AGM 346 – Love’s Obsession
“Limit-break pellets?” Qin Wentian surveyed the bottle in his hands, feeling shock as he heard the name. “Will these pellets really able to aid the consumer in breaking through to the next level?”
“Mhm, as long as your foundation level is solid enough in the Yuanfu Realm, there won’t be a problem using this to break through to the next level. I kept one for myself as well, so with these pellets, we can see each other again during the ranking battle at the end of the year.” Mo Qingcheng mischievously winked, as Qin Wentian’s eyes lit up. He leaned closer to Mo Qingcheng, who smiled back in response.
“Such a heaven-defying medicinal pill, I’m sure it wasn’t easy to concoct. Your attainment in terms of alchemy has soared so high in these few years. How did you pass the time during those years?” Qin Wentian leaned his forehead against hers, his gentle voice bringing traces of warmth to Mo Qingcheng’s heart.
It seemed as if he could very well imagine how much effort and suffering Mo Qingcheng had undergone to reach her current level.
“Well, somebody is already a fourth-ranked Grandmaster, how can I lag behind? I myself am already a fourth-ranked alchemist. For some reason, after my Seven Apertures Mystical Heart awakened, my perception and intuition seemed to be enhanced several times over, becoming extremely powerful.”
Mo Qingcheng grinned as she stated in a relaxed manner, “Fourth-ranked Grandmaster with a fourth-ranked alchemist, are we not very compatible?”
As she ended her statement, Mo Qingcheng felt a little weird, Qin Wentian continued to stare at her with eyes that barely concealed a burning passion, and his face… seemed to be inching ever closer to hers.
“What?” Mo Qingcheng felt her heartbeat rapidly quicken, as a faint red blush covered her cheeks. How could anyone stare at someone like that? What did that look in his eyes mean?
Qin Wentian’s closed the distance between them, until his head almost touched Mo Qingcheng’s. The two of them were so close now that they could feel each other’s breath on their faces. Mo Qingcheng froze, as her heart continued pounding furiously.
What is this feeling? She had never been so nervous before. What did this dumbo want to do?
Slowly, carefully, Mo Qingcheng felt her entire body being pulled into an embrace. Her heart almost leapt out of her chest as her dainty lips were firmly pressed against his. And so a sweet kiss from that pitiful little maiden from Chu was being forcibly snatched away by an evil villain.
Only after several breaths of time did their lips part, and to Mo Qingcheng’s dumbfounded amazement, that certain villain didn’t seem to have enough of it yet. He had to force himself to turn away, and when he found himself leaning in again, he immediately turned his head to gaze at the running stream, stating in a low voice, “Such beautiful scenery.”
“…………..”
Mo Qingcheng fiercely glared at him. Scenery? Too despicable, what a lousy way to change the topic.
Qin Wentian weakly turned his head back, and seeing the soul-stirring eyes of Mo Qingcheng, he grinned weakly. “Qingcheng, what’s wrong?”
Mo Qingcheng extended her hands and placed them on his hips before she started to pinch him furiously.
“Hmph.”
“Qingcheng, I just didn’t want you to scold me and say that I’m a dumbo anymore.” Qin Wentian tried his best to explain. Mo Qingcheng giggled, sparing him as she replied, “Then what do you intend to do to compensate me?”
“Er…” Qin Wentian’s face was filled with black lines. “How… do I compensate that?”
“Dumbo.” Mo Qingcheng’s sparkling laughter filled the air. She brushed her hair to the side, and even her most simplest of movements were filled with such beauty and elegance that it rendered one speechless. And Qin Wentian was left thunderstruck—Mo Qingcheng’s hands were clasped around his neck as she voluntarily leaned in to kiss him, willingly delivering herself into his villainous clutches.
Qin Wentian closed his eyes, losing himself to that feeling of deep, boundless love they shared. His heart melted as he tightly embraced this girl in front of him. They locked lips, sensing the deep emotions they felt for the other calling out in the depths of their hearts.
Their madly thudding heartbeats could be distinctly heard, as though composing a melody of love.
A long time passed before they broke apart the kiss. Mo Qingcheng’s countenance was filled with a reddish tinge of shyness as she snuck a glance at Qin Wentian. She leaned her head on his chest, silently watching the flowing stream as she listened to Qin Wentian’s heart beat.
A radiant smile beamed on Qin Wentian’s face as endless currents of warmth flowed into his heart. All the effort he put in, everything he had undergone, had been worth it.
He reveled in the feeling of holding her close to him as he watched the flowing stream with her. At this point of time, words were unnecessary, they were communicating using their hearts.
An hour flowed by, feeling as short as a single instant. Mo Qingcheng reluctantly left the warm embrace of Qin Wentian, as her eyes reddened. A tear drop flowed down her face, yet her eyes also flickered with a smile borne of love.
“If only time would stop flowing, and leave us in this beautiful moment, how wonderful that would be.” Mo Qingcheng sighed.
Hearing the lamentation in her tone, Qin Wentian only felt an indescribable pain in his heart. He softly replied, “It’s all my fault, I’m not strong enough yet. I don’t have the strength to keep you by my side.”
When Mo Qingcheng heard Qin Wentian’s words, she stood up and placed a finger against his lips. “You are not allowed to say such things ever again.”
“Fine, I won’t say anything more. But I will definitely work harder, you are my everything.” Qin Wentian saw the traces of tears in the corners of Mo Qingcheng’s eyes, and felt an incomparably intense desire emerge in his heart. Borne from its depths was an obsession to become stronger.
“I believe you, I have always believed in you.” Mo Qingcheng smiled. Just a single smile from her caused the surrounding scenery to increase in beauty.
“For the battle of the Heavenly Fate Rankings, you must defeat Zhan Chen. Master has promised me that as long as you defeat him, she will never again interfere if I wish to look for you.”
“I will.” Qin Wentian nodded. He smiled and continued, “Putting Zhan Chen aside, even if I had to fight against the entire Pill Emperor Hall, I still wouldn’t give a damn.”
“I will wait for you…” Mo Qingcheng slowly stood up, and pulled on his hand as she said, “I will return to the residence first, but you can stay here for a little while longer. At least this way, I can still see you even when I’m up in the pavilion. Even if Master were to find out, she won’t say anything.”
“Right, I will be here then.” Qin Wentian nodded. Mo Qingcheng reluctantly released her grip as she turned and walked back to the pavilion.
Qin Wentian stared at Mo Qingcheng’s departing back as an indescribable feeling of bitterness filled his heart.
Back in his youth when he first experienced this feeling of love, it started from nothing but Qingcheng calling him a dumbo when they were admiring the snowy scenery together. The seeds of love took sprout in his heart right then.
And now, this seed had gradually germinated, growing larger and stronger.
He knew that Mo Qingcheng would forever be in his heart, indelible, unerasable.
Love was something strange and fascinating. An entwinement of warmth, and sometimes also pain.
“Hu…”
Drawing in a deep breath, Qin Wentian slowly turned back. He continued sitting there, as the obsession in his heart grew stronger and stronger. The tears that streaked down Qingcheng’s face were because of his uselessness, it was a terrible feeling. He had to be stronger. He wanted to be stronger.
If he was like that damn old fogey, able to disdainfully look down on all things on the land from the skies, who would bar him from being together with Qingcheng then?
Closing his eyes, that strong obsession fused into his heart sense as it spread out, covering the entire space around him and gushing towards the horizon.
He ‘saw’ Qingcheng returning back to her pavilion, then lie down on a couch, with a smile on her face as she gazed at his silhouette.
Upon seeing the warm smile on her face, that sense of obsession grew stronger and stronger.
His perception was growing increasingly stronger, frenziedly gushing out. The entire space where his heart sense ‘touched’, began to look increasingly clearer to him.
He saw the busy activity of the servants in the Chen Clan, being scolded by their masters.
He saw in a training ground, a young miss from the Chen Clan gazing with contempt at a cultivator she defeated, using words to humiliate the loser.
He saw the members of the direct line of descent, sitting cross-legged in their individual residence, flipping through manuals of innate techniques.
And strangely, this time around, there was actually no one able to sense Qin Wentian’s scrying.
Within his heart, the candle flame swayed gently and as it continued to blaze, the mysteries of the world opened up to him. It was as though he could see through the myriad of living things in this world.
Qin Wentian felt his heart sense connecting with the entire world, powered by the obsession in his heart. Unknowingly, he slipped into a marvellous state of epiphany.
Such a state of enlightenment couldn’t actively be sought after. There were countless people who went through their entire lives without experiencing it even once.
Mo Qingcheng’s peerless countenance, the behavior of the crowd still enjoying the banquet, the numerous lifestyles of those residing in the Chen Estate, the sound of the flowing stream, the sound of the gusting wind, Qin Wentian could clearly feel and even ‘touch’ the essence of their existence.
“What do the Realms in cultivation really mean?”
Qin Wentian asked himself this very question. He was able to observe the myriad creatures, he could feel and hear the rhythm of the world. Through cultivation and training, he followed the natural order, rising higher and higher. These were the Realms of Cultivation.
“What about Mandates?”
Qin Wentian asked himself again. With the intention of one’s will, releasing the unconscious binding one used to restrict oneself and then establishing a connection with the external forces of the world. This was a Mandate.
In that case, the second level of insights didn’t seem that difficult to comprehend.
Gurgling sounds echoed, as the flowing water of the stream twisted about to rise upwards. It was as though a strange force was being infused into it, achieving this miraculous effect.
Despite being in a ‘solid’ state, the water still flowed vertically upright, taking the form of a liquid pillar.
Qin Wentian slowly stood up and the pillar of water grew increasingly taller.
“Force is omnipresent.”
Qin Wentian murmured to himself. Immediately, an explosion echoed out as the pillar of water transformed into a geyser, shooting upwards to the dome of Heavens. An instant later, the water came flowing back down with a crash, reverted back to a flowing stream once more.
Turning around, Qin Wentian cast his gaze onto the pavilion. His eyes penetrated through space, staring sweetly into Mo Qingcheng’s eyes.
Mo Qingcheng blinked rapidly, in complete awe at the sudden explosion. She exclaimed in delight at the spectacle, and it was if the sound of her sparkling laughter had the power to transform the entire world.
