Ye Chenyan couldn’t help clicking his tongue. “When they said you were going to undergo the trials, I figured you had to be somebody worth taking seriously. Turns out you’re only doing it to impress a girl...”
“So what?” Ren Jiangliu wasn’t ashamed in the slightest. “There’s someone I love beneath this sky. That’s why I’m willing to risk my life for it.”
“Besides, what’s wrong with trying to make the girl you like happy? If you look down on all this romance nonsense so much, then don’t fall in love yourself!”
That shut Ye Chenyan up. He turned toward Yu Qingtang and muttered under his breath, “...Who said I looked down on it?”
Yu Qingtang corrected Ren Jiangliu. “The dragon you love.”
“Right, right.” Ren Jiangliu immediately accepted the correction and nodded solemnly. Then he sighed mournfully. “Unfortunately, despite all my devotion, Li Ji...”
He pressed a hand over his heart, looking utterly dejected.
“That’s just how feelings work.” Yu Qingtang patted his shoulder consolingly. “Matters of the heart can’t be forced.”
“But I’m not giving up.” Ren Jiangliu immediately shot him a wary look. “You may be able to beat me in a fight, but there are plenty of other areas where I won’t lose to you!”
He proudly pointed at himself. “I’m willing to marry into the Dragon Palace. Are you?”
Yu Qingtang: “...”
He hadn’t intended to dignify such a stupid question with an answer, but then Ye Chenyan actually turned to look at him too.
So Yu Qingtang had no choice but to declare his position. “No.”
“See?” Ren Jiangliu actually looked proud. “I win.”
Yu Qingtang: “...”
“You really are dead set on becoming the Dragon Palace’s live-in son-in-law!”
At this point, dog Xiaosa might as well give you your own separate novel.
Yu Qingtang shook his head. He was just about to call Ye Chenyan over so they could leave this idiot behind and report back to Li Ji when Ren Jiangliu suddenly exchanged a look with the manta ray.
The two of them lunged at Yu Qingtang.
One on each side, they wrapped themselves around his legs.
Yu Qingtang still wasn’t used to moving underwater, so for once he failed to dodge in time. Both legs fell into enemy hands. Horrified, he grabbed Ye Chenyan. “Why are you grabbing me? Grab him!”
“Since you have no designs on Li Ji, take me with you.” Ren Jiangliu’s posture was anything but dignified, yet his voice somehow remained perfectly calm. “She’s been avoiding me for days. It’s time she saw me!”
“What does any of that have to do with me?!” Yu Qingtang tried to yank his legs free, then twisted around to demand Ye Chenyan’s help. “He’s pawing at me! Why aren’t you doing anything?”
“Huh?” Ye Chenyan froze, his expression oddly complicated. “For some reason, this guy just... doesn’t feel threatening.”
“In any way.”
His expression was utterly sincere.
Then he casually hooked Ren Jiangliu by the collar with his demonic weapon and lifted him off Yu Qingtang.
The moment the manta ray saw its master dangling from the weapon, it wisely decided not to continue fighting alone. It released Yu Qingtang at once and quietly plastered itself against Ren Jiangliu instead.
Ren Jiangliu was still trying. “What’s wrong with taking me inside with you?!”
When Yu Qingtang remained unmoved, Ren Jiangliu actually turned to Ye Chenyan instead. “You take me. Otherwise, what if Li Ji really does take a liking to him?”
Ye Chenyan: “...”
He actually looked tempted.
“Don’t fall for his sweet talk!” Yu Qingtang hurriedly tugged on Ye Chenyan. “Li Ji said getting rid of him was what counted as helping!”
“Oh.” Ye Chenyan looked almost disappointed. He let Ren Jiangliu go. “Then there’s nothing I can do. Leave.”
“Wait, wait!” Ren Jiangliu struggled again, but this time his brows knitted and his expression turned serious. “You’re here for the Realm Stone?”
Ye Chenyan turned back toward him. “How do you know about that too?”
Wasn’t the Realm Stone supposed to be highly classified?
“Guarding the Realm Stone has always been a responsibility jointly borne by the Dragon Palace and my Stillwater Sect.” Ren Jiangliu might have looked rather pathetic at the moment, but he still managed to put on a grave expression. “If you truly came for the Realm Stone, then I should be there to witness it as well.”
Yu Qingtang turned to the black dragon Feiyan for confirmation.
Two jets of water shot from Feiyan’s nostrils as he rolled his enormous eyes. “This concerns every living creature in this realm. Ever since the Realm Stone fell into the Sea of Returning Ruins, the human race and the sea folk have had an agreement. We do guard it together.”
“If this idiot hadn’t been causing such a ridiculous scene, the Clan Head was planning to bring him along in the first place.”
“Ahem.” Ren Jiangliu cleared his throat. “I do know how to distinguish serious matters from personal ones.”
“It was only because they hadn’t arrived yet that I...”
He flipped his manta ray right-side up, straightened his robes, and instantly returned to the refined, elegant appearance he had worn when they first met.
Then he gave them a slight nod.
“Let’s go.”
Yu Qingtang: “...”
He looked respectable enough now, but considering everything he had just done, Yu Qingtang strongly suspected this was all an act to get himself in front of Li Ji.
Feiyan, however, had no such doubts. His booming voice was as loud as ever. “Wouldn’t everything have been easier if you’d acted like this from the start? Then the Clan Head wouldn’t have kept you outside for so long.”
“She said if you still remembered your responsibilities, I could bring you along—but you’d probably need a beating first to knock some sense into you.”
Ren Jiangliu: “...”
Feiyan was impatient by nature. He called Yu Qingtang and Ye Chenyan back onto his back.
Yu Qingtang pointed at Ren Jiangliu. “I really don’t want to care whether he lives or dies, but what about him?”
“He can keep up.”
Once Feiyan confirmed the two of them were seated securely, his tail lashed out and he shot forward.
Curious, Yu Qingtang poked his head past the water curtain to look.
Ren Jiangliu gave a short laugh, tucked the manta ray beneath one arm, and formed a hand seal with two fingers. A column of water wrapped around his entire body, turning him into something like a surging current as he split the surrounding water and sped forward.
Shockingly, he was no slower than Feiyan.
Yu Qingtang stared with his mouth hanging open before blurting out, “If you can move that fast by yourself, why are you even carrying that manta ray around?”
Ren Jiangliu raised an eyebrow. “Because it’s cute.”
Clamped beneath his arm, the manta ray’s fins flapped wildly in the rushing current.
It did, in fact... look extremely cute.
“Hmm...” Yu Qingtang nodded thoughtfully.
Ye Chenyan copied him, sticking his own head through the water curtain and resting his chin on top of Yu Qingtang’s head. “You like this one too?”
“Mm.” Yu Qingtang had been about to casually ask him to catch one when something suddenly occurred to him. His eyes lit up as he turned around. “Can you turn into one of those?”
Ye Chenyan burst out laughing. “I can’t turn into everything.”
He gave a soft sigh. “Besides, you like everything. Even the demon race’s seventy-two totems probably wouldn’t be enough...”
Yu Qingtang’s eyes widened slightly.
He pulled the water curtain shut, then turned back toward Ye Chenyan.
Ye Chenyan raised an eyebrow. “What?”
“You said that on purpose because you wanted me to tell you...” Yu Qingtang leaned toward his ear and cleared his throat with great ceremony. “What matters isn’t what you can turn into. What matters is who you are to begin with.”
Ye Chenyan blinked once, then sighed and turned his face away. “Somebody obviously knows exactly what I want to hear, yet he refuses to say it.”
Yu Qingtang gave two stupid little laughs and bumped him lightly with his shoulder.
Annoyed, Ye Chenyan bumped him back.
Yu Qingtang immediately collapsed where he sat, clutching his shoulder and playing dead. “Ugh... I’m done for.”
Ye Chenyan propped his chin on one hand and stared at him.
Yu Qingtang held out his hand. “Pay damages.”
Ye Chenyan raised an eyebrow and took his hand. “How much?”
Yu Qingtang patted his own stomach. “Figure out how much I’m worth and name your price!”
Ye Chenyan chuckled. “Then it’ll have to be a sky-high price. Preferably one I could never finish paying off in this lifetime.”
He laced his fingers through Yu Qingtang’s and lowered his voice.
“What kind of trials are waiting at the bottom of the sea?”
Yu Qingtang’s eyes widened slightly.
Ye Chenyan had known for a long time that Yu Qingtang had read the original novel before coming here. But Ye Chenyan had never believed in fate, and he certainly didn’t believe in that so-called original novel Yu had read.
He would never ask in advance what happened in the book just so he could prepare himself for the plot...
Yu Qingtang blinked slowly. “Are you... scared?”
“...Not of losing. And not of failing.” Ye Chenyan slowly interlaced their fingers. His voice was quiet. “I’m afraid it won’t choose me, and the burden will fall on you instead.”
“Oh...” Yu Qingtang nodded in sudden understanding. “You’re worried I’ll have to suffer.”
“Then don’t worry.”
Ye Chenyan tightened his grip. “We agreed. If I... don’t pass the Realm Stone’s test, I’ll just take it again. And again. Until it accepts me.”
“You...”
“And I’ll stand off to the side and cheer you on!” Yu Qingtang enthusiastically nodded along. “And if Li Ji and Ren Jiangliu can still speak civilly to each other by then, I’ll even put in a good word for you with both of them!”
He beamed.
“Relax. I’m not stupid enough to go try taking the Realm Stone myself.”
“Besides, if even you can’t pass the trial, then nobody beneath Heaven can.”
He looked utterly confident in Ye Chenyan as he patted him on the shoulder.
“Show me that Long Aotian confidence!”
Ye Chenyan stared at him.
Then he abruptly collapsed into Yu Qingtang’s arms. “Can’t. No confidence.”
“Huh?” Yu Qingtang’s eyes widened. He hadn’t expected Ye Chenyan to pull something like this. “You...”
Ye Chenyan secretly opened one eye, crooked a finger at him, then pointed to his own lips.
Yu Qingtang: “...”
He muttered in a tiny voice, “There are people outside. And dragons. And a little pet. You...”
Ye Chenyan simply closed his eyes again and waited, completely unmoved.
Yu Qingtang: “...”
He sighed softly, then quickly bent down and kissed him.
Ye Chenyan failed to suppress a muffled laugh. He wrapped an arm around Yu Qingtang, who hurriedly covered his mouth.
“Hey—”
“Calm your mind! Focus your spirit! Purge yourself of worldly desires!”
Yu Qingtang tried to imitate Tianji Zi’s inscrutable fortune-teller act.
“This is my hint for passing the trial.”
Ye Chenyan merely ruffled his hair, then lowered his gaze toward him.
“Okay.”
Feiyan came to a stop.
They had probably reached their destination.
Ye Chenyan lifted the water curtain and heard Ren Jiangliu calling to them, “Hurry up! Don’t keep Li Ji waiting!”
He immediately dropped the curtain again and sat back down.
With a quiet laugh, he said, “Oh, right. I don’t actually find that guy all that annoying. Probably because one thing he said made sense.”
“Hm?” Yu Qingtang looked blank. “Which part? The part where he said Li Ji doesn’t like your type?”
Ye Chenyan: “...”
He sighed, reached out, pinched Yu Qingtang’s cheek, and gently shook it.
“The part where he said—he only risks his life because there’s someone he loves.”
His voice softened.
“If I want to save you, I have to save the whole world first.”
“So this is the one time I’ll act needy in front of you.” He kissed Yu Qingtang’s forehead. “Heavenly Dao, immortals, otherworldly evil demons—I don’t care what they are. None of them get to set their sights on you.”
Yu Qingtang’s eyes widened in shock, then narrowed with a trace of suspicion. “Surely... not all of them are after me, right?”
Ye Chenyan lifted the curtain again.
Before climbing out, he turned back and smiled.
“Either way, none of them are any good. I’ll take them all on.”
When he smiled like that, for an instant he seemed to become that high-spirited young man again—wild, arrogant, and unyielding, unafraid even if the sky itself came crashing down.
Tianji Zi and Wen Tianxia had peeled back one corner of the truth hidden behind the world, and the fate of wrestling one’s destiny from Heaven now pressed down upon them with crushing weight.
It was as though an invisible hand of fate were pushing them forward.
None of them knew whether the position they had been forced into now was itself the result of someone else’s calculations.
But Ye Chenyan refused to lose.
And he refused to believe in fate.
Yu Qingtang stared into his eyes, his ears slowly turning warm.
Damn. Apparently, this was exactly the kind of thing that worked on him.
“Ahem.” Yu Qingtang cleared his throat too and followed Ye Chenyan out. “All right! When the time comes, I’ll wave the banner and cheer you on while you take them all down!”
Ren Jiangliu glanced sideways at him, curious. “Take who down?”
“Shh.” Yu Qingtang maintained an air of mystery, looking rather pleased with himself. “Big shots you wouldn’t even dare imagine.”
“You’re here.”
A voice came from above them.
Everyone looked up together.
An enormous white dragon was coiled overhead, gazing down at them from above.
Ren Jiangliu cleared his throat and bowed to her with impeccable courtesy. “Miss Li Ji. It has been a long time.”
Seeing him suddenly act this proper, Yu Qingtang was so unused to it that his eyes widened in shock. “You—”
“Ahem.” Ren Jiangliu straightened his clothes and lowered his voice. “In front of the person you like... cough, the dragon you like, you have to put on a bit of an act.”
He pointed at Ye Chenyan.
“Didn’t he just...”
Ye Chenyan: “Ahem.”
Author’s Note:
Yu Qingtang: “? What act did he put on?”
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