Ying Chengfeng didn't continue chatting with Qian Renxue.
Instead, he headed inside the house.
His mother, Ji Qingyi, was sitting cross-legged on a cushion, cultivating.
Only when Ji Qingyi noticed Ying Chengfeng enter did she stop cultivating.
"Mother."
Ying Chengfeng called out, then said, "I'm planning to help Yu Feiyan obtain her Second Soul Ring."
"No rush." Ji Qingyi smiled gently. "What do you think of Little Xue'er?"
"Hm?" Ying Chengfeng tilted his head.
Ji Qingyi continued, "Strictly speaking, you're nineteen, and Little Xue'er is already eighteen."
"Don't you have even the slightest romantic interest in Little Xue'er?"
"Am I supposed to?" Ying Chengfeng shook his head with a laugh.
Ji Qingyi, however, was unusually serious. "Is Little Xue'er not a good girl?"
Hearing that, Ying Chengfeng looked up at the ceiling.
What was he supposed to do with this?
After thinking for about half a minute, Ying Chengfeng finally said, "Let's talk about it later."
Ji Qingyi spoke in a tone that sounded exasperated with him for not living up to her expectations. "Once Little Xue'er grows up a little, there'll be no shortage of people pursuing her."
"Have you thought about what might happen when Little Xue'er returns to Spirit Hall?"
"If the elders find out what you've done, will they let you off?"
"You have no other path. You can only make Little Xue'er the person closest to you."
"Only if she entrusts herself to you completely might she keep this secret."
"Think it over."
Ying Chengfeng fell into thought.
Of course, he had considered all of this.
If he wanted to keep this secret, he could always choose to kill Qian Renxue.
But he couldn't bring himself to do it.
He couldn't do something so cruel, unjust, and disloyal.
Ying Chengfeng sighed faintly. "I'll think about it."
Then he walked out of the house.
Qian Renxue came over to meet him.
"What did you talk about with Qingyi Mom?" Qian Renxue asked curiously.
Ying Chengfeng was taken aback. "Qingyi... Mom?"
"Yeah." Qian Renxue said as if it were only natural. "Qingyi Mom told me to call her that."
"Suit yourself." Ying Chengfeng was at a loss for words again.
Mom, you're rushing things way too much.
This seemed to be heading in a direction he couldn't understand.
Was Qian Renxue really going to ignore her own mother, too?
Ying Chengfeng looked at her seriously and asked, "Do you know what traits a Six-Winged Angel is supposed to have?"
Qian Renxue froze at the question.
It seemed no one had ever told her.
Ying Chengfeng said, "Justice, holiness, and solemnity."
"What about them?" Qian Renxue tilted her head at him.
"Do you think you have those three traits?"
"Why do I need to have those three traits?" Qian Renxue asked.
Ying Chengfeng fell silent.
Before he had met Qian Renxue, the Qian Renxue in his mind had none of those three traits.
Of course, it seemed she still didn't have them now.
"But I have things I want to pursue." Ying Chengfeng gazed up at the sky.
Qian Renxue looked up too and held out her hand to catch a snowflake.
"I know."
"You like the wind because it's free, and you like freedom."
"I like it, too."
"Do you like snow?" Qian Renxue asked.
"For now, I'd say I do," Ying Chengfeng replied.
Qian Renxue smiled faintly. "Don't you think wind and snow make a lovely pair?"
After saying that, she bashfully turned her head away, then asked, "Why do you think angels should be just, holy, and solemn?"
"Instinct," Ying Chengfeng said, unsure how else to explain it.
Qian Renxue continued, "But a Six-Winged Angel like that would lose a lot, wouldn't she?"
"If that's what it means, then I don't want to be an angel."
Her gaze grew resolute as she quietly watched Ying Chengfeng's profile.
Ying Chengfeng continued looking up at the sky. Today, it was blue and white.
After a long while, Ying Chengfeng finally turned to look at her.
Meeting his gaze, Qian Renxue said, "I feel like you have some kind of preconceived bias against me."
Ying Chengfeng smiled in surprise. "What makes you say that?"
Qian Renxue pretended to think it over. "Sometimes, whenever you look at me, you shake your head for no reason."
"Maybe it's because I think you're a little silly?"
"I really am a little silly." Qian Renxue rolled her eyes at him.
"If I weren't, I wouldn't have let you trick me into the Dream Space, and I wouldn't have followed you here in a daze."
Qian Renxue bit her lip. "So you have to take responsibility for me."
"What do you want me to do?" Ying Chengfeng looked at her.
Qian Renxue thought for a few seconds before answering, "I haven't decided yet."
"Then don't decide too soon." As he spoke, Ying Chengfeng walked over to a thick snowdrift.
"Want to build a snowman?" he asked her.
Qian Renxue came over. "Teach me."
"Okay."
So the two of them crouched beside the thick snowdrift and began building a snowman.
Qian Renxue wasn't very good at crafts.
The snowman she made was square and chubby, and you could just about tell it was a person.
"This is you." Qian Renxue stuck a twig where the snowman's mouth should be.
Then she looked at the snowman Ying Chengfeng had built beside it. It was clearly much more refined.
"Is this me?" Qian Renxue asked.
"..." Ying Chengfeng really didn't know how to answer.
Qian Renxue was being especially dramatic today.
Compared with the snowmen the two of them had built, Shui Bing'er, not far away, joined in as well.
Shui Bing'er used her Soul Power to carve a life-size ice sculpture of Ying Chengfeng.
Then she said to Ying Chengfeng and Qian Renxue, "Your snowmen are both terrible."
Qian Renxue looked at Shui Bing'er's ice sculpture and said indignantly, "You're just showing off, aren't you?"
"You're infringing on my portrait rights," Ying Chengfeng chimed in.
Seeing Ying Chengfeng take her side, Qian Renxue smiled triumphantly.
"When is she leaving?" Qian Renxue really didn't want to see Shui Bing'er again.
Ying Chengfeng thought it over. "Probably soon."
The people from Skywater Academy had already left a day ago.
Skywater Academy would likely send someone to pick Shui Bing'er up by now.
Skywater Academy was unlikely to leave a genius Soul Master out on her own.
Besides, Shui Bing'er was a direct descendant of the Shui Family.
Sure enough, just after nightfall, two women dressed in Skywater Academy uniforms arrived.
"Bing'er, come back with us," said a woman with a cool, aloof air.
Shui Bing'er made no move. She only glanced at Ying Chengfeng.
Then she asked, "Which academy are you from? Or, to put it another way, which family do you belong to?"
At that point, the cool woman looked at Ying Chengfeng as well.
She considered this for a moment before saying, "If you're willing, Skywater Academy can make an exception and admit you."
Before coming, the cool woman had apparently learned a little about Ying Chengfeng and the others.
She didn't know where they came from, but she did know they were very strong.
Ying Chengfeng replied without a second thought, "I'm not interested. Hurry up and take her away."
The cool woman didn't press the matter. She led Shui Bing'er away, though Shui Bing'er was clearly reluctant to go.
"She's finally gone," Ying Chengfeng sighed.
With Shui Bing'er here, they hadn't been able to do anything freely.
But now things were fine. They could go and obtain the Soul Ring.
Before you continue