Chapter 1647: A Rainbow Past

Looking at the smiling Su Hong and catching the mischief in her eyes, Li Yan felt a surge of helplessness. Women truly held grudges; that event had passed so long ago it was a blur in his memory. Yet every time she saw him, she seemed to recall it first. She wasn’t bringing it up directly now, but she was clearly teasing him.

Maintaining a calm exterior, Li Yan acted as if he hadn’t noticed. Without hesitation, he began to recount his story. Naturally, he only shared what could be told, omitting anything concerning the Deity Truth Realm.

Seeing that he didn’t falter or show frustration at her refusal to answer, Su Hong felt a sense of defeat. Her “punch” had landed on nothing but air.

‘This man is so dull. Every time, he seems to see through people’s hearts. There’s no sense of winning over him…’ she thought, but soon her attention was drawn to his narrative.

Li Yan knew what Su Hong wanted to hear. He focused on his battle with Xue Longzi. He claimed he had possessed a treasure that could facilitate short-range transfers for multiple people. In that life-and-death crisis, after tearing through space, he used that transfer power to drag Xue Longzi into the turbulent void with him.

As he spoke, protectors Lian and Ning felt their scalps tingle. This Li Yan was too ruthless. Their incarnations in the lower realm had felt they could roam the continents freely, but this man, while only a Nascent Soul, fought with zero regard for conventional logic. Even they might not have reacted so decisively in such a desperate situation.

Li Yan continued. After entering the turbulent void with Xue Longzi, the result was as he had anticipated. Before long, they plunged into a spatial fragment. He didn’t know what happened to Xue Longzi; both were too busy trying to survive. When he escaped that fragment, he entered a blood-red mist.

When he woke up, he realized he had stumbled into a space node and ascended to the Immortal Spirit Realm without knowing it. He had fallen into the Heavenly Demon Prairie while unconscious and nearly became food for beasts. Fortunately, cultivators from the Broken Army Sect had saved him.

Su Hong’s expression became serious. Even knowing Li Yan was safe, hearing about him being swept into spatial fragments and falling unconscious in the Heavenly Demon Prairie made her heart race with fear. Both were incredibly dangerous places; had his luck been even slightly worse, he would be dead without a grave.

She also felt a sense of admiration, realizing he had risked everything for the Heavenly Dawn Tribe. She was happy for Gong Chenying for finding such a companion. Yet, amidst the joy, a faint bitterness lingered in the depths of her heart.

Her own background was something many envied. Especially in the Immortal Spirit Realm, countless peerless geniuses had surrounded her from the moment she bloomed into a young woman. Back then, whatever she wanted was within her reach. Her parents could do almost anything for her, and she had an ancestor who doted on her. Many things didn’t even require her family’s intervention; the geniuses pursuing her would race to do them first.

Because of this, as she matured, Su Hong grew tired of that life. When she first entered the trade shop and closed her first deal amidst the flattery of others, she found a joy she had never known. She didn’t dislike cultivation, but she didn’t love the endless monotony of meditation either. She grew bored of the resplendent Immortal Spirit Realm.

After much pining, she decided to see the life of true mortals—not the “mortals” of the Immortal Spirit Realm who were almost not mortals at all. After much persistence, she went to the Mortal Realm. After a time, she even sent her protectors away. With them following, she was still too safe. She wanted to become a truly free person.

She did this because of her independent nature. Having read many classics since childhood, her inner world was rich and colorful. She wasn’t just a pretty vase; she could stand on her own like her mother. She didn’t want her elder brother to pinch her cheeks and say, “Just focus on cultivation. As long as you don’t step into the great dao of reincarnation too early, that’s enough filial piety for our parents.”

The age gap between her and her brother was immense because their parents’ cultivation was so high that conceiving was difficult. It was ages after her brother was born that Su Hong arrived. Thus, she could never compare to him; he was already a powerhouse of the Immortal Spirit Realm while she was still a young girl.

The time she spent as a small Foundation Establishment cultivator, honing her skills in a trade shop in the Mortal Realm, became the most fulfilling memory of her life. Back then, though she had many admirers seeking her out at the Return-Home Trade House, she had become a shrewd little fox. She handled all types of cultivators with ease.

Until one day, she met a Qi Condensation disciple from the Wangliang Sect. That unremarkable disciple had produced items for sale that didn’t match his cultivation. That was all it took to spark her curiosity, though she put it aside later.

That same disciple saved her life when they met again, though he did so with a purpose. A peerless beauty like her would usually be cherished and protected by someone like Wen Xinliang, but that man, while knowing her, was only interested in “wealth,” showing zero tenderness for the fair sex!

This forced Su Hong to keep her protectors by her side again; otherwise, her parents and brother would have made her return to the Immortal Spirit Realm immediately. After learning of Li Yan’s identity, she had nurtured a desire for “revenge.” But every time she saw him, his speed of cultivation growth left her stunned; even she couldn’t keep up. Her “revenge” was delayed time and again.

Every time she spoke with Li Yan, she seemed to have the upper hand, but in truth, he silently neutralized her moves and came out on top. In these unspoken “clashes,” Su Hong’s heart had quietly changed. She felt that Li Yan didn’t harbor the lustful thoughts she found so repulsive in other men.

Other men approached her for one purpose, like that Wan Qingshe. But Li Yan’s gaze was clear and calm, without a speck of dust. This gave her a sense of peace and joy whenever she was with him. She could always use the past assassination attempt as an excuse to tease him. This made their conversations transcend normal friendship, yet fall short of romance.

They existed in a strange, indefinable state. Su Hong began to overlook his appearance, feeling that he was the only man she could truly talk to. She loved that he didn’t flatter her for her beauty; she had heard enough “sweet” words to last a lifetime. Instead, their hidden verbal sparring was fascinating to her.

As her cultivation grew and her responsibilities within the Trade House increased, she was no longer the girl she once was. When she felt weary, she would sit on the upper floors of the shop, watching the crowds below. But among those crowds, there was no one she wanted to confide in. She could only watch the world’s myriad forms, and unconsciously, the image of a smiling, dark-skinned youth would appear.

So, she would occasionally check for news of him—not out of longing, but just to see if her hard work had allowed her to surpass him. Every time she heard of his shocking deeds—like fighting the demons shortly after forming his Nascent Soul and winning—she felt a sense of defeat.

When she heard he had appeared in the Wind God Continent, she immediately decided to go see him. In her heart, she didn’t know if she was looking for the man or the relaxing, unconstrained time they spent together.

Then, one day, news came that he had fallen. The moment she heard it, she felt a sense of daze and loss. She realized that the “small goal” she had been chasing, the youth who had no lustful desires for her, was gone. She was in a daze for a long time. When she regained her composure, she told herself that the rogue had more holes in his mind than a honeycomb; how could he be dead?

She had to confirm it for herself. She did many things that she herself found ridiculous. But she simply couldn’t find confirmation of his death. So, she kept searching…

Inside the cave dwelling, Su Hong listened to Li Yan’s story. “I have to say, your fortune is incredible. Spatial fragments within the turbulent void are places where even Void Refining or Body Integration experts wouldn’t dare say they could survive if they wandered in by mistake,” she said seriously, without a hint of teasing.

She frequently traveled through the turbulent void and had seen much. Her understanding of spatial fragments was deep; she truly knew just how terrifying those places were.