After planting another round of level 1 crops, Xia Kong and Xiao Yi Xian returned to the Mountain Valley.
" screee!"
As soon as they appeared, they heard Little Blue's anxious cries from high above, some distance away. Unable to sense their presence, Little Blue had been searching everywhere and calling for them, and had already flown quite far from the valley.
"Toot~~toot."
Xiao Yi Xian blew her flute, its clear notes echoing gently through the valley. High above, Little Blue immediately cried out in response, his call brimming with the joy of finding those he had thought lost.
Watching Xiao Yi Xian and the Blue Eagle call to each other from afar, reassuring one another, Xia Kong felt deeply comforted. Yet his thoughts could not help drifting elsewhere as he began considering whether to set off for Wutan City that very day.
By his reckoning, they had only been away from Wutan City for a little over a month. When he had said goodbye to Ya Fei, he had told her he would be wandering for six months or a year. But plans could never keep pace with change. To establish a cycle of exchanging spiritual plants for gold coins, buying magic cores with gold coins, converting magic cores into sacred water, and using sacred water to grow higher-grade spiritual plants-and thereby snowball the enormous profit margins-he would simply have to thicken his skin and endure Ya Fei's teasing when he returned.
Besides, after more than a month apart, Xia Kong really did miss Ya Fei. Especially after spending this month in such intimate company with Xiao Yi Xian, able to touch but unable to feast, he had found the flames of desire stirred up more than a few times.
Had her plan to sell the special spiritual plants in batches gone smoothly over the past month or so? Had any more blind fools come looking for trouble?
At that thought, Xia Kong made up his mind.
He turned to Xiao Yi Xian and suggested that she accompany him to Wutan City, treating it as a little journey to relax between bouts of cultivation.
At the thought of Ya Fei also being in Wutan City, a trace of hesitation flickered through Xiao Yi Xian's eyes. After all, she was the third party who had intruded on someone else's relationship. Faced with meeting the original partner so soon, she naturally felt at a disadvantage. Still, this was something she could not evade forever, and after a brief pause, she nodded in agreement.
At the same time, she was genuinely curious about just what extraordinary charm and assets the woman Xia Kong had praised as almost unmatched in the world possessed.
With the matter settled, there were hardly any belongings to pack in the valley cottage. The two leaped onto the Blue Eagle's broad back and urged Little Blue to beat his wings, speeding toward Wutan City.
As a tier 2 magical beast, Little Blue flew exceptionally fast. In less than two hours, he had already traveled from deep within the Magical Beast Mountain Range to the skies above Qingshan Town.
"Would you like to go down and have a look?"
Sitting cross-legged on the eagle's back, Xia Kong held Xiao Yi Xian in his arms and quietly asked, noting her somewhat complicated expression.
When Xiao Yi Xian hesitated in silence, Xia Kong understood. She was still worried about her maid, Li Fei.
He raised a hand and gently patted Little Blue's feathers.
Man and eagle already understood each other perfectly. Little Blue quickly slowed down, and the dou qi barrier surrounding the two of them was withdrawn.
"Ah!"
Xiao Yi Xian gave a startled cry as Xia Kong wrapped his arms around her and leaped straight off the eagle's back, high in the sky.
Although they had already tried this sort of leap into open air and free fall several times, Xia Kong had given her no warning whatsoever this time. Caught off guard, Xiao Yi Xian was startled into locking her arms around his neck and wrapping her legs tightly around his waist, clinging to him like a koala.
The Purple Cloud Wings unfurled to cushion their descent. After weaving through the trees several times, they landed steadily in the woods outside Qingshan Town. The moment they touched down, Xiao Yi Xian gave Xia Kong an enormous eye roll.
Xia Kong cheerfully accepted her scornful look, finding this side of Xiao Yi Xian particularly amusing.
Xiao Yi Xian only wanted to quietly check on Li Fei's current circumstances, not make a grand appearance. Qingshan Town was, after all, something of a hometown to her, and familiar mercenaries were everywhere. If people saw her accompanied by a man, it would inevitably spark all manner of gossip. Her skin was not as thick as Xia Kong's; she could not bear people pointing fingers behind her back.
Since they had returned solely out of consideration for Xiao Yi Xian's feelings, Xia Kong naturally followed her wishes in everything.
Deliberately avoiding the people coming and going along the streets, they used the trees as cover to approach the Myriad Medicine Pavilion quietly, settling on the rooftop of the inn where Xia Kong had stayed before.
Looking down through gaps in the roadside foliage, they saw a young woman sitting in the place where Xiao Yi Xian had once treated patients inside the Myriad Medicine Pavilion. Dressed in a style very similar to Xiao Yi Xian's former attire, she was carefully tending and bandaging the wounds of two mercenaries.
Xia Kong and Xiao Yi Xian recognized her at once: it was Li Fei. A gentle smile graced the young woman's face, and her bandaging was practiced and deft, even a little more seasoned than Xiao Yi Xian's had been. Beside Li Fei stood another young woman who looked like a newly hired maid, watching intently and earnestly learning.
The scene was so similar to Xiao Yi Xian's days treating patients that even Xia Kong was filled with a hundred tangled emotions.
He wondered just what Xiao Yi Xian had written in the farewell letter she had left for Li Fei and Boss Yao. It had actually rewritten the course of Li Fei's fate, and even that of the entire Myriad Medicine Pavilion.
"You can tell she's doing very well now," Xia Kong remarked quietly, inwardly congratulating himself on his prophetic insight, as though he could foresee events like a god.
Xiao Yi Xian turned her head and glanced at him. "From the sound of that, are you saying I used to hold her back?"
"Not at all." Xia Kong hastily waved his hands. "She's inherited your mantle. Without you, she wouldn't be who she is today."
"That's more like it. Let's go."
Xiao Yi Xian spoke softly, her expression touched with the relief of letting go of the past and a gratified smile.
"All right."
Xia Kong answered and slipped an arm around Xiao Yi Xian's slender waist. The Purple Cloud Wings suddenly spread behind him, and with a light beat, the two shot straight into the clouds.
The powerful rush of air sent trees swaying wildly and stirred up clouds of dust.
The street below instantly erupted into an uproar.
"Look! Wings formed from dou qi! That's a Dou Wang expert!"
"Good grief! When did a Dou Wang come to Qingshan Town? Good thing I've been behaving lately and haven't caused any trouble!"
"Haha, Old Wang, didn't your wife catch you visiting a brothel again and make you hand over your conjugal dues at home?"
"Get lost! Quit talking nonsense!"
The noisy voices rose one after another.
One of the mercenaries whose wounds Li Fei had just been bandaging happened to look up at the figures sweeping across the sky. His brow creased slightly. "What's going on? Why does the person in that Dou Wang expert's arms look a little familiar?"
The instant the words left his mouth, he sprang to his feet and shouted excitedly, "It's Xiao Yi Xian! That's Xiao Yi Xian!"
His companion also tipped his head back to look, his face full of mixed emotions. "No wonder she looked familiar. It really is Xiao Yi Xian. To think she caught the eye of a lord Dou Wang. Ah... I hope she'll find a secure home from now on!"
Hearing their conversation, Li Fei briefly paused in her bandaging and raised her eyes to the sky, but only two ever-shrinking black dots remained.
Thank you for warning Boss Yao, and thank that senior Dou Wang for showing mercy twice. Xiao Yi Xian, I'll carry on this kindness of yours. May your wishes come true, and may you find happiness of your own.
She silently offered her blessing, then withdrew her gaze, composed herself, and focused on treating the next mercenary's injuries.
Besides those few mercenaries, many others on the street had been startled by the sound of the dou qi wings cutting through the air and had recognized Xiao Yi Xian high above. Human hearts took a hundred forms, and each harbored different thoughts.
But none of that had anything to do with Xia Kong or Xiao Yi Xian anymore.
The two flew back up into the sky and returned to Little Blue's back. With a long cry, the Blue Eagle beat his wings and flew away, continuing toward Wutan City.
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