73 Perfect Timing

The fine threads of white hair of the purple-robed young man wafted with the soft wind as he slightly bended forward before disappearing from the dark corner of the rooftop where he was seated.

"Ugh…" As An Bing Qing walked with her wandering-in-thoughts head, she bumped straight with someone. She rubbed her aching little nose before looking up slowly with half-closed eyes, "I'm so…" she was about to apologize as it was clearly her fault from having her mind in another place but as soon as she saw who the person was, her rosy lips stopped moving and her eyes opened wide, "Zi Hui!" she exclaimed with a blooming smile after her pause.

Xue Zi Hui froze in place with An Bing Qing's up close smile, forgetting his words for an instant; there was a reason behind why he was waiting to see her, after all.

When he was remembered of his business and was going to talk, An Bing Qing was a step ahead, saying as she swiftly reached for one of his hands, "Perfect timing, I was just thinking about you. We need to talk".

She turned around and dragged him by the hand with her back to the Ancient Inn right after ending what she got to say without giving him a chance to reply.

Unconsciously, Xue Zi Hui followed her movements, not opposing in the slightest at being led by her that he didn't stop his steps even when he took notice of what he was doing, thinking instead as he kept up with her, 'Why can't I help myself from complying to her…?

Moreover, those blank moments I have every now and then when it comes to her get in my nerves even more if I couple them with this sort of involuntary followings… Urgh, is it because of the soul imprint…?' Despite his thoughts being ones of annoyance, his face kept his cold stance. He looked down and fixated his purple eyes on the hand that was being pulled by a hand way smaller than his, adding to his line of thought, 'To tell the truth, even though I can feel the soul imprint is mine, I haven't actually confirmed it…' He had his doubts on it; if you put aside the poison in his body, his strength and condition hadn't decreased a bit.

One must know that a soul imprint was something no sane cultivator will readily perform because aside from a decrease in power, if someone wasn't careful, one might hurt their cultivation root and tamper future development. Of course, that risk will depend on the grade and kind of soul imprint, and on the cultivator executing it.

Moreover, what had him more doubtful was that he had no memories of the event. Although when he had first felt the soul imprint being his he had joked about the matter asking himself if he had been drunk, he knew that that possibility was out of question; after all, even if he had been drunk, he wouldn't have forgotten and much less done such a crazy thing.

'…' Nonetheless, despite having all those reasons and the thought of checking up the matter whenever he got the opportunity, he will always throw the idea aside; his instincts were telling him not to do it.

Xue Zi Hui wasn't the only one with good instincts or perhaps it was just a simple survival drive that led the other people lurking around the Ancient Inn to stand still without daring to move at his sudden appearance and imposing sight. Their hearts were so shocked that they didn't move even after the white-haired young man and white-robed lady disappeared from their field of vision after having crossed the tall door entrance of the Ancient Inn.

The attention of Xue Zi Hui had already parted from the doubts he had every now and then, and he was now surveying the area around the Ancient Inn's main building as they walked through the front yard. No people entered into his line of sight from where they were passing by but he could hear steps and the sound of wheels at the right square beside the Ancient Inn where the carriages were parked.

An Bing Qing without thinking it too much directed herself and Xue Zi Hui to a quiet place to talk; she knew that despite the yards being beautiful not many people that attended this competition dilly-dallied and lost their time uselessly so the backyard was a perfect place. However, after just having crossed the left yard and about to put a step in the backyard, she came to a sudden stop and changed ways towards a big three that was three steps before the left wall and meters opposite the left back corner of the Ancient Inn building; she had remembered that her eldest brother had a room with view to the backyard, though she wasn't sure if he would take the pleasure to look outside the window for a breathe.