When Liang Chen opened his eyes again, the first thing he saw was the gentle smile of Yan Ling. He hadn't seen any dreams, his mind had sunk deep into a peaceful darkness so he had no idea how long he had been out. For the first time in what felt like countless years, Liang Chen felt completely relaxed and at ease, his body as light as a feather. It was as if all his stress and worries had drifted away when he fell asleep.

His head was still resting on Yan Ling's thighs, her calming fragrance filling his nose and threatening to drag his consciousness away again. But as she was looking right at his face, Yan Ling noticed that he had woken up and gave his forehead a soft poke.

"How was it, did you sleep well? Best pillows you've ever had, aren't they?"

She wriggled her thighs slightly as she spoke, making it abundantly clear what pillows she was talking about. Liang Chen shook away the tiredness and desire to sleep that now clung to him, stretching his body while simultaneously burying his head deeper into Yan Ling's thighs.

"Aye, I can't deny that. They're so good that I don't wanna leave them."

He continued to treat her thighs as pillows, burying the side of his face into them and closing his eyes, pretending like he was going to go back to sleep. Yan Ling let out a light giggle when she saw how he acted, but she tossed Liang Chen down from her thighs.

"You can use them again in the future, but now it's my time to enjoy myself. Present them."

Liang Chen rolled around, something he could do since the bed in the room was incredibly large, sitting up in a kneeling position and facing Yan Ling. He knew what she meant with her words, but he still decided to play with her. He put on an aghast expression, crossing his arms in front of his chest to cover it up.

"It can't be...my chastity?!"

It took Yan Ling a short second to understand what Liang Chen meant, but her face quickly flushed red when she realized what he meant. She delivered a lightning-quick chop to the top of his head, doing her best to hide her flushed face.

"Bah, who would want the chastity of a lecher like you? Something like that would be best left in the gutter. Your thighs, I meant your thighs! Hand them over!"

She sent Liang Chen a glare, but thanks to her reddened face he couldn't see the glare as anything but cute. Liang Chen was in a jovial mood after having slept for the first time in so long, so he continued to play with Yan Ling, shaking his head in an overly-dramatic manner.

"Aye, I would love to do that, but there's a slight problem. You see, my thighs aren't detachable, so I am unable to remove them and hand them over as you wish. Had it not been for this ironclad biological fact, I would do as you asked without giving it a second thought."

Liang Chen even pulled on his legs a little to make it seem like he was truly doing his best to hand over his thighs. Yan Ling couldn't resist letting out a burst of small laughter, completely caught off guard by his actions. But she quickly collected herself, her lips curling up slightly as she swept Liang Chen with a quick gaze.

"Oh, I think I'll be able to change that 'ironclad fact' if I just try hard enough, just you watch."

Yan Ling lunged forward before she even finished her sentence, not giving Liang Chen any chance to defend himself. She pushed him down and sat down on his waist so that he couldn't roll away from underneath her. She then raised her right arm, gathering the air in the room around her fingers, forming it into a thin blade of highly compressed air that was rapidly spinning, practically a miniature chainsaw.

She then slowly brought her fingers closer to Liang Chen's thighs, as if she was aiming to cut them off. Liang Chen's eyes shot open when he saw where her hand was going, but it seemed like Yan Ling had yet to notice that she was actually bringing her hand closer and closer to the place where his thigh connected to his groin. A few more centimeters and Liang Chen would become a eunuch.

Liang Chen was far from ready to lose his junior like that, so he quickly opened his mouth to let Yan Ling know what she was about to do. But just as he raised his torso slightly and opened his mouth, Yan Ling dispelled the blade of wind around her finger. She grabbed onto Liang Chen's chin with her left hand and leaned forward, planting a kiss on his lips while he wasn't expecting it. After making sure that she had caught him completely off guard, she ended the kiss and un-straddled his waist.

"Alright, now lend me your thighs, I want the same luxury you got."

Liang Chen could only raise his arms and admit his defeat, the tables had been completely turned on him. He sat up and entered a kneeling position, allowing Yan Ling to rest her head on his thighs. He copied what she had done to him, gently brushing her hair in a calming manner as she drifted off to sleep.

He could feel her body ease up as her consciousness was dragged away, and as he was looking at her, he felt the same she had felt when she saw him sleep in his lap, contentment. Both of them were rather cautious and wary people, even Yan Ling always kept up some guard when she interacted with others. But right here, when it was just the two of them, they abandoned all defenses and slept soundly, trusting the other to keep them safe. It was a sign of absolute trust, and to the two of them, there were few better ways of showing their love.

Liang Chen continued to brush Yan Ling's hair, doing his best to not make any motions that might disturb her slumber. After she had slept for a little over three hours, a slight sound broke the silence that had descended over the room. A barely audible cracking sound rang out from Liang Chen's dantian, so soft that it almost caused one to wonder if it wasn't just an auditory hallucination.

But right after the crack sounded out, waves of darkness billowed forth from Liang Chen's dantian and filled up the entire room. In less than a second, the room had gotten so dark that it seemed like Liang Chen had fallen to the bottom of an abyss, he could just barely see his hand by bringing it right up to his eyes. Were it not for the fact that he could still feel Yan Ling lying on his lap, he might have thought that she had vanished.

Liang Chen wasn't worried about this darkness, he could easily guess what had caused this darkness to suddenly appear. His guess was swiftly proven correct when he saw something moving through the darkness, swimming through it like it was water. He could only just barely see his hand when he brought it up to his eyes, but he was easily able to see the creature swimming through the darkness, mainly due to the fact that he shared a bond of blood with the creature.

The one that had spawned this darkness and was currently swimming through it was Yumao, Liang Chen's Demonic beast companion that had sealed himself in a cocoon of darkness to grow ever since Liang Chen and Yan Ling returned from Green Rivers city. But compared to how he looked back then, Yumao had changed quite a bit after growing up a little.

Back then Yumao had only been a feathered serpent that was around 20 centimeters in length, but he was now a little over two meters in length, his black scales drawing all the surrounding light when he moved. The spikes running down his spine had grown as well, each one now around ten centimeters in length, almost resembling deadly fangs. The black feathers that covered his back had also grown a bit larger and more pronounced, his two crow-like wings growing from small knobs into fully fledged wings that were almost one meter in length.

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Not only had his size increased by quite a bit but so had his strength, he had jumped directly to the middle stage of the Heaven's Gate realm. His teeth had been able to harm people at the Heaven's Gate realm even when he was still small, Liang Chen couldn't even guess at how much stronger he had grown after he finished his little seclusion in the cocoon.

The darkness in the room flooded to Yumao, sinking into his body and vanishing. Yumao turned his gray eyes onto Liang Chen, a tinge of pride flashing past his eyes when he saw Liang Chen's surprised expression. He flapped his wings and turned into a black blur, appearing above Liang Chen's head in less than a second. His large body suddenly shrunk back to his previous size as he landed on Liang Chen's head, curling up and letting out a satisfied hissing sound. Liang Chen continued to brush Yan Ling's hair with one hand, using the other to pat Yumao on the head.

"You've really made us wait quite a bit for you, Ling'er has missed cuddling with you. But looking at how much you've grown, there isn't really much I can say, you truly caught me off guard."

Liang Chen had not expected Yumao to grow so much after sealing himself up in that cocoon. Just what sort of Demonic beast was he, to grow so much so quickly? None of the books in the Storm Wolf sect mentioned a Demonic beast like Yumao, leaving Liang Chen without the slightest clue as to what Yumao really was. Yumao let out a few more proud hisses upon being praised, rubbing his head against Liang Chen's hand and occasionally casting a curious glance at the sleeping Yan Ling.

Yumao was smart enough to know that Liang Chen didn't want Yan Ling to wake up yet, so he stayed quiet and waited for Yan Ling to wake up on her own. Like this, the hours continued to pass in silence, Liang Chen brushing Yan Ling's hair and patting the patiently waiting Yumao on the head.

After sleeping for another five hours, Yan Ling moved slightly, her eyelids twitching a bit before opening. She looked up at Liang Chen with a drowsy gaze, not immediately spotting Yumao. She stretched her body, her joints releasing soft popping sounds as she slurred forth a sentence.

"Freak... me... breakfast..."

She rolled down from Liang Chen's thighs, continuing to stretch her body while lying on the bed. Liang Chen found that she was somewhat reminiscent of a cat that had just woken up, but decided that this thought was something best kept to himself. Instead, he just stood up and got down from the bed.

"Aye aye captain, I'll make some breakfast for us. Little Yuma, I'll leave it to you to properly wake the sleeping beauty."

Yan Ling was starting to drift off again as he was talking so Yumao let out a hiss and gave a nod of his head, flapping his wings and flying over to Yan Ling, using his head to poke her face. Liang Chen left the room and headed over to the kitchen, taking out various pieces of meat and vegetables that he had bought. While he was working on breakfast, he heard a surprised exclamation come from the bedroom.

"Little Yuma, you're awake again?! And just look at how big you've become, you're already larger than me!"

It seemed like Yumao had returned to his actual size to show off to Yan Ling, properly waking her up thanks to the shock at the same time. Shortly after the exclamation sounded out, Liang Chen heard the soft patter of naked feet running through the house, Yan Ling bursting into the kitchen. Yumao had indeed returned to his full size and was currently coiled around her body, resting his head on her shoulder. Yan Ling pointed at Yumao and spoke out in an excited voice.

"Little Freak, look, look! It's Lil' Yuma, but look at how big he's gotten!"

Liang Chen looked at the two of them over his shoulder, and upon seeing a chance to once again play with Yan Ling, he quickly struck. He put on a shocked and surprised face, looking Yumao up and down.

"Little Yuma, when did you wake up?!"

Yumao looked a bit surprised for a second but then quickly caught on to what Liang Chen was planning. He decided to play along so he let out a few proud hisses, raising his head high. Yan Ling also raised her head slightly when she saw Liang Chen's surprise, clearly quite satisfied.

"Heh, so you didn't get to see him yet? Guess that means he likes me better than you. It's a shame for you, but it means he has good taste."

Liang Chen walked over to the two, still acting surprised with his eyes glued to Yumao. But just as he reached the two of them, he stretched out his right arm and flicked Yan Ling's forehead, causing her to involuntarily let out a yelping sound. Yumao then shrunk back to his small size and settled on Yan Ling's head, mimicking Liang Chen as he chuckled.

"Of course I've already seen him, I already saw him five hours ago when he first woke up."

Yan Ling held onto her forehead, covering the spot where Liang Chen had flicked her. She glared at him like she wanted to take a bit out of him, but in the end, she only stuck out her tongue and started petting Yumao for comfort.

"Bah, I'm against violence and deceit, a shame that's the only thing a brute like you is good at."

Liang Chen ignored her glare, returning to the kitchen counter where he had been preparing the food. He tossed a few more vegetables into the pot, giving a casual shrug of his shoulders and glancing at Yan Ling out of the corner of his eye.

"Aye, that's all I'm good at, but it was still enough to get a certain someone to fall for me. Says a little about your taste, really."

At this point, the two of them had already gotten so used to throwing insults like this at each other that it practically became a type of flirting to them, it became an everyday occurrence. And just like it had become common for them to insult each other, it had become common for them to also insult themselves in the process, Yan Ling readily nodding her head to Liang Chen's statement.

"Yup, I've got horrible taste, it really is the worst. That's the only explanation I can think of for why I fell for you. But then again, is your taste that much better, considering that you ended up falling for a spoiled princess like me?"

Yumao let out a few hisses after Yan Ling spoke up, doing his best to chime in and become part of the conversation. Yan Ling continued to pet Yumao to assure him that he was part of the conversation, Liang Chen nodding his head with an intentionally thoughtful expression.

"I guess there really is something to the old saying, Birds of a feather flock together."

Liang Chen continued working on the food, quickly preparing one large pot of stew and one of soup, filling up some bowls that they could eat from and then storing away the rest so that they had it in reserve for the future. They returned to the bedroom and sat down on one of the couches, eating the food and chatting, talking about what they were planning to do later.

"I'll check out one of the arenas later today. There's something I wanna check, so you need to come with me."

Yan Ling didn't specify what she was going to check, nor did she answer Liang Chen when he asked her for more details, it seemed like she wanted to stay mysterious. They quickly finished their food and then left the house, heading to the nearest arena. Yumao had returned to Liang Chen's dantian, both Liang Chen and Yan Ling deciding to keep him hidden as a type of trump card should they ever need it.

This arena was a bit smaller than the ones on the first floor, but there were more people present in the seats around the stage. The higher up the tower you got, the stronger the people you faced would be. It was a good idea to observe the various arenas, checking out the strength of your possible opponents, you might even learn a thing or two from watching others fight.

Liang Chen and Yan Ling walked up to the side of the square stone stage, observing the fight that was currently taking place while waiting for it to end. The fight seemed to have already gone on for a while before they arrived so it ended half an hour after they arrived, a man from the Undead race beating his opponent, a female from the Fiendgod race.

Yan Ling skipped onto the stage after the surviving combatant stepped down, leisurely heading to the center of the stage. A few people among the audience checked her out, gauging her strength and wondering whether or not they should enter the arena.

Yan Ling started talking to the judge, a man from the Undead race, pointing at Liang Chen while she spoke. The judge cast a glance at Liang Chen and then nodded his head, Yan Ling's face lighting up with a smile. She waved at Liang Chen, beckoning for him to enter the stage and take up position next to her.

Liang Chen did as she said, casually entering the stage and heading to her side. While he was walking, the judge called out for two combatants to enter the stage, allowing Liang Chen to guess what Yan Ling had wanted to check out.

"So this is what you wanted to check out, huh?"

Liang Chen cast a sideways glance at Yan Ling and then turned his gaze onto the two people that stepped onto the stage, a blonde-haired female from the Undead race and a man from the Fiendgod race. Yan Ling drew her sword and nodded her head with a giggle.

"Nihihi, Yup. From here on out, it's tag team battles for us!"