# 1716
Chapter 1716: Well-Matched
Lin Qiye and Jialan walked side by side out of the Jade Pool.
The cold wind and snow brushed against Jialan's cheeks, but couldn't extinguish the blush on her face. Recalling the Heavenly Lord's words just now, she felt an indescribable sensation in her heart.
She glanced at Lin Qiye beside her. The latter acted as if nothing had happened, his brow sometimes clearing, sometimes furrowing in deep thought—probably pondering those profound and complex matters about causality, time, and the like.
The more Lin Qiye didn't care, the more conflicted she became. Finally, she steeled her heart and gathered her courage to speak: "That…"
"What's wrong?"
Lin Qiye snapped back to attention, turned to look at her, his gaze filled with concern.
The moment their eyes met, Jialan's heart skipped a beat. The words she'd been about to say suddenly became stuck in her throat… and the blush on her face only deepened.
Seeing the unnatural flush on Jialan's cheeks, Lin Qiye frowned slightly. He glanced at the snowy sky, then directly took off his green robe and draped it over Jialan.
Feeling the warmth of Lin Qiye's palm, Jialan's heart beat even more frantically.
"No… I'm not cold!"
"Not cold? Then why is your face冻得通红?" (frozen red)
Jialan: o(╥﹏╥)o
Jialan took a deep breath: "The Heavenly Lord just said… he said, we are very… well-matched?"
"Yes, he did say that." Lin Qiye blinked. "Why? Don't you think so?"
Upon hearing the latter half of that sentence, Jialan's face flushed red again, like a small furnace. She never expected Lin Qiye to admit it so directly. The words hit her right in the face, leaving her completely flustered.
"No… he said well-matched… I… I'm not saying I don't think so, but it's just… Argh!"
Jialan was both annoyed and embarrassed. In frustration, she stamped her foot into the snow. Within a radius of several hundred meters, all the snow exploded upward, dense cracks spreading across the mountaintop, rolling snowballs multiplying and evolving into a roaring avalanche!
Jialan froze on the spot.
Lin Qiye stared at the scene, his lips twitching for a moment before he managed to speak:
"Uh… actually, if you have objections… you can just say so…"
"I didn't say I had objections!"
Jialan almost wanted to cry from that foot stomp. Gritting her teeth, she emphasized loudly.
"Yes, yes, yes, yes…" Seeing Jialan flustered, Lin Qiye quickly nodded in agreement.
Jialan bit her lip, her chest heaving. She turned her flushed face slightly to the side,
After a long while, she spoke quietly:
"The Heavenly Lord said we're well-matched. Although… I am somewhat pleased about that, you're a great hero who saved all of humanity. Even the Heavenly Lord stands on equal footing with you, while I'm just a little handmaiden expelled from the Jade Pool…
Even after taking the Immortal Pill, I'm still just me. I don't understand much about the mortal world. I've only heard about love and romance from the little stories that circulate—I've never known how to love someone… In short, I don't know how the Heavenly Lord managed to pair us up like this!"
Jialan's voice grew softer and softer, until she buried her entire head into the collar of the robe. Her crimson cheeks were faintly steaming in the wind and snow.
Lin Qiye slowly stopped walking.
He looked at Jialan's flushed cheeks and spoke earnestly:
"Back when I was still an ignored reserve team leader, you hid your true strength and accompanied our group of half-grown boys in our mischief. If not for you, I would have died under Ame-no-Murakumo… Now that I've reached this level, how could I possibly abandon you?"
Jialan didn't quite understand this speech, but she could feel the earnestness in Lin Qiye's eyes, and the undisguised affection within them.
"Besides, guess what?" Lin Qiye smiled. "They've always called me an incurable straight-laced guy, a stone lump with no romance sense, an old bachelor destined to die alone… I don't know how to love or be loved, and neither do you… When two people who know nothing come together, isn't that a perfect match?
Since neither of us understands, let's not be bound by worldly eyes. We can express our love freely in our own way… Isn't that also a kind of romance?
A romance that belongs only to us."
Jialan stood frozen.
She stared at Lin Qiye for a long moment before suddenly coming to her senses. It seemed, bit by bit, that Lin Qiye's words were, perhaps… a naked confession?
This wasn't how it was supposed to go… She had only wanted to ask Lin Qiye what he thought about the Heavenly Lord's words. How did it turn into this so quickly?!
Can a straight guy really be THIS direct?!
"I… I think it's still too early to talk about this." Jialan's cheeks were a deep crimson. Gathering her courage, she glared at Lin Qiye. "We've only known each other for a few days! How can you say such sweet words to seduce me… For all I know, you just want to get me hooked, then force me to wear barely any clothes and dance?!"
Hearing this, Lin Qiye couldn't help but feel amused… It seemed Chen "Skinflint's" psychological shadow on her was still very deep.
But Lin Qiye wasn't in a hurry. They had plenty of time ahead. Even if this age ended, there was still two thousand years later.
Just then, Lin Qiye seemed to sense something. His eyes narrowed as he looked up at the sky.
A layer of pink clouds was rapidly approaching them. A sharp buzzing sound echoed across the mountains. Terrifying Migos tumbled through the air like waves.
"They're back…" Jialan's expression immediately grew grave.
Lin Qiye frowned, flicked his fingers lightly. Ame-no-Murakumo howled as it flew into the sky, charging toward the pink wave.
Ever since Lin Qiye had saved Jialan for the first time, on their journey to the Jade Pool, back to Chang'an, and then to the Jade Pool again… they had already encountered four or five Migo sieges along the way. Each time, the Migos descended at remarkably precise intervals—exactly two days apart.
But strangely, the number of Migos didn't increase with each encounter; instead, it decreased. Each time, fewer than a hundred appeared. Even without [既定之果] (Fruit of Predestination) to chain them together, Lin Qiye could easily destroy them with Ame-no-Murakumo alone.
This seemed like good news, but Lin Qiye didn't see it that way.
Behind the Migos' descent was [Key to the Gate]!
He knew perfectly well that this handful of Migos could never take the Immortal Pill from him. So why did he keep sending these small numbers of Migos to their deaths?
Lin Qiye had been pondering this all along, and could only think of one possibility… His objective was no longer to reclaim the Immortal Pill. Instead, by using his connection to the Immortal Pill's location, he was sending Migos to observe Lin Qiye and Jialan.
Lin Qiye's因果 (karma/causality) had been hidden. [Key to the Gate] couldn't observe his movements through the River of Time. So he could only use Migos for the simplest, most direct visual observation. Every two days, he could pinpoint Lin Qiye's location and even know what he was doing…
In other words, the Migos' mission was no longer to seize the Immortal Pill. They had become a group of time-traveling "paparazzi," assigned to regularly track Lin Qiye and the Immortal Pill.