Under the cover of night.
Yang Ping Tian fell into deep thought. Hadn't those two taken a bit too long to bid farewell? From mid-morning until the moon was rising over the sea, they still hadn't finished saying goodbye? Was this farewell duration too extended? Or was it due to their passionate entanglement?
He mused that when he and Xiu Zhu were together, they often spent days by each other's side.
Thinking back, how happy and joyful that time was!
But how long had it been since he last saw Xiu Zhu? As he pondered, he took out the wooden carving again. This was his twentieth carving, wasn't it? Even the twentieth one was almost worn smooth from being touched.
After a long while, he put away the carving. He couldn't help but recall the hopeful yet disappointed look on his father's face during lunch and dinner. He didn't know how to fabricate a story.
"I went to find them. It seems they were discussing something crucial, and I was sent away because they didn't have time for a while." Well, it was a flimsy excuse, but everyone believed it. After all, sometimes during martial arts exchanges, conversations could last for two or three days when the mood was right.
The morning of the twenty-seventh of the twelfth lunar month.
Yang Fei Long and Luo Xiang Ning finished their strenuous morning exercises, drenched in sweat, and went to wash up separately.
Clearly, the two of them realized this situation was not ideal.
They had been together for almost two days and two nights without eating or drinking. Well, that wasn't quite right. They hadn't neglected eating and drinking; it was just that they had over a dozen meals a day, each one delicious, and they were sharing them, feeding each other.
"Let's have breakfast before you go!" Yang Fei Long, having also showered and dressed neatly, said as he sat on the edge of the bed.
"A proper breakfast?" Luo Xiang Ning asked shyly.
"......" Yang Fei Long fell into thought, unsure whether to call it a proper breakfast or an improper one. "Buns, fried dough sticks, soy milk, and spicy soup?"
"Then... will it take us another whole day?" Luo Xiang Ning said demurely, lowering her head, her face blushing. Even with the experience of dozens of intimate exchanges, she still easily became shy.
Hearing Luo Xiang Ning's words, Yang Fei Long was rendered speechless.
It seemed her understanding wasn't wrong either?
A pair of large white steamed buns?
A long, thick fried dough stick?
A cup of thin and plentiful soy milk?
A bowl of thick and rich spicy soup?
These seemed like things that could be eaten and drunk.
Indeed, they had been eating them daily these past few days.
But he had meant the kind served on a table. Oh, wait. He suddenly realized they had also eaten these on the tables inside the room before...
"What's wrong?" Luo Xiang Ning, seeing Yang Fei Long's silence, thought he was embarrassed. She sat down in his arms, letting his hands touch her "natural" large buns, and then kissed him.
Yang Fei Long: "......"
A woman in her thirties is like a wolf, in her forties, a tiger.
Thirty or forty? Like wolves and tigers!
Very precise! And very true!
When women are like wolves and tigers, they are always proactive. Thus, their clothes were worn in vain, and their showers were taken for naught.
It was mid-morning again when the courtyard door was knocked upon. Of course, the knocking stopped after only a few times, as if to remind the people inside, not to continue incessantly.
Yang Fei Long did not answer, nor did he pay attention to the knocking outside. Instead, he was doing his exercises. Yes, push-ups with one hand, and the other hand, well, it was playing with a ball. Luo Xiang Ning covered her mouth, her face red, seemingly practicing holding her breath, holding it quite tightly.
Finally, Yang Fei Long stopped, perhaps out of exhaustion.
Luo Xiang Ning seemed to have held her breath to the extreme, also releasing her hands and gasping for air.
Then, the two of them unhurriedly went to take a bath. Although Luo Xiang Ning was still shy, compared to yesterday, she was not as flustered. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been tirelessly practicing holding her breath even with someone knocking on the courtyard door. This bath was quick, just a simple rinse, and then they got dressed.
......
Approximately the same location, the same time.
Father and son.
Luo Xiang Ning was present. Of course, her address was already familiar: "Uncle Ping Tian, I'm leaving."
"No need for me to provide you with farewell words, is there?" Yang Ping Tian said with a light chuckle.
"No, thank you." Luo Xiang Ning's face turned red, and she waved her hands.
How could she possibly accept? What was supposed to be a brief farewell had once again turned into a day and a night of exertion. If she stayed any longer, her Xiantian realm cultivation would be unable to hold back. Yes, she was suppressing it, otherwise, the benefits from repeated dual cultivation would have long since led to a breakthrough.
Now, she believed that once she broke through to Xiantian, even if she couldn't immediately reach the peak of the first stage of Qi Refining, she could at least reach the middle or even late stage of the first stage of Qi Refining.
This was because Yang Fei Long's cultivation had also made significant progress. He had now reached the peak of the seventh stage of Qi Refining, and his water and fire elemental abilities were also at the peak of the seventh rank. His ancient martial arts cultivation had not broken through; it remained at the peak of the Tian Wu realm, but his foundation had become even more solid. The bottleneck to breaking through to the Zun Wu realm had even been slightly cracked.
It wouldn't be long before he could advance further!
That's right, although ancient martial arts were only cultivated for a few days, they had surpassed Qi Refining and elemental abilities, and the foundation was incredibly solid. Who wouldn't achieve this when they had a woman who cultivated ancient martial arts, and was almost at the Xiantian realm?
"I'm going now." After speaking, Luo Xiang Ning greeted Yang Fei Long and walked out of the courtyard without looking back.
"Uh." Yang Ping Tian was somewhat perplexed.
"Cough, cough, everything that needed to be said has been said. There's nothing more to discuss," Yang Fei Long said.
"In that case, can your great-grandfather's illness be treated today?" Yang Ping Tian asked softly.
"Yes." Yang Fei Long thought for a moment and nodded.
Today was already the twenty-seventh of the twelfth lunar month. After treating the illnesses of the Yang family members today, he would stay with the Yang family for at most one more day. By the day after tomorrow at the latest, he would visit the Luo family. On New Year's Eve, he had to return to the mountain, and of course, he also had to go to his adoptive parents' home. However, there would be an order of priority: first go to his adoptive parents' home to spend the New Year with his master, then return to the mountain to spend the New Year with his adoptive parents.
He hadn't quite decided on this yet.
"Alright, I'll go tell your great-grandfather and the others now." Yang Ping Tian's face lit up with joy upon hearing his son's agreement.
The reason Yang Fei Long agreed was not only because he felt very satisfied and triumphant after the past two days, with his cultivation greatly advanced, but also because he felt a sense of indebtedness to his father. Although his father had no romantic interest in Luo Xiang Ning, he still occasionally had the absurd feeling of having snatched his father's woman.
Since he couldn't help his father in other ways for the time being, he might as well make him happier, for example, by helping his grandfather break through to the Xiantian realm!
That way, Yang Ping Tian wouldn't have to stay to manage the family. He could go out and travel, or go to that micro-world for cultivation.
His life had not been easy all these years.
What he could do was to increase his cultivation as much as possible, so that his mother and father could be reunited soon. Perhaps, this was what he needed most!
Yang Fei Long now deeply understood his love for his mother. After all, Luo Xiang Ning, the most perfect beauty in the martial world, had pursued him for twenty years without moving him. One had to consider that he had been abandoned. This showed the depth of his feelings for Yang Fei Long's mother, Li Xiu Zhu. Perhaps after Li Xiu Zhu "abandoned him," his heart had also died. No, it hadn't died; he still loved her, and it had never changed.