Everything Connected to Him Had to Be Kept Safe

"Senior Sister Ye, why is he here too?" Jiang Lingzhou's expression was dark as he pointed at Xie Wenyun with a cold look, his tone plainly displeased.

Jiang Lingzhou looked especially dignified today, clearly having dressed with care.

He wore an understated, elegant robe, its sleeves fluttering in the breeze, with an exquisite jade ornament at his waist that shone with a soft luster.

His ink-black hair was neatly tied up, making him look particularly fresh and tidy, countless times better than when he usually decked himself out in gold and silver.

At that moment, he was staring hard at Xie Wenyun with an unfriendly expression, a trace of hostility in his eyes.

By contrast, Gu Yi and Xie Wenyun looked relaxed and at ease.

Both wore the Tianmu Sect's aqua-blue disciple uniforms, simple and tasteful.

Standing together, they looked like a couple, giving an impression of harmony.

The corners of Gu Yi's mouth lifted into a faint smile. "Junior Brother Jiang, you don't look like a petty person. You wouldn't mind one more person, would you?"

Jiang Lingzhou's expression grew darker. He gritted his teeth but still forced out, "Of course not!" His voice was rather stiff, clearly betraying his reluctance, and he glared fiercely at Xie Wenyun.

The only person he had invited was Senior Sister Ye!

There were still a few days before the Orthodox-Demonic Friendship Conference.

Jiang Lingzhou had no intention of using Sword Flight. That would be too boring. He planned to take Gu Yi sightseeing along the way, riding horses and touring lakes. They would reach the Illusory Demon Sect in just a few days, and spending time alone with Gu Yi like this would also help deepen his relationship with "Senior Sister Ye."

He had never expected Gu Yi to bring Xie Wenyun along.

Ever since entering the novel, Gu Yi had never really enjoyed himself. Hearing that Jiang Lingzhou intended to sightsee along the way had tempted him somewhat. Besides, he had to go to the Illusory Demon Sect anyway, and he would not have to spend any spirit stones on the journey. Why not? So he had invited Xie Wenyun along.

The sect leader summoned the two of them to give them a few reminders, and then they set off with Jiang Lingzhou.

In view of Jiang Lingzhou's deep pockets, Gu Yi did not reject his company too strongly.

The three chatted and laughed along the way, getting along reasonably well.

The Qingling Sword Sect, the Wind and Snow Illusion Realm.

Lin Ning paced anxiously back and forth by the barrier at the illusion realm's entrance.

After watching her go around in circles nearly several hundred times, Xiao Cheng finally could not help catching her arm. "Ning, you're making me dizzy."

"Ever since Xiao Yuan came back, he's been searching the entire Cultivation Realm for that Gu Yi. He's been stuck at the peak of the Golden Core Stage for three years now! Who knows whether he'll advance successfully during this seclusion!"

How could Lin Ning not be anxious? Lin Yuan had actually reached Golden Core Peak in the first year after his return.

This was already his third attempt to reach Nascent Soul. In those three years, even Lin Ning had reached Golden Core. With Lin Yuan's talent, he should not have kept failing.

They suspected that Lin Yuan's repeated failures to advance to Nascent Soul must have had something to do with Gu Yi.

"He can only rely on himself for something like this. How could we help him?" Xiao Cheng sighed.

The two looked at the barrier, neither speaking again.

Within the Wind and Snow Illusion Realm, bone-chilling winds howled, and snow drifted down from the sky. Lin Yuan sat steadily cross-legged on an ice platform, his eyes closed, so quiet that he seemed asleep.

Just then, a soft call sounded beside his ear. "My young immortal..."

The voice was as gentle as a spring breeze against his face, carrying an irresistible allure.

Lin Yuan's body jolted, as though he had been startled awake from a deep sleep.

He slowly opened his eyes, his blurred vision gradually clearing.

A man in a fox-fur cloak and a tasseled mask stood quietly before him.

Although he could not see the man's true face, the air and feeling he gave off were so familiar.

Lin Yuan gazed at the man before him, endless longing showing in his eyes. He murmured softly, "Gu Yi..."

His gaze grew tender and lingering, as though he wanted to draw the man into the depths of his soul.

"I'll find you..."

"I'm right here!"

"Gu Yi" approached Lin Yuan with slow, graceful steps and leaned his supple body into his arms. As though they had done it countless times before, he lifted his chin and kissed his lips lightly. "I'm right here, in your heart..."

Lin Yuan cupped his face and kissed him back, his voice gradually turning hoarse. "Gu Yi... Gu Yi..."

Lin Yuan abruptly seized "Gu Yi" by the waist and pressed him down onto the ice platform, kissing him even more unrestrainedly. "Gu Yi" could not help letting out a moan. "My young immortal... I've missed you so much..."

Lin Yuan reached a trembling hand toward the mask on his face. He wanted to see what Gu Yi looked like.

His fingers had only just touched the mask.

"Gu Yi... ah..."

Crack-

With that crisp sound of something breaking, Lin Yuan abruptly spat out a mouthful of blood. His attempt to reach Nascent Soul had failed again.

Another crack appeared on the Golden Core within his body. His cultivation, originally at Golden Core Peak, instantly fell to the early Golden Core Stage.

A faint wisp of black energy even rose from his Golden Core, as though telling of the grievous injury he had suffered.

The "Gu Yi" whom Lin Yuan had pinned beneath him suddenly vanished and reappeared elsewhere in the blink of an eye, his clothes as neat as before, without the slightest sign of disarray.

Meanwhile, Lin Yuan remained seated cross-legged on the ice platform, only now with a shocking smear of blood at the corner of his mouth.

"What's wrong, my young immortal? You want to reach Nascent Soul, yet you can't bear to eliminate me, your inner demon?"

The inner demon turned into a mass of black mist and wrapped tightly around him like a thick black cloud, constantly eroding his body and mind.

Lin Yuan gave a muffled groan of pain and raised his face with difficulty, using all his strength to draw the entire inner demon back into his Golden Core.

His voice was weak and feeble, but carried an unshakable stubbornness. "Everything connected to him has to be kept safe."

He could not bear to eliminate even a trace of an inner demon, because it was a connection between him and Gu Yi.

Lin Yuan did everything he could to conceal the fact that he had long since fallen into demonic corruption, letting no one discover it.

This trace of an inner demon had become his only way to meet Gu Yi in his dreams.

The inner demon was a trace of obsession born when he had attempted to reach Golden Core that day, and the object of that obsession was Gu Yi.

Lin Yuan raised his hand and gently wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, then slowly walked out of the illusion realm.

For three years, all he had done besides searching for Gu Yi was cultivate. He had visited many places in those three years. Whenever someone said they had seen anyone who bore even the slightest resemblance to the portrait, he would go and try.

He had even gone to the far north and the Overseas Immortal Island.

With his Golden Core cultivation, making it back alive had been no easy feat.

Especially on that trip to the Overseas Immortal Island, when he had nearly been killed by the demonic beasts there over a claim he had no way of knowing was true or false.

When he returned to the Qingling Sword Sect, he had been drenched in blood. Even with all kinds of miraculous pills and medicines fed to him, he had taken three months to recover.

But as soon as his injuries healed, he rushed out to search again.

Lin Hai could not bear to see his grandson suffer, but could not dissuade him either, so he could only send people to help search in secret.

Yet Gu Yi seemed to have vanished from the face of the earth. Lin Hai even suspected that Gu Yi might really be dead... and that his grandson might truly have gone mad...

"Xiao Yuan! What's happened to you..." The moment Lin Ning saw Lin Yuan emerge, she hurried over and draped a cloak around him.

The temperature within the Wind and Snow Illusion Realm was extremely low. Only Lin Yuan dared to cultivate inside.

"Did you fail?" Looking worried, Xiao Cheng comforted him. "It's all right. As your senior brother, I'll help you think of a way. You'll succeed eventually."

"It's all right." Lin Yuan himself knew that he had been unable to reach Nascent Soul because he refused to remove his inner demon.

"Xiao Yuan... that matchmaking thing this time... Grandfather said you should go too... If you don't want to, I'll talk to him again," Lin Ning said awkwardly.

She knew that Gu Yi had always been in Lin Yuan's heart. Over the past three years, plenty of people had fallen for her younger brother, both disciples of their own sect and those of other sects, but he had never spared them a proper glance.

Once, a rogue cultivator who liked Lin Yuan had touched a corner of his robe, only for Lin Yuan to break his arm on the spot and warn him that if he dared covet him again, he would break his neck.