Time flew by and Ice Sect was restored to its original tranquil state. Although the Saint Realm Elders could clearly feel a hint of blazing hot aura emanating from a certain ice mountain, under the strict orders of Qing Ya, no one went to disturb that place.
Ten days, one month, two months… The burning aura never once subsided, only flaring up from time to time before returning to a steady state.
Although the various Saints did not have a good impression of Yang Kai, the perseverance he showed still impressed them somewhat.
From time to time, Qing Ya and Qian Yue would stare in the direction of the ice mountain Su Yan slept within and sigh.
Inside the ice room of the ice mountain, Yang Kai acted as if he was possessed, repeating the same movements and motions over and over again, sending his True Qi and Divine Sense unceasingly towards Su Yan.
At first he didn’t receive any response, but over time, he gradually felt some unusual fluctuations which seemed to be weak threads of Divine Sense that seemingly wanted to respond to him but were unable to form a coherent message.
When he realized this, Yang Kai was ecstatic and immediately redoubled his efforts.
He lost all track of time and only felt a deep sense of exhaustion.
Suddenly, Divine Sense felt as if it had sunk into a dark, bottomless abyss and become lost.
A bone chilling cold seeped into his Soul, and Yang Kai couldn’t help opening his eyes and gazing around, but everywhere he looked, there was nothing but darkness. The only clear sensation he had was the profound cold that seemed to grip his heart.
This strange empty place exuded a feeling of solitude and loneliness but amidst that, Yang Kai faintly heard someone calling out to him.
His heart trembling, Yang Kai suddenly realized that this was Su Yan’s spiritual world.
Having displayed the Ice Body Sealed Heart, Su Yan was sealed, so her spiritual world being a void was understandable; however, there was still a tiny part of her subconscious that was trying to respond to Yang Kai, but like it had fallen into a nightmare, it couldn’t break free from this dark prison.
Yang Kai frantically searched for the source of the voice calling out to him, his feet never stopping, but the path he traveled seemed to be without end.
Releasing his Divine Sense as far as he could, Yang Kai explored this dark space while spreading his presence all around.
Eventually, from a certain place, Yang Kai received some unusual feedback and paused in place, closing his eyes and carefully examining it.
A moment later, he slowly opened his eyes and a light blossomed in the darkness in front of him.
Yang Kai smiled happily and his Soul Avatar quickly sprinting towards the light. As he approached it, he felt a familiar aura radiating from it; it was Su Yan’s Spiritual Energy.
The light grew brighter and brighter until eventually Yang Kai passed through it and the endless darkness that had surrounded him gave way a bright landscape.
Looking around, Yang Kai couldn’t help gawking slightly.
Because the place he found himself in was very familiar.
High Heaven Pavilion!
Sweeping the area with his Divine Sense, Yang Kai quickly found the small house he used to live in, the room Su Yan had stayed in, the Contribution Hall Treasurer Meng used to tend to, and many other familiar buildings, even the various paths and plants were exactly as he remembered them.
The only difference from the High Heaven Pavilion Yang Kai knew was that this one was devoid of people. It was incredibly peaceful, with ice and snow everywhere.
This was Su Yan’s true spiritual world, everything here appeared in accordance with her will, similar to how inside Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea, the Five Coloured Soul Warming Lotus had transformed into a five coloured island.
Su Yan’s spiritual world taking on the appearance of High Heaven Pavilion most likely meant that she missed the time she had spent back in the Sect and had subconsciously arranged her spiritual world to reflect it.
This scene wasn’t something Su Yan had deliberately created, Yang Kai clearly understood this.
Unfortunately, even after arriving here, Yang Kai still didn’t notice any trace of Su Yan.
Standing in place and thinking about it, Yang Kai soon realised where Su Yan was and smiled.
His Soul Avatar quickly set off along a path he had not traveled in a long time, passing through various places in the Sect until he reached the Coiling Dragon Stream.
At the edge of the Coiling Dragon Stream, there were still a few fruit trees that swayed in the wind, a number of red fruits handing from their branches. These fruit trees had been planted by Yang Kai many years ago and had actually been destroyed when the Demon Lord escaped from his prison, but now they had actually reappeared in Su Yan’s spiritual world.
Standing beneath the fruit trees, Yang Kai reminisced silently for a moment before leaping down into the chasm.
Falling a short distance, Yang Kai quickly came to a stop before shooting into a small cave in the side of the Coiling Dragon Stream.
This was Yang Kai’s secluded home. When he had been young and weak, it had taken him a lot of work to carve out this secluded cave with his miniscule True Qi.
The secluded cave was not big and only had two rooms. The outside one was where Yang Kai had usually meditated, while the inner one had a stone bed where he had slept.
His Little Senior Sister, Xia Ning Chang, had often slept atop this stone bed too.
Passing through the outer room and arriving at the inner one, Yang Kai saw a familiar figure lying down atop the stone bed.
Even inside her spiritual world, Su Yan was sleeping. Apparently after displaying Ice Sect’s Ice Body Sealed Heart, even her Soul had been put into a deep sleep. If it had not been she would have long ago responded to Yang Kai’s presence.
Slowly walking over, Yang Kai stopped at the stone bed’s side and squatted down, gazing at the sleeping beauty in front of him, his face filled with tender affection.
Seeming sensing the arrival of an outsider, Su Yan’s eyelashes fluttered lightly and her brow furrowed gently; finally, a moment later, her mouth curled into a faint smile.
Su Yan’s eyes suddenly opened and she gazed towards Yang Kai who was kneeling down next to her bedside.
Yang Kai froze in place.
When their four eyes suddenly met, all of Yang Kai’s thoughts came to a halt.
Su Yan pursed her lips and giggled lightly at this sight. As she smiled, the chill in the air quickly began to dissipate.
“Su Yan, you…” Yang Kai stared dumbfounded.
“Without permission, forcefully breaking into another’s Knowledge Sea, Junior Brother, your courage is not small,” Su Yan gently rebuked Yang Kai, a slight teasing meaning in her tone.
“How… how did you wake up?” Yang Kai asked excitedly, “Didn’t you display the Ice Body Sealed Heart?”
Su Yan sat up slowly and smiled, “En, but when I did so, I also put in place a special seal.”
“What kind of seal?” Yang Kai asked.
“A seal to alert me. If your Divine Sense entered my Knowledge Sea, it would automatically awaken my consciousness.”
“Awaken your consciousness?” Yang Kai frowned.
“En,” Su Yan gently nodded, “Only my Soul and consciousness is awake; my body is still in the Ice Body Sealed Heart’s frozen state. I believe this is something even Elder Qian Yue didn’t know.”
Su Yan had thoroughly comprehended the Ice Body Sealed Heart technique while Qian Yue only thought Su Yan had a superficial understanding of it and was unaware that the latter could manipulate it to such an extent.
“Why did you do this?” Yang Kai asked in confusion.
“I can cultivate faster in this state,” Su Yan looked over Yang Kai gently, “You become stronger so quickly, if I don’t cultivate diligently, wouldn’t I end up being a burden to you?”
Yang Kai laughed in spite of trying not to after understanding Su Yan’s motivations for taken such extreme measures.
“What if someone else had broken into your Knowledge Sea?” Yang Kai suddenly thought of a terrible possibility. Su Yan was in a deep sleep in the material world and knew nothing of the outside, if someone had harboured ill intentions towards her, there would be nothing she could do to resist.
“No one else could achieve this, only you could. Although, perhaps some extremely powerful master would be capable of breaking my Knowledge Sea’s defences, but if that were to happen, I could only go all out with them so as not to let them take advantage of me,” Su Yan declared firmly.
“You’re deliberately making trouble!” Yang Kai grumbled, unable to stop himself from chiding her.
Su Yan ignored his protest and instead extended her hand to stroke his cheek, softly comforting, “It seems you’ve endured a lot of hardship.”
Yang Kai slowly shook his head in response, “I haven’t endured any hardship, in fact, many have taken good care of me all this time.”
“If so then that’s good; how much time has passed on the outside?”
“Since you fell asleep, it’s only been about a year.”
“A year… you arrived here quite quickly…” Su Yan’s face was filled with a sweet and happy smile.
“En, so Senior Sister should reward me for my efforts,” Yang Kai smiled meaningfully.
“What kind of reward do you want?”
“What do you think?”
Su Yan blushed bright red from her neck to her face, and her pair of beautiful eyes began to spin slightly.
“We’ve never tried the Joyous Unification Art’s third stage cultivation method,” Yang Kai stared at Su Yan, a burning aggression filling his eyes.
“Junior Brother…” Su Yan couldn’t help feeling shy.
The third stage’s cultivation method was the blending of their Souls. Su Yan naturally understood this; and although she had already come to accept her husband and wife relationship with Yang Kai, she still felt somewhat nervous about blending their Souls.
Blended Souls meant that all of their secrets would be known to one another, there would be nothing left to conceal.
“Su Yan…” Yang Kai unceremoniously grabbed Su Yan’s jade-like hand and caressed it, his eyes gleaming like a starved wolf that had at last found its prey.
Su Yan put up some symbolic resistance but she never once tried to break away, biting her thin red lips as she sat atop the stone bed silently, her face a deep shade of crimson.
Seeing her appearance, Yang Kai no longer had any scruples, pouncing upon her and pushing her down onto the stone bed, his hands wandering all over Su Yan’s heavenly body, the victorious grin of a conqueror plastered all over his face.
The blending of Souls was something Yang Kai had only heard rumors and never attempted, but it was said that the pleasure one felt from such a union was far greater than a purely physical one, and once you tried it, it was impossible to not become addicted.
“Let’s start!” Yang Kai declared seriously.
Su Yan nodded lightly.
At the same time, the two of them began to circulate the Joyous Unification Art, and in the next instant, their two Soul Avatars transformed into dazzling burst of light that flooded the stone room with a brilliant radiance. The two glowing lights began entangling with one another, chasing and blending with one another as they slowly merged into a single entity, a glorious sound resounding between the Heavens and Earth as they did so.
Yang Kai felt as if he was drunk, drowning in the sweetest nectar one could imagine, almost unable to extricate himself. The comfort and joy he felt from the very core of his being blew away all his thoughts and all he wanted to do was indulge in this indescribable sensation.
Although there was no intimate contact between their flesh, the please the two of them received was every bit as overwhelming as the legends described.
Yang Kai could feel Su Yan’s Soul wrapping around his own, and every time they blended together, a new surge of joy would overcome them, leaving both of them somewhat incapable of controlling themselves.
The two of them had completely opened their Souls to each other but neither of them bothered to spy on the other’s secrets, simply allowing their emotions and consciousnesses to freely flow between them.
Anyone who experienced this blending of Souls would be completely taken in by this overwhelming sensation that was completely detached from the pleasures of the flesh.
As their two Souls blended, both Su Yan and Yang Kai’s Soul were slowly undergoing some subtle changes.
