Deliberately waiting for nightfall, Yang Kai descended fifty miles from High Heaven Pavilion, his feet touching the ground lightly. Switching to his movement skill, he closed the distance in an hour. As the sect's familiar silhouette emerged against the darkened sky, a faint smile crossed his lips. He carried two sacks slung over his shoulder containing the treasures that he found from the cave, with Mo Yanyu, Mu Yu Die, and Di Yalan trailing behind him.
He had no particular sense of belonging to this sect, but he knew that waiting inside was a woman who would accompany him for his entire life.
He secretly snuck into the sect, but just as he set foot inside, Yang Kai frowned.
Yang Kai's eyes narrowed. He had just noticed that there were many Divine Senses that had swept over himself.
In the past, it was impossible for Yang Kai to feel this; after all, someone who could use their Divine Sense to probe him would have a cultivation of at least the Immortal Ascension Boundary, higher than his own by several great realms.
But since he had received the Five-Colored Soul-Warming Lotus, Yang Kai's perception had become sharp enough that when a Divine Sense had probed him, he would be aware of it.
However, these Divine Senses were unfamiliar; they were certainly not from an Elder of the High Heaven Pavilion.
Fortunately, these Divine Senses were just probing him and held no malice, quickly checking him and then no longer caring about Yang Kai. However, this discovery made his heart jump a bit.
"Why are there so many masters here?" He murmured to himself, his heart tightening.
He had some faint speculations but ultimately could not help sighing. Evidently, the sect would not be peaceful anymore.
Mo Yanyu stepped closer, her voice low. "What's wrong?"
"Strangers," Yang Kai replied, his tone steady despite the questions swirling in his mind. "Watching us."
Mu Yu Die and Di Yalan exchanged a glance, their trust in him unspoken but evident after months on the road together.
At almost the exact moment Yang Kai returned to the High Heaven Pavilion, Su Yan, who was in secluded retreat, opened her eyes.
"He's come back?" Su Yan whispered, lightly biting her lips, her face unable to stop a hint of blush from surfacing. It was as if somewhere, there was a voice calling out to her, whispering to her that the person she longed for was close by, filling her with a kind of sensuous mood, making Su Yan somewhat distraught, unable to maintain her meditation.
"He really is my curse! He had not been here these days, and although sometimes it had been very difficult, by circulating my Ice Heart Secret Art, I could at least manage to gradually calm down…"
However, with this constant testing of her limits, her state of mind had become more and more stable.
But the instant she knew he came back, it was as if her Ice Heart Secret Art had completely lost its role, incapable of calming her heart even the slightest bit.
At that moment, Su Yan did not resist, instead standing up, opening the door, and leaving only a cold wind and dust behind; her body turned into a long white shadow, rushing towards the Coiling Dragon Stream.
By the stream, Yang Kai paused, sensing her approach. His mouth curved into a fleeting smile, but guilt quickly shadowed it. He'd traveled with Mo Yanyu, Mu Yu Die, and Di Yalan, and his bond with Mo Yanyu weighed heavily on him now. Su Yan was his heart's true anchor, yet he'd let lines blur with another. The presence of the two other women only deepened his shame. How do I face her like this?
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Standing next to the Coiling Dragon Stream for only a few breaths, a white figure quickly approached. The figure suddenly stopped around thirty feet from Yang Kai.
Four eyes suddenly met, all overflowing with affection.
Yang Kai's eyes filled with longing, while Su Yan's were full of tenderness.
Quietly gazing at each other, each one trying to see just what changes the other had experienced these past few months.
His cultivation had greatly increased, and his figure was somewhat more robust, but his eyes held a trace of hidden vicissitudes and dejection. This seasoned and weary look should not have appeared on someone of his age, but it had added a trace of maturity and calm to him. Seeing all this, Su Yan's heart suddenly felt a faint pain.
She understood that during these months, Yang Kai must have endured many harsh trials. She was like an eternal gemstone, her temperament more and more refined, free of any worldly contamination, pure and flawless. Anyone standing before her would be humbled and ashamed to gaze upon her. Clear as ice, pure as jade, skin as white as snow, an alluring face which could topple cities, a delicate yet radiant complexion. It was as if an immortal fairy had descended to earth, surrounded by a noble and holy aura.
Although she was already his, and he had also been intimate with her, when they met here, Yang Kai still felt somewhat like he was dreaming.
Su Yan's nobility and ice-like purity had obviously not suffered in the slightest from being with Yang Kai. Yet, as her gaze shifted beyond him, a subtle ripple crossed her serene features. She noticed them—three figures lingering in Yang Kai's shadow: Mo Yanyu, Mu Yu Die, and Di Yalan. Her eyes narrowed faintly, a mix of curiosity and something sharper—jealousy, perhaps—flickering beneath her composed exterior.
Suddenly, the surroundings seemed to drop into a frigid stillness. The air grew heavy, the jungle's humid warmth replaced by a biting chill, as if the Coiling Dragon Stream itself had frozen over. The girls behind Yang Kai shivered, their breaths misting in the icy air, their presence now an unspoken weight.
Yang Kai felt it—the coldness radiating from Su Yan, the tension coiling tighter. His heart clenched. After having suppressed his impulses for so long, the passion buried within his heart all of a sudden exploded out. He stepped forward, closing the distance in an instant, and unceremoniously embraced Su Yan's waist, his arms pulling her against him. His lips sought hers desperately, a hungry edge to the kiss that shattered the icy veil around them.
Su Yan stiffened for a heartbeat, then melted into him, the coldness dissipating like frost under the sun. Her hands gripped his robe, anchoring herself as the warmth of his touch flooded through her. The jungle exhaled, the chill retreating as their embrace rewrote the air.
Behind them, Mo Yanyu's eyes darkened with a quiet sting, while Mu Yu Die and Di Yalan shifted uncomfortably.