Falling slowly...

~Xia Qingyue~

In one of the rooms in the Xia Clan Manor, a beautiful and delicate lady could be seen sitting in a lotus position. Her clear eyes were wide open, staring at the space in front of her.

Her eyes looked focused and deep in concentration. It was clear that her thoughts were elsewhere and whatever made her think that much was very important.

Xia Qingyue was slowly having a mental recap of the events that had accompanied her on that day. The day seemed full of tremendous surprises. From encountering a mysterious young man, fighting with him but it happened to be just one-sided, learning about some huge secrets related to the Realm of the Gods and possibly her mother's whereabouts, and finally, her resolve to be bound to that young man.

Xia Qingyue was not superficial to the extent that she would fall hard for someone that she had just met. Even if the said person was leagues above anyone she knew in terms of temperament and attractiveness. But admiration...yeah, she truly had a deep feeling of admiration towards the mysterious young man. He had strength. He was powerful enough to ignore her attacks as if he was swatting a fly. With just a wave of his hand, he nullified her attack progression. This made her feel fear for the first time in her life and also another feeling. Despair. She despaired so much but she didn't show it on her face. Her heart was the one suffering from that feeling.

Luckily for her, the mysterious youth did not proceed to attack her. If he had, then she would have long been forgotten from existence.

That day she witnessed someone jumping realms as if they were drinking water. She witnessed his cultivation realm jump from nothing and even surpassed her to reach unimaginable heights that she simply couldn't try to fathom. Even the pressure she always felt from her master could not be compared to him, the difference between them simply had no comparison. He looked invincible and the sovereign aura he emitted demanded submission from anyone.

She truly had no qualms associating with him from then on. Even when he asked her for her body and soul, she didn't refute him.

What she couldn't give him was her heart. She had closed it off and was not planning to open it up soon for anyone before she accomplished her goals.

But plans sometimes are meant to be messed up. The young man seemed to find ways to shake her heart. Holding her face as if they were already acquainted and close like couples. Sigh, she could only release a helpless breath as her body seemed not to reject any of his touches. Her perception did not detect any evil or bad thoughts from him. If they had been another person probably would have been frozen beyond recognition.

When she met her father, she felt sorry for isolating herself from her only family left, that was, her father Xia Hongyi, and her younger brother Xia Yuanba.

This time after being enlightened by the mysterious youth, she finally had a glimpse of her previous mistakes. Now she would truly take the time to bond with her family at least. At that moment, she could see a glimmer of hope of finding her mother and reuniting her family as a whole. The young man, who had later introduced himself as Noah, had already promised to help her but at the cost of a price which she resolutely agreed to. It was not simply a blind following but something in her heart urged her to trust the young man even though the feeling was vague.

The arranged engagement that she had with the Xiao Clan according to her father's wish, seemed bleak due to Noah's presence. But at least that burden was lifted off her shoulders.

It seemed Noah had a plan to break off the marriage agreement but why did she have a feeling that he was cooking some evil plot?!

Anyway, that was something she couldn't intervene in since she was as helpless as an infant in front of him, her master Chu included.

She then proceeded to arrange suitable accommodation for him and by luck, it just had to be next to her room. But she had put that thought at the back of her mind.

The sequence of events that followed was what made her have conflicted thoughts. Noah had...he...kissed her forehead at a speed she couldn't react. That simple action made her body automatically tense and assume a frozen state.

She simply could not believe what had transpired at that moment. Her mind had also turned blank and only after a moment, did she return to her normal state. She had then furiously blushed and her snow-white lustrous skin had turned a shade of pink.

The man dared to kiss her and then escape...he was truly a step ahead of her. A freezing opportunity was missed then. She cursed him for taking her first kiss even if it was only on the forehead.

But she couldn't help but still touch her kissed part of the head and proceeded to place her hand on her left breast where her maiden heart seemed to be agitated and furiously beating. Her closed-off heart seemed to be slightly opening. She wondered what the feeling was. It was something new to her. But she promised herself she would soon find out with time. What she did not know was whatever she was feeling was exactly what Noah wanted.

For now, she should be preparing to attack the Spirit Profound realm barrier, she reminded herself.

Before calming herself down to start her cultivation session, she tried to probe her sense into the room next door. She didn't know the reason for her rather impulsive action. Fortunately for her, the room's occupant was nowhere to be seen.

She heaved a sigh of relief. She was lucky Noah was not there. But she wondered where the mysterious young master had gone as she didn't sense any disturbances in the atmosphere. It was as if he just disappeared into nothingness. She really couldn't understand the man.

"Why I am even trying to do so?" She had a self-mocking smile on her pristine face. A being like him can't be understood on a whim.

Before she retracted her senses, she felt someone's presence suddenly appear. It was as if the space meant nothing to him. The young man she was looking for had returned. She was shocked and instinctively swallowed a mouthful of saliva. She feared she would be found out and she hurriedly cut off her probing.

But the situation played the opposite of what she had anticipated before she heard a deep playful voice.

"Well well, little Qingyue did you miss me?"

From that tone alone, she knew it was going to be a long episode. She felt like prey that had been spotted by the predator. And the situation she was currently in, Noah was the predator.