Within the quiet chamber, tenderness flowed.
Qin Feng's domineering yet gentle promise was like a boulder cast into a tranquil lake, stirring monstrous waves deep within Shi Ji's soul that refused to subside for a long time.
"With me here, no one in the Three Realms will be able to harm you in the slightest."
It was such a simple sentence.
Yet it was more stirring, more reassuring, than any vows of eternal love or oaths sworn upon the Great Dao.
This female immortal, who had cultivated through countless eras, witnessed the brutality of the primordial world, and tempered her heart until it was as hard as Ten Thousand Year Profound Ice, felt as though her entire world was melting at this moment.
Melting into the large hand that still lingered beside her cheek, warm to the touch, and into the man's eyes, as deep as a starry sky.
Shi Ji gazed foolishly at Qin Feng. That flawless, devastatingly handsome face seemed ready to brand itself into the deepest reaches of her soul.
She parted her lips, wanting to say something, only to realize that every word seemed pale and powerless at this moment.
Should she thank him? Or express how moved she was?
Neither seemed right.
It seemed that only by entrusting everything she had—her soul, her Great Dao, and all her future—to this man without reservation could she repay even a fraction of this kindness.
Just as Shi Ji's heart and mind churned, on the verge of falling completely under his spell, Qin Feng's fingers resting against her cheek brushed lightly across it by accident.
His warm fingertips brought a faint tickling sensation as they traced her jade-smooth cheek. Like a tiny current of electricity, it instantly raced through every part of her body.
Boom!
Shi Ji's delicate body jolted violently. It was as though she had been struck by Nine Heavens Divine Thunder, and her mind went blank.
An unprecedented numbness spread wildly from the point where his fingers had touched her cheek, sweeping through her entire body and seeming to drain all strength from her limbs, leaving her instantly limp.
She had never been this close to any man.
Nor had she ever felt that a man's presence could be so reassuring, yet so... unsettlingly intoxicating.
That pure, vast masculine aura, mixed with an indescribable hint of dominance, was like the strongest immortal brew. One breath of it was enough to leave this Grand Unity Golden Immortal of the Interception Sect utterly drunk.
Dao Heart?
What was a Dao Heart?
At that moment, Shi Ji's Dao Heart, which she had guarded for ten thousand years, was as fragile as a sheet of paper. This sudden intimacy effortlessly shattered it completely, leaving not even scraps behind.
Her incomparably beautiful face, usually as cold as frost, rapidly flushed with captivating crimson visible to the naked eye. The color spread from her cheeks to the tips of her ears, then down her fair, slender neck, leaving no part untouched by that delicate, enticing pink.
She abruptly lowered her head. Her long lashes trembled wildly as she no longer dared to meet Qin Feng's eyes.
Her heart pounded like a drum, thumping so violently that it seemed ready to leap from her throat.
It was over.
Completely over.
All those countless eras of cultivation had gone to the dogs.
Just as the ambiguous, enchanting atmosphere within the cave dwelling reached its peak, the air itself seeming to turn into thick syrup, sweet enough to make one sick.
In the next instant, however, Qin Feng's gaze imperceptibly sharpened. His deep eyes seemed to pierce through the cave walls and look toward the distant heavens.
The smile at his lips did not change, but he slowly withdrew the hand that had left Shi Ji so distracted.
Shi Ji's heart suddenly felt empty. As an inexplicable sense of loss rose within her, she assumed that her loss of composure had displeased the senior and was just about to gather her courage to explain herself.
But Qin Feng's calm voice, carrying a trace of amusement, sounded beside her ear.
"A few flies have arrived."
Shi Ji froze, still unable to understand what he meant.
Qin Feng had already turned and given her a reassuring smile.
"Sit here and wait. I'll be back shortly."
His tone was relaxed and unconcerned.
As if what he was about to deal with truly was nothing important, merely a few mosquitoes and flies disturbing his peaceful rest.
But Shi Ji was no fool.
The instant Qin Feng finished speaking, one—no, twelve—terrifying auras powerful enough to suffocate descended from the heavens. Like twelve Primordial Divine Mountains, they crashed down over the entirety of Skeleton Mountain!
Those twelve auras were domineering and sharp, filled with a lofty air of judgment. Their energies were linked together, faintly forming a murderous grand formation that sealed every escape route from Skeleton Mountain!
Each aura represented a genuine Grand Unity Golden Immortal!
And they were famed Chan Sect immortals, each wielding powerful magical treasures and backed by a Saint's Orthodox Lineage!
The Twelve Golden Immortals had arrived together!
What a terrifying lineup!
This was a force enough to drive any power beneath the Quasi-Saint realm in the primordial world to despair!
Not to mention Shi Ji alone—even among Tongtian Jiaozhu's disciples, aside from those personal disciples, who would dare claim they could face such a formation alone?
Shi Ji's face turned deathly pale.
The blush that had just risen from embarrassment vanished in an instant, replaced by terror and fear that seeped into her bones.
The Chan Sect...
The Chan Sect had actually dispatched such a terrifying force over a single Taiyi!
They intended to raze Skeleton Mountain to the ground! They intended to grind her bones to ash!
"Se... Senior..."
Shi Ji's voice trembled. Instinctively, she wanted to grab Qin Feng and urge him to avoid their edge for now, to tell him just how terrifying those who had come were.
This was no joke!
These were the Twelve Golden Immortals of the Chan Sect! Disciples of a Saint!
Yet all her panic and every word of warning caught in her throat when she saw Qin Feng's back as he turned and walked toward the cave entrance. She could not say a single word.
It was a tall, upright, utterly composed figure.
Though he stood alone, he seemed even more solid and unshakable than the combined pressure created by those twelve Golden Immortals.
Even the rhythm of his footsteps did not change in the slightest. Step by step, he leisurely walked toward the center of the storm, one capable of making heaven and earth change color.
At that moment, that figure grew infinitely taller in Shi Ji's eyes.
It seemed to transform into a vast firmament holding up the entire universe, steadily shielding her alone from every raging storm, every Killing Intent, and every danger outside the cave.
Inside the cave dwelling lay peace.
Outside lay the malice of the entire world.
And he was the strongest barrier dividing heaven from earth.
As she watched that figure, Shi Ji's heart, which had been pounding madly with fear, miraculously and gradually calmed completely.
All her worries and fears vanished like smoke at that moment.
In their place came an unprecedented peace and dependence that reached deep into her soul.
She gazed foolishly at the figure about to leave the cave entrance, and her beautiful eyes held nothing else.
With him here, it seemed that even if the heavens collapsed, there would be nothing to fear.
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