Chapter 29: Crying Qingxue?

Inside the inner court, out side the girls dorm:on the same day at noon.

Acrowd had gathered. The girls were watching and faint whispers were heard. A handsome boy with inky-black eyes was standing in front of their eyes.

Zhao Wenshan looked towards the dorm and said to his another friend who had light hairs,

"Brother, It’s been a long time since I spoke to senior sister Qingyao"

...

Outer court.

Lin Tian, was still standing in the middle of the path like someone had nailed his feet to the stone. The other one, Gu shan- the loud third-row brat , was waving a hand in front of his face and talking without pause.

Lin Tian’s hands were trembling, just a little. Although most people would have missed it, but she didn’t.

Zhao wen looked at him for a long time,

Mid Foundation realm? When did he .. She noticed with her sharp perception.

The denser qi sat on him cleanly, there’s no leakage, no instability.

He was clearly stronger than this morning. Stronger than any mixed-root outer should have managed, between noon and the brackets, and under that new pressure... the residual.

Her own Yin still answered it, this time without her noticing, like last time she knew he’s trying to pull.

Just a little, she had told herself in the empty hall.

Just a little had been enough for the residual to stay.

Hmm.... he’s growth is impressive, I wonder if he’s using dual cultivation, that’s unlikely. Zhao Wen’s ink-black eyes stayed on him for three full breaths.

Then she looked away and continued toward the competition ground with same steps , practical coil of dark hair unmoved, her expression flat as always.

A female elder who stared too long at an "outer disciple" invited questions. She did not invite questions.

The thin thread pulled once, a little stubbornly, before distance finally thinned it.

After sometimes, Lin Tian only started at that direction walking again; when Gu Shen grabbed his sleeve and yanked.

"Brother! Your eyes are open but nobody is home. Did the breakthrough scramble your brain? Fucking , Blink twice if you can still hear me."

Haah that’s was me being over reactive.

Lin Tian blinked once "Good enough brother!!" Gu Shen exhaled.

"You won the round you know, your qi got denser, and now you’re standing in the path, whispering women’s names like a man who got haunted. What the hell happened between the square and here?"

Iwas whispering? I didn’t realise!

"Nothing brother, I’m just a little tired,you know I beat that brat in the fight"

"Nothing does not make your hands shake!"

Lin Tian curled his fingers until the tremor stopped.

The dual core had settled again, Mid Foundation pressure steady, but the name still sat heavy on his tongue.

Bi Ling’er, Crimson eyes, blood-red rose on fair skin. The feeling that his body had already belonged to someone long before this life.

He locked it down."I need to find Qingxue."

Gu Shen squinted at him. "You shouldn’t, not now atleast... You need to sit down before you fall down. Uh.fine!!! Go find your childhood sweetheart , I’ll go spread the news that the mixed-root freak just became a problem for everyone, who pointed at his name this morning!"

He left with hurried steps, eager to spread the details of lin’s breakthrough, still muttering.

Lin Tian turned toward the women’s side of the east slope.

He saw the familiar figure with spring water eyes, who made his heart flutter everytime.

Su Qingxue was already waiting near the wash troughs, white ribbon neat, eyes sharp with worry the moment she saw his face.

She didn’t ask if he was hurt. She just grabbed his wrist, checked his pulse the way she always did. To be precise, when the dual thread felt off, and pulled him into the narrow gap between the storage shed and the wall where the path noise dropped.

"what happened?? Your core is so unsettled," she muttered softly, then after looking at him enough, she added, "its not unstable. Just... loud. What happened after the round?"

Well ....

"its nothing much, just a memory, "

She waited, staring at his face, like there’s more explanation is coming.

He then added with a sigh, " well it’s a face, a name from before.It hit harder than the others."He didn’t say Bi Ling’er.

What memory? What face ??is this Idiot thinking about his uncle? Well Who is he talking about, I should know everyone he knows. He hadn’t that much people around him....

Su Qingxue’s grip on his wrist tightened once, then it eased. The dual thread between them pulsed, warm and steady , sequre and fully stabilized, probably due to mutual understanding.

Pure Yin reaching for the denser Yang without hesitation.

"So Is it dangerous?"

"Sigh....I don’t know yet, well I’ll tell you sometimes later"He muttered, then a faint smile appear on his face.

She studied his face for a long moment. The afternoon light caught the faint pink still left on her ears from earlier. Mid Foundation had changed the weight of the thread, it’s humming gentle. She could feel it too.

Should I ask what I’m thinking?Ugg it’s so embarassing.

"Tian-ge..." She murmured slowly.

"Mm?"

"The denser stage......when we dual again, will it be any different? it’s not like I don’t like it this way! It’s just, little curiosity."

Look at her ears...hehh

"of course, it’ll be stronger and cleaner. The exchange of yin and yang should move faster."

She was quiet, her thumb moved once across the inside of his wrist..

"I meant what I said in the town," she confessed with her confident voice, a little shy. "About not pretending and about wanting you properly." Her voice stayed low. "I still want that, I want that more than before."

" Every time the thread pulls now it sits lower, every time you win a round I have to lock my qi so the seniors don’t notice."

" I’m not asking to dual in the middle of the path. I’m saying I accept it fully, not just to keep you alive. Not just because there isn’t anyone trailing us, as the path we’re walking."

The dual core turned hard under his ribs, as he looked at her.

Su Qingxue didn’t look away, not even a little,

"I accept the dual path and ....and I accept you" she said clearly, "Im with you,I was always.

"For as long as the thread lasts, and longer if we make it last. If that means more nights, more mornings, more risk of someone hearing through thin walls... I still accept it. I’m done pretending this is only survival."

Lin Tian lifted his free hand and brushed a strand of black hair behind her ear. The dual thread flared open between them, pure Yin spilling toward him in a willing stream she no longer tried to hold back.

As if predicting what is going to happen she speaks again,

"And I’m sure, don’t make me say it a third time since that day. Not when half the outer court is already watching your name."

He placed his lips on her forehead, brief and controlled. Her breath still caught against his mouth. When he pulled back, her fingers had moved from his wrist to the front of his robe and stayed there.

"Tonight, after the second night bell. Women’s back courtyard has fewer patrols. If you can get there without that "bald bastard" following you with a formation flag...I want the denser stage. I want to feel what Mid Foundation does, when you’re inside me."

"And I want to stop pretending I’m only doing this for the breakthroughs. I want to do it without thinking about cultivation"

Uggg why did I say thattttg!! Why did I say all this!! Everything was fine.

The dual thread pulsed between them, open and accepted.

Lin Tian rested his forehead against hers for a breath.

"I’ll come, I’ll definitely"

Su Qingxue nodded once. Then she stepped back, fixed her expression into something the seniors wouldn’t question, and walked toward the women’s path with the dual thread still burning bright and willing between them.

A smile on her face ...

Lin Tian stood by the wash trough until her presence faded to a warm point, at the edge of his awareness.

A thin residual thread from an elder who still looked too long.

A name from a previous life that refused to stay buried.

And Su Qingxue’s full acceptance sitting in the dual thread like a door, that had finally been opened from both sides.

Tonight the women’s back courtyard would not be quiet!

He turned toward the third-row dorms.

The dual core was already turning in anticipation.

...

At evening, on the same day.

Lin Tian sense somthing amiss, not bad but a shift in mood, sorrow and Somthing humiliating and a little determination.

He Instinctively send his senses inwards, and felt the threads second end approaching him.

The smile disappeared from his lips, as Qingxue arrived with little tears on her eyes.

"Tian-ge ...! That Zhao sister humiliated me.. and I , I accepted a pure dual verification"