Ya Fei's teasing words caused Xiao Yi Xian's earlobes to blush like the seeds of a thoroughly ripened pomegranate, as if they might drip blood at any second. Her cheeks burned fiercely, and she stealthily reached out to deliver a moderate pinch to Xia Kong's arm, using the action to mask the turbulent embarrassment surging within her heart.
Xia Kong had lived through past and present lives as a complete novice when it came to romantic matters, and being dragged into such ambiguous topics made it difficult for him to hold his ground either. He hurriedly steered the conversation back to business, seizing the opportunity to extricate both himself and Xiao Yi Xian from this awkward and delicate atmosphere that made everyone uncomfortable.
The depths of Ya Fei's beautiful eyes were brimming with playful amusement as she quietly watched Xia Kong. Seeing his expression gradually turn serious, she knew that whatever they were about to discuss must be an extremely crucial and secret matter, and she immediately reined in her teasing smile, sitting up a little straighter.
Inside the courtyard, the evening breeze brushed past leisurely, carrying with it the unique, fresh fragrance of the yard's vegetation. Little Blue, the second-rank Blue Eagle, curled up in a corner of the courtyard, lowering its head to peck at the Level-Three Rice Xia Kong had casually tossed out, occasionally emitting a low cooing sound that added a trace of timeless and tranquil peace to the small yard.
"That Dou Emperor friend I mentioned to you before is none other than the former guardian of the Mittel Family, the Ice Emperor Hai Bodong."
Even though Hai Bodong had no inkling at this moment that a person named Xia Kong existed in this world, Xia Kong had already mapped out a firm plan in his mind, single-mindedly determined to help him lift his seal and restore his cultivation. This "friend" of his-whether the other party acknowledged it willingly or not, they were going to accept it.
The very instant his voice fell, Ya Fei's deep, luminous pupils abruptly contracted, and the relaxed smile on her face completely vanished.
The Ice Emperor Hai Bodong-among the younger generation, quite a few people knew of his moniker, and even direct members of the Mittel Family like Ya Fei had only heard fragmentary legends about this Grand Elder from the older generation within the clan. Yet in the eyes of the older generation throughout the entire Jia Ma Empire, the name of the Ice Emperor could be described as thunderous to the ear.
He was a ruthless figure capable of freezing an entire city with his own solitary strength, holding the glorious battle record of single-handedly fighting a Dou Emperor and a Dou Wang from the Chu Yun Empire and defeating both of them together.
"The Ice Emperor Hai Bodong?" Ya Fei couldn't help lowering her voice, filled with disbelief. "Rumors say that this Grand Elder has vanished from the world for over a decade, with his life or death unknown. Could it be that you are acquainted with him and even know his whereabouts?"
Xiao Yi Xian also slightly knitted her delicate brows. Having lived for a long time in Qingshan Town, she knew very little about the pasts of the top-tier powerhouses in the Jia Ma Empire, so she simply sat quietly to the side without interrupting, waiting serenely for Xia Kong to continue his narrative.
"He is still alive, and right now he is inside Stone Desert City at the edge of the Tagor Desert." Xia Kong nodded slowly. "It's just that a dozen years ago, he fought Queen Medusa over a fragmentary map and was struck by a seal cast through her secret art. His original cultivation at the Dou Emperor level was ruthlessly suppressed, and now he only retains the strength of a Dou Ling."
"No wonder he hasn't returned to the Mittel Family for these dozen or so years. Presumably, it's because he was unwilling to let the news of his drastically fallen cultivation leak out and draw a crowd of former enemies to his doorstep for revenge."
After listening to Xia Kong's recount, Ya Fei experienced a sudden flash of enlightenment, a measure of commiseration and worry for Hai Bodong's plight welling up between her brows. But this emotion quickly transformed into a heart brimming with deep emotional stirring. With her cleverness, how could she fail to see through the intentions behind the transaction between Xia Kong and the person behind Xiao Yan? If Hai Bodong's seal was lifted and his cultivation returned to its peak, relying on the bond she shared with Xia Kong, she would undoubtedly be the biggest beneficiary. With Xia Kong going to such painstaking lengths for this, how could she possibly remain emotionally unmoved?
She had already secretly made up her mind in her heart that tonight, she would surrender herself to the young man before her. It wasn't simply to repay his thoughtful intentions, but even more because the month-and-more separation of days and nights in yearning had long made her accustomed to his presence, accustomed to his voice, his appearance, and that sense of security uniquely brought by him.
Xia Kong was completely oblivious to the turbulent twists and turns within Ya Fei's heart, and at this moment he was instead caught off guard by a nearly pedantic question from Xiao Yi Xian.
"You've never been to a border city like Stone Desert City, have you? How do you know the Ice Emperor is there, and how are you so clear about things that happened a dozen years ago?"
Hearing this persistent inquiry, Xia Kong's heart unexpectedly flashed with a trace of nostalgia, reminding him of Xiao Yi Xian from the original work-someone who, after experiencing the cold warmth of the mortal world and the thorough eruption of the Woeful Poison Body, grew indifferent to everything with her heart and soul revolving entirely around Xiao Yan.
Yet upon second thought, if he were to let the version of her before him go through all those hardships and turn into that sort of state, he was deeply and fundamentally unwilling.
An Xiao Yi Xian this innocent and carefree, holding curiosity toward all things in existence, was actually rather nice.
Ya Fei was likewise pulled back from her train of thought by Xiao Yi Xian's question. Possessing an exquisite mind, she similarly harbored plenty of doubts within her own heart, yet she never rashly opened her mouth to probe into Xia Kong's secrets.
Just like over the past year, she had noticed on several occasions that Xia Kong vanished into thin air while inside his room, only to carry back a fresh batch of mature fruits and vegetables with miraculous medicinal properties when he reappeared. Yet from start to finish, she never pursued or questioned a single bit of it, grasping the boundaries of propriety with absolute perfection.
Xia Kong looked at Xiao Yi Xian, who had opened a pair of clear, large eyes and wore a face full of bewildered curiosity, then turned his head sideways to gaze at the leisurely-expressioned Ya Fei. He could certainly have blurted out the hidden truth behind all of this, but once he spoke, he would have to explain a whole string of cause-and-effect origins. If any new members joined this loving big family in the future, he figured he would have to repeat the whole story over again, which was simply too troublesome. He had always detested and loathed trouble, so he routinely fobbed them off with his usual excuse: "I have my own special source of intelligence."
Seeing him use this exact same routine to brush Ya Fei off as well, Xiao Yi Xian felt a tiny trace of grievance sprout in the bottom of her heart, though her mood inexplicably balanced out a moment later.
So he treated Ya Fei the exact same way-he wasn't just keeping his guard up against her alone.
She stealthily raised her eyes to steal a peek at Ya Fei, wanting to see what kind of reaction the other woman would have.
Yet to her slight disappointment, Ya Fei still wore an air of careless, shallow smiling, entirely failing to take Xia Kong's perfunctory excuse to heart.
Catching Xiao Yi Xian's furtive, probing gaze, Ya Fei blinked her eyelashes gently, her smile growing even richer as it carried a nuance Xiao Yi Xian couldn't quite decipher.
As if running into an old cat, Xiao Yi Xian immediately retracted her gaze, pulling in her hands and feet while a wave of tension swept through her heart.
"Sister Ya Fei, Xian'er grew up in Qingshan Town since she was little, so her curiosity is just a bit heavier-it's nothing major."
"Oh? Hearing you say that, are you implying that Little Xiao Yi Xian has long hair and short insight?"
Ya Fei's sudden counter-attack caught Xia Kong completely off guard, leaving him stunned on the spot.
"Oh! You actually dare to say I lack insight-take this!"
Xiao Yi Xian immediately cooperated with Ya Fei to launch an attack on Xia Kong. The two of them possessed a marvelous tacit understanding, making Xia Kong involuntarily and secretly suspect that these two women must have been close girlfriends who had known and interacted with each other for a long time.
Jesters and playful frolics filled the courtyard for a time, echoes of joyous laughter ringing out everywhere.
After a bout of playfulness, the invisible barrier of unfamiliarity and guarded wariness that had stood between Ya Fei and Xiao Yi Xian dissipated into thin air without a trace.
"Xiao Yan's teacher is merely a fifth-grade alchemist. Can he truly refine the sixth-grade pill Elder Hai requires?" Ya Fei restrained her smile and asked earnestly.
"You can rest easy-Xiao Yan's teacher is by no means an ordinary figure."
Xia Kong rested his chin lightly upon Xiao Yi Xian's scapula, his warm breath scattering against her skin and causing a flush of heat to spread across her entire body as she struggled to break free from his embrace.
Xia Kong gathered his arms tighter, firmly imprisoning the beauty within his hold. Since he had just suffered the joint "punishment" of the two women, he naturally had to exact a small revenge in return.
Ya Fei was still turning plans for the night over in her mind, and faced with the intimate contact between the two of them at merely this scale, she didn't feel a shred of jealousy. Instead, she watched with breezy interest and continued to ask: "How so?"
Xia Kong figured that Ya Fei and Xiao Yi Xian ought to know a bit more about the fine details regarding Xiao Yan and Yao Lao so they would have a reference point for their actions in the future, and so he slowly began to speak: "Xiao Yan's teacher is named Yao Chen. In the past, he was an eighth-grade peak alchemist whose prestige shook the entire Central Plains Continent, and he even held the title of the Continent's Number One Alchemist, known as Venerable Yao. Even Pill King Gu He of the Jia Ma Empire didn't even possess the qualification to meet him face-to-face. It's just a pity that he was betrayed by his sole personal disciple, suffering the miserable end of his physical body being utterly destroyed and his soul heavily battered. Right now, Yao Lao's remnant soul is residing inside that black storage ring on Xiao Yan's hand. Even with a damaged soul, he is still capable of erupting with combat strength at the Dou Emperor tier; refining sixth-grade or seventh-grade pills cannot be counted as a difficult task for him."
Hearing that Xiao Yan's teacher was actually the former Continent's Number One Alchemist, Ya Fei and Xiao Yi Xian experienced simultaneous violent shocks in their hearts, drawing in a sharp breath of cold air in unison as they could only feel that it was utterly terrifying.
"For a figure like Venerable Yao to misjudge a disciple and end up in his current state of a lingering remnant soul is truly sigh-worthy."
Xia Kong, Xiao Yi Xian, and Ya Fei all felt a wave of deep emotion. Xiao Yi Xian also stopped struggling, nesting quietly within Xia Kong's embrace to maintain this somewhat bizarre yet heavily ambiguous posture.
After a moment, Xiao Yi Xian's soft voice sounded out, carrying a trace of unsupposable trepidation: "If one day you no longer want me, you must tell me straight and clear. I will leave on my own and will never come back to bother you again. Please don't strike at me behind my back-I'm afraid of pain."
As she spoke, actual sparkling teardrops fell from the corners of Xiao Yi Xian's eyes!
Xia Kong reached out, gently stroking her cheek to wipe away the dampness from the corner of her eye. He could clearly perceive the insecurity deep within her heart, and he lowered his voice to soothe her: "Rest assured, even if the day comes when you want to leave me, I will forcefully keep you by my side. Since you chose to follow me, there's no way I'm letting you walk away."
With that, he raised his eyes, gazing solemnly toward Ya Fei: "Ya Fei, the same goes for you."
"Giggle."
Ya Fei merely let out a light laugh without uttering any sort of verbal promise, yet deep within her heart, she had already established an oath of life-and-death companionship and never parting ways.
"Alright, let's not speak of these heavy topics anymore. Xian'er, stop obsessing over where I learned these secret accounts either. What would you like to eat tonight? I'll cook myself. Ya Fei, you should still be missing the meals I make."
Xiao Yi Xian curled her lips, imitating his tone: "Understood, you have a special source of intelligence after all."
Ya Fei smiled faintly: "Just cook whatever; I have no dietary restrictions."
P.S., 3,000 words, another chapter coming tonight.
Before you continue