Ye Lingtian spun around, the tips of his ears slightly red. The glimpse of whiteness he had just caught was etched deep in his mind.
"Senior Sister Su, I didn't know you were in there. Don't worry, I didn't see anything," Ye Lingtian hurriedly said.
Su Mingyue came back to her senses and looked at Ye Lingtian's back. Her face was red too, and she looked flustered.
She quickly spotted a huge boulder to the side that she could hide behind and hurried over to it.
"Junior Brother Ye, don't turn around yet. Give me a moment."
Once she was seated and sure she wouldn't be exposed, Su Mingyue spoke. "All right, you can come in now."
Ye Lingtian walked awkwardly to the edge of the pool and apologized again. "Sorry, Senior Sister. I really didn't know you were here too."
"I-it's all right. Didn't you say you didn't see anything? We've known each other for so long; I wouldn't get angry with you over something like this."
Su Mingyue sat cross-legged in the spiritual spring. After suppressing her embarrassment, she pretended to be calm.
"Mm," Ye Lingtian replied softly. After a moment's hesitation, he took off his clothes and entered the spiritual spring as well.
As soon as he entered, pure spiritual Qi surged into his body, washing over his injuries.
Su Mingyue listened to the sound of water beside her, and her embarrassment rose again.
Her face red, she forced herself to focus on healing her injuries, but the harder she tried not to think about it, the more conscious of it she became.
Ye Lingtian also had the nickname "Reclusive Cultivator" within the sect because he rarely attended sect activities. Even Su Mingyue had only met him during a mission to wipe out demonic cultivators some time ago.
Given Su Mingyue's personality, she would normally have started a conversation, but after what had just happened, even she wasn't in the mood to look for a topic.
The atmosphere grew increasingly tense and awkward as hell.
After an unknown amount of time, Su Mingyue finally spoke. "Junior Brother Ye, that blond woman I saw at the mountain gate today should be the maid you took in two weeks ago, right?"
"Mm," Ye Lingtian replied.
"I heard Master say that her origins were unclear and no one could tell where she came from, so she was allowed onto your Sword-Seeking Peak for you to keep an eye on her. Have you found anything suspicious?"
"No. She didn't have an orthodox cultivation technique before and cultivated solely through breathing exercises. There's no trace of demonic Qi on her either, so she probably isn't a spy."
Su Mingyue nodded. "That's good. But when I saw her today, she seemed to have already entered the Qi Refining Stage. You gave her a cultivation technique, didn't you?"
After a moment's hesitation, Su Mingyue realized her words seemed a little accusatory and hurriedly added something else.
"Don't misunderstand. I don't object to you giving her a cultivation technique. It's just that her talent seems pretty good to me."
Hearing her speak so carefully, Ye Lingtian couldn't help laughing. "There's no need to be so careful, Senior Sister. I know what you meant."
After a pause, Ye Lingtian added, "She has dual spiritual roots, after all, so that speed is fairly normal. It can't compare to heavenly spiritual roots like yours and mine."
At that, Su Mingyue looked a little speechless.
"Junior Brother, you could have left me out of that. My talent isn't nearly as terrifying as yours."
"It's been nearly a hundred years since I became Master's disciple, but you caught up to me in just fifty. A cultivation speed like that really puts me to shame."
Ye Lingtian chuckled. "Why belittle yourself, Senior Sister? Reaching Golden Core Perfection in a hundred years is something even other cultivators with heavenly spiritual roots can't match."
"That's true." Su Mingyue had her own pride, of course. She might not be able to compare to Ye Lingtian, but surely she could compare to others with heavenly spiritual roots.
"How are your injuries, Senior Sister?" Ye Lingtian asked.
"I've only been in the spiritual spring for less than an hour. It'll probably take another two days to heal. What about you, Junior Brother?"
"My injuries are relatively minor, but the flower poison is quite troublesome." Ye Lingtian couldn't help frowning as he recalled the blades of light Baihuaxiang had unleashed in her final few moves.
"It'll probably take me two days too."
"Mm. We owe it to you this time, Junior Brother Ye. Otherwise, I might have fallen there." Su Mingyue's expression dimmed slightly as she said this.
It was true that all below Nascent Soul were ants. No matter how strong she was among those at the same level, she was powerless to fight back against a Nascent Soul cultivator.
Ye Lingtian hurriedly replied, "Don't say that, Senior Sister. Even without me, someone as capable as you would surely have made it out unscathed."
"You really think highly of me, Junior Brother." Su Mingyue couldn't help laughing.
"What are your plans after this battle, Junior Brother?" Since they had nothing else to do, they might as well talk about the future.
"Me?" Ye Lingtian paused before saying, "I'll probably prepare to enter seclusion and break through to Nascent Soul. The sect master has already been urging me to do it."
"Besides, what happened this time made me realize something."
Su Mingyue's pupils narrowed slightly when she heard that Ye Lingtian was preparing to break through to Nascent Soul. She truly hadn't expected him to have already reached this point.
She herself hadn't seen the slightest sign of reaching Nascent Soul yet.
"How am I supposed to catch up to you?" Su Mingyue murmured.
"What?" With Ye Lingtian's cultivation, and with only the two of them there, how could he not have heard what Su Mingyue said? But he asked anyway, deliberately.
"I-I mean, what did you realize, Junior Brother?" Su Mingyue quickly came back to her senses and pressed him.
Hearing her attempt to cover it up, Ye Lingtian smiled helplessly, then said, "No matter how deep your foundations are, a stronger opponent can still take whatever they want from you. A higher cultivation realm is what truly counts."
"Mm." Su Mingyue nodded.
Two days passed in the blink of an eye.
The silver light rippling across the surface of the spiritual spring gradually faded. Ye Lingtian let out a muffled grunt as the last trace of dark green flower poison lingering in the crevices of his meridians was forced out of his body, wrapped in Heavenly Dipper Sword Intent.
The barrier of the Great Perfection of Golden Core now seemed so flimsy that it would shatter at a poke. He was just one final step away from breaking through it and entering Nascent Soul.
On the other side, Su Mingyue slowly opened her eyes as well. Her presence had solidified to its utmost; clearly, she too had used the spiritual power of the spring to replenish most of the foundations depleted in the previous battle.
"Senior Sister, I'll head out first." Ye Lingtian got up and put on his clothes, leaving before Su Mingyue could react.
"What a blockhead. It's not like I'm going to eat you. Why run off so fast?" Su Mingyue couldn't help muttering as she listened to the sound of the water.
She stood up, squeezed her wet hair, and glanced down at her ample assets before pushing them out a few times.
"Even if I'm a saber cultivator, don't I have even a little charm?"
It was hard to imagine that Senior Sister Mingyue, so valiant and heroic in the disciples' eyes, could act like such a little woman.
Unfortunately, there was no one there to appreciate the sight.
With a trace of resentment, she put on her clothes and walked out of the spiritual spring, only to find Ye Lingtian already waiting outside.
Su Mingyue was delighted to see that Ye Lingtian hadn't left straight away, but she still couldn't help saying, "Why are you waiting for me? Hurry up and prepare for your breakthrough."
"Huh?" Ye Lingtian raised an eyebrow. What was wrong?
Unable to figure it out, Ye Lingtian decided not to think about it and asked, "Senior Sister, you still haven't told me what you plan to do next."