such an extent that she could now walk, a rate of recovery so extreme that even Feng Bo marvelled at her constitution. Li Mo had been taking care of her attentively until she woke up, but once she did so, he began to treat her coldly.

This time, Li Mo was truly angry at her, at how rash she had been to once again put herself in the midst of danger, at how he was always a moment too late to save her whenever she encountered any danger, at how useless and helpless he was when she was in a critical juncture…

That night, Li Mo watched Yun Ruoyan finish her medicine and turned to leave. These few days, he and she had slept apart from each other.

“Li Mo, don’t leave. Don’t stay mad at me, alright?” Yun Ruoyan extended a hand to Li Mo, but he didn’t react. He even turned away so that he wasn’t looking at Yun Ruoyan.

“You lied to me. You promised me that you wouldn’t put yourself in danger needlessly,” Li Mo accused.

“It’s all my fault, I know. I’m sorry I caused you to worry again, and I’ll happily accept any punishment from you, but please don’t ignore me,” Yun Ruoyan held onto Li Mo’s arm tightly, trying to drag him to her, but he remained unmoved.

In the end, she had to resort to an underhanded trick. “Argh!” She suddenly clutched her head. “My head, it hurts!”

“Yan’er, what’s wrong?” Li Mo immediately jumped to her side.

Yun Ruoyan removed her hands from her head and smiled winningly at Li Mo, whose brows furrowed in anger. Before he could say anything, however, Yun Ruoyan grabbed him by the neck and pulled him close to her.

“Li Mo, will you forgive me? Aren’t I alright?”

“And if you’re not?” Li Mo replied coldly, then pried Yun Ruoyan’s hands away from his body. This time, he had set his mind on trying to change Yun Ruoyan’s reckless behavior.

Yun Ruoyan pulled on his arms with all her strength. When Li Mo still pushed her away, she pursed her lips, and her eyes began to water. “Li Mo, please don’t stay mad at me…”

There was nothing more devastating to Li Mo than Yun Ruoyan’s tears, which fell from her face like a string of pearls. Nevertheless, he forced himself to quash his affection for her. “Do you know what you’ve done wrong?”

Yun Ruoyan nodded, sniffing.

“Are you going to be this disobedient in the future?”

“No, I won’t.”

Li Mo raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

Yun Ruoyan extended an arm and pledged, “I, Yun Ruoyan, swear never to fail to listen to my husband’s objections and recklessly put myself in harm’s way again. Otherwise, let me be struck by light—”

Before she could finish, Li Mo’s warm lips had covered hers up in a passionate kiss. Yun Ruoyan’s lips, like a flower half-wilted from thirst, eagerly accepted the kiss and drew him in deeper.

No amount of kissing could dissolve the concern and worry that Li Mo had built up over the last few weeks. He wished that he could absorb Yun Ruoyan into his body, so that he could be by her side forever and ever…

“Li Mo,” Yun Ruoyan called out, forcing the words out from between their kisses. When Li Mo heard her weak voice, he broke the kiss and began suppressing his emotions again.

The kiss had turned her cheeks a flushed red, and her dry lips were now a luscious pink. Her neck and shoulders had turned a rosy hue, as though she were a flower that had just budded.

Li Mo carefully held the flower in his arms, then embraced her tightly. “Oh, Yan’er, what am I going to do with you?” Li Mo sighed.

“I’m sorry to make you worry again.” She knew full well how devastating it had to have been for Li Mo.

“You shocked me half to death, 

again

.”

“I know.” Yun Ruoyan rested her jaw on Li Mo’s shoulder and nuzzled him, then gave him a kiss on the cheek. “I promise I’ll listen to you from now on.”

“Don’t you dare scare me again.”

“I won’t, I promise. Now, don’t move, I’m… so sleepy that I’d like to… just rest like this… for a while…”

Li Mo could hear Yun Ruoyan’s gentle, calm breathing right by his ear, the most pleasant music in the world. Finally relaxed, Li Mo also drifted off to sleep...

Back in the Pi manor, Pi Yan sat cross-legged in his secret chamber. His upper body was nude, and a ray of light from the mirror behind him was impinging on his back.

Pi Yan’s face went from blue to white, then red, and finally back to its normal color. He opened his mouth slightly, and a small trickle of dark red blood left his lips.

Pi Yan opened his eyes, which gleamed with an icy blue light.

“Your wounds are healed, and I’ve cleansed the impurities from your blood.” The light in the mirror behind him was replaced by the image of a white-robed man, none other than the silver dragon clan elder himself.

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