"Last night, I told Min'er in detail about us. She... she seems to be even more silent than before." Gong Chenying's words changed the subject, making Li Yan's heart jump. Originally, his relationship with Zhao Min was unclear, but at most, she was the person of the opposite sex he had gotten along with the best over the past few years. He hadn't had too many other thoughts. But for some reason, ever since he had established that relationship with Gong Chenying, whenever he heard this name or anything about her, Li Yan's heart would inexplicably race. And at first, in his mind, he seemed not to want Zhao Min to know about his relationship with Gong Chenying. But he also didn't want any accidents to happen to Gong Chenying because of the navel ring incident. This seemed to be a far-fetched reason that allowed him to be close to Gong Chenying while also maintaining his subtle relationship with Zhao Min as before.
The emergence of these thoughts was involuntary, quiet, and appeared after he had clarified his relationship with Gong Chenying. In Li Yan's subconscious, he began to on one hand, identify Gong Chenying as his own, and at the same time, wanted to preserve that piece of territory in his heart.
These two contradictory emotions made it impossible for Li Yan to face these two directly. He didn't know how to solve it. He hadn't realized at all that he had become extremely possessive. Li Yan himself hadn't noticed this change; everything had just changed subtly over time.
If he were to face a life-and-death decision of his own now, he would be incomparably calm, analyze all aspects of the situation, gather information on his opponent's habits, and so on, and then form a plan to make the enemy fall into his trap step by step until he achieved his goal. But in the face of emotions, besides listening to his inner feelings, he couldn't think of any solution at all.
Li Yan looked up at Gong Chenying, a wry smile on his face, a trace of confusion in his eyes, and asked in a low voice.
"Why did you have to explain this to her specifically? I can only say that she and I get along well. We've never confessed anything to each other. This is not a lie. Even now, I don't understand if that feeling is what you call 'like,' let alone how she feels about me.
"So you didn't need to explain to her. You have your principles. I, Li Yan, had never had any disrespectful thoughts about you before. One reason is that we had too little interaction; the other is the huge disparity in our status. We seem to be of the same sect and generation, but I know my own worth. The various outcomes of this secret realm trip, it's not an exaggeration to say that you were making a concession. With your talent and appearance, marrying me is a helpless matter. What's more, you have more than a fifty percent chance of condensing a Golden Core in the future. Zhao Min is also a favored daughter of heaven. The two of you are almost on par in all aspects. It's only because of some things that you had some interaction with me. Don't cultivators believe in immortals? Don't cultivators believe in fate? Otherwise, where would the great cycle of the Dao come from? So, since you're mine, then you're mine. Why add more troubles with other matters?"
Li Yan himself was not clear, so he simply listened to his own heart and said whatever he thought.
Hearing this, Gong Chenying was stunned. She looked at Li Yan with a complicated expression. She hadn't expected Li Yan to be able to say such things. At the same time, the shackles that had been pressing down on her heart, making it hard to breathe, seemed to have lightened a lot. But when she heard Li Yan's final words, "you're mine," her heart pounded wildly. The jade-like hand resting on the stone table couldn't help but tremble slightly.
After looking at Li Yan with forced composure for a while, her rapidly rising and falling full chest slowly calmed down. She gathered her thoughts, her red lips parted slightly, and she said something that surprised Li Yan.
"When I was ten, I came here with a friend of an elder from my family, who was also a Supreme Elder of the Malevolent Spirit Sect who had traveled to the Wind God Continent. I then became a disciple under Master. At that time, I lived with Min'er. She is a few years younger than me. It's not an exaggeration to say we grew up together."
Hearing this, Li Yan nodded slightly, but at the same time, he was somewhat astonished. He had heard Gong Chenying briefly mention her origins before, and he had also had some faint guesses that Zhao Min should have originally been from the Little Bamboo Peak lineage. Zhao Min should have been one of the first few batches of disciples when Little Bamboo Peak was widely recruiting. Later, those disciples all left Little Bamboo Peak and joined the other four peaks. But this was the first time he had heard that Gong Chenying and Zhao Min had grown up together.
"Min'er and I are very close, like blood sisters. So, only she knows about my clan's navel ring. In private, I even taught her the body refining technique that only the core members of the Tianli Clan can cultivate. So you should be able to see that her cultivation is quite similar to mine," Gong Chenying continued, her gaze somewhat distant, as if she had returned to her childhood.
Just hearing these few sentences, Li Yan was already quite surprised. It was one thing for Gong Chenying to tell Zhao Min about the navel ring. After all, the two had grown up together, had been in contact for many years, and had a deep relationship. It was reasonable for her to know Gong Chenying's secret.
But to have also taught an outsider the ultimate body refining technique of the Tianli Clan, which was extremely rigid and yang, this surprised Li Yan greatly. No wonder Li Yan had always felt that Zhao Min and Gong Chenying's attack methods and the aura they exuded were so similar. It turned out that Zhao Min was also walking the path of dual cultivation of law and body. But Gong Chenying had said before that that body refining technique was the supreme secret art of the Tianli Clan and could not be cultivated by non-clan members. Otherwise, once the Tianli Clan found out, they would hunt them down relentlessly. How could this young woman be so bold? It was one thing to disregard her own life, but did she not care about Zhao Min's life either?
Gong Chenying looked up at the shocked Li Yan and gave a light laugh. "Heh heh, you're worried about Junior Sister Min's safety, aren't you? There's a hidden story behind this. I'll tell you later."
Li Yan nodded, thinking to himself, 'There really is a hidden story. But just this one thing alone shows how deep your relationship is.' Last night, seeing the tacit communication between Gong Chenying and Zhao Min, Li Yan had some guesses that their relationship was not shallow. He just hadn't expected the friendship between these two women to have reached such a level. No wonder Gong Chenying had always had an irresolvable sorrow. Now Li Yan understood a little better.
Gong Chenying continued to narrate softly to herself, "But Junior Sister Min is stubborn by nature. Later, some things happened, and she left Little Bamboo Peak for Never-Parting Peak. But we are still the closest. It's just that we usually need to cultivate on our own, and our personalities are not talkative, so we have less contact. Therefore, only Eldest Senior Brother and a few others know about our relationship. So, you should know why I specifically explained the relationship between you and me to her, right?"
A look of helplessness appeared on Gong Chenying's face. But at this moment, her helplessness was no longer about the fact that she could only marry someone like Li Yan in the future. After she came out of the Wheel of Life and Death and learned that Li Yan had saved her by trading his life for hers, she had already believed her grandmother's words. Li Yan was the 'age' who came singing on the waves under the round moon. This helplessness was a kind of guilt for potentially harming Zhao Min and a trace of helplessness against the iron-clad shackles of her clan's rules.
The reason she said it was "potential" guilt was that after she had explained it in detail to Zhao Min last night, Zhao Min had just looked at her with a strange expression that made her heart flustered. She had seen this expression when Zhao Min left Little Bamboo Peak back then. So she had felt a wave of regret at that moment, feeling that she shouldn't have said these things, at least not so soon after coming out of the Wheel of Life and Death. She should have given herself some time to observe Zhao Min's attitude toward Li Yan and then make a decision. Even if she had to leave quietly, she would have done so without hesitation. It seemed she had overestimated the friendship between the two of them from childhood and had still hurt her.
After looking at her for a while, Zhao Min's eyes had become calm and clear again. She hadn't expressed any opinion, nor had she explained her feelings for Li Yan, nor had she shown any dissatisfaction. She just smiled calmly at her in silence, took a step forward, and gave Gong Chenying a gentle hug, just like when they used to comfort each other as children. She patted her on the back and then took her hand and returned to Li Yan's courtyard. This made Gong Chenying feel even more upset. She knew this little sister very well. Zhao Min and she were both very stubborn girls; they would keep many things in their hearts.
Zhao Min's stubbornness was different from Gong Chenying's. Gong Chenying had the feistiness and decisiveness of a Tianli Clan woman in her bones. She dared to speak and act, and often expressed herself directly through her actions. Just like when facing Wang Lang, knowing that she was seriously injured and no match for him, she would still fight to the death, shedding her blood. That was a feisty way of doing things.
Zhao Min, on the other hand, was stubborn deep down and rarely showed it. She would often keep things in her heart, and no matter what you said, if she didn't want to tell you, you would never know. And these things kept in her heart were like a thorn deeply rooted. She would only bear it silently or express her resistance in her own way.
It was precisely this personality that made it impossible for Gong Chenying to know what Zhao Min was thinking. If she had known that Zhao Min liked Li Yan very much, it would have been easy. She could either die directly, or after fulfilling her wish if possible, find a place to bury herself. If she didn't like him, then she would have no guilt to speak of. But Zhao Min's performance was simply unfathomable.
After hearing this, Li Yan stared blankly at Gong Chenying's pretty face, and for a time, the two of them fell silent.
At the same time, on Never-Parting Peak, inside a cave abode at the top of the mountain, Zhao Min, dressed in a white dress as white as snow, stood by the window. Her ponytail was simply tied at the back of her head, her black hair cascading down her back. She stood there gracefully, looking at the white waterfall that was cascading down dozens of yards away outside the window. A rare look of confusion appeared on her jade-carved face, her dark eyebrows knitting together from time to time. The waterfall made a roaring sound, the cascading water like pearls falling on jade, creating a mist of white water spray in the pool. Occasionally, droplets of water would shoot out, passing through the carved railings and vermilion window and landing on her white dress, soaking it into small patches, the wet clothes accentuating the full curves of her figure.
"What's wrong with me? Shouldn't I be happy about Senior Sister Six's matter?" Looking at the splashing water outside the window, she bit her lower lip and asked herself softly.
"He is just my junior brother, a junior brother I can talk to. What do his comings and goings, his likes and dislikes have to do with me?"
Thinking this, she nodded lightly. A moment later, as if remembering something, she gently shook her head again.
"Since we can talk, can he still talk like before in the future? And what would Senior Sister Six think?"
Lost in thought, the face of a young boy slowly materialized in the cascading waterfall before her eyes. This boy slowly turned into a young man. It was a somewhat dark-skinned face.
Don't idly pluck the zither strings, with whom can you share the melody? The meeting was right, the karma was wrong.
Who tossed the brocade silk to the ground, the red sleeves dancing? The lamp is entangled in silk, only a lone shadow remains.