Did she ever return?
This problem had been haunting Qianye like a lingering spirit. Even in the throes of inexplicable pleasure, the question still remained in his heart. “Has she returned? Did she ever leave?”
Qianye fell into a short lull of calmness after the peak of pleasure, and his thoughts became clearer. The Nighteye in his arms was changing constantly, transforming into people he was familiar with, and then into strangers. She squirmed gently in an attempt to move away—it seemed like she was completely exhausted yet also as though she was beckoning him to continue the battle.
She suddenly pushed Qianye away and jumped into the room. It wasn’t too strange that she would be fatigued, but she was moving too slowly in his eyes. Additionally, her leaping figure allowed him to see her body from an entirely new angle.
This allure was indefensible. Even though her body was also shifting just like her appearance, it couldn’t escape the image branded in Qianye’s memories. No matter how she changed, it was still Nighteye—he could never forget her.
Her flurried escape aroused the bestial nature in Qianye’s bloodline. He leaped forward and caught Nighteye in his arms, and then pushed her down once more.
“No! Stop, let me go, you… no… don’t…”
This time, Nighteye’s struggling became more intense. It could even be said that she was struggling with all her might, but it was useless at this point—only a new round of intense assault awaited her. By the time Qianye slowed down from slight fatigue, Nighteye was already limp and immobile.
She had no energy to move, but that didn’t mean she had given up on resistance. She reached toward his back and sunk her nails into his back, bringing about yet another round of violent suppression.
It would seem that she had changed, but Qianye couldn’t quite tell what about her was different.
The small courtyard was also changing. At times, it would be his home in Blackflow City, at times, his residence in Southern Blue, and at times, their wooden hut in the neutral lands. They would leave behind traces of intense activity at every scene, every corner.
Nighteye had never left, but Qianye felt as though he had lost her for far too long. He wanted to make use of this period together to make up for all the lost time.
Finally, she gave up resisting, nor did she have the strength to.
The night gradually turned dark, and the entire world was shrouded under the sable curtain. Waves of exhaustion eventually fell over him as he collapsed and fell asleep.
The night was exceptionally short, and before long, Qianye was woken by the first rays of dawn. He rubbed his eyes and, shielding himself from the glaring light, started looking around at the surroundings.
His vision and consciousness were highly discrepant at this point. The scenery in front of him was vivid, but his reaction was incomparably dull, barely able to make sense of things after a good while.
This was an empty piece of land in the forest, a camp apparently. The campfire nearby was already out, and the entire place was in a mess. There were faint claw-marks on a couple of large trees, almost as though something had happened there.
Qianye felt his throat on fire and urgently wanted some water to quench his thirst. He searched through Andruil’s Mysterious Realm, but there was nothing to drink except for the jars of white-fruit wine. The spirits ignited some memories—he recalled that the wine was extremely valuable, and that he shouldn’t drink it without careful thought. Otherwise, something bad would happen.
Qianye shook his head in an attempt to drive the unbearable headache away. The waves of pain made it difficult for him to concentrate or think.
At this point, his blood core accelerated somewhat and sent beams of auric flame blood to every part of his body. Qianye became more spirited, and the veil shrouding his consciousness quickly fell away.
He recalled that this was the Great Maelstrom, and he was in the camp they had set up last night. The night had just transitioned into dawn.
“Ah!” Qianye jumped up in alarm, but he ended up flying over ten meters into the air, passing a circle of treetops to see a small lake in the distance.
He hadn’t imagined that he would end up jumping so high. Flustered, he was just about to adjust his posture when a wave of fatigue and aching washed over his body. He ultimately crashed back to the ground in a daze.
The pain from the fall told him that he was still in a region with increased gravity, roughly eight times that of the empire. That was also what he had remembered—he had used just enough strength to stand up, but who knew he would end up jumping over ten meters.
Qianye lay there for a while before slowly clambering up. He checked the state of his body during this process. There was nothing special about his physical condition, but there was a strange energy flowing within him. It was different from ordinary origin power, but it wasn’t void origin power, either. If one had to pinpoint its attribute, the energy was right at the intersection of daybreak and Evernight.
Every time his muscles worked, this energy power would participate and amplify the action. This was the reason Qianye had erupted with such power just now.
The energy was of unknown origins, but its presence didn’t seem like a bad thing.
On the other hand, Qianye was aching all over and in a state of extreme fatigue. The soreness after a long period of excitement made his limbs feel like lead—every action was extremely difficult. This kind of fatigue didn’t feel like he had been fighting. On the contrary, it felt like he had been engaging in manual labor all night.
Qianye glanced about at his surroundings and confirmed that he was still in last night’s camp. It was just that the place was in shambles, almost like a battlefield. Qianye had actually fallen asleep from before midnight up until dawn, and had a series of strange, messy dreams. It was quite delightful, however, that Nighteye was in every one of them.
“Perhaps I’m just missing her too much.” Qianye thought in self-mockery.
There was a more important matter at hand. Now that Qianye had fallen asleep accidentally, how were Ji Tianqing and Li Kuanglan faring? It was fine if they were willing to eat the white-fruit, but their lives would be in danger if they had insisted on saving them and Qianye wasn’t there to help activate their vitality.
Qianye believed that there was no need to consider whether or not to ingest the white fruit and wine. Treasures were no use to dead people. Yet, Ji Tianqing and Li Kuanglan had a tendency to pursue riches, especially the former. She possessed a determination that would put her life at risk.
Qianye got up and began searching for traces of the two girls.
His confusion and fuzziness receded as his blood core pulsed quicker, and his senses also grew sharper. In the blink of an eye, Qianye could hear the sound of splashing water and conversation in the distance.
Recalling the small pond he had seen a while ago, Qianye started running toward it. Bodies of water in the Great Maelstrom were exceedingly dangerous. However, the pond wasn’t big, and it was in a zone with eight times the gravity, so it shouldn’t be too dangerous. If the duo was there, they should be fine.
Qianye traversed the woods swiftly and came to a halt at its borders. In just a few steps, he would walk out of the forest and arrive near the lake.
This forest lake was a couple dozen square meters in area, and its jade-green ripples were so clear that one could see the bottom. The surrounding area was dotted with wildflowers swaying gently in the wind, painting a scene of elegant beauty.
Ji Tianqing and Li Kuanglan were bathing in the waters.
Ladies liked to keep themselves clean. Even if they could cleanse their bodies with secret arts, most of them were more inclined to take baths. Besides, the place was so serene and beautiful, almost like a pond in an immortal realm. To a girl who had been running about and fighting for several days, the allure was simply too great.
The pond was small and the waters were so clear that one could see the bottom. Soaking in the waters was really no different from standing naked.
Hence, Qianye stopped immediately and moved behind a large tree.
Although he had shared much skinship with Li Kuanglan, to the point where she could calmly remove her clothes in front of Qianye, that was due to the circumstances. He wasn’t willing to peek at her body under present circumstances.
Ji Tianqing was also in the picture. This outgoing and mysterious girl had no intimate relationship with Qianye. In the two nights that they had interacted, she was the one who had seen Qianye from head to toe and never the other way around. Seeing her body under the present circumstances would be completely different from seeing Li Kuanglan’s. If they weren’t inside the Great Maelstrom, this enmity would be enough for her to hunt him down for several years.
Qianye merely hid behind a tree—he didn’t hide his presence intentionally, nor did he channel Bloodline Concealment. But it would seem his thief-like hiding didn’t quite attract the girls’ notice. The two kept on washing their bodies while chatting amongst themselves.
“You’re really washing? I thought you’d leave it in for a couple of days!” JI Tianqing’s smile was exceptionally charming.
Li Kuanglan snorted, and a wave of cold emerged in air, eliciting a cry from Ji Tianqing. “I’ll freeze you to death, you little floozy! You got caught up in your own mischief haven’t you?”
Ji Tianqing said with a snort, “Who’s the one who suffered more? I had to sacrifice myself to save you because you looked like you couldn’t go on. Otherwise, how can you have the strength left to take a bath?”
Li Kuanglan spat. “Who asked you to save me? Besides, you never had good intentions. You just wanted to laugh at me. Now, are you satisfied? You were too complacent.”
“Tsk, this little bit of benefit can’t satisfy me! Of course, I have to take a bit out of this profit.”
“You’re still being stubborn! Why did you not take action on the first day if you wanted a piece? You were clearly incapable, neither able to defeat nor escape as you were eaten up in the end. Yet, you still have the cheek to say these things.”
“So what? I was just going easy on him in the beginning. I let him taste some benefits so that he’ll do his utmost for me in the future. Besides, I tried my best to resist. So what if I lost in the end? Victory and defeat are common occurrences on the battlefield, a small defeat every now and then is normal. I’m not like a certain person who gave up immediately after a token show of resistance. What a farce! You’ve lost the Li family’s face through and through.”
Li Kuanglan was furious. “I’ll freeze you to death!”
Ji Tianqing cried, “So scary, where was that strength last night?”
Li Kuanglan’s momentum deflated immediately.
