Chapter 40: Just Want to Hold You

Judging by those eyes, Gu Aotian and the others would probably have more entanglements with this man.

“Dear beautiful lady, oh exceedingly gorgeous lady.” Fatty could not resist preparing his usual pick up lines, but Huang Hanyan had already bypassed Gu Aotian and him, heading straight towards Ye Wenxin.

It was clear she was planning to talk to Ye Wenxin.

“What do you want! Don’t you dare bully Big Sister!” Seeing Huang Hanyan was a woman, Gu Xiangsi’s courage grew much larger. She hugged the petite Ye Wenxin, afraid that Huang Hanyan, with her higher cultivation, would bully Ye Wenxin.

Ye Wenxin was dumbfounded, and so was Huang Hanyan. Ye Wenxin wanted to struggle free, but she could only pretend to be helpless and weak.

“Let her go.” Huang Hanyan was even more upset. Even she had not hugged Ye Wenxin much, but now Ye Wenxin was being embraced by a little girl from all angles, making her feel furious.

“Ahem, Xiangsi, I know this Big Sister, hurry up and let me go, I’m about to die.” Ye Wenxin waved her hands weakly, having a persistent feeling that Gu Xiangsi was too dangerous.

Despite appearing so weak, her surprising strength made even Ye Wenxin, the former Demon Lord, a little overwhelmed under ordinary circumstances.

Gu Xiangsi released her hands, expression somewhat uneasy, seemingly a bit embarrassed.

“Hanyan, why are you here?” Ye Wenxin dared not to call her “Senior Sister”, for fear the others would suspect her of entering the Azure Wings Sect through the back door.

“Oh, I knew you were coming today, so I’ve come to see how you’re doing.” Huang Hanyan did not point out anything, simply treating it as them being acquaintances that had not seen each other in a long time.

“I’m doing fine. Once I join the Azure Wings Sect, we’ll be able to see each other every day.” Ye Wenxin answered with a smile, and this sentence embarrassed Huang Hanyan a little, the tension from earlier disappeared altogether, replaced with a gentle smile.

The crowd who had been watching at the sidelines could not take their eyes off that smile.

Huang Hanyan was also aware there were too many people around and wanted to pull Ye Wenxin aside for a brief chat, however, just as they left, Gu Xiangsi followed right at their heels, not giving the two a chance to be alone.

When people saw this, they naturally got curious and observed from a distance. Ye Wenxin felt speechless, but after careful thinking, the crowd probably assumed Huang Hanyan had secretly came over to relay the exam questions to Ye Wenxin, so they wanted to know what the two were chatting about.

“Do you feel a little different?” Ye Wenxin was too lazy to care, she held Huang Hanyan’s slender fingers and sensed a change with the Qi within her body.

“Mm, thanks to Junior Sister’s golden pills, I’m now at sixth-stage Qi Refining.” Huang Hanyan answered with a nod, unable to hide her inner excitement. Ye Wenxin was also quite surprised, but looking at the faint dark circles under Huang Hanyan’s eyes, she seemed to have made much preparation for her breakthrough.

Ye Wenxin caressed Huang Hanyan’s cheek, and Huang Hanyan’s cheeks immediately flushed at this action, yet she did not push away the small hand from her face.

She even felt rather comfortable with Ye Wenxin’s soothing touch.

“Training must combine both work and rest, don’t be hard on yourself….Oh right, I’ve recently refined a batch of golden pills, you can take them to cushion your stomach beforehand.” Ye Wenxin recalled the fruits of her latest labor in the backwoods.

Including the Heart-Cleansing Pills, she also refined several thousand first-grade pills, intending to shrewdly strike a deal at the recruitment assembly.

“I haven’t even finished the ones you gave me last time, and I was only looking to chat with you…” Huang Hanyan refused much more strongly, not wanting her relationship with Ye Wenxin to be bound solely by interests.

“No, this is also part of the experiment. I’ve changed a method of alchemy, so you must become my experimental subject and report the results to me.” Ye Wenxin had lifted several stages of restrictions on her cultivation and tried refining pills using ten alchemy furnaces at the same time. She had not expect it to be so successful.

Not only that, she had even refined about a dozen second-grade pills but did not plan on taking them out this time, as Huang Hanyan could not use them for the time being.

“I see. I’ll try this batch first then.” Upon hearing that it was for an experiment and could also help Ye Wenxin, Huang Hanyan accepted resolutely.

Seeing her serious look, Ye Wenxin could not hold back a laugh, “Don’t worry, it’s not like I practice poison alchemy, you don’t have to look like you’re sacrificing yourself.”

“Even if it’s poison, it doesn’t matter. I just want to be of help to you.” Huang Hanyan confessed her own thoughts, and Ye Wenxin had no idea how to assess her anymore, she only knew to keep smiling and casually change the topic.

She took out her bag of holding and handed over eight more bottles of various pills to Huang Hanyan.

Each bottle had ten pills inside, enough for Huang Hanyan to use for a long time.

Huang Hanyan put those things away and took out a notebook from her bag of holding, asking Ye Wenxin to sign it.

Ye Wenxin looked at it strangely. This notebook apparently recorded everything she had given to Huang Hanyan.

“Is there a need to exaggerate this much?”

“I must,” Huang Hanyan answered very seriously. She asked Ye Wenxin to review the previous contents and sign her name so as to prevent any disputes over these contents in the future.

“I can be considered as a merchant’s daughter, so this is also a habit.” Huang Hanyan was afraid Ye Wenxin would misunderstand, so had to briefly explain in detail her reason for doing this.

“That’s fine too, being clear about likes and dislikes.” Ye Wenxin was not too concerned, but she was afraid that at this rate, Huang Hanyan might never finish.

“Thank you, you’re the first person to feel that way.” Huang Hanyan giggled, as if this sentence was very convenient. The atmosphere was excellent between them, if only Gu Xiangsi was not beside them, this would have made for a warm and harmonious scene between two sisters.

“Big Sister, I’m so hungry.” Gu Xiangsi still interrupted the two’s conversation, even though she did not understand a single thing of what she was listening to.

Huang Hanyan was a little unhappy, but because the other party was Ye Wenxin’s friend, she slowly stood up. Huang Hanyan once again turned towards Ye Wenxin, patting her head, “I must be going as well, you all be careful, that man won’t give up.”

Finished saying this, Huang Hanyan left quickly and disappeared from view after a while.

Ye Wenxin followed her outside out of curiosity. She remembered Huang Hanyan currently still could not fly on a sword, so it also meant that someone had brought her here. When she looked, there was indeed a male inner disciple over there, smiling so attentively as he watched Huang Hanyan walking over.

Ye Wenxin was a bit uncomfortable seeing that, so she ran over and stopped Huang Hanyan.

“Senior Sister, why’re you hitching a ride on this person’s flying sword?”

“I traded this senior brother a golden pill in return for a short ride.” Huang Hanyan saw Ye Wenxin’s menacing look and was confused as to why Ye Wenxin was suddenly angry.

Ye Wenxin breathed a sigh of relief at this response.

She had thought Huang Hanyan was reluctant to endure hardships and traveled with this senior brother because of her golden pill. Now it seemed that she had misjudged.

Huang Hanyan also seemed to realize this, smiling gently. “Wenxin, what were you thinking? I’m the daughter of a merchant; I would never compromise myself.” She reached out and hugged Ye Wenxin, feeling even warmer inside.

Ye Wenxin did not say anything, but she also understood that Ye Wenxin was worried about her losing her true self.

“Besides, I just want to hold you.” Huang Hanyan’s embrace was tight, her voice soft.

Her face was slightly blushing, unsure why she said such words.

“Alright, keep it that way, Senior Sister. Even without relying on men, you can still succeed.” Ye Wenxin felt something was off, but she did not dwell on it, gently patting Huang Hanyan’s back as she watched her board the flying sword.

Although the senior brother was courteous, he also maintained a certain distance. Watching Huang Hanyan leave, Ye Wenxin planned to take a walk down the mountain while it was dark. However, she turned around and saw Gu Xiangsi.

“Aren’t you going to have dinner with your brother?” Ye Wenxin felt a headache coming on. She could not shake the feeling that she had said something she should not have, leading to her being approached by strange people again.

“Didn’t we agree just now that Big Sister would have dinner with us?” Gu Xiangsi countered, her beautiful eyes fixed on Ye Wenxin, with a hint of nervousness.

“Indeed, but we’re not familiar, and I’m afraid your brother and his friends might feel uncomfortable.” Ye Wenxin had actually prepared a Fasting Pill, and her cultivation level did not require her to eat to sustain herself. But since the male protagonist’s sister had come looking for her, Ye Wenxin naturally saw it as an opportunity to become friends with Gu Aotian.

Of course, Ye Wenxin also had to show some tact.

“No, my brother and his friends really like you.”

“Ahem, let’s not add unnecessary adjectives,” Gu Aotian interjected as he appeared with Fatty. In just a short while, Gu Aotian’s external injuries from the beating had healed almost completely, leaving only bruises.

“Miss Ye, let’s go down the mountain together for dinner. It’ll be good to have each other’s company,” Fatty added with a smile, his eyes barely visible.

Ye Wenxin nodded in agreement, “Just as well, earlier Hanyan mentioned that those people might cause trouble for us, so having more people will provide us with some support.”

Initially, the three of them were somewhat pleased with Ye Wenxin joining them, but upon hearing her words, their expressions turned grim. Ye Wenxin tried to lighten the mood, “Perhaps they won’t even come. After all, this is the Azure Wings Sect’s territory.”

Even if Gu Aotian’s future achievements would be remarkable, he was not a time traveler, so naturally he only possessed knowledge and experience proportionate to his age. He would suffer a lot in the future before truly becoming outstanding.

But why would someone like him, who was destined for greatness, have such a strange look in his eyes, as if he was extremely envious?

Ye Wenxin’s gaze wandered, only to see Gu Xiangsi clutching her arm, looking half-dead.

“Miss Ye, it’s the first time I’ve seen Xiangsi being so close to someone else.”

“Me too,” Fatty immediately chimed in, his eyes filled with envy, but the object of envy was completely different from Gu Aotian’s.

One was envious of Ye Wenxin’s relationship with Gu Aotian, while the other was envious of the tumultuous emotions Gu Xiangsi was displaying as she clung to Ye Wenxin’s arm.

“We’re both girls, isn’t it normal?” Ye Wenxin could not help but feel puzzled. According to reason, Gu Xiangsi, who had a fear of men, could not possibly reject women.