Soon, half a day had passed before Ye Fan was able to stabilize his cultivation core and to regain some of his profound strength.
When he opened his eyes, he was still aching all over and bloodied from his earlier battle.
The first thing that he did when he had awakened was to check if his protégé mistress had woke up.
But unfortunately, she was still in a serene slumber.
Just as he was about to stand up and go outside the cave to stay in vigilant for her, he was startled by a soft murmur from her, "Ye… Fan…"
Thinking that his protégé mistress had woke up, Ye Fan turned to greet her but he was dismayed to see that she was still in a slumber and she was only sleep talking.
She continued to murmur, "Ye… Fan… run…"
Ye Fan weakly wondered to himself: I wonder what she is dreaming about? Is it a bad dream?
He did not want to wake up his protégé mistress and so he had walked to the entrance of the cave again.
This time, his vision was more focus now after he had taken a short cultivation rest.
When he was outside the cave, he began to check the surroundings carefully and he looked a little anxious.
However, he did not go far away and he made sure that he never lost the line of sight of the cave that Fairy Xuan Xueqi was in as he was worried that some unknown profound beasts may be alerted to the presence of her scent by wandering inside the cave.
It took Ye Fan a while to find a gush of spring water. He also took a sip and found it to be quite bitter. He waited for a while to wait to see if he would experience any ill-effects.
Seeing that he had no ill effect, he began to fill his water skin with it.
Fairy Xuan Xueqi may not need to drink or eat as she is a golden celestial but Ye Fan is merely a mortal cultivator so he has to eat and drink.
All of a sudden, he was frozen in place when he saw several large herds of 6th rank profound beasts raging below him.
He had immediately turn pale at the sight as they were near the cave where Fairy Xuan Xueqi was.
But all of a sudden, he saw a terrifying 7th rank strong profound dark dragon with spikes and malevolent aura.
This dark dragon was gigantic, measuring 40m in length and almost 60m in width as its dark wings spread.
As it displayed its terrifying profound roar, this caused a frantic stampede among the 6th profound beasts.
Ye Fan was shocked at the sight of this 7th rank profound dark dragon but he was also relieved at the same time; the 6th rank profound beasts had actually moved away from the cave where Fairy Xuan Xueqi was.
Ye Fan waited for a while until the oppressing aura of the dark dragon had disappeared in the mountain walls of the vicinity before he quickly flashed into the cave.
He was actually thinking of shifting Fairy Xuan Xueqi to a safer location when he saw that she had awakened and was sitting upright while looking at him.
She asked softly, "Ye Fan, where did you go just now?"
Ye Fan said palely, "I was scouting the nearby vicinity. How is my protégé mistress?"
Fairy Xuan Xueqi sighed softly, "I was disturbed by that terrifying oppressing profound aura just now and woke up from my slumber. I've thought that something has happened to you."
Ye Fan was startled; he did not know that this was the real reason why Fairy Xuan Xueqi had asked for him.
But he quickly composed himself to smile forcefully, "I am alright. I hid myself when that thing happened."
He was still shaking as he slowly walked into the cave; the 7th rank dark dragon was too terrifying for his current cultivation to cope with.
But he mustered all his strength and also, courage to say this to Fairy Xuan Xueqi. "I am glad that my protégé mistress is alright or I will be guilty forever."
Fairy Xuan Xueqi smiled wryly, "Really? You will feel guilty?"
Ye Fan sighed softly, "Why not? Of course, I will feel guilty especially when my protégé mistress has risked her life to protect me."
Fairy Xuan Xueqi returned a dry smile, "You didn't feel guilty when you have taken my Golden Lotus Natal Pill? But now you do?"
Ye Fan looked startled as he looked at Fairy Xuan Xueqi.
But before long, he composed himself to say. "You know from the beginning and yet you still give me the invitation card to take the protégé examination?"
Fairy Xuan Xueqi smiled but Ye Fan could see that it was a weak smile as she was still feeling weak, "I just want to know how long an honest looking man like you will be able to conceal it in front of me. It seems that you are not so honest after all."
Ye Fan was taken aback after he had his cover blown up by Fairy Xuan Xueqi.
It took him a minute to finally ask, "You know what I did and yet you still protect me? Now that I have admitted it, what do you intend to do with me now?"
Fairy Xuan Xueqi said quietly nothing, "Nothing."
Ye Fan was started, "Nothing? Nothing at all?"
Fairy Xuan Xueqi looked intently at him, "Nothing means nothing. Or course it means nothing. You expect me to punish you for this?"
Ye Fan was further startled by her before he finally said with a heavy sigh, "I have stolen a profound treasure from my celestial sect. This is a heinous crime that is punishable by death."
Fairy Xuan Xueqi said slowly, "If I don't tell anyone, then this isn't a heinous crime. Am I right? Because no one will know and because no one knows, this isn't a punishable offense."
Ye Fan was completely stunned by her words; this did not sound right to him and he did not understand why the Fairy Xuan Xueqi had chosen to keep his heinous crime against the Profound Cloud Sect a secret and had even made him her core protégé?
Finally, he could not take this mystery any longer and he blurted out, "Do you know that I am trying to kill you?"
Fairy Xuan Xueqi lowered her golden eyes as she admitted, "I know…"
Her confession further stunned Ye Fan…
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Author Note:
1. In this chapter, it is revealed that Fairy Xuan Xueqi has known of Ye Fan's secret a long time ago.