Love Grows Over Time (Please Read)

Stepping into the valley shrouded in colorful poisonous miasma once more, Lin Yi felt a completely different state of mind as he sensed the surging energy of ice and fire intertwined.

Xiao Wu, following behind him, was so nervous her palms were sweating. Especially when she saw the Poison Douluo, Dugu Bo, clad in a dark green robe with sinister eyes, she almost couldn't control herself and wanted to turn and flee.

However, Dugu Bo merely glanced at her indifferently. His gaze lingered slightly on the Lovesick Heartbreak Red emitting a strange aura at her waist before turning to Lin Yi, asking impatiently, "Kid, disturbing my peace again? How long are you staying this time?"

He hadn't seen through Xiao Wu's soul beast identity. On one hand, the Lovesick Heartbreak Red, being a top-tier immortal herb, was excellent at concealing auras.

On the other hand, Dugu Bo's attention was more focused on Lin Yi, feeling complex emotions towards this young man who brought both "hope for healing" and "trouble."

"Apologies, Senior. This closed-door cultivation might take a bit longer, until the eve of the Soul Master Tournament," Lin Yi said, cupping his fists.

Dugu Bo snorted and said no more. With a flicker of his body, he vanished into the mist near the Fire Spring.

Seeing Dugu Bo leave without noticing anything unusual, Xiao Wu's taut nerves finally relaxed, and she let out a quiet sigh of relief.

She stroked the Lovesick Heartbreak Red in her embrace, her feelings towards Lin Yi a complex mix—he had coerced her, yet he was also the one who provided this protection.

Lin Yi ignored Xiao Wu's inner thoughts and walked straight towards the Ice Spring. The biting cold assailed him, yet he felt incredibly comfortable. He sat cross-legged in his usual spot by the Ice Spring and immediately entered a state of cultivation. Pure, extreme cold energy poured into his body like a hundred rivers flowing into the sea, pushing his level sixty-seven soul power towards a higher peak.

Xiao Wu stood by, feeling somewhat lost. Although the valley was rich in energy, the extreme ice and fire were not the most ideal cultivation environment for her Soft Bone Rabbit martial soul.

When his cultivation reached a temporary end, Lin Yi opened his eyes and looked at the somewhat bewildered Xiao Wu. His powerful mental energy slowly unfurled, like the most precise scanner, carefully sensing the residual auras of immortal herbs and spiritual medicines in the valley. Soon, he located several spiritual medicines with relatively mild properties, leaning towards strengthening the foundation, improving speed, and enhancing flexibility—perfect for Xiao Wu.

He stood up, precisely picked them, and handed them to Xiao Wu, "Take these and refine them here. They will be beneficial for your cultivation and martial soul."

Xiao Wu was stunned for a moment. She looked at the spiritual medicine radiating spiritual energy in her hand, then at Lin Yi's calm expression. She silently accepted it, walked to a spot slightly further from the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well where the energy was relatively peaceful, and began to consume and cultivate. The medicinal power dissolved, nourishing her meridians and soul power, and her cultivation speed indeed increased significantly. Her heart was filled with mixed emotions, a secret joy at receiving benefits, coupled with a sense of humiliation at being "fed."

Days passed, regular to the point of being monotonous.

Lin Yi cultivated diligently by the Ice Spring every day. Xiao Wu cultivated in the area designated by Lin Yi, aided by the spiritual medicines and the dense heaven and earth origin energy of the place.

And after each day's cultivation, Lin Yi would make a request that made Xiao Wu blush furiously yet unable to refuse.

"Go fetch water and help me wash my feet." His tone was natural, as if he were ordering a most ordinary task.

Xiao Wu bit her lip, her heart struggling immensely, but thinking of her secret and predicament, she could only comply with humiliation.

She brought the spring water, knelt before Lin Yi, carefully removed his shoes and socks, placed his feet—well-defined from years of cultivation, yet cool to the touch—into the water, and began to rub them with her slender fingers, somewhat unskillfully.

However, what surprised her even more was that after she finished, Lin Yi would sometimes have her sit down, and then, under her astonished gaze, he would personally wash her feet and massage them.

His technique wasn't exactly gentle, even a bit clumsy, but his focused expression and the warmth from his fingertips made Xiao Wu's heart skip a beat inexplicably, her face flushing, even her earlobes burning.

This interaction, bordering on humiliation yet laced with a strange intimacy, continued day after day.

Xiao Wu, from extreme resistance and grievance at the beginning, gradually became somewhat numb, and later, even... harbored a hint of habit and anticipation she was unwilling to admit?

She found herself no longer so afraid of Lin Yi's proximity. Sometimes, while he was cultivating, she would secretly observe his stern profile, a strange ripple stirring in her heart.

A man and a woman, isolated from the world, in such an extreme environment, certain emotions often grew uncontrollably.

This was one day, about half a month after entering the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.

Xiao Wu had just finished washing Lin Yi's feet and was about to get up and leave when Lin Yi suddenly reached out and grabbed her wrist.

Xiao Wu was caught off guard and fell into his embrace, enveloped by a strong masculine aura mixed with the chill of the Ice Spring.

She looked up in panic, meeting Lin Yi's deep eyes that seemed capable of drawing one in.

His gaze was no longer the usual calm and placid, but churned with a heat and... impulse that Xiao Wu couldn't understand.

The next moment, before Xiao Wu could react, Lin Yi lowered his head and, with an undeniable dominance, captured her soft lips.

"Mmm..." Xiao Wu's mind went blank instantly. Her eyes widened, her body stiffened, and she forgot to struggle.

It was a sensation she had never experienced before, foreign, numbing, with a heart-stopping invasiveness.

When the kiss ended, Lin Yi looked at Xiao Wu in his arms, her eyes hazy, cheeks flushed, and breathing slightly heavily. The impulse in his heart transformed into a peculiar sense of satisfaction. He said nothing more, simply released her.

Xiao Wu leaped away like a startled fawn, covering her lips, her heart pounding wildly, not daring to look at Lin Yi again, and fled as if escaping.

However, from that day on, this seemed to become the new "routine." Lin Yi was no longer satisfied with washing feet. Every day after cultivation, he would pull Xiao Wu into his arms and demand a kiss, whether long or short.

At first, Xiao Wu would still struggle symbolically, but gradually, her resistance grew weaker, and sometimes she would even respond clumsily.

The relationship between the two became increasingly subtle and intimate amidst this coercion and half-hearted compliance.

The small world of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well seemed to become a world belonging only to them, with external disturbances and grievances temporarily shut out.

Time flew by in cultivation and this ambiguous daily life.

Three months later, with the help of numerous spiritual medicines and Lin Yi occasionally using his soul power to help her clear her meridians, Xiao Wu's soul power naturally broke through the bottleneck of level forty!

Moreover, as she was a hundred-thousand-year soul beast in human form, she wouldn't need to hunt soul beasts for soul rings before level seventy; the soul rings would generate automatically as her strength increased.

She only needed to reveal her soul rings at the appropriate time. After successfully breaking through, her temperament seemed to undergo a subtle change, with less youthful innocence and more radiant charm.

As for Lin Yi, although the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well environment was excellent, and he had consumed some spiritual medicines that enhanced ice-attribute soul power, each level advancement after Soul Emperor became increasingly difficult.

After Xiao Wu's breakthrough, he cultivated diligently for another month before finally pushing his level sixty-seven soul power to level sixty-eight. Feeling the ever-slowing rate of advancement, Lin Yi knew that subsequent improvements would require more opportunities and trials.

For the next three months, the two continued their life of cultivation and intimate contact in the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. Xiao Wu's soul power steadily increased to level forty-one. She had almost completely adapted to Lin Yi's kisses and touches, and sometimes, while he was cultivating, she would proactively wipe away nonexistent sweat from his forehead, her eyes holding a dependence she herself didn't realize.

It wasn't until the seven-month closed-door cultivation period was nearing its end, with less than a month left until the preliminary rounds of the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Elite Tournament, that Lin Yi finally decided to emerge.

He took Xiao Wu, whose temperament had clearly transformed and whose soul power had reached level forty-one, and left this secret realm that held their seven months of special memories, returning to Heaven Dou Royal Academy.