447: respectively

Hualala—

The sound of a sudden downpour came from outside!

The canyon, which had been clear just moments ago, was instantly shrouded in a curtain of torrential rain!

Bean-sized raindrops drummed against the wooden windows, bamboo fences, and freshly gathered mountain produce and leaves, creating a loud crackling sound.

A misty haze rose into the air, and the scent of damp vegetation and earth filled the atmosphere.

"Tsk! This mountain rain!" Yao Delong looked out the window.

Han Ruyan followed his gaze; her snow-white profile was reflected in the bamboo window frame, amidst the rain and misty vapor.

She looked like a solitary ice lotus in an ink-wash landscape painting.

She didn't move again, seemingly intoxicated by the misty rain, with only her fingertips trembling slightly.

After a moment, the rain subsided, turning into a fine, silk-like curtain.

"The rain has eased."

Han Ruyan withdrew her gaze, her expression turning cold once more. She stood up, as graceful as a green bamboo in the rain.

"Senior Brother Yao, the road ahead is long; please take care. I..."

She didn't finish her sentence.

From Yao Delong's sleeve, little Qiong Shuang, carrying a faint scent of greasy soup, poked half her head out, her icy blue vertical pupils full of cunning.

"Burp! Big Brother! Lady of the Han family! The rain is about to stop! If we don't leave now, it'll be dark!"

This youthful, slightly slick baby voice instantly shattered the subtle emotions flowing in the silence.

The tips of Han Ruyan's jade-like ears seemed to be scorched by fire, suddenly turning an imperceptible shade of light red.

Yet her cold face remained calm as she nodded slightly to Yao Delong.

"Then, Ruyan shall take her leave. Perhaps... we shall meet again in the future if fate allows."

She opened a plain white Pine-ribbed Umbrella with tiny ice crystals condensed on its edges, her figure merging into the slanting wind and rain.

She walked toward the Myriad Sword Valley camp, her white silhouette fading into the misty rain.

The "Cold Shadow Ice Talisman" in his palm, with its subtle Qiong Shuang runes, still carried the moisture of the mountain rain and an indescribable, cold fragrance.

Yao Delong watched the white figure under the umbrella receding in the drizzle, merging into the dark green mountain mist.

The warmth of the pine-scented honey wine and the savory aroma of the Spirit Valley Chicken in the canyon tavern...

...as well as her unusually soft profile framed by the bamboo window...

...seemed to be soaked and blurred by this sudden mountain rain, quietly imprinted in a corner of his heart.

His sleeve moved slightly, and a little ice lump poked its head out, blinking its vertical pupils.

Yao Delong suddenly snapped out of it!

He almost forgot!

Essence power instantly gathered in his throat, and a clear, steady Divine Thought transmission that could pierce through the wind and rain...

...was accurately directed toward the beautiful figure about to disappear in the misty rain.

"Junior Sister Han, please wait!"

In the distance, the plain white Pine-ribbed Umbrella paused slightly in the dense curtain of rain.

Yao Delong's voice continued to ring out, carrying the crispness of a rainy day.

"That day when I was tracking the devil's trail, I found that the devil cultivator eventually escaped using Blood Escape.

He used an extremely brutal forbidden secret technique, and the price should be severe damage to his Origin and dao foundation."

"Although I don't know his final destination, he will certainly have no power to cause trouble in the short term. This is the characteristic of the residual aura from where he escaped, which might help with the investigation."

As he spoke, an imperceptible Divine Thought mark, containing a faint scent of sulfurous burning and foul decay...

...flew lightly toward the Pine-ribbed Umbrella like a raindrop-laden leaf blown by the wind.

There was a moment of silence under the umbrella.

Then, a clear voice, like ice and jade clashing, came through the layers of rain.

It was more earnest than before: "Thank you, Senior Brother Yao! This information is crucial!"

The figure under the umbrella turned slightly at the end of the mist, as if giving a distant salute.

With his extraordinary vision, Yao Delong seemed to see a faint smile on her face through the misty rain, like melting snow.

It was like a clear lotus blooming instantly in an ink-wash painting.

Then, she hesitated no longer, and her figure completely vanished at the boundary of the rain and the mountain forest.

"Hehehe..."

Little Qiong Shuang finally couldn't help but poke most of her body out of the sleeve, covering her mouth with her small ice-crystal claws.

She let out an irrepressible, cunning laugh, her small eyes staring brightly at Yao Delong.

"Big Brother~ Your eyes are glued to her! And you still say it's nothing?

This Flood Dragon has lived for a hundred years, and my 'intuition' about love is very accurate!

Look at you, even chasing after her to send a message during a farewell, tsk tsk tsk..."

She shook her head, looking like an old soul who had seen through everything.

"And Big Brother, you're quite something. There are enough sisters at home to fill a table, and now this iceberg Fairy from Myriad Sword Valley also wants to..."

Before she could finish...

Crack! Another incredibly precise flick to the forehead landed on her translucent white dragon horn!

"Ow!" Qiong Shuang clutched her head and retreated into the sleeve pocket, whimpering pitifully.

"It hurts, it hurts! Big Brother, what are you doing... I was telling the truth!"

"Brat,"

Yao Delong withdrew his finger irritably, the cool and smooth sensation still lingering on his fingertip.

"Even after living for a hundred years, you're still a young Flood Dragon! All your thoughts are spent on gossip?

Fellow Daoist Han and I have only met a few times; where do all these messy ideas come from? Focus on your cultivation."

He stepped into the subsiding drizzle, his green robes flowing, his back looking exceptionally solitary and upright against the misty mountain scenery.

"Hmph!"

Qiong Shuang rolled around in the sleeve twice in dissatisfaction, rubbing her sore horn with her little claws and muttering softly.

"Fine, don't believe me... we'll see..."

Just then!

[Ding! Target: Han Ruyan, Favorability +10, Current Favorability: 75 (Grateful, appreciative and admiring, subtle ripples in the heart).]

A clinical System notification rang out in the depths of his Sea of Consciousness.

Yao Delong's footsteps paused for an imperceptible moment.

75? Subtle ripples in the heart?

Involuntarily, the moment inside the tavern by the bamboo window flashed through his mind again—the instant her fingertips trembled as she served the soup and poured the wine.

And her faint smile in the rain, like melting snow... a very faint warmth, different from the blazing flames of Fenyan, quietly passed through the depths of his chest.

He shook his head, forcibly suppressing this subtle ripple into the depths of his heart, his eyes returning to the stillness of an ancient well.

"Let's go! Back to the Yin Yang Sect!"

For the rest of the journey, because he had the "Cold Shadow Ice Talisman" gifted by Han Ruyan as an invisible pass for the Myriad Sword Valley territory...

...combined with Yao Delong completely concealing his aura and using his perfected Thousand Mechanisms Formless Art to disguise his pure fire essence, the path was smooth and unobstructed.

The various checkpoints within the Great Yan Dynasty and the beams from the aerial patrol Sword-boats...

...all automatically retreated or only performed symbolic scans in the presence of this ice talisman's aura, which flowed with the sword charm of a core true Disciple.

A Soul Transformation Elder of Myriad Sword Valley has fallen, and the Devil Head is still at large!

This news, which shook the land, swept through the Great Yan cultivation world like a cold wave, bringing with it the most severe consequences—

The entire Dynasty seemed to be covered by an invisible, colossal sword net!

At every key entry and exit point, and at the edge of every mountain range with active Spiritual Qi, elite Disciples stood guard.

High-ranking Elders presided over the hubs, their Divine Thoughts combing through the territory like a fine-toothed comb.

They especially targeted all locations with residual Devilish Qi or abnormal spatial fluctuations.

This extreme net of killing and searching had become Hun Jiu's greatest nightmare at this moment!

On the edge of the Great Yan Dynasty's northern border, deep within an extremely remote, desolate, and miasma-filled primordial forest.

A "human figure" with a dying aura and a stench of rot curled up inside the hollow of a thousand-year-old tree stump that had been eaten away by poisonous insects.