The ma.s.sive fire startled Elder Che, who rushed outside. When he saw an attendant carrying water from the Sea of Innocence to the flames, he grabbed him and asked, “what on earth happened here? What have the servants been doing? What caused such a ma.s.sive fire?”
“I don’t know how the fire started either, but the First Miss says this is no ordinary flame; these are Dao Flames formed by the Dao of the Five Elements. She told us to bring water from the Sea of Innocence to put out the flames, but the fire is so ma.s.sive that the water we"ve brought is nowhere near enough.”
The bucket-carrying attendant was visibly troubled. You couldn’t put water from the Sea of Innocence into spatial treasures. They could only carry it, one bucket at a time, from the nearest tributary of the Sea of Innocence.
Even though all of them were human immortal experts capable of flight, the river was simply too far away. They dared not dilly-dally, not even in the slightest, but they were still nowhere near fast enough to keep pace with the spreading flames. As for the servants, they hadn’t even reached the spiritual body level yet. They could only hurry to the river on foot; their efforts had essentially no impact whatsoever.
Elder Chu paused in the sky and deeply furrowed his brows. These really were Dao Flames, no doubt about it. But the only one among them of the fire element was the First Miss. She still had the ancestor’s treasure on her person, so there was no way she could have started this mess.
Just who dared set their Skyspan Trading Company ablaze?
“Where is the First Miss?”
The attendant carrying the bucket licked his lips nervously. “She went into the woodshed,” he said, a worried look in his eyes.
“What?” Elder Che’s expression instantly darkened. “What nonsense!” he shouted, waving his sleeves furiously, “how could you possibly let her go somewhere so dangerous? But then, that’s only an ordinary woodshed. Why would she go there?”
“That…. We tried to stop her, but she didn’t listen to us at all! It seems that the man we captured on the ancient path was still locked up inside the woodshed, so she went inside to save him, “ replied the attendant.
Elder Che’s expression instantly twisted, becoming extremely unsightly.
To think their illicit affair had reached this point. The clan had chosen so many great talents for her but she’d never shown any interest in any of them. To think she’d fall so hard for someone from below the Divine Mountains. Moreover, he’d yet to see anything worthwhile about that youth. Why would the First Miss take an interest in him?
Despite his displeasure with Xue Honghong, she was still the pearl of the clan. Her status was lofty; nothing could happen to her.
“Get everyone out of the way,” said Elder Che. “I’ll draw the sea water here directly.”
With that, he raised his hands into the air. His palms glowed with deep blue light. Instantly, the moisture in the air gathered around him.
Miles away, the river of water from the Sea of Innocence shook as well. With a sudden boom, a dragon formed of river water took the skies. It seemed to guide the river. As it flew, it led the water to the estate"s yard. With a roar, the water transformed into a giant rainstorm and drenched the entire estate.
If you wanted to move a woman, witty one-liners and wisecracks alone truly didn’t have much of an effect.
Ye Zichen clenched Xue Honghong’s hand. His gaze darted around rapidly. Then he noticed that one of the beams above her head had already been burnt almost to cinders.
“Is the quality really that good? Even after all this, the building still hasn’t collapsed,” he murmured inwardly. He hesitated briefly, then seized a moment when Xue Honghong wasn’t paying attention to flick the already-burnt board, intentionally damaging it just enough that it could longer bear the weight of the roof. There was a loud bang as it suddenly collapsed.
“Watch out!”
The woodshed was already showing signs of collapse. In order to prevent Xue Honghong from noticing and escaping of her own volition, Ye Zichen tightly pulled her into an embrace and s.h.i.+elded her from the flaming beam of wood.
Afterwards, he hurriedly circulated his blood in reverse, then coughed up a mouthful of flesh blood. All of it landed directly on Xue Honghong’s face.
Now for the finis.h.i.+ng touch!
Coughing blood onto her face was key.
You couldn"t cough it onto the floor, nor could you simply not cough up blood. Only by coughing it onto her face could she fully understand:
You got injured for her sake!
But that wasn’t all! At the end, you had to verbally express your deep love and shatter her last line of defense.
“Trust me.”
Still tightly embracing Xue Honghong, Ye Zichen said weakly, “If I live through this, I’ll definitely go to your clan, propose marriage, and make you my lawfully wedded wife.” As he spoke, blood flowed from the corners of his mouth.
Although Xue Honghong was still somewhat dazed, making such a sincere promise under such circ.u.mstances moved her. Suddenly, as the flames illuminated the man before her, that incomparably detestable jerk seemed to grow taller and grander.
“It seems to have been effective. When I leave it a bit, she most likely won’t make any trouble for me!”
When Ye Zichen saw her eyes mist over, he dared not slack off. He maintained his weak, yet sincere demeanor. “Go on without me,” he said. “You have to live on.”
Hey, this was the key moment.
Why did he choose this moment to push her away? That was because he’d long since sensed Elder Che summoning water from the Sea of Innocence.
Right now, he had to act as if he were entrusting her with all his hopes and create an image of n.o.ble self-sacrifice.
It was all calculated!
As expected, when Ye Zichen pushed Xue Honghong away, her last line of defense shattered. After he shoved her away, she stared at him in a daze, her emotions far too complicated for words to express.
Even though the flames could only threaten her but not kill her, even though she’d already sensed the falling beam and could have avoided it, even though everything Ye Zichen had done seemed unnecessary, to her….
It was truly touching!
She couldn’t help but recall their earlier squabbles. At the time, she’d simply thought Ye Zichen a debased person who could do nothing but talk.
Yet now he’d just tried to save her. Could this be the real him?
Whoosh.
Xue Honghong’s incomparably complex emotions were interrupted by a sudden downpour.
As the raindrops made contact with the blaze, the fire rapidly died down. Before long, it was completely extinguished.
She reacted almost instinctively: as soon as the rain doused the flames, she rushed to Ye Zichen’s side. We don’t have to die. Your injuries… are you okay?”
You could say she was young, or perhaps immature. Either way, she was obviously still an innocent flower inexperienced in love. Judging by the way she nervously fussed over his injuries, it seemed everything was under Ye Zichen’s control!
Given everything he’d already gone this far, Ye Zichen was naturally unwilling to let all his efforts go to waste.
“Ah, that’s…. Great. We’re alive… my injuries are nothing…. You don’t have to worry. When we get out of here I’ll definitely go to your family and… propose… I’ll make you my lawfully wedded...wife.”
His head drooped to the side.
And he fell directly into Xue Honghong’s embrace.
Perfect!
Just as Ye Zichen lost consciousness, he heard soot-covered Xue Honghong shriek, “Lecher!”