Pursuit

As their eyes met, Xu Yuan suddenly felt a sense of déjà vu, as though this exact moment was a reflection of another past moment. It made the ambiguous yet murderous tension in the tent feel remarkably like a certain cave. Mid-thought, Xu Yuan glanced at Tianyan and quickly reined in his mind. The expression on that pretty little face had darkened completely, and beneath her palace dress, her delicate frame trembled faintly. Under his spiritual vision, an ethereal ripple had already enveloped Li Qingyan, who was clinging to him. The victor had been decided. Xu Yuan sighed inwardly. The moment Li Qingyan resolved to push things to the absolute extreme, the only question left for Tianyan was whether she would suffer a crushing defeat or merely a minor one. What could Tianyan do now? Driven past her breaking point, would she strike the injured Li Qingyan directly with the "Break" True Word? If she did, the wounded Li Qingyan without her military array deployed would indeed be no match for Tianyan, but what then? Then the strong would brutally humiliate the weak? That was not how this worked at all. When fighting over interests, one could resort to force, but matters of the heart were best resolved with words. The moment Tianyan resorted to force, it would be nothing more than incompetent fury—a petty, inferior display. As for using the "Fix" True Word to immobilize the injured Li Qingyan and do the exact same thing she had just done... Hm? At that thought, Xu Yuan's gaze sharpened. Thinking about it like that, it seemed... Cough! Regardless, Li Qingyan held the moral high ground as his "betrothed," so anything Tianyan did now would come across as powerless rage. Unless Tianyan could adopt Lou Ji's brazen, shameless persona, replicate the scene from just now step for step, and then heartlessly tell Li Qingyan, "Your husband is amazing." Unfortunately, from what little Xu Yuan knew of Tianyan, she was simply not the type of person who could ever do such a thing. In the silence, the inscribed lamps in the tent began to flicker. The dim light obscured the valiant, heroic aura between Li Qingyan's brows, accentuating the faint, lingering coquettishness in her eyes instead. And in the very next instant— "Haven't you two made enough of a scene?!" A voice laced with anger rang through the command tent. Xu Yuan shoved Li Qingyan away from his side, his gaze cold. "Li Qingyan, whatever you two want to do, do it yourselves! What do you mean by dragging me into this?" Li Qingyan pressed her lips together. After shooting him a lightning-fast look, though displeased with his protective stance toward the other girl, she cooperatively took several steps back. Seeing this, Xu Yuan turned his gaze toward Tianyan. "Tianyan, what do you think you're doing? Assassinating a Princess of Great Yan right here in Beifeng City?! Do you have no sense of propriety whatsoever?" Tianyan's crimson lips quivered slightly as she glared at him. "I wasn't..." "You weren't?" The familiar stubborn denial. Xu Yuan took a deep breath and pointed at Li Qingyan. "Your Heaven Character True Words are practically shoved right in Li Qingyan's face, and you still dare claim you weren't?" "..." Tianyan's golden eyes froze, momentarily stunned. Why... How could a mere Soul Condensation cultivator sense her Heaven Character True Words? Yet that brief confusion was quickly drowned out by a surging wave of bitter, stinging grievance. Her crisp voice dropped very low. "I wasn't going to attack." "With your temperament, when have you ever hesitated to strike?" Xu Yuan stared into her eyes. "Once your emotions take over, do you ever care about the consequences?" Hearing this, Tianyan's voice pitched slightly higher. "Xu Changtian, you're scolding me? The only reason I'm like this is because of her!" Xu Yuan drew a deep breath, his brow furrowing slightly. "Because of her? What did she do? Did you pull this kind of stunt in front of Ran Qingmo back then? Tell me, what did Li Qingyan do to you?" "..." Tianyan was struck speechless. A thoughtful look crossed Li Qingyan's eyes. Lowering her crossed arms, she tugged gently at his sleeve and said softly, "That's enough, Changtian..." "You shut your mouth too!" "..." Li Qingyan blinked. Xu Yuan brushed her hand off and glared back at her. "Do you really enjoy misleading people that much? Weren't you reserved before? We were treating each other with polite distance, so what's with suddenly putting on this display of loving newlyweds?" Li Qingyan met his gaze for a second before turning her eyes away. Xu Yuan glanced toward Tianyan. Seeing her complexion improve slightly, he breathed an internal sigh of relief. Dodging the main issue to focus on trivialities might be shameless, but it worked—at least on Tianyan. Tianyan's eyes suddenly brightened slightly, and her lips parted. "Xu Yuan, you and her..." "Did the scar heal so fast you've already forgotten the pain?" Xu Yuan cut off Tianyan's words directly, glaring back at her. "And that goes for you too, Tianyan! How many times do I have to say it? I don't remember what happened in the illusory realm! If you want to reminisce, then make me remember all of it!" With those words, the tent fell completely silent. Locked in a wordless stare, Tianyan's breath came in ragged gasps, her petite chest heaving slightly. She sniffled, her beautiful golden pupils gradually misting over like clouds and fog. After a few breaths, "Phoo..." Xu Yuan let out a sigh, his tone softening as he whispered, "Look, I didn't mean it like that..." As he spoke, Xu Yuan reached out, intending to gently stroke her cheek. Smack— His hand was slapped away. Tianyan stared at him with reddened eyes for several seconds, her apricot lips parting slightly. "Shift." "..." Xu Yuan stood frozen. Staring at the spot where the young girl had just vanished, Xu Yuan stood in the middle of the command tent and let out a long, heavy sigh. Li Qingyan's beautiful eyes flickered as though pondering something. Xiao Bai—Xiao Bai was already nowhere to be seen. Luo Xiran continued playing dead. For a moment, the tent was quiet enough to hear a pin drop, though the silence lasted only an instant. Accompanied by the soft thud of lotus boots pacing back toward the main seat, Li Qingyan's leisurely voice drifted over: "You really didn't need to say that last part. To still consider my feelings in that situation... Changtian, you truly are thoughtful." "..." Xu Yuan said nothing. If looks could kill, Tianyan's parting glare would have slaughtered him a thousand times over. Li Qingyan seemed to guess his thoughts. "I can understand your intentions, but it seems that little girl cannot. Are you just going to let her run off like that?" "What else?" "Go after her," she said with a chuckle. "..." Xu Yuan turned his gaze toward the slender, graceful silhouette whose back was turned to him. Li Qingyan sat down unhurriedly in the commander's chair, leaning against the backrest. Crossing her long, flawless jade legs over each other, she tilted her head back and smiled. "Why are you looking at me like that?" Xu Yuan's eyes flickered for a moment before he said helplessly, "Tianyan is like this, and you are too. When did you become so childish?" "Childish?" Li Qingyan straightened slightly, the corners of her lips curling upward. "You mean it wouldn't be childish if I let that woman walk all over me?" "The world isn't black and white." Xu Yuan remained completely unmoved by her rhetoric. "You should be able to see what kind of temperament Tianyan has. You could have chosen a gentler approach." After a moment of silence, Li Qingyan lowered her beautiful eyes and spoke softly: "At the very end just now... it truly was an impulse on my part." "You must be joking." Xu Yuan stood below the dais, his gaze clearly filled with disbelief. "Our distinguished Commander Qingyan would act out of petty spite?" Li Qingyan's willow brows knitted slightly. "You don't believe me?" "I believe you." "..." Their gazes locked for several breaths. "I know you don't believe me." Li Qingyan shook her head with a soft chuckle. "I don't blame you. With a woman like me, it's only natural that you wouldn't believe it." With that, she lifted her eyes to look at him, her brows curving as she pursed her lips. "Whether you believe it or not, Changtian, I truly acted on impulse just now. I couldn't stand her condescending attitude toward me, and even more, I couldn't stand how familiar she was with you. So..." "So you were jealous?" Xu Yuan chuckled. Li Qingyan met his gaze, her eyes clear and calm without the slightest hint of nervousness, her voice entirely candid. "You can understand it that way. Seeing the two of you exchanging voice transmissions over there made me feel very uncomfortable." Saying so, she slowly pressed a hand against her chest, lingering for a few breaths. Her raspy voice murmured softly, "It felt a little hard to breathe. Like a sense of crisis, or perhaps something else. Mm... I'm not sure." "..." Xu Yuan opened his mouth, but found himself at a loss for words. A direct pitch with no curves whatsoever. He felt he ought to be touched; after all, this was the first time she had ever laid bare her true feelings to him. Yet their long history together made Xu Yuan's first reaction not one of sentimentality, but rather the suspicion that this chest-binding princess was setting another trap for him. His gaze swept over her. Her expression was serene, but the slight fluttering of her eyelashes betrayed a rare touch of unease regarding their current conversation. Even so, seeing such subtle little motions, Xu Yuan still wondered if she was putting on an act. There was no helping it; there were simply too many precedents. It wasn't Li Qingyan's fault, nor was it his. If anyone was to blame, it was how similar the two of them were. Clever, rational, possessing near-flawless beauty, and carrying that elusive sense of detachment—seeming as distant as the horizon one moment, and right beside you the next. To others, these traits held a fatally addictive allure like opium; anyone else might have fallen long ago. But when two such individuals collided, it felt unreal. Because you could never know whether the other person was playing an angle, nor whether what they said matched what they felt in their heart. "Phoo..." Exhaling softly, she watched him lost in thought. A sigh rose in her heart, and her face regained its smile. "Forget what I just said. Pretend I never spoke." Xu Yuan composed his expression, took a step forward to the desk, and leaned down. "Why? You finally revealed your true feelings for once, and now you want me to forget them?" Looking up close into his dark pupils, bright and clear as if washed clean by spring rain, Li Qingyan looked straight ahead without flinching. "You wouldn't believe me anyway." "I do believe you," Xu Yuan smiled. "Of course I believe you." "Shameless." Li Qingyan rolled her eyes upward. "Instead of wasting your breath here, why don't you go chase after Tianyan?" Xu Yuan glanced toward the tent flap. "Chase her? Can I even catch up?" "Do I really need to teach you that?" Li Qingyan half-narrowed her beautiful eyes. "As a former Transcendent Realm expert, our Changtian ought to know very well that as long as you run out after her, she'll see it. It's a matter of attitude." Xu Yuan naturally knew this. Hesitating slightly, he asked with a smile, "You were jealous just a moment ago, and now you want me to chase after her? Qingyan, isn't the shift in your attitude a bit too drastic?" Li Qingyan snorted coldly, pressing her slender index finger straight into the mahogany desk before her. "With that Saintess's temperament, would she ever come back on her own?" "..." Xu Yuan was speechless. Why did he feel like she understood Tianyan even better than he did? Not that he understood Tianyan very well either. Of course, Li Qingyan wasn't sending him out of sudden charity, nor was it out of pity for Tianyan's pathetic look. It was simply because Tianyan had stormed off in a rage, making it impossible to discuss proper business. After a moment of silence, Xu Yuan murmured, "You were the one who drove her away. Why should I—" "If you don't go after her, are you expecting me to chase her down and coax her?" Li Qingyan's willow brows shot up, a dangerous glint surfacing in her eyes. "Though that works too. Since you don't want to go, I might as well head over and take a look myself..." "Cough." Xu Yuan's eyelid twitched. Li Qingyan going over? Going over to continue humiliating the weak? Clearing his throat, Xu Yuan spoke crisply, "I'll go." "I'll give you fifteen minutes." "Huh?" "Is that too much time?" Li Qingyan tilted her head. Xu Yuan clicked his tongue. "No, why is there a time limit? Are we in that much of a rush?" Li Qingyan lightly rubbed the indentation her finger had pressed into the tabletop. "We aren't in a rush, but if it takes too long, I cannot be sure whether you'll do something improper to that Saintess. Ordinary women are usually very fragile at times like this, and with your methods..." Saying so, she lifted her eyes to glance at the man before her. Then, as if suddenly realizing something, she frowned and slowly began to rise. "Forget it, I should go instead..." "..." Xu Yuan hurriedly pressed down on her shoulder to keep her seated. "Fifteen minutes is plenty." Li Qingyan frowned, her gaze suspicious. "Cough, I mean to persuade her." Only one person remained in the tent, vast and lonely. Staring at his departing silhouette for a long time, all the emotions welling up in her heart ultimately dissolved into a soft sigh. What a scoundrel. Wrapping his padded jacket tight as he ran out of the command tent, the weather of Beifeng City was just as freezing as before, matching Xu Yuan's current mood perfectly. The princess acts up, and the prince consort foots the bill. Even though he had promised fifteen minutes, Xu Yuan had no confidence whatsoever that Tianyan would pay him any mind in such a short window. Still, when a general was in the field, military orders could be bent. Things happen; Li Qingyan should understand if he returned a little late. Yet the situation turned out differently from what Xu Yuan had envisioned. Almost the instant he ran out of the military camp, a familiar ripple of Source Qi enveloped him entirely. And then, a wave of dizziness struck, his vision blurred, and the ruins outside the military camp transformed into an expansive view of Beifeng City, with swirling snow painting the entire horizon white. Is this atop the gate tower on the city wall? As the thought crossed his mind, just as Xu Yuan was about to look around for that silhouette, a crisp voice laden with deep resentment sounded behind him: "Didn't you say you don't remember? What did you come looking for me for?" Hearing that, Xu Yuan felt his heart relax. He turned his eyes and looked at her. The young girl sat bare-footed on the rubble of the gate tower, clutching her knees. She didn't look at him, her gaze staring gloomily out toward the land beyond the city. Pathetic, helpless, but not weak. Xu Yuan didn't speak right away. Instead, he walked over at a slow pace and sat down beside her, shoulder to shoulder. Through their clothing, there was a faint, yet un-intimate physical contact. Feeling this familiar movement, Tianyan clutched the hem of her palace dress a little tighter. "Say something." Xu Yuan weighed his words carefully. "Um... what do you think I came here for?" Tianyan's eyes reddened slightly at his words, and a soft huff slipped from her nose. "With your temperament, it's mostly to ask why I have your maternal uncle's medallion." Xu Yuan turned his head to look at her sorrowful profile, offering a gentle smile. "Heh... If not for that, with my cultivation, I wouldn't have been able to get out here anyway." "Lying again." "How am I lying?" "..." Tianyan turned her gaze toward him, staring at him for several breaths before offering a tearful smile. "Xu Yuan... you forgot, but I remember. So I know."