The Real Surprise!
"..."
Su Yun'er looked up at Ye Qiu in astonishment, her crimson face blank with bewilderment.
This place... was a world that belonged to Xiao Qiu alone?
Su Yun'er could hardly believe her ears. Had she really heard him right?
"Sister Yun'er, you heard me right."
Ye Qiu let go of Su Yun'er, turned around, and spread his arms excitedly. "This space is connected to my eyes. It's boundless, with no end in sight!"
"..."
Su Yun'er gazed silently at Ye Qiu's high-spirited back. As though she had made a decision, she gathered her courage and raised her head.
A white slip nightgown slowly slid down her body to her ankles...
Still facing away from her, Ye Qiu went on, "Sister Yun'er, you know what? From now on, no matter where I am, I can return to Peach Blossom Village whenever I want through this space. We'll never have to be apart again!"
As soon as he finished speaking,
Ye Qiu turned around happily and looked at Su Yun'er.
"I can also take you out to have fun, Sister Yun'er..."
"?!!"
Before Ye Qiu could finish, he caught sight of the perfect pink-and-white body before him. He froze, his eyes wide as he stared fixedly at her exquisite, snow-white figure.
Even though Ye Qiu had touched her countless times before, now that he was looking at her directly like this,
his throat still couldn't help going dry.
"Xiao Qiu~"
Su Yun'er's face was flushed, her beautiful features filled with shame. Yet she made no move to cover herself, facing Ye Qiu openly as she stepped forward barefoot, one step, two steps... steadily closing in on him.
"Sister Yun'er, wh-what are you doing?"
Ye Qiu swallowed. Before his Mangekyō Sharingan, his pride and joy,
Su Yun'er's body no longer held the slightest secret.
He couldn't see a single flaw.
Just as he had known from before, there wasn't a single stray strand...
"Xiao Qiu~"
"I don't understand the world of you Soul Masters."
Su Yun'er murmured softly as she took graceful steps toward him. Standing before him, her moist, pink cherry lips breathed out warm, damp air.
Her voice, shy to the extreme, sounded almost like a sob.
"But I still want to say... just like this space, I belong to you alone."
"!!!"
Ye Qiu's pupils contracted, and desire stirred within him. He let Su Yun'er take his hand and slowly press it against her soft chest.
"Xiao Qiu~ Actually, this is the real surprise I wanted to give you..."
Su Yun'er lowered her clear, icy eyes, now misted with pink, and gazed at the boy before her with a trace of self-consciousness. She murmured,
"Will you look down on me because I'm just an ordinary person?"
"Xiao Qiu, don't worry. I'll never interfere with your path as a Soul Master..."
"Sister Yun'er, what are you saying?!"
Ye Qiu held the warm, beating heart Su Yun'er had placed in his hand and looked intently at the beauty before him. "How could I ever look down on you, Sister Yun'er? You're my fiancée!"
"Soon you'll be my real wife!"
Ye Qiu deactivated his Mangekyō Sharingan, but his black eyes were still somewhat red, as though dry kindling had caught a raging fire.
"Ah~!"
Su Yun'er let out a muffled moan.
Ye Qiu had already taken hold of her delicate shoulders and was slowly leaning toward her.
"Xiao Qiu~"
Her eyes hazy, Su Yun'er heard Ye Qiu's words and saw him standing tall before her, and she understood his feelings.
Yes...
Xiao Qiu had never forgotten the villagers' kindness in giving him even a bowl of porridge or a meal of rice. How could he look down on her for being an ordinary person?
Su Yun'er smiled sweetly and met the kiss of her Xiao Qiu, her husband.
She raised her jade hand,
stroking Ye Qiu's strong, solid chest before slowly sliding it down to his waist and removing everything...
"Pwip!"
Beneath the bright moon,
at the far end of Holy Soul Village, south of Nuoding City,
an arrow shot into a hollow in a tree, sending water splashing out.
"Hmph~ All I did was take your blanket, didn't I?"
"Acting like you're heaven's gift! Just watch Sister Xiao Wu shoot you dead, you bastard!"
Xiao Wu stood beneath the eaves, fiddling with the Hidden Weapon in her hand.
Immediately afterward,
several more arrows shot out.
Each arrow struck the small hole in the distant tree trunk with precision, sending the rainwater pooled inside gushing out.
"Pwip!"
The last arrow shot out!
The hollow in the tree suddenly split open, and a stream of clear, white-frothed water trickled out.
But looking at this satisfying sight,
Xiao Wu couldn't feel happy in the slightest. Instead, she threw down the Hidden Weapon, clapped her hands over her ears, and screamed at the top of her lungs.
"Ah!!!"
"Xiao San, how much longer are you going to torture me?"
No one answered Xiao Wu's scream.
From the smithy behind her came only the unceasing clang of hammering iron.
Firelight shone through the crack in the door...
Inside the smithy,
Tang San swung his forging hammer, striking the anvil again and again. Sweat poured down his body like rain, and his eyes held nothing but excitement as he forgot everything else.
His Back-Mounted Flower Crossbow would soon be complete!
In another two months,
he and Xiao Wu would be leaving for Suotuo City. He had to be prepared!
Clang-!
The sound of hammering continued without pause.
Outside the smithy, Xiao Wu covered her ears and stamped her feet repeatedly, but it was no use.
"Ah!!!"
"I'm bored to death~ Nuoding Academy was more fun than this!"
Xiao Wu complained mournfully.
Left with no choice, she walked irritably over to the tree and pulled all the arrows out of its hollow in one go, water splashing everywhere.
"Pwip!"
Xiao Wu loaded the arrows back into the Hidden Weapon, intending to shoot them out again...
At that moment,
as Xiao Wu held the Hidden Weapon and pretended to shoot, she could never have imagined that the person she wanted to shoot was pressing down a docile white tiger and attacking fiercely.
That night,
Xiao Wu went without sleep yet again.
That night,
the space apart from the world saw blood for the first time, and the enemy's moans and pleas for mercy rang out.
That same night,
Tang San finally forged a Back-Mounted Flower Crossbow. It was as though he could already hear the screams of enemies caught by a sneak attack.
As dawn approached, torrential rain poured down, drowning out every sound.
Outside the smithy, beneath the curtain of rain,
a man shrouded in a black robe stood silently staring at the firelight inside, lost in thought. He neither spoke nor moved.
"..."
In Peach Blossom Village, the clouds and rain had just subsided.
Inside a house in the peach grove at the village's easternmost end,
Ye Qiu had received a joyful blessing and had been so excited that he had slept hardly a wink all night.
Only when the torrential rain outside the window stopped, and the three water vats outside the house were nearly overflowing, did he sink into a deep sleep with the warm, soft beauty in his arms.
By the time the sun was high in the sky,
there was still no movement in the house. Only then did the person in the bed slowly begin to wake.
"Mmm~"
Su Yun'er let out a soft hum, her lovely face radiant with the glow of spring. Her curvaceous, jade-like body beneath the thin blanket ached all over, and her exposed knees were completely red.
"Sister Yun'er~ You're awake? Let me help you up so you can eat something."
Just then,
Ye Qiu's gentle voice sounded beside the bed.
He had long since gotten up and dressed, and had even made a trip to Nuoding City,
where he bought a few things...