Chapter 22
Yu Tai, who had been meditating, suddenly stood.
Jiang Yibai looked up at her. “Where are you going, Junior Sister?”
Yu Tai answered calmly, “To bathe.”
Then she called, “Ugly, come with me.”
The person she called Ugly took a moment to react before rising, as though he was still unaccustomed to the name.
Jiang Yibai stood as well and asked in confusion, “Why are you taking him with you to bathe, Junior Sister?”
No matter how he looked at it, this demon beast had the appearance of a human man.
Yu Tai gave him a puzzled look. “To guard me, of course.”
No one else found anything strange about it. The creature was nothing but an animal. What would it understand?
Yet Jiang Yibai’s intense aversion to this demon beast told him otherwise. Still, Yu Tai had always been decisive. After offering that one explanation, she left with the demon beast.
Before going, she put the black-and-white demon beast back in the demon-beast pouch.
Jiang Yibai watched their departing figures, his brows drawn into a deep frown.
Someone joked, “Senior Brother, Junior Sister Yu Tai is going to bathe. Are you sure you don’t want to-”
Before he could finish, a razor-sharp sword edge suddenly swept past his cheek, making every hair on his body stand on end.
Meeting Jiang Yibai’s furious eyes, the man swallowed and said stiffly, “It was a joke, Senior Brother. I was only joking.”
The others shot him disapproving looks.
He truly had a death wish, daring to joke about Junior Sister in front of Senior Brother Jiang.
Jiang Yibai might seem good-tempered, but whenever Junior Sister was involved, he became a madman.
Yu Tai had not expected her casual excuse to become reality. After walking only a short distance, she actually came across a lake.
Two identical moons hung in the sky above this region. Their light shimmered across the lake, making its surface look as beautiful as though it were filled with stars.
Shu Li stopped by the shore. When Yu Tai made no move, he asked gently, “Do you need me to help you undress?”
Yu Tai turned and pulled the veiled hat from his head, revealing that breathtaking face.
She tossed the hat to the ground and leaped into the lake. The splash she created sprayed Shu Li’s face with water.
He remained where he was, gracefully taking out a handkerchief to wipe the droplets from his face. He had just put it away when a hand suddenly emerged from the once-again placid water and yanked the unprepared Shu Li into the lake.
Compared to the intermittent hum of insects and cries of birds outside, the underwater world was so quiet that it created the illusion of another world.
Yu Tai pulled him deeper and deeper, yet he made no attempt to struggle.
The young woman dragging him along wore the triumphant expression of someone whose prank had succeeded. Her smiling eyes seemed filled with countless fragments of light.
But Yu Tai had not dragged him down here to admire her eyes.
She swam with Shu Li for a while, then pointed into the distance and shook his arm, urging him to look.
Shu Li followed her gesture.
A sea of starlight instantly appeared in his clear eyes.
A colony of unknown creatures drifted nearby. They danced through the water in groups, radiating a soft, luminous white glow. There were so many of them that, from where Shu Li and Yu Tai floated, they resembled a moving sea of stars-so magnificent and dazzling that one could scarcely look away.
Yu Tai was thrilled. This was a sight she could never have witnessed in her previous life.
She had jumped into the lake intending to splash Shu Li, but when she accidentally caught sight of the scene, a line from a movie she once watched surfaced in her mind.
*Things glow because they want to be seen.*
And so she had pulled Shu Li down.
It would have been such a waste not to share this view.
She had completely forgotten that Shu Li, once renowned throughout the world and widely traveled, might not find it particularly novel.
Shu Li tugged at her, making her turn to look behind them.
His complexion looked poor. He pointed upward, then at himself.
Only then did Yu Tai remember that he was no longer a cultivator and was probably running out of air. With a forceful pull, she drew him close and pressed her lips to his.
She had brought him out here with an ulterior motive in the first place. Righteous qi was righteous qi, no matter where she absorbed it.
Suffocation was unbearable. As Yu Tai drew righteous qi from his body, Shu Li-who had never cooperated with her before-unexpectedly clasped the back of her head and deepened the kiss, drawing in oxygen.
The two of them entwined beneath the water, each taking what they needed from the other. Neither noticed when the “sea of stars” disappeared. Only after the water had gone completely dark did they finally separate.
Yu Tai pulled Shu Li to the surface, then used a spell to dry their soaked clothes and hair.
She tossed him the veiled hat from the ground and lifted her chin as though nothing had happened. “Let’s go back.”
Someone caught her arm. She turned.
Shu Li held on to her, his normally clear voice slightly hoarse. “Does Junior Sister intend to return like this?”
Yu Tai frowned. “Why not?”
He extended one long, pale finger and pressed it to her lips. “They’re swollen,” he said quietly.
Yu Tai slapped his hand away and walked to the edge of the lake in two quick strides. She lowered her head to inspect her reflection.
Sure enough, her normally pale-pink lips were so swollen that anyone would know at a glance what she had been doing.
She frowned slightly. Would taking a pill fix it?
Or would that be overkill?
At some point, Shu Li had walked up beside her. He said gently, “There’s a bloodred medicinal herb in your spatial pouch. Crush it and apply it to your lips for a moment. That should be enough.”
Yu Tai immediately grew wary. “How do you know what’s in my spatial pouch?”
Shu Li explained that Xia Mo had taken her spatial pouch underground and swept up every treasure there.
Yu Tai froze.
“These were gifts from Xia Mo. It wanted to tell you itself, but there hasn’t been an opportunity along the way.”
Remembering how Xia Mo had chirped at her only to be deliberately ignored, Yu Tai felt a pang of regret.
She released Xia Mo from the demon-beast pouch. The half-asleep panda was suddenly swept into her arms. Yu Tai rubbed her cheek against its furry face. “Thanks.”
*And I’m sorry.*
Xia Mo looked utterly confused, with no idea what was happening. But after meeting Shu Li’s eyes, it dazedly raised a paw, carefully controlled its strength, and gently patted Yu Tai’s back.
After this brief interlude, Shu Li crushed the red medicinal herb and spread it evenly over Yu Tai’s swollen lips.
Just as he had said, the swelling vanished within seconds.
*That works surprisingly well,* Yu Tai thought. “I should stock up on more Bloodred Herb in case I ever need it.”
Shu Li nodded in agreement. “I’ll remember that for you.”
Yu Tai had no idea that Bloodred Herb was a supreme-grade medicinal herb. When crushed and applied to a wound, it could restore even severed meridians to their original state.
It was a legendary divine herb that no amount of gold could buy, yet she had casually used it to reduce some swelling. If word got out, countless alchemists would curse her for wasting heaven’s treasures while coughing up blood.
When the two returned, Jiang Yibai was no longer sitting in his original spot. The instant they entered, his eyes met Yu Tai’s, then froze when his gaze swept over the slightly disheveled hair at her temples.
The demon beast that could take human form followed close behind her. Its gaze seemed to pierce the veiled hat as it watched its slender, beautiful master, intensifying the sense of wrongness in Jiang Yibai’s heart.
The meditating cultivator suddenly received a voice transmission from his eldest Senior Brother. “Junior Brother, I agree to your earlier proposal.”