Stepping back into the valley shrouded in multicolored poisonous miasma, Lin Yi felt the surging energy of ice and fire intertwining—and his state of mind was entirely different from the last time.
Behind him, Xiao Wu was so nervous that her palms were sweating. Especially when she saw Poison Douluo Dugu Bo in his dark green robe, his gaze sinister, she could barely stop herself from turning and running.
However, Dugu Bo merely glanced at her. His gaze lingered briefly on the Lovesick Heartbreak Red at her waist, which gave off a strange aura, before turning to Lin Yi. His tone was impatient. "Kid, back to disturb my peace again? How long are you staying this time?"
He hadn't seen through Xiao Wu's identity as a Soul Beast. For one thing, the Lovesick Heartbreak Red, the finest of Immortal Herbs, was excellent at concealing her aura;
for another, Dugu Bo's attention was focused more on Lin Yi. He had complicated feelings about this kid, who brought both "hope of a cure" and "trouble."
"Sorry for the trouble, senior. I may be in seclusion for a while this time, possibly until just before the Soul Master Tournament," Lin Yi said, cupping his hands.
Dugu Bo snorted and said no more. With a flicker, he vanished into the mist by the Fire Spring.
Only after Dugu Bo had left without noticing anything amiss did the tension finally ease from Xiao Wu's nerves. She quietly let out a breath.
She stroked the Lovesick Heartbreak Red in her arms, her feelings toward Lin Yi too complicated to put into words. He had forced her into this, but he had also given her this layer of protection.
Lin Yi paid no heed to Xiao Wu's private thoughts and headed straight for the Ice Spring. The chill washed over him, yet he felt utterly at ease. He sat cross-legged in his usual spot at the spring's edge and immediately entered a state of cultivation. Pure, frigid energy surged into him like a hundred rivers flowing into the sea, driving his Soul Power at level sixty-seven toward greater heights.
Xiao Wu stood off to the side, unsure what to do. Though the valley was rich in energy, the extremes of ice and fire weren't the ideal cultivation environment for her Soft Bone Rabbit Martial Soul.
After his cultivation session, Lin Yi opened his eyes and looked at the bewildered Xiao Wu. His immense spiritual power slowly spread out, like the most precise scanner, carefully sensing the traces of Immortal Herbs and spirit medicines left in the valley. Soon, he found several mild herbs that were suited to Xiao Wu, nourishing her foundations and improving her speed and flexibility.
He rose, picked them with precision, and handed them to Xiao Wu. "Take these and refine them here. They'll benefit your cultivation and Martial Soul."
Xiao Wu paused. She looked at the spirit herbs glowing with spiritual energy in her hands, then at Lin Yi's impassive face. Without a word, she accepted them and went somewhere a little farther from the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, where the energy was more even, then began to cultivate. As the medicinal power spread, it nourished her meridians and Soul Power, and her cultivation speed indeed improved considerably. Her feelings were hard to sort out: she was pleased to benefit, yet humiliated by the sense that she was being "fed."
The days passed in a routine that was almost monotonous.
Lin Yi devoted himself to cultivation by the Ice Spring every day. Xiao Wu cultivated in the area he had assigned her, making use of the spirit herbs and the valley's rich natural energy.
And every day, after cultivation, Lin Yi would make a demand that left Xiao Wu blushing with embarrassment, yet unable to refuse.
"Fetch some water and wash my feet." His tone was matter-of-fact, as though he were ordering something perfectly ordinary.
Xiao Wu bit her lip, torn inside. But thinking of her secret and her circumstances, she could only swallow her humiliation and do as he said.
She brought water from the spring, knelt before Lin Yi, and carefully removed his shoes and socks. Then she lowered his feet, chilled from years of cultivation, into the water and rubbed them with her slender fingers, still a little clumsy.
What surprised her more was that after she finished, Lin Yi would sometimes tell her to sit down. Then, as she watched in astonishment, he would wash and massage her feet himself.
His touch was hardly gentle, even a little awkward. But his focused expression and the warmth of his fingertips made Xiao Wu's heart skip a beat for no clear reason. A blush spread across her face, and even her ears burned.
This strange intimacy, nearly humiliating yet tinged with something close, continued day after day.
At first, Xiao Wu had resisted fiercely, hurt and angry. Gradually, she grew numb to it—and later, she even began to feel a hint of habit and anticipation that she herself refused to acknowledge.
She realized she was no longer so afraid when Lin Yi came close. Sometimes, while he cultivated, she would sneak a look at his stern profile, a strange ripple stirring in her heart.
A man and a woman, isolated from the world—under such extreme circumstances, certain feelings often took root beyond anyone's control.
It happened one day, half a month after they entered the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
Xiao Wu had just finished washing Lin Yi's feet and was about to get up when he suddenly reached out and caught her by the wrist.
Caught off guard, Xiao Wu fell into his arms. A strong masculine scent mingled with the chill of the Ice Spring and enveloped her.
She looked up in alarm and met Lin Yi's deep eyes, as if they could draw her in.
His gaze was no longer as calm and unreadable as before. Something blazed in it—something Xiao Wu couldn't understand, something like desire and... impulse.
The next moment, before Xiao Wu could react, Lin Yi lowered his head and seized her soft lips with a possessiveness that allowed no argument.
"Mmph..." Xiao Wu's mind went blank. Her eyes widened, her body stiffened, and she forgot to struggle.
It was a sensation unlike anything she had ever experienced: unfamiliar, tingling, and charged with a heart-stirring aggression.
When the kiss ended, Lin Yi looked at Xiao Wu in his arms. Her eyes were hazy, her cheeks flushed, and her breathing faintly uneven. The impulse in his heart turned into a strange sense of satisfaction. He said nothing, simply releasing her.
Like a startled fawn, Xiao Wu sprang away and covered her lips. Her heart pounded wildly. She didn't dare look at Lin Yi again and fled as if running for her life.
But from that day on, this seemed to become their new "daily routine." No longer content with washing his feet, Lin Yi pulled Xiao Wu into his arms after cultivation every day and claimed a kiss, sometimes brief, sometimes lingering.
At first, Xiao Wu would put up a token struggle. Gradually, her resistance weakened, and sometimes she even responded awkwardly.
Their relationship grew more and more complicated and intimate amid this mix of force and half-hearted acquiescence.
This little corner of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well seemed to become a world belonging only to them, with the turmoil and grudges of the outside world shut away for the time being.
Time flew by amid cultivation and this ambiguous daily routine.
Three months later, with the help of abundant spirit herbs and Lin Yi occasionally using his Soul Power to ease her meridians, Xiao Wu smoothly broke through the bottleneck at level forty!
And because she was a hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast in human form, she didn't need to hunt Soul Beasts for Soul Rings before level seventy. Her Soul Rings would appear automatically as her strength grew.
She only needed to reveal them at the appropriate time. After her breakthrough, her bearing seemed to have changed subtly. She was less youthful, more radiant.
As for Lin Yi, the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well was an excellent environment, and he had taken some spirit herbs that enhanced ice-type Soul Power. But after reaching Soul Emperor, each level became increasingly difficult to gain.
After Xiao Wu's breakthrough, he cultivated bitterly for another month before finally advancing from level sixty-seven to level sixty-eight. Feeling his progress slow more and more, Lin Yi knew that further improvement would require greater opportunities and trials.
For the next three months, the two continued their life of cultivation and intimacy at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. Xiao Wu's Soul Power steadily rose to level forty-one. She had grown almost entirely accustomed to Lin Yi's kisses and touch. Sometimes, while he cultivated, she would even wipe his brow, though there was no sweat there, her gaze carrying a dependence she herself hadn't noticed.
Only when their seven-month seclusion was about to end, with less than a month remaining before the preliminaries of the All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Academy Elite Tournament, did Lin Yi finally decide to leave seclusion.
He left with Xiao Wu, whose bearing had clearly transformed and whose Soul Power had reached level forty-one, departing the secluded realm that had held seven months of special memories for them and returning to Heaven Dou Royal Academy.
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