Waiting for the Returnee Amidst Wind and Snow

It had already been a month since Lin Xiao and the others left.

The Ye Family residence.

After the first early snow, winter had begun.

Outside the window, the north wind howled, and goose-feather snow drifted down in flurries. Heaven Dou City seemed to be wrapped in silver, waiting amid the wind and snow for those who would return.

During this period, Dugu Yan had been staying with Ye Lingling. After school, the two of them had nothing to do, and they longed day and night for Lin Xiao and the others to come back.

"Sister Yanyan, why do you think Lin Xiao still hasn't come back?"

"If he hasn't come back, then he hasn't come back. What why is there?"

"Sister Yanyan, do you think Martial Soul defects can really be fixed?"

"I don't know."

"Sister Yanyan... mmph!"

Before Ye Lingling could finish speaking, Dugu Yan grabbed her mouth first and gave it a rough kneading, then snapped irritably:

"Can't you learn to act a little like you do at school? Be more aloof?"

"You're asking me? Who am I supposed to ask?"

"You're so annoying!"

Ye Lingling looked at her resentfully.

"Sister Yanyan, fine, then I'll ask you something else."

"You're always spacing out. What are you thinking about?"

Veins bulged on Dugu Yan's forehead as she said, embarrassed and annoyed:

"I'm thinking about your big head, that's what!"

Ye Lingling was simply a huge contrast!

At school, from afar she looked aloof, up close she looked socially anxious, but with Dugu Yan, she chattered on and on like some nagging old mother!

Every word she had, she said it all to Dugu Yan!

"Lingling, if you keep this up, you can eat alone at school from now on!"

"No, Sister Yanyan!"

Ye Lingling panicked.

Only by Dugu Yan's side did she feel safe. If she had to eat alone, she would feel uncomfortable all over, as if everyone around her were staring at her.

She would die!

What if a boy came over to strike up a conversation then?

Without Sister Yanyan, how was she supposed to face it!

"I don't think you're socially anxious at all. When you first met Lin Xiao, weren't you pretty talkative?"

Dugu Yan rolled her eyes.

"That's different. Lin Xiao is just a little kid, and he's good-looking too, as pretty as a little girl."

Ye Lingling defended herself in a small voice.

"If Lin Xiao heard you say that, he'd fight you to the death!"

Dugu Yan kindly reminded her.

"Hee hee, it's not like I said it to his face."

"Besides, they've all gone far away now, and this is my home. So what if I say it out loud? Hmph! Who can stop me?"

Dugu Yan couldn't be bothered with Ye Lingling.

What a petty person intoxicated by success.

She was clearly a little coward, yet she loved pretending to be the big sister in front of Lin Xiao. Without Dugu Yan, she would have been exposed long ago!

Ye Lingling said, "Sister Yanyan, did you know? Lately, girls have been sending letters to Lin Xiao nonstop, one after another. A lot of thought went into every single one."

Dugu Yan paused slightly and turned back.

"There are girls sending letters to Lin Xiao? Isn't he an orphan?"

"Who knows? Maybe they're friends he knows."

"How do you know they're girls? Did you open the letters and read them?"

"How could I! It's just that the envelopes all have a faint fragrance, and they're pretty and delicate. Of course they couldn't be from boys!"

"Sister Yanyan, do you think they're from Lin Xiao's little girlfriend?"

"At his age, girlfriend my foot!"

Dugu Yan loudly retorted.

Ye Lingling shook her slender, fair fingers. "That's where you don't understand, Sister Yanyan. Lots of children already know about liking someone, and some even have boyfriends and girlfriends! Though in adults' eyes, it's more like a game of playing house."

"If you've known each other since you were little, that's called Childhood Sweetheart!"

Dugu Yan's face flushed red.

"Do we count as having known each other since we were little?"

"Huh? Sister Yanyan, we're both girls. It doesn't count!"

As the two chatted, they both kept guessing who the girl writing letters to Lin Xiao was.

What did she look like? How old was she?

In their daze, however, they did not notice that beyond the window, amid the vast snowy whiteness, there was now a vivid streak of Crimson Maple Color, burning like an autumn maple.

Ye Lingling caught sight of it from the corner of her eye and suddenly started, her mouth falling open in surprise, unable to speak.

Dugu Yan followed her gaze.

There, amid the swirling Wind and Snow, three figures of different heights were slowly walking over, and one streak of Crimson Maple Color was especially dazzling.

Inside the main hall.

Ye Lingling and Dugu Yan had both taken the Immortal Grass.

Their Martial Souls were undergoing evolution.

The room had grown much warmer.

Not much poison had accumulated in Dugu Yan's body, and Ye Qingxian had long since proven that the Martial Soul Curse of the Nine Hearted Begonia could be broken, so the atmosphere was fairly relaxed and comfortable.

After waiting half an hour.

Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling completed their Martial Soul Evolution one after another. On Dugu Yan's Jade Phosphorous Serpent Martial Soul, a Silver Horn had grown from its head. Its form was also slightly smaller than Dugu Bo's Golden Horned Jade Dragon, and it had condensed a silver Inner Core as well. The poison of her Martial Soul was slightly weaker than Dugu Bo's.

Ye Lingling's Nine Hearted Begonia, on the other hand, was the same as Ye Qingxian's.

The effects after evolution were completely equivalent too.

Both of their faces were filled with delighted surprise.

"My Soul Power reached rank thirty!"

"Mine too, and it feels like there's still a lot of energy stored inside my body!"

Lin Xiao said with a beaming smile, "How about it? I didn't go back on my word, did I?"

"I told you to wait for Good news. Didn't I come back with it before long?"

Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling both crowded forward.

Then they started wildly ruffling Lin Xiao's Crimson Maple Color hair.

"Little Lin Xiao, you really are something!"

"You can be considered a great Benefactor to me and Sister Yanyan!"

Lin Xiao's face darkened.

He knocked their hands away.

"Benefactor is going too far. Just don't call me Little Lin Xiao anymore!"

"If we don't call you Little Lin Xiao, what should we call you?"

Ye Lingling deliberately looked astonished.

"Then it's Tiny Little Lin Xiao."

A bright smile bloomed on Dugu Yan's Cold and beautiful face.

"Call me Lin Xiao!"

Lin Xiao gave a cold snort, and behind him, one yellow and one purple Soul Ring emerged.

"Of course, calling me Brother Xiao works too. From now on, I'll have your backs!"

A Thousand Year Soul Ring?!

Ye Lingling and Dugu Yan both looked utterly stunned.

His Second Soul Ring was a Thousand Year Soul Ring!

How had Lin Xiao done it?

Lin Xiao did not like showing off, but putting on a fierce display in front of Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling still felt very satisfying. He just loved seeing these two girls look like they had never seen the world before!

"I told you already. If you call me Brother Xiao now, once I develop properly in the future, how could I not look after you two? Do you understand early-stage investment or not!"

Lin Xiao was in the middle of boasting shamelessly.

But two pairs of delicate jade-like hands attacked together.

They grabbed Lin Xiao's hands and feet respectively.

"Lingling, Little Lin Xiao is showing off too much. Let's throw him outside and build a Snowman!"

"Seconded!"

Lin Xiao was carried to the backyard by the two of them.

With one toss into the snowdrift, he vanished without a trace.

Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling kept giggling nonstop.

Boom!

All at once, flames flared up.

Lin Xiao emerged from the snowdrift, clutching two huge snowballs in his hands. With precise aim, he hurled them right into the smug, pretty faces of Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling!

"You little—Lin Xiao!"

Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling charged into the backyard.

They scooped up snow and immediately struck back.

The scene dissolved into total chaos.

Listening to the lively laughter and shouting from the backyard, Ye Qingxian and Dugu Bo both showed faint smiles in their eyes.

"Hahaha, let the youngsters play. This Old Man won't join in."

"Ye Family Head, Yan Yan will stay with you for a few more days. Sorry to trouble you!"

"Senior Poison Douluo, you're too polite..."