A short while later, in the sitting room.
Nangong Ye sat in a chair, looking straight ahead. She had changed into her Black-and-White Daoist Robe, her hair secured beneath a White Jade Crown, and had regained the air of a sword immortal devoid of feeling or desire, as though she had merely weathered a trivial bit of wind and frost along her path of cultivation.
Linghu Qingmo had yet to recover. Sitting beside her with his head lowered toward the tips of his shoes, he said nothing and scarcely dared breathe.
Bu Yuehua sat opposite them, looking from one to the other with a rather strange expression. Who knew what she was thinking?
Upstairs, meanwhile, Xie Jinhuan pretended to pack while secretly drawing out his pink and tender-looking, black-hearted wife. He whispered:
"Dear sister, were you teasing me on purpose? If you can pull off tricks like remote soul rejoining, how could you possibly be unable to perform Divine Soul Returning to Its Place? Were you planning to wait until the next time I drilled Big Ice Lump, swap Qingmo back over, and then..."
Ye Hongshang leaned against the head of the bed with her arms folded, watching Xie Jinhuan make a show of tidying the bedding. She shrugged slightly.
"What else? Without my help, with Big Ice Lump burying her head in the sand like an ostrich, when did you expect master and disciple to finally meet bare-chested? If I hadn't wanted to give things a push, I would've switched them back that very day. If you don't find it fun, I won't help you anymore."
Xie Jinhuan did find it fun, but this was a little too stimulating.
"Everything needs a process. My heart can't quite take this. Have they switched back now?"
"Yes. But I left a