Chapter 940: Two Guarantees
"Brother Yun," Feng Xue'er said softly, "if you could never see her again, would you really be unhappy... for the rest of your life?"
Yun Che shook his head and looked at Feng Xue'er. "With you all by my side, how could I be unhappy? It's just that there would be an emptiness in my soul that could never be filled. Back then, it was because of my hesitation and retreat that I lost Xiao Xiannü forever... I never want to endure something like that a second time."
"Xiao Yaohou sister, Xue'er sister, let him go." Su Linger spoke softly. She was the only one who had never voiced opposition from the very beginning.
"What use would our opposition be?" Xiao Yaohou said faintly. "When he sets his mind on something, has anyone ever truly been able to stop him?"
"I..."
Just as Yun Che was about to speak, Xiao Yaohou cut him off: "Yun Che, I know I can't stop you. What kind of place the Shen Realm is, you must know far better than we do. Yet you still insist on going, which means it's truly a necessity for you. As your woman, how could I stand in your way?"
Yun Che's eyes flickered. He hadn't expected the strong-willed Xiao Yaohou to agree so readily. It warmed his heart but also deepened his guilt.
"But... you must guarantee me two things!" Xiao Yaohou's voice suddenly turned cold, each word carrying an undeniable firmness: "If you guarantee these two things, I will agree to the healing method you and Linger proposed, allowing you to go to the Shen Realm in peace. Otherwise..."
Before the word "otherwise" could fully leave her lips, her delicate body was gently embraced from behind by Yun Che: "Caiyi, I knew you would always indulge my willfulness... First, let me guarantee you that this will be my last time being willful. This time, whatever you ask of me, I will agree to."
Indulge? Do you think... I truly want to indulge? Xiao Yaohou murmured in her heart... If your soul is incomplete, it would be far more than just your own incompleteness...
"Fine... remember what you said." Xiao Yaohou closed her eyes, doing her best to make her words colder and more resolute than ever before: "The first thing I demand you guarantee—you absolutely must not die!!"
"..." Yun Che nodded slowly and whispered, "Caiyi, Xue'er, Linger, rest assured. My trip to the Shen Realm is not to pursue the divine path, nor to take revenge on anyone. I only want to see my master again. It won't be dangerous. Moreover, I saved Mu Bingyun's life, and combined with our connection from the Bing Yun Fairy Palace, she will certainly protect and help me once she takes me to the Shen Realm. I'm afraid it will be hard for me to even encounter danger. So, you really don't need to worry too much... Alright, alright. I first guarantee that once I reach the Shen Realm, I will absolutely, absolutely, absolutely not go near anything dangerous. After I see master, I will return with not a single hair missing."
"Back when you returned from the Huan Yao Realm to the Tian Xuan Continent, you said pretty much the same thing," Xiao Yaohou said coldly. "But when I saw you again, you were already half a corpse."
"..." Yun Che was speechless for a long moment, then said sheepishly, "How about I guarantee it once more?"
"With your personality, what use is guaranteeing it ten thousand times?" Xiao Yaohou said with a cold voice. "I only hope that when you're about to take a risk, you'll remember what I said today, think about your parents, your grandfather, your Cang Yue, your Xue'er, your Linger, your Lingxi... and me. Think about how many people would suffer for life if you died in the Shen Realm. And all of these are the people who care about and worry about you the most in this world."
"I know." Yun Che's arms tightened around her even more. Her words struck deep in his heart. "Over the years, I've made you worry time and again. But this time is different from before. Whether in the Tian Xuan Continent or the Huan Yao Realm, there were too many things I had to protect desperately... including you all. But going to the Shen Realm, I only want to see one person. Once I fulfill that wish, I'll come back immediately. I promise you that during this time, I will absolutely not take any risks, and I won't even approach any potential danger, alright?"
"Brother Yun, you must... must remember this guarantee," Feng Xue'er said, her eyes growing redder despite her best efforts to hold back as she thought of their impending separation.
"Second thing." Xiao Yaohou took a light breath, her already prominent chest rising and falling gently. "You said earlier that the Golden Crow Holy God told you to see her within five years, or else there would be no chance to meet again. Then, five years at most. Within those five years, whether you see her or not, you must come back! Not a single day over!"
"Alright," Yun Che agreed without hesitation. "I guarantee you that within five years, whether I find her or not, I will definitely return!"
...
Leaving the Yaohuang Palace, the world was now completely dark. The matter of going to the Shen Realm was too momentous. He might be away for several years. After telling Xiao Yaohou and the others, he still had to inform his parents, Cang Yue in Cangfeng Imperial City, his grandfather and Lingxi in Liu Yun City, and Xia Yuanba in the Huangji Sacred Domain.
Beside him, Su Linger accompanied him as they walked.
"Linger, am I being too selfish with this matter?" Yun Che asked with a sigh, because his single decision would disrupt the emotions and lives of everyone around him.
Su Linger smiled and shook her head. "Half a year ago, didn't you do something similar? That time, it was for me, forcing your way to the Cang Yun Continent, and to keep them from worrying, you secretly hid it from everyone. Compared to this time, it seems even more 'selfish.' But if it weren't for that kind of 'selfishness' of yours, I might never have been able to meet you again in this life."
"Linger..."
"Yun Che brother, your heart holds so many people, yet you are so earnest and persistent with every single one of them. That's why their hearts are willing to stay tied to you. It's the same with your master. And I believe that towards you, she was never as heartless as she appeared when she left... Yun Che brother, work hard in the Shen Realm. Find your master Mo Li soon, and come back early. Every one of us will be waiting for you day and night."
Su Linger's jade-like cheeks carried a smile, but tears glistened in her beautiful eyes. They had been separated for an entire lifetime, only to meet again under the wheel of fate. But after just half a year, they faced separation once more... No one was more reluctant and worried than she was.
"Linger, thank you." Yun Che's heart was warmed beyond measure.
"Between us, there's no need for thanks," Su Linger said softly, leaning her body against Yun Che's chest.
"Linger, there's something else I need you to do for me." Yun Che looked ahead, his gaze growing distant. "In at most two or three years, Xue'er's profound force will break through the Lord Xuan Realm and achieve the true Divine Xuan Realm. At that time, if I haven't returned yet, she might come to the Shen Realm to find me... Then, you must help me persuade her to stay."
Su Linger, however, said softly, "Yun Che brother, rest assured. Even without me, Xiao Yaohou sister will persuade her. Xue'er sister isn't that impulsive either. Otherwise, they would have insisted on accompanying you to the Shen Realm just now. Although Fairy Mu and her disciple can only take one more person, you could use the Primordial Mystic Ark to bring them along. Do you really think they haven't considered that?"
"..." Yun Che was struck speechless.
"Hehe," Su Linger suddenly laughed lightly. "Xiao Yaohou sister and Xue'er sister know their own beauty well. One is the number one beauty of the Huan Yao Realm, the other the number one beauty of the Tian Xuan Continent. Even I, as a girl, often find myself mesmerized by them. If the men of the Shen Realm saw them, they'd go crazy. If they accompanied you to the Shen Realm, they'd only bring you countless troubles. Going alone is actually much safer. Hmm... I suddenly wonder if the day you return, you might bring a few heavenly divine maidens back with you."
"Hahaha, how could that be possible?" Yun Che laughed.
"Very possible, oh," Su Linger said, looking at him with a glimmering gaze that seemed serious. "After all, my Yun Che brother is the best man in the world. Even the divine maidens in the heavens must have never seen anyone as perfect as my Yun Che brother. They might all be captivated. It looks like I, along with Father, Mother, and the sisters, need to prepare early."
"Hahahaha." Yun Che hugged Su Linger tightly and laughed heartily, his mood suddenly lifting a great deal.
...
Yun Che solemnly informed everyone close to him of his decision to go to the Shen Realm. There was still one month before he would leave with Mu Bingyun and her disciple. During that month, he would no longer train. Instead, he would spend every day with his family and beloved women, while also setting aside one to two hours each day to expel the poison from Mu Bingyun.
Under the powerful purifying force of the Heavenly Poison Pearl, the thousand-year flame poison in Mu Bingyun's body weakened a little each day, and no further spread occurred. Starting from the fifth day, Yun Che no longer needed to assist with the Desolate God's Power. As Mu Bingyun's own profound force slowly recovered, her body rapidly generated increasingly rich and vigorous vital energy.
"Whew!!"
This day, after another session of expelling poison for Mu Bingyun, Yun Che withdrew his palms. A flash of Golden Crow flame flickered over him, drying all the ice crystals formed from his sweat.
Mu Bingyun rose from the ice bed, her gaze settling firmly on Yun Che. After a moment, she spoke slowly, "Without the Ice Phoenix Blood and Ice Phoenix Soul as a foundation, you forcibly cultivated the Ice Phoenix God-Sealing Canon—that alone is extremely unusual. And you also possess the Golden Crow Divine Power. Water and fire are mutually opposing and restraining, yet you have merged them into one body and can control them so freely... it's nothing short of incredible."
"..." Yun Che's mind raced, thinking of a reason to explain.
"For these two conditions to be achieved, perhaps the legendary 'Nine-Xuan Exquisite Body,' which appears once in tens of thousands of years and can transcend the boundaries of laws, could do it. But the 'Nine-Xuan Exquisite Body' only appears in women..." Mu Bingyun's gaze on Yun Che sharpened. "Could it be that you have dual cultivated with a woman possessing the 'Nine-Xuan Exquisite Body'?"
"Uh... maybe," Yun Che brushed it off casually, but inwardly groaned: Qingyue wife possesses the 'Nine-Xuan Exquisite Body,' I wish I could... but she never let me touch!
Qingyue...
Yun Che suddenly looked up and asked, "Lady Mu, that teleportation array you left at the Bingyi Temple back then—where would it teleport someone to?"
Hearing this, Mu Bingyun shook her head slightly. "I don't know. A thousand years ago, due to the Heavenly Mechanism Sect's prophecy of the 'Thousand-Year Catastrophe' for the Bing Yun Fairy Palace, fearing the prophecy would come true, I released the power of the dimensional stone to set up that simple dimensional teleportation array, but I didn't specify the space it would send someone to. So I have no way of knowing where it would teleport someone. And with the power of the dimensional stone, it can transport someone extremely far... it might even be possible to reach the Shen Realm."
"I see." Although he had long expected this answer, Yun Che still felt disappointed.
Unconsciously, it had been over five years since they last met. Qingyue, where are you now?