Chapter 616: Observing the Present in the Present

Twelve scale flowers swallowed, and in the dantian below his abdomen, it was as if a sweet rain had begun to fall. There was no coy process of waiting for the medicinal properties to volatilize or the body to absorb; the reward came into effect immediately.

Like a glutton who had been starving for a long time, it swallowed all the nourishment in one gulp. One hundred and twenty-eight branches grew and climbed simultaneously until they almost reached the height before he first ignited the Sleeve Tiger sword state.

The tenacious vitality brought by this strange technique took effect at the same time. Under the reverberation of his true Qi, his torn muscles and broken bones quickly hooked together. Seeing Pei Ye gripped his sword; he had already recovered about seventy percent of his strength.

"Then many thanks to you." Luo Weiyou sat on the stone, looking down at him. Her slender, swaying figure reminded Seeing Pei Ye of the Luoshen wood peach again.

"I can't do anything about them either, I can only watch as the wood peach flowers are plucked one by one." She swung her legs slightly, "I also don't like watching those mermen being killed. They should have been able to talk to me and know not to rush inside randomly."

"Their mind-spirit should be under control. I'll try my best not to kill them." Seeing Pei Ye said, "However, I've already killed three, four, five, six... seven, eight of them."

Luo Weiyou smiled: "You'd better go for the kill; don't be overconfident."

"It's fine."

"Actually, I think even if they reached here, they might not be able to enter the Luo Goddess Palace. It's just that these quiet silk flows will definitely no longer be peaceful." She said, "Cold stone blue flowers, soft grass, little fish... I like them very much."

"Hm." Seeing Pei Ye used a binding strip to wrap his bone-fractured wound.

"In the past, I seem to have had a very powerful swordsman too." The faint shadow suddenly looked up and muttered to herself.

Seeing Pei Ye's movements paused.

"So that's why I felt close when I saw your sword just now. It's a pity that I truly can't remember anything." She said softly, "If he were still here, he would definitely be able to protect the place where I am."

"..."

Seeing Pei Ye lowered his head and didn't speak. After a while, he finished wrapping the binding strip, waved goodbye, and leaped lightly into the water.

Behind him, the faint, dim figure was still sitting on the stone, beside her grew a dreamlike, light, cold flower. She looked up, seeming to still be recalling those memories she would never be able to remember.

After becoming familiar with this water realm and the scale flower appearing on his wrist, Seeing Pei Ye, who was now in the dark while the enemy was in the light, almost turned into a water demon that appeared and disappeared suddenly.

He swam forward from in front of the Divine Palace, returning to the foot of Yique Mountain. High stones stood like a forest, and water plants grew in clusters. This time, it wasn't those shark-skin water-suit wearers searching for his position, but rather him wandering through the encirclement formed by these people and the mermen. There was no sound or trace, only the bright red blood spraying out during every brief encounter.

Before the whistle could be blown, the muscles of their necks had already been severed.

And under the dark sand, there was still a gloomy and terrifying predator acting as his helper.

This transition truly only took a quarter of an hour. When Seeing Pei Ye stepped out of the counter-current, the mermen caught up with him from behind again with sharp water currents.

But this time, Seeing Pei Ye's speed no longer lagged behind them. He precisely controlled his true Qi to drive his body, riding far ahead of everyone else in the dark water realm.

His sense of direction in his brain was very clear at this time. He went straight toward the direction he had entered the water, circled a few times in the surrounding area, and then, when the time was almost up, stopped his figure about twenty feet to the north.

Then he hovered there, looking back at the seven or eight mermen pouncing toward him, took a deep breath, and slowly disappeared into the water realm just like that.

The mermen's current pierced through his afterimage, but only found a void.

Great Ming Palace, North Bank of the South Pool.

The sky was turning to dusk, with only a trace of residual white lingering at the edge. The snow by the pool had almost melted, but a layer still covered the ice, like silver powder sprinkled on a mirror. It was smooth and delicate, without any footprints on it.

A small pavilion stood by the pool, also clean and tidy, with a moored boat frozen on the surface of the pool.

Seeing Pei Ye swam upstream for only a few breaths before raising his hand and touching the thick layer of ice.

The solid ice of deep winter was actually much firmer than many people imagined. In an environment where true Qi could not be channeled, trying to destroy it with brute force alone was a very exhausting task. If one happened to have no tools on hand and was carrying injuries, even a cultivator of the Middle Three Realms would be in danger of suffocating to death.

However, the youth had naturally long since left the situation where a Life Vein cultivator could only rely on true Qi. He gently pressed his palm against the ice, and a touch of restrained vermilion appeared on his palm first, then gradually brightened.

The snow on the ice melted first. Looking down from above, it was a hazy, refracting lamp light flickering in the ice, appearing pure and beautiful under the night.

The next moment, the ice layer also melted silently, and a fire-colored lotus bloomed on the ice surface, scattering as it was blown by the wind. Then, first a hand rested on the ice surface, followed by a figure leaping out lightly, bringing up a cluster of clear, bright water peaks a foot long under his feet.

Seeing Pei Ye didn't use fire to steam away the cold dampness on his body; water was still dripping from him. He had already raised his head while gripping the sword hilt. On the shore three yards away, that purple-gold robe was standing there quietly watching him, both hands tucked into the sleeves, his expression as cold and hard as the purple-gold on his left cheek.

He had been standing on the South Pool since losing Seeing Pei Ye's figure. When Seeing Pei Ye appeared before the mermen again, he had locked onto his position. The mermen didn't necessarily have to catch the youth; in fact, they only needed to determine the location where he left the Mirage Realm.

Seeing Pei Ye didn't speak, only meeting his gaze for a moment before shifting his eyes away. He raised his hand and tilted his head to wring out his wet hair. Water dripped onto the ground with a patter. He cupped his fists forward and bowed respectfully.

"This subordinate greets Your Highness."

Behind Yu Sicheng's robe, which swayed slightly in the wind, in the small pavilion standing alone by the pool, a red-clothed, gold-masked figure was sitting by a stone table looking over. Behind her, a tall, slender figure was somewhat stiffly holding a lamp, casting a weak orange light, with a black warm cloak draped over her arm.

"No need for formalities." Li Xizhou said, "Come up and put on some clothes."

Seeing Pei Ye thanked her and stood up, shook off the residual water on his body, pressed his sword, and stood tall, walking past Yu Sicheng.

"Sorry to trouble you, Grand Eunuch Yu. I'll have to trouble you to take care of the repairs to the outer wall of the Palace Internal Service." Li Xizhou stood up and said toward the shore.

"Your Highness is too kind, it is all within my duty." Yu Sicheng turned around, performed a very slight etiquette, and stood quietly with his sleeves tucked again.

Li Xizhou turned her head back and said faintly: "You're so wet, take off your outer garment—put it on him."

The tall, slender figure put down the lamp in a somewhat flustered manner. Only then did Seeing Pei Ye recognize that this person was exactly the woman from the Jiaofang Division he had knocked out in the morning.

She stepped forward somewhat unskillfully to help the youth take off the outer garment that was stuck together by blood and water, then shook out the cloak in her arms and draped it over the youth's shoulders.

The thick, warm cloak wrapped around his body, which had been cold for several hours. Seeing Pei Ye let out a gentle breath.

Li Xizhou looked at his blood-stained shoulders and neck: "Your timing is so precise. If I had been delayed by someone, and Yu Sicheng wanted to kill you, I'm afraid he wouldn't need to blink twice."

"Reporting to Your Highness, I told Xu Chuo before I entered the water, and she said she received it." Seeing Pei Ye pulled the lapels of his clothes together, feeling the warmth of the soft velvet against his skin.

"..." Li Xizhou glanced at him, "She isn't even in the palace herself, yet you trust her so much."

After saying this, she walked out of the pavilion first, and the two followed behind and left.

The Zhu Jingdian had not been lit with so many bright candles for a long time, illuminating the bedroom in the side hall as bright as day and as warm as spring.

Two screens were pulled open in front of the bed, but there was no one outside the screens. Only the sword and the wet cloak were hanging on the screens, and a small jade-black cat was crouching at the boundary between light and dark.

"【Mercury Flower Floating Raft】... I understand, I will inquire with the Nourishing Intent Tower." The woman said indifferently, "What do you mean when you say that the water realm reached its end and lost its path, and you couldn't advance an inch?"

"I believe that is what Yu Sicheng has been investing in for many years. The shadow said that behind it is the former dwelling of the Luo Goddess. Without permission, one cannot enter."

"... I have never seen the former dwelling of the Luo Goddess. Can you tell me in detail what it looks like?"

Li Xizhou was still wearing her gold mask, sitting in a chair with her chin in her hand, looking at him. Her pale, cold eyes had a rare, quiet stillness.

"Oh," Seeing Pei Ye frowned and slowly spoke of what he had seen in the water realm. He sat squarely on the edge of the bed, while Li Xianfang knelt on the bed behind him, quite unskillfully helping him wipe the bloodstains on his shoulders and neck.

After he finished speaking, Li Xizhou closed her eyes, silent, not knowing what she was thinking. After a while, she cast her gaze on the youth again: "I understand—I've arranged for Qu Xin to come over tomorrow. Tonight, let her help you apply some medicine to your wounds."

"Ah, actually it's not too serious..."

"Next time you take action in the palace, involve fewer unrelated people."

"Ah?... Oh!" Seeing Pei Ye turned his head to look. Behind his shoulder, Li Xianfang was pursing her lips and staring intently, carefully helping him wipe the bloodstains near the wound. Her expression was very serious, as if this task was enough to make her so immersed that she lost her hearing.

Seeing Pei Ye turned his head back: "Many thanks to Your Highness for your benevolence in saving me. I couldn't take care of her at the time, so I had to entrust her to Your Highness to protect."

"It didn't take much effort," Li Xizhou said faintly, "It's just that next time, try to make your words clearer. You told Xu Chuo in 【Knowing Intent】 to let me protect a dancer from the Jiaofang Division, and you left her on the bed... I thought it would be a naked woman."

"..." Seeing Pei Ye looked straight ahead.

"You don't need to be nervous, I don't have many rules here." Li Xizhou rested her cheek on her hand, her gaze shifting to Li Xianfang, who was also lowering her head, "Don't just wipe the neck, he has many wounds on his upper body."

Indeed, there were many. The bloodstains had long since soaked through his inner garment, and neither washing nor soaking could remove them. What was particularly terrifying was the clothing at his shoulders; the fabric had stuck into his flesh and bones.

Li Xianfang straightened up and tried her best to gently peel off the tragic inner garment. Seeing Pei Ye pursed his lips and glanced at Li Xizhou beside him. Li Xizhou was watching him without moving, resting her chin on her hand.

"Yu Ziliang's side has been taken away by the Palace Internal Service. This case probably won't be transferred to the Jingzhao Prefecture or the Immortal Platform. Although I won't let anyone use this reason to arrest you, if it's truly verified that it was you, it's a handle of sorts. If you left any evidence, you can tell me, and I'll make it disappear before dawn."

Seeing Pei Ye was silent for a moment, then turned his head to look at Li Xianfang.

Li Xianfang stiffened.

"Besides her?" Li Xizhou said.

"Nothing else." Seeing Pei Ye turned his head back, "I was wrapped very tightly in a black robe at the time, and I even padded my feet to be taller. The mask I wore on my face was a theatrical mask from the Huan Si Lou."

"But you spared her life, I'm afraid you can't pretend to be from the Huan Si Lou."

"Yes." Seeing Pei Ye had thought very thoroughly, "So I didn't dress very neatly. If I hadn't run into anyone else, I would have killed Yu Ziliang and his party, and it would have been the Huan Si Lou. If I spared this... sister's life, then it would be the Huan Si Lou disguised by the Sun-Swallowing Society. In short, they can always guess it's me, but they can't get the evidence."

Li Xizhou was inexplicably silent for a while: "Don't pretend to be the Sun-Swallowing Society next time."

"Ah?"

"Just remember it." Under the gold mask, she seemed to roll her eyes slightly, "You rest and heal your wounds for a few days. In the future, if you have any wild ideas, ask me before you carry them out... or ask Xu Chuo. Also, I've already received Guo You into the side hall. You can find a way to question him tomorrow yourself."

"Yes."

The hall quieted down. Li Xianfang washed more than a dozen handkerchiefs before she finally wiped the youth's upper body clean, earnestly applied ointment, and performed a simple bandaging. She gently got off the bed, bowed to the two of them separately, and walked out quickly with her footsteps trying to remain steady.

Only the two remained in the hall. Li Xizhou watched him quietly. Seeing Pei Ye inexplicably felt a bit cold on his body. He gave an awkward smile, stood up, took a thin shirt from the top of the cabinet, and put it on. Only then did he feel a bit more relaxed.

"Alright, I've seen enough anyway." Li Xizhou straightened up without much concern, finally glancing at his chest, which was still not fully covered.

"..." Seeing Pei Ye's hand froze in mid-air, his big eyes staring at her blankly.

"Your waist and abdomen are born very beautifully, like a silver fish. You can pay a little attention when practicing martial arts in the future, don't practice them to be ugly." This gold mask had no expression, and her tone was also indifferent, "Hm... can I touch it?"

"No!"

"Alright." Li Xizhou nodded as if she didn't care much, lowered her head, took a small booklet from the side, and handed it to the table, "This was also entrusted to me by Xu Chuo to bring to you. She said that when you finish this section, you should have time to read it."

Seeing Pei Ye was still in the shock of encountering teasing for the first time in his life, his heart still weighing whether power or personal reputation was lighter or heavier. Subconsciously, he shifted his gaze over, but he was slightly stunned, forgetting to cover his chest, and reached out to take it.

This cover was familiar, too familiar, and it was very brand new—it was the National Report from last December. ===== CHAPTER 617 =====