Yun Lan nodded slightly, utterly respectful, her breathing also somewhat quickened. This Great Emperor did not play fair.
But it would not have been appropriate for her to simply leave, either. So she still chose to come over and pay her respects.
Chen Fan, of course, had noticed Yun Lan long ago.
But as long as there was no conflict of interest with him, he could not be bothered with who she was.
He said mildly, "I did not set out to save you. It was merely incidental. There is no need to thank me."
Ling Qingcheng had been opening up to Chen Fan, talking about something embarrassing. Seeing this now, she also averted her gaze slightly, rather ill at ease.
She had noticed this expert long ago, too. But with her husband to compete on her behalf, she felt no psychological burden whatsoever.
So she had ignored her from the start.
But she kept feeling that their pleasant business had now been interrupted. It had taken her so much courage to make that decision.
Hearing his words, Yun Lan immediately relaxed.
She smiled. "For you, Senior, it was merely lifting a hand, but for me, it was the grace of saving my life."
"I am Yun Lan of the Falling Cloud Sect."
Then she volunteered her name.
Besides, with cultivation like his, although Chen Fan looked young, he ought to be quite old. So her address of "Senior" was sincere as well.
Chen Fan froze. Falling Cloud Sect, Yun Lan!
Wasn't she Su Chanyue's...
"Ling Qingcheng, holy maiden of the Divine Dao Holy Land!" Before Chen Fan could speak, Ling Qingcheng cut straight in, her expression perfectly unremarkable.
At the same time, she tightened her hold on her Great Emperor husband.
It was her!
Her disciple was the one!
Good thing I came along. Otherwise, who knew what might happen.
Yun Lan was somewhat surprised. She had thought that with Ling Qingcheng's cultivation, she would at least be an elder... merely one who looked young.
After all, someone with a Great Emperor's cultivation would not be young, either, and the two were so intimate. So she was a holy maiden, a junior...
She looked at Chen Fan in bewilderment, instantly filling in a tale of age-defying romance spanning space, time, and endless years.
But she did not dare gossip or say more.
"The Falling Cloud Sect will certainly engrave this kindness from the Divine Dao Holy Land in our hearts."
Of course, she also understood that a mysterious Great Emperor would not reveal his name lightly. That was why Ling Qingcheng had stepped forward.
Chen Fan hummed in acknowledgment without saying much. "Sect Master of the Falling Cloud Sect, we will meet again." He had already intended to visit the Falling Cloud Sect...
Now.
What a coincidence. But he truly had never met Yun Lan before. After all, Yun Lan was a Saint Realm expert, while back then, he had been nothing but an ant in the eyes of experts.
Then he turned to leave. There was proper business to attend to, urgent as a hundred thousand fires! No, a billion fires.
Making babies! A matter of the highest priority!
Yun Lan was immediately bewildered. Meet again? What did that mean...
Seeing Chen Fan about to leave outright,
she had no time to think further.
"Great Emperor, the Nine Heavens Thunder God Wood..."
"It's yours."
Chen Fan found this rather amusing. Although he did not care about the broken engagement, he was not completely magnanimous, either. What came free was the most expensive...
With that, he disappeared with Ling Qingcheng.
For me? This pleasant surprise came so suddenly! Yun Lan hurriedly said, "Thank you for your gift, Great Emperor."
To think the day would come when I could pick up a bargain, too!
But she knew Chen Fan had already left.
Then, looking at the enormous Nine Heavens Thunder God Wood, she was filled with emotion.
"Perhaps it wasn't worthy of his notice..."
Logically, this Nine Heavens Thunder God Wood should have been extremely precious even to an Emperor Realm expert.
He should not have passed it up.
"What did Senior mean when he said we would meet again...?"
She could make sense of neither point.
But this was no place to linger. She stopped dwelling on it, and certainly would not pass up the Nine Heavens Thunder God Wood within easy reach.
Without interference from outsiders, Yun Lan quickly collected the Nine Heavens Thunder God Wood.
Naturally, she credited all this kindness to the Divine Dao Holy Land.
"I'll give it to Chen Fan. I only hope he will let bygones be bygones." It pained her somewhat.
But there was no helping it. Being targeted by a Great Emperor would be no good thing...
With her objective achieved, Yun Lan happily turned to head back to the Falling Cloud Sect, to the point that she paid no attention at all to the injuries she had suffered.
Chen Fan and Ling Qingcheng had been gone for a while.
"Husband, why are we leaving in such a hurry..." Ling Qingcheng suspected that her Great Emperor husband wanted to do that with her...
Honestly.
With such a deep fixation, just how much was holding it in tormenting him?
"Of course we have to hurry." Chen Fan stared at her lovely face. "It took so much for you to finally agree. Naturally, we ought to speed up our progress."
Ling Qingcheng found it difficult to remain cold and aloof.
"Even so, we should wait until we get back..." she said quietly, ill at ease.
Mainly, she really could not beat him.
"Go back? We're not going back." Chen Fan was perfectly serious.
"I know you don't want to live with me right now. After all, the Chen Lineage has too many people and prying eyes. So somewhere outside is just right."
They could treat it as a honeymoon.
When Ling Qingcheng heard that they were going to do it without going back...
Her breathing instantly rose and fell, and even the skin on her snow-white, jade-like neck began to tremble.
It showed how nervous she was.
"Then where are we going?" As for Chen Fan saying she did not want too many people to know they were living together, that was indeed true.
Chen Fan thought for a moment. "An inn won't do, either. How about making use of what's nearby? A cave?"
He liked mountains, and he liked caves, too.
"No!" Ling Qingcheng immediately objected. How could she possibly bear the embarrassment?
"Husband, I... let's go back to the Chen Lineage first. I'll come find you tonight. How about that?"
She stole a glance at Chen Fan's expression.
Then she continued suggesting, "You can come find me, too. I'll send Master away then and leave the door open for you." She gave Chen Fan two choices.
This was her bottom line!
Chen Fan did find it rather tempting...
He said solemnly, "How would that do? Qingcheng, that's for the days to come. There will be plenty of opportunities. Right now, we're on our honeymoon, so we need to have the proper attitude for one. It's decided."
Only children made choices. He wanted both, and extra besides!
With that, Chen Fan immediately summoned the Imperial Qilin from the system space.
The enormous creature appeared, golden light gleaming from its scales, incomparably majestic. The oppressive weight of its presence and bloodline power was tangible as well.
Even Ling Qingcheng was utterly astonished.
"Husband, what is this?" She could no longer spare a thought for where they should go.
Chen Fan leaped up, wrapping an arm around her slender, boneless waist and jumping onto the Imperial Qilin's back.
At the same time, he explained, "This is an Imperial Qilin, an emperor beast. It can protect the Chen Lineage."
Then he settled her securely in front of him, shielding her, and stared at her head of flowing hair from close range.
Finally, I was going to have descendants!
It hadn't been easy.
"An emperor beast! A qilin!" Ling Qingcheng was deeply shocked. Qilin were legendary ancient divine beasts with limitless potential, let alone one that was already a fourteenth-tier emperor beast!
She had no idea where her Great Emperor husband had gotten it.
She turned her face to look at Chen Fan.
You said we were coming to catch an emperor beast, but you killed the Thunder Fury Emperor Beast because you already had a stronger one? What was the point?
Could this really be a honeymoon? I thought he had been joking.
Chen Fan nodded, then smiled. "All right, I was teasing you earlier. Now I'll take you somewhere. You'll definitely like it."
Of course, there were caves there, too!
And it was very beautiful.
With that, the Imperial Qilin turned into a streak of light, carrying them forward at tremendous speed as though passing through space and time.
"Husband, where are we going?"
"The place where you lived in your previous life, Empress Cliff..."