"They really are dao companions..."

Pei Zhihan listened to the portrait stall owner’s loud calls, and her lips twitched slightly. She felt like she was standing there as an extra.

Although she still had many doubts in her heart, Zhihan smiled awkwardly: "Yuyan, accompany your junior for the portrait first. I will not disturb you two."

She said this and planned to take her disciple Lin Che and leave.

But this time Yuyan called out to stop her: "It’s been years since we last met. If sister Zhihan wants to attend the martial meet, why don’t we wait and go together?"

"..."

When she heard this, Zhihan froze again.

She turned her head and looked at Yuyan’s sincere beautiful face, but her chest felt sour and she wanted to avoid the topic.

In sword dao and character, Yuyan was a junior Zhihan trusted completely.

It was just that...

These past years her situation in Jianlan Sect had become very bad.

Her sword dao had stayed stuck at the same level as when she first met Yuyan ten years ago, with no progress at all. Now she saw Yuyan reach the Divine Transformation stage and have a handsome Nascent Soul junior brother with her on a date...

On her side, Zhihan had worked hard to teach Lin Che sword for nearly half a year, but he had grown very little and had only just learned the most basic sword moves.

Compared to that, Zhihan felt truly ashamed.

Yuyan would probably not laugh at her, but Zhihan had once been the sword dao genius known across the cultivation world. Now she had fallen to such a sorry state, and she still could not get past this block in her own heart.

"Alright then. We will wait for you at the teahouse next door."

Zhihan sighed, smiled bitterly, and glanced at the small teahouse at the street corner.

Yuyan nodded. While she chatted and smiled, her eyes drifted to the buzz-cut boy beside Zhihan.

She seemed to wait for Zhihan to introduce him, but Zhihan said nothing more and simply turned to leave with the youth.

When she saw this, Yuyan felt even more strange.

When she first met Zhihan years ago, the latter had not had such a youth with her, and her face had looked much more lively than today.

"What do you think, Senior Sister? How does the youth beside Lady Zhihan look in his cultivation?"

Yino sat back in his seat, wrapped his arm around the beauty’s waist again in the same pose as before, and smiled lightly.

Yuyan knew the portrait was only half done, so she nestled into Yino’s arms and smiled at the stall owner with her red lips.

"That boy has strong spiritual energy, but I cannot sense any sword intent on him..."

"So I found it strange. Why would sister Zhihan, as Jianlan Sect Master, accept a disciple who is not skilled in sword dao?"

Yuyan spoke softly while lost in thought.

Yino was not surprised at all.

Because in his previous life while playing Fallen Immortal, he had already discovered this odd setting.

The Five Great Immortal Sects each had their own strengths.

For example, Wuji Sect’s main focus was array cultivation, yet the protagonist had the Innate Sword Dao Sacred Body.

Liuli Sect’s main focus was illusion cultivation, but Xumo was actually good at arrays, which had shown during the fight in Azure Forest.

Now Lin Che of Jianlan Sect was the same.

He had the Innate Pure Yang Holy Physique and was good at body techniques. In short, he was a tough fighter, using fists was often faster and better than sword or spear.

And the reason Zhihan accepted him as disciple seemed like a mistake to Yino.

Zhihan’s master was the Primordial Sword Venerable, who cultivated the Primordial Sword Art. In the game, the Primordial Sword Art had a golden sun theme similar to the Pure Yang Holy Physique. So when Zhihan found Lin Che, a genius the world had overlooked, she thought he was the fated person her master mentioned in the letter: the one she had waited a hundred years for, the perfect match for the Primordial Sword Art inheritance.

But the truth was clear: Lin Che had no talent for sword at all.

For example, in today’s competition Lin Che would step on stage with his sword, get beaten badly by his opponent, then get angry and switch to fists and kicks to win the championship.

Later in next year’s Northern Domain Secret Realm, Zhihan and Lin Che would fall into a desperate situation. Before she died, she would sacrifice herself to pass the Primordial True Scripture to Lin Che. Only then would Lin Che inherit her hundred years of Primordial Sword Intent, his power would explode, he would understand the Heavenly Mandate, and he would use heavy fists to avenge his master by beating the villain.

This was the whole Jianlan Sect story about Zhihan and Lin Che that Yino knew.

Thinking of this, Yino smiled easily:

"Senior, we cannot judge by looks alone. Maybe he has some hidden potential that will burst out at the right moment?"

"That makes sense too. Back in Luo City you were still a spoiled young master who looked lazy and not like a good person... Who knew you would later prove me wrong more than once."

Yuyan smiled awkwardly, but she turned her head and let her beautiful eyes full of love rest on her husband’s face as he held her.

Honestly, she had felt a bit held back while cultivating in the Dragon Palace for the past month or so.

Because the sword art Changli taught her was special: during training she had to stay abstinent. But the art also required yin-yang balance. With her innate Frost Holy Physique, she was yin, so her body would get colder and colder until it froze. Luckily Yino had the ancient true phoenix bloodline and cultivated a yang sword art, so every session they sat together and refined each other.

Back and forth, every time her body turned cold Yino would send his hot pure yang energy into her.

Her body would feel both ice and fire, Yino’s pure yang churned inside her and kept pushing the limits of their bodies that were close to qi deviation. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

Over time, both in mind and body, they grew more and more attracted to each other.

According to Changli, this yin-yang harmony was normal. Once the training cycle ended they could stop being abstinent.

And the moment they stopped being abstinent was when their power would surge.

The whole process was like a shared pool of experience they both filled.

The abstinence period was the time to fill the pool.

The longer the abstinence, the fuller the pool became.

When the time came to act, they could break the abstinence and refine the stored experience together.

And today, the opening of the martial competition was the day Changli told them to start harvesting!

Tonight, they would break their abstinence; tomorrow during the official fights it would be Yino’s turn to shine on the stage!

After the competition ended, Yuyan and Yino would go back to the Dragon Palace and start a new round of abstinence and focused training.

Because of this, they had been especially close these past few days.

Compared to before, Yuyan now found every bit of Yino’s scent extra attractive. She wanted to stay by his side every moment, and she did not mind holding hands or hugging in public...

Yino felt the same. Before at Ranmo Peak he had mostly stayed in sage mode, how could he have looked at Yuyan all day long?

But now...

Because of the abstinence training, Yino really could not take his eyes off her.

She felt her dantian grow cold and would instinctively seek the ancient phoenix yang energy from him, while he felt heat rising and wanted to press against her cold innate Frost Holy Physique.