Chapter 137 - 136: Seeing Bai Qingyue
The corridors leading to the residential wing of the master pavilion were bathed in the soft, golden light of the mid-morning sun. As Lin Yuan walked, his Daoist robes gliding silently over the floors, he felt a profound, almost staggering sense of dissonance.
To others, and to the woman waiting for him at the end of this hall, roughly thirty days had passed. A mere month. A fleeting blink in the grand, sweeping tapestry of a cultivator’s existence.
But for Lin Yuan, he had lived an entire sixty-year lifetime in the streets of Qingshui Town. He had aged, raised a son, and died an old man. Then, he had endured seventy years in the temporal void, waging a war against a tribulation.
It had been one hundred and thirty years since he had last laid eyes on Bai Qingyue.
One hundred and thirty years since he had smelled the faint, intoxicating scent that always lingered on her skin. One hundred and thirty years since he had felt the fragile, human warmth of her hand in his.
Now, he was only a few dozen paces away.
Lin Yuan stopped before the doors of their bridal chamber. He took a slow, deep breath and reached out and gently pushed the doors open.
The chamber was expansive and serene, filled with the soft rustling of silk draperies and the ambient warmth of a low-burning hearth.
At the far end of the room, near a large, open window that overlooked the sprawling Koi pond, was Bai Qingyue.
She was dressed in a simple, flowing robe of pale blue silk that draped elegantly over her slender frame. Her long black hair cascaded down her back like a waterfall. She was holding a small watering can, delicately tending to a blooming lotus resting on the windowsill.
She looked breathtaking. Ethereal, quiet, and impossibly beautiful.
The soft click of the heavy doors closing behind Lin Yuan echoed through the quiet chamber.
Bai Qingyue froze.
The watering can slipped from her fingers, clattering softly onto the wooden sill. She turned around slowly, her breath catching in her throat as her eyes found the man standing across the room.
For a long, suspended moment, neither of them moved.
Bai Qingyue stared at him, her eyes searching his face. It was Lin Yuan. It was her husband. But the man standing before her felt different from the person who had kissed her forehead thirty days ago before entering seclusion.
"Yuan..."
That single syllable shattered the years of isolation within Lin Yuan’s soul.
He didn’t walk. Using teleportation, Lin Yuan bypassed the physical distance of the room entirely. In the span of a single heartbeat, he materialized directly in front of her.
Before she could even register the movement, Lin Yuan reached out and pulled her into his arms.
He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her flush against his chest, burying his face in the crook of her neck. He held her with a fierce, desperate, and overwhelming tightness, as if terrified that the universe might suddenly fracture and try to steal her away from him.
"It’s so good," Lin Yuan breathed, his voice vibrating with emotions that he did not even attempt to conceal. "It’s so good to touch you again, Qingyue."
Bai Qingyue let out a soft, choked sob. Her arms wrapped tightly around his shoulders, her fingers gripping the fabric of his Daoist robes. She buried her face against his chest, breathing in the scent of warmth that belonged entirely to him.
"You were gone for a month," she whispered. "I promised Bai Chen I would be patient. I promised you I would rest. But the valley felt so incredibly empty without you. I missed you... I missed you so much."
Lin Yuan closed his eyes, inhaling the scent of frozen orchids. A month. To her, it had been a month of quiet loneliness.
"I missed you for a lifetime," Lin Yuan whispered back, the words carrying a literal truth that only he could fully understand.
He slowly pulled back just enough to look at her face. He raised his hands, his long, flawless fingers gently framing her jaw. His thumbs softly brushed away the tears trailing down her cheeks. Her skin was warm, soft, and heartbreakingly real.
Bai Qingyue looked up into his deep purple eyes, completely mesmerized by the overwhelming devotion she found there.
Lin Yuan leaned down, capturing her lips with his own.
The kiss was deep, consuming, and fiercely intimate. Lin Yuan kissed her with the love of a man who had traversed distance and fought his way through just to find his way back home.
Bai Qingyue melted against him instantly. A soft, breathless sigh escaped her throat as she parted her lips, welcoming the demanding heat of his mouth. Her hands slid up his chest, tangling into his dark hair, pulling him even closer until there was absolutely no space left between them.
The physical connection was electric. Lin Yuan’s tongue traced the soft curve of her lower lip before sweeping inward, tasting the sweet, familiar warmth that he had anchored his very soul to. The kiss deepened, becoming a slow, sensual, and overwhelming exchange of breath and emotion.
He poured his absolute devotion into the kiss. He wanted her to feel the immense, unshakable foundation of his Dao Heart—to know that every drop of power he had seized from the heavens was ultimately due to her.
Lin Yuan’s hands slid from her jaw down to the slender curve of her waist. He effortlessly lifted her off the floor, his physical strength so supreme that she weighed absolutely nothing to him. Bai Qingyue gasped softly into his mouth, her legs instinctively wrapping around his waist as he carried her away from the window.
He laid her gently upon the massive bed in the center of the chamber, following her down. He hovered over her, supporting his weight on his forearms so as not to press too heavily upon her body.
Bai Qingyue looked up at him, her chest heaving slightly, her lips bruised and flushed a deep, beautiful red from his kiss. Her hair was fanned out across the pillows, framing her face like a halo of moonlight.
"Your aura..." she whispered, her eyes wide with awe as she recalled the feel of the subtle change in his existence. "I obviously can’t make anything out of it, but it feels like you crossed the threshold. You did it, didn’t you?"
"I did," Lin Yuan replied softly, his hand reaching out to gently trace the curve of her collarbone, feeling the rapid, nervous flutter of her pulse beneath his fingertips. "I reached the Spirit Severing realm."
He leaned down, pressing a soft, lingering kiss to the sensitive skin just beneath her ear, causing her to shiver involuntarily.
"Then... the Lord Tournament," Bai Qingyue breathed, her hands resting flat against his broad, solid chest, feeling the steady, powerful rhythm of his heartbeat.
"Yes," Lin Yuan confirmed, his lips trailing slowly down her neck, pressing warm, deliberate kisses against her collarbone. "We will enter Sky Jade City. We will shatter whoever they put in front of us, and we will claim the Emperor’s favor. Your cultivation will be restored, Qingyue. I swear it upon my soul."
Bai Qingyue closed her eyes, a profound, overwhelming sense of security washing over her. She lay beneath him, surrounded by his warmth and his devotion, all her fears completely evaporated.
"I know you will," she whispered, her hands sliding up to cup his face, pulling him back up to meet her gaze.
Lin Yuan looked down at his wife, and captured her lips once more, the kiss slower this time, incredibly tender and steeped in a profound, lingering intimacy. His hands explored the soft curves of her body through the delicate silk of her robe, mapping the warmth of her skin with a reverence reserved only for the divine.
The afternoon sun slowly tracked across the floor of the bridal chamber, casting long shadows, but within the privacy of the room, time seemed to stand completely still.