Chapter 196 - 195: Pei Yin’s Belated Rebellion and Melodrama

Si Xu’s first instinct was to ignore her and press on.

He gripped Jian Yu’s hand tightly.

"Wait for me to come back?"

After mulling over Jian Yu’s words for a moment, the resentment filling Si Xu’s chest instantly vanished.

Si Xu didn’t see it as a rejection. Instead, he saw it as an invitation.

She was inviting him to a night of passion, to take place on the day of his return.

His brow remained furrowed, and his eyes were glistening. With a slightly hazy gaze, he repeated, "Wait for me?"

"Yes, I’ll wait for you." Jian Yu’s mind often short-circuited, but this was the first time she’d seen it happen to someone else.

’Not initiating, not being ambiguous, not rejecting, not agreeing... those rules were for people who weren’t in a committed relationship.’

’Jian Yu couldn’t just sleep with them and then tell them, "I didn’t mean it, you just misunderstood."’

’Not only would that make her a scumbag, but it would also mean she didn’t know how to enjoy herself.’

Gazing at Si Xu’s handsome face, flushed with desire, Jian Yu broke free, wrapped her arms around his neck, and pulled him down.

Their lips pressed together, moving against each other intimately.

Her eyes drifted downward, and she rewarded him with two soft kisses on his Adam’s apple.

It was a sensitive spot; kissing too hard could easily lead to things getting out of hand. Jian Yu didn’t linger, quickly letting go. "Be safe."

Si Xu’s brow slowly relaxed. A divine radiance once again suffused his body, his exposed skin glowing with a faint white light.

"I will return safely. I shall await the day we share those wild yet sacred dawns and dusks together."

His tall frame leaned over as he gently wiped away Jian Yu’s tears, his gaze lingering on the reddish tip of her nose.

Withdrawing his hand, the man sat on the edge of the bed, turning his side to Jian Yu as he methodically dressed.

The slight bend of his waist, the stretch of his long legs—every movement carried an irrepressible, rakish charm.

Si Xu rose to his feet, his gaze lowered as he adjusted the bracer on his right wrist.

He cast a commanding glance downward. In an instant, the platinum uniform seemed to once again conceal his licentious aura.

’Jian Yu no longer saw him through any sort of filter.’ She silently stood up.

She gestured toward the bed. "Put it away. Let’s get out of here. Pei Yin must be getting antsy."

"..." Si Xu retracted the bed into his Space Ring, his eyes sweeping over Jian Yu.

"He’s staying at the school."

He trailed off, remembering that Jian Yu would be leaving with Sheng Yue tomorrow.

For the next few days, both he and Pei Yin would have no access to her.

Si Xu pressed his lips together, the resentful aura emanating from him growing thicker, like that of a fallen immortal.

’Jian Yu couldn’t see through the Illusion Realm. It felt a lot like entering a game.’

She looked away from him, walked over, and took his hand. "Do I have to hold on to you to get out?"

Si Xu reined in his aura.

He lifted his gaze.

Yuge flew out, shattering the barrier.

The world around them, like a faded painting, gradually revealed its true form.

The bustling sounds of the tournament, the fierce cheers and shouts of encouragement, all came flooding back.

Jian Yu’s gaze fell upon Pei Yin, who was standing nearby.

Pei Yin was fiddling with a silver chain, and his eyes shot from the tournament grounds to Jian Yu.

He eyed her critically. "Decided to come out, have you?"

’I thought he’d left.’

Pei Yin shot Si Xu a look, his nose in the air. "You walk around with that big halo all day, so why are you so afraid of the light? What were you doing hiding in an Illusion Realm? Are you two that ashamed of what you were doing?"

Si Xu ignored him, bending down to smooth Jian Yu’s hair. "It’s not messy."

He angled his neck, his eyes glinting with smug satisfaction.

Pei Yin took in the subtle shift in Si Xu’s expression.

He narrowed his eyes, his gaze fixed on the faint red mark on Si Xu’s neck.

A wave of indescribable bitterness and sorrow washed over him.

"I’m leaving." Si Xu’s lips brushed against Jian Yu’s cheek and earlobe.

He pulled Jian Yu into a tight hug.

"Be careful." Jian Yu wrapped her arms around his waist, watching as his form dissolved into a stream of white light in her embrace.

Her arms were suddenly empty. Jian Yu lowered them, her fingers curling as she watched him depart with a somber expression.

’The third one. This was the third time she’d had to watch one of them leave the school.’

"I’m still here, you know," Pei Yin said tartly.

He spent all his patience on his experiments; in his remaining time, he was impatient with everyone.

When he realized Jian Yu had entered the Illusion Realm, he hadn’t wanted to wait. He’d wanted to leave, but he immediately quashed the thought.

He couldn’t tell if he just wanted to spend a little more time with Jian Yu, or if he wanted to wait and see if they had done anything they shouldn’t have.

As it turned out, curiosity was a bitter pill to swallow.

Jian Yu tucked away the last trace of melancholy in her eyes and moved on to placating the next one.

She took his hand and kissed the back of it.

Jian Yu looked up at him. "What’s wrong?"

"I’m the third one! Are you really so much better to him than to me?" Pei Yin didn’t mind Ling Yanzhi and Xi Yu being her favorites.

After all, those two had established their positions right from the start, relying on animal instinct to decisively lock her down as their lover.

Jian Yu paused, a confused look in her eyes.

Pei Yin was harsher when he cursed his brothers than when he cursed anyone else. Perhaps he saw them as family, and so he aimed his most ill-mannered side directly at them.

"He... he used that ’divinely ordained marriage’ as an excuse to force his way into our lives. He’s the most vulgar, disgusting, pathetic lowlife! On what grounds does he get to just waltz in and cut in front of me?"

Pei Yin seethed, making comparisons in his head.

That feeling—of her attention and her gaze being stolen away—was like a tiny Red Snake coiling around his heart, squeezing it tight.

A bitter, uncontrollable sting pricked his nose.

He lowered his voice, his beautiful peach-blossom eyes shimmering with unshed tears. "What is it? Don’t you think you stop seeing me the moment he shows up?"

"When Si Xu is around, you still sit next to Ling Yanzhi, hold Xi Yu’s hand, and even let Xi Yu rest his head on your lap."

"But you don’t even spare me a single glance."

This realization sent a wave of inexplicable disappointment and a sense of losing control over Pei Yin.

Jian Yu frowned. "Have I done that?"

’Maybe at first, but she hadn’t intentionally given Pei Yin the cold shoulder recently, had she?’

Jian Yu felt she was being wrongly accused. "Don’t cry. I treat all of you the same."

Pei Yin immediately blew up. "Who’s crying?! What’s with that look in your eyes?"

But when he met Jian Yu’s wide, almond-shaped eyes, the venomous words on the tip of his tongue did a U-turn, and he quickly swallowed them.

His rebellious phase seemed to have arrived a little late. "Fine, you haven’t. I don’t care anyway."

Jian Yu, trying to figure out why he was angry, said tentatively, "We didn’t do it. We were only in there for ten minutes. Ah Xu isn’t that quick."

The anger in Pei Yin’s heart got stuck in his throat, unable to be released or swallowed down.

He pouted, and some of the gloom on his face dissipated. Feeling he was being a little melodramatic, he quickly tried to save face. "It’s not like I was worried about *that*."

Jian Yu glanced at Shen Gu, who was keeping his distance, not daring to approach.

She changed the subject to something more serious. "Do you have a way to help my stamina in a fight? I feel like I run out of energy after just one battle. And..."

Jian Yu struggled to find the words. "I can’t seem to get a good read on my energy reserves."

"Don’t worry, I’ve been working on it." Pei Yin took Jian Yu’s hand and led her to a nearby rest area.

"I made you an electronic monitoring panel so you won’t have to guess your Soul Power levels anymore."

He took out a bracelet and put it on her wrist. "No charging, no network connection needed. Just channel some of your Soul Power into it, and it’ll activate."

Following his instructions, Jian Yu activated the bracelet.