Realms In The Firmament

”What happened here?” Ye Xiao asked.

”What else could it be? Your Ye Clan and their Li Clan had a dog-to-dog fight. Both sides were hurt.” Han Bingxue rolled his eyes up and said, ”They had a big fight on the first day they came out. That was such a noise… However, we didn’t have time for their stupid fight.”

Ye Xiao smiled bitterly.

He honestly didn’t know how he would face the situation in Ye Clan yet.

However, Ye Nantian was in the clan after all.

No matter what, Ye Nantian was technically his father, to whom he was deeply indebted. Ye Xiao figured it would be inhumane not to help him!

There was a small town ahead of them.

”Let’s settle in that town for tonight.” Ye Xiao said.

They were not far from Ye Clan’s house though. If they kept moving at full speed, even though Xuan Bing and Han Bingxue had to wait for Ye Xiao who was much weaker, it wouldn’t take them more than fifteen minutes to arrive. However, Ye Xiao chose to stop and settle in that small town.

In his heart, he was apparently still struggling.

He was even a bit hesitating.

”Well. Let me pay for dinner tonight. Tomorrow morning, I will have to leave. I don’t know when we will meet again,” Xuan Bing blandly said.

However, she couldn’t cover the disconsolateness in her heart.

”Are you leaving?” Ye Xiao and Han Bingxue both looked at her.

Xuan Bing smiled and said, ”All feasts must end. I am here to search for Regeneration Ink Lotus. Now, I have gotten many plants of Regeneration Jade Lotus. What a surprising fortune! Countless people are waiting for me in Misty Cloud Palace. I have to return as soon as I can. We have many lotuses now. I guess we will have our Renascence Garden back soon.”

She tried so hard to control herself to make her voice sound indifferent and cold.

”When we meet again in the future in the martial world, I can promise you one thing, Little Brother Ye. As long as I am capable of it, I will do anything you ask.”

Her eyes looked through the mask and stared at Ye Xiao. She repeated in a firm tone, ”Anything!”

She took a deep breath and said, ”Even if you ask me to wipe out the seven great sects!”

That was such an obvious indication.

’All you need is to give me a word, and I will take revenge for you! I will help you kill them all!’

’Your business is as important as mine to me!’

Other than that, she called Ye Xiao Little Brother Ye again. Apparently, she was making the promise a personal issue. If she continued calling him Young Brother Ye, she made the commitment as a representative of Misty Cloud Palace. Now she was promising this to him with her own words. That meant the promise was pretty valuable!

Unfortunately, it seemed Ye Xiao didn’t quite get it even though Xuan Bing couldn’t be more frank about it. He smiled and said, ”Thank you so much. If I need any help in the future, I will seek for you, Miss Xuan.”

Han Bingxue frowned.

Even he could tell the perfunctoriness in Ye Xiao’s response.

Han Bingxue surely knew how much Xuan Bing was offering to Ye Xiao, but he also understood Ye Xiao was too proud to ask for help to take revenge for himself, even if he couldn’t do it himself!

A man died; the bird pointed at the sky. [1] Death wasn’t such a big deal for him.

Xuan Bing humphed and said, ”I will wait for you! My promise is permanent!”

”I appreciate your kindness, Miss Xuan. When I need it, I will go.” Ye Xiao blandly smiled. ”I have given away many good things. Maybe sometime later, I should remember to take a payback.”

Xuan Bing was shocked when she heard ’remember to take a payback’. She knew Ye Xiao might remember it, but also ignore it!

As she remembered, Ye Xiao never yielded. When somebody helped him forwardly, and he couldn’t turn down the favor, he would accept it. However, if somebody took the favor as a deal, he would never accept it.

What he actually meant was, ’I gave you the lotuses because I was happy to! I never asked for your help! If I wanted to exchange my lotuses for your help, even after negotiation, you would never get as many as those I have given you.’

’I can’t care less about your payback. I never wanted it when I gave the lotuses to you. What I gave you represents my true heart. I feel my clear conscience. It was never a deal to me.’

’Do not insult me by making it a deal.’

’Since you are paying me back with a promise like that, I guess we don’t need to continue our friendship anymore!’

’A business deal in the friendship destroys the friendship. What do I need an impure friendship for? Why shouldn’t I just let go of it?’

’I will never go to ask for your help!’

Xuan Bing sighed. She lowered her head and said, ”Right. I said something awful. It should be my gratitude to return the favor, yet what I said was so stupid that it made this sound like a business. It insulted your kindness, Little Brother Ye. I apologize.”

Ye Xiao was stunned.

[Really? Xuan Bing apologizes for this?]

Everybody had their own thought according to their position. For Ye Xiao, Xuan Bing should rage up in the flames of fury and scold him for not being grateful.

[What is going on?]

Ye Xiao felt a bit embarrassed.

Ye Xiao had noticed that the spiritual qi in this place was gradually losing activity. However, it was happening very slowly. If Ye Xiao didn’t have East-rising Purple Qi, he might not notice it.

He was sure it must be relevant to what had happened to him! However, he didn’t have any evidence yet…

…

That night.

Xuan Bing held a feast in the most luxurious hotel in the small town. In fact, the most luxurious hotel only had three small separate rooms.

When Xuan Bing got to the hotel, she slapped a note of a hundred taels of gold on the table. She demanded that the hotel turn down all the other guests.

The hotel keeper was overjoyed.

He had been working so hard for over half of his life and hadn’t earned one hundred taels of gold in total. With the money he made this day, he never needed to worry about his life anymore. He could even close the hotel the next day, so he accepted Xuan Bing’s request.

What happened next was people who worked in the hotel worked their lives out to prepare for the feast.

Ye Xiao was touched, so he ordered a few dishes too.

The dishes he ordered touched Xuan Bing’s soft heart. Those were her favorite food when she was in the Land of Han-Yang. When she saw the dishes, she would smile happily.

When they were eating, Xuan Bing deliberately ignored those dishes. However, she would taste them a little bit occasionally. When the food she used to love in the past entered her mouth, she felt the relish was lingering on her soft heart.

…

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[1] Sometimes ’bird’(鸟) means penis.