Chapter 58: Her Kiss, Her Anger

Exhilarating!

As Yun Heng completed the final stroke of the array, only these four words echoed incessantly in his mind.

In his previous life, he was a grandmaster of formation arrays. But no matter how high-level an array he drew, in Yun Heng’s heart, none brought the same comfort as collaborating with his bosom friend, Yue Wuhen.

It was an unparalleled pleasure. If one were to use musical instruments as a metaphor, the former was like a solo performance—no matter how exquisite, it was only one voice. The latter…

“Young Master Yun, I feel we are like two top-tier instruments improvising a duet. Cooperating with you always gives the illusion that one plus one is greater than ten.”

Lin Xiaoyue looked at Yun Heng with a beaming smile.

Even with ten thousand years of accumulated composure, Yun Heng’s heart still surged with emotion facing this scene.

To think that he, Yun Heng, could encounter two soulmates who understood him so deeply in two successive lifetimes…

How incredibly fortunate!

Yun Heng took a deep breath, stood up, and cupped his hands in a salute towards Lin Xiaoyue, his eyes shining brilliantly. For a fleeting moment, it was as if he had returned to the day he first met Yue Wuhen.

“Fellow Daoist Lin… no, please allow me the presumption to call you ‘Brother Lin’! If fate allows in the future, I must introduce you to that bosom friend of mine. The two of you are truly the only soulmates I, Yun, have ever had in this life.”

No matter what, he, Yun Heng, had decided to befriend this Lin Xiaoyue.

Just thinking that perhaps one day in the future, he could drink, discuss the Dao, and debate with two such rare and peerless geniuses of formation arrays made Yun Heng feel this rebirth was truly worth it!

Brother Wuhen… in this life, I, Yun, will not only protect the one you hold dear in your heart, but I will absolutely not let us repeat the mistakes of our previous life’s divergence.

If the three of us join forces, what injustice could possibly remain in this vast Nine Provinces?

“…Young Master Yun praises me too highly.”

Lin Xiaoyue covered her mouth with a light laugh, then also stood up and returned the salute. “But since Brother Yun says so, I, Xiaoyue, am naturally willing to befriend you as well.”

Then, she glanced at the seventh-rank modified formation array they had jointly drawn and pressed her left hand against her right wrist.

“There is one hour left before the hidden realm opens. I need to meditate and regulate my breathing to recover my energy. I imagine Brother Yun also requires some private time.”

Yun Heng nodded and turned to return to Jiang Keke and the others.

After briefly explaining some matters for after they entered the hidden realm, Yun Heng took out several defensive magical instruments as a precaution and also prepared to begin meditating and regulating his breathing.

“Young Master, are you very happy?”

Jiang Keke seized the opportunity and finally asked this question.

Since leaving the Yun family, Yun Heng’s spirits had never been high. Wang Laoqi’s death and Wang Hongqiao’s background had each cast an even deeper shadow over everything.

Yet, judging from Yun Heng’s tone just now as he briefly explained the preparations for the hidden realm, he seemed to have returned to the carefree, wandering character Jiang Keke was familiar with.

And this was solely because he had jointly drawn an array with Lin Xiaoyue.

“To find a soulmate amidst the vast sea of humanity, how could that not make me happy?” Yun Heng laughed heartily, the joy in his heart no less than in those bygone days.

This long-lost, pure happiness after rebirth even allowed him to temporarily set aside deep investigation into why Lin Xiaoyue was in Flowing Fire Prefecture, how she could clear the first three trials with only foundation establishment stage cultivation, and why she knew about this hidden realm here.

Just as he had once said to Yue Wuhen: “Friends are those who connect heart to heart.”

Yun Heng would never use schemes against his own people. It wasn’t in his nature.

But Jiang Keke was not Yun Heng. She didn’t really understand things like bosom friends or soulmates, let alone the exhilaration felt from jointly drawing an array.

So, she still felt this person named Lin Xiaoyue was strange.

Using the Young Master’s common phrase—it was too coincidental.

Everything—Lin Xiaoyue’s appearance, her invitation to Yun Heng to draw the array, gaining Yun Heng’s admiration, even this array drawing that lasted over an hour without a single demon beast jumping out to attack… was all so coincidental it was terrifying upon closer thought.

However, looking at Yun Heng who had already begun circulating his energy to meditate, Jiang Keke opened her mouth but ultimately said nothing more.

It was wonderful that the Young Master could be happy. Nothing in the world was more important than making the Young Master happy.

So, Jiang Keke simply focused her divine sense on her storage bag, ensuring she could draw her weapon at any moment to protect the Young Master.

She couldn’t match the Young Master’s foresight, but guarding the small patch of land within her sight was something she could still do.

***

Time passed minute by minute.

The surroundings remained deathly quiet.

A Xiang, out of sheer boredom, had fallen asleep on Yun Heng’s lap at some point.

Wang Hongqiao was only at the third layer of Qi refining and had not achieved inedia.

Coupled with her lack of appetite these past days and the successive, difficult trials that had kept her nerves taut, now that she suddenly relaxed, she was also swept by waves of drowsiness. Sitting there, she gradually slipped into a dream.

A gust of wind blew past. Jiang Keke slowly opened her eyes from meditation.

The hidden realm still hadn’t opened.

She glanced at Yun Heng, whose breathing was steady, then at Lin Xiaoyue sitting peacefully in meditation over there, and frowned.

Logically, the time should have arrived.

Mount Anqiu was covered by the blood mist barrier like a dome, never seeing the light of the outside world.

But because Jiang Keke had followed Yun Heng since childhood and been taught many “habits” by him—habits she wasn’t even sure would be useful in the future—one of them was to keep track of time constantly.

The Young Master said this was mainly to prevent losing track of reality after exiting special hidden realms where temporal laws differed from the outside world.

And according to Jiang Keke’s count, it should have been half a quarter-hour past the hour mark already.

Calculating carefully, it had been nearly six hours since they officially stepped into the poisonous miasma.

Jiang Keke unconsciously swallowed.

She didn’t know what was wrong with her today. It seemed that ever since she was guided by Yun Heng to fight earlier, not only her five senses, but even her sixth sense had strengthened.

And her sixth sense was constantly warning her—something major was about to happen.

“Young Master, Young Master.”

Finally, when Jiang Keke tentatively called out softly twice and Yun Heng showed no reaction, this warning almost solidified into substance.

That fleeting perception of “fortune” she had vaguely felt on the Liuli Valley martial arts stage once again hazily appeared in Jiang Keke’s heart.

Her gaze suddenly turned sharp. Her meteor hammer materialized in her hand, and her figure flashed like lightning.

In the blink of an eye, she appeared before Lin Xiaoyue and, without the slightest hesitation, swung her hammer down!

This woman definitely had a problem!

However, this sudden, unannounced attack, which should have hit Lin Xiaoyue with absolute certainty, for some reason, hung suspended in mid-air.

“It seems A-Heng really cares about you. He’s even willing to give you ‘that’.”

Lin Xiaoyue gently exhaled a breath of turbid air, then slowly opened her eyes, looked at Jiang Keke, and gave a faint smile.

Jiang Keke wanted to curse, but not only her movements, even her voice was suppressed by some unknown spell. She couldn’t utter a single word.

“But… you are indeed worthy.”

Lin Xiaoyue smiled. “Be good, sister just wants you to be my audience. No ill intentions.”

She slightly hooked her finger.

The next moment, something—whether spider silk or bamboo fiber—manipulated Jiang Keke’s body like a puppet, arranging her into a cross-legged sitting posture, hands on her knees, back ramrod straight.

Lin Xiaoyue stood up, stretched leisurely, then walked directly to Yun Heng’s side.

She first frowned, used the same method to toss A Xiang into Jiang Keke’s arms, then gently “guided” Wang Hongqiao to the “audience seats.” Next, she overlaid some additional arrays onto the formation Yun Heng had set up.

After completing this series of actions, she finally slowly crouched down. Looking at Yun Heng, whom she had used special means to guide into a state of “insight,” the tenderness in her eyes could no longer be concealed, melting away like winter snow meeting spring.

Slowly, Jiang Keke keenly noticed that Lin Xiaoyue’s eyes were actually glistening with tears?!

Her vermilion lips trembled slightly, but she didn’t say a word or make a move. She just looked on quietly.

As if with longing, as if with heartache, as if with joy, as if with relief, as if… she had waited ten thousand years for this moment.

‘A-Heng, do you know how much my hands trembled just now after finishing the array? Do you know how long I’ve been anticipating this scene that has played out countless times before?’

‘Do you know… how much strength I had to muster to not reveal any flaws before you when you asked me who I was?’

‘The good news is, now you are right before my eyes, breathing steadily, features peaceful, your Dao heart still intact.’

‘I can see the flutter of your eyelashes, hear the joyful beat of your heart, feel the rhythm of your spiritual energy circulation… so close, yet so far.’

‘Wait for me a little longer, A-Heng.’

‘Wait until I handle everything, then stand before you properly with all of “Yue Wuhen’s” memories and this “Lin Xiaoyue” self you’ve never seen before.’

‘This insight is the first gift I give you to celebrate your rebirth.’

‘As for the second one… I’ll let Keke witness it with her own eyes.’

A long time passed. Only when even Jiang Keke’s divine sense could detect someone approaching from the northwest direction did Lin Xiaoyue blink away her tears, take a deep breath, then carefully reach out and gently place her hand against Yun Heng’s cheek.

“A-Heng… I’m sorry.”

She spoke words of apology, but her body leaned closer and closer.

The person from the northwest drew nearer. In less than ten steps, the two within her divine sense range would arrive here.

Jiang Keke’s little heart began to pound wildly.

Her sixth sense now told her that what was about to happen was not only dangerous but also seemed, probably, perhaps, definitely unsuitable for children!

She was just a sixteen-year-old child. She should close her eyes immediately, right now, without fail!

Unfortunately, she couldn’t.

Six steps.

Closer and closer.

Three steps.

Closer and closer.

Their noses were almost touching now, hey!

One step.

When Ling Yao pushed aside the bushes, her face full of anticipation as she looked towards the familiar, longed-for figure within her divine sense, what she saw was Lin Xiaoyue, while casting a provocative sidelong glance at her, kissing the spot just below Yun Heng’s right lip.

BOOM—!!!

Birds scattered in all directions. Ten thousand beasts were thrown into panic.

The terrifying demonic energy from a pure-blooded flood dragon in a state of furious rage shot into the sky.

The commotion was so great it even disturbed several transcendence-stage great demons in the core area of Mount Anqiu.

However, they just glanced in this direction and then went back to their own business.

Whether it was a flood dragon or a true dragon, it wasn’t something these ordinary transcendence-stage great demons should meddle with.

Moreover… there was an even more terrifying presence standing right there. Unless they had a death wish and wanted to tangle with that blue-clothed drunkard behind her, they absolutely could not get involved in this matter.