Chapter 213: Qingyue Under the Moon
The night was dark, the wind high, the moon dim and the stars sparse—the perfect time for sneaking around and stealing chickens and dogs… ah, no, the perfect time for stealing kisses and fragrant jade.
Tomorrow would be the final day of the second round of group matches. With ten wins out of ten, Yun Che had already secured his place in the top one hundred. He himself didn't feel much about it, but Qin Wushang was ecstatic, his mouth unable to stop grinning from afternoon till night. Cang Yue was naturally overjoyed as well, and when a beauty was happy, making a move was naturally much easier.
Maybe, tonight, she would give in to him.
With this thought, Yun Che laughed lecherously. He jumped off the bed and was just about to head to Cang Yue's room when his door was suddenly knocked on. From outside came Xia Yuanba's voice: "Brother-in-law, are you asleep?"
It wasn't very late, but outside was already very quiet. Afraid of disturbing him, Qin Wushang and Xia Yuanba never came looking for him at night unless something important came up.
Yun Che went over and opened the door: "Yuanba, what's the matter?"
"Oh, it's my sister. She came by just now and asked me to give this to you." Xia Yuanba took out a small space ring and handed it to Yun Che.
"Your sister? Qingyue was just here?" Yun Che took the ring, surprised.
"Mm." Xia Yuanba nodded. "Sister said you probably don't need these things anymore, but she has no use for them either, so she asked me to pass them on to you."
Something from my wife Qingyue? What could it be?
Yun Che picked up the ring and opened its inner sight... In the empty space ring, only three items were placed...
A Xuan Dan, its aura thick and rich, clearly an Earth Xuan Beast's profound pill! A piece of precious crystal the size of a fist, like purple ice crystals... It was actually a Purple Vein Heavenly Crystal! And a strange herb planted in a transparent jade bottle, with twisted roots and seven long, pointed leaves, faintly flowing with multicolored light throughout its body...
Seven-Xuan Exquisite Grass!!
Yun Che's heart jolted violently.
Seven-Xuan Exquisite Grass, Purple Vein Heavenly Crystal, and an Earth Xuan Beast's profound pill... These were exactly the three things he had once casually mentioned to Xia Qingyue, which could be used to heal his crippled profound veins back then!
Yun Che looked up and asked urgently: "How long ago did Qingyue leave?"
"Uh, just a short while ago. Brother-in-law, are you—"
Before Xia Yuanba could finish, Yun Che had already shot out like a gust of wind, disappearing from Xia Yuanba's sight in an instant.
Xia Yuanba stood at the door, scratching his head with a confused look, mumbling softly: "Should I have told brother-in-law when my sister first arrived..."
Exiting the courtyard, Yun Che paused for a moment. With his extremely sharp spiritual senses, he detected traces of a lingering cold aura. Following the direction that cold aura had gone, Yun Che unleashed his full speed and chased after it madly. Before long, beneath the pitch-black night sky, a graceful figure in fluttering white robes appeared in his line of sight. He slowed his pace and quickly called out: "Qingyue!"
The voice from behind made Xia Qingyue stop in her tracks. She quietly turned around, meeting eyes with the approaching Yun Che. She didn't seem particularly surprised that he had chased after her. Her beautiful eyes were calm and her voice soft: "Does Young Master Yun have something to discuss with Qingyue?"
The address "Young Master Yun" made the corner of Yun Che's mouth twitch slightly. He spoke: "Wife Qingyue, I want to ask you a question... That marriage contract I gave you that day... is it still there?"
Xia Qingyue raised her jade hand and lightly brushed it over the ring. She took out a perfectly flat contract, carefully preserved within a colorless crystal. With a flick of her hand, the marriage contract flew toward Yun Che, landing in his hands... And this was exactly the marriage contract between him and Xia Qingyue, completely intact!
A wordless sense of gratitude welled up in Yun Che's heart. The existence of this marriage contract might not prove that Xia Qingyue truly had any feelings for him, but it did prove that after he had left that day, she had done everything she could to protect the last shred of his dignity.
At the very least, when her husband was besieged on all sides, she, as his wife, did not take the opportunity to abandon him. Instead, she fulfilled the most sacred part of a wife's duty.
The existence of this marriage contract also announced that they were still husband and wife, including now.
"Back then, you didn't have the strength to protect this contract, so you gave it to me. Now, I believe you already have the power to safeguard it, so it's time to return it to you." Xia Qingyue said softly.
"Then do you still remember the words I said when I gave you the marriage contract?" Yun Che carefully put the contract away and said in a very light voice.
Xia Qingyue: "..."
"I said at that time: 'If you still want to continue being my wife, then protect it. If you want complete freedom, then destroy it.'... Speaking of which," Yun Che smiled self-deprecatingly, "to be honest, after I left that day, I always thought your choice would be to destroy the contract. Because, whether it was to fulfill your father's promise or to repay Uncle Xiao Ying's kindness, the one you married should have been Xiao Ying's son. But by then you already knew I wasn't Xiao Ying's son at all, but a 'found bastard' as they called me. You could have legitimately destroyed the contract and the title of husband and wife, then entered the Bing Yun Fairy Palace pure and clean. So why did you choose to protect this contract?"
Xia Qingyue's beautiful eyes met Yun Che's without any sign of evasion. Her gaze was perfectly calm. In this year and a half at the Bing Yun Fairy Palace, Yun Che could clearly feel that Xia Qingyue's entire temperament had undergone earth-shaking changes. During the few days after their marriage, her eyes were plain, cold, and carried a hint of cold pride and immaturity. But now, the coldness in Xia Qingyue's eyes had been completely replaced by placidity—placid like a pool of still water without the slightest ripple. As for her aura, it had become bone-chillingly cold.
The Bing Yun Fairy Palace's core profound arts, besides the Ice Cloud Art, also included the Ice Heart Art. The latter could calm one's mind and still one's heart, making the sea of consciousness empty and ethereal. At its peak, one could achieve true desirelessness and detachment, looking lightly upon all life, death, victory, defeat, desires, good and evil in the world...
But, without desires and pursuits, could one still be called "human"?
"That is a question Qingyue cannot answer."
"Why can't you answer it?"
Xia Qingyue said calmly: "Because what Qingyue was thinking at that time, I have now forgotten. Perhaps it's because our husband-wife karma has not yet ended."
When she spoke the words "husband-wife karma," which should have carried an ambiguous atmosphere, she said them flatly, without a trace of emotional fluctuation. That placidity gave Yun Che a suffocating feeling of oppression. The Xia Qingyue of the past was like a proud snow lotus on an icy mountain. Back then, though he was crippled and insignificant, he still had endless thoughts of trying and teasing, thinking about conquering and plucking her. If not for the subsequent upheaval, given enough time together day and night, he firmly believed he could have succeeded.
But the Xia Qingyue now gave him the feeling of a bright moon hanging high in the sky—still perfect and flawless, but already very, very far away, too far to ever reach.
This Bing Yun Fairy Palace place... is truly harmful, ah ah ah!!
Thinking of Chu Yuechan, who had lived together for five months and even had sex, yet still left resolutely, and thinking of the change in Xia Qingyue... A surge of impulse to destroy the Bing Yun Fairy Palace churned in Yun Che's heart.
Gathering so many peerless beauties, yet turning them all into beings who don't eat the food of the mortal world, untouched by worldly dust... This is a place that incites the wrath of men and gods!
Yun Che's chest heaved. He calmed his mind and spoke gently: "Thank you for finding the Seven-Xuan Exquisite Grass, the Earth Xuan Beast's profound pill, and the Purple Vein Heavenly Crystal for me. I know that even for the Bing Yun Fairy Palace, gathering all three in a year and a half is not easy, let alone the fact that you are just a newly inducted disciple."
"No need to thank me," Xia Qingyue's voice was light and elegant. "Compared to the grace of you opening all my profound gates, these are nothing worth mentioning."
"I opened your profound gates at the cost of just a few drops of sweat. But for you to find these things for me took much more than a few drops of sweat. However, I really shouldn't say thank you to you, because we are husband and wife." Yun Che smiled slightly.
Xia Qingyue: "..."
"Can I ask you three questions?"
"Go ahead." Xia Qingyue did not refuse.
The night grew deeper. Though the sky had only a few scattered stars, the full moon was exceptionally bright, generously casting its brilliant light downwards. But when that light fell upon Xia Qingyue, the beautiful, flawless moonlight could only become an unnoticed backdrop. Xia Qingyue under the moonlight was like a heavenly maiden descending to the mortal world, releasing an indescribable beauty that took one's breath away. Looking at this figure so beautiful it seemed unreal, it was impossible for Yun Che's heart not to race. He took a slow breath and asked: "Are you doing well at the Bing Yun Fairy Palace?"
"Very well. The palace master, my master, senior uncles, senior aunts, and all my senior and junior sisters are very good to me." Xia Qingyue answered briefly.
"Mm, that's good." Yun Che nodded. "Second question: a long time ago, I wanted to know the answer, but back then you didn't tell me... I want to know, at the time of our marriage, what level had your profound strength actually reached?"
Back then, Yun Che was absolutely certain that Xia Qingyue's profound strength was definitely not just the Initial Xuan Realm, Level 10 she showed on the surface. But her manifest profound strength at Initial Xuan Realm, Level 10 was known throughout the entire city, and no one had ever doubted it. Even those elders whose strength far exceeded the Initial Xuan Realm thought she was only at Initial Xuan Realm, Level 10. It seemed that her true profound strength was concealed by some special method. As for the reason for the concealment, Yun Che could well understand. In a small place like Liuyun City, a 16-year-old at the peak of Initial Xuan was already recognized as the number one talent. If she had revealed a strength at the Xuan Entry Realm, or even the peak of Xuan Entry, it would inevitably have caused an unimaginable uproar.
This time, Xia Qingyue did not refuse. She directly answered: "When I was twelve, I met my master. At thirteen, I broke through Initial Xuan and stepped into the Xuan Entry Realm. At fourteen, I broke through Xuan Entry and entered the True Xuan Realm. When I married you at sixteen, I was at the peak of the True Xuan Realm, just like you are now."
Yun Che: "...!!!"
[I was locked in the little black room, just got out!!]
...