Chương 63: Chapter 64: Vernal Radiance

As for what had transpired within the shadowed confines of the cavern... though she had been the one to initiate the contact, the fact remained that he had taken liberties with her. At the thought, Li Xiumei's willow-leaf brows knit together, a flush of indignant shame coloring her cheeks. Yet, almost instantly, a wave of gnawing anxiety suppressed her irritation.

When the pursuer, Xuan Liao, had descended upon them with murderous intent, Reyn had stepped forward without a moment's hesitation, drawing the lethal crisis away to buy her time. That resolute, upright silhouette as he vanished into the gloom had been seared into her mind, an image she found impossible to erase. The more she dwelled upon it, the more tangled and paradoxical her emotions became.

"Sigh..." Li Xiumei's delicate brows furrowed once more as a soft lament escaped her lips. She finally began to realize that her father's refusal to let her leave the sect had been a decision rooted in profound foresight. Had she stayed home, she would never have been ensnared by such tumultuous heart-affairs.

"Just die out there then. If you're not coming back, let some villain strike you down for good." As time trickled by like slow poison, a creeping sense of unease began to saturate her heart. Li Xiumei felt a surge of frustration at her own vulnerability. As the daughter of the Sect Leader of the Myriad Extinction Demon Sect—a man who slaughtered without blinking—how could she harbor such weak, sentimental thoughts? She parted her lips slightly, whispering a seemingly heartless curse into the empty air.

At that precise moment, a dry, weary chuckle echoed from the cave entrance. A lean, slightly haggard figure slowly emerged from the shadows. Looking at the startled girl, he spoke softly, "I'm afraid I must disappoint you this time." As the words left his mouth, a sudden, sickly flush rose to Reyn's pale face. The injuries he had been desperately suppressing for the duration of his journey back were finally showing signs of a violent eruption. Reyn dared not be careless.

He immediately sat cross-legged on the cold stone floor, reaching into his robes to retrieve several medicinal pills. He swallowed them in one gulp, closing his eyes to slowly refine the medicinal essence as he entered a state of deep meditation. Though he had changed into a fresh set of azure robes, the faint, metallic scent of blood still clung to him like a shroud.

His ghostly complexion, labored breathing, and the erratic ebb and flow of his spiritual pressure all served as grim testaments to the severity of his internal trauma. Li Xiumei's mouth hung slightly agape, her eyes shimmering with unconcealed worry. She hurried to his side, and only after confirming that his life-force was stable did she feel a heavy weight lift from her chest.

"He suffered such grievous wounds all for the sake of saving me." She bit her lip, watching the slight twitch of Reyn's brow that betrayed his agony. For reasons she couldn't name, a pang of genuine heartache throbbed within her.

"Ugh, what am I overthinking for? This big bad egg might be badly hurt, but he certainly won't die. At worst, I'll just find a way to compensate him later." With this thought, her heart finally found a semblance of peace. She sat upon the stone platform, waiting until she was certain Reyn would not suffer a cultivation deviation, before finally closing her eyes to enter her own meditative state. A man and a woman, tucked away in a mountain cave beside a hidden stream, remained in a silent, tranquil vigil.

Three days later, as the first light of dawn began to bleed through the canopy, a thin veil of mist drifted through the forest. Following a night of brutal predation under the laws of the jungle, the woods had fallen into their most profound silence, projecting an air of ethereal serenity. Inside the cave, Reyn's tightly shut eyelids trembled before slowly opening. Two flashes of emerald light flickered in his pupils before fading back into their usual calm. Upon waking, he did not stand immediately.

Instead, he closed his eyes again to meticulously sense the changes within his body. After a long moment, feeling the spiritual energy that had grown significantly denser and the divine sense that had surged in strength, a wry, bitter smile touched his lips. His cultivation had actually broken through once again! This bout of life-and-death slaughter had pushed Reyn's potential to the brink. Having survived the crisis and rebuilt himself from the wreckage of his injuries, his cultivation had ascended.

However, upon closer inspection, he realized he still had not reached the Foundation Establishment realm.

"The 16th level of Qi Condensation?" Reyn shook his head with a self-deprecating laugh. It was an absurdity, yet surviving a fatal encounter and gaining a breakthrough was, regardless of the logic, a cause for celebration. He exhaled a cloud of turbid qi and rose to his feet. His gaze swept across the cavern, but when he failed to find Li Xiumei, his brow knit in a slight frown.

"Has she already left?" A faint, bitter taste rose in his throat, but he quickly mocked himself for his sentimentality. It was already a blessing that the girl hadn't struck him while he was incapacitated; he shouldn't harbor any further delusions. The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Shaking off the thought, Reyn prepared to depart. His injuries were mostly healed, and he had been away from the sect for nearly half a month.

The assessments at Hundred Herb Valley and the Sect Grand Tournament were fast approaching; it was time to return. He walked toward the exit, and upon reaching the mouth of the cave, a flash of light enveloped him as he drifted down toward the mountain stream below. At that very moment, the sun crested the eastern horizon, leaping from the clouds like a ball of molten fire. The morning glow spilled downward, instantly sharpening the previously blurred landscape.

"Ah!" A sudden, piercing shriek startled Reyn. He spun around, only to find himself staring at Li Xiumei, who was currently bathing in a small, secluded pool within the ravine. His face froze, then turned a deep, burning crimson as he hurriedly averted his eyes. However, in that fleeting, crystalline moment, the enhanced vision of a cultivator had seen everything.

The pool was as clear as glass, and even though Li Xiumei had instinctively crossed her arms over her chest and submerged herself, she could not hide the boundless vernal radiance of her form. Splash! With a wave of her hand, a set of fresh robes flew into her grasp. She donned them in a blur of motion before landing on the bank, her face flushed with a mixture of fury and embarrassment.

"I... I'm sorry! I didn't do it on purpose! But don't worry, I swear I didn't see a thing just now." Though Reyn's back was turned, he could feel the two daggers of her gaze stabbing into him, making him groan inwardly. Such an explanation was the height of futility. Reyn's voice trailed off, and the atmosphere became excruciatingly awkward. After a long silence, Li Xiumei let out a cold snort and vanished into the cave in a streak of light. Once out of Reyn's sight, her face burned like fire.

The thought of being seen so completely by that man made her skin crawl with heat.

"That damned guy! Wasn't he supposed to be healing? Why did he have to wake up right at this moment!" she grumbled inwardly. Her cultivation had fully recovered today. For safety, she had activated a specialized jade slip of the Myriad Extinction Demon Sect; someone would surely arrive to escort her back by noon at the latest. She had simply wanted to freshen up and change clothes to avoid any misunderstandings, never expecting to offer a free show to a certain someone's eyes.

Hearing footsteps behind her, Li Xiumei hurriedly composed herself on the stone platform, forcing her expression into a mask of indifference, though a hint of panic still flickered in the depths of her eyes.

"That... I'm truly sorry. I thought you had already left, I didn't expect... but rest assured, I will never tell a third soul about what happened today!" Looking at Reyn's earnest, vow-making expression, Li Xiumei felt a surge of silent resentment. You've kissed me, touched me, and seen me naked, she thought bitterly. Even if you don't say it, you've already taken all the advantages there are to take, and yet you're still acting innocent! Reyn rubbed his head awkwardly.

Seeing her dark, silent face, he didn't know how to break the tension, and the two lapsed into a stifling silence. An hour later, just as Reyn was about to speak, several powerful spiritual auras surged toward their location. Three of them caused Reyn's expression to change instantly—these three were Golden Core cultivators! The others were mostly at the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment or higher. The group made no effort to hide their terrifying pressure, descending upon the area with aggressive momentum.

"Three Golden Cores!" Reyn's face darkened, his voice laced with bitterness. Facing enemies of this caliber, he wouldn't have even a fraction of a chance at survival. Li Xiumei's eyes flickered with a hidden smile, but she said nothing. Sensing the familiar auras, she walked out of the cave and flew into the air to meet them. Knowing he couldn't hide from the divine sense of a Golden Core master, Reyn followed closely behind her.

However, the needle-like Alchemical Treasure within his dantian was already primed, his entire body coiled like a spring, ready for a desperate final stand. Li Xiumei stood suspended in the air, clad in her new moon-white dress. Her long black hair cascaded to her waist, fluttering in the breeze. As she opened her eyes, an innate aura of nobility and aloofness radiated from her. Reyn stood by her side, his muscles taut and his gaze cold.

His aura was suppressed but lethal, like a recurve bow drawn to its limit, ready to snap at any moment. As the incoming group detected the two of them, their speed increased. Within moments, they appeared in full view. At the lead was a young man of twenty-four or twenty-five, dressed in white brocade. He was as handsome as carved jade, possessing a refined, scholarly air. But what was truly shocking was the spiritual pressure he emitted—he was a Golden Core cultivator.

To reach such a stage at his age, even if only the early stage, was enough to leave anyone speechless. Flanking the young man were two elders with snow-white hair and somber expressions. Their bodies were shrouded in rolling clouds of baleful aura, making them look like vengeful ghosts. One look told Reyn these were men of slaughter who had ended countless lives to accumulate such a dense, terrifying miasma.

An ordinary cultivator facing them would likely only be able to exert seventy percent of their power due to the sheer psychological pressure. Behind the elders followed seven or eight others, mostly in their twenties, all with deep cultivations. The weakest among them was at the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment. This procession, shimmering with the light of various treasures, arrived within a few yards of the pair in the blink of an eye.

"Subordinates pay their respects to the Young Miss!" Led by the two elders, the entire group—excluding the young man in brocade—bowed deeply in unison. Reyn's face froze as a storm of shock erupted in his mind. In his Xuanxiao Sect, only the Sect Master had reached the mid-stage of the Golden Core realm, which was enough to make them a prominent power in the North Yue State. Many smaller sects were led by mere Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Yet here, he was witnessing two Golden Core masters and a host of Foundation Establishment experts bowing with genuine, heartfelt reverence. Just what is Li Xiumei's identity? To have three Golden Core masters come to receive her... could her father truly be a Nascent Soul Old Monster? At this thought, Reyn's face turned pale, and cold sweat soaked his back. If Li Xiumei were to reveal even a fraction of the 'indecencies' he had committed, his end would be unimaginably wretched.