The Eternal Fragrance

Dizzy and disoriented, Li Fei suddenly sensed something amiss and hastily pushed him away.

She saw golden light flickering in Lei Xiuyuan's eyes, his skin faintly glowing with that same dim golden radiance. Without thinking, she cupped his face in her hands, exclaiming, "What's happening to you?"

Lei Xiuyuan seemed startled, as if he too had just noticed the anomaly. He looked down at his hands—layers of golden light, sometimes dim, sometimes dazzling, pulsed beneath his skin, brightening and fading with each breath. His brows furrowed tightly, caught between confusion and realization, freezing him in place.

Li Fei immediately reached for his pulse to examine his Eight Extraordinary Meridians, but the spiritual energy within his body rejected her probing, sharply repelling her own energy. Startled, she watched as Lei Xiuyuan slowly straightened, then sat cross-legged, beginning to focus and circulate his spiritual energy.

Her astonishment grew. Moving quietly, she slipped off the bed and drew the heavy bed curtains around him. Even through the layers of fabric, she could still see the shimmering golden light pulsing across his body. Was this some sudden breakthrough? And of all times, at such an awkward moment... Li Fei felt utterly mortified. Just then, Ri Yan's hoarse, aged voice echoed in her ears, "Hmph, done with your lovers' tryst?"

Flustered and indignant, she stammered, "Y-you—you weren’t asleep this whole time?!"

Ri Yan's massive form materialized in the room. He turned his head away disdainfully. "Woke up ages ago! Why are you so embarrassed? Who’d waste time watching your dull little romance?"

Li Fei punched at his incorporeal body. Ri Yan suddenly settled onto the floor, his eerie green eyes fixed on the young man behind the curtains, his golden light flickering. He murmured, "How strange. Even I’ve never seen anything like this before."

"What’s happening to him?" Li Fei whispered.

For once, Ri Yan shook his head. "No idea. First time seeing this. That kid was riddled with hidden wounds before, but you healed them all yesterday. My guess is he needs time to adjust. Don’t make a fuss—just let him be."

Li Fei sat by Ri Yan’s feet. After a long silence, she murmured, "Ri Yan... will Xiu Yuan be alright?"

The fox snorted. "If something this minor takes him out, do you think he’s made of clay?"

"...Was that supposed to comfort me?"

"He’ll drop dead tomorrow! Happy now?"

Li Fei couldn’t help but smile wryly. A prickly fox, a prickly Lei Xiuyuan... It seemed she was always surrounded by difficult people. How exhausting.

Lei Xiuyuan remained in deep meditation for two full days. First, Hu Jiaping came looking for him to finish their interrupted duel. Then, as secrets are hard to keep, Guangwei Zhenren and the other elders eventually caught wind of it. The peculiar and profound nature of Lei Xiuyuan’s meditation made the elders hesitant to move him, so Li Fei’s bedroom became their temporary gathering spot, with someone checking on him daily.

Early on the third morning, Li Fei opened her door to find Guangwei Zhenren still seated at the bedside. Lei Xiuyuan remained in meditation, and the elder himself was also meditating, one hand firmly on Lei Xiuyuan’s pulse, ready to intervene at the first sign of trouble.

This Celestial’s care for Lei Xiuyuan was nothing short of meticulous. Li Fei quietly placed breakfast and tea on the table, bowed, and turned to leave when Guangwei Zhenren suddenly spoke gently, "You were the one who healed his injuries, weren’t you?"A few days prior, he had noticed Lei Xiuyuan had surpassed his limits, which would inevitably cause severe damage to his body. Yet, not only had his injuries healed completely in these past few days, but his spiritual energy had also become even more vibrant and abundant than before—an unexpected boon.

Li Fei immediately bowed and acknowledged the instruction. Speaking of which, the Jade Snow Technique had been taught to her by Ri Yan. Recently, the fox had been appearing every day but idling around without purpose. When she asked him to teach her more Immortal Techniques, he stubbornly refused, being incredibly stingy.

Guangwei Zhenren studied her carefully and realized her cultivation had quietly broken through the third bottleneck. Yet, the spiritual energy around her remained calm and undisturbed. This girl was quite peculiar—her aptitude seemed ordinary, yet her progress in cultivation was so swift and silent. He couldn’t help but admire Chongyi’s keen eye for talent. If not for Lei Xiuyuan’s extraordinary genius, she would undoubtedly have been the one to shine brilliantly.

Guangwei Zhenren suddenly felt a pang of emotion and sighed softly. Initially, none of them had held high hopes for this young pair. Lei Xiuyuan was a prodigy, while Jiang Li Fei’s aptitude was mediocre. Even if they grew up and became cultivation partners, their differing levels would make it difficult for their relationship to last. Yet, unexpectedly, she had steadily kept pace without hurry or delay, and even this strong-willed child, Lei Xiuyuan, had grown deeply attached to her. It was hard to say who was chasing whom or who was waiting for whom. One was proud and unyielding, the other resilient and gentle. Given time, they would surely become a celebrated tale in the cultivation world. It was almost shameful—a prestigious sect like theirs had failed to recognize talent as well as a single child like Lei Xiuyuan.

"Xiu Yuan is an extremely stubborn child—the stronger the opposition, the harder he pushes back, yielding to neither force nor persuasion. In the future, you’ll have to take care of him."

After speaking, Guangwei Zhenren closed his eyes and meditated again, leaving Li Fei standing there in stunned silence. What did he mean by that? Was this an elder’s tacit approval of their relationship?

Lei Xiuyuan woke at dawn on the fourth day. Guangwei Zhenren had left early to serve as a judge for today’s competition. Li Fei quietly pushed open the door and saw Hu Jiaping half-asleep on the floor. Even Ri Yan, who was usually wandering around, was in the room, staring intently at Lei Xiuyuan.

"You came so early?" Li Fei whispered as she approached, only to be startled by Lei Xiuyuan’s cool voice from behind: "Who are you talking to?"

She spun around and saw him sitting on the edge of the bed, his underwear only half on, watching her with an amused smirk.

He was awake! Li Fei rushed over, examining him closely while sending out spiritual energy to probe his Eight Extraordinary Meridians. This time, no energy pushed her away, and the examination went smoothly—there were no abnormalities in his body.

"How do you feel now?" she asked softly, looking up at him.

Lei Xiuyuan pinched her cheek and smiled faintly. "Had a very long dream. Finally woke up."

A dream? Not meditation? Just as Li Fei was about to speak, Hu Jiaping, disturbed by their voices, yawned and walked over, patting Lei Xiuyuan’s shoulder with a sigh. "Good lad, it’s all because of you that I had to go see Master. Now I can’t leave."

He had originally planned to slip away right after the competition, but Lei Xiuyuan’s sudden condition forced him, as the senior brother, to stay behind.

"You can leave now," Lei Xiuyuan said, glancing at the window. "We’ll keep it a secret for you."

"Trying to get rid of me, huh?" Hu Jiaping snorted. "So young, yet so cunning. Since you’re awake, hurry up and go! The elders are about to hand out rewards soon."The Martial Competition Tournament was nearing its end. Since Lei Xiuyuan had failed to participate in the second day's matches, it had been a stroke of luck for the disciples scheduled to face him, each advancing without a fight. The observing disciples could only voice their dissatisfaction with jeers.

The top two hundred from the six groups were quickly determined. This year, apart from Qin Yangling, who had been abruptly expelled from the Cloud Sea, not a single ordinary disciple managed to break into the top two hundred. Meanwhile, Senior Brother Qin had been temporarily taken away from No Moon Court by Zhengxu Zhenren the next day. It was said that the four sect leaders, who usually paid little attention to minor sect affairs, had specifically sought out Zhengxu Zhenren for a discussion. Given that Qin Yangling and Lei Xiuyuan had now formed an irreconcilable enmity, making peaceful coexistence impossible in the future, it was better for an elder to take one of them away to allow both to cool off.

The bias of the four sect leaders was evident—strength prevailed above all. Qin Yangling, who had been outmatched in skill, naturally had to be temporarily sidelined. Such was the iron law of the cultivation world.

When Li Fei and Lei Xiuyuan arrived at the Martial Training Field beneath the Cloud Sea, they saw hundreds of elders gathered on the vast training ground. Opposite them stood ten disciples bowing respectfully—apparently the top ten from the group that had broken through the third bottleneck. It was now time for the elders to distribute their rewards.

A modest wooden table suddenly appeared in the center of the field, its surface swirling with spiritual energy. Ten thumb-sized pale jade bottles hovered above it, their contents unknown but surely some kind of Magical Pills and Elixirs. Dongyang Zhenren smiled and said, "During our last joint trial with the Ocean Sect, No Moon Court obtained two Demon Vermilion Fruits. After bringing them back, we entrusted Cave Cloud Celestial to refine them into ten Demon Vermilion Pills. Surely this reward doesn’t seem stingy, does it?"

With a flick of his sleeve, the ten small jade bottles floated into the hands of the ten disciples. Some couldn’t resist immediately uncorking their bottles to take a sniff, releasing a sweet, intoxicating fragrance. They were well aware of the Demon Vermilion Fruit’s effects, and Cave Cloud Celestial was a renowned elder of No Moon Court who surpassed even the sect’s elders in alchemy. The Demon Vermilion Pills were undoubtedly miraculous medicines capable of reviving the dead and regenerating flesh.

This reward was far from stingy—it was extravagantly generous. The ten disciples bowed in gratitude and withdrew one after another. Suddenly, Guangwei Zhenren stepped forward and said, "Xiu Yuan, come up. Your master has something to give you."

From his sleeve, he produced an empty sword hilt, pale as jade, smooth and lustrous, seemingly carved from stone. The disciples were puzzled by the seemingly plain hilt, but Dongyang Zhenren exclaimed in surprise, "Guangwei, you’re willing to part with this?"

Guangwei Zhenren chuckled. "I no longer have any use for it. Why keep it? Xiu Yuan, this is a fragment of the tailbone from the divine beast, the White Tiger. Long ago, one of No Moon Court’s sect leaders severed it during a fierce battle with the White Tiger and refined it into this. The White Tiger is born of the Metal Element Spiritual Energy of heaven and earth. Hold it, and you will soon discover its wonders."

Lei Xiuyuan received it with both hands. The moment the White Tiger Tailbone touched his palms, it emitted a resonant hum, vibrating nine times before gradually quieting. Channeling his spiritual energy into the hilt, he watched as a golden light erupted, stretching several feet in a dazzling, leaping radiance too intense to behold directly.

Guangwei Zhenren looked on with deep satisfaction and said warmly, "It seems this Mystical Treasure has taken a liking to you."

This was a treasure hundreds of times more practical and valuable than the Demon Vermilion Pills. Lei Xiuyuan withdrew his spiritual energy, cradling the hilt reverently as he knelt on one knee and murmured, "This disciple thanks his master for the gift."Guangwei Zhenren studied him carefully. The young man was proud and upright, like a drawn Mystic Sword, radiant and dazzling. He couldn't help but narrow his eyes slightly, recalling that peerlessly talented figure from five hundred years ago. The distant memories flooded back all at once, and he let out a long sigh.

"Too rigid and it will break." Just a few days prior, one of the sect leaders had warned him to teach Lei Xiuyuan well. While such extraordinary talent was rare, they must not create another Azure City.

Guangwei Zhenren said softly, "Xiu Yuan, when I took you in as my disciple, I told you the principle of balancing strength and flexibility. Don't forget—being too rigid leads to breaking. Only by balancing strength and flexibility can one endure. This isn't just a principle for cultivating Immortal Techniques. In your fight with Qin Yangling, pushing beyond your limits is something you can do once but not again. Otherwise, your body will eventually be riddled with Hidden Wounds. A cultivator must know when to advance and when to retreat. There's a long road ahead—there's no need to compete for momentary pride."

After a moment of contemplation, Lei Xiuyuan replied with a simple "Yes."