Got Along Well

Nangong Xuan smiled when he saw the vivid expression on Zhan Yunge's face. "The most beautiful flower in Shengyu Empire is Yunge."

Zhan Yunge blushed when Nangong Xuan said sweet nothings to her without warning again. She glared at him before turning to walk ahead. "Hmph! No one in Shengyu Empire knows what the crown prince is truly like."

Nangong Xuan naturally caught her blushing. He was in a good mood. Just as he was about to tease her and ask her what she meant, someone asked quizzically, "What is my cousin truly like then?"

Zhan Yunge halted in her steps. She turned to look at Lu Qingye and said, "Well, he is good at everything!"

"Tsk. Doesn't everyone in Shengyu Empire already know that?"

Lu Qingye's lips twitched. Zhan Yunge had excellent reflexes. For a moment there, he thought she would inadvertently answer the truth when he interrupted their conversation out of the blue. But she surprisingly did not fall for it and even came up with a lie without even skipping a beat. He was really curious now. What did Nangong Xuan's true self look like?

Lu Qingye suddenly sensed a draft coming from behind him, making his hair stand on end. He turned and saw Nangong Xuan looking at him with his eyes bereft of warmth. He promptly explained, "I was looking for you."

"Isn't it about you not liking Cheng Yurou? I think you make a perfect match." Nangong Xuan glanced at him mildly.

"Cheng Yurou's name might mean gentleness, but that is the last thing she is. She is just like Zhan Yunge, if not worse…" His voice stopped abruptly as he covered his mouth. He wished he could just bite off his tongue. How could he say that?

Sure enough, a sharp light glinted from Nangong Xuan's eyes. "Do you think she isn't gentle enough?"

"Yes, she is gentle. She is the most gentle soul on earth." Lu Qingye promptly corrected himself.

"Now do you think she is gentle?" Nangong Xuan's voice became even colder.

"No, she isn't gentle. Hang on. That was not what I meant." Lu Qingye was on the brink of collapse. He felt cornered. No matter what he said, nothing seemed right.

"If my father decrees her your fiancée, I am sure my aunt will be very happy," said Nangong Xuan before catching up with Zhan Yunge and sauntering back to Mingzhu Garden.

Lu Qingye stood dumbstruck. He had lost all hope. He had come all the way to Mount Qingnan out of curiosity. He wanted to know what Zhan Yunge had grown up to become. Also, he did not want to marry Cheng Yurou, so he was hoping Nangong Xuan could talk his mother out of it. However, Nangong Xuan ended up wanting to get the emperor to marry them. If it came down to that, there was no way he could wriggle out of the marriage.

Was his cousin angry with him?

Zhan Yunge kept secretly looking at Nangong Xuan on the way back to her compound.

"If you want to look at me, then be my guest," said Nangong Xuan. He found her actions funny.

"When you scare Lu Qingye, he will take it seriously," said Zhan Yunge after pursing her lips.

"How do you know I am just scaring him?"

"You refuse to let anyone else decide who you marry. Since you do not like it, it makes no sense for you to do it to him. You would never get involved in his marriage," replied Zhan Yunge firmly.

"You certainly know me best." Nangong Xuan could sense they were becoming a lot closer.

They chatted as they entered Mingzhu Garden. Wan Yu, Wan Yun, Yu Shu, Ling Feng, and Chang He all felt there was something unusual about them. Why did it feel as though there was something different about them today?

They seemed to get along well and there was a tacit understanding between them. In the past, their conversations tended to be one-sided and they rarely chatted so happily.

After entering the room, Nangong Xuan placed the red lacquer box and painting on the table. "Yunge, why didn't you tell them you could cultivate?"

Zhan Yunge sat down at the table. She sighed as she said, "I didn't mention it because of my mother's family."

"Your mother?"

Although Jiang Xinlan was close friends with the empress, they hardly saw each other after getting married. They usually only got to meet up once a year. Even though Nangong Xuan spent a lot of time in the Zhan residence, he usually only paid respects to her and spent most of his time with Zhan Yunge. He knew very little about Zhan Yunge's mother.

Now that Zhan Yunge mentioned it, he recalled that Zhan Yunge and Zhan Yunshu had never visited their grandparents on their mother's side of the family. Also, Jiang Xinlan had never gone home. He had heard his mother mentioning Jiang Xinlan was not a local.

"Uh huh. I think there is something special about the girls in my mother's family, so she was not keen about me cultivating," said Zhan Yunge candidly.

"Now that you can cultivate, do you notice anything unusual?" asked Nangong Xuan in concern.

"Well, there is something quite different from my previous experience in cultivating, but I do not think it has anything to do with my mother's family." Zhan Yunge thought about the sea of ice orchids appearing in her life soul.

"What's so different?" Nangong Xuan instantly felt worried.

"Ever since my souls and chakras got activated, a sea of ice orchids appeared in my life soul."

Nangong Xuan felt relieved to hear this. "This has nothing to do with your mother's family."

"Do you know what's going on?" Zhan Yunge's eyes lit up looking at him.

"Cultivators are graded by ranks depending on their ability. Most people only know that cultivators who are awakened with more souls and chakras are more powerful. By activating all of the souls and chakras, they can become the best cultivators. However, there is one other perk of being a cultivator. We can also have spiritual storage space," explained Nangong Xuan.

"Spiritual storage space?" Even though Zhan Yunge had lived for several lifetimes, it was the first she was hearing of this skill.

"Uh huh. After activating your souls and chakras, if they are powerful enough, you can possess spiritual storage space. The things that each cultivator's spiritual storage space contains vary. Since you have a special connection to ice orchids, a sea of ice orchids exists in your life soul." Nangong Xuan looked at her tenderly. Sure enough, his girl was special.

"How can I use it?" She really wanted to know.

"Firstly, you can cultivate faster than others. Secondly, you can take ice orchids from your spiritual storage space anytime you want," explained Nangong Xuan patiently.

Zhan Yunge was instantly enlightened. No wonder she was able to cultivate at phenomenal speed. It was thanks to the spiritual storage space she had.

"How do I take out the ice orchids?" asked Zhan Yunge as she looked at the ice orchids inside her.

"Just take them out at will. You can take out as many as you want," explained Nangong Xuan in the most layman terms possible.

"At will?"

Zhan Yunge reached her hands out in astonishment and willed herself to retrieve an ice orchid from her life soul. Sure enough, a freshly plucked ice orchid appeared in her hand.

"That's it?" Zhan Yunge's eyes were filled with amazement.

"This is called mental energy," said Nangong Xuan.

Zhan Yunge happily took a whiff of the ice orchid. "This is brilliant. I was worried I might miss the smell of ice orchids when I moved to the capital."

Nangong Xuan looked at her fixedly. She was smelling the flower with her eyes narrowed and head slightly lowered. In that instant, she looked alluring.

"Oh yes. How did you know? You must have spiritual storage space too." A thought suddenly dawned on Zhan Yunge. She looked up at Nangong Xuan and caught him looking at her lovingly and instantly blinked and veered her eyes away.

"Uh huh. I can use my life soul as a spiritual storage space as well." Nangong Xuan smiled slightly. After all these years, he was finally starting to see hope for them.

"What does it look like?" asked Zhan Yunge curiously.

"I will tell you some other time."

"Tsk." Zhan Yunge rolled her eyes at him instantly.

"I am sure this isn't exclusive to the girls in your mother's family." Nangong Xuan smiled as he went back to their previous subject.

"I feel the same way."

"Did your mother have to leave home and stay here because of her special ability?" asked Nangong Xuan

"Probably. I wouldn't know. She never talks about her family."

Zhan Yunge wanted to know more about her mother's family very badly. She was now able to cultivate and was very worried about her heavenly tribulation. Now that there might be other risks involved, she could not help feeling concerned.

Zhan Yunge had never noticed anything special about her mother all these years, but she could not ask her mother. Even if she did, her mother would never tell her the truth.

"Do you want me to investigate?" asked Nangong Xuan.

Zhan Yunge shook her head. "I doubt you will succeed."

"As long as they exist, I am sure I can find some clues." Nangong Xuan felt otherwise. He had never given up on something simply because it was hard to achieve.

"Very well. Why don't you try investigating her?"

Since her mother was sent to live in Shengyu Empire, it was probably very far away from her family. It had to be so far that her mother would never get caught. Shengyu Empire was a vast country, so it was hard to locate a single person. Moreover, her mother's family was located in a foreign country.

Zhan Yunge was in no hurry to figure this out just yet. She was able to cultivate now and she did not detect anything amiss. In time, she would come to know the truth about her mother's family.

She took the box and scrutinized it. The box was round with a bowl stand at the bottom so that it could be placed on the table. The box clearly consisted of a top and bottom section, but they fitted together seamlessly and were impossible to open.

"Why don't you check this out?" After trying for some time, she was unable to open it, so she pushed it in front of Nangong Xuan.

Nangong Xuan glanced at the box without touching it. "Since this box is intended for you, only you can open it. If you are unable to open it now, you are probably not ready. Perhaps when your cultivation base reaches a certain level, you will be able to open it."

Zhan Yunge nodded. She stopped thinking about the box and turned her eyes to the painting. She took the painting, undid the red cord holding it together and slowly opened it.