Chapter 517: Like

Chapter 517: Chapter 513: Like

“Back then, I never expected the northern Land of Extreme Cold to be this cold. My original plan was to flee to the West, but the path was too difficult. A sea of forests stretching for ten thousand miles and cloud-piercing peaks completely blocked the way. With my meager skills at the time, even if I managed to get through, I would have been killed by Spirit Beasts. The only place that seemed safe was this Land of Ice and Snow, spanning over a hundred thousand miles!”

Watermelon recalled the past, his face filled with emotion. He then said, “Later, on the road, I laid a trap and finished off that group of pursuers. I was seriously injured myself and almost froze to death here. It was people from the Ice and Snow Sect who saved me. The Sect Leader of the Ice and Snow Sect took me in, so I’m a disciple of the Ice and Snow Sect now. But I’m a special case.”

As Watermelon spoke, he gave a helpless, bitter smile. “The Sect Leader keeps trying to marry one of her daughters to me, but the problem is, I don’t want to marry her…”

Just as Watermelon said this, a voice suddenly called from a distance outside, “Watermelon, Watermelon, are you there?”

The voice was like silver bells, as melodious as pearls dropping onto a jade plate—a truly beautiful sound!

Watermelon’s expression changed drastically upon hearing it. He gave a bitter smile. “Speak of the devil. Sigh, she’s cornered me again, really!”

“Watermelon, I’m here!”

Just then, a figure sped over from the distance, arriving at the wooden cabin’s door and pushing it right open. A stunningly beautiful young woman with bright eyes and pearly teeth stood there gracefully. She had just called out for Watermelon when she saw a handsome, unfamiliar young man also sitting in the room. The young woman’s face immediately flushed, though her beautiful, confused eyes fell upon Watermelon.

“Uh… Ruyue, this is… he’s the one I told you about. My Young Master, and my savior!” Watermelon explained to the young woman with some helplessness. Then he turned to Qin Li and said, “Young Master, this is the daughter of our Ice and Snow Sect’s Leader, Ji Ruyue!”

Qin Li smiled slightly at the young woman and said, “Hello, my name is Qin Li!” ‘This girl seems pretty great!’ he thought, a little confused. ‘Her looks are a small step below Shiyu’s, but she could definitely compete with Leng Yao, Qianqian, and Bu Yunyan. Why wouldn’t Watermelon want to marry her?’

“Hello! So you’re Qin. Watermelon is always telling me about you!” the young woman said, casting a loving glance at Watermelon, only to see him painfully turn his face away.

The young woman huffed, walked straight over to Watermelon’s side, and sat down. Then, she looked at Qin Li with a beaming smile and said, “What brings you here to our home, Qin?”

As she spoke, the young woman seemed to think of something. Her expression changed slightly, and she said with sudden realization, “Oh, I get it now! So those winged bird-men were looking for you!”

“What? Ruyue, that group found their way here?”

Watermelon’s face fell, and forgetting everything else, he asked anxiously.

The beautiful young woman, Ji Ruyue, huffed and shot a sideways glance at Watermelon. “So what if they found us? Are you afraid of them or something?”

“Those people are all at the Thunder Tribulation Realm!” Watermelon said.

“Hee hee, I know. But they started fighting amongst themselves. Mother sent me to tell you not to run around lately. She said that group is incredibly strong, so don’t stir up trouble!” Ji Ruyue said, then glanced at Qin Li and asked, “Qin, does Watermelon… listen to you a lot?”

Before Qin Li could even speak, Watermelon, with a stern face, looked at Ji Ruyue and said, “Let me tell you, don’t even think about it! I’ll listen to the Young Master on anything else. I’d even die for him without hesitation. But on this one matter, absolutely not!”

“You… you stubborn mule! You’d rather die than marry me, is that it?” In front of an outsider, the young woman couldn’t keep her composure. Her eyes reddened, and she looked utterly pitiful.

Watermelon hesitated for a moment. Seeing her expression, his heart softened a little, but he steeled himself and said, “We’re not a good match. There are so many talented young men in the sect who like you. Why are you so set on a poor kid like me? I’m not a genius, I don’t have immense power, and I’m not devastatingly handsome. Ruyue, your kindness… I… I can only apologize.”

“Do you think I like you for your wealth or your looks? What kind of person do you take me for?”

Tears finally streamed down the young woman’s face. Biting her lip hard, she said in a trembling voice, “Watermelon, I hate you!” With that, she spun around and shot outside like a flash.

The door was slammed shut with a BANG.

Watermelon sat there dejectedly, head bowed, not saying a word. After a while, he finally said, “I’ve made a fool of myself in front of you, Young Master. Please don’t worry, Young Master. The Ice and Snow Sect’s rules aren’t strict. This Blessed Land is my private territory, so you can stay here without any worries. Ruyue won’t go around gossiping, either. She’s very tight-lipped…”

“Watermelon, look at me,” Qin Li said with a serious expression. He hadn’t understood why Watermelon was refusing such a beautiful girl. While Watermelon was talking with Ji Ruyue, Qin Li had quietly used his Innate Purple Qi to probe inside Watermelon’s body, and sure enough, he found a major problem.

Watermelon looked up, stunned. “Young Master, you… you’re not going to meddle in this too, are you? It’s really no good. You can kill me, but I still won’t marry her…”

“It’s not about this. It’s about you,” Qin Li said slowly.

Watermelon froze for a second, then looked up at Qin Li with a bitter smile. “What did you find out, Young Master?”

Qin Li sighed softly. “I never expected ‘Nine Heavens and Ten Lands, Only I am Venerable’ to be so tyrannical. To think I failed to completely heal your internal injuries back then. If I hadn’t seen you for another year, I’m afraid I never would have seen you again, would I?”

This time, Watermelon fell silent. After a long while, he let out a long sigh, looked up at Qin Li, and said, “So now you know why I’d rather die than marry Ruyue, Young Master. I don’t want to give her just two or three years of happiness only to leave her in a lifetime of pain! Better to let her hurt for a couple of years now, so she can be happy later! I always thought I was fine, but a sudden flare-up a couple of years ago made me understand. The Nirvana from ‘Nine Heavens and Ten Lands, Only I am Venerable’ never completely disappeared from my body; it was only suppressed. For the past two years, every time the Nirvana acts up, I feel a pain worse than death. It’s like every bone in my body is shattered and then pieced back together again… That feeling, heh, it’s fucking awful!”

Watermelon sighed again and continued, “But for some reason, this Nirvana now only tortures my body. My strength doesn’t change at all. In fact, I feel like after each Nirvana, my strength improves even faster. That’s why, in the Ice and Snow Sect, someone like me can barely be considered a genius…”

As he spoke, a bitter smile crossed his face.

“Your Sect Leader doesn’t know about this?” Qin Li asked, puzzled. ‘Logically, if Watermelon’s Sect Leader truly has the power to be unafraid of Thunder Tribulation Martial Artists, she must be a Thunder Tribulation Realm expert herself. How could she not see Watermelon’s problem?’

Watermelon said helplessly, “Of course she knows! The Sect Leader is actually a very good person. There are hundreds of girls like Ruyue in the sect, all adopted by her. They all call her ‘Mother,’ and she’s happy to let them. That’s why I said the Ice and Snow Sect’s rules aren’t strict. The only strict rule is forbidding disciples from going out, but that’s for our own good. The Martial World is a treacherous place!”

Qin Li smiled faintly. Seeing how deeply moved Watermelon was, he could imagine just how wretched his situation must have been when he was being hunted down back then.

“The Sect Leader knows what my problem is, but she said that since Ruyue likes me, I should be with her no matter how long I have to live! Otherwise, if I die, she’ll spend the rest of her life in regret and pain!” Watermelon looked helpless. “I don’t get her logic. It’s not like the Ice and Snow Sect doesn’t have any male disciples. Plenty of them like Ruyue…”

“Watermelon… you’re wrong!” Qin Li cut him off before he could finish. “By saying that, are you treating Ruyue like some fickle, promiscuous woman?”

“Of course not!” Watermelon said decisively. “Ruyue is as pure as ice and jade, how could she possibly…” As he spoke, he seemed to realize something and sat there, dejected. He wasn’t stupid; he just hadn’t been able to see it from that angle. Even when the Sect Leader told him, he hadn’t understood. But hearing it from Qin Li gave him a feeling of sudden enlightenment.

Perhaps it was because Qin Li was also a man, or perhaps it was because Watermelon had deeply admired Qin Li since he was young. Whatever Qin Li said, Watermelon would believe it was right.

Watermelon said with a gloomy expression, “But still, if I die, won’t that ruin her whole life? Young Master… I… what should I do?”

The rims of Watermelon’s eyes were a little red. It was clear that he wasn’t without feelings for Ji Ruyue; deep down, he must be very fond of her.

“So you don’t like her?”

“Don’t like her? How is that possible?” Watermelon stood up, took a dark red wooden box from a cabinet, and opened it. Inside, a foot-tall, blue ice sculpture of a woman lay quietly.

The woman was exquisitely beautiful, her robes fluttering as if she were about to ascend. The carving was extremely detailed, with a blue light flowing and swirling around it. Her expression was lifelike, every frown and smile captured with incredible delicacy.

Qin Li recognized it at a glance: it was a piece of Profound Ice Essence!

An incredibly rare Refining Treasure, and Watermelon had used it to carve a sculpture of a woman. And that woman was none other than Ji Ruyue, who had just been here.

Watermelon had calmed down by now. A flash of pain crossed the depths of his eyes as he stared blankly at the Profound Ice Essence statue and said, “Young Master, I really do like her. But, I don’t have long to live. I don’t want her to live the rest of her life in painful memories…”

A single tear fell onto the face of the ice sculpture, making it look as if the woman herself were crying.

Just then, Qin Li suddenly called out towards the door, “Miss Ruyue, did you hear that?”

Watermelon’s face fell, and he froze in stunned silence. “Young Master, you…”

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Sorry, I had something to take care of today, so the update is a bit late. (To be continued.