Chapter 112: Try

　　Hearing Kong Hou say something was wrong with her cultivation, Huan Zhong pulled her into his arms in a panic and channeled spirit energy into her body to search her meridians. A person’s body ought to have an energy sea and hundreds of meridian points. Any place could not go wrong.

　　He carefully went through Kong Hou’s meridians and didn’t find anything wrong. He feared he had missed a place, and redid a search from head to toe. He still found nothing wrong.

　　As Kong Hou lay in Huan Zhong’s arms, the warmth of his body reached her face through the cloth. Her heart beat even faster.

　　The spirit energy took several revolutions around Kong Hou’s body. Huan Zhong, who could not find a problem, picked her up his arms. “I will take you to see Peak Master Qing Yuan.”

　　“Wait.” Kong Hou pulled Huan Zhong’s clothing and whispered, “Why don’t we wait a moment? Maybe I am fine?” Otherwise, she would definitely get laughed at by the disciples of Daybreak Cloud Peak.

　　“You cannot be careless with problems of the body. Be good.” Huan Zhong patted her head. “When something went wrong with my mental state, I felt it was a minor problem. Who knew…”

　　Hearing Huan Zhong speak of his problem, Kong Hou suddenly felt her heart was not beating so quickly. Even her breathing smoothed out. She bit her lip. “Huan Zhong, put me down. I really am fine.”

　　Huan Zhong hesitated. Seeing that Kong Hou had smooth circulation of spirit energy and no other special signs except a red face, he moved to put her on the bed. “Sit properly. I will sort out your meridians again.”

　　Kong Hou sat cross-legged. After closing her eyes, her mind was completely focused on the pair of hands on her back.

　　“Focus and breathe.” Huan Zhong noticed that Kong Hou was not focused and reminded, “Do not change your breathing.”

　　Kong Hou did not dare to think more. She allowed Huan Zhong to control spirit energy and comb her meridians over and over.

　　After focusing, her heart gradually calmed.

　　Two hours later, Huan Zhong pulled his hands away and took out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from her face. “Rest a while.”

　　Kong Hou grabbed at the jade belt at his waist so he could not rise and leave. “Stay here and keep me company.”

　　Looking down at her hand that gripped his belt, Huan Zhong sat back down. “All right, rest well.”

　　Kong Hou did not have a good sleep. For some inexplicable reason, she thought of the black-robed woman who had married a nomad cultivator, and Queen Qing Luo who had turned into a ghost out of discontent and misunderstood the king for a millennium.

　　The red flowers covering the mountains were beautiful, but Queen Qing Luo and her king were fated to never meet again in their future lifetimes. Was this kind of feeling the love that protagonists of stories desired?

　　She opened her eyes. Huan Zhong was still sitting next to her. There was no lit lamp in the cave. He was not reading, just sitting there silently, and made Kong Hou feel his continuous presence was as expected.

　　“Awake?” Huan Zhong looked down at her with gentleness. He bent and put a bottle of spirit liquid to her mouth. “Today, we won’t make seals and will rest for a day.”

　　“Huan Zhong…” Kong Hou climbed up from the bed and played with the bottle in her hand. “Do you remember the black-robed woman?”

　　“I remember.” Huan Zhong nodded.

　　“Do you think she regrets it?” She looked down. “Throwing away her sect and disciples to roam with her love. But she received betrayal.” She sympathized with the black-robed woman, but could not understand her.

　　Were men so important that she would abandon everything?

　　Kong Hou couldn’t help but think of her master, shixiong and shijie. If it was her, even the best-looking man in the world could not make her give up all this.

　　“Maybe.” Huan Zhong took the empty bottle from her hand and shoved a spirit fruit at her. “But she was too decisive in her attitude when leaving the sect back then. Even if she wants to return, she cannot get over herself.”

　　“If she wants, she should do it,” Kong Hou said. “She even dared to kill the nomad cultivator that betrayed her. Why isn’t she willing to admit her mistakes to her sect and return?”

　　Huan Zhong laughed. “Maybe not everyone is this brave.”

　　Because they cared too much, were too cautious and feared being refused.

　　“Huan Zhong, are you ever afraid?” Kong Hou asked.

　　“Yes.” Huan Zhong moved his gaze away slightly to not look at her eyes.

　　“Don’t fear.” Kong Hou patted the back of his hand. “I will keep you company.” As she patted, she felt that Huan Zhong’s hand was as warm and smooth as jade, and couldn’t resist pinching gently.

　　“Kong Hou, you…” Huan Zhong was surprised by Kong Hou’s actions. He looked at Kong Hou with slight panic on his face.

　　Kong Hou suddenly realized what she was doing. She pulled her hand back like lightning. “I… my hand just itched.”

　　Heavens and the three gods, how could she let Huan Zhong believe she was not a pervert? She peeked at Huan Zhong. His handsome face revealed shock, as though he had not expected that she would do this.

　　It was finished. Nothing she said would be of use now.

　　“You…” Huan Zhong sighed helplessly. “You are more and more mischievous.” He had seen how the elders of Splendid Cloud Sect treated Kong Hou. They had no bottom line in how they spoiled her.

　　“Actually, I am not very mischievous.” Seeing Huan Zhong look at her as though he was looking at a child, Kong Hou whispered, “Your hand is just too good to the touch.”

　　The cave residence immediately became silent. Kong Hou felt speechless and wrapped herself up tightly. Just as she prepared to throw a tantrum and turn the page on this matter, a jade hand with long fingers appeared in front of her.

　　Kong Hou looked up at Huan Zhong, not understanding his meaning.

　　“You like…” Huan Zhong’s ears were red. “If you like, then play.”

　　Kong Hou: “…”

　　This was a hand, not a toy. She took out an illumination talisman from her storage ring and the talisman shone on Huan Zhong’s blushing face. Seeing Huan Zhong clearly, Kong Hou immediately laughed out loud, all of the awkwardness and restraint disappearing. She threw the illumination talisman to the side, and grabbed Huan Zhong’s hand. “You said you would let me play—then this is mine.”

　　“All right.” He was more than three hundred years older than Kong Hou. He would agree to everything she said.

　　Kong Hou kneaded his index and middle fingers as she laughed, ignorant that her face was as red as Huan Zhong’s. She tilted her head like a kitten who had just stolen fish. “I feel that I am better now. Let’s do paired cultivation.”

　　Huan Zhong reminded helplessly once again, “It is universal paired cultivation. If outsiders hear, they will have misunderstandings about you.”

　　“Only you and I are here—who is the outsider?” Kong Hou got off the bed, released Huan Zhong’s hand and came to sit next to the dragon phoenix cauldron. “Huan Zhong, come here.”

　　Huan Zhong’s index and middle fingers rubbed against each other. Without that warm palm, his fingers seemed to feel cold. He rose to sit next to Kong Hou and looked at her silently.

　　Kong Hou blinked at him and hooked a finger with his pinky finger. “I hear during universal paired cultivation, it is better if our palms are facing each other. Should we try?”

　　Huan Zhong looked at her face and desired to speak but didn’t. That method of paired cultivation would have better effect, but when people’s minds were together during this time, it was easy to give rise to mutual feelings. He had not told Kong Hou this method before because he did not want Kong Hou to be affected mentally by outside forces at such a young age.

　　Seeing Huan Zhong not speak, Kong Hou grabbed his arm and swung it. “Come, come, let’s try.”

　　“All right.” Huan Zhong’s throat was dry. He nodded slightly.

　　Just this once. He would be this selfish and shameless just this once. He reached out palms outward and met Kong Hou’s hands.

　　Kong Hou smiled as she watched Huan Zhong close his eyes. Then she closed her eyes. Some matters, if she did not try, how would she know if they were suited to her?

　　So she wanted to try.

　　A man so good-looking, so capable, so considerate. She did not want him to run away with another woman.

　　In this world which woman did not like good-looking men?

　　##

　　“Wu Chuan, how long until Kong Hou comes out?” Heng Yan paced in the room. This month, he used the excuse of seclusion to hide in the main hall and not see others. He even kept the other shidi out.

　　Wu Chuan flipped through the sect information in his hand and said without raising his head, “Master, you have asked this five or six times these days. Kong Hou Shimei will come out in three days.”

　　Heng Yan said, his expression one of defeat, “If I knew before that the dragon phoenix cauldron had other abilities, I would not have meddled and given it to Kong Hou.”

　　“Master, do not overthink. If Spirit Master Zhong Xi and Kong Hou Shimei have no emotion between them, the dragon phoenix cauldron cannot draw out their hidden desires.” Wu Chuan closed the book and looked at the restless Heng Yan. “If the two of them have a meeting of minds due to this item, it means they already had mutual feelings. This is a good thing.”

　　“But your Kong Hou Shimei is not yet eighteen. If the two of them do something in the cave residence…” Heng Yan sighed. With Wang Tong’s terrible temper, if he learned of this, he would tear down half of the main hall.

　　“Even if Shimei is young and does not know too much, Spirit Master Zhong Xi’s principles are trustworthy,” Wu Chuan said. “He is impossible to do something detrimental to Shimei.”

　　While Spirit Master Zhong Xi was a man of few words, he could be said to be an honorable gentleman. Spirit Master Zhong Xi could not be ignorant of how important the first yin was to female cultivators.

　　“While he is a gentleman, he is also a man,” Heng Yan muttered. “How adorable and likable our Kong Hou is. Which man wouldn’t like her after meeting her?”

　　Wu Chuan knew that his master would not listen to anything he said now. He could only say, “Master, do not worry. In three days, I will go in the morning to wait outside Kong Hou Shimei‘s cave residence.” Wang Tong Shishu was always caring of juniors. If he was present, even if something happened, Wang Tong Shishu would be slightly restrained for him.

　　Heng Yan felt both guilty and worried in this moment. While he was talking about Wang Tong, in reality, he truly feared that a mistake of his would affect Kong Hou’s cultivation.

　　##

　　Three days later in the morning, many people were standing outside Kong Hou’s cave residence. Almost all the disciples of Moon Perching Peak were present. The apprentices of the other peaks on good terms with Kong Hou were also present. Everyone looked at each other, then found positions to start snacking.

　　About an hour later, the door opened. Everyone saw Kong Hou come out holding Spirit Master Zhong Xi’s hand.

　　The morning mist wrapped around them. They were as beautiful as a painting.

　　Wait, why were they holding hands?

　　Wang Tong saw Kong Hou holding Huan Zhong’s index finger in her hand. He opened his mouth but couldn’t say a word. In the end, he used a sound art to Kong Hou with a complicated expression.

　　[My good apprentice, Spirit Master Zhong Xi is the sword cultivator with the most potential of Radiance Sect. He carries the hope of the entire cultivation world. You… what are you planning to do to him?]