Chapter 104

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Chapter 104: Is There a Heart?

The atmosphere right now is clearly not right.

There were traces of lipstick on Wen Yun’s outstretched index finger, Ye Shubai hesitated for a moment, then discreetly took out a handkerchief to clean it for her, and calmly put away the handkerchief without saying a word.

Before he could retract his raised hand, Wen Yun, who had been sitting still in his arms, suddenly moved and grabbed his hand.

Ye Shubai felt very stiff, his heartbeat was louder than the noise in the gambling den, making his eardrums tremble.

"You…"

"Shh."

Before Ye Shubai could speak, Wen Yun tightly held his hand, signaling him to be quiet.

She was delicate in appearance, with small hands. Ye Shubai glanced at their intertwined hands, then held Wen Yun’s hand in return.

The atmosphere should have been awkward at that moment, but Wen Yun, a cold-hearted woman who always focused on serious matters, left no room for idle thoughts. Ye Shubai understood her well and didn’t misinterpret the situation this time.

As expected, Wen Yun just glanced at him, whispered a word of understanding, then focused her attention on Ye Shubai.

The two people over there had just ordered a lot of food and drinks, even flirted with the waitress who served them. Now they lazily sat in their chairs, chatting vaguely.

Of course, they knew all kinds of people frequented the gambling den, so they used their powers to block sound, allowing others to see their lips moving but not hear a word.

Unfortunately, Wen Yun wasn’t just anyone. Her spirit was so strong that she led Ye Shubai quietly past the barrier, capturing all sounds clearly in their ears.

"It’s frustrating to think that Qing Ran’s Life Token has shattered and vanished without a trace. Elder Zhang insists we search and investigate in this Cloud Sea World with countless people. Where do we even begin? Isn’t this deliberately making things difficult for us? We thought accompanying Martial Uncle Shang would earn us appreciation, but it turns out we’ve been ignored by everyone. It’s just constant scolding and nothing else!"

Squinting, he picked up a piece of meat with his chopsticks, gulped down a large cup of wine, then felt more at ease. Patting One-Zi Mei’s shoulder, he comforted, "Who made us have the lowest status? Just think about it, Elder Zhang and them wouldn’t bother with such troublesome matters."

Once these words left his mouth, One-Zi Mei became even more agitated, "He’s something else, saying that Martial Uncle Shang is going to enter Cloud Sea Tower to cultivate. Does that mean we don’t have to cultivate anymore? What, is it because Martial Uncle Shang is the only Dongxuan Sect disciple that we don’t measure up?"

With a smile, he handed him a cup of wine, "Alright, alright, venting your frustrations in front of me is one thing, but don’t gossip outside. Since we’re in Cloud Sea City now, let’s enjoy ourselves, look at this good wine and meat, and these exotic beauties. Once we return to Dongxuan, we won’t have these luxuries. Shouldn’t we cherish them now?"

One-Zi Mei drank the wine in one go and when a beautiful maid walked past, he reached out and pinched her waist. The maid, clearly used to such encounters, realized these two men weren’t to be offended, so she endured the slight and stayed quiet.

Feeling much better, One-Zi Mei chuckled and said to the squinting man, "You have a point, it’s just that we’re having fun here, but what about Qing Ran and the others when we go back?"

"That’s easy," the squinting man, more cunning than his fellow disciple, smirked in satisfaction, "Martial Uncle Shang mentioned before he arrived that Qing Ran didn’t even have time to call for help. This indicates that the enemy’s strength surpasses theirs by far, allowing for a fatal strike. So, there’s a high chance the enemy is a powerful being from the Immortal Realm!"

"But…" One-Zi Mei hesitated, "But Martial Uncle Shang can also slay a cultivator of the same level with just one sword."

"Silly person, that is Martial Uncle Shang, an unparalleled genius in the world. Is there anyone as powerful as him in this world?"

Upon hearing this, Wen Yun couldn’t help but smile slyly and triumphantly.

Sorry, your Dongxuan Sect’s Shang Wuyang is not an unparalleled genius. There are people here far superior to him.

Ye Shubai knew exactly what Wen Yun was thinking, but he could only helplessly watch her.

The two were still discussing how to come up with a story, from "Qing Ran and her three friends were robbed by bandits" to "they fell to their deaths below the Cloud Sea", then, as the alcohol started to affect them, they squinted and slammed the table, settling on the final excuse—

"I’ve got it! Doesn’t Cloud Sea World have Cloud Beasts? Let’s say, they were eaten by Cloud Beasts! That’s why their bodies can’t be found!"

After agreeing on this excuse, they happily called for more food and drinks, even inviting a beautiful woman from the Fox tribe to join them. Dongxuan Sect was known for its strict rules, rarely even having alcohol. So when they finally arrived at a place like Cloud Sea City, they were eager to seize the opportunity to indulge.

Seeing the atmosphere getting livelier over there, with even Eyebrow One and Eyebrow Two unable to take their eyes off the Fox tribe beauty, Ye Shubai firmly held onto Wen Yun, leaving an Origin Crystal on the table and quickly taking her out of the tavern.

With Wen Yun’s power covering them, and the two distracted individuals not paying attention to their corner, they successfully escaped this time.

The two of them didn’t dare to stay here for too long. They silently hurried towards the city outskirts. Luckily, this time they didn’t encounter any more surprises and smoothly left the city with the help of their swords.

Wen Yun looked back at the disappearing outline of Cloud Sea City, then she let out a sigh of relief and finally said, "They are quite cooperative with us."

They had been worried before that the people from Dongxuan Sect would investigate the murderer extensively. However, they were surprised to find out that they didn’t investigate at all but came up with the explanation that "the person was eaten by a Cloud Beast" themselves.

The enemy’s initiative to cooperate was really impressive to Wen Yun.

While Wen Yun was praising the enemy, Ye Shubai was a bit distracted. The wind with water vapor from the clouds gently brushed against his face, cooling it down. Only the area where Wen Yun had touched earlier remained warm, still feeling soft and lingering. Despite the chilling wind at the cloud’s edge, it couldn’t disperse that warmth.

Ye Shubai sneakily reached out to touch it, but just as his fingers touched the spot, Wen Yun happened to turn around and caught him.

They locked eyes, both opened their mouths, but couldn’t find the right words to say.

"Just now…"

"Earlier…"

The two of them spoke at the same time.

Wen Yun closed her mouth and quickly said, "You go first."

Ye Shubai pursed his lips, his long black eyelashes slightly lowered, hiding his emotions. He tried to appear calm, brushed aside a strand of hair on his cheek, and said, "I was rude earlier, I’m sorry."

Wen Yun hesitated, then remembered that he was referring to pulling her into his arms just now. It wasn’t a big deal, after all, monks were different from ordinary people. Men and women interacting wasn’t as strict, and very few people mentioned things like ‘men and women should not touch’.

However, Ye Shubai was always proper and restrained. Even though they spent every day and night together, he still paid attention to manners, never making any offensive moves. Despite his one slip-up earlier, he apologized profusely three times.

She thought for a moment, shook her head and said, "You don’t need to worry about it. We have always been proper, so you don’t need to explain. I understand that it was unintentional."

Ye Shubai’s lips moved, and he impulsively said, "What if it was intentional?"

"Ah?"

Wen Yun stared at the man in front of her. She was now walking side by side with Ye Shubai, who was holding a dragon bone wand and a sword. They were used to holding a sword together, so they were standing very close together now, their clothes touching. Even their long hair was intertwined, looking quite intimate.

Ye Shubai knew he had said the wrong thing as soon as he spoke. He didn’t dare to look at Wen Yun’s face, so he kept his eyes ahead and awkwardly said, "Sorry, I…"

"Don’t keep apologizing."

Wen Yun interrupted him, turned her head, and looked at him with bright eyes, "I was thinking seriously just now. If someone tried to take advantage of me, I would probably smash their head with a dragon bone wand."

"But if that person were you…" Although Wen Yun always thought she had thick skin, she felt shy now, "If it’s you, then it’s okay."

She found many reasons in her heart.

After all, Ye Shubai is her sword spirit, their relationship is so close, and he is handsome. If it’s him, who knows who would take advantage of whom.

Wen Yun courageously reached out her hand to the side, "Here, another chance for you to take advantage, do you want it?"

She regretted reaching out her hand. If he dared to say something like not wanting to offend her at this time, or that this was not serious enough… wouldn’t she lose face?

Fortunately, Ye Shubai never disappointed her, just like she never disappointed him.

A pair of gentle and broad hands covered Wen Yun’s hand, then gradually closed, holding the tiny thing tightly in the palm.

*

Despite being hundreds of years old, both of them were very sensitive. The moment their hands touched Cloud Island, they instinctively pulled back and pretended nothing had happened.

Immortal Su Yuan was building walls and houses with Zhu Erchong on the island. They were barefoot, with sleeves rolled up, covered in mud. They looked more like ordinary village laborers than sword cultivators.

Immortal Su Yuan happily wiped his face with his sleeve when he saw Wen Yun. He proudly pointed to the two rows of completed houses, saying he had stayed up all night building them after learning masonry in Cloud Sea City for two days.

Zhu Erchong chuckled and boasted about his skills, mentioning how he had learned carpentry when rebuilding The First Peak and how skilled he was at carving doors and windows.

Wen Yun was amazed to see Immortal Su Yuan actually starting to build a city on Cloud Island. She had heard him talk about it before and seen the empty plots of land planned below the sect’s gate, but she never thought he would really do it.

"Where did you get all this?" She was shocked to see the quality of the wood and stones, realizing they must have cost a fortune in Origin Crystals.

"Immortal Su Yuan boasted about how he had saved up all his Origin Crystals to buy materials for the city. He planned to rent out the houses to other cultivators in the future and even consider renting to people from Cloud Sea World, but at a higher price."

Zhu Erchong was very enthusiastic, as he had learned many ways to make money from the Wan Family ancestors. He confidently said, "We must rent instead of sell. If we have to sell, it can only be houses, not land. Every inch of Cloud Island is precious, and we must firmly control it in our hands."

"Yes, this way our sect will have basic funds. We can also recruit disciples from all realms, continuously develop, and in a few thousand or tens of thousands of years, we will surpass the Dongxuan Sect without worry!"

Clearly, these two had early plans for the sect’s development, setting goals for their future struggles even in thousands or tens of thousands of years.

Wen Yun stayed silent and speechless, "You are thinking quite far ahead."

Watching Immortal Su Yuan and Zhu Erchong working fervently, sunlight shining upon them, there was a bright future ahead.

However, Wen Yun heard the pitter-patter of rain and curiously looked over, seeing a big pit not far away with thick clouds hanging above it. Wasn’t that Shen Xinghai standing at the bottom?!

Could the Cloud Beast hold a grudge to this extent? After raining for so long and not letting Shen Xinghai off, now it followed him instead of just pouring water on his yard before?

Shen Xinghai looked at Wen Yun, then lowered his head to endure the rain. He said, "Senior Su Yuan wants to build a scenic pond here, but none of us are skilled in water magic, so we had to resort to this."

So we thought of using whatever resources we had, like having you manually make it rain here, right?

Wen Yun looked at him with sympathy and asked, "Martial Brother Shen, are you feeling uncomfortable from the rain? Can I help you find a way to make this cloud disappear?"

She could drive away the Cloud Beasts, as they were afraid of her and eager to spare Shen Xinghai from the trouble of getting wet in the rain.

"Martial Sister Wen, don’t worry for me. It’s normal for us cultivators to endure hardships, even to drink the rainwater so fresh like this."

"No, this seems like…"

Wen Yun hesitated to speak, hesitating to tell him that maybe this was the saliva of the Cloud Beasts.

Shen Xinghai wiped the water off his face and said with a smile, "If we talk about troubles, it’s just minor things, like the courtyard being washed away, nothing worth mentioning."

By now, Shen Xinghai was completely drenched, like a wet chicken, but he showed no resentment, instead looking excited and expectant.

He spoke loudly, "Martial Sister Wen, although you see me in a sorry state now, think about it, why is it that amid so many clouds in the Cloud Sea World, only it follows me to bring rain? And being soaked in rain, I can’t sleep, which means more time for cultivation. Perhaps after enduring this trial, I can comprehend the mysterious techniques of the Cloud Sea World in the future?"

The group of people understood what this cloud really was, but they couldn’t bear to burst Shen Xinghai’s ambitious bubble.

Zhu Erchong looked at Shen with envy and said, "Junior Brother Shen is so lucky. Why can’t I have such good fortune?"

Wen Yun replied, "…You shouldn’t envy him so much."

The group of people were working hard building walls and pools, and Wen Yun and Ye Shubai didn’t stand by either. They rolled up their sleeves and joined the construction work.

Initially, they both wanted to show off their drawing skills by planning the layout of the city or decorating the houses with their artwork…

However, as they took out their brushes, the others’ expressions changed drastically, even Shen Xinghai in the pit hurried up to stop them.

Wen Yun had to reluctantly put away her brushes and work with Ye Shubai to move heavy bricks and wood using their powers, doing physical labor.

"Why is it so hard for art to be understood?"

Wen Yun sighed disappointedly.

Her disappointment quickly turned into seriousness.

It wasn’t that she suddenly realized, but she keenly sensed several strong energies flying in this direction, two of which were very familiar, the same two people she had met in the gambling den!

Her heart was beating very fast, one of the newcomers had a very dominant energy, and she couldn’t figure out how strong they actually were.

Immortal Su Yuan also felt something was wrong, her face turned ugly.

"Are they here to arrest me?"

"Probably not." Wen Yun concentrated, using all her efforts to separate a strand of her soul and hide it in the layers of mist moving towards the group of people, after listening for a while, her expression turning strange, "They are here for the Cloud Beast."

Through her soul, Wen Yun could clearly see the scene over there.

Several members of the Dongxuan Sect were being led forward by an elderly man with a cold expression, finally landing on a Cloud Island only a few dozen yards in size.

The person leading them had a pair of extremely beautiful purple wings, but the once beautiful tail feathers were half gone, surprisingly the owner of this Cloud Island, Yi Yu!

"Dear friends from Dongxuan, now that you have arrived here, you must believe my words, right? Indeed, there are Cloud Beasts around here, very arrogant, and one even fed on my Cloud Island of such size!"

"Do you think this is big?"

"It used to be huge! It was chewed up by the Cloud Beast!"

Elder Zhang ignored Yi Yu and walked around Cloud Island alone, observing the Cloud Soil at the edges. After seeing traces of beasts gnawing on it, his gloomy face improved slightly.

Squinting eyes and pursed lips, the suspended hearts finally relaxed.

Who would have thought that just as they were about to take the Fox tribe beauties to a peaceful place, Elder Zhang caught them! Thankfully, their luck was good as they had bumped into a winged person at the gambling den who knew about the Cloud Beast. Otherwise, it would have been hard to come up with an excuse in front of Elder Zhang.

"Elder Zhang, how could we dare to deceive you? We really went to that place to investigate about Qing Ran. After all, such places are full of deceit, and information spreads the fastest there…"

"That’s right. Look, haven’t we found evidence now? The Cloud Beast is so fierce, so it’s likely that Qing Ran was harmed by this creature."

Elder Zhang looked coldly at the two, "Even so, without evidence, I can’t explain to Qing Ran’s master. You two need to catch the Cloud Beast that harmed her before it’s considered done!"

Upon hearing this, the two were dumbfounded.

It was obvious that Elder Zhang was annoyed and didn’t want to investigate further. But because Qing Ran’s master had a high position in the sect, he had no choice but to pass on the mess to these two unlucky fellows, telling them to find a Cloud Beast to take the blame.

Cloud Beasts were valuable but hard to find. Everyone knew they existed in the Cloud Sea World, but few had actually seen one. Even if they were available for sale, they were expensive and only certain people knew how to locate and capture them. It was a secret kept tightly within the major families, so why would they share that information with others?

Even if they were for sale, they couldn’t afford to buy one.

They were just poor sword cultivators after all!

Hearing this, Wen Yun quickly turned her head and stared uncertainly at the gathering cloud above Shen Xinghai’s head.

The clouds seemed to sense something was wrong as they suddenly stopped raining and huddled together in the center, trying to reduce their visibility. Slowly, they floated over to Wen Yun.

Shen Xinghai let out a surprised sound, looking up wondering why there was no rain above his head.

The clouds floated among the endless mist, with strong senses far superior to humans. They had managed to evade capture for many years, so they were aware of the threat approaching.

The leader of the Little Cloud Beasts poked its head out, timidly looking at Wen Yun and softly bleating, appearing very pitiful as if begging for mercy.

The expression in its eyes resembled the way Little Dragon used to beg for forgiveness after causing trouble.

Wen Yun couldn’t help feeling worried that these Cloud Beasts would cause trouble.

After some thought, she made up her mind and tapped the dragon bone wand, saying, "Little Hong, come out!"

"What’s up?"

The groggy Little Dragon was woken up by the noise from the dragon bone wand, crawling out and yawning repeatedly.

Wen Yun’s next words perked it up, "Swallow them."

Excited, Little Dragon asked, "Swallow them? Are they tasty treats?"

"You can’t eat them, hide them in your belly."

Little Dragon’s stomach… Wen Yun wasn’t sure why it was so big, like it contained a separate dimension, able to fit all the treasures of the dragon’s lair. It shouldn’t be a problem to hide a few Cloud Beasts in there, right?

After hearing that, the little dragon rolled its eyes and said, "Please don’t treat my stomach like a garbage dump."

"Keep it for a day and I’ll give you a night pearl."

"Okay!"

Driven by self-interest, the dragon rubbed its hands together, straightened its tail, and took a deep breath in front of the Cloud Beasts.

Wen Yun watched as the little dragon’s already plump belly became even rounder, almost as if it was going to burst.

It didn’t feel uncomfortable at all. After receiving the night pearl from Ye Shubai, it happily thanked him, "Thank you, dad… burp!"

A burp sounded, and a soft white cloud floated out of the dragon’s mouth…

The little dragon awkwardly pushed it back into its stomach, saying, "My bad, my bad, please forgive me."

Wen Yun was very satisfied, Immortal Su Yuan was greatly impressed, and even Ye Shubai, who was usually quiet, nodded and praised, "Little Hong is very good."

Only Shen Xinghai stood in the puddle, not knowing it was the Cloud Beast. He looked in awe at the little dragon’s swollen belly.

He whispered softly, repeating his soulful questions over and over.

"Did my chance… just get eaten like that?"