Knowing your mistakes and correcting them (revised)

By the time Lin Yuan woke, the sky had already darkened. A guilty Gu Yi had cleaned him up and bandaged his wounds.

Apart from the pain, he felt no discomfort.

Gu Yi had gathered the "Love Vine corpses" from earlier and made a fire.

"You're awake?" Gu Yi asked sullenly when he saw him wake.

"Mm." Lin Yuan got up and sat opposite Gu Yi. He vaguely remembered that he seemed to have seen Gu Yi...

"Did I just..." But when he woke, he found only Ye Yiyi. Gu Yi was nowhere to be seen.

Unlike the last time in the Demonic Beast Lair, he remembered little of this encounter, only a faint, elusive feeling.

"You have the nerve to bring it up?" Gu Yi suddenly stood, pointing at Lin Yuan in agitation. "You were unconscious just now. I was grateful to you for saving me, so I thought I'd bandage your wounds. But you actually tried to take liberties with me!"

Lin Yuan: "???"

"You said I tried to take liberties with you?" Lin Yuan frowned, looking at the furious Gu Yi.

"That's right! You mistook me for someone else, called out someone else's name, and tried to molest me. Luckily, you passed out halfway through from blood loss, or I would have lost my chastity to you!"

Gu Yi waved his hand. "Since you saved me, and you didn't actually do anything to me, I won't hold it against you!"

Lin Yuan: "..."

How could I have done that?

Even if he looks like Gu Yi, I shouldn't have tried to molest him.

"I know what you want to ask. There's something wrong with these vines. You were poisoned and hallucinated. You only acted that way because you mistook me for someone else. Don't worry, Young Master Lin. I won't tell anyone. After all, letting this get out wouldn't do my reputation any good either."

Gu Yi sat down with a guilty glance at Lin Yuan.

He had no idea whether this story would fool him.

Lin Yuan thought for a moment. There really had been an instant when he thought he saw Gu Yi.

There's no discomfort... and my clothes are all in order. It seems Ye Yiyi wasn't lying. Perhaps I really was poisoned, lost my senses, and hallucinated. Fortunately, I didn't make a terrible mistake.

"I'm sorry. I was poisoned and nearly hurt you, Miss Ye. Once we leave this Secret Realm, the Qingling Sword Sect will certainly compensate you," Lin Yuan said.

There's really no need! Just stay away from me... thank you!

Gu Yi was relieved too. Lin Yuan had believed him.

"You're being too serious, Young Master Lin. You were only poisoned because you saved me. I know to repay kindness, so let's put this behind us. I'll act as though it never happened," Gu Yi said with a smile.

Neither spoke again. Only the crackling of the fire remained.

Looking at Gu Yi's profile, Lin Yuan thought this girl was remarkable.

He had few female friends. Before this, there had only been Yezi.

He had become close to Yezi because she had saved his life on the Overseas Immortal Island. But Ye Yiyi simply had an inexplicable allure.

It always made Lin Yuan want to draw closer to him, even just a little closer, to breathe in his scent.

Lin Yuan shook his head and gave a bitter smile. "I really wish that hadn't been a hallucination."

Only in an illusion would Gu Yi ever be so forward.

Even during that year inside the barrier, Gu Yi had always been shy. He had been the one taking the initiative and pleading with Gu Yi.

Hearing Lin Yuan mutter to himself, Gu Yi suddenly felt his face grow hot from the fire.

He felt deeply that he had let his own... down.

Once I get out of here, I must stay far, far away from Lin Yuan and protect my own...

Neither spoke that night, each resting against one side of a large tree.

Just as Lin Yuan was about to fall asleep, clouds as black as ink suddenly weighed heavily on the horizon, and fierce winds howled.

"Is this... Golden Core Tribulation Lightning?" Lin Yuan immediately recognized it. He turned toward where Ye Yiyi had been, but no one was there.

He actually went off to face his tribulation alone?

Lin Yuan quickly stood and looked around. Tension filled the air, as though every speck of dust was trembling.

At last, he spotted Gu Yi on a nearby hill. Gu Yi stood quietly at its summit, his white robes fluttering in the wind. A white Sash covered his eyes, and his exquisite chin and red lips were tilted slightly upward.

At that moment, ten thousand curses were stampeding through Gu Yi's mind.

He had meant to rest and get some sleep too, but who could have known that the tribulation lightning would arrive just as he was drifting off?

Gu Yi's spiritual power had already been showing faint signs of a breakthrough. He had intended to return to the Tianmu Sect, take some pills, and use outside assistance to break through.

He had never expected to advance again now, and he had no idea whether he could survive the tribulation.

He could not bear to look at the lightning's glare, so he could only take out the Sash Jiang Lingzhou had given him and tie it over his eyes.

The first tribulation bolt crashed down like a roaring silver dragon, carrying the power to destroy heaven and earth.

Gu Yi gritted his teeth and circulated all his spiritual power, raising a protective barrier.

Lightning flared, illuminating his breathtakingly beautiful face. For that instant, he seemed to become one with heaven and earth.

Birds in the mountain forest scattered in fright at the sudden thunderous crash, and branches shook violently in the lightning's lingering force.

Gu Yi's brows furrowed slightly. Then the second and third tribulation bolts followed in rapid succession, each fiercer than the last.

The surrounding rocks burst apart beneath the lightning strikes, sending fragments flying.

The wind grew fiercer still, whipping Gu Yi's long hair wildly about.

The tribulation lightning kept falling, and Gu Yi's spiritual power steadily dwindled.

At last, the final tribulation bolt descended.

This bolt seemed to gather all the power between heaven and earth, its light too dazzling to look at directly.

Gu Yi drew a deep breath and closed his eyes. He concentrated all his spiritual power into a single point. The mountain forest fell so silent that time itself seemed to have stopped, and even the stream seemed to hold its breath.

The tension in the air reached its peak.

Lightning flashed, and silence fell over the summit.

A moment later, Gu Yi slowly opened his eyes. Lin Yuan had appeared beside him at some point, and a black longsword circled above their heads.

"You..." Gu Yi had thought this final tribulation bolt would leave him charred outside and tender inside.

"Why didn't you wake me for your Golden Core tribulation?" Lin Yuan raised his hand and recalled Ink Sea. The wound on his chest had torn open, and thin trickles of blood dripped down his clothes.