Li Guanqi gave a slight nod.
Yet a moment later, he shook his head again.
Ye Feng knitted his brows, at a loss as to what Li Guanqi meant.
Tang Ru spoke up at that moment. "Second Brother, what Eldest Brother means is this.
"Reaching this point today was indeed all part of Lady Li's plan.
"From my observation, the soul contract within her had already wormed deep into her divine soul. If she hadn't acted now, she would never have had another chance.
"As it happened, the abilities of our brothers were put on full display across several major battles."
At this, Tang Ru cast a pointed look toward Gu Li.
"Especially Sixth Brother's capabilities. That must be why she made up her mind to expose herself.
"As for why Eldest Brother shook his head..."
Tang Ru smiled knowingly as he looked at Ye Feng.
"It's because even she never expected that upon learning the truth, you would be so disappointed and heartbroken.
"Perhaps across all those years of cultivation, this soul contract was a blade constantly suspended above her head.
"That made her keep everyone at arm's length.
"People only saw her as the proprietress of the Mortal Sojourner, yet no one has ever heard anyone say, 'I have a friend named Li Qingchan.'
"That was why, when you showed such grief and disappointment, her emotions surged so violently and became so tangled."
Tang Ru smiled softly, exchanged a glance with Li Guanqi, and both blurted out in unison,
"Both of you have caught feelings."
"Hahahahaha! Any fool could see it."
"I knew it! Ye the Second running over here all the time was definitely never just for the wine."
Ye Feng felt his ears burn from their teasing.
Yet as he replayed everything through their words, he realized that Li Qingchan had never intended to kill him!
Given her strength, had she truly wished to capture or kill Ye Feng to threaten Li Guanqi, she certainly would have had her chances.
Instead, she had simply complied with the mastermind's orders by poisoning him.
Perhaps the person pulling the strings felt the time had not yet come, that the moment was not right.
Having reasoned through all this, Ye Feng felt a weight lift from his chest.
So that was it... Everything had been out of her control, yet she never wanted him to die.
Understanding Li Qingchan's painstaking intentions, Ye Feng's heart filled with a tangled whirl of emotions.
Right then, a faint whimper drifted from the unconscious woman in the distance.
Her lashes trembled faintly, and her eyelids flickered.
Li Guanqi gave Ye Feng a gentle shove, then motioned for Gu Li and Tang Ru to follow him out of the domain, leaving the two of them alone.
The empty domain was left with only Ye Feng and Li Qingchan.
Ye Feng gently helped the woman up, cradling her against his chest.
Li Qingchan slowly opened her eyes, the haziness clearing as her vision refocused.
Seeing the deep concern in the man's eyes, her throat tightened, choked with emotion.
Suppressing the churning feelings within him, Ye Feng asked softly, "Feeling any better?"
There was so much he wanted to say, yet in the end, it all distilled down to a single question.
A sour pang hit Li Qingchan's nose, and her eyes instantly reddened.
Turning her head away, unable to meet his gaze, tears slipped from the corners of her eyes, traced the bridge of her nose, and soaked Ye Feng's robe.
"Mm..."
Word by word, the knots in their hearts began to untangle.
As if suddenly remembering something, Li Qingchan's face showed acute panic. She produced a jade bottle with a flick of her hand and tried to shove it straight into Ye Feng's mouth.
"Quick! This is the antidote—drink it, now!
"The longer that poison lingers, the deeper it conceals itself in your blood and meridians, until it's almost impossible to detect!"
Ye Feng caught Li Qingchan's hand in his and spoke softly.
"Don't worry. The poison has already been completely sealed away by my eldest brother's lightning power."
Only then did the woman breathe a sigh of relief. But as calm returned, she realized that Ye Feng was still holding her hand.
The posture of lying in his embrace was extraordinarily intimate.
A blush rushed to her cheeks. This long-forgotten flutter of the heart left her flustered and lost for words.
She tried to pull away, only for Ye Feng to tighten his arms around her with domineering firmness.
Her physical exhaustion left her powerless to resist. In the end, she simply rested quietly against Ye Feng's chest and began recovering her primal energy.
Both were wrapped in their own thoughts, and neither spoke.
Yet the knots in both their hearts had loosened considerably.
Suddenly, Li Qingchan asked, "If I had truly tried to kill him back then, what would you have done?"
Ye Feng had wondered what she might ask.
His gaze sharpened, and he answered with utter solemnity, "Then before you killed him, the one you killed would have been me."
Li Qingchan knitted her slender brows, pouting slightly in confusion. "Why?"
Ye Feng shook his head and said softly, "No reason.
"A woman wouldn't understand."
Hearing this, primal energy surged through Li Qingchan's body, sending Ye Feng flying back a fair distance.
With an expression of mock fury, she said sarcastically, "Didn't realize you were such a chauvinist, hmm?
"'What would a woman understand'..."
"Looking down on women that much, are you?"
The impact sent Ye Feng's blood churning. For a moment, he had no idea what to say to coax the woman before him.
The gap in strength between a half-step Tribulation Transcendence realm cultivator and a mid Tribulation Transcendence Realm mighty figure was, after all, quite significant.
Inside the Mortal Sojourner wine shop.
Gu Li was cracking melon seeds, muttering, "Do you think Second Brother can seize the moment and win over the proprietress?"
Tang Ru pondered briefly and answered plainly, "If he says something heartfelt, it should be in the bag, right?"
Li Guanqi stood with his arms crossed over his chest, eyes closed, his mind turning over countless matters.
Even had he overheard them, he surely would have thought the same.
Little did they know that inside the domain, the two were practically coming to blows.
Yet when their gazes met once more, Li Qingchan's eyes reddened.
She stared at Ye Feng's handsome face, tilted her head slightly, and asked softly, "Were you really that disappointed?"
"Yes."
"Do you really care that much about me?"
"Yes!"
"Then if you had to choose between me and Li Guanqi..."
"I'd choose my eldest brother."
"...I'm going to kill Li Guanqi right now."
Seeing the anxious look on Ye Feng's face, Li Qingchan broke into a radiant smile. She gestured for Ye Feng to come to her side.
She brought out two jars of her treasured Red Dust Brew.
Tilting her head back, she took a long swig. The fragrant liquor spilled from the corner of her lips, trickling down her fair neck and dampening her collar.
Yet she paid it no mind, drinking in deep, reckless gulps.
It was as though she wanted to release all the suppressed emotions she had held inside for all these years.
Ye Feng said nothing, simply drinking quietly alongside her.
Only after an entire jar was empty did Li Qingchan speak in a gentle, drunken murmur.
"When I broke through to the Soul Formation Realm, that was the first time I made contact with Gu Xici.
"Mysterious, powerful, with depths unfathomable—that was my strongest impression of him.
"Even now, I have never seen his true face."
At this point, Li Qingchan's voice trailed off briefly, as though she harbored deep regret over what she had done back then.
Ye Feng handed her his unfinished jar of wine and listened quietly to her story.
"He gave me a cultivation technique whose grade definitely surpassed the Heaven rank, which was why my cultivation progressed so rapidly.
"But soon, I discovered... he had placed a seal on every single layer of the technique.
"By the time I realized it, it was already too late. The soul contract had taken shape, and I had no choice but to follow his orders.
"At first, he only had me assassinate certain prodigies, but without exception, every one of them was a genius sword cultivator.
"It wasn't until I reached the Mahayana realm that he suddenly ordered me to join the Immortal Burial Realm..."
"From then on, he never contacted me again."
Having finished speaking, Li Qingchan slowly turned her gaze back toward Ye Feng.
"Until you all arrived."
Chapter 1347