Chen Yi gave a gentle rub, feeling her body shrink back slightly, and released his hand.
In her half-conscious state, she seed about to wake but slowly turned to her side.
Not wanting to disturb her sleep, Chen Yi refrained from doing anything further.
"Tsk... I only ant to touch her face, how did it end up touching my heart instead?"
Chen Yi muttered quietly to himself.
He stretched lazily. Having rested enough, he stood up and moved around a bit.
Then, turning back to check, he saw Zhou Yitang still asleep and sat down quietly to wait.
After about a quarter of an hour, noticing she was still asleep, a thought stirred in Chen Yi’s mind.
He tiptoed over carefully and called, "Master," but seeing that the one-ard woman gave no response, he concluded she was deeply asleep.
She was facing the wall, and with little space around her, Chen Yi crept to the top of her head, lying down sideways. Her clear, frost-like features hung upside down before his eyes.
Aiming for her thin lips, Chen Yi gently leaned closer.
A kiss landed softly. Her lips were cool and thin—as if there was no sensation when his lips touched them. Chen Yi wasn’t sure what exactly he had kissed, but a kiss is still a kiss.
Monts later, he pulled away. He didn’t dare deepen the kiss for fear of waking her.
Afterward, he stood up slowly and sat by the campfire, chewing on so dry rations as he waited.
He wasn’t sure how much ti had passed when Zhou Yitang finally woke. Without yawning, she simply cast him a cold glance.
"Awake?"
Chen Yi asked.
Zhou Yitang didn’t reply.
Chen Yi lowered his head and took out the sword she had given him, inspecting it closely under the flickering firelight.
"You haven’t nad this sword, right?" Chen Yi asked.
"It’s yours," she replied curtly.
"How about calling it Ruo Shang? You’re Ruo Que, I’m Ruo Shang—together, we’re a pair?"
"Your choice."
Hearing her indifferent response, Chen Yi teased intentionally:
"Then never mind. No need to be a pair—after all, we’re not destined to be together."
Zhou Yitang didn’t even bother to reply this ti, treating his words as if they didn’t exist.
She slowly put on her Taoist robe and tightened her belt.
"Then... how about Hou Kang?" Chen Yi asked again.
"Your choice."
Chen Yi chuckled lightly, sheathing the sword back into its scabbard.
"Let’s go."
With that, he stood up. Since Zhou Yitang had already entered a fasting state and didn’t need food, and her manner was always swift and decisive, Chen Yi stepped out of the cave abode directly.
After waiting for so ti, he didn’t hear the sound of footsteps, which puzzled him.
With her back to Chen Yi, Zhou Yitang touched her lips, a hazy nostalgia in her eyes for that fleeting kiss.
"In our next life, could you sing ’Ge Sheng’?"
"You must wait, as must I,
Until the next lifeti, until a hundred years after."
...
She couldn’t afford to fall too deeply just yet...
He was still not who she hoped he would be...
She had to sever his Three Corpses—it was he himself who willingly placed this burden in her hands!
Zhou Yitang wiped her lips, as if trying to erase sothing.
That kiss burned within her heart, yet she still adhered firmly to her original resolve.
...............
"... Tired."
Yin Tingxue tried to prop herself up with one hand, only to find herself utterly exhausted.
"What are you doing?"
Turning her head to et Min Ning’s confused expression, Yin Tingxue thought for a mont and asked:
"Captain Min, let ask you sothing."
"What?"
"You’re a martial artist; would you get tired holding yourself up with one hand?"
Yin Tingxue lowered her voice, her tone deliberately hushed.
Min Ning didn’t understand why she was asking this, but after so contemplation, he answered sincerely:
"At first, no, but over ti, yes, it would beco tiring."
Yin Tingxue’s heart sank threefold.
This is bad—he can last a long ti!
She could barely handle it. Several tis she had pleaded, bitten his shoulder, and whispered every soft word she could muster before he reluctantly let her go.
Thinking of this, Yin Tingxue couldn’t help but worry.
If this scoundrel had his way, wouldn’t Master Zhou end up crying into her pillow every night in secret...?
Once he reveled in his triumph, he wouldn’t stop. Would he not go so far as to say:
"What Yin Sword Mountain’s Sword Armor, still had to hold themselves up with one hand on the bedpost?"
The little fox could already picture Chen Yi’s sinister grin in her mind.
What to do now?!
Yin Tingxue’s thoughts tangled into a chaotic ss, her wish that Chen Yi could dissolve his ego and sever his lower corpse growing stronger.
In her wandering thoughts, she unconsciously turned her face to the side. Suddenly, she froze. At so point, Lin Wanxiao had appeared in front of her and Min Ning, her face drained of all color, as if her soul had left her body.
"He’s inside... could he be dead?"
Lin Wanxiao’s hoarse voice asked.
"The odds aren’t good."
Min Ning replied with a furrowed brow.
A sinister smile appeared on the young lady’s face. Seeing this, Min Ning narrowed his eyes and asked in a low voice:
"You want him to join that dead man in the grave?"
Lin Wanxiao’s smile widened, her voice trembling as she asked:
"And why not?"
"Best you abandon such thoughts."
Min Ning snorted coldly.
It wasn’t that she lacked sympathy for this widow, but considering the Lin Party’s years of chaos within the court, any sympathy she felt was imdiately nullified.
Far from being unhappy if Lin Yan’s body were left out in the wild, even if Chen Yi killed this woman as well, she would rely think his thods ruthless and wouldn’t lift her blade to stop him.
"If you’re looking for soone to accompany him in death, you’d better look to yourself—just thrust a hairpin into your neck. I’ll do my best to see your corpse handled properly."
Min Ning said.
Lin Wanxiao glared at Min Ning with uncontrollable hatred blazing in her eyes.
Yin Tingxue shifted uneasily. Having followed Zhou Yitang these past days, she had no idea what had transpired.
The sound of rushing water echoed.
Nearby, the Donkey-Headed Crown Prince traced his fingers along the muddy riverbank, writing sothing over and over again. Aside from the words "Zhao" and "Hua," two new characters had been added: "Zhu Xiu."
A snake transforming into a fish, Zhu Xiu dying only to be revived.
If not for having obtained this Secret Technique from the Tushan Clan, the Donkey-Headed Crown Prince wouldn’t have dared to plot the assassination of the Sword Armor for Chen Yi.
The Ninth Under Heaven—its title was not for show.
Had Chen Yi not calculated so ticulously, had Sword Armor not been virtually unguarded against him, had the Tushan Clan not been backing him... Even with such success, there were far too many "had it not been" scenarios. Though things had ended safely, the Donkey-Headed Crown Prince still felt as though he had brushed past the underworld.
User Comments
0 comments from readers