Book 3. The Long Journey. Chapter 128. Fluffy Feeling.
“Your Qi stabilized completely, huh,” Laien mentioned right after he and Yin finished their Combined Soul Realm training session. It has taken a little longer than Yin predicted, but luckily, Yin managed to recover completely just before their spar with Reian that would happen in a few hours. “I know you can’t break through to the Realm of Heroes yet, but why is that?” he inquired, only now realizing that he hadn’t asked this obvious question yet. He had sensed the rough answer thanks to their spiritual bond early on, but likely due to that, he never actually posed this question to Yin to learn more.
“It’s not as easy for me as for others,” Yin explained with a smile, all the while making use of his Qi to suppress the range of his voice. Just like Laien, he came to like Raphael and Mikaela a lot, but he wasn’t about to share all his secrets with them. “Depending on their level of talent, our people need from a few weeks to at most three or four months to complete the breakthrough to the Realm of Heroes. It’s also best if the breakthrough happens in an environment rich in the element we cultivate, but it’s not a strict requirement,” he explained briefly and took out a small bottle of water from his interspatial ring, then took a few large sips before putting it away.
“So it takes so long,” Laien said in understanding but at the same time, he let out an inward sigh. Given the level of Yin’s talent, he wouldn’t be surprised if it took him full four months to complete his advancement. Four months without talking with Yin… he was starting to get depressed just by thinking about it. “You know about some of those suitable places, don’t you?” he asked, trying to change the flow of his thoughts. However, he knew full well that Yin had caught upon what went through his mind a few seconds ago, and the warm smile on Yin’s face confirmed that twice over.
“I know about a few,” Yin admitted with a nod of his head. “There are quite a few ‘danger zones’ on the half-island of the Eclipse Academy, one of which contains powerful lightning element fluctuations. I originally thought I wouldn’t be able to enter it since it’s ranked as first-class breakthrough ground, just like the lightning-element one we have in the Forbidden Lands, but I think I’ve grown strong enough to go there and safely go through with my advancement,” he elaborated, knowing fully well that Laien was quite curious about this whole thing.
“How dangerous is that place?” Laien asked away, still attempting not to think about those months during which he would be away from Yin. Still, those futile efforts of his were only good for making Yin chuckle as Yin apparently thought that he was being cute by being so concerned with it.
“It depends how deep you enter,” Yin said with a playful smile. “Just the entrance should at most be able to kill a martial master of the first rank, but the deeper parts should be deadly to even someone as strong as Julien. He wouldn’t die there since he’s a lightning-element practitioner, but he would probably get exhausted quickly,” he explained lightheartedly, as serious as the topic was.
“And you’ll be fine?” Laien couldn’t help but ask. He believed in Yin’s strength, but spending months in a place that could exhaust and kill someone like Julien… just the prospect of it alone was scary. No matter how high Yin’s affinity to lightning was, wouldn’t that be dangerous?
“I think so,” Yin replied with a carefree laugh. “I might fail to get all that deep, but I’m confident in being able to stay in the middle parts,” he stated straightforwardly.
“Well, your Qi sure seems to have gotten stronger,” Laien mused aloud. It was one thing that Yin stabilized at the peak of the ninth mortal realm and had grown stronger thanks to that, but it appeared like his crisis had some additional benefits to his strength. Yin’s Qi felt stronger and thicker, making its aura linger on the border of the mortal realm and the Realm of Heroes. “I wonder how strong your Qi is going to get when you practice the Nine Refinements of Mortality to the ninth level,” Laien asked rhetorically and smiled at Yin. He had thought that he caught up a bit to Yin thanks to all the improvements in the Aspects and Profound Mysteries he had made recently, but it looked like all he had done was manage not to fall behind.
“Mm.” Yin smiled contentedly. “I need to try training in them tonight. If it goes well, I might be able to go even deeper into that danger zone and cut the time I need for the breakthrough by quite a lot,” he mentioned, beginning to feel a bit guilty as he was constantly aware of how bothered by this piece of information Laien was. A few months… he would miss him too, but he would need to completely focus on making his breakthrough during that period of time, so it would be easier for him. He couldn’t say he didn’t understand why Laien was mulling over this one thing in his mind again and again despite trying not to think about it too much.
“How long would it take without such a place?” Laien asked with a sigh. Sometimes, it was a bit annoying to have Yin know all his thoughts and vice versa to such a degree, but in the end, he was happy that they were connected by the spiritual bond. Doing something like suppressing it to hide his own thoughts from Yin? He wouldn’t do such a thing, ever.
“Hard to say how long,” Yin answered truthfully and at the same time, also responded with a thought that he wouldn’t want to cut their spiritual bond regardless of the circumstance. “But I think that for me, it would take around five or six years?” he said with a helpless laugh and exchanged a sympathetic look with Laien. Yeah, the two of them definitely didn’t want this option to ever become reality. Five or six years, it would be nothing short of a torture to waste so much time they could have otherwise spent together.
“By the way,” Laien spoke up after a brief moment of silence, his smile turning wry. “Do you think those two are doing it again? At least this time, they seem to be minding their voices properly,” he mentioned with a grin. It was hard not to hear Raphael and Mikaela’s endeavors the first time around and they hadn’t exactly managed to keep quiet the past two nights either. Only now it seemed like they bothered to use their Qi to suppress the louder of the noises.
“Do you want to do it too?” Yin asked, feeling his pants grow rather tight at the thought. It’s been over two weeks since they last played together in this way, so it couldn’t be helped that he would react this easily down there. Still, there really had been no good opportunity for them to enjoy themselves and this one wasn’t all that perfect either, but he could tell that both of them were slowly growing more and more impatient.
“Hmm,” Laien seriously considered the option of going through with his body’s desires, but after a few seconds, he shook his head with a smile. “Doesn’t it feel better if you don’t do it for longer? Waiting a few more days won’t change much, we can find a better time to have some fun when we arrive in the Holy Union,” he said casually, though at the same time, he was quite explicitly aware of the bulge in his pants. It was really hard to resist the urge to just be swept up with the mood and go for it right here and right now, but he was sure it would be much better if they waited.
“Okay, you win,” Yin said after a second of thought. They would be leaving for the Holy Union in two more days with Jasmine, so there would be little time to think about those things. As such, it was technically only two more days during which they would need to hold themselves back, so it would be manageable. “What do we do now though?” Yin asked, seeing as they still had around three hours until they would need to get going. They had slept enough this night already, as per their decision to sleep every other night instead of doing meditative training, so they weren’t sleepy at all and needed to find something to busy themselves with.
“We can just train,” Laien said with a shrug of his shoulders, but he couldn’t keep the act up for long as he laughed right afterwards and hugged Yin, then pulled him down to the bed they were sitting on. “We can train, but I never said it’s all we can do,” he said playfully, looking at Yin’s half-closed emerald-green eyes from very close up. Training was the productive thing to do, but they could as well snuggle a little in the meanwhile. After all, just hugging Yin was very pleasant to him and he knew very well that Yin was of the same mind about hugging him.
“You think we will be able to focus?” Yin asked with a meaningful smile and snuggled closer to Laien, sliding his leg between Laien’s and pushing their bodies close together. “It feels so nice,” he thought and let out a satisfied, though also somewhat impatient breath. Maybe it was because they hadn’t done it in so long, but his whole body was weirdly sensitive. Just snuggling with Laien like that was making him feel so good that he could barely restrain himself from doing more… and if he were to judge by how hard he was and how clearly he could feel Laien’s against his own, he could safely assume that even if they just stayed in this position without moving, it would take a good while for either of them to calm down even just a little bit.
“It’s fine even if I won’t,” Laien replied, his face growing increasingly flushed. This idea to snuggle… it would be really hard to hold back from doing it, after all. Yin was so warm and he smelled so nice, not to mention how great it felt to have his body tightly pressed against his own. He loved the way Yin’s green eyes shone brightly so much, he loved how his face and his body, he loved to hang around with him and to compete with him. He had never expected to get along with anyone so well, but even though they had their disagreements, he loved Yin’s character and the way he handled himself.
“Yin,” he said quietly and hugged Yin tighter. “I love you,” he said in an almost inaudible voice, allowing himself to get swept up by the moment. Still, as soon as the words left his mouth, he closed his eyes, feeling his face and his whole body burn with overbearing heat. He had liked Yin for quite some time, but he had never told him so with words and now that he did, he found it to be oh so incredibly embarrassing. He didn’t even know why he said that now, on the spur of the moment; he was so ashamed he could die, but at the same time, he was happy that he finally said it.
Similarly, Yin’s face had grown bright-red after he heard Laien tell him something like that. The fact that the two of them shared their emotions and surface thoughts didn’t make it any better as it caused Yin himself to grow even more embarrassed. He couldn’t do as much as gather his thoughts, having received this ‘blow’ completely out of nowhere, so he did all he could think of at the moment.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“I love you too,” he whispered, allowing his emotions to guide him instead of continuing the futile attempts to regain his clarity of thought.
Not really sure what to do with the incredibly warm feeling in his chest, Laien remained as he was, snuggled close to Yin while listening to his own, unnaturally loud heartbeat. There were so many emotions dwelling inside him that he felt like shouting in joy, but curiously enough, even though he was still feeling aroused, he was much calmer in this aspect than a moment ago. At this time, he simply didn’t wish to think about anything unnecessary; he was so happy that he wanted this fluffy feeling to continue for as long as possible, so he didn’t say anything else and remained as he was, snuggled close to Yin with both of them suffering from overdose of embarrassment and happiness.
Coincidentally enough, both of them were somewhat aware of the change occurring within their soul and they unconsciously realized that they both gained half-complete foundations of the Aspect of Love, but since they preferred to engross themselves in the moment, they didn’t spare this fact more than a lingering thought. As such, time continued to flow quickly and with as relaxed as both of them became, before they realized they once again fell asleep, only to then be woken up by the sound of the door opening after what seemed to be but a fleeting instant.
“There’re still sleeping?” Mikaela asked quietly, trying not to wake Laien and Yin up. Seeing the two of them snuggled so close together with totally relaxed and happy looks on their faces, he couldn’t bear to do something like waking them up abruptly. Alas, before Raphael could make any comment, the two rose up from the bed and sat down beside each other, then started rubbing their eyes lazily.
“We’d need to be much quieter to not wake them up,” Raphael in a relatively quiet voice and chuckled a little. “And given their insights and acute senses, I suspect it would be impossible for us to enter unnoticed anyway,” he added with a smile, silently wondering if something else didn’t happen here while he and Mikaela were away.
“It looks like it’s time already, huh?” Laien mentioned with a helpless laugh while looking out the window. Going by the color of the morning sky, it was around two hours after sunrise; the highest time to go down the stairs. It wouldn’t be surprising if Reian and the rest of those who were tagging along were already waiting outside, in the fresh morning air while bathing in the still mild sun of the day. “Fighting Reian two against one, it would be fun if we could beat him up,” he mentioned and after exchanging a quick glance with Yin, got off the bed with him.
“Don’t you want to eat something?” Mikaela asked as the four of them headed downstairs. He and Raphael had eaten light breakfast by now, so he couldn’t help but ask.
“I’m not hungry yet,” Laien said with a smile. Didn’t the four of them skip breakfast every other time and go to train for an hour or so first? He might have reconsidered if he had stayed awake for the past three hours and had time to get hungry, but since they had fallen asleep, he saw no reason to stuff himself right before what should be an exciting and serious spar with Reian.
“Same here,” Yin said lightheartedly, his thought on the matter being pretty much identical to Laien’s. He wasn’t hungry yet and eating now would get in the way of their spar with Reian, so there was no reason for them to have breakfast beforehand.
“Huuh, kay,” Mikaela said, then smiled in a curious manner as he looked at Laien and Yin, his thoughts wandering in a different direction. “Say, what were you doing while we were gone?” he asked with a grin. He was pretty sure it wasn’t his imagination that the air about these two had changed in some way. How could he describe it, put it in words? The atmosphere around them somehow became calmer and more leveled and yet, at the same time, very much warm.
“Nothing like you think,” Laien replied with a laugh, though just thinking back to what happened caused both him and Yin blush a little.
“Reeeally?” Mikaela asked, not quite convinced by Laien’s response as his words and reaction didn’t match at all.
“Really, really,” Laien assured while chuckling. It really wasn’t anything like Mikaela was imagining, but sure enough, he wasn’t about to clarify this whole thing.
“Mhm, okay,” Mikaela nodded, beginning to feel even more curious. He didn’t think Laien would lie to him and they had already talked about this stuff a few times, so there really wouldn’t be a need for Laien to deny that something happened if it really had. “So, what happened?” he asked after a few seconds, causing Laien to almost stumble on the flat floor.
“Sorry, not telling,” Laien said helplessly. Explaining what happened those few hours ago would be too much for his nerves, at least for the time being. Maybe in a day or two, when his emotions called down a little, he would be able to more or less calmly tell someone about it, but not now.
“Eeeh? Come on!” Mikaela insisted, but when he saw the stubborn glance Laien gave him, he merely smiled back at him and stopped digging. He had come to know Laien really well during those past days, so he knew when something was hopeless. Thus, he silently decided to try again in the evening or tomorrow as in the end, he truly was quite curious about this change of the atmosphere surrounding Laien and Yin.
A few breaths’ worth of time later, the four of them stepped outside and were greeted by quite a large group, which apart from their usual bunch of youths and the four Ruishian guards now consisted of the addition of the four White Guards, Julien, and two more adults, one man and one woman, whom Laien and Yin recognized as members of Julien’s personal unit of Cherubim.
“That’s quite an audience,” Laien said with a laugh. “Maybe we should have considered selling seats,” he added with a grin, only to notice two familiar grey-robed men and a certain female Great General approach from uphill. “I was only joking, but maybe we really should sell tickets,” he thought in amusement. He wouldn’t fail to recognize Elder Samuel, while the other man was likely Elder Simon if he recalled correctly. Without a doubt, those two were the most influential people in the Ruishi Federation at this point in time. As for the woman that was escorting those two, she was the one Julien appeared not to be able to stomach, the ‘lapdog’ of the Grand Council, a martial master of the seventh rank and one of the three Great Generals of the Ruishi Federation, Victoria.
“Dad!” Mikaela called out in surprise and ran up ahead to Elder Samuel. He pretty much slammed into him and hugged him around his chest, feeling happy to see his father. “You’re going to come with us? You have some free time?” he looked up at his father’s face and asked in anticipation. He knew not to disturb his father when he was working, but he wouldn’t miss an opportunity to talk and play with him every time his father could take a break from his duties.
“Not exactly,” Elder Samuel patted Mikaela’s head with a loving smile on his face. “We aren’t exactly free, but after we’ve heard that the future Commander Captain of the White Guard is going to spar against those two famously talented guests of ours, we couldn’t pass on the opportunity,” he explained straightforwardly, then to Mikaela’s delight, picked him up and sat him up on his arm, against his chest and shoulder before approaching the large group of youths and adults.
“I hope you won’t mind a few more spectators?” Elder Samuel asked with an amiable smile. He would leave if Laien or Yin told him they were uncomfortable with so many people watching, but since he had already taken time off with Elder Simon and came here, he hoped they wouldn’t refuse.
“Why not,” Laien replied and laughed in amusement. “A few people here or there won’t make a difference with so many spectators. It’s not like we’re trying to keep our abilities much of a secret anyway,” he added meaningfully and after exchanging a glance with Elder Samuel and Elder Simon, looked in the direction of the four guards Elder Simon had assigned to them. Since those four were coming along to begin with, there was no argument to deny the same to Elder Samuel and the other two.
“True,” Elder Samuel agreed casually. “I must say though, I suspected it to be harder to convince you. I’ve already had an idea in mind to propose, so how about we try it anyway? Since it’s a two against one spar, the condition will be you two leaving four wounds on your opponent and the reward will be two of the few hundred items I’ve prepared for today. What do you think?” he laid out, guessing that the boys would be happy to spice the competition up regardless of the reason.
“Seems interesting,” Laien said with a wry smile, confirming Elder Samuel’s expectations. “But it’s not interesting enough. How about we adjust the rules a little? We get two items for every four times we wound Reian,” he suggested, thinking to get as much out this deal as possible. Wasn’t Elder Samuel filthy rich according to Raphael and Mikaela? It wasn’t that he was underestimating Reian, but since he would be fighting him two against one, with Yin at his side, getting some wounds in shouldn’t be much of a problem with as strong as the two of them had gotten.
“Hrm,” Elder Samuel frowned ever so slightly, not too sure if he wanted to agree. He didn’t think it would be easy for those boys to wound Reian even if the two of them cooperated, but he had heard enough about Laien’s strength to not agree to his proposal carelessly. “What to do, what to do,” he mused, in the end feeling hesitating to offer too many of the items he had for prizes. The least precious of those hundreds of items he had picked out was worth around ten thousand platinum coins and the most precious ones approached thirty and forty thousand. If by some random chance those two won eight of them, then even to him it would be a stinging financial blow.
“How about that,” Yin spoke up, seeing how Elder Samuel couldn’t quite make up his mind. “In addition to what Laien said, If we fail to wound Reian at least four times, then he will get four of those items you have for us,” he proposed, picking the number of merely four treasures very much on purpose. After all, if he went for twenty, for example, then he would be making the stakes too high and would be indirectly suggesting that he was expecting to earn about the same amount from their side of the competition. On the other hand, if he kept the number reasonably low, he should be able to make Elder Samuel lower his guard.
“Hrm, hrm,” Elder Samuel minced the proposition for a while, then nodded somewhat reluctantly. “Fine, let it be like that. Just make sure to show us a fight that’s worth watching,” he accepted, assured that Reian wouldn’t go too easy on the kids since he was put right into the competition for the prizes. Still, he had already been quite sure Reian wouldn’t fight in a dishonest manner from the beginning, but this one additional safety measure tipped the scales in favor of the deal proposed by those two boys.
“Right,” Jasmine picked up and gave Reian an amused look. “Be careful else those two are going to defeat you. How embarrassing would that be, eh?” she mentioned teasingly, clearly trying to stir Reian up, what despite its obviousness worked out just as she intended.
“I’m not planning to lose,” Reian said strongly. He didn’t care in particular about the rewards prepared by Elder Samuel, but he certainly didn’t want to show a shameful display before Jasmine, the more so because Julien would also be watching. He understood how strong Laien and Yin were and how well the two of them worked together, but he wouldn’t let them get even one clean blow in! The battle against Yimar Furi’s experts had served to push him to the threshold between the third and fourth Realms of Heroes and although it was a bit of a pity that he didn’t quite manage to advance all at once, he was planning to use this opportunity to both show Julien that he would soon grow stronger than him and to break through to the fourth Realm of Heroes in his marital cultivation.
“We aren’t either,” Laien pointed out cheekily and laughed when Reian gave him an overly-serious and way too competitive look. “He’s taking it more seriously than we. Is it because he’s jealous of Julien getting along well with Jasmine those days?” he asked himself, guessing that he was pretty much spot on with this assumption.
“Haha,” Elder Simon chortled openly. “It’s good to see that you are all so eager. We don’t have the whole day, so how about we get going,” he suggested and since no one disagreed with him, he started walking towards the outer training grounds with Victoria follow him by his side and with the rest of their rather large group coming along in a chaotically formed procession.