As he fell into Xue Honghong’s arms, Ye Zichen couldn’t help but feel a certain bitterness. From start to finish, everything went smoothly. It was just that final cry of ‘lecher” that was somewhat hard to take.
He couldn’t blame her, though. It wasn’t her fault they’d never learned each others’ names.
All things considered, everything still went perfectly.
When the roof caved in, Elder Che and the team of attendants’ hearts shook in astonishment. In particular, when they heard Xue Honghong’s shriek, they were terrified that something had happened to her amidst the sea of flames.
As the fire died down, the attendants rushed into the shed.
“First Miss!”
They could only see Xue Honghong’s red clothes gradually light up. They were obviously a set of exceptional protective artifacts. After traversing the sea of flames, her face was covered in soot. At the same time, she embraced Ye Zichen, who was playing dead, as she walked outside.
“Out of my way!” Xue Honghong’s expression was grave. The attendants dared not disobey and hurriedly stepped aside. When they saw Ye Zichen in her arms, though, their expressions grew strange.
“First Miss, what are you doing?” When he saw this, Elder Che knit his brows and roared. Xue Honghong was an unmarried young woman. How could she possibly embrace a man like this?
“Step aside!” She said in the same incontrovertible tone as before. Just as Elder Che was about to say something, he felt a pressure so overwhelming, he struggled to even breath.
Astonished, he hurriedly glanced at Xue Honghong’s forehead and saw a golden flame burning in its center.
“Bloodline awakening.”
This was the special power of Xue Honghong’s bloodline, an ability shared by all peak-level god clans: bloodline awakening. The earlier your bloodline awakened, the greater your talent.
Mortal, profound, earth, sky, and king!
Their clan normally awakened by the time they turned sixteen. Xue Beibei, for instance, was nine years old when she awakened her sky-grade bloodline.
Her talent was so extreme, even their clan’s old fogies fought over who got to accept her as their apprentice.
On the other hand, Xue Honghong was something of an outlier. She’d displayed a cultivation talent far surpassing her peers from a young age. Many of the clan’s elders were certain she’d awaken early and have at least a sky-rank bloodline.
But to everyone’s surprise, when she had her ceremony of adulthood at sixteen, her bloodline still hadn’t awakened.
The clan gradually started losing interest in her. No matter how dazzling she once was, without awakening her bloodline, her future prospects were limited.
She’d been sent from the divine mountain into the seventy-two districts and assigned responsibility for the Skyspan Trading Company.
This essentially meant the clan was giving up on her, but strangely, despite never awakening her bloodline, her cultivation speed only increased. Furthermore, she broke through without any sort of barriers or bottlenecks.
She became a sky immortal at only nineteen years of age. In the clan’s hundreds of million years of history, she was one of only a hundred people to become a sky immortal before turning twenty. The others had all awakened before turning twelve and every one of them had at least an earth-rank bloodline.
Xue Honghong was currently twenty-four years old and a mid-stage sky immortal.
Going from early to mid-stage in five years seemed slow, but remember: it was normal for an ordinary person to go decades without any visible progress.
More importantly, her bloodline awakened even though she was already twenty-four!
Elder Che stood before Xue Honghong, so stunned he had no words to express his emotions. Awakening at twenty-four meant she’d broken a precedent established over millions of years of history. Moreover, the flame burning on her forehead was golden!
Mortal-rank was white, profound-rank was red, earth-rank was blue, and sky-rank was purple!
So could it be that this….
Was the legendary king-rank?
If she truly had a king-grade bloodline, a mere deacon of outside affairs like Elder Che had no right to chastise or command her at all. Nevermind him, not even the clan’s elders would dare say “no” to her!
“Step aside!” she barked once more. This time, Elder Che dared not delay.
He hurriedly moved aside, then bowed deeply. “First Miss, this way please.”
She walked to where he’d indicated, but before she took more than a few steps, she stopped. She glanced at the bowing elder coldly, her eyes ablaze with golden flame.
“Call the clan’s best doctor and bring me the best life-saving medicines available.”
“Understood.”
When he saw the tongue of golden flame, Elder Che’s heart shook. He bowed respectfully. She no longer looked at him. Instead, she flew up into the air and left.
He didn’t straighten up until she’d left his line of sight. By now, his forehead was drenched in sweat.
That sense of oppression was far too powerful. It had been hard to take even for him, a peak sky immortal.
This was the authority of a king-rank bloodline!
“All of you…..” he repressed his astonishment, turned to the attendants, and furrowed his brows. “I’m about to return to the clan. From now on, you absolutely have to ensure the First and Third Misses’ safety. Don’t let anything happen to either of them, not even if it kills you. Don’t let them lose even a single drop of blood or strand of hair. Got it?”
Although the attendants didn’t know what exactly was going on, they could sense the gravity of the situation. “Understood!”
Elder Che examined them gravely, then placed several seals around the residence, even using up some of his longevity in the process. When he was finished, he took a jade medallion from his pocket, crushed it, and disappeared from heaven and earth.
Creak.
Ye Zichen, who was still playing possum in Xue Honghong’s embrace, heard a door creak open. Before long, he felt himself being placed gently onto a soft bed.
He stealthily took a few quick sniffs. The entire room was enticingly fragrant. Shockingly, it smelled just like Xue Honghong.
“Am I actually lying in her bed?” Ye Zichen was stunned, but he dared not let it show on the surface. He still had to play dead. He couldn't let the cat out of the bag, no matter what happened. It’s just, he seemed to have heard Xue Honghong send someone to fetch their clan’s best doctor and best medicines….
The pills were no issue. Swallowing them wouldn’t hurt him.
But if a doctor showed up, wouldn’t he be exposed?
He had to find an opportunity to “come back to life!”
He’d put so much effort into his performance. If a doctor showed up and ruined it, it would be a real waste!
What he truly struggled to understand was, if this woman really just wanted to save him, there was no need to go this far, was there? She’d even brought him to her own bedroom. Had she truly fallen in love with him?
Or could it be that things really were as he’d said earlier: this woman really had fallen for him at first sight and wanted to take this opportunity to….
Huh?
How could he tolerate such a blemish on his untarnished reputation?!
But after a moment’s thought, he recalled that he was currently playing dead. If he resisted, he’d let the cat out of the bag.
Whatever! If he had no other choice, he’d just give in! He was a man, after all!
A man of character knows when to give in! That’s what made a true hero!
But to his surprise, at that moment, Xue Honghong whispered, “you’re actually just pretending to be asleep, aren’t you?”