"Where are you going anyway?" Li Yan asked the young man as she noticed him just going in a straight trajectory, almost like single-mindedly focused on something that might be in that direction if not for him still talking to her with great attention.
"That… there's nowhere in particular that I want to go to" Wu Xiaotian paused as he scratches his head, the only reason he can think of in his mind is the fact that he wants to explore this secret realm as much as he can.
Hearing his reply, Li Yan laughs, her voice comforting and melodious. After a few minutes, she finally recovered, wiping tears from her eyes as she breathes quite heavily due to how long she laughed, before saying in an amused tone, "That's just so like you~"
"What do you mean?" Wu Xiaotian looks at her in confusion as he heard her statement, curious why she would say that.
"Isn't it true? When I first met you, I feel like you're so spontaneous, being interested in artifact refining despite your young age" she replied while he's gently placing her down, smiling at his caring gesture when he straightens the creases of her dress, not like anyone will notice it given how desolate of people the place is, but she still enjoyed his actions nevertheless.
"And me moving around the forest without a goal in mind is like that? Besides, just being interested in artifact refining made me spontaneous?" Wu Xiaotian asked, still couldn't figure out why she said that.
"You know a lot more than artifact refining though? Stop acting as if you're not an alchemist as well" she answered while raising her head up, proud that she knows other things about him.
"Aren't you one as well?" he retorted, surprising her as her identity as an alchemist is something that no one, not even her own daughter knows.
"How do you know?" she voiced, getting more and more curious to this young man. At first, it was just simple frustration and bodily instinct that pulls herself to him, but the more that they interact with each other, the more her interest of him grows, especially whenever she uncovers a new thing about him, as if she's solving an obscure puzzle that grows larger and larger as she put the pieces together.
"Wild guess… You've been mixing alchemical and artifact refining terms when we first talked, so it makes me wonder" he pointed out before going saying the thing that exposes her "Well, I'm not really certain, but you just have to go and point it out, meaning you also notice me mixing the terms the same way as you do and based on your expression, looks like I hit the mark"
"Smart boy, you just have to impress me every time, won't you?" Li Yan pouted while thinking of methods to take him by surprise in anyways, however, doing so has proven to be really difficult, as she realizes that save from knowing the superficial stuff as well as how he acts, she never knew anything about the man, his figure completely shrouded in mystery, a veil that she just can't see through despite her insight born from her great amount of experience and powerful strength.
"How am I supposed to keep your attention if I don't?" replied Wu Xiaotian cheekily, before pulling her in by the waist, holding her firmly as he lifts up her legs, carrying her like a princess prompting her to circle her arms around his neck.
Looking at him, his enchanting eyes gently staring at her face, her heart skipped a pit, her ears turning red as she tries to avoid his gaze, "Why the sudden princess carry?"
"Well, I sensed something interesting in the distance, wanna check it?"
"Mmm, sure, I'll go wherever you go" Li Yan replied as she dug her head to his chest, feeling extremely comfortable in his embrace.
Cool breeze blew across her body as they travel fast, leaping from tree to tree. Looking at his attractive face that appears to be the prime definition of masculinity, her heart starts to beat faster, her mind flying around in guilty pleasure as she thought of how she was having an illicit relationship with a young man less than half her age, and given how the young man treats despite them only knowing each other for a short time, her heart was filled with romantic joy for the first time in her long life.
Snuggling with her head on his chest, she felt him finally stop after almost half an hour of running, sound of flowing water going into her ears. When she finally looks at where they are, she found herself in a stream with crystal-clear water flowing on it, small luminescent plants dancing in its bottom, the tall trees in the surrounding packed so tightly that it seems impossible to reach this location through the ground.
This caused the surrounding to be completely deprived of sunlight, and the only light source from the surroundings make the area looks so magical, the light sources being the bluish light produced by the glowing plants in the stream, as well moss that heavily covers the trees all around.
What is more mystical though is that the stream comes from a hill near them, not from the top of it but rather inside it, a glowing, narrow, cave like path acting as a path for the water to flow outwards.
"Beautiful…" She muttered to herself as she looks all around. Despite her long experience of travelling outside, few among the places she had visited could compare with this place, as she was taking in the view, she was interrupted when she heard the voice of the young man now a bit further away from her.
"We're not here for that Yan'er, come follow me…" the young man invites, pointing towards the small passage under the hill, the area he was now in front of. Nodding towards him, the mature lady followed in a hurried step, clinging on his arms when she got close enough, wearing a silly smile on her face as if she's a maiden who's experiencing love for the first time.
As they continue walking deeper into the cave, she noticed that the passage is getting wider and wider, until it expands enough so that a group of couple of people can easily walk shoulder to shoulder in the passage.
They only walk for a few minutes more until they eventually hit a dead end, in it, a small pond that seems to go really deep, in the middle of it a lotus is glowing, half of its petals a complete black and the other completely white, its core a mixture of the two endlessly swirling around each other.
"T-that's…" seeing the flower, Li Yan was pretty sure what it was, but she's also in complete doubt as this kind of plant is so rare that it was thought to be extinct already, yet here it was, floating in the middle of this lake peacefully as if in slumber.
"I sensed something that seems to complement your soul so I brought you here, who would've thought that you would act like this" Wu Xiaotian explained, snapping the mature lady out of her daze.
"Why give it to me? D-do you even know how important this flower is?" she asks, moved at his gesture of giving the flower to her but still asks the second question as she's afraid that he's just oblivious about the flower.
"That's the Yin-Yang Lotus right? Could it be that I was mistaken?" he stated, concerned that he might have mistaken the flower in the middle of the lake for that extremely rare alchemical material.
"A-and you're giving it to me like that?"
"You have a Yin-Yang related soul talent right?"
Hearing him pointing the fact out, she was really stunned, but ignored how he managed to figure that out for now as she told him how not only those with talents like her would benefit in absorbing that flower, but also any cultivator who are powerful enough to prevent themselves from exploding because of the energy from it.
"B-but still-" the mature lady still tries retorting but got interrupted midway as Wu Xiaotian speaks again.
"Doesn't matter, it's more useful to you right?" Wu Xiaotian smiled, ending the argument with the beautiful lady accepting his 'gift', running across the lake, carefully picking the flower up and storing it in a wooden box with intricate carvings on it, then rushing towards him as she finished getting it, smacking her lips on his, enjoying the sensation for a while before looking at him with a face filled with love before uttering something that she only said to her daughter for all her life.
"I love you~~~"