Chapter 63

Tan Ye’s expression was calm, but the smile at the corner of his mouth gave an inexplicable sense of madness. Beneath the calm smile that verged on indifference, there was a raging lava-like howl. Zhu Chi was stunned, momentarily suppressed by Tan Ye’s smile, unable to utter a word.

Tan Ye’s eyes moved slightly, sweeping up and down Zhu Chi. Seeing he had nothing more to say, Tan Ye turned his head and focused on dealing with this beast.

Tan Ye did not slaughter, nor did he have much interest in killing. For a dragon, his temperament could be considered gentle. But this gentleness only applied when it did not involve people he cared about. He didn’t care what happened to himself, even if he was humiliated he could still remain calm. But once it involved the people he loved, then his draconic nature would surge out.

Having its throat sealed and enduring torture was more painful than letting it open its throat and scream.

The Canglang water enveloping the roc swirled up like ropes, trapping the roc inside. The more it struggled, the tighter the water waves held it. Like a hunter toying with its prey, the more the prey struggled, the more it was suppressed. But even if the prey gave up struggling, it could not escape the fate of being slowly tortured to death. At this moment, the prey’s despair was the most pleasing thing to him.

The surging water waves engulfed the roc, quickly soaking its feathers. Land creatures, unless naturally adapted to water, fear getting wet regardless of what they are. After the feathers were completely soaked, it didn’t end there. Tan Ye raised his hand to form a seal, and the water immediately froze into tiny ice needles. The ice needles spun like a hurricane in the water, tearing the roc’s feathers into shreds and piercing into its flesh.

This was no different from being cut by a thousand knives, no, perhaps there was a slight difference. At least with a thousand cuts, it was knife by knife. But in Tan Ye’s water waves, it was thousands of ice needles piercing the flesh, stabbing into the body at uneven depths and with varying forces, like being gnawed by tens of thousands of ants.

Perhaps this was even more miserable than being outside. Outside one could at least roll on the ground, but in the water one couldn’t move at all.

The roc opened its beak in a silent scream, struggling violently. Its feathers had been completely torn apart by the water waves. The water formed a huge resistance, heavily pressing down on it. No matter how it struggled, it was all futile.

Black blood permeated the water and was quickly diluted. The people standing outside could clearly see everything inside.

Zhu Chi did not care about the roc’s life, but this still made him feel a little chilled. He felt a tremor deep in his body and inexplicably felt a bit of familiarity. He looked at Tan Ye, then looked around. The forest was full of trees, and he didn’t see any stream at all.

Where did this water come from?

Could it be that Chaoyun Sect had such a secret art?

Su Heng was holding the child. It was the first time she had held a baby and she was inevitably a little flustered. The baby’s bones were soft all over, and even through the thick swaddling clothes, she could feel the baby’s tenderness.

She initially held the child in the wrong posture, not supporting the child’s head with her palm, just holding it upright like that. As a result, she saw the child’s head softly tilt back. It gave her quite a fright.

The child hadn’t had milk for two days. The roc had abducted the child but, like the harpy, only knew how to snatch children, not how to feed them. The originally round, chubby face was pale and yellowish. With the head tilted back like that, it looked as if the neck had been broken.

Su Heng’s hands trembled in fright and she almost dropped the child in her arms.

Tan Ye controlled the ice needles in the water waves, striving to make the beast inside plead for life but be unable to die before it completely perished.

He put down his hand that was forming the seal and walked straight towards Su Heng.

Su Heng was in a fluster. “Come and look, this child isn’t really out of breath, is he?”

Hearing this, Tan Ye took two steps in one stride to reach her. He reached out to touch the child’s body temperature and the pulsing under his neck. “He’s fine.”

“Then why is his head like this?” Su Heng said, imitating the child in her arms and tilting her head back.

“It should be held like this.”

Tan Ye supported the back of the child’s head. The baby’s head that was originally tilted back was supported by him and looked much better than before. She clumsily adjusted her holding posture, supporting the back of the child’s head with her palm, and managed to hold the child more comfortably.

Zhu Chi walked over, glanced at the baby’s complexion and said, “This child has been out in the wild for a while, hurry and send him back. The yin energy in the forest is too heavy, if he stays too long, I’m afraid he won’t be able to stand it.”

Even strong and healthy adults could not withstand the yin energy of the dead for long. Those who were a little weaker might be bedridden thereafter. Those with worse luck would die directly. Let alone a baby who was only a few months old.

She gave an “en” and waved her hand to set up a boundary around the child to block the wind, then directly took off into the air.

“I’ll leave the rest to you two here.”

In the city, the family who had lost their child was anxious. Chen Kun was guarding Mei Shuangshuang. Mei Shuangshuang sat on a stool, propping her face with both hands, staring at Chen Kun with deep resentment.

“I say, little bookworm, why do you keep staring at me?” Mei Shuangshuang asked unhappily. She had been stared at for a day, from going out in the morning until now, stared at by Chen Kun’s unblinking eyes, making her feel uneasy all over. Mei Shuangshuang wanted to lure him away halfway through, but who knew his vigilance was unusually high. No matter what tricks she used, he remained her shadow.

“The Immortals said to keep an eye on you before they left, in case you make a mistake halfway,” Chen Kun said.

“How could I make a mistake halfway? Little bookworm, you’re overthinking it,” Mei Shuangshuang said, looking at Chen Kun.

Chen Kun shook his head. “It doesn’t count if you say it yourself. Mr. Zhu also said you’re prone to getting into trouble.”

Hearing Chen Kun say that Zhu Chi had mentioned her, Mei Shuangshuang’s curiosity rose. “He mentioned me, what did he say?”

That sullen-faced man usually didn’t have many good looks for her. She didn’t expect that he would actually mention her.

“Is it that he cares about me?”

Hearing this, Chen Kun looked at her, hesitated for a moment, and continued, “Mr. Zhu said that you are usually in the habit of causing trouble. If you’re let out, it’s hard to say whether you can keep your own life. If you’re not careful, you might even get others involved.”

Zhu Chi’s original words were actually more unpleasant. He directly said that Mei Shuangshuang was a walking disaster. Even if she wanted to save someone, she could make that person miserable. She was simply a disaster incarnate.

Chen Kun did not dare to let Mei Shuangshuang hear the original words, lest she get temperamental and do the things she was told not to do even more.

“Looking down on me like that. So annoying.” Mei Shuangshuang muttered quietly.

“It’s not looking down on you. As I see it, it’s also for Miss Mei’s peace of mind,” Chen Kun said softly. “After all, this is a matter of life and death, not something that can be taken lightly.”

Suddenly, the people outside burst into cheers. “Here it comes, it’s back! It’s back!”

Chen Kun craned his neck to look outside and saw a figure floating down from the sky. His whole body relaxed and he immediately walked out.

Su Heng handed the child in her arms to the child’s family who had been waiting on the side. “Hurry and give him milk to drink.”

On the way, she had already removed the yin energy that the child had been tainted with, but after all, he had been hungry for two days and was still very weak.

The child’s family thanked her profusely, then took the child into the house to feed him milk.

“The Immortal is back!” Chen Kun came to her with a big smile on his face, but when he saw her purple hands, his face changed. “What happened to the Immortal’s hands?”

Su Heng shook her head. “It’s nothing, it will be fine in a while.”

She looked at the sky. Now that the child had been brought back, most of the things were done. Next was to wait for Tan Ye to handle the follow-up.

Things progressed quickly on Tan Ye’s side. He tied up the half-dead roc and also found the corpse that had condensed into the roc. The roc was formed from the yin energy of the dead. No matter where it flew, it would eventually return to where the corpse was. Tan Ye and Zhu Chi found the bones at the original site and handed both of them over to the people who had rushed over later.

Mortals were filled with intense fear and curiosity about these things. The thing had been tortured by Tan Ye into an unrecognizable state. Its feathers had been plucked and it had suffered so many cuts that it could only be vaguely distinguished as to what it was from its appearance.

The crowd exclaimed in shock upon seeing this.

After the excitement was over, at noon, they asked Tan Ye and Zhu Chi to thoroughly kill the roc. The roc had been tortured by Tan Ye to such an extent that killing it was actually helping it find release. The corpse’s bones were then burned under the dazzlingly white noonday sun.

The remaining ashes were taken to be buried in the temple, meaning to ask the Bodhisattva to suppress them, lest they could still crawl up even after being burned to ashes.

The family of the child thanked Tan Ye’s group profusely. Su Heng had no great interest in the host family’s gratitude and tears.

She only asked one question, “The child is all right now?”

Upon hearing her question, the host family became even more grateful. “There’s nothing serious, after drinking milk, his spirit has pretty much recovered.”

With such a calamity, let alone children, even adults couldn’t withstand it. When they returned, they thought the child would vomit, have diarrhea, and run a high fever. After all, children usually react this way after being frightened. But after returning, the child just drank milk, then slept. The family checked several times and didn’t see a high fever. When he woke up, he was the same as usual.

Even if the child had a strong life, it wouldn’t be strong to this extent. Naturally, it was this Immortal who settled the child’s spirit, sparing the child from further suffering.

After saying that, the family members were about to worship Su Heng as a Bodhisattva. Su Heng rarely interacted with mortals. At most, she would just go down the mountain to eat and drink, then return after finishing. She watched as they knelt down with a thud, kowtowing to her, treating her as a benefactor, as a Bodhisattva.

She just watched them knock their heads. She didn’t stop them, nor did she say any polite words.

Tan Ye only cared about making sure the child was all right, indifferent to everything else around him. His eyes were fixed on her arm. The sleeves of her cyan dress were wide, hanging down and covering her arms tightly, revealing only the tips of her fingers. The fingertips peeked in and out from the hanging sleeves, revealing a touch of purple.

From the moment she left, his heart had been tightly grasped. He suppressed it desperately. That’s why he still looked normal.

“There will be a temple fair outside tonight.” When mortals received a great favor, they had no way to repay the Immortals. The ways mortals used to repay favors were not appreciated by the Immortals. They could only kowtow to the Immortals to express their gratitude.

“If the Immortal has time, why not go and take a look?” the head of the household said to Su Heng.

Su Heng looked like she was in her teens, enchanting yet pure. The family had no way to repay her, so they could only introduce her to things that a teenage girl might like based on her age.

Su Heng moved slightly. “There’s a temple fair?”

Mei Shuangshuang’s eyes also lit up over there.

“Yes, it just happens to be today. Originally, you were all outside, and such a big thing happened at home, so we didn’t mention it for a while. Now that we think of it, if you Immortals don’t mind, you can take a look tonight.”

Mei Shuangshuang said hastily, “We don’t mind, we don’t mind.”

She turned to Su Heng, “Sister Su, let’s go have fun together tonight.”

“That won’t be necessary.” Tan Ye said preemptively. He lowered his eyes and glanced at Su Heng’s arm. He wanted to check her injury several times, but Su Heng intentionally or unintentionally avoided him, not letting him touch it. He was delicate and keen, and after noticing her rejection, he asked Mei Shuangshuang to help.

Mei Shuangshuang was shocked to learn that Su Heng was actually injured. Then she went to Su Heng’s room to check on her injury. But in a short while, Su Heng sent her away.

“Sister Su won’t let me look.” Mei Shuangshuang spread her hands, also looking very helpless.

She looked at Tan Ye. After hearing her words, Tan Ye’s brows furrowed even more tightly. Mei Shuangshuang looked at Tan Ye, “Brother Ye seems very concerned about Sister Su?”

Tan Ye looked over when he heard this. Mei Shuangshuang met his gaze, as if she had been scorched by fire. “Sister Su is so powerful, even if she’s injured, she should…”

“With her personality, I’m afraid Miss Mei doesn’t know. Even if something happens, she doesn’t like to let people know.”

Tan Ye paused, no longer wanting to explain anything to Mei Shuangshuang.

“Does Brother Ye like Sister Su?” Mei Shuangshuang didn’t know what got into her, suddenly asking such a question.

The young man in white stood in front of her, his eyes dark, his expression flickering, making it impossible for her to see clearly or know what he was thinking.

“No, I just asked casually. If Brother Ye doesn’t want to say, then never mind…”

“Yes.”

Mei Shuangshuang stood there stiffly, looking at Tan Ye with shock in her eyes.

“When did you…”

When someone is too good to her, asks for nothing in return, doesn’t ask her to know, completely accommodates her temper, saves her from fire and water, and cleans up her messes… Even though she doesn’t like him and has no romantic feelings for him, in the depths of her heart, she takes this goodness for granted, and gives rise to blind confidence and domineering, feeling that this goodness should be hers alone.

This confident domineering comes for no reason. She just believes it. So when Tan Ye admitted to her face that the one he liked in his heart was another woman, bewilderment arose. Following the bewilderment was an indescribable sense of loss.

In the end, Mei Shuangshuang couldn’t continue. She opened her mouth, her eyes wide open in confusion, looking at him.

“I do like her.” When Tan Ye spoke of this matter, he was frank and straightforward, without any evasion or beating around the bush. He was as upright as the white clothes on his body, not hiding anything, and disdaining to hide.

“So you could tell?” Tan Ye’s originally tense voice revealed a bit of relief. “Then there will be much less trouble.”

Mei Shuangshuang met his eyes and didn’t know how to respond to him for a while. After a moment, she awkwardly pulled out a smile, “So that’s how it is.”

Her words didn’t match the context, and it was unclear what she was actually referring to.

“Miss Mei is still young,” Tan Ye still had the same manner as before. He kept a distance from her, maintaining a stance of non-interference. “When looking at things, you’ll still be stuck in the circle you set for yourself and unable to come out.”

Mei Shuangshuang inexplicably felt a little wretched, as if her domineering thoughts that she couldn’t tell others and could only keep to herself had been completely seen through by him.

“Also, I see that you and Mr. Zhu have a lot of interactions. Langfeng is not as simple as Miss Mei thinks. If you really want to be with Mr. Zhu, you’ll have to think a lot.”

Mei Shuangshuang pulled her lips into an awkward and wretched smile, wishing she could find a place to run away immediately and avoid staying here.

“Brother Ye, you misunderstood. I don’t have anything with him. He never has a good look for anyone. How could I possibly like him?”

She had a strained smile on her face. “Sister Su won’t let me look. I can’t help you. There’s still a temple fair tonight. I’ll go first.”

With that, she randomly smiled at Tan Ye, waved her hand and left.

Tan Ye watched her leave. Seeing that Mei Shuangshuang’s back was out of sight, he walked to the front of Su Heng’s door and knocked on the door with his knuckles.

There was no sound inside the door. Tan Ye waited for a while and finally pushed the door open.

Su Heng was sitting on the window sill. Hearing the movement at the door, she looked back at him.

“Why didn’t you let Miss Mei look at your injury?”

Su Heng snickered, “What’s the use of letting her look? She’s timid. If she saw it, she wouldn’t be able to sleep for several days and nights. Wouldn’t that be quite troublesome?”

After saying that, she looked at Tan Ye, “And even if she looked, she couldn’t do anything. Except for scaring her half to death, there’s basically no other use. Do you want to see her scared out of her wits?”

Tan Ye was stunned, obviously not having thought of that.

When you don’t love someone, even if you’re really attentive, it’s just like that, especially when compared to the person you truly love. That bit of attentiveness doesn’t mean much.

“It was me…”

“It has nothing to do with you. I just don’t like being looked at by others.” She leaned on the window sill, one leg down, one leg bent and propped up there unceremoniously, “Except for you.”

Her eyes were teasing, rippling with springtime, making Tan Ye’s heart stop.

He moved his fingers in his sleeve and walked up to her. “Let me see your hand.”

With that, regardless of whether she was willing or resistant, he rolled up the sleeve on her arm. The bruised arm appeared before him in an instant. Tan Ye gasped.

He knew her injury was serious at the time, but he didn’t expect it to be like this.

“Why didn’t you say anything!”

Tan Ye reached out to touch her arm, but was afraid of hurting her, so he withdrew his hand.

“It just looks scary. It will heal on its own in a few days. I’ve been around for so many years, it’s not like I haven’t encountered this before. It will naturally recover in a few days.”

Tan Ye ignored her. He turned her whole body around and brought her to sit on the bed. He lifted the hem of his robe and sat down beside her.

Seeing this, she wanted to tease him again. Tan Ye said nothing, gently placing his palm on her arm, infusing spiritual power into her. The spiritual power flowed into her arm like a small stream, clearing out the remaining yin energy and poison, and gradually unblocking the stagnant blood in her meridians.

Gradually, the color of her arm turned back to porcelain white.

“You said just now that you’ve encountered this kind of situation before?”

Su Heng looked at him and nodded. “Yes, I’ve encountered it. If I don’t pay attention to it for a few days, it will recover on its own. That’s why I said there’s no need to go to this trouble.”

“It won’t happen again in the future.”

Tan Ye saw Su Heng looking at him with some oddity. “Such things won’t happen again in the future.”

“You won’t get hurt again. Nor will it be like this, because I will be by your side.”

Su Heng’s eyes moved. She raised her eyes to look at him, “By my side, in what capacity will you be by my side?”

Her words were gentle yet sharp. Tan Ye opened his mouth, but before he could figure out how to respond to her, her arms had already circled around his neck.

“Are you my lover, or my…” She dragged out the tone, as if thinking of a word, or as if teasing him, “husband?”

Her body temperature was as scorching hot as ever. Even when her sleeves rolled down, she didn’t care at all, just pressing against his neck like that. Feeling that it wasn’t enough, she simply sat on him, directly sitting on his legs, in an ambiguous and intimate posture, completely close to him.

Su Heng’s lips lightly slid over his jaw and came to his neck, rubbing left and right in a playful manner. He raised his head, in a kind of intoxicated thirst.

She propped herself on his shoulders and pounced inward, easily pushing him inside.

Tan Ye’s palms supported her back, lending her strength, so that she wouldn’t lose her support when she suddenly pounced just now.

“What do you want to do?” Tan Ye anticipated something, but still asked this question.

“Finish teaching you what I was going to teach.” She looked up, her brows and eyes full of visible mischief.

“Your knots,” she leaned close to his ear, “I will unravel them for you one by one.”

Tan Ye grabbed her hand. Su Heng giggled in his ear, “During the day, when I married you, I had a veil on my head and couldn’t see clearly outside, but I saw you in a wedding dress, looking very handsome.”

As she spoke, her fingers slid down. Tan Ye had an excellent figure. Perhaps in the eyes of other men, he was really too thin, but in her eyes, it was just right. He was not weak. Under her hands, she could feel the undulations of a man’s body through his clothes, tight and masculine.

“Do you know what you look like to me?” Her fingers began to roam. She pressed against his ear, “Like thin gold, lean but not without flesh, graceful and elegant.”

She pressed against his ear, “Actually, when you look at me, don’t you think I’m very beautiful too?”

Tan Ye looked at her. She had heavy makeup on her face. Until now, she still hadn’t washed off the makeup on her face. Black eyebrows and red lips, her smile was enchanting.

“Yes.”

He admitted frankly, his palms unconsciously touching her cheeks.

Tan Ye looked at her in her phoenix crown and red robes, thinking how nice it would be if they really got married like this.

“If only it were real.”

Hearing this, Su Heng laughed. She looked at him seriously, “Why do you think it’s fake?”

Tan Ye stared at her, his breath suddenly rising, “What do you mean?”

“I did indeed get in the wedding sedan, and you did indeed lead me to bow in the hall.”

That’s right, they did indeed bow in the hall under the gaze of everyone.

He remembered that he and she bowed to heaven and earth, to the family elders, and to each other.

“The family elders were fake, but heaven and earth were real,” she poked her finger at his heart, “weren’t they?”

Tan Ye looked at her, as if two wisps of mist had risen in his eyes, “I want it to be real, can it really be real?”

Su Heng nodded, “Of course, since you want it to be real, then it is real.” As her words fell, Tan Ye suddenly hugged her waist. Suddenly, the world spun before her eyes, and she was directly pinned under him. He buried his head in the crook of her neck, breathing deeply and shallowly, his breath stirring the loose strands of her hair, the strands sweeping over her neck, sending a tingly sensation.

“Is everything you said true?” He propped himself on one hand beside her head, looking down at her. Su Heng hugged his neck, “Of course.” She glanced outside, “Now is our wedding night.” Tan Ye’s breathing suddenly became heavier. He leaned down again, burying his head in the crook of her neck.

“When you saw them doing that thing back then, did you think they were in love with each other?” Tan Ye hesitated for a moment and shook his head.

“That’s right!” Su Heng held his head, her fingertips gently caressing his hair. “We’re different from them.” “We are in love with each other.”

Tan Ye gently chewed on her words in his mouth, his eyes suddenly brightening.

“Yes, I love you, and you love me too.” She looked up at him, her fingertips pressed against his chest.

Tan Ye held her tightly in his arms, murmuring in her ear, “You love me?” Su Heng fell into a brief daze. She didn’t know if she loved him or not, but these words came out of her mouth very smoothly. She had never spent so much effort on anyone like she did on him, nor had she been so determined that no one could touch him unless she herself nodded.

“Mm.” She agreed without hesitation the next moment.

Tan Ye’s lips pressed against her ear, revealing a lingering smile, “Okay, I’ll remember that.” Remember what?

The gauze curtain that was originally hung up by hooks fell down on its own.

Some things are really difficult when they are difficult, but after crossing over, they are not much of an obstacle. It’s just that everything he knew about this kind of thing came from her. When it really came, he couldn’t help but be a little excited.

This time, Su Heng really figured out how many he was.

She negotiated with him, “Don’t come all at once, it will cause trouble.”

She negotiated with Tan Ye very seriously. Tan Ye bowed his head in the crook of her neck and laughed softly, then took her earlobe into his mouth.

She had taught him before, and he was indeed a very intelligent student. This master of hers had only taught him once or twice, and he had already learned it, sweeping over depressions, passing snow-capped peaks, with proud plums standing erect at the top of the snow-capped peaks. He captured those proud plums with his lips.

Her palms slowly moved from his back to his shoulders. She gripped his shoulders tightly.

She shuttled through the clouds and mist, the rain and mist brushing over her skin, gently enveloping her entire body.

Su Heng seemed to sink into warm water, embracing him.

She was oblivious in it, completely forgetting who she was.

However, suddenly, she seemed to be blown into a gale.

Tan Ye pressed against her ear, his body stiff. She was not much better off. Her eyes were busy staring at him.

“It hurts…” He squeezed out this syllable from his throat.

Su Heng wished she could kick him. She didn’t know if he had listened to her words or had given her everything. She wished she could stare holes into his body. He leaned on her shoulder, his breath hitting her loose hair. Her loose strands were blown by him, brushing gently over her skin.

He was gentle and delicate, probing lightly and shallowly. He leaned against her neck, absorbing the warmth there. His lips and teeth brushed over the sweat there. He sank into deeper pain. His whole body was almost burned to ashes, and only she was his salvation.

He caressed her arms, his hand overlapping with hers. Su Heng turned her hand over to clasp his, their fingers tightly interlocked.