Chapter 52 (1/2)

A silver, enormously wide flying ship landed from the skies above.

Waiting patiently within the flying ship was Elder Xing, Zhou Yuan, and Zhou Ting. They were standing silently on the left side of Elder Xing. On his right was a middle-aged looking man with a long black beard who seemed to be extremely flirtatious.

Standing next to the middle-aged man was a young maiden who seemed to have a pair of glimmering spirit-filled eyes. That young lass was completely focused on Zhou Yan.

The young lad’s gaze drifted passed these people and as his gaze was met with that adorable young lass’ aggressive stares who seemed to possess a strong spiritual affinity, Zhou Yan felt a slight twitch in his heart.

Since the young lad was used to seeing maidens with beauty that could only be compared to a deity, he was able to keep himself composed as he was not the type of person to seemingly forget about the world around him upon meeting such a rare beauty.

This slight impulsive twitch in his heart was caused by meeting this young maiden who had a strong sense of familiarity coming from her.

However, since both Xiao Chaner and Xiao Liner had greatly affected him, even if he was able to tell who that person was, he no longer possessed the heart to be close to anyone.

His personality had become increasingly grounded as all his impulsive nature gradually faded away.

“Brother Zhou Yan, it’s me, Ying’er. Do you still remember me?”

However, Zhou Yan remained idle. As the flying ship stopped, Ying’er stepped onto a single ray of Blade’s light as she elegantly walked toward the young lad and appeared out of nowhere next to him. She then proceeded to very excitedly talk to him.

That cold emotionless gaze from Zhou Yan’s eyes earlier was seemingly invisible to her.

…

As Zhou Yan unleashed his soul detection skill, he was able to very clearly sense Zhou Yin’s intentions and thoughts in addition to all the warmth and excitement within her. Hence, his heart felt warm in that instant.

The young lad had no intention to use his detection skills on this young lass, but due to the unique nature of soul’s detection, he was very clearly able to pick up on their intentions and their thoughts for anyone who was not grounded enough in their personality.

This was exactly like committing a crime of voyeurism!

However, if one’s personality was as grounded as Elder Xing, no matter how hard the young lad attempted, he would not be able to read the elder’s thoughts nor sense their intentions even by the slightest.

However, to Zhou Ying, Zhou Yan did not wish to repeat what had happened with Xiao Chaner and Xiao Liner so he proceeded to probe further with his detection skill and stretched his detection skill to the fullest.

Hence, he had instead sensed a sincere and genuine feeling of ‘admiration’ from her.

That was a conflicting feeling of ‘admiration’ and ‘favoritism’ but it was probably not anything related to romantic feelings. It felt more like… admiration for an older brother.

Hence, Zhou Yan could not tell the difference between what kind of feeling that way, although it was solid and sincere.

The young lad was touched and his heartstrings were pulled.

His cold frozen heart had a slight hint of warmth.

Hence, after contemplating for a brief moment, the young lad proceeded to excitedly speak up.

This was a similar event to after the young lad ran into Gu Xi—the feeling of catching up with someone who had been estranged for several years felt amazing to the young lad.

“Ying’er? You’re Ying’er from the City of Ten Thousand Changes?” Zhou Yan spoke in a surprised tone.

“Yes indeed, I’m Ying’er. I’m so happy that brother Zhou Yan still remembers me!”

Zhou Ying cried tears of joy.

The young lass did not hesitate as she lept excitedly into Zhou Yan’s arms.

Zhou Ting who was witnessing this entire exchange stared with a uniquely interesting gaze while Zhou Yuan, on the other hand, was completely shocked as both his eyes were completely wide open—he cracked an interesting expression on his face.

The muscles on Zhou Yuan’s face were slightly twitching. He spent so much effort pleasing Zhou Ying but she had instead given him a very cautious stare, as if she was keeping her guard up against a potential rapist. However, this man Zhou Yan, who had only been in contact with Zhou Ying for mere moments—the goddess in his heart—had actually lept into Zhou Yan’s arms!

In that very instant alone, Zhou Yuan was so stunned he seemed like a mad man.

“In our time… You’re the best in your ability in gaining enlightenment; your Qi Column is also the best and now, even your ability to flirt with maidens… Is your natural beauty that well regarded, you little pretty boy?”

Zhou Yuan was completely speechless and had no idea what he should do in this situation.

His prideful nature meant that he enjoyed defeating opponents with regards to status, position, skills, and more. However, at his current state, he was no longer in a position to win in any field.

Even in terms of his bloodline, though Zhou Yan hailed from the minor branch of the Zhou family. Zhou Yan’s position in the family was insignificant but his lineage had some correlation to the main family. It was only due to Zhou Wuzhen’s father’s mistakes in the past that resulted in his exile from the main branch, forcing him to settle elsewhere.

Nevertheless, the blood that coursed through Zhou Wuzhen’s father’s veins was the purest blood that had ties to the main branch of the Zhou family…

“Hmph, Zhou Yan, I salute you! The deliberate challenges I made toward you before were simply due to the assumption that you had a mere three-segmented single Qi Column within my realm of the blade. Although that was impressive, the main branch of our family doesn’t lack talent of that level, which was why I never bothered to even take you seriously.

“For the things I’ve done before, I take full responsibility. I sincerely apologize!”

After pondering about it for a long moment, Zhou Yuan made the first move to apologize.

This arrogant lad who had been obsessed and hellbent on surpassing Zhou Yan had apologized at this moment.

At that moment, Zhou Ting gazed at him with a look of disbelief.