Three rounds of drinks had passed.
Lian Youming sat in a half-lotus posture, his legs partly bent and partly extended. He tilted his throat upward and raised his eyes, breathing in and out toward the moon. That solitary moon was reflected in the pools of his eyes, while a divine radiance gathered, scattered, and shifted within them like wind and clouds suddenly stirring, wondrous beyond compare.
Ever since he had brought his Liver Meridian to life, his powers of observation and eyesight seemed to have undergone subtle changes as well.
These changes had not manifested immediately, but seemed instead to improve little by little, imperceptibly.
"Croak, croak..."
As the Toad Croak sounded, the internal breath developed through the Toad-Fishing Skill also grew stronger by the day, becoming increasingly sustained.
For instance, an ordinary person might take two steps during one cycle of inhaling and exhaling, whereas now that his internal breath had grown stronger, he could take eight steps, ten steps, or even more with each breath.
"Mmm!"
Only when a soft murmur of sleep-talk came from beside him did Lian Youming stop and look at the girl sleeping against his shoulder.
The meat was gone, and so was the liquor. From beginning to end, he had taken only a tiny sip. Yan Lingyun had polished off both.
Supporting the girl by the waist, he hid the empty liquor bottle inside a window of the pagoda with one hand and hoisted her onto his back with the other. He sighed helplessly. "Hold on tight."
But the moment Yan Lingyun flopped onto his back, she began burrowing and rubbing her head against him like a cat settling into its nest. Lian Youming was so startled that his foot slipped and he nearly missed his footing. "What's wrong with you?"
Then came