Su Yiren was, after all, someone experienced in the ways of the world, unlike the blockheads around Lu Yang. She could easily tell that Tao Yaoye had developed feelings for him.
Tao Yaoye's cheeks flushed even redder than before. Her voice transmission was timid as she asked, "Senior Su, you noticed?"
"Mm, a little."
"Senior Su, do you have any advice?"
Su Yiren gave it some thought and offered a serious suggestion. "Cultivate."
"Cultivate?"
Su Yiren stated with utter certainty, "Yes. As long as you cultivate hard and surpass Lu Yang in cultivation realm, you can drag him straight into the bridal chamber when the time comes. Even if he tries to resist, it won't do him any good!"
"For example, I could easily do that to Haoran."
Tao Yaoye reflected on this and realized it genuinely made sense—it perfectly aligned with the cultivation world's rule of the strong reigning supreme.
Su Yiren remembered another matter and added, "Also, once you head back to Great Xia, you can check out the black market in Chunjiang City in Youzhou. That's where I bought this drop of blood. I hear everyone who has used it raves about the results..."
While Su Yiren and Tao Yaoye were whispering in secret, Lu Yang's group had already nailed down the details of their script.
"Four calabashes grow on Penglai Island—that's the four of us. Brother Xinghai, you want to eat Junior Sister Tao, so you make her drown. That's when I make my entrance, bursting straight out of the calabash... Perfect, that's how we'll do it! How about we find somewhere to rehearse?"
When Tao Yaoye constructed the scenes for Dream Bubbles, she needed real life as a template to build upon and modify.
Without having seen Lu Yang, Meng Jingzhou, Man Gu, and Li Haoran fighting a kunpeng with her own eyes, she couldn't construct the Dream Bubble.
"Are there any islands nearby?"
"There are," Xiao Xinghai replied. For something this amusing, even if there weren't any, he would order the elders of his clan to build one from scratch.
"Junior Sister Tao, why don't you join in for a run-through too?"
"Sure." Having just received Su Yiren's profound guidance, Tao Yaoye swept away all of her earlier gloom.
Xiao Xinghai carried everyone across the waters until they found an island filled with blooming flowers and the songs of birds.
This spot lay just beyond the Kunpeng Clan's territorial sea, but because it was adjacent to their domain, no one dared live there. It was completely uninhabited, making it ideal for acting.
...
Tao Yaoye changed into the uniform of Penglai Island, which accentuated her playful charm.
With her hands clasped behind her back, holding her shoes, the fine, soft sand and sea foam washed over her ankles. Humming a cheerful folk tune, she strolled along the beach with a freshly picked wildflower tucked into her hair.
Suddenly, an ominous gust swept in. The kun fish that Xiao Xinghai had transformed into breached the water's surface, its emerald-green eyes fixing on Tao Yaoye with menacing malice.
"Such pure cultivation! A true darling of heaven and earth! Penglai cultivator, today you are fated to end up in my belly!"
Xiao Xinghai unleashed his divine ability. Tao Yaoye's footing gave way, and she tipped forward involuntarily, tumbling into the sea. Gurgling bubbles, she flailed around and cried for help.
Right at this critical moment, deep within Penglai Island grew a calabash vine. It was an innate spiritual root from ancient times that had endured thousands of trials and tribulations before finally bearing ripe fruit.
With a sharp crack, the red calabash was the first to ripen.
The red calabash split open, and Lu Yang leaped out wearing oversized shorts crafted from red calabash leaves. Expanding with the wind, he shot from a single inch tall to the size of a normal man.
"Monster, how dare you harm anyone!" Lu Yang bellowed. He dived headfirst into the East Sea and scooped the dripping-wet Tao Yaoye into his arms.
Tao Yaoye had never imagined Lu Yang would make such an intimate move. Held securely in his embrace, her racing heart made her stammer: "Senior Brother Lu Yang, th-this..."
"Junior Sister Tao, we have to make our acting convincing," Lu Yang murmured.
Tao Yaoye made a sound as faint as a mosquito's hum, whispering an "Mm."
Chapter 833