Ye Qingyi’s arms, legs, waist, and back—every part of her body was trembling.
Sweat soaked through her clothes, dripping onto the floor and pooling into a small puddle.
Ye Chu also stopped moving and stood quietly before her.
Moments later, Ye Chu gave up control, and the puppet fell to the ground with a thump.
Ye Chu’s voice rang in her mind, carrying a hint of examination: “At your current level, where would you rank in Qingyun City?”
Ye Qingyi lay on the ground, but her tone still carried a hint of defiance: “Anyway… in past sparring matches, those at the same cultivation level were no match for me. Some… I could even suppress my level and still beat them.”
Ye Chu was silent for a moment, then said calmly, “I see. Then I understand.”
Ye Qingyi lifted her head with effort, using her last ounce of strength to glare at the air: “I feel like you don’t really believe me… and you’re mocking me hard in your mind.”
“No, don’t talk nonsense.”
Ye Chu’s tone suddenly turned into a Taiwanese accent.
“That sparring just now drained a lot of my energy. I’m going to rest now. Review the issues and shortcomings from earlier on your own—I’ll test you next time.”
With that, his voice vanished completely.
No matter how much Ye Qingyi called out in her mind, there was no response.
This guy, he just leaves like that.
Ye Qingyi sighed helplessly.
Instead of getting up to rest immediately, she closed her eyes and began replaying every moment of her fight with Ye Chu in her mind, over and over.
She lay on the ground for a long time, turning things over and over in her mind.
She thought of countless possibilities, then rejected countless possibilities.
But when she finally opened her eyes and looked up at the moonlight spilling down, the corners of her mouth slowly curved upward—a genuine smile.
This is how it should be.
The stronger Ye Chu was, the greater her chance to turn things around.
“Heh… heh… heh…”
If she weren’t so exhausted she couldn’t move, she would have jumped up in excitement.
But at that moment, in her mind, Ye Chu hadn’t actually rested.
He quietly watched Ye Qingyi’s silly grin, calculating his next plan in his mind.
To put it bluntly, Ye Qingyi’s strength, her use of spiritual energy, her combat awareness… were all too pathetic.
And this wasn’t even by his own standards—it was by the standards of an ordinary cultivator from ten thousand years ago.
Thinking that the spiritual energy here was thin, and that no one in Qingyun City had reached Foundation Establishment in centuries—Ye Chu felt a bit more relieved.
Being weak had its advantages.
At least under his protection, Ye Qingyi wouldn’t face any unsolvable life-or-death crises in the short term.
That way, his plan could be more aggressive—he didn’t need to be too cautious.
Getting out of this barren, cold land and heading to a place with denser spiritual energy was the top priority.
Right now, Ye Qingyi’s situation was tricky—her talent was gone, her strength was low, she wasn’t valued by the clan, and was even neglected.
Her father, the clan head, wanted to help but couldn’t do much.
The originally generous savings of spirit stones had been exhausted over the past few years on medical treatment and her own cultivation.
Relying on herself to go out and train to find medicinal herbs—her strength at the third level of Qi Refining was completely insufficient.
She simply couldn’t gather the ingredients to refine the antidote.
And without the antidote, no matter how hard she trained, her cultivation would only keep declining.
Although she could take the body-tempering path, Ye Qingyi’s room for improvement was currently too huge, and Ye Chu felt a bit helpless about it.
…
Under the moonlight, Ye Qingyi’s laughter finally gradually subsided.
She used a great deal of effort to get up from the ground, wincing in pain all over.
Leaning on the table, she limped to the bedside and flopped onto the bed like a rag.
“Ye Chu,” she called softly, her voice hoarse.
“Are you still there?”
Ye Chu’s voice rang out lazily: “Yeah. What, afraid I’ll run away?”
“No.”
Ye Qingyi turned over, looking at the moon outside the window, a smile still on her lips.
“I just wanted to say—let’s continue tomorrow.”
Ye Chu was stunned for a moment, then let out a light laugh.
“Alright, tomorrow we definitely continue with the harsh training.”
…
The night was about to fade, and the morning sun had already risen, but Ye Qingyi was trapped in a long, bittersweet dream.
She dreamed of a boy squatting by a stream, carefully rolling up the trouser legs for a little girl.
The girl wore her hair in double buns, her round face smudged with mud, and when she smiled, two cute front teeth showed.
Ye Qingyi felt a sense of understanding—that boy was Ye Chu, and that girl must be someone very important in Ye Chu’s life.
The dream continued.
Ye Chu was teaching the girl swordplay under a peach blossom tree.
The little girl couldn’t remember the third form no matter what, and stomped her foot in frustration.
So he patiently broke it down for her over and over.
Wooden swords clashed, and petals covered their shoulders.
When the little girl slipped and fell into the water while picking lotus pods, Ye Chu jumped in without a second thought to rescue her.
After coming up, he was tangled in waterweed, but instead he first took off his outer robe to wrap around the shivering girl.
He scolded her with a straight face, but his hands were trembling…
The two sat on the highest cliff rock, sharing a bag of sugar-roasted chestnuts.
The little girl peeled the biggest one and stuffed it into his mouth.
His ears secretly turned red, but he said he didn’t like eating them.
At night, the little girl rested her head on his lap, drowsy.
He lowered his head to brush away the stray hairs on her forehead, his gaze tender as water.
Ye Qingyi was furious.
He was gentle and careful with that girl, but with her he was merciless—punches and kicks, every hit landing.
Wasn’t she also a beautiful young lady?
Was she not worthy?
She was like a bystander frozen in place, watching these scenes flash through her mind.
An inexplicable bitterness rose in her chest.
The scene shifted.
Ye Chu was constantly cultivating, forgetting to eat and sleep, forever going out on training expeditions.
The girl, now grown into a maiden, silently waited by his side.
There was no communication between them.
Until red silk was spread on the ground and wedding garments were donned.
Ye Qingyi thought they had finally achieved their happy ending, but the girl left without a sound, leaving Ye Chu standing alone amidst the festive hall, his loneliness so profound it made one’s heart tighten.
The laughter and chatter of the guests gradually turned into whispers.
Ye Chu looked down at the lonely length of red silk in his hand.
The expression on his face shifted from bewilderment to a bone-chilling coldness.
He didn’t get angry, didn’t question, didn’t even say a word.
He just slowly folded the red silk, fold by fold, tucked it into his sleeve, then turned and walked into the heavy snow of the back mountain.
Ye Qingyi wanted to call out to him, but couldn’t make a sound.
The dream weighed heavily on her heart.
Before the bitterness and melancholy could fade, a deafening, soul-piercing voice suddenly rang in her mind.
“Get up and cultivate! You’re so young—how can you sleep through such a precious morning!”
Early morning, Ye Chu roared in Ye Qingyi’s mind, forcibly yanking her from her dream back to reality.
Ye Qingyi’s eyes snapped open.
She curled up on the bed clutching her head, feeling a splitting headache along with the stifling weight from her dream rushing up.
She snapped crossly, “Are you trying to kill me?! Is this how you wake someone up?”
“Sleep, sleep, sleep—that’s all you know! You’re wasting the beautiful morning!”
Ye Chu didn’t back down at all.
Ye Qingyi herself had said to continue today.
“The path of cultivation is like sailing against the current. With such laziness, when will you ever improve?”
“I didn’t sleep well last night—can’t I lie down a little longer? And what time is it now? By the twenty-four-hour clock, it’s only five o’clock. Is it necessary to be this early!”
Ye Qingyi rubbed her throbbing temples.
Thinking of Ye Chu’s past from the dream, her heart felt inexplicably tight, and her tone became sharper.
“All you know is to push, push, push! Is there anything in your eyes besides cultivation? No wonder no one wants you!”