"it"s been so long that I almost started thinking we wouldn"t meet again darling.""As if I"d not find my Qing"er."
"Fufufufu.. "
Smiling happily, Bingqing seemed like she completely forgot about the Third Queen as she was completely immersed in staying latched onto Yang Shen and not part with him no matter what happened.
Taking the Third Queen"s "permission", Yang Shen walked away with Bingqing in his embrace since he didn"t really want an audience around him.
"So you"re an alchemist now."
Speaking as if she was just making a point, Bingqing almost managed in hiding the disappointment she felt from learning that he had given up on the Spear.
"Well, to each his ow.."
Eyes turning wide before she could finish her thought, Bingqing was forced to move away from Yang Shen with a shocked look in her eyes.
After all, he summoned a huge spear out of nowhere and attacked her for no reason.
Summoning her own weapon out of her spatial ring and defending against the Myriad Beasts Spear which kept on chasing her as Yang Shen didn"t show any signs of stopping, Bingqing got so immersed in the fight that she completely forgot about everything else.
Clang!
Feeling his hands trembling from the impact of his sword striking the two swords in BIngqing"s hands, Yang Shen had to admit that despite how much stronger he had grown the woman was stronger than him even without using her complete strength.
"This is how you use a spear."
Beautifully swinging the spear around and ending the spar by resting it on his shoulders, Yang Shen said something which allowed BIngqing to learn that he hadn"t abandoned the spear despite becoming an alchemist.
In fact, he seemed to have become so good at using it that her own skills and knowledge related to it couldn"t compare with his.
"You cheeky little brat. Is the student trying to teach his teacher?"
Gazing into the sparkly blue eyes which he missed a lot, Yang Shen nodded his head and said. "He is. Later on, he"ll even ravage his teacher so much that she won"t even be able to walk properly."
"Oooh! I like that. Let"s do that first!"
Chuckling a little, Yang Shen spoke his thoughts out loud.
"You haven"t changed at all, Qing"er. You"re exactly how I remember you."
"But you"ve changed."
Looking towards Yang Shen from the top to the bottom with narrowed eyes as if trying to find out what it was that actually changed about him, Bingqing continued.
"Though I can"t really put my finger on it, I can sense it. It"s almost as if you are no longer the same baby dragon I once met. You"ve started to grow up."
"That was...so corny…."
Cringing as she heard those words, Bingqing started scratching her arms which were covered in gooseb.u.mps.
"I know. I was cringing from just saying them."
Chuckling loudly, Yang Shen put the Myriad Beasts Spear away and walked closer to Bingqing who did the same with her own weapons.
"How about we find a private room and I"ll show you how else I"ve changed?"
"As tempting as that sounds, I really have to get back to my lady. The current situation is very tense due to which I have no choice but to stay near her at all times. You might not know this, but my lady has enemies everywhere."
"Given her personality, I wouldn"t be surprised even if the entire world was against her."
Not saying those words out loud and keeping them to himself, Yang Shen chose to not reveal what kind of a person the Third Queen he knew really was. After all, he could tell that Bingqing for some reason had good feelings towards the Third Queen and he didn"t want her to get hurt.
"I"ve missed doing this."
Changing the topic as he started playing with Bingqing"s face, more particularly by pinching her cheeks, Yang Shen had a look of nostalgia in his eyes which was instantly destroyed by what the woman said next.
"You"ve never once pinched my cheeks, so stop acting like you did."
"Really?"
Rolling her eyes but not stopping Yang Shen who while questioning himself continued playing with her cheeks, Bingqing let him do as he pleased for as long as possible before finally leaving since he really needed to leave now.
…
"That woman…. Should I kill her?"
Staring towards Bingqing who was walking briskly in the direction that they came here from, Lijuan for the first time felt her position being threatened by another woman.
Alternating her gaze between Yang Shen and Bingqing whom he looked like he couldn"t tear his eyes off of, Lijuan who really didn"t want to share her position with someone else was seriously considering if she should do something to make sure what she was scared about didn"t happen.
Especially given how much effort she spent into making him who he was and given the fact that the two of them were only now growing closer than before.
This was in the end something she just thought about though. She never really planned on doing any such thing.
After all, she wasn"t the kind who"d let her emotions cloud her judgement due to which she continued to comfortably rest around Yang Shen"s neck while he also soon left this place and continued looking around the rest of the estate by himself.