She Is Here

Silently, his finger hooked slightly. Already strained past its limit by the torn edge, the taut black silk gave way with a sharp *rip*. The tear lengthened an inch downward in an instant, parting under tension into an alluring V that continued to creep farther down. With this sudden shift, the tantalizing curve that had only just begun to emerge instantly became a soft, fair, and captivating expanse of cleavage. Having done this, Xu Yuan did not pull away. With his back straight, he knelt on the couch on either side of her legs, looking down at her with an amused, appreciative gaze. Li Qingyan propped herself up on the couch with one hand, her body leaning back. Her long, pale legs possessed just the right touch of fullness, and the Cloud-Treading Lotus boots still adorning her feet only added to the appeal. The arch of her waist made that tempting curve look all the fuller. Her magnificent crimson eyes looked like fallen stars, gazing directly at him, captivating enough to steal a man's soul. Even at this point, Xu Yuan still failed to catch even the slightest hint of maidenly modesty on the face or in the eyes of this breast-bound princess. The black silk wrap continued to split on its own, though Xu Yuan's fingers offered no further help. Life needed a sense of ritual, and it needed passion. Listening to the pleasing sound of fabric slowly tearing, watching that exquisite form reveal itself bit by bit—this anticipation was far more exhilarating than devouring it all in one bite. Leaning down slightly, Xu Yuan spoke in a gentle, warm voice: "You seem nervous?" As he spoke, his slender fingertip traced right through that fair valley and followed the curve downward, just as she had done to him a moment ago. His finger traced the center line of her abdomen. Her pear-shaped figure was flawless, and the defined lines unique to a toned woman ran across the waist of this warrior goddess who had slaughtered barbarian hordes, immaculate and without a single blemish. Her heartbeat was deliberately suppressed. Li Qingyan's eyes crinkled with amusement, her lids half-drooped as she watched his fingers. "Nervous? It just tickles a little. Though I must say, Changtian, you seem quite practiced at this." "Is that so?" Xu Yuan leaned close to her ear, murmuring softly, "Then why do I hear someone's heart beating so fast?" During their exchange, Xu Yuan's finger had reached the base of her abdomen. Instead of pressing deeper, it traced teasing circles across her flat lower stomach, then suddenly drifted lower. Sensing his movement, Li Qingyan caught her breath as ripples spread across her heart. Yet she gave no outward sign. She did not clench the couch, nor did her body tremble; even her expression still bore that faint, enigmatic smile. Seeing this, Xu Yuan chuckled, placed a hand on Li Qingyan's shoulder, and pressed her flat against the couch. There was no resistance and no reply, only the tearing of silk providing their accompaniment. Her black hair cascaded like a waterfall against skin as fair as snow. Her temperature began to rise degree by degree, and a seductive mist gradually welled in those gallant, phoenix-shaped eyes. Sensing the change in her, Xu Yuan chuckled softly. In no rush, he turned his head, circulated his cultivation technique, and sent a voice transmission to the driver outside, Mister Wang: "Mister Wang, pull over as soon as we arrive. If anyone tries to question us when we reach the military camp, tell them to get lost. Qingyan and I have big business to settle." If the classic trope played out and his spell was interrupted at a critical moment by something akin to a cell phone ringtone, he might actually kill someone. Best to prepare beforehand. Having done that, he turned back, only to find an amused glint in Li Qingyan's eyes. "What are you laughing at?" Li Qingyan rested against the couch, a starlike smile in her eyes. "At this carriage's speed, it takes two quarters of an hour to reach the camp." Xu Yuan froze, then let out an exasperated laugh. "What do you mean by that?" Her tongue lightly licked the corner of her lips. Li Qingyan hooked a jade arm around his neck, leaning in to whisper against his ear, her breath fragrant as orchids: "Why don't you guess?" With those words, the black silk wrap gave way completely, and along with it snapped the last thread of Xu Yuan's restraint. This woman was playing for real. Amidst her low, seductive laughter, he pressed her firmly into the couch. Locking eyes with her, Xu Yuan reached down, hooked his hand behind the crook of her long, fair leg, and pulled it up. Just as he was about to move, he suddenly felt something amiss. Amiss... Because they were looking at each other—no, they were not looking at each other. Li Qingyan was not looking at him. At a moment like this, Li Qingyan's gaze was not on him at all. Instead, she had tilted her head to look behind him. A piercing chill shot straight from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head. Time seemed to freeze. Xu Yuan's movements stalled. Stiffening his neck, he turned his head back inch by inch. "..." As far as the eye could see, there was nothing. He had been played again. Turning his gaze back, Xu Yuan glared down at the woman beneath him with none-too-friendly eyes. "Li Qingyan, you're pulling this trick—" Before he could finish, a dangerous surge of qi abruptly materialized behind him. Sudden. And potent enough to be felt without even using spiritual vision. "..." Xu Yuan went rigid. The fingers resting against the lower part of Li Qingyan's stomach gave a slight twitch. Cooperating immediately, Li Qingyan let out a delicate, sultry moan from the back of her throat, her low, raspy tone laced with seductive charm: "Mmh... what trick... is this princess pulling?" "..." Xu Yuan. Was the qi behind him Tianyan? Or was it some illusion concocted by this wicked woman? Xu Yuan suddenly found himself craving power again. If he were still an aberrant ghost at the Transcendent Realm, he would have known in an instant whether there was a third person in this carriage. Taking a deep breath, Xu Yuan snapped his head around once more. And this time, he saw a solid object. A wooden stick. Very thick, and very long. Just like the one the Big Ice Cube had picked up at random in that ruined temple deep in the mountains back then. Subconsciously following the length of the stick, Xu Yuan's gaze locked onto a familiar, fair hand, set against the backdrop of an elaborate, pale pink court gown. He was done for. This wicked woman hadn't lied to him. Before he could get a closer look, the wooden stick was already swinging upward. Xu Yuan opened his mouth: "Wait—" *Bang!* The stick smacked against the carriage roof. "..." Xu Yuan. He looked up, his expression instantly turning dead serious. Xu Yuan parted his lips to speak, but before he could clearly make out her face, the stick whistled through the air, crashing straight down! Xu Yuan squeezed his eyes shut. Surely Tianyan wouldn't have the heart to kill him. *Thud!* A dull impact sounded right on cue, but the expected pain never arrived. Moreover, his razor-sharp senses told him that he hadn't blacked out either. Because a soft body had wrapped around him. Bare skin pressed against bare skin, their body heat distinctly palpable. This touch... the breast-bound princess? Opening his eyes, time seemed to slow. The fresh fragrance of cascading hair drifted into his nose, and before him was the sight of Li Qingyan catching the descending stick with one hand. Such a profound sense of security was genuinely comforting... Still, given the current situation, Xu Yuan decided it was best to continue playing dead. After all, dead men didn't have to talk. Shielding herself behind his body, Li Qingyan stared at Tianyan, her voice soft and icy: "Your Holiness Saintess, "this princess allowed you to watch from the side, but isn't interfering crossing the line?" With those words, that crisp, aloof voice of a young girl sounded inside the carriage for the first time: "This is between him and me." Li Qingyan tightened her grip, and the wooden stick instantly shattered into splinters. "You disrupt this princess's bedroom affairs with her prince consort, and then you tell me this is between you and my prince consort?" Tianyan's tone carried not the slightest hint of urgency, her voice crystal-clear: "He once made a promise to me." Li Qingyan took a deep breath, her chest rising and falling beautifully as she held him around the waist, her tone tinged with amusement: "It seems this is about that so-called fleeting dream again." The girl behind him spoke in a low voice: "Zhuangzi dreamed he was a butterfly, or the butterfly dreamed it was Zhuangzi; reality and illusion are interchangeable. Your Highness need not be so quick to deny what took place between him and me." "..." Hearing this, the "dead man" was taken aback. So this world had that fable too. Yet immediately after, he sensed that something was off. Why was Tianyan so calm at a time like this? Had she changed back again? Seeming to sense the change as well, Li Qingyan's voice took on a trace of surprise: "Even if things are as Your Holiness claims, reality can only arise from illusion once Changtian remembers it. To act like this now is nothing more than wishful thinking." "Sophistry and nonsense." Tianyan's tone was pristine, tinged with a faint, transcendent divinity. "If you put it that way, Princess, once your betrothal is dissolved, will your feelings also become mere wishful thinking?" "Oh?" Li Qingyan's voice rose slightly, colored with interest. "Dissolve the betrothal? Your Holiness, we have only been apart for a few hours. How has your ability to talk to yourself improved so much?" With that, Li Qingyan gently rested her chin on the "corpse's" shoulder, a smile playing at her lips. "Whether the betrothal between Changtian and me is dissolved or not is hardly something a mere Overseeing Heaven Pavilion gets to decide." "..." There was no reply and no sound of footsteps, yet out of the corner of his eye, Xu Yuan caught sight of that graceful figure in the pale pink court dress quietly approaching the couch. As her cool gaze swept over, Xu Yuan hurriedly shut his eyes and resumed playing dead. With a soft huff, the couch beside them sank slightly. Tianyan sat down slowly, turning her eyes to examine the two embracing each other. "I have long known Xu Yuan to be naturally dissolute, but I never expected the world-renowned Princess Wuyuan to be such a wanton woman as well." As she spoke, Xu Yuan cracked one eye open to look at her. Her flawless profile still carried the purity unique to a young girl. She hadn't transformed into a mature woman. While he was still wondering, Tianyan's gaze suddenly snapped toward him. She seemed to have been waiting for him all along. Their eyes locked. Those divine, radiant golden pupils sent a violent tremor through Xu Yuan's soul. Silently, a wave of dizzying nausea instantly swept through his entire body. He tried to circulate his cultivation technique to resist the discomfort, but how could someone in the Soul Condensation Realm contend with the methods of the Origin Realm? His vision began to blur and sway. The fragrance of hair was like roses, and the body against him was soft as water, but Xu Yuan no longer had any appetite for what had just transpired. Scattered fragments surfaced in his mind. These memories seemed close enough to touch, yet at the same time felt unimaginably far away. They seemed to exist, but the moment he tried to grasp them, they slipped away like sand through his fingers. His arms went limp, falling to his sides, and the body that had managed to hold itself up collapsed entirely against Li Qingyan's form. "..." The instant she felt Xu Yuan go limp, flames flared in Li Qingyan's crimson eyes. One arm caught his slumping form while her other hand lunged straight for Tianyan. She attacked. Blindingly fast, swift as lightning, her hand whistled through the air, aiming straight for Tianyan's slender neck. Tianyan's golden eyes flicked toward Li Qingyan, and she uttered a single word: "Bind." The pressure of the Heaven Character True Words descended like physical weight, causing Li Qingyan's motion to stall. Yet it was only for an instant. The power of the military array from earlier still lingered within Li Qingyan's body, shattering the suppression of the True Word in a heartbeat. A violent gale erupted within the carriage, sending scraps of torn red silk fluttering through the air. *Bang!* Tianyan was slammed by the throat directly against the inner wall of the carriage. Even the high-grade stabilization device built into the frame failed to arrest the violent jolt. Before absolute strength, all techniques appeared feeble. Blazing flames swirled in Li Qingyan's eyes as she glared at the Saintess of the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion. Her previously smiling, spirited features were now dark and suffused with thick killing intent. "Tianyan, while this princess can indulge you to a certain degree in matters between a man and a woman, what you just did seems to have crossed the line." "..." The intimate atmosphere that had filled the carriage vanished completely, replaced by a chill that made one's heart clench. The two women stared at each other. Tianyan's glowing golden pupils held a touch of divine detachment. Even with her throat pinned, her clear, calm voice rang out inside the carriage: "Li Qingyan, I would never do anything to harm Xu Yuan." Feeling the weakness of the man in her arms, Li Qingyan curled her lips into a cold sneer and tightened her grip. "Is that so? Then why did Changtian suddenly collapse like this?" After a moment of silence, the divine light in Tianyan's eyes began to fade, and her delicate brows furrowed in pain. Looking at the woman in red before her, Tianyan's aloof detachment dissolved. Facing this fiercely aggressive woman, a bright smile suddenly graced her thin red lips: "Hmph. Li Qingyan, I thought you were completely without flaws. It seems you're just like me after all." "..." Sensing the sudden shift in her expression and tone, Li Qingyan's brow furrowed. The divine aura and detached composure were gone; the girl before her seemed to have returned to how she was when they first met. Without dwelling on it, Li Qingyan's voice remained low and gravelly: "This princess is not joking with you. You had better give me an acceptable explanation." As she spoke, Tianyan's fair, slender neck creaked softly, sounding as though the colossal might of the military array might snap it at any moment. Tianyan bit her lip, her voice strained with pain: "If I truly wanted to harm Changtian, would I do it right in front of you?" "..." The light in Li Qingyan's eyes wavered. The amusement in Tianyan's crisp voice grew even more pronounced: "Li Qingyan, so you can feel anxious too." As she spoke, Tianyan placed a hand over the back of Li Qingyan's, glanced at the way she held Xu Yuan, and then suddenly changed her tone with a cold scoff: "Fickle woman." Li Qingyan fell silent for a moment, released her grip on Tianyan's neck, and shoved her hand away. Gently setting Xu Yuan to the side, she showed no anger at the insult: "So what did you do?" Tianyan rubbed the red marks left on her neck, looking up with a light laugh. "Though I don't really want to tell you, I might as well give you advance notice. I just contacted my master and obtained permission to pass him an art that will allow him to remember the memories from the illusion." With that, Tianyan narrowed her beautiful eyes and said with a smile: "Princess, once we part ways here, the next time you see him, he might not acknowledge you at all~" Li Qingyan gave a slight nod. "I see." Tianyan let out a soft scoff and leaned in slightly, studying her placid expression. "Feigning composure?" Li Qingyan glanced at her, a smile on her lips. "Very well. If that is all Your Holiness has to say, then please leave. We will deal with future matters when the future comes. Changtian and I still have proper business to attend to." "..." Tianyan.