When Yue Yang came to Xue Wuxia’s room, he found Princess Qianqian already inside.

She acted as though she hadn’t seen him come in.

Yue Yang sat down.

Close beside her, shoulder to shoulder, and she still did not say a word.

Together, the two of them reached out and took Xue Wuxia’s hand. Their minds fell into an unusually deep accord — two hearts as one, weaving and merging — and then softly slipped into Xue Wuxia’s sea of consciousness, fearful that even a ripple might harm this ice-and-snow beauty in her deep sleep. Under their patient, repeated calling, Xue Wuxia’s mind seemed to give off a faint response, but before Yue Yang and Princess Qianqian could sense it clearly, it had already vanished without a trace… Perhaps she had glimpsed the closeness of the two of them arriving together, and felt a pang that made her unwilling to answer further. Perhaps she wanted to respond, to give the two of them a sign, but could not yet break free of the chaos in her own consciousness.

Yue Yang and Princess Qianqian slowly withdrew from Xue Wuxia’s sea of consciousness.

Whether or not she wished to respond, or was even able to respond, so long as she knew the two of them had come, that was enough.

More and more calls from close hearts —

Would help this snow-girl break out of the chaos sooner, and recover her mind.

Perhaps it would not take much longer before she awoke on her own… Yue Yang carefully tucked the blanket around Xue Wuxia and, on her small face, laid a light kiss. The tender, careful gesture made Princess Qianqian, watching from the side, a little jealous. This fellow was rarely so gentle with her. The way the two of them got along was either fighting or scolding — natural-born quarrelers. Truthfully, she wished he’d treat her as gently as he treated Xue Wuxia.

But the little sourness didn’t last long. It flashed and was gone.

Xue Wuxia, in this state —

Deep-sleeping and unwakeable —

Made it hard to muster jealousy at all.

If Xue Wuxia had been clear-minded, as she used to be, Princess Qianqian could well have imagined herself unable to resist punching him in the nose. Right now, though, not only was she not angry, she rather pitied him. What a wonderful snow-girl — the most capable beauty at his side, who used to be part of everything he did, always in sync, letting him fight the front with his mind at ease while she planned every angle in the rear.

Now, because she had fused with some unknown divine power, she was in a long sleep, and what her future held was still unclear.

If this snow-girl were at his side, helping him, then he wouldn’t have to hurl himself into every task the way he did now.

He wore a cheeky grin on the outside, but Princess Qianqian’s Six Senses talent could sense, quite plainly, what was in his heart.

For all his surface flippancy, he was, in truth, very worried about this snow beauty.

He kept the longing hidden — deep down.

Only at night, in the depths of sleep, could you glimpse the truest version of him… If only she too could help him, the way Xue Wuxia had. But no matter how hard she tried, she could not replace her.

Princess Qianqian waited a moment for Yue Yang at the door. When she saw him coming, she started walking ahead of him again.

The two of them walked in silence for a while.

Then Princess Qianqian suddenly spoke: “The God-Slaying Mystic Realm — maybe it’s a treasury. Its baffling nature is like a door that seals everything off. If we find the key to that door, everything will fall into place.” Yue Yang was momentarily taken aback by that, but then he nodded in agreement. “You thought of that? You’ve thought further than I have. I too feel we need some key piece to unlock the riddle.”

“If Wuxia were here, she would know what that key was!” Princess Qianqian sighed inwardly. She herself was no fool — but she could not replace her, no matter how hard she tried.

“She’s not an immortal. She can’t be expected to know everything in advance.” Yue Yang quickly waved his hand, comforting Princess Qianqian gently. “You don’t need to think of it that way. There’s still time, and we’re not in a special hurry. We’ll find the answer bit by bit.”

“It’s all right. I’m not envious of her.” Unexpectedly, Princess Qianqian reached out and slipped her soft hand into Yue Yang’s larger one. “I only want to help you.”

“Ah — Tiger-girl, actually, you’ve always been quite capable…” Yue Yang, for his part, was thrown. What had gotten into this rouge-tiger-girl tonight? Not throwing tantrums, not hitting people, tender as water instead — was the moon rising in the west tonight? If not for the fact that Princess Qianqian’s hand was in his the whole time, Yue Yang would not have dared believe this tiger-girl had reached for him on her own.

“I’m better at fighting and killing. Hitting people is my strong suit. Riddle-solving and strategic layouts don’t really interest me. I’m not exactly dim, but I know I can’t compare with Wuxia. The way she thinks, and the way I think — they’re not the same.” Princess Qianqian suddenly smiled up at him. “You wouldn’t blame me for being useless, would you?”

“Right —” Yue Yang was startled dumbstruck. His foot went wrong on the ground, and he pitched over sideways into the pool beside them.

“Once Xue Wuxia wakes up, I’ll hand all that annoying stuff back to her, and I’ll focus on fighting for you!” Princess Qianqian offered a second hand toward the water-drenched Yue Yang standing in the pool. “For the sake of keeping an eye on such a slapdash fellow, I’ll hold onto that authority for a little while.”

“Actually, ahem, I — quite like — this — the current you, I mean.” Yue Yang, for his part, was having a hard time getting the words out. To say plainly, seriously, that he liked her — had he ever tried that before?

“You wouldn’t mind if I punched you every day?” Princess Qianqian’s jade face flushed pink. She shot him a sidelong glare from her clear tiger-eyes — the voltage well past a hundred thousand volts.

Half-scorched by the shock, Yue Yang, for his part, only grinned foolishly. He couldn’t get a single word out.

Their hands —

At some point had clasped even tighter. Ten fingers interlaced.

Princess Qianqian suddenly recalled the past: “When I was small, I was very naughty. Wilder than any boy. And I had this terrible competitive streak — nowhere I was willing to lose to anyone. The old codger back home used to worry no one would want to marry me when I grew up… Before I met you, I couldn’t have cared less. After meeting you, there was a while when I thought I ought to change… But you know how it is. This is who I am. I can’t change. And you, blockhead, don’t mind. You dote on me and let me have my way. So I don’t want to change anymore either!”

Yue Yang thumped his chest. “It’s all right. My skin is thick, and I can take a beating!”

Princess Qianqian shot him another glare — this one certainly past a million volts. Yue Yang, for his part, went so dazed from the shock he nearly forgot his own name.

“Really not going to change?” Princess Qianqian took a few more steps, then turned her head and asked. Those tiger-eyes, brilliant as stars, were clear enough to reflect Yue Yang’s very soul.

“Not going to change!” Yue Yang badly wanted to gather the beauty into his arms and swear to her a thousand years, ten thousand years, of forever love and one lifetime.

“Hmph. Who doesn’t know you? You never take a loss lying down. You’re the pettiest man alive. Someday you’ll definitely settle the account. Right now you say thick skin and beating, but who’s to say what interest you’ll charge later? I’m even a little scared!” Princess Qianqian raised her small fist and waved it gently, coquettishly striking him — with a force that could not have startled a mosquito.

“Settling the account is a certainty… like Maomao who’s always teasing me, she gets the family discipline!” Yue Yang burst out laughing.

“No.” Princess Qianqian’s delicate face burned as if with fire, mortified. “She dotes on you, so she plays along like that. I absolutely won’t do that. Don’t look at me — don’t even think of trying that with me. Absolutely not!”

She was remembering an intimate moment she had once accidentally walked in on, between the drunken-cat-elder-sister and Yue Yang.

At the height of a fiery embrace, he had struck the snow-fair curve of her rear — not with much force, but with five clear fingerprints — and it had driven that “Maomao” wild. She had begun mewing on the spot… Princess Qianqian knew she too would one day cross into husband-and-wife things with him, but that manner of them she could not quite accept. Compared with that strange, driving intensity, she leaned more toward the relatively normal manner of Luohua, or of Yi Nan… The Divine Punishment Empress had her many tricks and often teamed up with the Succubus Empress or others in grand duels, and she felt she could not manage that. But neither could she be gentle-as-water like Xue Wuhen.

As the couple’s dual cultivation deepened, and the tacit accord between them grew, so did the connection of their hearts.

Sometimes, without meaning to, she could sense everything about him.

And in order to ease her fear and curiosity, the Divine Punishment Empress and the others had not avoided her much either, hoping the untouched maidens like Princess Qianqian might learn a little in advance, so that dual cultivation later would go more smoothly, more harmoniously.

If not for Xue Wuxia’s deep sleep, and Princess Qianqian’s own unwillingness to take priority, she would probably have long since consummated formal dual cultivation with her beloved Wolf.

Even now, discussing this made her blush a little.

But she no longer resisted the thought.

After all, he was the man she loved most, the husband she would spend the rest of her life with…

“Perhaps the ancient relic is the key to opening the God-Slaying Mystic Realm.” Yue Yang did not let Princess Qianqian be embarrassed for too long. He changed the subject at once. He knew that for this proud, shy rouge-tiger-girl to have come this far, this was already very rare. He rarely saw the rouge-tiger-girl this gentle and this bashful, and this was a rare night indeed.

How to put it?

My tiger-girl can’t possibly be this cute?

Yue Yang had shifted the topic. Princess Qianqian let out a quiet breath of relief. She had genuinely been afraid he’d keep pressing that mortifying line of talk — it would have been unbearably awkward!

As for the idea that an ancient relic might be the key to opening the God-Slaying Mystic Realm, Princess Qianqian had suspected as much, but was not certain. Her Six Senses talent had not been much help this time. Perhaps the God-Slaying Mystic Realm, created by ancient great gods, lay far beyond the reach of her current senses.

Time slipped by without their noticing.

The two of them, too, were sitting side by side without their noticing.

Their four eyes met, and their ten fingers were interlaced below.

Not even Princess Qianqian herself made any move to release him — let alone Yue Yang, for his part, that wolf.

Words seemed to lose their weight and meaning in this atmosphere. Their faces drew closer and closer, hot lips drawing near, with a certain innate, instinctive yearning…

Just as their lips brushed and sparked, ten thousand volts leaping between them, joining soul to soul —

Not far away came a soft snap.

The tiny sound roused the two intoxicated in their private world.

Princess Qianqian gave a great start and whipped her head around, finding three figures hiding behind the osmanthus tree — Luohua and the Divine Punishment Empress each with a hand covering her face and sighing, while the Southern Wilderness Demon King, who had been draped along the tree branch spying, had grown so caught up in it she’d slipped and given herself away, waking Yue Yang and Princess Qianqian just as they were about to press into deeper tenderness. Luohua flashed a giggling smile. “Carry on, you two. I was just passing through.”

Her Majesty the Divine Punishment Empress, in her sleep-robe, scolded the Southern Wilderness Demon King for being clumsy: “We waited so long. We finally got to the most important moment, and you…”

The Southern Wilderness Demon King apologized sheepishly. “I got too caught up! I — I was just anxious, wasn’t I? We’d waited half the night, and this blockhead didn’t take any action — no hugging, no touching, not even a kiss — I was craning my neck till it grew a foot longer! Once the kiss finally happened, I got so excited I couldn’t control my strength. And besides, you two were pressing on me from behind. If you hadn’t been leaning on me, I wouldn’t have fallen! Ay-ya, ay-ya, I’ve disturbed a certain little couple’s private world. So sorry. I’ll leave right now, right now!”

Princess Qianqian, blushing violently, was the first to flee — her small face as red as a burning cloud.

Yue Yang was furious. “The three of you have ruined my good thing — you’re insufferable!”

Her Majesty the Divine Punishment Empress rested her chin on her hand, contemplating. “This lad’s technique isn’t up to par. Clearly we haven’t been teaching him well enough. This won’t do at all. Gentle Breeze Queen, bring out your queenly power. Teach this fellow how to seize the moment at critical times. If word of that clumsy handling gets out, we shall be publicly disgraced!”

The Southern Wilderness Demon King fell into line at once: “Summon the criminal, Third Young Master of the Yue household — sorry, I mean, summon my husband, Third Young Master of the Yue household, to attend the bed…”

After a night of tireless instruction —

Yue Yang, for his part, saw his skill and technique improve considerably.

But he was also spent. In such a wheel-turning marathon, another man would have expired at his post from exhaustion. Fortunately, Yue Yang, for his part, possessed limitless combat strength — his Vajra never fell — and so he ultimately overcame three superb-fighting opponents, plus the fearsomely-powerful Succubus Empress, plus a young handmaid Xiao Nu whose fighting power was unfathomable.

The next day, while Yue Yang, for his part, was still deep in snoring sleep, Princess Qianqian burst in, ignoring the three beauties tangled about him and yanking Yue Yang out of a snare of powdery arms and jade legs, snapping: “Are you a pig? The sun’s rising off your bottom by now — still sleeping? Get up right this minute. There’s a mountain of work waiting for you. You think being master of the house is that easy?”

Half-awake, Yue Yang opened his eyes. He saw Princess Qianqian and remembered her tenderness from the night before. He at once broke into a smile: “Morning, Tiger-girl!”

The answer he got was: “Morning your head!”

Right, then. A certain princess reverted back to her prickly rouge-tiger-girl self the moment day broke!

(End of Chapter 1161)