Han Yunxi wanted to wake Long Feiye up, but couldn’t bear to do it. She wanted him to rest more as well while sharing his bed quiet and peacefully. Despite being married for so many years and blending together in harmony like water, they had never shared a bed. This time, he was holding her in his arms after she woke from their lovemaking. She finally felt like she was his woman, his wife.
There was nothing happier than spending every morning waking up to see his peacefully sleeping eyes. Just as Han Yunxi was brus.h.i.+ng her fingers against his lips, Long Feiye woke up. He looked at her lazily before catching her finger between his lips. She knitted her brows, and he let go.
“Not tired?” he asked. Before she could answer, he had rose and flipped over again.
She quickly cried, “Long Feiye, I have something to ask you! What’s the deal with dual cultivation? How do you do it? Is using Baili Mingxiang to lure out Bai Yanqing reliable?”
“Dual cultivation?” Long Feiye echoed before he suddenly laughed. “To have the l.u.s.tbite energy combine with my own inner energy reserves into one and reach new heights require the a.s.sistance of a martial arts genius. Only dual cultivation can make this possible. That involves both parties cultivating together in their hearts and bodies. Their martial arts need to be harmonized as one, while their hearts must understand each other implicitly.”
“Then do you both have to be equally formidable in martial arts? Is that the only way to harmonize them both?” Han Yunxi asked seriously.
When she thought of how strong Long Feiye was, she couldn’t imagine anyone else who’d be his equal in this world.
Long Feiye nodded his head. “Yes!”
“Did you find someone like that yet?” Han Yunxi was doubtfully. But she didn’t fret over the problem for long, because another had caught her attention. “Cultivating the heart, implicitly understanding each other...how do you do that?”
“It’s the same as cultivating the body. The hearts must be connected before the two can cultivate together. Only then can the thoughts be shared freely as well,” Long Feiye replied.
Han Yunxi grew anxious. “Long Feiye, then is your dual cultivation partner a man or a woman?”
If he was male, then connecting with Long Feiye’s heart was no big deal. After all, good friends shared thoughts. But if she was female….then Han Yunxi would cry!
“Female,” Long Feiye replied honestly.
Han Yunxi arched her brow at him before asking bitterly, “Then have you found someone yet?”
But Long Feiye only said seriously, “Mhm, a long time ago.”
Han Yunxi suddenly shoved him aside and sat up. She didn’t say a word beyond glaring at him. But Long Feiye wasn’t joking as he went on. “It’s a junior sister from Celestial Mountain Sword Sect with extremely good innate talent. She exceeds both I and Duanmu Yao. Because the matter of the l.u.s.tbite energy isn’t completely secret, Bai Yanqing’s men already understand it thoroughly. Thus, that junior sister is still--”
“Still being hidden by you? Like a concubine in a golden house, is it?” Han Yunxi cut him off coldly. She wasn’t just infuriated by his words, but his serious att.i.tude. His expression and tone didn’t sound like he was joking, but completely serious!
But Long Feiye only said sincerely, “Even now...no one knows of this.”
Han Yunxi sucked in a cold breath before she was thoroughly inflamed. “What’s the name of that junior sister? You’ve certainly hidden her deep! When did you started connecting your thoughts with her? How did you guys even start? What kind of connection is it? How are you planning to dual cultivate with her? How do you share one heart?” Her hairs were literally standing on end. If a man and a woman were so closely connected, then they’d be Dao companions. Besides husbands and wives, they were supposed to be deeply in love in order to form a connection. Moreover, it was often that they even shared the same bed!
Who would believe that they were simply friends? Who were they trying to fool? It’s “junior sister” once again, I’m seriously sick of those words!
Long Feiye didn’t respond. Han Yunxi stared at him and waited without speaking either. Slowly, time pa.s.sed between them. But in the end, it was her who gave in first. “Long Feiye, are you answering me or not?”
Long Feiye was mute. As he prepared to take her hand, she moved out of the way. “Long Feiye, sometimes even I can’t guess your thoughts. I think...I think our hearts aren’t connected enough.”
Her chest felt stifled. There were many things she wanted to say, but after trying hard for a long time, she couldn’t voice any of them, nor did she want to. She wrapped herself in the covers and climbed off the bed, tossing back a “Goodbye.”
Long Feiye watched her lonely form before he suddenly chuckled. Aside from feeling helpless, he had nothing else.
“Han Yunxi,” he coaxed.
She ignored him to put on her clothes. He fetched his clothes and tied them haphazardly around his lower body before rising to his feet. His legs were long and full of strength, the stuff of daydreams. As he strode to her side, he circled an arm around her waist. “Han Yunxi, is this what you’re like when you’re jealous? Aren’t you being too cruel?”
“Let go!” Han Yunxi was truly angry. Who wouldn’t be, in her place?
“Goodbye?” Long Feiye smiled helplessly. “Where are you going to go?”
“It has nothing to do with you!” Han Yunxi snapped coldly. She had her head lowered so Long Feiye couldn’t see her face.
“You’re really eating vinegar?” Long Feiye asked again. He placed his hands on her shoulders, wanting to turn her around, but Han Yunxi only broke free with a vicious exclamation.
“Don’t touch me!” Her voice was clearly hoa.r.s.e with the sign of tears.
Long Feiye never expected things to turn into this. He grew fl.u.s.tered and quickly grabbed her hand. “Yunxi, let me explain.”
Han Yunxi still broke free. Long Feiye had no idea where she’d gotten the strength, but she threw his hand aside without any effort. “There’s nothing to explain about this!”
She raised her head to look at him, her eyes red with tears! Long Feiye’s explanation died in his throat at the sight.
“Long Feiye, you lied to me again! Just how many things have you lied to me about? You liar! Don’t you know how much I like you? Don’t you know how long I’ve been secretly liking you all this time? Don’t you know how hard I’ve been trying to walk these 100 steps?!” Han Yunxi cried.
“Don’t you know that even though we’re together, I still feel you’re so far away? I’ve never known why or how many steps still lay between us. Now I do. I understand. As it turned out, the person who shares a heart with you isn’t me! It wasn’t me! I’ll never finish walking those 100 steps, Long Feiye…”
“You’ve already walked to the end!” Long Feiye interrupted her hastily.
Han Yunxi gave a snort of contempt before she smiled icily. “I can’t walk to the end.”
“But we’ve already started dual cultivation...sillyhead, we started dual cultivating after that night at the hot springs!” Long Feiye looked at her tear-streaked face and felt torn between heartache and laughter. He had only wanted to tease her because he missed the memory of her being jealous, but who knew her reaction would be so severe?
Han Yunxi was stunned.
Long Feiye didn’t rush to explain, but dotingly wiped away her tears with a soft laugh. Even that was filled with heartache. “Han Yunxi, you’re so foolish and so cruel. How could I dare to lie to you again in the future?”
Han Yunxi looked at him blankly before suddenly pus.h.i.+ng his hand aside and messily wiping her face. “Long Feiye, what did you just say? Just what did that mean?”
Long Feiye looked at her teary eyes that resembled pear blossoms, then the anxious, agitated expression on her small face, and couldn’t help but burst into laughter. “You’re pretty cute like this too.”
“Long Feiye!” Han Yunxi was thoroughly impatient now. Did he just say we’ve been dual cultivating? What’s going on?
“Were you eating vinegar just then?” Long Feiye asked stubbornly.
“Yes!” Han Yunxi admitted it openly. “Long Feiye, you lie to people and bully them! You’re a jerk!” Since last night, her emotions had been churning about like a rollercoaster. She still didn’t know what dual cultivation entailed, only that he’d tricked her again with the lies about the junior sister. For some reason, she just wanted to have a big cryfest!
“I do take offense, and I do like you! But you can’t use that to cheat and pick on me! Long Feiye, how could you be so hateful?! Scram! The further, the better!”
Long Feiye didn’t scram, but he did embrace her as his heart ached once again. Ever since the soldiers started jeering, he’d been sending her backward glances, only to see her completely indifferent. That made him extremely unhappy, so he was insistent on seeing her stance. Now he was satisfied, but the results pained him as well. He didn’t know how to coax her next. Was he abusing her or himself in the end?
Tormenting and struggling with each other was also because of their love.
Han Yunxi didn’t reject Long Feiye’s hug. Meanwhile, he explained everything without being prompted. As it turned out, Long Feiye had discovered her innate talent for martial arts as far back as Tang Li’s first gift of hidden weapons. Her potential far exceeded that of him or Duanmu Yao to rank amongst the best of Cloud Realm Continent’s martial arts experts. She was the candidate he and his master had been looking for to match him in dual cultivation.
He had kept the discovery under wraps and even told her she was a waste, just so she’d give up on learning martial arts. Once she started, her talent would definitely be exposed. Back then, he still had precautions against her, so he naturally wouldn’t tell her the truth. Later on, he was busy hiding the truth about the l.u.s.tbite energy and his status of East Qin’s crown prince, so he didn’t tell her the whole story, either. Like that, things were delayed until now.
Since his ident.i.ty was already exposed and their misunderstandings cleared, he tried dual cultivation, only to find it very successful. But he hadn’t had a chance to sit down and explain everything to her over the past few days yet.
He was going to tell her anyways if she didn’t ask tonight.
There were multiple styles of dual cultivation that existed in the world. The one related to the l.u.s.tbite energy required dual cultivation of lovers. They had to cultivate their hearts first, then move on to training their bodies once their hearts were one. After their lovemaking in the hot springs, he had taken advantage of her unconscious state to channel her some internal energy and open up a few major acupoints in her body. Because their hearts were already connected, her body didn’t reject any of his l.u.s.tbite energy or Nirvana Heart Arts energy. Instead, the two sources of power mutually strengthened each other in her body.
If Han Yunxi understood anything about martial arts, she would have realized she already possessed two levels of inner energy by now. In other words, she had technically learned the Celestial Mountain Sword Sect’s internal cultivation arts and counted as a member of the same cultivation sect as Long Feiye. As long as Han Yunxi could cultivate to the tenth level of internal energy, she would be able to officially start cultivating her body and martial arts alongside him!
Long Feiye had even hidden this truth from the sword sect master! It was both to protect himself and Han Yunxi! Even the shrewdest fox like Bai Yanqing would never guess that Han Yunxi, a useless waste who couldn’t even fight, was a rare genius talent in the world of Cloud Realm Continent’s martial arts!
After hearing the explanation, Han Yunxi looked at Long Feiye before she finally exploded. “Long Feiye, you….you...you big liar! You can’t lie to people like this!”