Heavenly Illusions

“Pah! Pah! I can’t swim in this form! I’m going to fucking drown!”

An Mo’s arms flayed wildly in the water as he tried to stay above the surface. With each sentence he spoke water flowed into his mouth, about to suffocate him.

Xai Lin, who was bobbing in the water next to him, rolled her sparkling blue eyes.

“Perhaps if you spoke less, you’d drown a lot less faster.”

“Damn it... Pah! Pah! Save me!”

Xai Lin clicked her tongue in annoyance but honestly went to help him. After swimming to his side, she wrapped one hand around his waist and used the other to paddle to the lake’s shore.

An Mo hurriedly wrapped his arms around Xai Lin’s neck and clung to her with his feet. With his face buried in the crook of her neck, it was as if he wanted to be an extra appendage of hers.

Xai Lin glanced at her newly added appendage; she wasn’t annoyed, just a bit speechless at his cowardly behavior. Though with a thought, she recalled a piece of information she once read that said Demonic Beasts, or rather, Spirit Beasts with a Divine Beast’s bloodline considered their human form as their weakest state. So, she figured An Mo was just affected by his current state.

Xai Lin understandingly didn’t push An Mo away and just focused on getting them out of the lake, despite the added difficulty.

Even with her physical body being exceptional among cultivators of the same realm, An Mo was, after all, a Spirit Beast with a Divine Bloodline. Even with his cultivation sealed, and being in his weakest form, Xai Lin felt like she was swimming with a thousand-pound boulder attached to her.

“Ugh!”

She crawled to the lake’s shore with a groan. The few jagged rocks among the smooth ones on the shore tried to bore into her palms, but they couldn’t even leave a mark on her skin.

Xai Lin looked at the soaking wet figure that was still clinging to her. She could feel with her hand, which was wrapped around his waist, that he was trembling slightly. Along with his drenched, brightly colored hair that was sticking to his cute little face, she got the impression that what she just saved was not a person, but a small puppy.

‘Why wasn’t he so obedient from the beginning? It would have saved him from looking so pitiful now.’

Xai Lin thought in her heart.

With a bit of effort, she stood up with An Mo and walked to the grassy shore. Her feet made a ‘squish’ ‘squish’ sound as she walked.

Upon finally reaching dry land, Xai Lin immediately felt uncomfortable in her baggy wet clothes. Worse, with her cultivation sealed, she couldn’t use Spiritual Qi to dry herself.

“Hey, how long are you going to cling to me? We’re already out of the water.”

Xai Lin patted An Mo’s waist to get his attention. However, her hand paused briefly at the sensation.

‘So soft!’

Xai Lin couldn’t help but exclaim in her heart. She hadn’t noticed it before when they were in the water, but now that she was feeling it, An Mo’s skin was excessively soft. It felt like if she wasn’t careful with the force she used, his skin might break with just a touch.

‘Now that I’ve thought about it, isn’t his waist a bit too thin? Is he not eating enough?’

Xai Lin’s hand moved subtly to An Mo’s abdomen, and her fingers tips were met with a few outlines of his abs.

Xai Lin lifted her eyebrows a little.

It wasn’t that he was thin, but rather lean, with firm muscles being in the place they should, and soft fat in the places that matter.

Xai Lin’s fingertips twitched, but she quickly pushed aside the sudden urge to feel An Mo’s clearly accessible butt.

However, thinking back to what she saw when they were in the air, Xai Lin couldn’t help but pursed her little lips. Especially when she thought about her current body. She couldn’t help but feel a bit aggrieved.

But that feeling was brief, after all, she had already come to terms with her new body when she was first born, what of it now that so many years had passed. There was no need for her to feel aggrieved, what was done was done, a new life will always welcome new changes.

Just look at the thoughts she was thinking now, and her current actions... heh-heh...

All of Xai Lin’s thoughts and actions were completed in only a brief moment.

An Mo, upon hearing Xai Lin’s words, finally looked up and glanced at the surroundings. He then turned back to Xai Lin and happened to meet her gaze. Instantly, a faint blush swept across his cheeks, and he hurriedly detached himself from her and stumbled back a few paces.

“I... T-Thank you for saving me.”

An Mo lowered his head and spoke, while trying to cover himself with his hands.

“It’s fine, no need to thank me.”

Xai Lin replied, her gaze sweeping over An Mo’s body and lingered on his slightly red cheeks before looking away.

“No wait!”

An Mo suddenly came back to his senses. His lowered head snapped up before he angrily pointed at Xai Lin’s beautiful face and shrieked.

“You’re the one who came out of nowhere and chased me all the way here! Bastard! If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t be in this wretched state!!”

Xai Lin rolled her eyes. She folded her arms across her chest and looked at An Mo who had recovered from his previous obedient state. Seeing his boisterous appearance now, she felt that it was a pity. She quite preferred him like he was before.

Xai Lin quickly dismissed this thought from her mind, before she snorted and said.

“If you hadn’t run away, would I have chased you all the way here? If anything, all of this is your fault.”

“You-!”

An Mo looked at Xai Lin’s unrepentant demeanor and suddenly felt like he had a bag full of explosives in his chest that he had to forcefully suppress. He felt extremely stifled.

But at the same time, he also felt a bit aggrieved. Even though the other beast’s younglings had avoided him, and those older sisters and brothers had bullied him by not allowing him to leave his home, he had never truly suffered any grievances in his fifteen years alive.

No, perhaps that one time when he first transformed into human form and was teased by those Spirit Foxes in the Water Region could be said to be a bit of grievance. But what was that little bit of teasing from those playful older sisters, compared to being chased and nearly being eaten by this human girl?

An Mo bit his lower lip to stop it from trembling, and his eyes grew moist as he glared at Xai Lin.

Xai Lin paused when she saw An Mo’s teary-eyed glare, and a bit of guilt couldn’t help but emerge in her heart.

“What are you looking so aggrieved for? Didn’t you say you wanted to play? Just consider me chasing you here as me playing with you.”

Now it was An Mo’s turn to pause. The little bit of grievance in his heart fade by half but he still asked with a skeptical expression.

“Do you mean that?”

Xai Lin nodded.

“Yeah, of course I do.”

Upon getting this confirmation, An Mo felt a bit relieved in his heart. But before he could even feel relieved for long, Xai Lin spoke her next words.

“After all, I like to play with my food before I eat it.”

An Mo immediately exploded.

“Bastard!”

Not caring about his current state, he stepped forward using his uncoordinated and wobbly legs to lunged at Xai Lin.