Meng Qi was taken aback. “What?” She thought she must have misheard.
“Just now,” Lin Yan paced a few steps in front of her, “I said, let you choose, is it him…” She extended her hand, pointing towards the empty space, and drew a half-circle with a cheerful expression. “Or them.”
Meng Qi stood with her hands hanging down as if she hadn’t heard Lin Yan’s words.
“Take some time to think about it,” Lin Yan rested her cheek on her hand and waved her hand. An incense stick appeared in front of Meng Qi. Lin Yan lightly flicked her finger, and wisps of white smoke rose from the stick, emitting a sweet and tranquil fragrance. “I will wait until this incense stick burns out.”
She waved her hand again, and a new willow branch silently emerged from thin air, weaving into the shape of a swing. With delight, Lin Yan sat on the swing, pushing off with her feet, and started swinging back and forth.
Meng Qi: “…”
She looked at Lin Yan, then looked up at the sky. On the big tree, her friends were all hanging in the air, tightly bound by vines, their heads drooping, unconscious. On the willow branch bed, Yun Qingyan lay there quietly, in a state Meng Qi had never seen before.
“Meng Qiqi,” Lin Yan swung higher on the swing, giggling as she called out, “that’s how they all address you. Can I call you the same?”
Her voice was crisp, her laughter joyful, and she was incredibly beautiful, appearing like the most innocent and radiant girl.
“Senior,” Meng Qi shifted her gaze and turned to face her. “Do you need spiritual aura?” She wiped her hand on the storage bag, and a brocade bag appeared in her palm. “This is 6,000 profound-grade spirit stones…” Meng Qi pulled out another bag, “And this one, there are over 1,000 here.”
Spirit stones in the Three Realms contained abundant spiritual aura by nature, with the classification of their grades based on the amount of aura in them. The spiritual aura within a profound-grade spirit stone Stone was equivalent to that of a cultivator at the Great Ascension second realm. However, the aura within a spirit stone couldn’t be fully utilized by cultivators by normal means — unless they were array cultivators or refinery cultivators, who used spirit stones to power up arrays.
“What use do I have for these lifeless objects?” Lin Yan glanced at the brocade bags Meng Qi held up, completely unaffected. She lazily reclined on the swing, touching her feet against the ground, showing two dimples as a faint smile played on her lips. Each of her movements was accompanied by a gentle swaying of the pearls adorned on her head, making her look even more innocent and charming. But her words were merciless: “Hurry up and choose, Meng Qiqi. Half an incense stick’s time has already passed. If you fail to choose, they will all belong to me.”
As Lin Yan continued speaking, she burst into a giggle, drawing a large arc in the air with her hand. “I’ve already made a special exception for you. Previous cultivators who entered here didn’t even get the opportunity to choose. And…” Lin Yan’s gaze landed on Meng Qi’s face. Her eyes and lips filled with a smile. “I won’t harm you either.”
Meng Qi: “…”
She glanced at the thin incense stick. Sure enough, it was almost halfway burned.
But why?
What was Senior Lin Yan doing with other people’s aura?
Meng Qi turned her head to look at Lin Yan. The latter had her head slightly bowed down, glancing at the pair of pearl-adorned shoes that dabbed the ground rhythmically. Her long black hair was elegantly tied up into a bun, adorned with exquisite and luxurious hairpins. Pink tassels decorated her elbows, swaying gently with her movements as if dancing.
Meeting Meng Qi’s gaze, Lin Yan smiled. The smile was sweet and sincere, with clear and pure eyes full of joy without a trace of gloom. She quickly averted her gaze and softly hummed a tune. Her singing voice was as sweet as her smile, although intermittent, showing that she was in a good mood.
Meng Qi looked around. Apart from the melody that Lin Yan hummed, the forest was totally tranquil, with absolutely no other sounds around. The tune was unfamiliar, something Meng Qi had never heard before. It had a hint of exotic charm, unlike the songs she used to listen in the Three Thousand Worlds.
Everything here was strange, from the forest to Lin Yan, and even… the sudden appearance of Yun Qingyan.
Meng Qi gazed upward; her eyes drifted toward the motionless figure of a man draped in white robes, lying silently upon the bed crafted from woven willow branches. Strands of his long, black hair spilled out of the bed, giving him a vulnerable look. This was a sight Meng Qi had never witnessed before, even counting her previous life. The current Yun Qingyan looked even more fragile than the time when she witnessed his five primal aura going berserk and almost pushed him into qi deviation.
“Meng Qiqi.” Lin Yan followed her gaze and smiled. “You are still hesitant to part with him, don’t you?”
Meng Qi remained silent.
Lin Yan didn’t seem to mind either. She lowered her gaze to her own feet where the pearls on her shoes emitted a soft glow, so round and lovely. “Actually…” she held onto the swing with both hands, her voice tinged with a hint of melancholy, “Sometimes, being a little selfish isn’t bad either.”
As Lin Yan spoke, her hand pressed against her chest. “Just follow your heart’s desires, lest regrets haunt you for countless millennia to come, causing a lingering pain that no amount of medical expertise can dispel.”
“Okay.” Meng Qi readily agreed.
“Hmm?” Lin Yan seemed somewhat surprised, her large eyes turning to Meng Qi. “Have you come to a decision?” She chuckled lightly, waving her slender hand, “So, have you decided to save your lover?”
“Not really,” Meng Qi shook her head. She suddenly sat down on the ground, propping her chin with one hand, looking up and turning to Lin Yan. “Senior Lin Yan, can you lower the height of the willow branch bed a bit? It’s difficult for me to look up like this.”
“???” Lin Yan looked a bit startled, but she still waved her hand without protest.
The willow branch bed slowly descended, carrying the unconscious Yun Qingyan on it.
