Chapter 20 – A Leisure Walk Home

It had been a little over a week since Qin Yun and Yun Jingfei had been locked away inside the formation, forced to interact with each other.

 

Now freed from their temporary prison, they strolled unhurriedly through the clan grounds, making their way back to Qin Yun’s abode.

 

Not a single clan member in their pale blue robes spared them a glance, ignoring even Yun Jingfei’s striking blue dress and enigmatic mask.

 

Only a handful of servants dared to sneak curious glances their way.

 

“I was expecting something more,” Yun Jingfei said as she walked, the muffled sound of her boot striking the paved path.

 

“Disappointed?” Qin Yun remarked, a slight smile on his lips, leading the way.

 

“I mean, they just sent a servant to chase us out of there. They could have at least sent an elder. A deacon, even. Are we worth so little?”

 

“Of course,” Qin Yun replied dryly. “Our role in all this is done. They have nothing to gain by entertaining us further.”

 

“And, you’re alright with that?” she asked, eyes slightly narrowed.

 

“Thrilled, to be honest. The less they meddle with my life, the better.”

 

“…”

 

“What? Something you are unhappy with?”

 

“Just wondering why you accepted all this, if this is how you think.”

 

Qin Yun stopped and turned to face her.

 

“We went over this, remember?” he said.

 

“I know, but I just have this weird feeling. Seeing you ignored this way, and your response… I don’t know. I just feel this isn’t right.”

 

Qin Yun sighed.

 

“I expected this,” he lamented.

 

“What?” Yun Jingfei frowned further.

 

“Just an expected side effect.”

 

“Side effect?” she parroted, confused, but then her gaze lit up from realization. “That scent? Wasn’t this bracelet supposed to shield me from it?”

 

She pointed to the vines entangled around her wrist.

 

“It did.” Qin Yun pointed out. “It stopped most of it, but… You don’t know much about the Heart-Cleansing Spiritual Vines, do you?”

 

All Yun Jingfei could do was shake her head meekly.

 

She recognized the name, but her understanding was little more than surface-deep. Most of her days had been spent fortifying her cultivation, racing to the Void Core realm, while the world of rare plants remained a distant curiosity.

 

She once believed she’d have time to explore such disciplines after securing her place, but fate had other plans.

 

Seeing her ignorance, Qin Yun decided to give her a crash course on the subject.

 

“The Heart-Cleansing Spiritual Vines is just like any other plant you will find in the wild,” he said. “The moment its roots leave the ground where it was grown, its effects begin to quickly fade. The purifying effect may last a few months, but with time, it will completely disappear.”

 

Jingfei frowned.

 

“Then why…” she said, looking down at the bracelet on her wrist.

 

The bracelet was clearly aged; the vines had lost their former suppleness, a silent testament to how long they’d been severed from their roots.

 

“The Heart-Cleansing Spiritual Vines is known to cleanse any pathogen around it, purifying the air of any foreign substance. Even Feral Passion Blossoms cannot resist their purifying nature, but the Heart-Cleansing Spiritual Vines are only effective when their root system remains intact. Otherwise, how could it possibly remove such a massive amount of pheromone?”

 

“I thought it was converting it into Etra,” Yun Jingfei said, confused.

 

Ever since she had put on this bracelet, even if her spiritual seed had been damaged by the accident, she had clearly felt that the concentration of Etra had increased around the object.

 

The author’s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Yet, she couldn’t shake the feeling that this was no mere coincidence.

 

However, Qin Yun spoke otherwise.

 

“What kind of plant would produce Etra?” he said, which couldn’t help but make her reflect.

 

Indeed, plants were usually much more attuned to the energy flowing through the earth’s crust than to that flowing through the heavens. If they were to alter the pollen of the Feral Passion Blossom into something else, it would have been into Madra, and not Etra.

 

And yet, Yun Jingfei was convinced that it was Etra that she felt swirling around her bracelet.

 

“That’s natural,” Qin Yun explained. “The Heart-Cleansing Spiritual Vine around your wrist has already been refined. Only a relic may be able to alter another substance into Etra.”

 

“A Relic? I suspected as much, but if that’s the case, why can’t I see any refining marks? Shouldn’t all relics have them?”

 

“Not necessarily,” Qin Yun shrugged. “It all depends on the grade of the relic, but I’m sure you knew that. All relics do possess refining marks, for they are incomplete in some ways. Only when relics reach the Immortal Grade do their marks vanish, signifying that they have reached the apex of their potential. Perfection.”

 

“You don’t mean…” Yun Jingfei said, her pupils dilating as her gaze darted back and forth between Qin Yun and the vine bracelet on her wrist.

 

Qin Yun couldn’t help but smile.

 

“Of course not,” he said with a chuckle. “Immortal Grade relics are the stuff of legends. I doubt more than a few have existed on this continent in its entire history. This is just a low-rank spiritual-grade relic refined using a rather unorthodox technique. It does possess refining marks, just ones you wouldn’t recognize as such.”

 

“Oh,” Yun Jingfei said, disappointment clear in her tone. And yet, she gently stroked the entwined vine using the tip of her fingers.

 

“Anyway,” Qin Yun said. “Back to the feeling you have. The Feral Passion Blossom’s scent does more than simply arouse one’s basic instinct. It also heightens one’s ability to pair bonds. It’s actually its main use. Sexual arousal is nothing more than a side effect.”

 

“You mean… the reason I feel drawn to you, and I feel frustrated at the way you are treated, is entirely because the spiritual vine couldn’t completely block the blossoms’ effects?”