Chapter 692: Embracing As We Sleep

Liu Yun City experienced a rare quiet night. With Feng Huwei's tragic death, the Divine Phoenix Army, having lost its Supreme Commander, ceased its "mission" and settled down in uneasy silence. Though they hadn't retreated, they also stopped harassing Liu Yun City.

This was the small courtyard where Yun Che had lived for sixteen years. The room's layout remained unchanged, almost identical to how it had always been, and the air carried the most familiar scent. The only thing that had changed was his state of mind.

Yun Che lay on the soft bed. The bedding was scarlet, and scarlet drapes surrounded him. For a fleeting moment, a haze descended, and Yun Che felt as if he had returned to his wedding night with Xia Qingyue years ago.

Everything in this room had been diligently maintained by Xiao Lingxi over the past few years. Every day, she would visit here at least once, doing her utmost to preserve everything connected to Yun Che.

"It's been six years and seven months since I married Xia Qingyue," Yun Che said, gently lifting the scarlet drape beside him and smiling faintly. "Coincidentally, it was also on my wedding night that I met Jasmine... If I hadn't met you, I'm sure my life would have been completely different."

Yun Che was talking to himself, but Jasmine, uncharacteristically, was not asleep at this moment. As soon as his voice fell, Jasmine remarked indifferently, "Hmph, if you hadn't met me, given your death-seeking personality, you'd have run out of a hundred lives by now!"

"Same to you!" Yun Che retorted quietly, then immediately asked, "It seems your sleep time has been getting shorter lately. Has the devil poison almost been completely purified?"

"About thirty percent left," Jasmine said slowly. "As expected of the Sky Poison Pearl, its purification power far exceeds my expectations. The devil poison I was afflicted with would terrify even True Gods; if fully unleashed, it would be enough to turn the entire Profound Sky Continent into a deathly hell. Moreover, after destroying my body, it penetrated deep into my soul, making it thousands of times harder to purify than just body poison. I originally thought complete purification would take at least thirty years, but I never imagined it would be purified to this extent in less than seven years. The remaining thirty percent can be completely purified in just a few more months."

"That's good," Yun Che nodded, then asked, "Oh... you initially wanted me to reach the Sovereign Profound Realm within thirty years because you thought it would take at least thirty years for the devil poison to be completely purified?"

"That's one reason," Jasmine said indifferently. "The second was to motivate you. But it seems I underestimated the Sky Poison Pearl, and I also underestimated your talent and luck."

"Hehe!" Yun Che chuckled with a hint of pride. Then he "humbly" added, "But I'm only at the King Profound Realm right now, still far from the true Sovereign Profound Realm. Who knows... maybe I really won't become an Emperor in thirty years."

"No, you've already met my expected goal!" Jasmine said lightly. "To reconstruct my body, I need enough Purple Vein Divine Crystals and vital energy of at least Emperor strength. Although your current profound strength realm is only King Profound, in terms of power, you've already initially reached Sovereign Profound. Because of the Dragon God bloodline and the power of the Great Way of the Buddha, your vital energy surpasses even that of a peak Emperor. The body reconstructed with your current vital energy will be far more perfect than I originally anticipated!"

Yun Che was instantly energized. "Really?!" he exclaimed. "Why didn't you say so sooner! Otherwise, I would have already hastened my efforts to collect Purple Vein Divine Crystals and profound beast profound pills!"

Yun Che's voice was filled with genuine joy and eagerness, yet it was met with a cold snort from Jasmine. "Hmph! What good would telling you earlier do? Have you found the Netherworld Udumbara Flower? Without it, the soul and body cannot achieve perfect fusion... So, what's the point of merely reconstructing the body!"

"...Understood, I'll try my best to find it. I'll go ask at the Black Moon Merchant Guild tomorrow; maybe they'll have some information."

"Tomorrow?" Jasmine said softly. "We were originally supposed to go to the Divine Phoenix Nation today, but then your little aunt said one thing, and now it's tomorrow. The principles you always spout are always just bubbles when it comes to women. Hmph, that truly fits your nature as a lecher!"

"If one day you meet a tragic end, it will definitely be because of a woman."

The most common epithet Jasmine used for Yun Che was "lecher"; over the years, she had called him that more often than she had called him "Yun Che" directly. Yun Che had heard countless such sarcastic remarks aimed at him. Just as Jasmine finished speaking, the Samsara Mirror hanging around Yun Che's neck suddenly, without warning, flashed with a faint silver light... The light appeared and vanished in an instant.

However, neither Yun Che nor Jasmine noticed.

"Yes, yes, yes, maybe it'll even be because of you," Yun Che said, smiling, with his hands clasped behind his head. "Then you'll keep meeting me in your next life, and continue to be forced to follow me every step of the way, repaying your life debt, just like in this life... Thinking about it that way doesn't seem so bad."

"...Hmph." Jasmine responded with a direct snort of disdain.

Yun Che lay quietly for a while, but he didn't fall asleep. He silently sensed the deep quiet of the entire Xiao Clan at night. A quarter of an hour later, he opened his eyes, a devilish smile curving his lips, and muttered to himself, "Hmm... Grandpa and the others should be sound asleep by now."

He rolled over, got up, and walked out of the room. His body shot up, and he floated silently, a figure too swift for the eye to discern. He had already arrived in Xiao Lingxi's courtyard.

Xiao Lingxi was not yet asleep; warm lamplight still glowed in her room. The gently flickering warm light cast a beautiful, dream-like silhouette onto the main window.

Looking at the silhouette, Yun Che instinctively smiled. He raised his hand, and with a gentle flick of his wrist, the bamboo window quickly opened without a sound. Then, he flew into the room through the window.

"Ah..."

Before Xiao Lingxi could utter her startled cry, she was embraced around the waist, and her lips were passionately kissed. All sounds immediately turned into helpless whimpers. She instinctively struggled, but as she inhaled the most familiar scent of her life, her struggles grew weaker and weaker, until she completely collapsed into Yun Che's embrace. She gently closed her beautiful eyes, allowing the suddenly intruding man to claim her lips and caress her delicate form.

The room's light was extinguished by a burst of profound energy. As Xiao Lingxi was lost in a daze of confusion and passion, Yun Che pressed her upper body down onto the bed. With a gentle flick of one hand, the butterfly sash and the buttons of her dress were completely undone. His palm slipped in, unhindered, directly beneath her undergarment. Tracing upwards along her slender waist, he cupped a soft, full breast and gently kneaded it.

"Ugh..." Xiao Lingxi's eyelashes fluttered, and her beautiful eyes widened. A long whimper escaped her lips, and her body instinctively began to struggle. Although she had been "teased" by Yun Che in various ways before, there had always been clothes separating them. But this time, Yun Che was intimately touching her without any barrier. Yet, both her whimpers and her struggles were as faint as those of a wounded small animal. Finally, in her panic, her pearly teeth instinctively bit down on Yun Che's tongue, which had intruded into her mouth.

Yun Che's movements stopped. He opened his eyes and looked at the girl whose lips and teeth were entangled with his. Xiao Lingxi was breathing heavily, her lotus-like breath gently brushing against Yun Che's face, and her delicate eyebrows trembled slightly in tension.

Compared to Yun Che, the inexperienced Xiao Lingxi was like a blank sheet of paper. Fearing that his overly aggressive actions would startle her, Yun Che felt a hint of regret. Gently, he moved his hand away from her soft, warm flesh.

Sensing his movement, a soft hand suddenly pressed onto his palm. Immediately, a soft, full curve once again filled his palm.

"Hold me while I sleep... tonight... don't let go..." she whispered, resting her head on Yun Che's chest, her voice trembling slightly with nervousness. Her beautiful eyes were tightly closed, not daring to meet his gaze.

Yun Che smiled faintly. He picked up Xiao Lingxi, rolled onto the bed, and embraced her tightly, just as they had embraced each other to sleep when they were young.

"Little Che, never... never leave me again," she murmured softly, as if in a dream.

"Mmm..." Yun Che replied in an even softer voice.

"...This pervert, he actually laid hands on his own little aunt!" Jasmine's voice echoed in Yun Che's mind, faintly tinged with murderous intent.

The next morning, Yun Che went with Xiao Yun and Under Heaven Number Seven to pay respects to Xiao Ying and his wife. Then, after bidding farewell to the reluctant Xiao Lingxi and Xiao Lie, they left Liu Yun City and arrived at the Blue Wind Imperial City.

The Blue Wind Imperial City was still in a state of extreme tension, but the atmosphere of panic was much lighter than it had been two days prior.

After Yun Che informed Cang Yue that he was about to head to the Divine Phoenix Empire to force their army to retreat, Cang Yue was silent for a long time. Leaning on Yun Che's shoulder, she looked at Cang Wanhe's portrait on the wall and softly said, "Husband, I am Father Emperor's only daughter, and the revenge for his murder is an irreconcilable matter... But, I am, after all, the Emperor of Blue Wind. If the conflict escalates, the people of Blue Wind will only be plunged into an even more dreadful vortex of war. If we can make the Divine Phoenix retreat, stop the war, and promise not to invade again..."

Cang Yue gently closed her eyes. "Then let's temporarily forget Father Emperor's revenge."

"Yue'er, don't worry, I know what to do," Yun Che said with a smile. He knew Cang Yue's words were out of concern for the future of the Blue Wind Nation, and even more, concern for him. She knew she couldn't stop his decision, so she could only use such words to hope that Yun Che's conflict with the Divine Phoenix Empire would be as minimal as possible, because the smaller the conflict, the smaller the risk he would face.

"Brother-in-law, I'm coming with you!!"

Xia Yuanba slammed his fists together in front of his chest, creating a muffled thud that made the entire hall tremble violently. "Watch me smash those Divine Phoenix scoundrels' den to smithereens with a single punch!"

"No, Yuanba, you stay here," Yun Che said, looking at Xia Yuanba. "I'm enough for the Divine Phoenix Nation by myself. You have a more important task staying here."

"The Blue Wind Imperial City is the Blue Wind Nation's last line of defense; it absolutely cannot collapse! If I provoke the Divine Phoenix Nation there, and they can't catch me, they are very likely to take their anger out on this place. Therefore, someone must guard this place. Yuanba, it's precisely because you are here that I can confidently go to the Divine Phoenix Nation."

Yun Che's last sentence made the already eager Xia Yuanba stop insisting. He nodded vigorously, "Brother-in-law, don't worry, with me here, no one from the Divine Phoenix Nation will even think about getting close!"

"Brother Tianxia, I've troubled you as well. Sigh... I originally brought you and Little Seven here to travel, but I never expected to bring you so much trouble."

"Hehe," Under Heaven Number One chuckled calmly. "Brother Yun, there's no need for such formalities. I believe with Brother Yun's abilities, a mere Divine Phoenix Nation... is nothing worth mentioning."

"Of course!" Yun Che grinned, his entire being exuding arrogance. He hugged Cang Yue, looking into her eyes, "Yue'er, wait for me safely at home... I promise to make the Divine Phoenix Nation give you the most 'sincere' explanation."

With a light kiss on Cang Yue's forehead, Yun Che then soared into the air, summoning the Primordial Profound Ark. The next instant, he vanished within a spatial vortex.