My Gentle and Pure Sect Leader Husband - Chapter 56

Yan Hongyin was very familiar with the handwriting on the cover of the booklet.

—It matched exactly with the “Lianhua Treasure Mirror” they had recently confiscated from Xingyu Manor.

It seemed this cultivation technique wasn’t something Wang Lianhua had found somewhere, but very likely something he had written himself.

But the problem was…

Given Wang Lianhua’s apparent dislike for Yu Luocha, would he really give Yu Luocha a dual cultivation technique?

Yan Hongyin looked at Yu Luocha, who had been carrying this booklet on his person all along, with a strange expression. “You’ve been carrying this with you the whole time?”

Yu Luocha nodded.

Yan Hongyin raised an eyebrow. “Have you read it?”

Yu Luocha nodded again.

His eyes flashed with a hint of shyness, which made his amber eyes even more bewitching.

Yan Hongyin sensed something subtly amiss, frowned slightly, and opened the booklet in her hand.

After a long while, she closed the booklet she had skimmed through and silently tucked it into her sleeve.

Yu Luocha didn’t ask for it back, just continued to gaze at her, his eyes focused and smiling.

This booklet was indeed a dual cultivation technique, but not the kind Yan Hongyin had initially imagined.

It was an exquisite, superior internal energy cultivation method. From the details, Yan Hongyin could easily discern Wang Lianhua’s purpose in writing it.

Because of the technique’s unconventional approach, to practice this method, one needed to practice with a person whose internal energy attributes were complementary or opposing at regular intervals.

The two practitioners would sit facing each other, palms pressed together, allowing their yin and yang internal energies to merge and flow back into both bodies. This would transform their extremely yin or extremely yang internal energies into more moderate attributes, thereby reducing the burden on their meridians and allowing their dantian and meridians to contain and circulate more substantial internal energy.

Both Yu Luocha and Yan Hongyin still had golden needles sealing two acupoints each, but without complete confidence, neither dared to remove them.

Yan Hongyin’s internal energy was yin-attributed, and due to years of judgment and execution, her energy was sharp and extremely aggressive. Yu Luocha’s internal energy was yang-attributed, carrying the scorching flames characteristic of the desert wastelands.

This dual cultivation technique in the booklet seemed almost as if Wang Lianhua had created it specifically for these two people’s situations.

Yan Hongyin’s technique had been personally written by Wang Lianhua years ago to suppress the toxins in her body. Wang Lianhua naturally understood better than anyone the concerns that had prevented Yan Hongyin from breaking through to the Grandmaster’s perfect realm. It was unknown when he had discovered the characteristics and problems of Yu Luocha’s technique.

But the key issue facing them now was not this.

Yan Hongyin looked up, and Yu Luocha was still quietly watching her.

The brilliance of this technique lay in the fact that if the practitioners were merely friends, there would be inevitable politeness and calculation during the energy exchange; if they were family members or seniors, there would be unconscious protection and care in the energy circulation.

Only lovers or spouses practicing together could comprehend the complete harmony of energy merging and the mutual support in their affection for each other, thus bringing out the technique’s full potential.

Furthermore, because the yin and yang attribute energies were the most extreme internal energy types in the world, their clash would impact the meridians.

Therefore, during cultivation, clothes had to be loosened with no covering on the skin, allowing the heat from the merging energies to dissipate promptly. Otherwise, if the energy became blocked and stagnated in the meridians, both practitioners risked serious injury or sudden death.

—Yan Hongyin and Yu Luocha clearly had not reached the point where they could truly understand each other’s hearts and entrust themselves to each other.

Yan Hongyin almost wished this was just an ordinary dual cultivation technique from the Hehuan Sect.

Neither of them were conventional gentlemen or ladies bound by dogma and rules; physical intimacy wasn’t difficult. What was truly rare and challenging for them was complete trust and emotional commitment to each other.

Because for both Yan Hongyin and Yu Luocha, their martial skills were what they relied on most for survival.

They certainly had feelings for each other now, but those feelings weren’t… entirely pure.

Yan Hongyin lowered her eyelids, remained silent for a long while, then asked him softly, “Can you do it?”

Contrary to Yan Hongyin’s expectation, Yu Luocha didn’t remain silent or deny it. Instead, he replied in a slow, sincere, and determined tone. “I want to try.”

Yan Hongyin could feel Yu Luocha’s gaze upon her.

Focused and gentle, with a burning intensity like flames.

But she couldn’t respond with “I can too.”

Because she knew clearly that she couldn’t.

Between the two of them, Yan Hongyin was the first to develop different feelings, but Yu Luocha was the first to fall into this accidental entanglement.

Yu Luocha seemed unpredictable, difficult to categorize as good or evil, yet he never suppressed his emotions. If he wanted something, he would seize it; if he couldn’t seize it, he would wear down resistance. He was actually the most straightforward, possessing a sense of devotion similar to Ximen Chuixue’s pursuit of the way of the sword.

He could establish the Luocha Sect to protect tribes because of the kindness he received from ordinary people in the border regions years ago. He could pursue power and unfettered authority because of the hardships he suffered as a wandering child without status. But when he deemed Yan Hongyin more important than all of that, he could also place the Luocha Sect, which he had built for over a decade, as secondary due to Yan Hongyin’s attitude.

His changing attitude toward Yan Hongyin and the accumulation of his feelings were displayed generously and without concealment for Yan Hongyin to see.

However, Yan Hongyin, who had first provoked him, had been with the Jinyiwei since her youth and had witnessed countless human joys and sorrows. She had seen too much coldness after passion, betrayal after trust. Because of Yu Luocha’s identity and past actions, even though she felt drawn to him, liked him, and admired him—giving him unique allowances and protection—she always maintained a trace of doubt and vigilance toward him.

She doubted the coldness that might follow passion and was wary of betrayal that might follow trust and closeness.

The Jinyiwei Commander had always been introverted and profound, meticulously planning with extreme control. She used authority to suppress evildoers and martial prowess to intimidate those who violated prohibitions with violence, but she also deeply buried her original pure self, not exposing a single weakness.

Between them, Yu Luocha had always been the one to restrain his sharpness to accommodate Yan Hongyin. He put down his weapons to show his goodwill, hid his fangs to prove his harmlessness, yet could never change his image as a dangerous beast in Yan Hongyin’s heart.

The suspicion and loneliness that had developed in Yan Hongyin’s core over the years were now completely exposed and scorched under the sunlight.

She had suppressed the abyss for too long, gazed into it for too long. Even though her life had never experienced extreme despair or profound emotions, she had developed a disconnect from human nature due to too much contact with the dark side.

Her cultivation technique originally required minimal joy, sorrow, resentment, and anger. Thus, she had wrapped herself in armor, being stingy with emotional displays. The less emotion invested, the less bitterness and resentment when betrayed.

Just as she had so calmly accepted the betrayal by her senior brother, who had grown up learning martial arts with her at their master’s knee—the betrayal of the righteousness he had sworn to uphold, and his merciless pursuit and framing of her.

For the first time, Yan Hongyin avoided Yu Luocha’s eyes. She hastily said, “I’m going back to the room to research medicine for Wuqing,” then turned and walked away quickly.

Her retreating figure carried some of the awkwardness of fleeing in disarray.

Leaving behind that gentle yet burning gaze on the snow-dampened ground of winter.

Yu Luocha wasn’t surprised by Yan Hongyin’s avoidance.

The complexity and mystery of Yan Hongyin’s character fascinated him, and the stimulating confrontations and openness when they were together made him sink deeper.

Now that he wanted to go further, to have more and more, these qualities of Yan Hongyin had all become solid walls preventing him from getting closer.

He leaned against the doorpost with his arms crossed, looking up at the misty mountains appearing in the distance against the white sky.

After a long while, a faint, silent sigh escaped his lips, turning into white mist that dissipated in the cold wind.

****

The next day, Yu Luocha, who had purposely given Yan Hongyin space by not returning to their room and instead meditating in a quiet room, got up early to prepare breakfast.

Then he discovered that Yan Hongyin had fled from home overnight, taking the newly sprouted plant and little Ximen with her.

Fled.

—Not even taking time to grab the hidden weapons and medicine vials she usually carried.

Yu Luocha stood in the courtyard, silent for a long time, genuinely laughing from anger.

Little Hua, who had cautiously poked half his head out from the room, shrank his neck and retreated back inside, planning to go out later to wash up and practice martial arts.

Uncle Yu’s laughter was… a bit scary.

Two hours later, Hua Manlou was called out to eat.

He couldn’t see Yu Luocha’s expression, but he could feel the suppressed intensity around Yu Luocha, not daring to make a sound while eating.

As they continued eating, the atmosphere around Yu Luocha suddenly calmed. He even passed a chicken wing from the soup to Hua Manlou, as if nothing had happened at home, smiling. “This chicken is quite tender today, Ah Lou, try it.”

Hearing Yu Luocha’s calm tone, Hua Manlou’s emotions settled considerably. It seemed as if Yu Luocha had suddenly understood something and even began to hum an inelegant southern tune in a good mood. Hua Manlou’s tip of the ear twitched and he tentatively asked. “Uncle Yu, are we going to find Aunt Yan and big brother?”

Aunt Yan actually left without a word; I wonder if Uncle Yu and Aunt Yan had a fight yesterday…

With such thoughts, Hua Manlou heard Yu Luocha give a light snort and say, “Why look for her? We’ll go directly to the capital city.”

“The capital city?” Hua Manlou, who had only returned a few days ago, looked confused.

“Not now, in half a month,” Yu Luocha said, smiling on the surface but pressing his tongue against his back teeth with slight force. “I, your Uncle Yu, need to prepare some things.”

“Originally, I thought that with our feelings complete, marriage would be icing on the cake, the most perfect situation.”

“But now it seems…”

“For dealing with such a slippery little turtle, it’s better to announce it to the world early, set the relationship in stone to trap the person, and then proceed slowly…”

“That… is… the… best… strategy.”

The last four words were almost squeezed out one by one from between his teeth.

****

Ximen Chuixue, who had been dug out of his blankets and packed away in the middle of the night, was now sitting in front of Yan Hongyin as they galloped rapidly on the official road toward the capital.

In his arms, Ximen Chuixue held a pot of Golden Silk Intertwining Grass that trembled in the strong wind.

Silently shifting his body to shield the medicinal herb from the headwind with his sleeve, Ximen Chuixue tried to speak several times but was forced to close his mouth by the cold wind blowing in.

Finally, as noon approached and they had ridden far beyond the Jinling territory, Yan Hongyin slowed the horse and stopped at a nearby post station.

Ximen Chuixue hugged the flowerpot and looked up at Yan Hongyin, who was ordering the station’s horse merchant to exchange for a stronger horse and then preparing to take him to eat. With understanding appearing in his obsidian-like eyes, he straightforwardly asked, “Master, are you avoiding…”

“Nonsense!” Yan Hongyin pinched little Ximen’s mouth, her expression serious and her tone righteous.

“The medicinal herb Ah Lou grew is crucial for a patient suffering from a serious illness. That person is a famous bounty hunter known throughout the land and an old acquaintance of mine. Curing his poison was a promise I made years ago. Now that we have the medicinal ingredient, this life-saving matter is urgent and should not be delayed in the slightest.”

“On this journey to the capital, Ah Xue, besides following me to learn medicine, you must not neglect your daily sword practice. You must also continuously circulate your internal cultivation technique at all times, understand?”

At the mention of martial arts practice, Ximen’s expression became solemn, putting aside what he had wanted to ask earlier and responding earnestly, “Yes!”

Yan Hongyin secretly sighed in relief.

Looking down again at little Ximen’s face, which was seven parts similar to Yu Luocha’s, she guiltily shifted her gaze to one side.

How was it that even after leaving, she was still surrounded by that man’s shadow?