Chapter 160: Holding Hands

Chapter 160: Chapter 160: Holding Hands

CLACK! CLACK-CLACK-CLACK! CLACK-CLACK-CLACK!

The machine gun’s muzzle flared as bullets whistled out one after another.

"What kind of hidden weapon is this? It’s so fast!" The black-clothed man’s expression changed slightly. He quickly circulated his True Essence, his body surging with immense Innate True Essence that whipped up a fierce wind around him.

SWISH! SWISH-SWISH-SWISH! SWISH-SWISH-SWISH!

With a wave of his hand, the black-clothed man sent out streams of Innate True Essence, their sharp whistles echoing through the surroundings.

CLANG! CLINK! CLANK!

The sound of metal striking metal rang out. The Innate True Essence collided with the machine gun’s bullets, causing the True Essence to dissipate and the bullets to fall to the ground.

The black-clothed man continued his pursuit, firing off streams of Innate True Essence to block the barrage of bullets.

On the mountain path, Ye Xing rode the Gale Leopard, firing the machine gun and occasionally tossing a grenade.

Having to defend against the machine gun bullets while giving chase, the black-clothed man’s speed slowed considerably.

The trees and grass on both sides of the path flew past. The chase continued until they soon reached the edge of a cliff at the summit of White Cloud Mountain.

The cliff was thousands of feet high and unfathomably deep. Clouds and mist coiled around its edge, and the mountain wind was biting.

"Ye Xing, how did we end up at this cliff again?" Tantai Mengxue’s beautiful eyes scanned their surroundings as she spoke with great worry. "Xiaobai was seriously injured in the fight just now. He can’t fly at all."

"Maybe it was too dark, and the Gale Leopard couldn’t see the path. What do we do? We’re done for now," Ye Xing said, his eyes darting around. With a look of utter desperation, he deliberately spoke loud enough for the black-clothed man to hear.

"Hahaha, you have nowhere to run now, kid! This cliff is thousands of feet high. Even I would be smashed to pieces if I fell from here," the black-clothed man sneered, slowly advancing on Ye Xing and Tantai Mengxue at the cliff’s edge.

"Big brother, hehe, Mister Black-Clothed Big Brother, please, do us a favor and let us go. I have lots of Gold Coins! I can give you money," Ye Xing said with a fawning smile.

"Hmph. How many Gold Coins could a brat at the Martial Arts Third Realm possibly have? You’re a dead man tonight. I came to kill the Celestial Snow Saintess, so I’ll just take care of you while I’m at it." A murderous glint flashed in the black-clothed man’s eyes as True Essence surged from his body.

"Cough... ahem, cough, cough. He may not have Gold Coins, but I do." Tantai Mengxue’s internal injuries acted up, and she coughed violently for a moment. Her crimson lips parted as she addressed the black-clothed man, "Hu Yinjiu, what if I told you my Qiankun Bag is filled with treasures? Would you believe me?"

"Jye jye jye! Of course, I believe you! Your Celestial Snow Mountain Cold Moon Palace is a First Class power in the Central Plains Martial Arts world, and you are the esteemed Celestial Snow Saintess. Your fortune and treasures must far surpass my own!" the black-clothed man said, his eyes filled with greed. His gaze burned as he stared at the Qiankun Bag on Tantai Mengxue’s waist. That was an Upper-grade Qiankun Bag with an enormous amount of space. Its price alone far exceeded that of an ordinary one.

Tantai Mengxue’s beautiful eyes looked incredibly weak. With great effort, she untied the Qiankun Bag from her waist and said to the black-clothed man, "You can have this Qiankun Bag, on one condition: you let Ye Xing go. Your target is me. He was just an innocent bystander caught up in this. Let him go, and the treasures in this Qiankun Bag are yours. Otherwise, I’ll throw it off the cliff, and you can forget about ever getting it!"

"Don’t! Don’t throw it!" the black-clothed man shouted hastily. A calculating look flickered in his eyes as he mused, "Fine. Letting him go is no problem. He’s just a piece of trash at the Martial Arts Third Realm. Do I really need to worry about him causing any trouble?"

"Mengxue, what are you doing?" Ye Xing said in a low voice.

"Ye Xing, just go. After you get down the mountain, find a place to hide immediately. In the vast sea of people, even if Hu Yinjiu goes back on his word, it will be hard for him to find you," Tantai Mengxue said. "Leave the mountain now!"

"And what about you? Do you think I would just abandon you?" Ye Xing’s gaze burned as he stared at Tantai Mengxue. Only now did he finally sense a hint of her true feelings. Ye Xing’s heart suddenly blazed with warmth.

"It’s different for me. Hu Yinjiu and the Cold Moon Palace have a deep-seated grudge. There’s no escape for me, but at least you can live!"

"If we live, we live together. If we die, we die together!" Ye Xing suddenly reached out and grasped Tantai Mengxue’s small, soft hand.

"Ye Xing, you... What are you doing?" A trace of panic flashed in Tantai Mengxue’s beautiful eyes. She struggled to pull her hand back, but Ye Xing only held it tighter.

"Mengxue, if we jump from here... are you scared?" Ye Xing asked, standing at the edge of the cliff and gazing into the unfathomable abyss below.

"Kid, what do you think you’re doing?" the black-clothed man demanded.

"Nothing much. You want to kill us, don’t you? Well, I plan on jumping from here with my Mengxue. Are you satisfied now?" Ye Xing said.

"You don’t have to die! As long as the Celestial Snow Saintess gives her Qiankun Bag to—"

"Give it to you? My ass! You’re dreaming. You want to kill Mengxue *and* get her Qiankun Bag? Keep dreaming," Ye Xing sneered.

"Ye Xing!" Tantai Mengxue gazed at him, her beautiful eyes filled with a storm of complex emotions.

"Mengxue, if I abandoned you today and left, my life would be more painful than death," Ye Xing said, his gaze burning as he looked at Tantai Mengxue. "Since there’s only a dead end ahead of us, why don’t we become a pair of lovers sharing a single fate, hmm?" As he asked this, Ye Xing’s heart began to race. The phrase ’lovers sharing a single fate’ was tantamount to a confession. This was different from when he had used the term ’girlfriend.’ Tantai Mengxue might not have understood the meaning of that word, but ’lovers sharing a single fate’ was an unmistakable, direct confession.

Ordinarily, Ye Xing would never have dared to confess. In the face of Tantai Mengxue, the enormous gap between them always filled him with a sense of inferiority. Wasn’t his desperate Cultivation all for the sake of closing that distance? Ye Xing had repeatedly told himself that he had to work hard, that he absolutely could not entertain any fantasies before he was strong enough. He was afraid that if he tried and failed, they wouldn’t even be able to remain friends.

But now, faced with a desperate situation, Tantai Mengxue had revealed her true feelings, allowing Ye Xing to sense a hint of her affection. ’So the celestial fairy... probably, maybe, sort of likes me too?’

Ye Xing didn’t want to wait any longer. He was afraid of losing Tantai Mengxue. For a woman as outstanding and divinely beautiful as Mengxue, the number of suitors must be endless. ’If someone else snatches up such a wonderful fairy, I’d cry myself to death.’ And so, Ye Xing mustered up his courage and confessed directly. The anxiety in his heart was imaginable.

Ye Xing stared at Tantai Mengxue, his heart pounding with tension.

「A long moment later.」

Tantai Mengxue let out a soft, delicate cry and turned her head away. A blush spread across her swan-like, snow-white neck, and she was too shy to look at Ye Xing.

"Hahaha!" Unrestrained joy flooded Ye Xing’s heart. He was ecstatic.

"Let’s go!"

Ye Xing immediately pulled Tantai Mengxue’s small hand and leaped from the edge of the cliff.

"They actually jumped? Dammit! My Qiankun Bag!"

The black-clothed man, Hu Yinjiu, watched with an ashen face as Ye Xing and Tantai Mengxue plummeted into the ten-thousand-foot abyss, hand in hand.