“Uhm...”

Bai Yunfei scratched his nose. Several seconds had passed since everyone left the courtyard. “They’re gone now...”

A sweet-smelling wind suddenly assaulted Bai Yunfei’s nose before something soft threw themselves into his chest.

Bai Yunfei stiffened at first but began to smile after he saw what it was. Gingerly, he embraced the back of Tang Xinyun with one arm and caressed her hair with the other.

“I’ve missed you so much, Yunfei...”

Her cheek—which looked red enough to pass of as being burnt almost—was pressed against Bai Yunfei’s chest as if to listen to his heart. If she were to listen a little longer, she would perhaps hear Bai Yunfei’s heart start to beat erratically upon him hearing the words she spoke.

Bai Yunfei’s fingers paused briefly to sift through Tang Xinyun’s fine hair, he seemed to be having a hard time gathering his thoughts. “I’m sorry, Xinyun...I’ve let you worry...”

But Tang Xinyun only shook her head. “I knew you’d be fine. I knew you’d return, even if everyone in the world said you were dead. I just knew—and now you’re back...”

His heart lurched. Thinking back to what Wu Dijian said about Tang Xinyun and her three-year-long search, Bai Yunfei began to blame himself. It was his fault that she had to worry. His arms clenched a tad tighter than before to hug Tang Xinyun closer to him. “It’s my fault for letting you worry so much...I’m sorry. I won’t ever leave your side—never again.”

“Enn...wherever you go, I will go with you...” She replied back. She was smiling now, though the side of her face was still pressed against his chest. All in all, she looked almost like a cute little cat.

“Gulp...”

Bai Yunfei began to grow hyperaware of her delicate frame pressed against his. He gulped to swallow the saliva that had built up in his mouth. When did his throat get so dry? Did a fire come to life in there when he wasn’t looking? The heat felt far more powerful than even the ones felt by the Law of Fire.

As the one closest to his heart—both physically and mentally—Tang Xinyun noticed the slight changes happening in Bai Yunfei. Her head lifted up to stare at Bai Yunfei. Her eyes, clear and filled with emotion, paired well with the scarlet flush that had built up around her cheeks.

Their gaze met unflinchingly. Neither one broke away from one another’s gaze, though Tang Xinyun felt like she was on the verge of fainting. A faint smile appeared on her face, revealing the little dimple she had.

Bai Yunfei felt like pinching her cheeks, all of a sudden.

Faced with the touching scene of the woman he was in loved with, Bai Yunfei had had enough. The fires he felt within his body could no longer be put out. Bending his head down, he gently captured the soft lips of the other with his own...

“Nnn....”

A soft moan escaped from Tang Xinyun. Her eyes fluttered closed, the eyelashes shivering slightly from where they clung to the skin. Her lips drew tight against his; she was replying back to Bai Yunfei’s kiss with interest.

For a good while, Bai Yunfei thought about nothing but the woman in front of him. He and Tang Xinyun stood there, locked in a tight embrace for what felt like an eternity to the both of them before finally breaking apart. A single line of saliva linked to both their lips was the only hint that they had kissed, though Tang Xinyun immediately closed her eyes shut once she saw it.

“Ahh!!”

She gasped aloud when Bai Yunfei suddenly picked her up and rushed the two of them towards the nearest bed...

Author Note: And herein lies an omitted 5000 characters.

In another room in another courtyard.

A little bird was flitting back and forth on top of a windowsill when it suddenly froze still to look elsewhere.

“Eh? Why did Yunfei block our bond?”

It was Xiao Qi. Sending his soulforce outwards, Xiao Qi was met with another surprising sight—”Eh? He’s covered the area with his own soulsense. What’s going on?”

His question was directed to the little quickshade bird next to him, but her reply mirrored his own question. “I have no idea. Xinyun’s soul bond can’t be reached either right now...”

“Did something happen? Should we go check?” Xiao Qi fluttered his wings anxiously.

“Hey hey hey...what are you thinking about?” Wu Dijian called out to the bird, “I don’t think it’d be wise for you to go, Bai Yunfei might kill you if you do...”

“What!!” Xiao Qi’s eyes grew wide. “Why would he kill me?”

“I...I was speaking metaphorically. Metaphorically, you know?” Wu Dijian sighed. “Just don’t go over and stay here!”

“Okay...” The grim expression on Wu Dijian’s face confused the bird, but he decided to listen and turned back to stare blankly at the sky...

“What a silly bird...” Wu Dijian sighed to himself again.

Bai Yunfei didn’t know how much time went by. He just knew that he slept comfortably and without issue. It was a dreamless night—a feat quite different from before. Bai Yunfei normally spent each night of the last three years trying hard to fall asleep.

Opening his eyes, Bai Yunfei’s stare was met with a pair of brightly-lit pupils. They had been studying him carefully when he slept.

When their gazes met, the latter immediately closed their eyes shut.

The trembling eyelashes and red flush that appeared on the person’s face made Bai Yunfei chuckle. His right hand pinched at the person and brought their warmth closer to him. “Oh? Pretending to be asleep, are you?”

Tang Xinyun’s ears went pink and her person shivered. Where was it exactly that Bai Yunfei was pinching...?

With how close together the two were, it was inevitable that Tang Xinyun bumped into something hard of Bai Yunfei. She gave a slight ‘eep’ and edged away as if shocked. The blanket covering the two was pulled down a bit when she did, revealing the beginnings of her shoulder before she yanked it back up and snuggled against Bai Yunfei once more...

Bai Yunfei had to laugh at her actions. It was cute how flustered she was. Pulling the blanket over the two of them, he held her tightly to him. “Quit moving around, Xinyun, or else I won’t be able to hold myself back again...”

“Ah! Don’t...” Tang Xinyun’s face was scalding red now in her whispers to Bai Yunfei, “I...I hurt still...”

Bai Yunfei chuckled softly under his breath. Caressing the soft skin of Tang Xinyun, “Fine, you don’t move and I won’t. Let’s just talk for now...”

It wasn’t until daylight when the two of them finally stepped out from their rooms. The ‘sun’ was already hanging up high in the sky, indicating that it was the afternoon.

“Hey, you’re finally out. And here I was thinking you’d need one more day of ‘rest’...”

Wu Dijian was sitting on one of the stone chairs in the courtyard when Bai Yunfei and Tang Xinyun left the room. There was an awfully vulgar look on his face.

“My apologies, we weren’t aware of the time.” Bai Yunfei nodded towards Yao Wuchen and the others seated with him.

“All is fine. Youth was something I experienced long before...” Wu Dijian nodded ‘knowingly’.

Bai Yunfei frowned but said nothing more about it. His talks with Tang Xinyun about what happened in the last three years really had gone on longer than he expected, but he expected Wu Dijian wouldn’t just think ‘that’ was all that happened. Still, explaining the situation would only make matters worse. “Clan head, how fares the previous head?”

Yao Tianji was still recovering from the wounds he gained from Duan Leiting. Using that pill he ingested caused a tremendous amount of stress onto his body and so he had yet to do much else but recuperate.

“All is well, I believe he’ll need just a few more days before he’s back to full strength.”

“That’s good.” Bai Yunfei nodded. “Then we’ll continue with our original plan and head to Soulbeast Forest. We’ll teleport our way there and then head into the real world. You can also stay in the Core World should you like.”

A brief discussion was had as Yao Wuchen and Dan Teng both decided to oversee Yao City rather than take part in the battle. On the other hand, Wu Dijian found it boring to stay within the Core World and Tang Xinyun wanted to be with Bai Yunfei. Xiao Qi and Xiao Bai by extension wanted to go with the two of them. Lastly, Long Lan was, for the most part, satisfied to stay within the Core World to continue his training.

———————

Several figures appeared on top of a few trees. It was Bai Yunfei and his group. “Which direction is the Soulbeast Forest, assistant headmaster Wu?”

Looking around for a moment, Wu Dijian pointed off into a certain direction, “I know the north of the Qimang Mountains should point towards the western parts of the Soulbeast Forest. If we want to head to the center of it, then we should try heading north-east from here.”

His finger pointed slightly off to their right.

“Alright, let’s go then.”

A series of ripple was all that left of the group as the Core Stone teleported away. It wasn’t even three seconds before nothing was left of even the ripples.

Their target...the Soulbeast Forest!