Chaos Immortal Grass

"It hurts..."

Lin Yuan had just reached the entrance of the tavern and had yet to push the door open when he heard cries of pain from inside.

He did not need to guess who was making that sound. Who else could it be but that glutton of an older brother?

Xiao Cheng sat beside the bed, shaking his head helplessly and muttering, "I told you not to be so greedy. Now you're suffering for it." With that, he gently placed his hand on Lin Ning's belly and began rubbing it.

Yezi and Mu Yang were also in the room.

Seeing Xiao Cheng's gentle gesture, Yezi could not help laughing. "Big Brother Xiao is such a good person, so gentle and considerate."

Envy sparkled in her eyes, and she rolled her eyes at Mu Yang beside her. What a blockhead.

Mu Yang stood quietly to one side, his face expressionless. Only when Lin Yuan came in did he say softly, "Big Brother Lin is back."

Lin Yuan nodded slightly and replied, "Mm."

Seeing this, Yezi and Mu Yang rose to leave. Taking Mu Yang's hand, Yezi laughed as she walked. "Big Brother Xiao, keep rubbing a little longer~" Then they left the room together.

Lin Ning's face was still scrunched up in pain, as though something were tormenting her to the brink of death. She clutched Xiao Cheng's hand. "Eldest Senior Brother... am I going to die..."

"You! You just can't control your appetite." Xiao Cheng sounded somewhat helpless.

"Little Yuan, what were you doing just now?" Lin Ning suddenly remembered that she had returned early with a stomachache halfway through their stroll around the market, but Lin Yuan had disappeared.

"I went to test Ye Yiyi," Lin Yuan said, the corners of his lips lifting.

"Did you find anything out?" Xiao Cheng asked.

"I still can't be sure." Lin Yuan thought for a moment. "I've never seen Gu Yi, so..."

The two of them knew that Lin Yuan had been unable to see inside the barrier, and that his eyes had only recovered after his breakthrough to Golden Core, so they understood.

"Chasing after a girl and insisting she's Gu Yi based on just half a face in a portrait-isn't that too hasty?" Lin Ning had felt all along that Lin Yuan was grasping at straws out of desperation.

"I have another way," Lin Yuan said earnestly. Then he took a pot of flowers from his Qiankun Ring.

To be precise, the flowers in the pot looked as though they had already withered.

"This is your other way?" Looking at the flowerpot before her, Lin Ning's lips twitched. She could not help complaining to Xiao Cheng, "Eldest Senior Brother, it looks like my little brother really is beyond saving..."

Lin Yuan paid no attention to their reactions, however. Holding the flowerpot, he sat quietly beside the bed.

The plant was called "Chaos Spirit Herb," also known as "Yin-Yang Spirit Herb." Yezi had given it to Lin Yuan that day.

"Big Brother Lin, you still haven't found the person you were looking for back then?" Resting her chin in both hands, Yezi blinked at Lin Yuan.

Lin Yuan sighed helplessly, a trace of disappointment showing in his eyes. "No."

"Even back on the Overseas Immortal Island, you were looking for him. Just who is he, for you to be unable to forget him like this?" Yezi tilted her head, looking at Lin Yuan in puzzlement.

In Yezi's eyes, Lin Yuan was very handsome, and he was also the young master of the Qingling Sword Sect, with a noble status.

If she did not already have that blockhead Mu Yang, she might have fallen for Lin Yuan herself.

"Just what kind of woman could make you so devoted, Big Brother Lin? I'm dying of curiosity." Yezi blinked.

Lin Yuan fell silent for a moment before saying slowly, "He's not a woman. He's my... Dao Companion..." His voice was low and gentle.

"A man?" Yezi's eyes went perfectly round, as though she had discovered a whole new world, and her interest grew even stronger.

She had been too embarrassed to ask before and had kept the question to herself. Now, unable to contain her curiosity any longer, she asked outright, "Then have you two? Have you? Hehehe?"

At her words, Lin Yuan frowned slightly and looked at Yezi in utter confusion.

"Tsk!" Seeing that he did not seem to understand her meaning, Yezi hurriedly took a pot of seemingly withered flowers out of her Qiankun Bag.

"Have you two... practiced dual cultivation..." Yezi leaned carefully toward Lin Yuan's ear and asked softly.

Lin Yuan's gaze darkened. After a moment of silence, he slowly nodded. "We have."

Hearing this answer, Yezi immediately grew even more excited, her heart brimming with curiosity.

She really wanted to know what the man who had won Lin Yuan's heart looked like...

Then, unable to wait any longer, Yezi pushed the flowerpot in her hands forward and explained, "This is a treasure I happened to obtain-the Chaos Spirit Herb! All you have to do is drip your blood into the flowerpot, then add the blood of the Dao Companion you've practiced dual cultivation with. This pot of Chaos Spirit Herb will bloom!"

Lin Yuan reached out a finger and gently touched the flower's stamens, feeling their softness. His brow furrowed slightly as he asked thoughtfully, "What if this flower never blooms?"

Yezi smiled and answered lightly, "Doesn't bloom? Then that might mean you two never did that sort of thing!" She blinked, giving him an indulgent, knowing smile.

Lin Yuan gave Yezi a grateful look and carefully put the pot away.

He took a deep breath, looked at Yezi, and said earnestly, "Actually, there's another reason I came to see you this time. I wanted to ask whether there's any way to hide the aura of your spiritual power."

Yezi set down her teacup and thought for a moment before answering, "Of course there is!

"For example, certain special magical treasures, things like the Dust-Avoiding Pearl and azure sky jade, can all hide your aura.

"But they can only mask it, not eliminate it completely. Once you fight someone, it's still easy for them to detect it."

Lin Yuan nodded slightly. Recalling what had happened when he tested Ye Yiyi earlier, he could not help sinking into thought.

At the time, he had examined her himself, only to find no trace of Gu Yi's aura on her. Even the cultivation method she practiced was completely different.

Not only that, Ye Yiyi and Gu Yi were of different genders, practiced different cultivation methods, and did not even have the slightest similarity in their auras.

More importantly, she herself had firmly denied having anything to do with Gu Yi.

Yet despite all this, deep in Lin Yuan's heart, there was always an inexplicable feeling that made Ye Yiyi seem very familiar to him.

Now that he had this stalk of Chaos Immortal Grass from Yezi, Lin Yuan decided to test her once more.

If it ultimately proved that Ye Yiyi truly was not Gu Yi, he would stop bothering her.