Fiancé

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Chapter 42: Fiancé

Compared with the weighty Ma Xiaotao, Ling Luochеn was indeed much lighter.

Where Ye Xixuan's body touched Ling Luochеn's fair, delicate skin, he could distinctly feel its cool, silky texture, like exquisite cold jade hidden within an iceberg.

The distant setting sun was about to sink below the western horizon. The sunward faces of the rugged mountains seemed veiled in a dreamlike radiance, while their shadowed faces were pitch-black. Light and shadow met here, yet remained as clearly divided as two separate rivers.

After they had flown for nearly four hours, the end of the seemingly endless mountains finally came into view.

A dense forest bordered the edge of the mountains. Few people ever ventured into this region, and the forest remained largely in its most natural, primeval state.

At Ma Xiaotao's direction, everyone landed where the mountains met the forest. The ground here was relatively high, offering a broader view.

Although they had yet to confront the Death Hand Bandit Group, maintaining proper vigilance away from home was a basic requirement for every Inner Court Disciple.

Ma Xiaotao faced everyone and said, "We'll rest here tonight and continue on our way tomorrow morning."

"Xixuan, come with me for a moment." As she spoke, Ma Xiaotao's gaze settled on Ye Xixuan again.

Odd expressions crept onto everyone's faces. Before Ye Xixuan could say anything, Ling Luochеn seized his wrist and looked at Ma Xiaotao with her delicate brows slightly knitted, a faint air of confrontation between them.

Meeting Ling Luochеn's gaze, the smile at the corners of Ma Xiaotao's mouth grew even wider.

"You've already finished using him. It's my turn to borrow him now, isn't it? Surely you aren't trying to keep Xixuan all to yourself the first time you meet him? Just what do you think your relationship with him is?"

Everyone was dumbstruck by her words.

They knew Ma Xiaotao had a fierce personality, but hearing her put it so bluntly shook their entire worldview. What surprised them even more was that Ma Xiaotao and Ling Luochеn seemed almost to be fighting over a man.

Seeing that things were heading in the wrong direction, Ye Xixuan immediately stepped forward to ease the tension. He said to Ling Luochеn beside him, "Senior Ling, Sister Xiaotao needs me for something related to cultivation. I'll go with her and come right back."

After holding Ye Xixuan's gaze for a long moment, Ling Luochеn finally let go.

Once Ye Xixuan had followed Ma Xiaotao into the woods, Gongyang Mo could no longer contain the flames of gossip burning within him. He asked the question on everyone's mind.

"Little Sister Luochen, just what is your relationship with Xixuan?"

"He's my fiancé, but he doesn't know it himself." Although Ling Luochеn appeared icy, she was straightforward by nature. Her brief, direct answer left everyone rooted to the spot as though struck by lightning.

"What?! Your fiancé?!"

Ling Luochеn paid them no further attention. She simply sat down cross-legged and began meditating to recover her soul power.

"Uh..." Even Dai Yueheng, who normally had little interest in such matters, found the atmosphere awkward. He reached out and patted Chen Zifeng's shoulder.

"Zifeng, let's catch some game and improve tonight's dinner."

"Sure. Let's head up the mountain, then." Chen Zifeng hurriedly agreed, deliberately choosing the opposite direction from Ye Xixuan and Ma Xiaotao.

After those two found an excuse to flee, aside from Ling Luochеn, who had already begun cultivating, only Gongyang Mo and the wounded party, Yao Haoxuan, remained.

Yao Haoxuan's heart had suffered one blow after another. This latest revelation stripped away his final shred of hope, and he slumped onto the ground.

He could not understand why Ling Luochеn had suddenly acquired a fiancé out of thin air when they had merely come out to carry out an Inspector Mission.

Gongyang Mo, on the other hand, thoroughly enjoyed this feeling. Slowly teasing out other people's thoughts and relationships gave him a particular sense of accomplishment.

"Looks like things are getting interesting."

Meanwhile, Ye Xixuan and Ma Xiaotao had reached the depths of the forest.

Only a handful of people at Shrek Academy knew that Ye Xixuan's martial soul could help Ma Xiaotao suppress her evil fire. After all, this concerned the secret of Ye Xixuan's martial soul.

Thus, when Ma Xiaotao had asked him to come with her, Ye Xixuan had already understood everything. At last, there was more evil fire for him to absorb.

"Sister Xiaotao, is the evil fire building up that slowly inside you now? I've been waiting forever."

"You little brat, do you even know how to talk?" Ma Xiaotao's almond-shaped eyes widened as she irritably reached out with a delicate hand and pinched Ye Xixuan's ear. It was hard to tell whether she was deliberately taking revenge for his earlier closeness with Ling Luochеn.

"Enjoyed holding Ling Luochеn earlier, did you? Who knows which wire got crossed in her head? Why does she treat you differently, of all people? Could she want to be an old cow nibbling tender grass too?"

"Why 'too'?" Ye Xixuan keenly caught the key word.

Ma Xiaotao's pretty face flushed slightly, and she could not help recalling what had happened at the bottom of Sea God Lake two years earlier. Back then, when Ye Xixuan had fallen unconscious, she had indeed cursed herself inwardly in those same terms.

"Enough nonsense! Hurry up and help me suppress the evil fire."

"Oh." Ye Xixuan obediently nodded, while Ma Xiaotao had already lifted her clothes of her own accord, revealing her smooth, flat abdomen.

Although her figure was voluptuous to an almost exaggerated degree, her waist was exceptionally slender. There was not a trace of excess flesh on her abdomen, and every contour of muscle hinted at the terrifying explosive power within.

Ye Xixuan extended his right hand and pressed it against Ma Xiaotao's abdomen. Uncanny black demonic patterns immediately spread across her skin, ultimately leaving behind a small, intricate patterned mark.

Using it as a conduit, the evil fire within Ma Xiaotao's martial soul origin instantly separated from her soul power and flowed continuously into Ye Xixuan's body.

Ma Xiaotao let out a soft cry of relief and instinctively lowered her gaze toward Ye Xixuan. For some reason, she suddenly felt the urge to reach down and press his head lower.

Ahhhhh! Ma Xiaotao, what on earth are you thinking?!

At that moment, neither Ye Xixuan nor Ma Xiaotao seemed to have noticed the Mind Demon Mark's other effect.

By the time the two returned to the campsite, night had fully fallen.

Dai Yueheng and the others had lit a campfire in an open area, and the game they had caught earlier was roasting beside it.

There were wild pheasants, rabbits, grilled fish, and even a plump muntjac, its fat sizzling over the charcoal. Genuine wild game like this needed little seasoning. A little salt was enough to bring out its natural flavor.

Seeing Ye Xixuan and Ma Xiaotao, Dai Yueheng warmly offered them two crisply grilled, fragrant fish.

"Xixuan, Xiaotao, you're back just in time."

"Mm, not bad." Ma Xiaotao accepted the fish and obligingly took a bite, using it to conceal her guilty unease over the thoughts that had just surfaced in her mind.

No sooner had Ye Xixuan accepted Dai Yueheng's fish with his left hand than Ling Luochеn offered him a wild rabbit's leg. He could only take it with his right hand as well, saying with a smile,

"Thank you, Senior Ling."

"You don't need to thank me." Expressionless, Ling Luochеn once again said something that left him utterly baffled.

Having just discharged her evil fire and entered a state of sage-like detachment, Ma Xiaotao could not be bothered to continue crossing swords with Ling Luochеn. She sat down without ceremony and began eating heartily.

Over the course of the meal, everyone clearly grew closer. What they savored was not the wild game, but the vibrant, youthful atmosphere they shared.

Only Yao Haoxuan sat alone in a corner, eating bite after bite as though chewing wax.

After a night's rest, everyone set off again. On the evening of the second day, they finally reached their destination.

The Ming Dou Mountains.

(End of chapter)