Chapter 50

After a while, Liyu was finally tired of chasing after his kingly clone; the bastard was simply too fast for him. After all, even if he used Momentum, which he hadn’t used yet, he still wasn’t sure he could catch the damn clone.

In the end, he gave up and sent King Rayden back into his system space... he would be taking the clone with him back to the human settlement anyway, seeing as he would most likely be leaving this place tomorrow.

With that settled, he decided to return to the cave.

When he arrived, Li Feng and the other two brothers were already back. Li Feng was staring at him with dagger-like eyes, but Liyu didn’t care in the slightest; instead, he stared right back at his cousin.

If the memories of the original Liyu weren’t wrong, then this cousin of his deserved some payback.

Back during their childhood, Li Feng had actually been one of Liyu’s closest friends; although their personalities were quite different, he had been the only person Liyu had grown especially close to before Li Yuexin joined the Li Clan.

But just like many others who abandoned Liyu after discovering he possessed a broken spirit root, Li Feng had also become greatly disappointed in him.

To be fair, he never went as far as bullying Liyu like many of the other clan members did; still, he was the one who hurt Liyu the most... emotionally, at least.

The disdain in his eyes whenever he looked at Liyu had caused the latter an immeasurable amount of pain, constantly reminding him that he was nothing but a failure, a disgrace, and a burden.

Things only became worse when the Clan Lord, Li Feng’s own father, continued using every resource at his disposal to try and heal Liyu; he even went as far as spending clan resources on him, which only made Li Feng angrier.

Over time, he had tried his best to force Liyu to leave the clan; just seeing Liyu around seemed to cause him immense discomfort.

This guy... Rayden was certain that the former Liyu would have committed suicide long ago if not for the fact that two people had always stood firmly by his side: Li Yuexin and the Clan Lord himself.

Those two were the pillars that kept him going and prevented him from being completely crushed beneath the weight of everyone’s scorn and disappointment.

Wait. What was he even saying? Of course Liyu had eventually broken under the pressure; if he hadn’t broken, then he wouldn’t have entered the Beast Forest to commit suicide in the first place. Well, that was all in the past, and right now, Rayden was in charge.

In honor of the original owner of this body, he fully intended to teach this bitch of a cousin a proper lesson.

Unfortunately, it seemed that day wouldn’t be today, because just as Liyu’s hand twitched slightly, the cheerful and bright voice of Li Yuexin reached his ears: "Food is ready," she announced happily. "Not today," Liyu muttered.

He stopped himself and entered the cave, and the other three followed shortly afterward. Soon, the food was arranged before them, and the group settled down for dinner.

What Li Yuexin had prepared was something liyu recognised... a rich Chinese-style feast: there was fragrant Yangzhou fried rice mixed with diced vegetables and tender meat, a steaming bowl of braised pork belly, stir-fried vegetables coated in savory sauce, and a pot of aromatic soup whose scent alone was enough to make one salivate.

It seemed the group had brought plenty of food resources with them. Hungry fellows, Liyu thought in amusement. Still, he was dying to try real cooked food again; after surviving for so long on nothing but roasted beast meat, his tongue practically yearned for proper cuisine.

He scooped up a spoonful and placed it into his mouth. The moment the food touched his tongue, his eyes widened as the flavors exploded across his senses; the tender meat practically melted in his mouth, while the seasoning blended together perfectly.

Liyu slowly closed his eyes as he savored the taste. The delicious flavor spread throughout his mouth, causing him to nearly tear up. "It... it’s delicious," he couldn’t help but say aloud. Li Yuexin immediately beamed with a satisfied smile; seeing his reaction clearly made her happy.

"Hmph. After spending so long eating nothing but roasted beast meat, of course everything would taste amazing to you," Li Jie said begrudgingly.

The fortune he had been forced to lose because of that mysterious thief was still haunting him; he would catch that thief one day, whoever it was. And when he did, he would crush him; he swore it on his brother’s life.

Li Xie, who was currently eating, suddenly began coughing violently: "Cough! Cough! Cough!" He quickly grabbed some water and drank it before finally calming down. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"Wait... why do I feel like someone keeps putting my life on the line?" he complained darkly. Li Jie immediately looked away and focused entirely on his food; his suspicious behavior only made him look even guiltier.

"Big brother, I would really appreciate it if you stopped doing whatever it is you’re doing," Li Xie said with a dark expression. "What are you talking about? I’m doing nothing," Li Jie replied while shoveling more food into his mouth.

Meanwhile, someone else had stopped eating entirely. Li Yuexin was staring silently at her bowl, her expression having become unusually solemn. Liyu noticed immediately.

"Why aren’t you eating?" he asked, pausing his own meal; he was merely being cautious. She wasn’t about to tell him she had poisoned the food, right? Actually... that wouldn’t be funny at all. He was not immuned to poison afterall.

Liyu waited for her answer, hoping his ridiculous thoughts were completely wrong. Li Yuexin slowly raised her head and looked at him; he immediately noticed the emotions in her eyes... pain, anger, regret.

But surprisingly, none of it was directed at him or anyone else; it was directed entirely at herself. "Brother Yu..." she began softly. Her voice was quiet. "I’m sorry. I really am." Liyu blinked in confusion.

Sorry? What exactly was she apologizing for? "I should have been there," she continued. "I abandoned you. I should have been there to help you bear that pressure." Her hands clenched tightly beneath the table.

"If I had been there at the time, then you wouldn’t have been pushed to the brink; you wouldn’t have been forced to leave the clan and enter this death zone." Her voice trembled slightly.

"If I had been there, you wouldn’t have had to suffer here all alone; you wouldn’t have had to survive by yourself; you wouldn’t have had to fight countless beasts alone; you wouldn’t have had to face death over and over again; and..." Her voice became even quieter.

"You wouldn’t have had to go so long without eating proper food." The cave suddenly fell silent.

The more she spoke, the clearer the pain in her voice became for everyone to hear. Even Liyu felt his expression grow solemn as he listened to her apology, but she had done nothing wrong; that much he was certain of.

Back then, she had needed to spend more than three weeks inside the cultivation chamber in order to cultivate faster than usual; even then, he was certain she must have forcefully broken out of the cultivation room, disregarding the rules, just to come looking for him. She had no fault in this.

"Actually, you are not in the wrong," Liyu said softly. "I came here of my own accord, and look at me now. I’m alive, my spirit root has been restored, and not only that, but I haven’t starved either."

After spending quite a while convincing her that he was perfectly fine and that everything that had happened wasn’t her fault, Li Yuexin finally relaxed, and the heavy burden weighing on her chest seemed to lift.

Then, much to Liyu’s dismay, she decided that she wanted to feed him personally. Naturally, Liyu refused; unfortunately for him, after seeing the look on Li Yuexin’s face, he found himself unable to continue refusing.

"Is that really Sister Yuexin?" Li Xie couldn’t help but ask in a whisper. Li Jie was equally stunned. "I don’t know anymore..." he muttered. "The Li Yuexin who can stand face-to-face with death while maintaining a calm expression is completely different from the one acting like a little girl right now."

Li Xie nodded slowly. "It seems the rumors about those two being soulmates are true after all." Li Jie immediately leaned closer and whispered into his brother’s ear: "That is the only explanation that can justify this unbelievable scene happening right in front of us." The two brothers stared blankly; they truly couldn’t understand it.

Meanwhile, Li Feng’s frown deepened.

Eventually, he stood up and left the dinner table; he was tired of seeing this nonsense. Liyu could enjoy himself as much as he wanted right now; it wouldn’t last. Soon, he and Yuexin would leave for the Gold Valley Sect, and when that happened, Liyu would lose.

Convincing himself of that, Li Feng left to rest. Not long afterward, everyone finished their meal as well, and one by one, they went to sleep. Soon, only Liyu and Li Yuexin remained awake. As expected, she continued clinging close to him; the two chatted for quite a while.

Well... to be more precise, Li Yuexin was the one doing most of the talking. She excitedly told him stories about their journey through the Beast Forest while searching for him, and Liyu mostly listened.

Still, he found himself genuinely surprised by some of the things she revealed; for example, they had encountered several Spiked Gorillas, and not only that, but she had personally killed a Three-Spiked Gorilla.

Liyu knew exactly how powerful those creatures were; back then, he had needed both himself and his clone working together to deal with the one that had seemingly been sent specifically to eliminate him.

Even now, he still couldn’t understand why a harmless and innocent human like himself kept being targeted by dangerous beasts. Truly a mystery.

After listening for a long while, Li Yuexin finally drifted off to sleep, a bright smile resting on her face; it was as though simply finding him alive had removed a massive burden from her heart.

Liyu quietly watched her sleeping face, then he heard her murmur softly in her sleep: "Promise me... that you won’t leave me alone again, Brother Yu..." Liyu felt his heart suddenly begin racing; before his brain could even process what he was doing, his mouth moved on its own.

"I promise." The words escaped naturally. The moment they left his lips, Liyu froze; his eyes widened, and he abruptly sat upright. "What is happening to me?" he muttered to himself.

There was nobody there to answer him... well, nobody except his system. The system sounded completely flabbergasted; in fact, it sounded far more amused than shocked.

"Host... have you sincerely fallen in love with a girl that you only met today?" the system asked. Liyu couldn’t stop his face from twitching. "Shut up, System." A strange feeling welled up inside him... cold, unfamiliar, dangerous. He hated it.

Slowly, he turned his head and looked at Li Yuexin once more. The moonlight shone through the cave entrance, illuminating her sleeping face; the silver glow made her appear almost unreal, beautiful.

His thoughts paused, then a single realization surfaced within his mind: She is beautiful. His heart skipped a beat. Immediately afterward, the system’s voice rang out again.

"Host, every sign has already been confirmed. You are in love. It is truly crazy. Falling in love at first sight." The system sounded increasingly amused as it continued.

"Host really is one heck of a host."