When Yu Xian returned, it was already late at night.
The lights were still on in Building A-2.
In the courtyard.
Chen Yi wore a plain white robe and carried a lantern. In the dim light of the courtyard, she stood alone, her shadow stretched out long behind her, like a person who had stepped out of a painting.
Yu Xian was momentarily mesmerized.
A sudden surge of emotion welled up in his heart.
Once upon a time, he had fantasized that when he came home late from work, one of the countless lights in the community would be left on for him.
"Were you waiting for me?"
"You don't usually come back this late. I was worried."
Chen Yi's voice was cold, like the chill breeze of the night, piercing one's bones.
Yu Xian smiled and walked over, embracing Chen Yi in his arms.
"Sorry for making you wait."
Chen Yi's face flushed slightly, inhaling the familiar scent of Yu Xian and unconsciously gripping the lantern tighter in her hand.
"Since you're not asleep, it's perfect. I have a gift for you."
Behind them.
Yulan was directing several Royal Mansion Guards to carry a box over. Seeing the two people hugging in the courtyard, her smile involuntarily stiffened.
However, as her gaze fell on the Phoenix Pendant on her waist that glowed warmly in the darkness, her lips couldn't help but curl into a smile again.
Hearing Yulan's voice, Chen Yi hurriedly broke away from Yu Xian's embrace, as if caught red-handed.
"Yulan."
"Sister Xiao Yi, this is the gift my master gave me today. Do you think it's beautiful?"
Yulan pretended not to have seen anything and took the jade pendant from her waist to show it to Chen Yi.
Chen Yi glanced at it casually and said perfunctorily, "It's very beautiful."
"I think so too, and it's a perfect match with my master's jade pendant."
Yulan beamed with happiness, the satisfaction in her eyes practically overflowing.
It was then that Chen Yi noticed an additional jade pendant around Yu Xian's waist and her eyes dimmed just a bit.
"Stop showing off your gift. What about the gift I picked for Sister Xiao Yi? Hurry and take it out." Yu Xian urged.
He didn't mind Yulan's subtle machinations and even found them amusing.
"Alright."
Yulan opened one of the boxes. A dazzling golden glow flashed, causing Chen Yi to momentarily forget her discomfort.
"Where did all this gold come from?"
One tael of gold is worth ten taels of silver.
One hundred and fifty thousand taels of silver is equal to fifteen thousand taels of gold, which is about 750 kilograms and roughly thirty-something cubic meters.
A small thirty-liter storage box is about thirty cubic meters, just enough to fit the gold with a little bit left over.
It didn't sound like much, but it was visually impactful.
However, Yulan only took out a few fist-sized ugly rocks from the top of the gold pile and then covered the box again.
"Sister Xiao Yi, this is your gift."
Chen Yi took the rock and immediately looked shocked.
She could already sense spiritual energy, and when her skin touched it, she could clearly detect the spiritual energy inside the rock, which was dozens of times denser than the air.
She looked at Yu Xian in astonishment.
Yu Xian smiled and said, "I went through a lot of trouble to find these broken rocks. Are you satisfied?"
Chen Yi was silent for a while. Holding the rock in her hands, her face had little joy but instead seemed somewhat at a loss.
"Aren't you afraid I will…"
She suddenly stopped and didn't ask further.
"Leave me?"
Yu Xian's eyes drooped, and his voice deepened.
"Perhaps you never liked me, but I never wanted to limit your freedom. Loving someone is letting her do what she likes.
You have your own dreams, and there's no need to stay for anyone."
After saying this, without waiting for Chen Yi's reaction, Yu Xian playfully picked up Yulan, who hadn't yet come to her senses and headed upstairs.
"Yulan, help me bathe."
"Master, the things haven't been moved inside yet."
Yulan held onto Yu Xian's neck tightly, her gaze shifting to the boxes on the ground. She wasn't comfortable leaving such valuable things randomly lying around in the yard.
"There's nothing to worry about in the Royal Mansion. If anyone dares to mess around, I'll kill their whole family."
Yu Xian's words were filled with murderous intent.
Once inside, he used his mana to create a small fireball and threw it into the bath filled with water. In the blink of an eye, steam began to rise.
Yu Xian threw Yulan into the tub, and then hurriedly undressed himself before jumping in with a splash.
[Name: Yu Xian]
[Cultivation: Level 6 of Qi Cultivation (125/130)]
[Cultivation Partner: Yulan (1/1)]
The day of Breakthrough was tonight.
Today's impulsive premonition made Yu Xian decide to break from his usual step-by-step cultivation and be willful for once.
'It's just seven cultivation points, after all. People's limits are meant to be broken!'
The mana inside Yu Xian's body circulated non-stop, gritting his teeth as he thought.
...
Downstairs.
Chen Yi found herself at a crossroads.
Ever since she learned about the existence of the Cultivation World, she firmly believed that it was the place she should go.
In her imagination, it would be beautiful, a place where cultivators could reside and where she could be reborn.
However, when Yu Xian handed her the stones containing dense spiritual energy, she was confident that with these rocks, she could successfully guide Qi into her body. In a short time, she would become a true cultivator.
But she hesitated.
No one had ever treated her as gently and protectively as Yu Xian. Even knowing it was false, she couldn't resist being drawn to him like a moth to a flame.
After a long while.
The fire in Chen Yi's lantern gradually died, and the rising cold night air made her hands icy. Her face lost all color, becoming as pale as snow.
Suddenly, she gave a self-mocking laugh and murmured,
"When did you become so weak? Can a little tenderness make you falter? He's very good, but he's just as good to everyone.
How long will his tenderness last, one year or two years?
Don't forget what happened to your sister. When you get old and lose your charm, and he gets tired of you, no one will give you a second glance.
You can fall in love with him, but you cannot love him so humbly."
The lantern went out, but in the darkness, a pair of eyes shone as brightly as stars.
The principles of the Eternal Youth Technique played in Chen Yi's mind as the spiritual energy from the rocks surged out at an extraordinary speed. The energy simultaneously entered her body like a swallow returning to its nest.
As she practiced the technique, the thin spiritual energy around her was also drawn by an invisible force.
Guiding Qi into the body and condensing mana was Qi Cultivation.
Who knew how much time had passed.
Ding…dong...
It was like a drop of dew falling from a cliff into a mountain spring.
A trace of mana was condensed in Chen Yi's Dantian. She felt as if the world had suddenly become clearer and lighter, as if she could fly.
"Is this the world in the eyes of a cultivator?"
Chen Yi tried to summon the faint mana inside her body, and the mana flickered like a flame within her palm. It may have seemed as weak as a candle in the wind, but it contained an astonishing power.
"It's... such a fascinating power."