Volume Five: Past Lives of the River's Breath Chapter 149

This remark jolted Jinli awake instantly. Recalling the scene from moments before, a lingering sense of dread still gripped her heart. Yet, what astonished her even more was that, with just a year’s difference, this young merman could now utter such bold suggestions completely without changing his expression, and with such utter calmness.

"Who said I was calm?"

The youth immediately regretted uttering those two words. His ears grew gradually red, and his hands slowly clenched. He was so nervous he scarcely knew what he had just said.

"No... no... You, your mind has become completely corrupted." The moment Jinli began to ponder what could possibly have turned the little merman into this, the more she thought about it, the more wrong it felt.

The only person around him was that blockhead Jiang Ji. How could two blocks of wood ever know of such 'tricks'?

And he even had the nerve to suggest bathing together like a pair of Mandarin ducks.

"What?"

Geng Yuan raised his gaze to look at her. The young woman's face was flushed crimson, tinged with a trace of anger.

She stood up, turned away to calm herself for a moment, and then sat back down beside him. Crossing her legs, she took a slow, deep breath, as though making some monumental resolve. "Geng Yuan, listen to me first. At your age, thinking about these things is completely normal. However, as a youth striving for greatness, your primary focus should be on cultivation. You shouldn't constantly dwell on these... matters that only adults think about..."

"I told you to come down and wait on me. What on earth are you thinking?"

Flushed crimson by her increasingly unreserved topic, the youth immediately spoke up to cut her off.

Yet the moment Geng Yuan's words left his lips, the atmosphere plunged into the ultimate awkwardness.

Jinli felt utterly mortified by her own wild imagination. However, relying on her supreme psychological fortitude—her ability to remain completely expressionless in the face of awkward situations—faster than it takes to tell, barely three seconds after the youth finished speaking, Jinli slipped into the water.

The water temperature was just right, and the medicinal herbs had released their exceptional healing properties, soothing Jinli's wounds. Spiritual energy penetrated deep into her spiritual core, bringing an extraordinarily comfortable sensation. In an instant, she felt her body lighten considerably.

Even her fists felt much stronger when clenched.

If this medicinal spring was effective for her own injuries, it would undoubtedly work wonders for Geng Yuan's as well.

However, the youth's expression did not look entirely pleasant.

"Are you alright?"

The youth stared straight at Jinli.

No sooner had Jinli finished speaking than her gaze uncontrollably drifted toward the youth's neck and chest.

His neck was fair, marked by faint greenish veins beneath the skin, giving her the illusion that she could see those blood vessels pulsing softly with the beating of his heart. An Adam's apple protruded within his slender neck, bearing a droplet of water that slid up and down as he swallowed, looking exquisitely and intensely sexy.

His delicate, flat collarbones extended gracefully into the depths of his white undergarment, provoking an irresistible urge to touch them.

Buoyed by the water's buoyancy, his collar had fallen open, revealing tantalizing glimpses of his pectoral muscles, as well as the rosy tips nestled right against them...

A blush bloomed across her cheeks, and she hurriedly averted her gaze.

Observing the young woman's expression—how she quickly turned her eyes away to mask her shyness—the youth raised an eyebrow slightly. His peach-blossom eyes brimmed with triumph, and the corners of his mouth curled upward uncontrollably.

Jinli turned to fetch a towel, savoring the lingering memory of the ravishing scene she had just witnessed.

He was truly becoming more and more handsome.

As expected of the one she had set her sights on in the past.

"Why aren't you out yet?"

Jinli hurriedly reined in the increasingly uncontrollable curve of her lips, grabbed the towel, and turned back.

The youth had his eyes closed, his arms spread wide as he leaned back. His shoulders were broad and muscular; he looked slender in clothes, yet possessed a powerful physique beneath them.

However, when Jinli caught sight of the scar across his chest, a sudden, sharp pain pierced her heart.

Unable to stop herself, she reached out and grazed the scar with the pad of her finger. The youth's body shuddered, and his large hand immediately seized hers.

His eyes darkened. "What are you doing?!"

Jinli's eyes gradually grew red. Slowly raising her gaze to meet the youth's, she asked softly, "Does it hurt?"

The youth stiffened, falling silent for a moment.

Then, with brute force, he flung her hand aside and made to leave.

Instantly, the young woman reached out, catching hold of his sleeve.

"...Don't go."

Her voice trembled slightly.

Geng Yuan turned his head slightly, then whipped back around, his eyes carrying a hint of dark allure and danger. "What? Does the Goddess perhaps wish to drive another sword through me?"

Raising her eyes, the young woman's gaze was filled with absolute sincerity, carrying apologies and an endless longing. Geng Yuan stiffened; the sarcastic expression that had just been on his face slowly froze in place.

"...I've missed you."

The chill in the depths of the youth's eyes melted away the very second those words left her lips.

Before he could even process what was happening, his collar was seized by her, and warm lips pressed firmly against his own.

Shock flashed across the youth's eyes.

*Splash.*

He was pulled back into the water.

Jinli parted her lips, then fluttered her eyes open. Her clear eyes were slightly damp. The youth spoke in a mocking tone, "What is the Goddess playing at? Could you truly be so impatient?"

Yet she merely smiled, her peach-blossom eyes radiant and suffused with a tender, enchanting allure that captured the soul.

"I am doing what I have always longed to do." She paused, her gaze lingering from his eyes down to his lips. "And my impatience is reserved solely for you."

The next second, the young woman raised her jade-white hands, wrapping them around the youth's neck.

Their lips met once more.

Yet amidst the drowning indulgence and his remaining reason, the youth pushed her away. The look in his eyes was one of desperate suppression of desire, appearing both dangerous and mesmerizing. "Goddess Changli, do you realize what you are doing?"

The young woman pressed close to him, panting softly against his ear and along his neck. Her kisses fell like raindrops—gentle, light, one by one—brushing against his ear, his neck...

"I know," she murmured, her voice somewhat hoarse.

She had always known.

The youth immediately cast a glance at the medicinal herbs in the spring. Could there be something wrong with the medicine?

He hurriedly looked back at Jinli. Her eyes were half-open, her complexion flushed with a deep, rosy glow.

Yet only Jinli knew that none of this was the effect of the medicine. None of it.

She loved him. She truly loved him.

And yet, she had hurt him all the same.

"A-Yuan, my love, I love you."

The young woman's sudden, heartfelt confession caught the youth completely off guard.

He had simply intended for her to soak in the medicinal spring to heal her injuries, but why—?

At this moment, she behaved precisely like someone who was drunk.

Could it be that she... was susceptible to becoming intoxicated by these medicinal waters?

"A-Jin? A-Jin? Do you know where you are?"

Jinli's nostrils flared slightly, and the rims of her eyes turned red. She began to sob softly, throwing her arms around Geng Yuan's neck and weeping into his shoulder.

"Does it hurt?"

"You bled so much, so much blood."

She spoke incoherently, rambling on. Geng Yuan scooped her up into his arms, dried her clothes with his magic, and carried her back to the North Courtyard just like that.

Along the way, the young woman cried breathlessly, yet continued to babble incessantly.

"...You must... hate me to the core... but..."

"...A-Yuan, could you please not hate me..."

"...A-Yuan, thank you... Thank you for not harming those people... Thank you..."

"Does it hurt? I've missed you so much... I dreamed of you every single night..."

Geng Yuan's emotions transformed step by step: from initial incomprehension and anger at the thought that she was toying with him, to worry, and finally, into deep doting and endless tenderness.

He tucked the blanket around her and checked her pulse for a moment.

Indeed, she had healed considerably.

Perhaps she had simply been temporarily overwhelmed and intoxicated by the sudden influx of spiritual energy.

He leaned down and pressed a gentle, deeply affectionate kiss to the young woman's brow.

Seeing her safe, the pain in his own chest vanished entirely.