Setting out.

Liang Chen took half a step back to allow the door to fully open, letting him see into the hidden realm that was Yan Ling's abode. This was the first time he was seeing the living quarters of someone else, and it didn't quite look as he had expected it to.

He thought that all the hidden realms that served as living quarters looked the same as his, a small hut standing next to a small lake that had a single weeping willow growing by the shore. But Yan Ling's living quarters were quite a bit different, consisting of a large lake that held a small island at the center, a cozy hut serving as a house placed on the island.

There were several trees growing on the island, blooming with pink and yellow flowers that reminded Liang Chen of the trees that used to grow outside his childhood home. To get to this island, several flat stones were placed in a straight line from the door all the way to the island, allowing one to skip across the stones to reach the house.

Liang Chen could see Yan Ling sitting on a couch covered in soft pillows outside the wooden hut, her knees tucked up against her chest. Yumao was coiled up on top of her head, occasionally being fed a treat by Yan Ling. Yan Ling was looking at Liang Chen, but she seemed to avoid meeting his gaze, turning her head away.

Liang Chen's lips rose into a grateful smile and he stepped forward, moving from stone to stone as he headed towards the island. As he moved, Yan Ling suddenly scrunched up her nose, her gaze landing on Liang Chen. She suddenly gave a wave of her hand, a strong gust of wind pushing Liang Chen down from the stone he was standing on and into the water.

When he landed in it, the water suddenly started to coil around him and drag him down beneath the surface. Liang Chen didn't resist, as he didn't feel any hostility from Yan Ling, who was clearly the one behind this. He was only pulled down to just beneath the surface before the water released its hold on him, allowing him to swim back to the surface. Yan Ling didn't give him the chance to ask what she meant by this, as she spoke up the moment his head breached the surface.

"Geh, you reek. When was the last time you took a bath?"

Liang Chen rolled his eyes slightly as he thought back, trying to remember when the last time he cleaned himself was. He quickly realized that he had gotten too absorbed in his reading, a somewhat awkward smile appearing on his face as he responded.

"It should be... About six months..."

The last time he took a bath was when he was thrown in the stream that came from the Immortal God's Vein, so when one took into account the increased speed of time he kept active when he was reading, it had already been half a year. Even if he was a cultivator, going half a year without bathing would inevitably cause him to stink quite a bit. After getting his answer, Yan Ling couldn't help but scrunch up her nose and let out an involuntary giggle.

"Six months, and you walked around the sect like that? Are you trying to embarrass yourself? Here, clean yourself before you do anything else."

Yan Ling swiped her interspatial ring, taking out what seemed to be bars of soap, throwing them at Liang Chen. She had giggled and seemed to be in a better mood than Liang Chen had first thought, but she still threw the soap with quite a bit of force, resulting in them hitting Liang Chen's forehead.

Looking at the soap that was now floating in front of him, Liang Chen couldn't help but raise an eyebrow, moving his gaze between the soap and Yan Ling. Yan Ling seemed to be able to guess what he was thinking, letting out a snort.

"What, is a girl not allowed to carry around some soap? I'll have you know that cleanliness is a virtue!"

Liang Chen could only swallow the question he was going to ask, giving an obedient nod of his head. Yan Ling turned around after tossing the soap at Liang Chen, indicating that he should hurry up and clean himself. Liang Chen grabbed the soap and let himself sink into the water, quickly cleaning himself. Once he was clean, he climbed up onto one of the rocks and dried himself using the heat of his lightning, putting on a fresh and clean robe.

Now that he was clean and no longer reeked, Yan Ling didn't stop him from stepping onto the island, letting him walk over to where she was. Standing in front of the couch she was sitting on was a round table made from glass, as well as another soft couch standing on the opposite side of the table.

The first thing Liang Chen did after reaching Yan Ling was to lower his head and dip into a bow. She had agreed to hear him out, but he still had to apologize for what he did. But before he got the chance to voice his apology, Yan Ling interrupted him, waving her hand and using some wind to stop him from completing his bow.

"I'm not mad at you. Do you think I don't know you well enough to realize you wouldn't use that poison if you knew what it would really do? I was just too embarrassed to face you after being seen like that."

Liang Chen couldn't help but let out a stealthy sigh of relief after hearing Yan Ling's words, at least she wasn't mad at him or hated him for what he had done. Yan Ling still didn't give Liang Chen the chance to say anything, narrowing her eyes slightly as she continued to talk.

"But you still made me put on such an embarrassing display in front of so many people, so you still need to get punished. Come over here."

Liang Chen had poisoned her with quite a heavy dose of aphrodisiac, so by the time she fled the stage, her robe was sticking to her skin because of her sweat and her face was completely flushed. To look like that in front of so many fellow disciples, how could she not be embarrassed and want to hide her face for a bit?

Liang Chen did as he was told and walked over to Yan Ling. Even if he didn't know what the poison would do, he couldn't escape the responsibility of being the one who had made her put on such an embarrassing display, so he didn't mind suffering the punishment. Yan Ling stood up from her seat and stopped Liang Chen when he was right in front of her.

Just as Liang Chen was wondering how she planned to punish him, Yan Ling made her move. She swiftly leaned forward and opened her mouth, biting down on the inner part of Liang Chen's left shoulder with all her might, her teeth sinking into his flesh and drawing blood. Liang Chen hadn't expected such a strange and sudden punishment, and since he hadn't numbed his sense of pain, his face cringed slightly from the pain. His body wanted to launch an instinctual counter-attack, so Liang Chen had to calm down his instincts to make sure that he didn't harm Yan Ling.

After biting his shoulder for about ten seconds, Yan Ling seemed to be satisfied and pulled away, wiping away the blood that was now around her lips. After wiping away the blood around her lips, Yan Ling tossed an interspatial ring to Liang Chen.

"Take it. I planned on giving it to you when I sought you out to make up, but you got to me before I could build up the courage to look for you."

Liang Chen caught the interspatial ring, ignoring his shoulder. Even though Yan Ling used all her might, it was still only a small bite, such a wound would heal in a very short amount of time. Liang Chen's expression softened further when he heard that Yan Ling was planning on seeking him out to reconcile, his mind sinking into the interspatial ring.

Upon seeing the contents of the ring, he couldn't help but gape slightly in surprise, pulling out the single item that was inside the ring. A long spear appeared in his hand, the entire spear nearly three meters long. The body of the spear was made from a type of golden crystal that was filled with lightning energy, Liang Chen guessing that it was probably a type of Lightning Quartz. The spearhead was made from a blackish-silver type of metal, the tip and edges of the spearhead gleaming with a sharp light.

No matter how he looked at it, this spear was countless times better than the spear he had used previously. It was also rather well suited to him, especially his law of lightning. He couldn't help but turn to Yan Ling with gratitude and curiosity, wondering where she had suddenly gotten a spear like this from.

She used a sword, so there was no reason for her to carry around a spear like this. There was also the fact that this spear was rather well suited to Liang Chen, so he didn't think it was a coincidence. Guessing what Liang Chen was thinking, Yan Ling gave a casual wave of her hand as she sat down on the couch and responded.

"I bought it from the Myriad Treasure Pagoda about half a month after the Hall Competition. It cost quite a bit, so you better not break it, or I'll be forced to bite you again, even harder this time!"

After she finished giving the explanation, Yan Ling pointed at the couch across the table in front of her, indicating for Liang Chen to sit there. Liang Chen sat down on the couch, storing the new spear into his interspatial ring. Yan Ling's explanation had raised another question in his mind, so he cocked his head slightly.

"How did you buy this? Ever since the competition, you haven't left this place."

One could buy things from the Myriad Treasures Pagoda through the jade that had fused with their bodies, but they still had to walk over to the pagoda to pick up the items. But Liang Chen knew that Yan Ling had never left this hidden realm ever since the competition. Yan Ling didn't give a proper answer, her lips curling into a smirk.

"And who was it that told you that?"

Liang Chen instantly understood what she meant, his gaze landing on Yumao, who was still coiling up on top of Yan Ling's head. It was Yumao who had been keeping an eye on Yan Ling and told Liang Chen about her location. Yumao turned his head away, silently chewing on some meat that Yan Ling had given him. Understanding the situation, Liang Chen could only let out a chuckle and shake his head.

"Betrayed by my own companion, what a sad fate."

After shaking his head and chuckling, Liang Chen gave his interspatial ring a soft trace with his finger. After tracing the ring, his eyes landed on Yan Ling, a gentle gratitude in them as he lowered his head slightly.

"Thank you."

She had not only forgiven him, but even bought him the thing he needed the most right now, a weapon. A weapon would allow him to better channel and focus his power, increasing the strength of his attacks by a decent amount, especially when the weapon was so well suited to him. Yan Ling simply waved her hand, leaning against the back of the couch.

"Don't worry about it, I did ignore you for quite a bit of time for no good reason. So, what is it that you needed my help with?"

She knew that although she had only ignored him for a month and a half, to Liang Chen it had been six months. She was embarrassed because of what had happened, but even with that in mind, she could not even imagine ignoring him for six months, not with how close the two of them were.

Liang Chen had stored the scroll with the mission details into his interspatial ring the moment Yan Ling pushed him with that gust of wind, so it hadn't fallen into the water with him. He removed it from his interspatial ring and handed it to Yan Ling, who gave the entire thing a quick read before raising an eyebrow, looking at Liang Chen.

"This is what you want help with? But why, I can't imagine it's to avenge the dead disciples?"

She knew that Liang Chen was a surprisingly rightous person who would even help those who had no connection to him, as long as he deemed them as innocent that was. But there was no way to tell if the people who died in this mission were innocent, so there had to be something else he was after. Liang Chen's eyes grew a bit distant, and after a short moment of silence, he started to talk.

"Green Rivers city is where I lived as a child, it's also where my parents were executed. I want to take this chance to find out where they are buried."

Liang Chen told her everything, about how Qing Lan Yong had framed his parents, about how they were executed, about how he started his cultivation because of it, how he was forced to flee the city, he told her everything about his past. He didn't see a need to hide it from her, so he even told her about the things he had learned inside the Demon's Graveyard, the truth about his bloodline and actual ancestry.

Yan Ling listened intently, making sure to not miss a single word that he said. The two were close, even having gone through some life and death battles together, both saving the other from death more than once. But this was the first time Liang Chen had ever opened about his past, the first time Yan Ling ever got to hear his story. They had briefly spoken about it inside the third trial of the Mystic's Hidden Realm, but back then, Liang Chen had only said that he no longer had a place to return to.

It was also only now that Yan Ling realized how much Liang Chen had gone through in such a small frame of time. It had only been a bit over a year since his parents were executed, and yet he had gone through so many difficulties, all to reach his current stage. And while she was extremely surprised when she learned about his actual ancestry, it didn't really matter to her. After all, his bloodline and lineage didn't decide who he was, it was his actions and beliefs that made him who he was. Some might dislike the fact that he wasn't human, but Yan Ling herself couldn't truly be called human, as one of her ancestors was a Sky Wolf, a Divine Beast.

Yan Ling felt a mixture of sorrow and gratitude as she listened to his story, sorrow at the things he had to go through, but gratitude at the fact that he felt that they were close enough for him to share this with her.

When Liang Chen finished talking, he let out a deep breath. Yan Ling was the first person he had ever told this story to, so other than him and Qing Chun, she was the only one who knew his full story. After he let out another deep breath, he looked at Yan Ling and once again asked his question.

"Please, will you help me?"

He could go to Green Rivers city on his own, but the odds of him being able to finish the mission on his own were far too low, so going to Green Rivers city was dangerous, as he ran the risk of running into the targets of the mission. Yan Ling barely waited for a second after Liang Chen asked his question, giving another snort and curling her lips into a teasing smile.

"Of course I'll help, otherwise you and Little Yuma are going to keep whining and nag at me until I help you."

Liang Chen's lips curled into a smile of their own after hearing her response, a gentle, warm, and grateful smile. He knew that she was talking in such a teasing manner because she wanted him to cheer up after talking about his sad story. Seeing Liang Chen's lips curl into a smile, his mood rising, Yan Ling stood up from her seat and nodded her head.

"Alright, let's strike while the iron is hot! We're moving out immediately!"

Yan Ling stepped forward without giving Liang Chen the time to react, grabbing onto the collar of his robe and dragging him along, just like she had when she dragged him onto their previous mission. As she dragged him along, skipping over the stones while still dragging him by the collar, their bickering voices sounded out within the area.

"You know, I'm fairly certain that saying you just used doesn't apply for this situation."

"Doesn't matter! It sounded appropriate! Don't make me drop you in the water again!"