Chapter 79: A Rare Moment of Leisure

The moonlight spilled down; lying on the bed, Qing Lin hugged her pillow and slept quite soundly, having long since kicked the thick quilt to the edge of the bed.

But unlike when she had just entered Yuanping County, she was no longer wearing those oversized, ill-fitting clothes, but had changed into a cyan dress:

Not long after lunch, Lu Zhiruo had knocked on their door and taken Qing Lin out to shop for clothes.

Feng Zi pondered for a moment and, agreeing that Qing Lin constantly wearing his clothes was not a long-term solution, went out with the two women.

At first, he had thought about helping to pay—after all, this was shopping for Qing Lin, and having the total stranger Lu Zhiruo pay was truly a bit improper.

But under Lu Zhiruo's insistence, in the end, he was still unable to foot the bill.

Feng Zi naturally understood that this was a way for the other party to show goodwill.

But Lu Zhiruo was indeed a young lady of a prominent family, and her aesthetic sense was on point; Qing Lin liked the several outfits for different seasons that she had helped pick out.

Even more, the other party had thoughtfully helped Qing Lin choose a bamboo hat with a veil, helping her conceal that nearly flawless face.

It was precisely because of this afternoon's outing that Qing Lin reduced much of her wariness toward Lu Zhiruo and was able to exchange a few words with her.

Although Feng Zi saw very clearly that Lu Zhiruo's actions were undoubtedly a gesture of goodwill toward himself and Qing Lin.

But since the other party held no hostility toward Qing Lin, he let it be—

Although Qing Lin had lost her memory, she was, after all, a person of sound mind, and Feng Zi naturally hoped she could make friends worth trusting.

"Feng Zi..." Qing Lin's murmuring pulled his thoughts back to reality.

Feng Zi, sitting by the window, looked over subconsciously, only to find she was just talking in her sleep: "Don't snatch my roasted meat! Hehe, mine, it's all mine..."

Before falling asleep, Qing Lin had still been giggling while hugging her newly bought clothes.

And after Feng Zi cut a piece of Blood Vine for Qing Lin and she consumed the treasure material, which was so full of Qi and Blood, she had fallen into a deep sleep.

"Really, are you even thinking about snatching food from me in your dreams? How exactly do you view me in your heart?"

Feng Zi shook his head helplessly, stood up, walked to the bed, and helped her cover herself with the quilt again.

Seemingly sensing his aura, even while in her sleep, Qing Lin still subconsciously grabbed Feng Zi's arm:

"Feng Zi, thank you... We must always be together..."

He did not know what exactly Qing Lin had dreamed of; if her breathing hadn't remained steady and long, Feng Zi would have thought she was teasing him.

But with Qing Lin currently clutching his arm, after thinking it over, Feng Zi moved a chair from nearby and simply sat down by the window, whispering:

"Alright, I won't leave; we will always be together."

Moonlight spilled in from outside the window, reflecting Qing Lin's intoxicatingly beautiful face.

Perhaps because they had been together for so long, the current Feng Zi had almost forgotten Qing Lin's beauty, often subconsciously casting himself into the perspective of an "old father."

Only on such an occasion, looking at the sleeping Qing Lin, would he suddenly realize:

Yes, as it turns out, Qing Lin is also a beauty.

But perhaps it was also because they had been together for too long that Feng Zi did not focus too much on Qing Lin's beauty, but instead noticed a detail in her sleeping brows and eyes that was usually unobservable—

He did not know if it was his own illusion, but Feng Zi always felt that hidden within her soft, beautiful eye corners was a trace of uprightness tinged with venom.

In his daily life, he naturally could not observe these things.

But when Qing Lin was fast asleep, her instincts would manifest in some subtle details.

Looking at Qing Lin's sleeping face, inexplicably, Feng Zi recalled the scene where he first met her:

The completely withered giant trees, the cyan-green poisonous flowers blooming for miles around, and that absolutely impossible-to-ignore dead giant snake.

Feng Zi was never a fool; the reason he did not delve deeper into those matters was that he understood that he, as he was now, could not know the connections and the truth behind them.

Even with his toes, he could understand that Qing Lin held a great secret.

But so what?

From the moment he saw Qing Lin, hadn't he already known this?

When Feng Zi made up his mind to save Qing Lin, he had already made up his mind to shoulder the karma related to her as well—

This point had never changed.

"I will always be with you, Qing Lin," Feng Zi murmured.

Having said that, he leaned against the back of the chair and let out a long breath:

Since leaving his hometown, in this short journey of nearly a month, he had gained much—

He had seized the Origin of Qi and Blood from a Black Tiger spirit, crossed the major boundary of the Transformation Realm in one go, and even comprehended the Earth Grade Fist Technique, "Hundred Flower Misleading Fist."

Furthermore, he had secured a better life for his parents back home through his own actions and had gained two traveling companions.

But at the same time, compared to himself when he had just left home, the problems Feng Zi faced were also more numerous:

With the continuous growth of his strength, he also needed to consider how to break through the shackles of higher levels and reach the highest realm of martial arts, the Grandmaster Realm—

The Origin of Qi and Blood of one tiger spirit had already exhausted much of his energy; if he wanted to continue relying on the help of external objects, the opponents he would face would only be more troublesome.

Therefore, rather than seeking the help of external objects, Feng Zi needed to think more about how to break through to the Grandmaster Realm by his own power.

Of course, fortunately, he was not completely clueless about this; the insights gained when breaking through the Transformation Realm had already given him a preliminary train of thought.

But the most urgent matter at hand was still to uncover the truth behind the loss of contact in Yangquan City and to make multi-faceted plans for his Martial School journey.

In addition, matters concerning Qing Lin also needed more attention.

Problems came one after another, but Feng Zi knew deeply that being anxious was meaningless; difficulties would not disappear because of his anxiety.

Moreover, apart from Qing Lin's problem, the other problems actually had traces to follow, and summarized, they were quite simple:

He wanted to break through to the Grandmaster Realm and successfully pass the Martial School to see just how vast this world was and whether there were higher realms beyond the Grandmaster!

Just as Feng Zi was pondering his future arrangements, Qing Lin suddenly loosened her hand.

Before Feng Zi could react, Qing Lin hugged her pillow and quilt and rolled to the other side of the bed.

"This girl... her sleeping posture is truly quite poor." Feng Zi smiled helplessly, stood up, and helped Qing Lin cover herself with the quilt again.

The bright moon gradually sank to the west; calculating the time, it was already the second half of the night.

But since it was rare to stay in the city these few days, Feng Zi did not wake Qing Lin, but let her continue to sleep.

Just like that, the night passed without a word, and time quietly arrived at the next day.

Because Feng Zi had not woken her up to keep watch, Qinglin was uncharacteristically sulky for a while.

But under Feng Zi's consolation, she soon cast these trifles to the back of her mind.

Accompanied by the sun slowly rising, Feng Zi and Qinglin finished washing up, then called for Lu Zhiruo.

The three of them ate some breakfast casually, then began to purchase supplies on the streets.

The "bitterness and sourness" of it could not be told to outsiders, but when night fell and the three returned to the inn, Feng Zi felt he couldn't muster a shred of energy:

He had never imagined that accompanying two young ladies shopping would actually be so energy-consuming!

But fortunately, the result was good; they had purchased enough supplies, so Feng Zi did not take this small matter to heart, treating it as having gone to relax the two young ladies' moods.