Dao Companions Help Me Live Forever

Chapter 21: Breakthrough

When Yu Xian returned, it was already late at night.

But Building No. 2 was still lit up.

In the courtyard.

Chen Yi was wearing a plain white robe and holding a lantern. Standing alone in the dim light of the courtyard, her shadow stretched long under the light, as if she had walked out of a painting.

Yu Xian was momentarily stunned.

He suddenly felt a touch of emotion in his heart.

At some point, he had also fantasized about coming home late at night and finding one of the countless lights in the neighborhood waiting for him.

"Are you waiting for me?"

"You don't usually come back this late, so I was a little worried."

Chen Yi's voice was cold, like the wind tonight, icy and refreshing.

Yu Xian smiled and walked over, embracing Chen Yi.

"Sorry for keeping you waiting."

Chen Yi blushed slightly, breathing in the familiar scent in Yu Xian's embrace. Her small hand holding the lantern unconsciously tightened.

"But since you're not asleep, it's perfect. I have a gift for you."

Behind them.

Yulan was directing several guards from the Wang Mansion to bring over a box. When she saw the scene of the two embracing in the courtyard, a smile froze on her face.

But when she looked down and saw the phoenix pendant on her waist, emitting a warm glow in the night, a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.

When Chen Yi heard Yulan's voice, she quickly slipped out of Yu Xian's embrace as if caught in the act.

"Yulan."

"Sister Xiao Yi, this is the gift Master gave me today. Do you think it's beautiful?"

Yulan seemed to have not seen anything and picked up the jade pendant on her waist to show Chen Yi.

Chen Yi casually glanced at it and said, "It's beautiful."

"I think it's beautiful too, and it matches the jade pendant on Master's waist."

Yulan was delighted, her eyes filled with happiness.

Only then did Chen Yi notice that Yu Xian had also acquired a jade pendant on his waist at some point, and her eyes dimmed slightly.

"Don't show off your gift. I have a gift for you, Sister Xiao Yi. Why don't you take it out?"

Yu Xian urged.

He didn't care about Yulan's subtle thoughts, and even welcomed them.

"Alright."

Yulan opened one of the boxes, and a golden light flashed out, dazzling Chen Yi.

"Where did all this gold come from?"

One tael of gold is equal to ten taels of silver.

Fifteen thousand taels of silver is equivalent to fifteen thousand taels of gold, totaling one thousand five hundred catties, or seven hundred and fifty kilograms, roughly thirty cubic decimeters.

A small storage box with a capacity of thirty liters would just about fit all the gold, with a little extra.

It may not sound like much, but the visual impact was overwhelming.

However, Yulan only took out a few fist-sized ugly stones from the gold and covered the box again.

"Sister Xiao Yi, this is your gift."

Chen Yi took the stone, and her face immediately showed surprise.

She had long been able to sense spiritual energy, and as soon as she touched the stone, she felt the dense spiritual energy inside, which was dozens of times stronger than the air.

She looked at Yu Xian in astonishment.

Yu Xian smiled and said, "I went through a lot of trouble for these few pieces of broken stones. Are you satisfied?"

Chen Yi fell silent for a moment, holding the stone in her hands. There was not much joy on her face, but rather a sense of unease.

"Aren't you afraid that I will..."

She suddenly stopped, not continuing her question.

"Leave me?"

Yu Xian lowered her eyebrows and her voice became deep.

"Perhaps you have never liked me, but I have never wanted to restrict your freedom. To truly like someone is to let them do what they like.

You have your dreams, and there's no need to stay because of anyone."

After speaking, without waiting for Chen Yi's response, Yu Xian playfully picked up the still unresponsive Yulan and walked upstairs.

"Yulan, attend to the master's bath."

"Master, the things haven't been moved into the house yet."

Yulan tightly hugged Yu Xian's neck, her gaze falling on the box on the ground. She was worried about leaving such valuable things lying around in the courtyard.

"What is there to worry about in the Wang Mansion? Whoever dares to reach out, I'll kill their whole family."

Yu Xian's words were filled with killing intent.

After entering the house, Yu Xian activated his mana and threw a small fireball into the tub filled with water. In the blink of an eye, steam rose up.

Yu Xian threw Yulan into the tub and quickly undressed himself, then jumped in with a splash.

[Name: Yu Xian]

[Cultivation: Qi Refining Sixth Layer (125/130)]

[Soulmate: Yulan (1/1)]

The day of breakthrough is tonight.

The sudden inspiration today made Yu Xian decide to break the routine of cultivation and be a little willful.

"It's just seven points of cultivation, a person's limits are meant to be broken!"

Yu Xian's mana circulated endlessly within his body as he gritted his teeth.

...

Downstairs.

Chen Yi was caught in a dilemma.

Ever since she learned about the existence of the cultivation world, she had firmly believed that it was where she should go.

In her imagination, it should be beautiful there. After all, it was the place where cultivators existed, the only place where she could truly be reborn.

But when Yu Xian handed her these pieces of stone containing rich spiritual energy, she was confident that she could successfully cultivate by absorbing the energy from these stones. In no time, she would become a true cultivator.

Yet she hesitated.

No one had ever treated her as gently and protected her like Yu Xian did. Even though she knew it was fake, she couldn't help but be drawn to it like a moth to a flame.

After a long time.

The light of the lantern Chen Yi was holding gradually dimmed. The rising coldness of the night made her hands icy cold, her face devoid of color, as pale as snow.

She suddenly laughed at herself and murmured,

"When did you become so weak? Did a little tenderness make you fall? He is good, but how long can his tenderness last? One year or two years?

Don't forget what happened to your sister. Pleasure-seeking only leads to a decline. When you are old and no longer attractive, when he becomes tired of you, no one will spare you a second glance.

You can fall in love with him, but you can't love him like a lowly dust."

The fire in the cage suddenly extinguished, but a pair of eyes in the dark night shone like stars.

The essence of the Changchun Gong technique appeared in Chen Yi's mind. The spiritual energy within the stone in her embrace surged out and entered her body at an extraordinary speed.

She operated the technique, and the thin spiritual energy in the surrounding world was drawn towards her by an invisible force.

Absorbing the energy into her body, condensing her mana, this was Qi Refining.

She didn't know how much time had passed.

Ding dong...

As if a drop of dew fell into a mountain spring.

A strand of mana condensed in Chen Yi's dantian, and she suddenly felt a brightening of the world, as if she could float up into the air.

"So this is the world as seen by cultivators?"

Chen Yi tried to summon the faint mana within her body. The mana flickered in her palm like a candle flame in the wind, seemingly weak, but containing a startling power.

"It's truly... a fascinating power."

(End of this chapter)