She Said, "Let's Pull Senior Sister Onto the Bed Together."

Ma Xiaotao plunged down like a meteor smashed from the heavens, wrapped in lingering crimson-gold flames as she dove fiercely toward a spot in the Outer Court.

Watching that crimson-gold streak rush toward him, Lin Ciyan's lips curved slightly.

He opened his arms.

If an ordinary defense-type Soul Emperor had taken the force of Ma Xiaotao crashing into his embrace, he would probably have broken three ribs.

Her body was still scorching hot, crimson-gold flames lingering across her skin. The heat of Ultimate Fire could nearly melt steel, yet it could not even scorch the corner of his clothes.

The protective aura of his light attribute unfolded automatically, wrapping around that heat capable of incinerating the air, like silk cupping a burning ember.

"You're out of seclusion?"

Ma Xiaotao buried her face against the side of his neck and gave a muffled "Mm."

There was something in that sound that had been suppressed for too long and had finally found an outlet—proud and willful, though the tail end sank lower, carrying a tremor only he could hear.

Then she raised her head. Those crimson-gold eyes stared straight at him, a small flame still flickering in her pupils, not yet withdrawn.

"I missed you."

Before he could reply, her lips pressed down on his.

A faintly cool sensation spread from his palm...

His hand rested against her lower back. Through the training uniform, its fabric slightly hot from the flames, he could clearly feel the dampness of a thin layer of sweat beneath.

It was the lingering warmth left behind after Ultimate Fire had surged through her body, seeping from the hollow of her waist and steaming into an extremely faint fragrance, tempered by flame.

Her waist was very slender.

That waist had just crossed the distance from Sea God Island