Tang Jie was startled when he saw Shen Qingdan. How had she gotten here?

He wanted to avoid her, but Shen Qingdan was making her way straight to him, probably attracted by that heaven-shaking flood of spell arts just now.

She quickly closed the distance, and when she saw Tang Jie, her eyes filled with shock. “Tang Jie, why are you here?”

Tang Jie could only reply, “I was passing through the area and saw a hidden realm emerging from the sea. Curious, I came inside to take a look.”

Shen Qingdan suspiciously looked at him. “Such a coincidence? I took four days to get here, and you only just came into the hidden realm and already managed to get here?”

Tang Jie saw Shen Qingdan expose his lie so easily and laughed. He was about to explain when Shen Qingdan’s eyes dimmed. “You must have been there, watching as I opened the hidden realm, right?”

Tang Jie froze for several moments before finally nodding. “My apologies, Lady Shen, I…”

Shen Qingdan coldly cut him off. “I know. You just don’t want there to be any disputes between us. It’s very normal to avoid me so that that Lady Xu won’t get angry and cause a ruckus.”

Tang Jie hurriedly said, “Lady Shen, you misunderstand. The Beast Refining Gate’s people were there at the time, and they’ve been chasing me this whole time, so it wasn’t appropriate for me to show myself.”

Shen Qingdan asked, “Then if the Beast Refining Gate’s people hadn’t been there, would you have shown yourself?”

Tang Jie’s mouth opened, but he didn’t know how to reply.

Yes, would he have appeared if the Beast Refining Gate’s people hadn’t been there?

Tang Jie found it difficult to answer this question.

He didn’t know how to reply, but he had a vague idea that the answer would be that he still wouldn’t appear. For him, Shen Qingdan would always be a passing traveler, and the engagement between them was nothing more than a joke.

But he couldn’t just tell her that, as that would damage her emotions or dignity. Thus, he hesitated and was unable to make up his mind.

But Shen Qingdan needed only to look at him to know what he was thinking.

Softly sighing, she said, “You still wouldn’t.”

Tang Jie hardened his resolve and said, “It never happened, so no one can say for sure. At most, I can only say that I’m not certain.”

“If you’re not certain, then we can try it out now,” Shen Qingdan said, not backing down.

Tang Jie was startled, and then he understood. “You…”

Shen Qingdan replied, “Since we’ve met, there must be destiny between us. What about it? Young Sir Tang, are you willing to be my companion and travel with me?”

Tang Jie bitterly smiled. “I’m being chased by the Beast Refining Gate, so if you travel with me, you’ll end up in danger. Didn’t you see how I was battling with the Beast Refining Gate’s people just now and barely survived?”

Shen Qingdan sneered, “I truly did see it. Young Sir Tang is perfectly fine, and not even a speck remains of the Beast Refining Gate’s people.”

Tang Jie was silenced.

He now somewhat understood that Shen Qingdan had the classic princess personality that wasn’t willing to lose out to anyone.

She didn’t necessarily like him. She just couldn’t stand being ignored.

This entire conversation had been targeted at Tang Jie’s attitude toward her. It seemed that if she didn’t get an answer that satisfied her, she would continue to cause trouble for him.

Ah, since you want to follow, then just follow.

Thinking this, Tang Jie replied, “Tang Jie does not dare to reject the young palace lord’s generosity. Since that is the case, let us travel together.”

Shen Qingdan finally made a satisfied smile. Turning around, she said, “Let’s go.”

“Wait…” Tang Jie said.

Shen Qingdan said without stopping, “What? Young Sir Tang, are you going back on your decision?”

“No, but there’s…”

Before Tang Jie could finish, there was a burst of brilliant flame. Shen Qingdan shrieked as she was caught in a powerful shockwave.

“A formation trap!” Tang Jie finally finished.

He looked at Shen Qingdan, who, while unharmed, now had a face covered in ash.

“Tang Jie!” she angrily roared.

Tang Jie shrugged. “Let me lead the way.”

——————————

The disordered space’s effect on Tang Jie was greatly minimized now that Tang Jie had comprehended that Dao Will of Time. But parts of the formation not within the disordered space were still working, preventing Tang Jie from going straight to the island. Even so, his progression speed was greatly improved.

Without any mishaps, he would need three days at most to reach the island.

On the journey, Tang Jie and Shen Qingdan had a few conversations.

At the start, Tang Jie was still rather embarrassed, but Shen Qingdan was very open, asking Tang Jie about his recent situation and how he had gotten here.

As Tang Jie answered these questions, Shen Qingdan gave him a rough summary of her own circumstances.

It turned out that when Shen Qingdan’s group had disembarked from their ship and started heading toward the island, they encountered a group of Mind Opening fiends midway. There were many of them, but more importantly, there was also a Transformation great fiend.

While the Wandering Palace group had just as many people, they were no match for these fiends, so they ultimately fled in different directions.

Shen Qingdan had ended up here while running from fiends.

“But I don’t know how Aunt Ying and the others are doing.” Shen Qingdan seemed rather sad when speaking about her scattered guards.

“Relax. Fiends normally all have their own territory, and they normally won’t chase someone outside of it. Your people should be fine.”

Shen Qingdan replied, “I know that, but that’s exactly why I think it’s strange. Why would those fiends suddenly join together to attack us? Shouldn’t they have been guarding their own territories?”

Tang Jie pondered the problem and replied, “When a fiend reaches Mind Opening, it attains intelligence similar to a human being’s, so they can no longer be regarded in the same way as before. For them to organize themselves isn’t strange.”

“But didn’t you just say that they normally didn’t give chase?”

Tang Jie shrugged. “You can consider that an error on my part.”

Shen Qingdan glared at him. After a while, she dropped her head and said, “I think it’s still better if I consider you right.”

She found this conversation rather laughable, so she couldn’t help but laugh.

Her smiling face was so bright that Tang Jie couldn’t help but faintly smile himself.

With their shared smile, all of the awkwardness between the two was blown away.

In truth, nothing had really developed between Tang Jie and Shen Qingdan. It was precisely because they had no relationship to speak of that they were able to get along so normally after letting go of those minor misunderstandings of the past.

In a day and night, they had crossed another large swath of the ocean, and the Immortal island could be seen in the distance.

Standing at the top of a tree, Tang Jie looked at the island and said, “From the look of it, we should reach the island tomorrow. Let’s rest here for tonight. As we get closer to the island, the fiends will get stronger, so we need to be at full energy in case of battle.”

“Mm.” Shen Qingdan nodded in agreement. They had run into many fiends on the way here, and while most of them had been easily dealt with, she could sense that the power of the fiends was climbing.

She took out a small house made from jade and threw it into the air. This small house grew larger and larger, and when it landed on the water, it became a full-sized house on the ocean. Tang Jie clicked his tongue in praise.

The Wandering Palace’s floating palaces were truly a sight to behold.

“Alas, I only brought one.” Shen Qingdan looked apologetically at Tang Jie. In truth, this jade house was large enough to have four or five people sleep in it at the same time. But sex differences met that it wasn’t proper to invite him in.

“It’s fine.” Tang Jie gestured that Shen Qingdan should go on with her own business.

Shen Qingdan entered the room, and when she looked back, she saw Tang Jie lying down on a tree branch.

The tree branch rocked in the air, causing Tang Jie’s body to bob up and down. It looked very relaxing.

Shen Qingdan smiled, and then she took out several small flags from her Mustard Seed Bag.

Like Tang Jie’s Eight Gates Banners, these were formation flags. When used, they could form a warning formation around the jade house, alerting her to any intruders and protecting the house. But this was the only formation they could create, much worse than the Eight Gates Banners.

Just when Shen Qingdan was about to put out the flags, she suddenly remembered that she was with Tang Jie. If she did this, wouldn’t that mean that she was taking precautions against him?

They had finally solved their misunderstandings and become friends, so she didn’t want to open up a new rift in their relationship over something minor like this.

Thinking this, she put away the flags.

Tang Jie didn’t know about all the thoughts she had on her mind. Lying on the branch, he focused his mind and recalled the battle earlier in the day, how he had used Time Set and the ways he could improve it.

At the same time, as Shen Qingdan lay down in her little house, she was unable to calm down.

It wasn’t because Tang Jie had thrown her mind into turmoil. It was just that this meeting, while not exactly bursting with passion, had something strange about it.

She couldn’t find out where the strangeness was. She glanced at Tang Jie and saw that he was already in meditation, and she thought to herself, I’m never going to be in his heart, so why do I keep thinking about him?

Thinking this, she lowered her head and quickly entered a meditative state.

The night deepened.

The hidden realm was silent, only the sloshing of water adding a little liveliness to the darkness.

Tang Jie lay unmoving on the tree branch.

Suddenly, he opened his eyes.

He slowly stood up, looked around, and got down from the tree.

Landing on the water, Tang Jie looked at the white jade house with a strange look in his eyes.

He made his way to the house.

In the house, Shen Qingdan was seated in meditation.

Cultivators did not need to sleep, as meditation was their equivalent. But meditation could be considered an even deeper form of sleep, and in this state, it became even more difficult to sense what was going on outside.

Shen Qingdan clearly did not notice anyone approaching her.

Her eyes were shut as she evenly breathed in and out through her nose.

In the darkness, her creased brows were beautiful enough to make one sigh in praise, and her two hands occasionally formed hand signs.

Standing in front of Shen Qingdan, Tang Jie stared at her.

Finally, Shen Qingdan let out a long breath—an indicator that she had completed a Minor Circuit Heaven. Tang Jie suddenly took action, covering Shen Qingdan’s mouth and forcing her onto her bed.

“MMM!” Shen Qingdan awoke from her meditation in shock and instinctively tried to resist.

“Shh!” Still covering her mouth, Tang Jie whispered, “Don’t make a noise. Someone is trying to sneak up on us.”

Happy New Year! Hope you all had a nice holiday.

Tang Jie almost caused a terrible misunderstanding there! Good thing he cleared it up before the chapter ended.