Tianshi lied down next to him and took the letter from him, saying, "Let me read instead.", before she proceeded to open the letter with her head on his chest. She was much more comfortable around him after their first intimate time.
"Sure." Xuefeng caressed her already dry, black hair agreeing without problems as he didn't have anything to hide from her anymore.
"It is definitely from a woman, just smell it... Oh, it was even handwritten." Tianshi allowed Xuefeng to smell the letter before she opened it and pulled out a single page with neat writing.
"Hey Xuefeng, it's me, Zhen Shan..." Tianshi started reading before glancing at Xuefeng face for any reaction.
Xuefeng wasn't quite surprised and said, interested. "Oh, so it is from Princess Shan. Read more."
"... I hope you didn't forget about our promise yet. I wanted to meet with you once again just before my departure to the White Lotus Sect, but the situation in the palace didn't allow me such luxury. The Sacred Sword Kingdom Prince which I told you about, came to our palace and wanted to, "Redeem" me as his wife. He was talking as if I was a toy he can casually buy it in the store…" Tianshi continued reading the letter but stopped in the middle asking. "Is this the Prince you are supposed to defeat?"
"Yes, she said he was harassing her and wanted to force her into marriage with him. I promised I would help." Xuefeng admitted.
"Good. Such bastards don't deserve to live. I don't mind if you get rid of him for her, forever." Tianshi nodded. She could sympathize with Princess Shan as she was also almost forced into marriage. And even on Earth, it was her father who was in control of her relationship decisions.
"You don't mind if I start to kill people?" Xuefeng asked, surprised at his girlfriend's decisiveness.
"You already killed before and you are still your old self, the one I love. And that Prince is not a person but a beast. You don't need to mind killing beasts. We are not on Earth anymore Xuefeng. Cultivators kill each other all the time." Tianshi said as she kissed him on the lips before reminding him of their current situation.
Xuefeng sighed realising that Tianshi was even faster to adapt in this world than him. He kissed her lightly on the head and promised. "Yeah, I know. I will get stronger and protect you."
"We will see who can protect who in the end. One day I will beat you up." Tianshi smirked before she looked back into the letter. Xuefeng only smiled at her unachievable dream.
"... When you receive this letter, I should be already safe inside the White Lotus Sect and out of his reach. As long as I remain inside its grounds, there shouldn't be a problem for the time being. He can't force me out, but the tournament is nearing and if you want to help me, you need to train hard.
"I heard that he already mastered his second element and is aiming for the third. If you don't know anything about the elements, let me summarize it for you… Okay, she lists out a few points you need to know while studying elements but you should know them already, right?" Tianshi asked after reading the second part of Princess Shan's letter. Tianshi was quite astonished that this Princess would care so much about Xuefeng.
"Yeah, if it was before, those points would have some important information for me. But not anymore." Xuefeng nodded, before reaching out with his free hand and creating a miniature tornado on his hand to show off his skills.
"... I hope that this can help you boost your skills. Mastering elements are important, so make sure you investigate into it… I miss you… Hope to see you soon… Your best, Zhen Shan. Wow, she even placed a kiss at the bottom. Care to explain? Is there something I don't know?" Tianshi opened the last part of the letter and went through it before stopping with her face losing her smile. She slowly read the last pieces, touching the kiss mark on the letter and asked Xuefeng with an evil grin.
"Listen… We barely did anything. We might have kissed a few times, but that's pretty much it." Xuefeng slapped his forehead and explained himself.
Seeing that Tianshi was not satisfied with his answer he leaned over and kissed her cherry lips, commenting with a cheeky smile afterwards, "I prefer these lips for sure."
"You are sleeping on the floor tonight!" Unfortunately, Tianshi wasn't bought by his sweet talking and commanded while pointing at the floor.
"No! I'm sleeping with you tonight!" Xuefeng disagreed immediately and hugged her tightly before covering them with the quilt. Being held hostage by Xuefeng, she had no choice but to surrender.
...….
The first thing in the morning of the next day, Xuefeng wrote a return letter to Princess Shan, explaining vaguely why he was so late and that he will definitely work harder to get stronger in the future. Xuefeng assured her that before he reports into the Sacred Institute, he will come to the White Lotus Sect to visit her.
He asked his father to send it in his place as he didn't know how it was done in this world. It turned out that most people were using couriers sent by the Trade Union as they were the safest. Not many people were brave enough to go against them and even if someone was willing to take the risk, there were measures that Trade Union took that were too hard to run away from.
Each courier had the mark on them that acted as a safeguard. If the courier was attacked and killed, the mark would be placed on the killer and he would be easily tracked down later.
Xuefeng also gave the storage artefact that he took from the man that died in front of the Nightmare cave and asked his father to return it to the man's wife, after giving him the details.
After that issue he recalled was resolved, Xuefeng's next few days became quite monotonous but it doesn't mean that they were boring. He enjoyed each moment he was spending with Tianshi and didn't want those days to end. Unfortunately, Xuefeng knew that he couldn't just stay in his clan with Tianshi till they get old, living a normal life. He wasn't a normal person anymore and Ling's existence was reminding him about it every day.
In those five days, Xuefeng was teaching Tianshi multiple Air Element Arts that he learned from Yiren, with the Air Qi Wings included. And he perfected his sword skills while training with Yi and other Saint Experts. Noticing that Tianshi wasn't that in love with sword fighting, he allowed her to focus only on mastering the arts he taught her.
Nearing the fifth day of their training Xuefeng could face at least five of those experts at the same time, but he knew that if they used their cultivation strength, he wouldn't stand a chance.
Around the morning of the seventh day, since Xuefeng reunited with Tianshi, a new visitor appeared in the Aurora country which they weren't aware of.
"Uff, I'm finally here. To think that I agreed to hunt a brat in such a far away country. I must have been blinded by money for a moment." The Thousand Blades looked at his surroundings while glancing at his map and confirmed his position, breathing in relief. The long hours of waiting in his small flying ship almost made him insane.
He didn't have a comfortable and enormous warship like Xiao Feng as they were not something he could buy. Even if he had the money it was impossible to get it anyway. Xiao Family as kings of Spirit Artefacts made it themselves and only sell small types like the one he had, which could only fit at most two people.
Thousand Blades was flying high in the sky to avoid anyone and just when he was above Phoenix city, he placed his hand on the body of the flying ship. It suddenly started to vanish from the sky and soon even his body was invisible. He flew towards the ground unnoticed and landed outside of the city.
When he landed, he put his flying ship into the storage ring before appearing once again. Being invisible all the time was a huge Qi burden for him. Hiding inside the bushes, he slowly released his Spirit Awareness into the city to check the situation in the city, even if he knew there was no way there is someone stronger than him in this city.
He had an opinion that it was better to always check before acting, in case there was a problem, and in this case, it turned out that he was right. His Spirit Awareness didn't even travel ten meters and he already spotted another cultivator's presence. Noticing that it was a saint expert's Spirit Awareness, he could escape as he was one stage stronger but that didn't make him less worried.
'How is it possible that there is a saint cultivator in such a country?' Thousand Blade asked himself in his mind annoyed before he closed his eyes and created a small bird out of his Qi. Releasing it into the air, he flew it above the city to scan it.
'Fuck, why are there so many saint experts of Xiao Family patrolling in the sky. Now I get why the pay was so high. I need to kill someone connected to the Xiao Family. Fuck that Tang brat. After I'm done I will definitely pay him a visit.' Realising what the situation was like, he cursed. Everyone knew that he took the job so he can't just cancel it now. His one hundred percent success ratio would be at risk.
Just as he was troubled about what to do next, he heard someone walking towards him and talking to himself out loud, "I finally found it! To think that it took me three months to get here. Hahaha, Wen, my perfect lady, I'm coming for you! Wait, why is there a person hiding in the bu…"
It turned out it was Murong that had been wandering for the last three months, trying to reach the Phoenix City. When Thousand Blades realised he was noticed, he didn't ask questions but shoot his dagger at him. The dagger multiplied in midair into tens of similar ones and all of them hit Murong before he could react.
"Bang!"
"Aaah, damn you! I will be baaaaaaaack~!" Instead of passing right through him, Murong turned golden and the daggers exploded with a blast and sent him flying hundreds of meters into the sky.
"What the fuck?" The Thousand Blades asked himself dumbfounded seeing his attack couldn't kill a weak brat. But then turned around and looked into the sky noticing something else.
"Shit, they heard me." He cursed seeing Saint Experts going after him, hearing the explosion. He pulled out his dagger which was blown into the tree and turned invisible, quickly running away afterwards.
"Good morning, sleepy~!" Tianshi called out seeing that Xuefeng opened his eyes. She started to call him that as he used to sleep like a baby with her in his embrace. In the last few days, however, their roles were reversed and it was she who acted as a body pillow.
"Hey…" Xuefeng wiped his eyes with one hand to see clearer and looked at Tianshi's pretty face. He hugged her tighter, feeling the soft skin on his cheeks and leaned for a kiss on the lips. Tianshi was happy to accommodate him and accepted it.
They kissed for a while with slow and sensual moves of their lips, enjoying each touch. They flipped to the side with Tianshi landing at the bottom and started adding tongue to their lazy battle. Feeling that Xuefeng's staff was strong as ever on the mornings, Tianshi reached out with her free hand and started stroking it up and down, signalizing to Xuefeng what she actually wanted from him.
Recently she noticed that her skin was getting much smoother after each of their night activities and she couldn't help but ask Xuefeng about it. When she learned the truth from him, that his liquid can actually act as a nutrient for the body, her sex drive increased diametrically the same day and Xuefeng could expect at least two sexy times with her each day.
It seemed like she wanted to look prettier with this strategy, but her likewise important reason was the enjoyment she got from those moments. From her second and third time, it was only getting better and better. Now, she thought it was natural for them to be together like that.
"Mhmm…" Tianshi moaned in pleasure after she aimed Xuefeng's staff inside of her and he slowly pushed forward while still playing with her tongue. Tianshi wrapped her legs around his back and used her legs to help him with his movements.
"I want it in my mouth…" Tianshi whispered into his ears to remind him earlier. She learned from him that she can absorb his seeds but she preferred to swallow them instead as they tasted good anyway.
Xuefeng was moving steadily with his hips but because it was early in the morning, it took him some time before he reached his limit. Every morning was the same for his first load, Tianshi needed to wait for some time. She already achieved the peak of her pleasure and was waiting for him.
Xuefeng pulled out and neared Tianshi's face before feeling her soft lips touching the head of his staff. He felt her wet tongue tease it all around and a subtle suction that she applied.
As he finally burst, shooting his liquid into her mouth, she started moving up and down on the shaft with her hand, sucking the last drop from him. After she was done licking, Xuefeng dropped next to her and breathed deeply a few times. He just woke up, but once again had to pass through a morning battle.
"Thanks," Tianshi said, as she lied on his chest again.
"No problem." Xuefeng patted her on the head and asked, "Do you think that our clothes are ready? Do you want to check with me today?"
"Sure! We can go after breakfast." Tianshi nodded, agreeing before her face changed as she recalled something and asked, "...Xuefeng? Will you leave to visit that Holy Land of elves soon?"
"What? You want me to leave so early?" Xuefeng asked back, teasing her.
Tianshi hit him in the chest, causing him to laugh and explained her reasons, "You know what I'm asking! Of course, I want you to stay with me longer, but I know you need to train the rest of the elements. I'm not that selfish."
"I will probably go tomorrow. After quickly learning all the arts, I will come back. Maybe I will bring your oldest sister with me?" Xuefeng answered honestly this time.
"As long as you will be back soon…" Tianshi didn't mind other things, thinking only about his quick return.
They lay like that for a few moments more until they finally heard the footsteps outside their room. Tianshi stood up and went to the bathroom to get ready while Xuefeng wore his pants and opened the door. It was Yi who had brought them breakfast for the last couple of days.
It was originally the twin's duty, but after they were sent away by Tianshi, a Siant Expert took the job.
Yi passed the wooden tray with food over to Xuefeng and asked sweetly. "Good morning, Young Master. Is Young Princess awake?"
"Good morning. Thanks for the food. Tianshi is getting ready." Xuefeng answered with a smile. He didn't have anything against those twins, other than their attitude. Yi was much kinder to him compared to Yu.
"Master is asking when Young Master will depart," Yi asked fulfilling his servant duty.
"Tell him that it should be tomorrow if nothing unexpected happens. I can't delay my training any longer." Xuefeng informed.
Yi nodded before she turned into her casual self and asked friendly in an easygoing tone. "Yes, I will pass the message… can I ask if you will train today?"
"Yeah, we can train together when I come back from the city." Xuefeng nodded with a smile.
"Alright. I can't wait. I will take my leave." Yi smiled hearing his answer and left. The training with Xuefeng was the time that she was looking forward to each day.
After Xuefeng and Tianshi got ready and ate, they left the courtyard and walked out of the Liu Clan territory the traditional way, instead of flying.
"Good morning Young Master! Maybe a hot bun for breakfast?" The food seller called out seeing the familiar face was walking past him.
"Maybe later as we just ate. Have a nice day." Xuefeng heard him and replied out of politeness. He then walked towards the inner part of the city while holding Tianshi by the hand. The Saint Experts were protecting them as usual with a few patrolling the sky and at least four walking with them.
They were mostly tasked with moving the crowd away from them. It was a protection procedure they took to avoid any troubles. Most residents already got used to such treatments, so they didn't complain and whenever they saw their outfits on the streets, they would let them pass. Even with four cultivators protecting them, they were still allowed some space so they didn't feel uncomfortable with their presence.
"See? I told you I know Liu Clan Young Master. He often comes to buy my hot buns from me." The food seller smirked and turned to the man next to him, bragging once again. The man had a cloak on his face with only his smile visible but he still turned his head towards Xuefeng's party as if he could see through this hood anyway.
"Yes, I never doubted you. I'm going. No need for change." Thousand Blades said in a husky voice before he threw a high tier Spirit Stone at the food seller, and left. He followed Xuefeng's party right away, as he didn't want to waste too much time anymore.
Since morning he was doing his research and realised from all the information that he had gathered that Xiao Feng was actually staying in the Liu Clan in person. Seeing Xiao Tianshi walking carefree in the city while holding hands with his target, he knew that there might be some problems, but he still decided to take action.
Seeing only a few saint experts gave him the confidence of having a successful kill and run situation hence why he decided to go for the kill.
"Are you curious about what that tailor could think of? Maybe not only we will have nice designs but also some other cool features." Xuefeng asked his girlfriend as they slowly walked towards the store. They still had about one hundred meters walk till their destination.
"Will you tell me what else you asked him to do when you went back inside last time?" Tianshi asked curiously as she recalled his previous behaviour.
"Haha, It will be a secret. Don't worry, you will like it." Xuefeng laughed, not telling her anything about what he had planned.
"Tsk, I will see in a moment then." Tianshi sneered, giving up on persuading him and decided to wait those few more minutes.
"Yes, it's not that far al…" 'Watch out!' Just as Xuefeng wanted to reply to her, Xuefeng heard Ling alarm call and he dodged to the side with Tianshi in his arms before rolling on the ground.
"Bam!" At the place they were standing just a moment before, a black grenade exploded, but instead of a shockwave with a ball of flames, a bright red light enveloped them and they became trapped inside a small bubble. It had barely ten meters in diameter and when Xuefeng looked around, he only saw one person wearing a black cloak inside of it with them.
Seeing Xuefeng and Tianshi stuck inside a red bubble, the Saint Experts started attacking it furiously creating many cracks on its surface.
"Who are you!" Xuefeng cried out, not expecting to fall victim to an assassination attempt. From how sturdy the barrier was, he could see that they didn't stand a chance against that person.
"You don't need to know. Just die!" Thousand Blades called out and threw his daggers towards Xuefeng without wasting any more time. The dagger covered in a sharp light quickly multiplied into thousands of replicas which didn't lose their momentum at all.
Xuefeng acted quickly, covering his back in the armour of thick lighting before he covered Tianshi with his body. Her safety was his first priority and looking at his current situation he didn't have any other option to get out of this attack.
"Aaaahh!!!" Xuefeng shrieked from pain when the daggers hit him. They went right past his lighting armour and struck the Elfish one underneath his clothes, but it also was pierced through.
"Bam!" At the same moment, the barrier blocking the Xiao Family cultivations broke apart and Thousand Blades had no choice but to run first. Turning invisible he flew into the sky, but he was quickly followed by the others.
Tianshi who closed her eyes finally opened them, but what she saw made her choke. She saw Xuefeng's body filled with holes all over his body with thousands of blades pierced through him and sticking on the other side. Even though he was coughing out blood, he was still persisting, afraid to drop onto Tianshi and hurt her by accident.
"...Cough, cough~! Are you okay…?" Xuefeng coughed out blood a couple of times to the side and asked weakly with his arms shaking. He looked like he was about to die, which caused Tianshi to tears to burst out in streams.
"Xuefeng! Help!" Tianshi cried out, holding Xuefeng from falling and shouted for help. Some cultivators already heard the help signal and were landing next to them.
"I'm fine… Just pull out… the daggers…" Xuefeng said weakly, with his eyelids feeling heavy, before he finally dropped limply, passing out.
At the same time inside the palace of the Holy Land, the Queen and her daughter were eating dinner, cooked by the Queen's mother. She noticed that Yiren was stressed lately, so she decided to prepare dinner for them. She knew that Yiren was missing Xuefeng, but she kept it to herself and patiently waited for his return.
"Don't worry sweetheart. He will definitely come back to us soon. Xuefeng does not look like a person who would leave their lovers behind. Even if he doesn't, you can always be the one to take the initiative and look for him right?" The auntie patted her granddaughter gently on the head, watching as she slowly ate her meal.
"If he doesn't, then I'm going to find him and beat his ass.There's no way I'm letting him go!" The Queen munched on the crispy snack and grumbled. The Queen was also longing for Xuefeng's touch and love, but she acted differently from the others. She was the kind of person who would not just allow her lover to leave her alone.
"Cough…" The Queen heard the cough and suddenly felt a warm liquid on her face. She touched her face and found out it was blood. After looking at the table and her daughter she finally realised the origin of it, and cried "Yiren! What happened!?"
Instead of answering, Yiren coughed out two more mouthfuls of blood before falling from the side of the chair, weakly.
The Queen was next to her so she managed to catch her into her arms and instantly filled her daughter with her Qi to check what is going on.
"Mom!" Unfortunately, even with her knowledge, she didn't know what is going on. The Queen called out for her mother who was already running towards them from the kitchen.
When she checked Yiren's body, she didn't find anything that was the cause of her bleeding organs. She was not injured in any way from the outside but still started bleeding. If something was wrong with her earlier she would notice it herself, so it had to be something else.
"I also have no idea, did she tell you something? If it's not a physical wound, then I'm guessing it has to be caused by an injury in the soul." Her Auntie placed her hand on Yiren's pale cheeks, sending her own Qi inside of Yiren but did not get any results as well. Yiren had already passed out from the pain so they were unable to ask Yiren of her situation.
"Soul? How could she injure her soul out of nowhe… Wait, I think I know! Follow me!" The Queen thought out loud at her mother's suggestion and finally recalled something. She picked Yiren and flew swiftly away from the palace heading down towards the Wisdom Tree cave. Auntie naturally spread her wings and followed her.
They quickly bypassed the guards without answering any questions and entered inside. The Queen placed Yiren on the altar and cried out to the Wisdom Tree, "Goddess Mingshu, please help us save Yiren!"
Yiren was already getting colder due to the blood loss, so Wisdom Tree was their only solution for the time being until they found a way to heal her. She was worried that the Wisdom Tree wouldn't reply but then she saw the Tree extending its branches and covering Yiren's entire body.
Leaves started to fall from the crown and merge together, turning into a golden light which then sunk into Yiren's body. It took a moment before Yiren finally regained some colour on her face.
'What happened?' Little Ming asked curiously inside their minds.
"Goddess, Yiren suddenly started to cough blood and passed out. We suspect it's the injury of the soul. I recalled that I asked you to connect Xuefeng and Yiren by blood. Did you maybe connect their souls too in the process?" The Queen explained what happened and asked worriedly. It just came into her mind as the only possible reason for such a thing to happen.
'Yes... This means that something must have happened to Xuefeng!' Little Ming who was always acting composed in front of them suddenly raised her voice when she realised that Xuefeng could be in danger.
'I will take care of your daughter. Go to the outside world and bring Xuefeng back here. He should be safe, else Yiren would be dead already.' Little Ming called out hurriedly.
"Yes! I will bring him back." The Queen agreed and left after caressing Yiren on the cheek for the last time. She didn't blame the Goddess for connecting Xuefeng and Yiren's souls together as it was probably the requirement for Xuefeng to turn into a half-elf.
When the Queen gazed at her mother, the auntie nodded at her as she listened to their conversation and said, "Go and bring him to safety."
"I'm off then… Xuefeng you bastard. If you dare die, I will kill you…" The Queen said before she dashed out of the cave muttering as she dashed at high speed.
...….
"Young Princess, are you okay?!" The Saint Expert knelt on one knee asking worriedly. If something happened to her, they wouldn't be able to live anymore.
"I'm okay! Help Xuefeng! Pull out the daggers!" Tianshi cried out in hysteria to the guard as she held Xuefeng's body above her, not bothered by the pain from the cuts on her hands. The daggers had a weird light on them that was vibrating on the edges that were cutting Xuefeng's and her flesh consciously. She couldn't imagine how much pain he had to go through.
"But Young Princess, he will completely bleed out if we do…" The cultivator looked at Xuefeng's body with skeptical gazes, thinking that he was already a goner with this many daggers impaling him and tried to inform her, but Tianshi didn't let him finish, yelling at him with her eyes red from tears. "Pull out the daggers!!!"
"Yes…" The Saint Cultivator couldn't help but nod and execute the order.
He started to slowly pull out the daggers from Xuefeng body one by one before throwing them to the side. He was surprised that they started disappearing just as they hit the ground, turning into a gold mist. When he looked back at Xuefeng, The Saint Expert was even more shocked seeing the holes after the daggers seal up swiftly, leaving the spot clean as if it was untouched.
At this point, a female expert arrived and helped Tianshi get out from under Xuefeng's body as she held him instead of her. When Tianshi looked at her, it turned out to be Yi, who had a grim expression on her face.
"Young Princess, what happened?" Yi asked with her eyes in pain, seeing Xuefeng's muscles twitch each time another dagger was being pulled out of his back.
"Someone tried to assassinate him… Why would anyone want to kill Xuefeng? He wasn't an enemy to anyone…Unless..." Tianshi replied, not understanding the whole situation before one person came into his mind.
"Yeah… I guess Young Princess already guessed." Yi nodded at Tianshi, confirming her suspicions. She had a feeling that they were talking about the same person.
"I hope this bastard dies…" Tianshi imagined the face of Tang Taizong and cursed him.
It wasn't that hard for them to figure out that it was Taizong who tried to assassinate Xuefeng, as he was the only one actively trying to court Tianshi and they knew how evil he could get. If he learned information regarding Xuefeng, he would definitely act such a matter.
"Don't worry Young Princess. Master is probably already on the way to hunt the assassin who hurt Xuefeng. Nothing stands a chance in front of justice." Yi tried to calm Tianshi down and looked back at Xuefeng, whose back was already half clean from the daggers.
Just as Yi said, Xiao Feng was actually already chasing Thousand Blades. He managed to escape out of the city, losing his tail of Saint Cultivators but he didn't expect that the master of Xiao Family would be here personally.
"Bam!" Another hammer strike landed on the Thousand Blades body, blasting him into the ground and creating a long trail with his body. Xiao Feng didn't have troubles finding him after his escape, as they weren't even on the same league. When he learned what happened, he instantly released his Spirit Qi and scanned each being in tens of Li away.
Even his invisibility was unable able to hide him from Xiao Feng's hammers. Thousand Blades sat up weakly and watched as Xiao Feng neared him.
"Who asked you to kill my son-in-law." Xiao Feng aimed his hammer at Thousand Blades and asked with a tone that screamed with unlikeness to asking a question twice.
"Hehe, cough… Do you see this ball? I can leave this place whenever I want. What makes you think that I will rat on my client." Thousand Blades coughed out blood as he laughed and pulled out a black ball full of nothingness. He was a man of steel so his mind wouldn't be swayed this easily by Xiao Feng's demonstration of strength.
"If you don't tell me, I will just put a few million bounty on your head. I want to see where you are going to hide!" Xiao Feng simply blackmailed using human greed against him.
"Okay, it was that young brat from Tang Family… Shit!" Hearing Xiao Feng reply, Thousand Blades gave up resisting, telling him what he wanted. It would be hard for him to live in this world with such a bounty on his head. He didn't, however, expect that Xiao Feng would throw his hammer at him, right after Xiao Feng learned the truth, which forced him to use the black artefact to disappear.
"That's for endangering my daughter." Xiao Feng called out with a sneer and vanished after picking up his weapon. He knew that it wasn't possible to track Thousand Blades anymore as he used a Thousand Li Artefact. It simply allowed one to teleport in a random direction in distance of a Thousand Li.
Xiao Feng looked at the expert cultivators that he hired to protect his daughter with a grim expression and asked them, "Can you tell me why I even have you guys here? Not only did you let the assassin break your defences, but you even let him escape after he almost killed Xuefeng. How are you going to explain my precious son-in-law getting hurt?"
"Master, please forgive us!" No one would believe their own eyes if someone saw so many mighty Saint Experts kneeling in front of one man. There were about ten of them and all of them were responsible for the Young Princess' protection, which was the job they had failed horribly. They couldn't say that the Assassin was just too strong for them as that would only dig their grave even deeper.
When Xiao Feng arrived at the scene, he saw the bloody body of Xuefeng still looking like that of a hedgehog. He was surprised that he could still find signs of life from him. What was even more remarkable was that each time a dagger was pulled out of his body, the tissues were healing almost immediately.
Xiao Feng's eyes turned sharper at that time as he finally realised some stuff that he was missing. Xiao Wen thought that she could keep her father in the dark, but it would be impossible if a person as famous as him, didn't know secrets like this.
He knew that there was a mysterious group of people who were even stronger than him, and his daughter was also part of it. They had unseen abilities that gave them inhumane strength and powers. With them in the picture, his title as the strongest under the heavens would be a great embarrassment for him.
'So he is also one of them... Wen probably knew about it and that's why she was in support of her sister's relationship with him. Interesting…' He thought before they brought Xuefeng to the Liu Clan's territory.
Xuefeng was already fully healed and cleaned from all the daggers, lying on the bed in a new set of clothes, but he still remained unconscious. Tianshi was sitting by his side, tightly holding Xuefeng's hand while having her other hand bandaged. She only received some minor cuts but if left unattended, they would lead to some problems.
They were inside the guest courtyard of the Xiao Family and Liu Xiaobei was already standing with his wife behind Tianshi as they got informed about the incident. Obviously, his mother's eyes were red from crying but seeing him all healthy now, it eased her emotions. Tianshi's mother was also with them, sitting at the edge of the bed, waiting for her husband.
Xiao Feng looked at his family's cultivators and commanded, "Your opponent was much stronger than you think, so I will spare your lives this time. His name is Thousand Blades and you all probably know him already. He is a famous assassin who is at the Spirit Sage Stage with many tricks up in his sleeve. Listen up! I want you all to increase your patrols and tighten the defences around the Liu Clan until I say otherwise! If Thousand Blades learns that his job is undone, he will surely try again. If I see the same mishap again, you know how your lives are going to end. Is everything clear?!"
"Yes, Sir!" Everyone called out.
"Then get your asses back to the job!" Xiao Feng cursed at them while pointing at the doors.
"Yes, Sir!" Hearing Xiao Feng's commands, they left after shouting out loud.
"Master, do you have any instructions for me? Should we ask to place a bounty on the assassin?" Elder Yang asked after he was the only one left from the cultivators in the side room.
Xiao Feng rubbed his chin as he said, "No, that will provoke him more and make him desperate. Let's leave him alone for the time being. We should focus more on the one who ordered the attack on Xuefeng."
"Who would dare to strike at us?" Elder Yang did not understand who would be so daring enough to attack a family like theirs.
"The answer is no one. But there is one person that is extremely stupid. Tang Taizong was the one who hired the assassin. If I knew he was like this I would have never tried to give my daughter's hand to this filthy bastard." Xiao Feng cursed. There was no reason Thousand Blades would lie as he was standing on the edge at that time. It wasn't that hard to imagine anyway, so Xiao Feng believed him.
"Should we do something against the Tang Family?" Elder Yang asked, feeling that great war of two big families was about to start.
"Yes, tell everyone to halt business with Tang Family. If they ask for a reason, tell them to make something up… Or wait, let's pass the message when we will be going back. We can't give them time to prepare or sneak attack while I am gone. Let's wait for now." Xiao Feng finally decided.
"Alright, I will prepare myself to pass the commands, Master." Elder Yang said before he bowed and left.
Xiao Feng returned back to the main room and when he saw that Xuefeng was still asleep with Tianshi filled with sadness, he sighed, walking inside.
"I already closed the clan. No one is going to learn about this situation for a while. Did you catch that guy?" Liu Xiaobei walked up to Xiao Feng and asked curiously. He wasn't worried about Xuefeng as he saw how fast he was healing by himself. He speculated that he was still healing that's why he was asleep.
"No, he managed to escape, but I got the name of a person responsible for hiring him. It's the brat who Tianshi rejected, but he is still chasing after her. We will take care of it, don't worry. When Xuefeng wakes up, we will take Tianshi and return to the Central Region…" Xiao Feng informed his future in-law, passing on his future plans but before he could end, Tianshi shouted, overhearing their conversation, "I'm not going anywhere! I'm staying where Xuefeng is!"
"Sweetheart, we are not forbidding you to be with him. It's just that it is not safe for you to be around Xuefeng for the time being. He is not strong enough to protect you…" Xiao Yiying called out to her daughter trying to explain but her reasoning didn't get to Tianshi.
"He shielded me, placing his life on the line! What more can I ask for? Your experts can not even do that much!" Tianshi tightened her grip on Xuefeng's hand and defended him.
"Tianshi, you don't understand…" Xiao Yiying called out to her one more time but suddenly was interrupted by the disturbance outside the courtyard.
"Boom! Thud!" They heard multiple explosions and a crash as if a body just dropped to the ground at a high speed.
"What is going on outside?" Liu Xiaobei asked with a frown as he instinctively, as the leader of the clan walked towards the doors, but halted when the doors opened abruptly and a Saint expert was thrown inside, sliding on the floor.
He landed next to Xiao Feng feet and called out, "Master, we failed you yet again… S-she is too strong! We can't beat her!"
"Who is it?" Xiao Feng asked confused as he looked through the doors and saw many of his experts lying on the ground in pain. When he looked at the lady approaching the room, he staggered, losing strength in his legs, almost falling to the floor.
"My Queen…" Xiao Feng whispered out of breath. The lady who appeared out of nowhere and beat up his experts was exactly what he would the least expect. With shiny wings on her back, she walked confidently as if nothing could stop her from reaching her goal.
"Where is Xuefeng and what did you do to him?!" The Queen said outside the room but when she finally entered after retracting her wings and saw him lying on the bed sleeping, the Queen realised that she might have overreacted a bit.
"Hehe, my bad. You must be his family, right?" The Queen approached the bed with the imperial demeanour and asked Mu Lan, without bothering to give Xiao Feng a glance. For her, everyone here was too weak to face her anyway, so she wasn't bothered if she was wrong and faced their attack.
"Yes, and who are you? Are you from that hidden land Xuefeng left not long ago?" Mu Lan asked with a smile, connecting the dots based on the Queen's appearance. She looked just like how Xuefeng explained their features. From the Queen's earlier outburst Mu Lan didn't think that the Queen was a bad person so she wasn't hostile.
"Oh, yes... I am also his lover." The Queen answered as she approached the bed and caressed Xuefeng's cheek. The first part of the question made everyone sigh in relief but the second one made them freeze. Especially one person. It was Xiao Feng whose face suddenly turned ugly.
The Queen turned towards Tianshi who didn't look that surprised and asked with a cheeky smile, "You seem to be calm, did Xuefeng tell you everything already? You must be his girlfriend, right?"
"Yes, he did…" Tianshi answered collected, staring at the Queen straight in the eyes. They looked at each other for a moment but neither sides refused to lose.
"Okay. Thank you for taking care of him. Now excuse me for what I'm about to do." The Queen nodded at Tianshi's collection before rubbing Xuefeng's stomach as if to find a good spot.
"What do you want to…" Tianshi asked, but it was too late as the Queen raised her hand and smashed it lightly onto Xuefeng's stomach, crying "Wake up you bastard. I don't have all day to wait!"
"Cough, cough! Why so rough..." The Queen's hit caused Xuefeng to wake up momentarily as he sat up coughing while hugging his belly.
"Yiren needs you right now. We are going." The Queen commanded and pulled him out of the bed without asking for others opinion.
"Ah, wait. Why so suddenly. What happened?" Xuefeng stood up, massaging his butt from the fall to the floor and called out to the Queen.
"We will talk on the way. Yiren got hurt because of you and we need your help to heal her… I will be waiting outside." The Queen didn't give him much information and when she saw Tianshi looking at Xuefeng with a sad gaze, she gave them some space by heading out of the room.
"Wait! Do you remember me?" Just when the Queen was about to leave, Xiao Feng called out to her, halting her footsteps. His face returned to normal now after he thought through the situation.
It has been a long time since the last time they met and there was a chance that the Queen already forgot about him. After twenty-five years it was possible that she was just lacking a physical touch of a man and when a young Xuefeng appeared, she benefited from his presence.
Xiao Feng first looked at his wife who was watching the situation from the side but he was still hoping that maybe he can remind the Queen of himself with that call and witness her recalling him. She was his first love and he couldn't just forget about her even though he started his new family.
Unfortunately, when the Queen turned around and looked at Xiao Feng, he was hit by the question that he would never forget, "And who might you be?"
At the moment Xiao Feng felt as if something inside of his chest broke and his lungs contained not air but a poison that prevented him from breathing. He faced the Queen staring at her questioning gaze, confirming that she actually has no idea, and finally realised that his whole life he was actually living in an illusion.
"Honey, are you okay? Do you know her?" At that time, Xiao Yiying, who noticed her husband's weird behaviour, approached him and asked, turning his head towards her.
She could see Xiao Feng's eyes were turning red as she didn't like this.
"Oh, now I recall it. There is only one person from the outside world other than Xuefeng that I met and it's the father of my daughter. You must be that Xiao Feng, right?" Just when Xiao Feng was distracted by his wife and returned to real life, he was drawn into the illusion once again by the Queen.
"Yes! It's me! I knew you will remember me! How have you been?" Xiao Feng was ecstatic when heard that question and actually turned back towards the Queen, brushing his wife to the side, not even replying to her. Xiao Yiying was shocked for the moment, but she collected herself and observed the situation repeating what she learned over the years.
Her motto was, 'First observe what situation you are in then adapt and overcome it later.' and it ended up being a correct strategy in most scenarios.
"Sigh… I could be better. You know, I had to raise my daughter alone for so many years and it wasn't that easy. Come here. Let me see you up close." The Queen sighed as she faked a pained expression before reaching out to Xiao Feng with her hand.
Xuefeng who was watching the situation from the side, already knew that he was in deep shit right now and the Queen wouldn't change it back for him. He suspected that she did that on purpose because he didn't visit them earlier.
Xuefeng walked through the bed to sit on the edge next to Tianshi and asked, reaching out for her hand, "Is your hand alright? Let me help you."
Tianshi completely ignored the Queen's issue as she already knew their meeting would happen one day and gave her injured hand to Xuefeng for healing while asking something that actually concerned her, "Did you hear what my father said?"
"Yes… And I think it should be better if you go back..." Xuefeng nodded and actually agreed with her father's idea which made Tianshi look at him in shock.
"What? You are not getting rid of me!" Tianshi rejected his decision immediately.
"Listen. I'm not strong enough to protect you yet. I just don't want to lose you once again. Here, take this. I will be able to find you wherever you are in the world as long as you have it. Can you listen to me? I will visit you frequently and when I get strong enough to protect you, I will take you away." Xuefeng healed her hand after untying the bandage before looking her straight into the eyes and explaining his reasons.
He also gave her his token he got from the Queen that could allow him to track her later on. Xuefeng believed that the Queen had more tokens so he could have another one for himself.
"But…" Tianshi tried to say no but Xuefeng kissed her, sealing her lips and forcing her to agree. He already decided what to do after realising that he was not that big of a deal in this world yet. If he couldn't even protect his loved ones then how does he even deserve them?
"Remember to keep the token with you at all times. So I will be able to find you." Xuefeng reminded for the last time and looked back towards the Queen, checking what kind of situation he was in. What he saw made him terrified.
The Queen felt his stare and gave him a wink before she proceeded with her plan.
Earlier when she asked Xiao Feng to come to her, he gladly did, appearing next to her in the blink of an eye, with an excited smile on his face. He looked like he suddenly became a few years younger.
"My dear, did you miss me?" The Queen asked as she patted Xiao Feng on the head before rubbing his ear.
"Yes! It's been so many years that I thought we will never meet again. You look just as pretty as the moment I saw you for the first time." Xiao Feng nodded happily, complimenting her.
"Oh, you are too much but thank you." The Queen blushed cutely, thanking him and leaned over while showing off her ample bosom, asking, "What would you say if I told you that I can bring you back with me and we could stay together once again?"
It was at that moment the Queen saw Xuefeng kissing Tianshi and out of jealousy, decided to give him a lesson. When they exchanged gazes, Xuefeng knew that he was screwed.
"I…" Xiao Feng hesitated, thinking about the offer but then the Queen leaned over once more, closing the gap to about ten centimetres away from his face and said in a sad tone, "I guess you don't want me anymore... To think that I hoped to repeat our long-lasting session once again…"
"I will go! I would never reject you…" Xiao Feng finally agreed, seeing her sad expression which gave pain to his heart. Unfortunately, when he leaned forward to kiss her, The Queen placed her hand in between them, pushing him away.
The Queen turned towards Xiao Yiying who was observing the situation calmly and asked while pointing at Xiao Feng's crotch, "You see this? Men only want one thing. If they get a chance, they will take it even if they hesitate for a moment. That's why I chose to have a man who can at least satisfy me... It must have been hard with this little sword of his, right?"
"Okay, enough. We are leaving. Mom, Dad, I will explain everything when I come back." Hearing what the Queen was saying, Xuefeng had to bring her out of here. He still wanted to live in his life for a few tens of years.
"Have fun." Liu Xiaobei smiled and called out in amusement. He looked at that Queen's curves and couldn't help but be jealous, but then he felt a pinch on his skin that made him stop looking.
"What?" Xiao Feng asked himself stunned after Xuefeng already pulled the Queen out of the room. He actually believed the Queen and also at the same time wanted to believe that she was telling the truth.
Xiao Yiying sighed and hugged her husband from behind saying, "Honey… You still have me, remember? I'm not going anywhere. She doesn't understand how great you are. Forget about her."
She knew what the Queen was doing and actually appreciated it. Her husband was never in love with her as he had this blockade on his heart which she could not unlock but with the help of the Queen, she had the chance of doing it.
Xiao Feng felt the warm hands of his wife wrapping around him and finally realised how stupid he was for such a long time. He already had a polished diamond near him this whole time and he was still chasing after an old shiny rock.
"Sigh… I'm sorry… I got carried away." Xiao Feng's mind became clear once again as he turned around and hugged his wife.
"It's okay. Everyone makes mistakes." Xiao Yiying forgave him as she entered into his embrace and walked into her new home in his heart.
Outside in the sky, Xuefeng already had his wings on the back and was flying after the Queen out of the city. He was speechless recalling her behaviour but she just shrugged, brushing his complains away.
"Do you want to get me killed? You can't just say stuff like that…" Xuefeng called out to her but before he could say any more, the Queen turned around abruptly and threw herself at him, connecting her lips with his. They hovered high in the sky, kissing in the light of the sun.
"Hehe, You are blabbering so much but you didn't give me my welcome kiss. I had to take it myself. Let's move, Yiren is waiting." The Queen said as she giggled and flew forward.
"Gosh, what mess did I fall into?" Xuefeng didn't want to imagine what his future father-in-law was thinking right now so he just followed her, deciding to worry about it later.
'Fuck, even if I can accept the fact she doesn't want me anymore, that brat still fucked one of my daughters, my ex-lover and even wants to take another one of my daughters! He is definitely not getting away unpunished…' While Xiao Feng was hugging his wife, in his mind he already returned to his old self and blamed everything that happened on Xuefeng. If Xuefeng didn't seduce the Queen, she would still only think about him.
"What are we going to do if the assassin comes back? It will take me a while to reach a realm that can allow me to beat him." Liu Xiaobei asked when Xiao Feng and his wife finally separated.
"He should not come back for the time being as he is afraid that I am still here. He is too cautious for that. Wen should be back with that Wuying girl by then, so she can protect him until we think of a solution. But let me be clear. I won't let him touch my daughter unless he becomes strong enough to protect her. Tell him that unless he wins the Azure Dragon Empire tournament, he shouldn't appear in front of my eyes." Xiao Feng answered with his demeanour already back to normal.
"Dad~! You are not going to say who I am supposed to be with or not. It's my decision!" Tianshi shouted at her father while holding Xuefeng's token tightly in her hand.
"Well, if your man did not steal other people's women, Xuefeng would be free to date you. Not my bad he can't keep his friend in his pants. Thank god, he didn't yet touch you. Yi said you slept in different rooms the whole time." Xiao Feng bantered with his daughter before sighing in relief, when he realised that Xuefeng still didn't take everything from him.
Unfortunately, when he said it, Tianshi blushed, making it look as if she was guilty. Xiao Feng didn't miss that detail and his anger rose. Not only was he cucked by losing the Queen but also lost two of his daughters to Xuefeng. What was even more laughable was that he offered Wen to Xuefeng in exchange to meet the Queen.
Tianshi shook her head trying to get rid of her blush and said determined, "I'm old enough to decide my own path. Xuefeng is the only man on my mind and there won't be another one."
"Feng, I thought you were over it already? Just let the young do what they want. When you were young, you were not a saint either." Xiao Yiying came to the rescue and stood on Tianshi's side while trying to change her husband's attitude, but he did not listen anymore.
"What do you mean 'I was not a saint either'. Compared to him, I couldn't be more of an angel. I waited until marriage to connect with you and he didn't even wait one week!" Xiao Feng argued with his wife before he announced, "We are going home!" brushing off their words of objection.
Xiao Feng walked towards Liu Xiaobei and said after giving him a bear hug, "I hope you pass my message to your son when he comes back. If he wants my daughters he needs to fight for the privilege."
"Okay. Take care." Liu Xiaobei nodded, returning the hug.
Recalling what Xuefeng said to her, Tianshi hugged the token and put it into her ring. She sighed and called out to Xuefeng's parents, "Goodbye Uncle, Auntie. Hope we will see each other soon."
Mu Lan hugged Tianshi when she walked past her and gave her a piece of advice, "Don't worry, you two will quickly meet once again. Life is not a bed of roses. Sometimes you will face an obstacle but you can overcome it if you put enough effort into it."
"Thanks, Auntie…" Tianshi smiled at her and walked towards the door. There was nothing left for her other than to believe in Xuefeng's words and work hard so she wouldn't become a burden for him.
"Are you going to do something?" Mu Lan asked her husband after Xiao Family left.
"Nope. Nothing at all. It's his mess that he himself got into, so I'm not going to clean after him. He should learn upon his mistakes and be responsible for his actions. If he can somehow pull this off then awesome, if not, he will learn it the hard way." Liu Xiaobei sighed and shook his head. He was rooting for his son, but if he wins or loses the battle, depends solely on himself.
"Mhmm, I also think its the right choice. Who asked him to court so many ladies…" Mu Lan nodded, agreeing.
...….
While Xuefeng was flying with the Queen towards the nearest lake, the same one that he used to back from the Holy Land, Wuying was facing the last battle she had to overcome to pass the Blood Inheritance Trials. She had already been stuck in this round for a few days but finally reached the final challenge.
Blood Inheritance was mostly focused on battle and killing, compared to other element inheritances which centred around trials testing wisdom, capability or just cleverness.
"Do you think she will make it? Maybe we should help her a little bit more?" The middle-aged man bit on his nails and while watching Wuying approach the last monster, he asked the old man worried.
"No, we already helped enough. If Father learns that we are intervening so much in the mortal world, he will not be happy. He only asked us to observe them and report about their achievements. Anyway, she can do it on her own. Look at her eyes." The old man disagreed immediately and assured his partner.
They were hovering above the battlefield and even if Wuying looked in the sky, she couldn't see them, but they had the best spots as viewers. When the middle-aged man looked at Wuying's eyes, he saw great determination and will for victory, finally understanding what the old man was saying.
Wuying was walking through multiple corpses of various beasts which bled out continuously while the blood flowed towards Wuying's legs only to be absorbed by her. After her dantian filled up, Wuying didn't stop absorbing but used the Blood Art she learned not long ago.
Multiple strings of Blood Qi started gathering outside of her skin as she continued to absorb more. This art had three functions. It acted as another storage for Blood Qi, it could provide her with some protection while acting as armour and it also had great attacking potential.
She didn't stop until her whole skin was covered in crimson, shimmering armour. It was constantly moving as if she was covered by thousands of red snakes. Finally being ready for her battle, Wuying looked towards the giant lizard that was sleeping next to a boulder and dashed at it swiftly with her daggers ready.
She already fought with that Lizard and knew that it would wake up if she crossed the fifty meters line away from it. The Lizard would immediately wake up and throw itself at her with its sharp teeth. For now, it didn't look that great and powerful in its sleeping position but when standing up, it could easily reach around twenty-meters in height.
Just as she had experienced a few times before, when she ran into the Lizard range, it woke up instantly and rose up onto its two legs. Its chest pushed out forward as it charged at Wuying while swinging with its spiked tail. It roared as a greeting, showing the collection of sharp teeth and attacked.
Unfortunately for the beast, Wuying was already prepared and had a plan in her mind. She had already faced this Lizard a few times before, and its attacks were too predictable. With her Blood Art, she had a much bigger chance to finally beat it.
'Xuefeng, after I leave from here, you are not going to get rid of me anymore…' Wuying thought as she ran towards the Lizard and began her final battle.
...….
Xuefeng landed next to the Queen near the shore of the familiar lake and asked, "Can you finally tell me what is going on? What happened to Yiren and why is it my fault?"
"Well, maybe it is not entirely your fault but if you didn't get hurt, there wouldn't be any problems. We will slowly figure out what to do with it later. For now, you need to heal her injuries before it's too late. You can use your token and enter after me." The Queen said before she walked into the lake.
"Wait, I don't have the token with me anymore. I gave it to Tianshi, so I can visit her later. We will have to use the one you have." Xuefeng stopped her, admitting honestly.
The Queen turned around looking at him with a curious gaze and asked, "Oh, you really care about her, do you?"
"You wouldn't understand… She was my first love and I will always love her." Xuefeng didn't lie to her, telling her his true feelings.
"Okay. Come here, you need to hold me tightly if we want this to work." The Queen nodded with a smile and reached out with her hand to Xuefeng. She already knew about his feelings so she wasn't surprised by his confession.
"Hug me tighter." The Queen held onto his waist as they walked deeper into the lake and called out when the water was up to their necks. Xuefeng didn't know how it would work as he never tried the reverse function of this token, so he listened to her, hugging her closer.
"I might have some others tokens but I don't know what you will give me in exchange for it. Also, if you give it to another person, I will not give you another one. Remember that." The Queen pulled out her own token and warned Xuefeng before activating it.
They weren't that far from the shore but a blue portal appeared under their feet and they were sucked into it, much to Xuefeng surprise. What he saw next was just endless darkness but he could still feel the warm touch from the Queen which calmed him down.
To Xuefeng's surprise, when he opened his eyes, he found out that they were in the water tunnel and they swam with the current upwards. He couldn't breathe for a moment, but they quickly reached the surface and he inhaled fresh air once again. Reaching out with one hand, he held onto the edge while still hugging the Queen into his embrace with the other, Xuefeng looked at his surroundings.
"Are we in your bathroom?" Xuefeng asked confused when he realised that the Queen actually had the returning entrance to the Holy Land inside her own bathroom. The bathroom looked normal with the only exceptions being the well in the middle of it, which they used to arrive here.
"Yes, it just happens that this is the middle of our Parent Tree. Only the Royal Family can use it, so there is no problem with it being here. Now that you belong to us, maybe you will have a chance to catch me while I'm taking a bath when you come back next time." The Queen explained before she winked at him.
"That wouldn't be half bad. Let's hurry up. Yiren is waiting, right?" Xuefeng commented but unfortunately, he didn't have time to imagine such a scene as he was in a hurry to help Yiren.
The Queen reached down towards his hand which was clutching onto her butt and patted it, saying, "Yes, If you could stop squeezing my butt, I would be able to leave."
"Hah, my bad. It somehow became a habit. Let me help you." Xuefeng laughed wryly and pulled her upwards, before leaving the well himself. The Queen touched him on the chest with her finger, and his clothes which were wet began to dry swiftly.
"Follow me to the Wisdom Tree's cave." The Queen didn't waste any more time and left the bathroom before flying out of the palace using her wings. Xuefeng was curious what had happened and all he could do was to guess that it was connected to his assassination attempt.
"Welcome back, Queen." When they were entering the cave, the guards greeted their Queen and Xuefeng noticed that they were greatly surprised to still see Xuefeng in the Holy Land, but they didn't raise any objections.
Inside the cave, seeing Yiren lying on the altar, Xuefeng turned serious and ran up to her quickly to check her condition. The moment he touched her hand, Ling followed his intentions and used her Fate Qi to treat her. Thanks to the Wisdom Tree, her condition was stable, but if they had delayed their arrival even further, her state could have been direr.
'Welcome back Xuefeng~' Wisdom Tree called out in Xuefeng's mind with her sweet voice. She didn't hide her real voice while talking to him, compared to when she talked with the Queen for example.
'Oh, hey. Thank you for taking care of Yiren, while I was away.' Xuefeng thanked in his mind while he continued to observe Yiren's changing face. Ling worked rapidly and Yiren's physical injuries were quickly healing. He could see her condition improving with each second.
'During the ceremony when you turned into half-elf thanks to this girl's blood, you also connected to her with your spirit. Not only can she feel all of your strong emotions like love or longing but she also shares your pains. If you get badly hurt, her spirit will also sustain injuries. You shouldn't have such problems yourself as you have your friend strengthening your spirit.' Little Ming explained the situation, seeing how much Xuefeng was concerned about Yiren.
'So it was my fault after all? Sigh… Ling, how is she?' Xuefeng sighed and asked Ling who was still sending Fate Qi into Yiren's body.
'I am done healing her body but to treat her spirit, I will have to take a bit of yours to mend the loss in a few places. It would take too much time while only using Fate Qi. Your spirit is much bigger in size compared with others as you are connected to me, so it won't hurt you that much and I will be able to slowly heal you later on.' Ling presented him with a solution.
'Okay, do what you must.' Xuefeng didn't hesitate much and decided in a second. He would not be himself if he didn't help his own women.
In the next moment, Xuefeng felt as if someone stabbed him into the stomach before cutting some flesh as the blade moved inside his body. It was quite an uncomfortable feeling but he tolerated the pain as it was necessary. He didn't expect it to be a pleasant experience. Even after Ling was done and the pain lessened, Xuefeng could still feel throbbing inside his dantian.
It took Ling a minute, but Yiren finally opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was Xuefeng's smiling face. She rubbed her eyes still not fully woken up and called out sweetly, "Xuefeng… You came back?"
"Yes, I am here for you. How are you feeling?" Xuefeng asked with a smile while hiding his pain. If Yiren knew he hurt himself to help her she would definitely feel bad.
"I'm actually fine. It doesn't hurt anymore." Yiren replied as she sat up. She looked at Xuefeng with longing and hesitated for a second before she threw herself into his arms.
"Did you miss me this much?" Xuefeng asked playfully feeling her tight hug.
Yiren nodded with her head on his shoulder and said with relief, "Mhmm, don't leave anymore."
"Now that your man is here you forgot about your mother, huh?" The Queen called out from the side as she approached them.
"Here. Better?" Xuefeng asked after he reached out and pulled the Queen into his embrace too. She didn't reject and shared his warmth with her daughter. Only the Auntie was alone but she didn't mind and smiled at the scene.
Just as Xuefeng wanted to separate from them, Ling became impatient and called out to him, 'Are you going to keep your promise or you will continue to fool around?'
'Sigh… I was just about to do it… I didn't forget what we talked about earlier. Don't worry.' Xuefeng sighed, assuring her before he said to the ladies, "Let's talk in the palace instead of here."
"Okay. See you later Auntie." Both ladies agreed and they walked out of the cave after they said goodbyes to the Queen's mother.
'I already made a deal with the Wisdom Tree and she will allow you to train your elements in her space. She will make an exception and increase the time inside, so in reality, it will take you ten times less time to train. You only need to ask them to teach you their Elemental Arts and you are set.' Ling informed him about his new training plan before he left the cave.
'I will just follow your plan.' Xuefeng agreed as he didn't have much of a choice. He knew that he can't be this weak anymore and had to step up a notch in his training.
When everyone thought that he fell unconscious earlier, he was actually inside Ling's space. She protected his mind from damage and it also allowed them to have a real talk. Looking at Xuefeng's strength right now, she was actually worried that he wouldn't be able to live in this world for long.
She didn't have much time left to save the Thunder Goddess and if Xuefeng suddenly died, she would have to find someone else to take his place and it would be too late already. Ling wanted him to start taking his training more seriously and only if she managed him, would he progress in no time.
Earlier, she allowed him to slowly grow by himself but that strategy would not work anymore, judging from the recent situation. For a moment, she was happy that such a scene happened as it could act as a wake-up call for Xuefeng which he desperately needed.
In the end, Xuefeng had to promise her that she will be the one to take control of his schedule in the near future and that he will listen to her. He also wanted to be able to protect himself along with everyone around him, and realised that his current lifestyle was not in favour of that.
"So what are your plans now?" When the trio returned to the palace, the Queen asked the question which he himself was still not sure about.