Chapter 245: To Be Worthy of Mr

"You want a reward?" Ye Tinglan smiled with skin but not flesh, moving the hand that had been adjusting her collar to his face, pretending to stroke it lightly: "How about I reward you with a big slap?"

Lu Xingzhou blinked his eyes.

Ye Tinglan's expression grew strange; only then did she remember this man was not normal, but a pervert. Earlier, when she had stepped on his chest with one foot, he had seemed to enjoy it. So would he enjoy a big slap too?

This pervert also loved touching hands; would this really count as rewarding him?

Thinking this, the palm's light stroke, originally a pure threat, suddenly changed flavor, becoming flirtation.

Ye Tinglan quickly withdrew her hand, hiding it behind her back.

Seeing her hide her hand while glaring at him with anger, Lu Xingzhou simply couldn't hold back his laughter.

Ye Tinglan shouted angrily: "What are you laughing at!"

"Nothing..." Lu Xingzhou smiled: "The you of now is far more vivid than the indifferent and lofty you of before."

Ye Tinglan remained expressionless.

She herself had almost forgotten what her usual self looked like... Being with him, her emotions grew more and more, and she didn't know when the subtle change had begun.

Even back when she had not yet succeeded in her cultivation, she had rarely been like this; back then, she had been famously indifferent and cold.

So was it really just that she lacked a shameless man who would pester her relentlessly?

But if an ordinary man acted like this, he would have been smashed to death long ago; no man would dare act like this.

Ye Tinglan couldn't figure it out for a moment, but Lu Xingzhou had already naturally taken her hand and headed south: "Let's go; if we are going to Si Han's place, we should do it as soon as possible."

Ye Tinglan looked down at the hand being held: "Do you need to be pinched again?"

Lu Xingzhou said: "To get to Si Han's place quickly, you must carry me flying yourself; do you expect me to drive the old man's wheelchair slowly there?"

Ye Tinglan finally said nothing.

They had already embraced, and he had even kissed her exposed bare shoulder; at this very moment, holding hands at this level barely registered any feeling, so carrying him flying was fine.

"You want a reward? Then this is it." Ye Tinglan, unwilling to suffer a loss, dropped this sentence and dragged Lu Xingzhou, speeding like wind and lightning toward the south.

The wind rushing against them scattered Lu Xingzhou's reply into incoherence: "Just this much reward? It's not even as good as a spatial rift."

Ye Tinglan heard it but kept a straight face, pretending not to hear.

What was a spatial rift like? It was a tight embrace.

You still want that?

Dream on.

The reason the Tian Shuang Kingdom is named Tian Shuang is not merely because it borders the Frozen Moon Cold River to the north, but because the entire kingdom leans toward the cold.

Even traveling south all the way, it only turned ice and snow into frost hanging everywhere. Yet now it is midsummer; if it were in Da Qian, the blazing sun would make one unable to open their eyes, but here it is like winter.

"From a latitude perspective, this shouldn't be the case," Lu Xingzhou said, scratching his chin in confusion: "How is this climate formed..."

Ye Tinglan, expressionless: "What latitude?"

"Oh, nothing; I just mean we are far from the Frozen Moon Cold River now, so why is the climate still like this?"

Ye Tinglan said: "It is still related to the Frozen Moon Cold River, caused by ancient secrets buried beneath, but currently no one has solved the mystery."

Lu Xingzhou nodded; the secret realm the two had entered earlier was obviously one no one else had entered, showing that even after so many years, the Frozen Moon Cold River still held many unexplored secrets. And climate changes in the world caused by shifts in the earth's veins were very normal for this world; wasn't Xiazhou just like that? Once the secret realm was unlocked, Xiazhou revived.

If the secrets of the Frozen Moon Cold River were unlocked, the Tian Shuang Kingdom would naturally undergo changes then as well.

But currently, the entire scope of the Tian Shuang Kingdom is not very suitable for ordinary people to live in, resulting in vast land and few people, mountains and wilderness everywhere, with a development level comparable to the poorest remote areas of Da Qian.

Conversely, it has become a place closer to the cultivation world, where various immortal sects stand tall on famous mountains and great rivers, competing against each other.

On the road, they saw several cultivators fighting with magic techniques, colorful and quite beautiful.

The two flew south for a long time; the towns they saw were all desolate, but they passed several seemingly powerful immortal sects, with cranes soaring and sword qi standing tall like a forest. Slightly more prosperous towns all leaned on powerful great sects; people rarely traveled out, after all, with few human traces, the possibility of strange beasts and demons appearing in the wild doubled, making the environment quite treacherous.

"No wonder Da Qian looks down on this place and had no intention of conquering it," Lu Xingzhou said: "Conquering such a place, besides adding a bunch of difficult-to-control immortal sects to Da Qian, seems to offer no other benefits; the ability to form an alliance to jointly resist the demon race is the greatest value here. It is also because of this that Da Qian would not hope for the Tian Shuang Kingdom to be forged into a unified and powerful nation; otherwise, the threat to Da Qian would be no less than that of the demons."

Ye Tinglan did not answer.

Lu Xingzhou said: "You should introduce things; do you expect me to just look around from the air like a horse passing flowers?"

Ye Tinglan sighed: "Actually, Gu Zhanting did have plans to conquer Tian Shuang and incorporate it into the national territory."

Lu Xingzhou was stunned for a moment: "Was he full and bored?"

"Low development does not mean low spiritual energy; many famous mountains and great rivers here are lands of immortals and spirits, with no shortage of spirit stones and various high-grade minerals. It also means many fortunes have yet to be discovered, and there are many treasures," Ye Tinglan said in a low voice: "And if these immortal sects could be conquered, it would also mean he could gain a large batch of powerful henchmen."

Lu Xingzhou sneered: "What are you thinking? The arm is too short to reach; Da Qian's First Grade officials are limited in number; he lacks this kind of ruling power. Unless..."

"Unless what?"

"Unless your Tian Yao Holy Land completely obeys him, then he could truly command wind and rain; let alone conquering the Tian Shuang Kingdom, conquering the demon race would not be impossible to consider." Ye Tinglan smiled, seemingly agreeing with Lu Xingzhou's statement, then changed the subject: "From the desire to conquer the Tian Shuang Kingdom, one can see that Gu Zhanting's focus in recent years has rarely been on conventional national governance; otherwise, he would not have considered the Tian Shuang Kingdom. He is now closer to a cultivator's perspective, spending more brainpower on cultivation resources and strength improvement."

"Because secular rule has reached its peak?" Lu Xingzhou said: "At the same time, it is also because his injuries make him impatient, especially as he falls further behind the Tian Yao Holy Land; it is hard for an Emperor to endure such constraints."

Ye Tinglan was silent for a moment, then answered from a different angle: "In the world of cultivation, an individual's strength can decide many things. The reason for cultivating power is simply that one's personal strength cannot crush others. Conversely, if the cultivation of power hits a bottleneck, personal breakthrough becomes crucial."

This meaning was actually agreeing that behind Gu Zhanting's desire to conquer the Tian Shuang Kingdom was a strong correlation with his wish to improve his strength and suppress the Tian Yao Holy Land.

Lu Xingzhou nodded: "So Gu Zhanting ultimately did not move against the Tian Shuang Kingdom also because of the constraints of the Tian Yao Holy Land? The Imperial Preceptor opposed it?"

Ye Tinglan said: "Yes, I... my senior sister, strongly opposed sending troops into Tian Shuang. Without the support of the Tian Yao Holy Land, Gu Zhanting could only give up."

Lu Xingzhou laughed helplessly.

Ye Tinglan felt embarrassed, turned her head and said: "In addition, there is..."

Lu Xingzhou showed some interest: "What else?"

"What is your most fundamental goal in cultivation?"

"Revenge."

"Nothing else?"

"As for my great ambition and ideal, haven't I told Mr. before?"

Ye Tinglan shook her head: "Not that, but... power and immortality."

Lu Xingzhou was stunned, thinking for a long while before saying, "Currently, I don't have that kind of longing for immortality... but power, indeed, with power, one can realize ideals."

Ye Tinglan said, "The higher one cultivates, the more direct the pursuit in this aspect becomes, because many worldly desires have faded. Just as you once deliberately provoked my appetite, yet I still have little desire to eat; this is a microcosm. When you no longer care about worldly desires, what remains in your sights is only the enhancement of power and the infinity of lifespan."

Lu Xingzhou said, "You bring this up, do you mean to say that Gu Zhanting's shift of focus to cultivation might not be considered entirely from a factional perspective, but also because of his personal pursuit of immortality?"

Ye Tinglan nodded: "Yes."

Lu Xingzhou pondered: "Then is there a possibility that the enhancement of power and the infinity of lifespan are merely for the convenience of retaining power and enjoying desires for a longer time? Otherwise, what use is immortality? No interest in brocade clothes and jade food, no interest in supreme authority, no desire for beauties, no desire for enjoyment, just to pursue eternal loneliness?"

Ye Tinglan was momentarily stunned by this, saying nothing in reply.

"In my understanding, for a profession like the Emperor, if he wishes to pursue immortality, it is because he cannot bear to part with the power in his hands. If he wishes to pursue power, it is because there are still things unconquered... such as Gu Zhanting towards Tianyao Holy Land." As Lu Xingzhou spoke, his expression suddenly became somewhat strange: "Hey, could it be that Gu Zhanting likes you... Senior Sister?"

Ye Tinglan's face remained expressionless.

She could obviously tell that Gu Zhanting had desires for her. However, since he had never directly revealed it, she simply treated it as non-existent.

After all, there were many men who had thoughts about her; it was very normal. Ye Tinglan knew how fatally attractive her peerless beauty was to men; no one could stop others from liking you in their hearts, right... but who dared to express it? Even Gu Zhanting didn't dare. I wonder how you, Lu Xingzhou, actually dare.

But then again, the men she had seen only possessed the desire to possess beauty and the desire to conquer her status. The one who would say "heartache," hope to "share," hope "you can be a little more relaxed," and hope "you can smile more" was indeed Lu Xingzhou, the only one of his kind.

Furthermore, Ye Tinglan did not quite agree with Lu Xingzhou's words.

If Gu Zhanting's personal cultivation pursuit was to better retain his desire for rule and conquest, then what was Ye Tinglan's cultivation pursuit for?

Was it to find men more easily?

What sheer nonsense.

However, everyone has their own aspirations; the meaning of cultivation for everyone is not entirely the same, otherwise where would the distinction between Righteous and Demonic come from... Ye Tinglan truly dared not say what Gu Zhanting's thoughts actually were. Perhaps men understand men better, and Lu Xingzhou's judgment of Gu Zhanting is more accurate?

Lost in thought for a long while, Ye Tinglan never answered Lu Xingzhou's question, and finally countered with a question: "So what about you? What is the power you pursue for? Don't tell me it's to realize ideals."

Lu Xingzhou coughed dryly twice: "To be worthy of Mr."

"Bang!" Lu Xingzhou let out a惨 cry and flew far away.

Ye Tinglan, annoyed, chased after him and grabbed him by the collar: "Still being cheeky?"

Lu Xingzhou said, "You asked me this; is it wrong for me to speak the truth?"

"I don't believe your so-called truth!"

"But that is true, at least it is one of the meanings," Lu Xingzhou said. "I said, I do not eat soft rice."

Ye Tinglan kept a stiff face and said nothing, cursing herself silently for asking him these things for no reason; they were discussing the main topic so well originally... She quickly corrected her mistake, forcibly dragging the topic back: "What we should be discussing is Si Han; how did it all get dragged onto Gu Zhanting?"

"Si Han does not have much worth discussing. The essence of coming to find Si Han is a game against Gu Zhanting. Once the essence is understood, even if Si Han dies, can't we support another faction to counter Gu Zhanting?"

Ye Tinglan finally nodded.

While they were speaking, sword light shot from the distance, with killing intent surging to the sky.

Lu Xingzhou gazed into the distance: "Which family is dueling again?"

Ye Tinglan's expression became grave: "Over there is Si Han's mountain gate, Yingyue Sect."

(End of this chapter)