“This won’t do, we’re both women…” Lu Li blurted out.
Liu Qingxi let out a light chuckle.
“Oh? Now you’re not saying you’re a man?”
“This…” Lu Li was momentarily at a loss for words.
He had intended to brush it off with his usual excuse.
But when he glanced sideways into the glass window,
He saw his own appearance—long black hair cascading down, cheeks flushed, and now accustomed to wearing a light blue dress—all indistinguishable from a woman.
If he claimed to be a man, it would be too absurd.
Yet his own words just now had accidentally admitted that he was a woman.
“Liu Qingxi, right now you’re just…” Lu Li tried to sit up, but found Liu Qingxi’s hand still pressing on his shoulder, unable to free himself, “affected by my technique…”
“At first it was like that. I missed the feeling of being in my father and mother’s arms.” Liu Qingxi leaned down. “I also understand that it might be the influence of the technique, but the longer I held you, it seemed that wasn’t the case.”
“Liu Qingxi…”
“I think Sister Lu must be just as shaken as I am.” Liu Qingxi looked into Lu Li’s eyes and moved closer again.
Moist breath wandered around Lu Li’s ear.
Mew…
It was like a female cat’s whimper.
At that moment, the spirit pattern engraved with the Third Style inside Lu Li’s body faintly glowed.
The fox tail behind his back flickered on and off, and the spirit patterns on his chest, throat, and throughout his body nearly surfaced on his skin.
This emergence brought a certain sweetness that tempted him to sink into it.
As if a feather were gently brushing against his ear.
Lu Li’s body trembled.
He found with some horror that he did not dislike this feeling.
He even wanted to fully resonate with it and drown in it.
“Liu Qingxi… wait…” Lu Li forcibly activated his Divine Sense to once again conceal the spirit patterns within his body.
The surge of True Yuan also jolted Liu Qingxi, freezing her actions mid-motion.
The moisture in her pupils did not dissipate, but the hand pressing on Lu Li’s shoulder gradually loosened.
Amid heavy breathing, the flush on Liu Qingxi’s face slowly faded, and she stepped back half a pace.
“Sorry…”
“It’s fine.” Lu Li also sat up, staring at his own skin.
Those patterns flickered for a moment before sinking completely deep into the skin.
According to his understanding of spirit patterns, once inscribed and traced, they would not go out of control.
But if the cultivator themselves became emotionally stirred, the patterns would naturally emerge.
“I…” Lu Li bit his lip.
“That was my fault just now.” Liu Qingxi sat back down on the edge of the bed, her fingers gripping the bedding tightly. “At first it was indeed your… Fragrance Binding Technique that stirred up my emotions.”
Liu Qingxi paused for a moment, looked at Lu Li who was now staring at the glass window, then lowered her head again.
“But later, I couldn’t tell whether that feeling was caused by the Fragrance Binding or by my own thoughts.”
“Mm…” Lu Li could only respond, while his Divine Sense carefully checked the Yin Yang Sect’s technique and whether the spirit patterns were stable.
They were as solid as a rock.
The answer was actually quite clear.
“Lu Li.”
“I’m here.” Lu Li turned his head to look at Liu Qingxi.
Her eyes no longer held the moisture from before, only the seriousness she usually had when fortune-telling.
“Your technique itself is special, preventing me from divining your future… Perhaps that, and also…” Liu Qingxi trailed off mid-sentence, murmured a few words, then raised her head again. “Right now, both of us, for many reasons, cannot clearly distinguish what just happened.”
“Besides, now is not the time for romantic entanglements.” Lu Li looked through the glass window at the snowfield below, which had changed.
The pure white snowfield gradually became mottled, sparse trees began to appear, and then villages built along frozen rivers.
But compared to human villages, they seemed rather crude. Aside from a few small houses, the roads were extremely muddy. In the corners outside the houses, shattered bones could be faintly seen piling up on the ice. Some tiny, indistinguishable demon beasts were rummaging through the bone piles, trying to find a bit of residual flesh to devour.
Looking more closely, many raised caves could be seen on the ground. Many demon beasts in tattered clothes looked up as the flying boat approached, then broke into a run.
“Yes, let’s wait until this mission to the Yao Kingdom is over.” Liu Qingxi nodded and began to tidy her slightly disheveled clothes.
“Mm.” Lu Li did the same, but when his gaze swept over Liu Qingxi, a faint ache from his abdomen would gently ripple.
Perhaps it was the influence of the Fragrance Binding.
Or perhaps it was because he had never been so close to a woman before.
In his thoughts, Liu Qingxi opened the window of the cabin. “We should be able to reach the edge of the Yao Kingdom today.”
“Mm, we should also start considering the follow-up plan.” Lu Li also came to the window, watching the mottled snowfield gradually recede. Some roads built by the Yao race spread across the land like unfolding threads, extending endlessly.
Further away, many flying boats of various styles took to the air. In the dense forest, strange and rare beasts carried oddly shaped vehicles with a clattering sound. Even in the water, bizarre armored races emerged, turned, and shook off the mud.
His originally chaotic thoughts gained more weight upon seeing so many Yao.
“By the way, Lu Li, come closer.” Liu Qingxi beckoned to Lu Li.
“What is it?” Lu Li turned his head.
“Something important.”
Liu Qingxi pinched her fingers, and a strand of hair fell into her hand.
“This is a simple technique from the Heavenly Deduction Sect.” Liu Qingxi reached to her temple and also snapped off a strand of hair.
Her fingers lightly twisted, intertwining the two strands of hair, then a faint blue light flickered on them.
“Last night, I divined everyone’s future, but I couldn’t divine yours.” Liu Qingxi pointed her finger, pushing the intertwined hair toward Lu Li. “So, you are the most dangerous among us.”
“With this technique, I can know your situation and then help you.” Liu Qingxi then pulled two threads from the hair and placed them into the jade disk at her waist. “Of course, you can also vaguely sense my condition.”
“How do I feel it?” Lu Li looked at the hair and put it into his storage bracelet.
“Of these two strands, if one becomes withered, that person is injured.” Liu Qingxi said. “If it breaks, that person is in danger. There are other uses, but I don’t want to say them now…”
“Understood.” Lu Li nodded toward the approaching Yao city. “I’ll be careful. You need to be careful too.”
“Mm.” Liu Qingxi looked at Lu Li’s profile. The hand she wanted to extend eventually fell back down.
“I will.”