Food Fairy Lord

Chapter 717 A Cold Gaze from Your Lordship, Incessant Chatter

It had been so many days since I'd seen those eyes; they felt so familiar and comforting, so close. All the restlessness, resentment, and chaotic emotions I felt when we parted seemed to have found a foothold, a release.

Pei Ye opened her mouth, as if she had countless words to say, but in the end she just stared at her for a while before turning her face away without expression.

He looked back and saw a hazy curtain of water flowing against the current, and the ferocious scaled demon had pounced on it again, its claws and teeth fiercely gnawing at it.

It didn't look like a wall blocking them; they seemed capable of rushing through the water curtain, but no claws or teeth were extending from this side.

“Jiaoxiao,” Li Xizhou said beside him, “I obtained it in the Luoshen Palace. It can be used to weave water into a reverse current, so that everything that comes will return to its source, and everything that goes away will be collected back.”

Seeing that Pei Ye didn't speak, she continued, "Have you forgotten? When you wanted to pursue me, this was the one I used to stop you."

Pei Ye looked at her expressionlessly.

When they were at Luoshen Palace, both of them looked very clean. The woman had just gotten up from her bedchamber, and Pei Ye killed Zhang Mengqiu without any blood splattering on her.

But now both of them were disheveled, pale-faced, and in a sorry state. Their shoes were gone, and their clothes were stained with both fresh and old blood.

Li Xizhou smiled at him again.

"You don't need to worry too much about General Chan. The Mirage Realm is a small world, just as your divine name cannot be fully displayed, the Heavenly Tower cannot connect to their world." Before he could ask—and Pei Ye seemed reluctant to ask—she continued, "General Chan is a prominent figure in the Northern Army, one of the six pillar generals under Yongbei. He is of Buddhist origin and has followed the Northern Expedition for thirty years, until today. He entered the Heavenly Tower at least twelve years ago, and is currently around the sixth or seventh level."

She paused, then said, "However, the Mirage Realm has been in turmoil these past few days. General Chan has been working on restoring this place on the horn of the Mirage Dragon for the past three days. Once he succeeds, we will lose our foothold."

"...Where is our foothold?"

“It’s my ‘Mermaid Silk.’ These are the rules of the Mirage Dragon, and also the rules of the Mirage Realm. Everyone must abide by them until the true monarch takes his seat,” Li Xizhou said. “Therefore, Yong Ji can only use the Scaled Demons to wear him down for now.”

Pei Ye remained silent for a moment. He then looked out of the water curtain.

"I originally intended to kill him outright," he said hoarsely, lowering his head to wipe his sword on his clothes before sheathing it. It was as if the battle had been abruptly halted, but the anger had not yet dissipated.

“Yong Ji has the blood of mountains and seas, and he is not easy to kill. You have done very well within twenty breaths. General Chan is a Tianlou, after all. You can’t expect him to be too slow.” Li Xizhou said with a smile.

If Pei Ye had known from the beginning that Tianlou would arrive within twenty breaths, he would have used a different speed and rhythm. But at this moment, he didn't say anything more. The woman beside him was readjusting her sitting posture. The water in the cave was somewhat dim, but the large patches of deep red on her chest and abdomen were still shocking.

When Pei Ye saw the bloodstain, anger surged through him again. During their parting, he had repeatedly imagined their next meeting, vowing to confront her and demand an explanation. But now that they were actually together, he suddenly felt no desire to speak, deeming it pointless.

Then he only moved his throat slightly and said in a low, hoarse voice, "How is your injury?"

“I wrapped it with mermaid silk, but there are no medicines here, and I don’t heal as quickly as Young Hero Pei.” Li Xizhou smiled on his pale face. “But all in all, the mermaid body of the mirage blood is not that fragile. If it were me in the past, I probably would have died long ago.”

"Let me channel some of my inner energy into you," Pei Ye said.

“Okay.” Li Xizhou handed his fair wrist to him.

Pei Ye didn't reach out, but placed the hilt of his sword on her wrist, guiding his gentle inner energy into her body.

Li Xizhou was slightly taken aback and looked up at him, but the boy kept his head down without meeting her eyes.

"That's all for now. I'll send it to you again in two hours."

"Hmm." Li Xizhou lowered his eyes and withdrew his wrist.

There was a moment of silence between them.

“Pei Ye, you’re angry with me, aren’t you?” Li Xizhou said softly.

"No."

"Liar."

"..." Pei Ye turned his head away from her. "I left the kitten outside. I've been here for more than half an hour, so the Immortal Platform must have received the news by now. We can wait for the Immortal Platform's actions."

"People from outside can't get in."

"Ok?"

“After the ‘Water Lord’s Ascension’ ceremony begins, only you will be allowed to enter. Because I’ve left the door open for you.” Li Xizhou looked at him. “【White Water】is in Yong Ji’s hands. He knows that the Immortal Platform has now cleared out the Eight Waters, so he won’t open the Mirage Realm.”

"……Oh."

Pei Ye gazed at the water curtain.

“It’s alright,” he said. “I will find a way to get you out of here no matter what—since that Tianlou didn’t kill me when I entered the water, it means he can’t completely control this place.”

“Without Jiaoxiao, we would have died at his hands in a single encounter. And the borders of the Mirage Realm are in Yongji’s hands. How are you going to get me out of here?” Li Xizhou looked at him.

"...There will always be a way."

"What can be done?" the woman asked, her voice rapid, almost as if she were being chased.

"As long as I'm alive, I'll definitely get you out of here!" Pei Ye suddenly slammed his fist on the sword sheath, staring at her. "Or I'll die before you! Can you stop talking nonsense?!"

"..."

"..."

“You’re angry with me, aren’t you?” Li Xizhou looked at him and said softly again.

Pei Ye stared at her for a moment, then turned his head: "...I'm sorry. But there's no need to talk about this now. I don't know much about this place. You tell me, and we'll find it eventually—"

“Don’t turn your head, look at me,” Li Xizhou said.

Pei Ye turned her head back, her lips pressed down, her whole face cold and hard, her eyes staring silently at her.

The woman tilted her head slightly, her light-colored eyes serious yet gentle. "Don't hide it. You came in with a long face; even a fool could tell you were angry," Li Xizhou said softly. "If you're angry, just take it out on me, okay? Like when you yelled at me just now. I was listening obediently."

Pei Ye felt a tingling sensation in one side of his heart. He couldn't quite describe the feeling. Some brewing emotions were still churning inside him, as if he had to get them out. But when he looked at that pale, gentle face, so familiar, he remembered how they had sat on the steps of the Zhujing Palace every night just a few days ago, chatting and talking, facing the impending separation of life and death with smiles.

That unwavering trust, that sense of entrusting each other with life and death, seemed never to have faded. He pursed his lips; his emotions were still there, but they seemed to have softened from their fiery intensity, as if he had finally detached himself from the battle with Yong Ji. Looking at that face now, he couldn't muster any more words.

He wasn't usually a person who got angry easily.

"Are you stupid? Don't you know how to get angry?" Li Xizhou said softly. "Scold me. That was the first time you yelled at me, and I love it."

Pei Ye took a deep breath and glared at her fiercely.

"Don't talk," he said.

Li Xizhou smiled.

She also looked towards the distant water curtain. Yong Ji and the other person outside the curtain seemed to have left, while the scaled demons were still scratching and biting.

“I know you must think I’m stupid, inexplicably rushing into the Mirage Realm without saying a word to get beaten up. Just like those two ceramic pigs you gave me for the New Year.” Li Xizhou looked at him, paused, “Do you remember those two little pigs?”

"..."

"Ok?"

"...Who loses their memory in just two months?"

Li Xizhou laughed again. After a while, she stopped laughing, lowered her head, straightened her legs, and said earnestly in a soft voice, "I'm sorry, Pei Ye. I know you must be angry with me for not saying anything to you. You must have had a hard time on the shore these past few days."

Pei Ye was silent for a moment, then tilted his head slightly: "I am grateful for the emperor's favor and it is my duty to be loyal to him. It's just some fighting, nothing hard."

"Stubborn as ever."

“I’m not being stubborn.” Pei Ye frowned. “I was indeed angry, but I’m not angry now… I know there are many things Your Highness can’t tell me, but that’s alright. I shouldn’t know so many things anyway. But as long as I remember you, I will definitely come to find you; as long as I still have a sword in my hand, I will definitely die before you… This promise will last until I leave Shenjing.”

Li Xizhou looked at him: "So you're just going to treat me as 'Your Highness'?"

"..." This question seemed to bite Pei Ye's heart. Pei Ye reflexively turned her head back, and the woman's eyes were serious and clear.

"...Then what do you take me for?" Pei Ye suddenly couldn't help but stare at her. "Don't you only see me as a 'sword'?"

“Unless it’s something I’m required to do, you’ll never tell me, right? You’re so confident about everything. You do what you think is right, and I’m there when you need me, and I don’t need to know when you don’t. Isn’t that right?” Pei Ye looked at her and remained silent for a while.

“But it doesn’t matter.” He turned his head again and said in a low voice, “Back in Shaolong, I knew that everyone has their own path, and even the closest friends can’t confide in each other about everything. So even if you didn’t tell me anything, and now you’re suddenly and inexplicably trapped here, I will definitely do everything I can to break in and save you.”

He paused for a moment, then looked at the woman: "I still consider you a friend."

"So you only consider me a 'friend'?"

"..."

Li Xizhou continued to stare at him, and Pei Ye was speechless in a daze.

The two stared at each other for a while, and then Li Xizhou suddenly rolled her eyes slightly, a charming look that few people had ever seen: "You risked everything to come in and save me, and I even tied a strap around your neck. Later, I was worried that you wouldn't be able to get in with just your blood, so I even found a way to send you a spirit rhinoceros horn—did you use that horn?"

"..."

“Come down the ribbon, and you can eat the scaled demons in the water if you want. Once you get here, I’ll come and take you in.” She looked back at the ground. “Look how long the silk I wove was to get you… You’re going to take me out? You couldn’t even beat Yong Ji just now, how can you take me out? Are you going to send me to my death at Tianlou?”

Pei Ye stared at her, completely taken aback by her sudden outburst, and his blood boiled: "You jumped down here to your death?! If I had arrived a few hours later, you would have been killed by Yong Ji."

"Well, what else?"

"And what else? Don't you see your own situation? Countless scaled demons are waiting outside to tear you apart, and there's a Heavenly Tower cultivator in this Mirage Realm. You yourself said we can't contact any of us, and the White Water Immortal Power is also in their hands..." Pei Ye glared at her, then gritted her teeth and said, "Look at the blood on your body. I just channeled my true energy into you. Don't you know how weak you are?"

"...You care about me?"

Pei Ye was so angry he almost laughed.

Li Xizhou smiled slightly, but then his smile faded, as if he no longer wanted to joke. She looked at him quietly and seriously, and said, "Pei Ye, none of this will happen."

Pei Ye was stunned.

“Because you will come in,” she whispered.

"..."

"Pei Ye, do you remember the question I asked you when we parted ways?"

"what?"

Li Xizhou looked at him and said, "Don't you think that everyone is lonely? If you can find a confidant and partner that you can always trust, it is the luckiest thing in the world?"

"..."

“This is what I think, Pei Ye,” Li Xizhou said. “You don’t need to be anxious about how to get me out, because this is something I’ve already considered and something I’ve already done in the past eight days. Yong Ji is hard to kill, and General Chan is indeed the only Heavenly Tower guarding this territory, but they were already defeated when I obtained the Mirage Dragon’s True Blood.”

The woman was pale and swaying, but she seemed to have never looked at him so seriously before: "What happened outside is not important. Today, I want to tell you something truly important, Pei Ye."

Pei Ye paused for a moment, then remembered: "Yes, you said you wanted to get the true blood of the Mirage Dragon... I just couldn't understand why. We had already found the Mirage Dragon's Knot, which Wei Qingju specifically gave to you. She died from the blood of the Mirage Dragon, and that's why she left you something that could wash away this curse..."

“That’s right. I came down here alone to get this mysterious Mirage Dragon Blood,” Li Xizhou said. “I didn’t tell you the reason back then, but now I’m waiting for you here.”

"Because only here can I tell you why."

(End of this chapter)