Chapter 51: He’s Back
The heavy thunderous aura that had just brought Bai Chen to his knees instantly receded into tranquil calm the moment Lin Yuan’s deep purple eyes swept across the surroundings and confirmed that there was no immediate threat.
Then, his gaze swept past the wooden porch and the lifeless bodies scattered across the muddy ground, finally locking onto the entrance of the main hall.
There, emerging from the shadows of the inner bedroom, was Bai Qingyue.
She was pushing herself forward with a desperate strength that her fragile body simply did not possess. Her knuckles were stark white as she gripped the wooden rims of her wheelchair, forcing the wheels over the floorboard. The expression on her tear-stained face was one of absolute tear and overwhelming hope. She had felt the terrifying aura, she had heard Bai Chen’s gasp, and she refused to hide any longer.
But as the wooden wheels caught on a shattered plank, the chair lurched dangerously. Bai Qingyue gasped, her arms trembling under the strain as she desperately tried to push herself over the threshold to see him.
Lin Yuan’s heart fiercely contracted. His composure instantly melted away, replaced entirely by the aching feeling of a husband watching his wife struggle.
He refused to let her stress herself for even a fraction of a second longer.
Thunder Step.
With that, Lin Yuan vanished from the courtyard and seamlessly materialized directly inside the main hall, standing right in front of her wheelchair before the wooden wheels could even settle back onto the floor.
Bai Qingyue’s breath caught in her throat. She looked up, her tear-filled eyes locking onto his.
She did not freeze. She did not hesitate. With a choked sob, she threw her upper body forward, abandoning the wheels entirely.
Lin Yuan immediately dropped to one knee, bringing himself perfectly down to her level, and caught her. Bai Qingyue’s arms wrapped around his neck in a clinging embrace, burying her face into the crook of his shoulder. She held onto him as if he were the only anchor keeping her tethered to the mortal realm, her fragile body trembling violently against his broad chest.
Lin Yuan wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her flush against him. He closed his eyes, burying his face in her hair. The chaotic energy of the past three weeks, the agony of body forging, the terrifying clash with the Nascent Soul expert, and the slaughter of the Xu Clan elders—all of it completely washed away in the warmth of her embrace.
Slowly, gently, Lin Yuan pulled back just enough to look at her face. He raised his right hand, his fingers softly brushing the wet tears from her cheeks.
Without a word, he leaned forward and pressed his lips softly against hers.
It was a kiss that carried the weight of a thousand unspoken promises. It was incredibly gentle, yet filled with overwhelming emotion. He poured every ounce of his longing, his relief, and his profound affection into that single, tender connection.
Bai Qingyue let out a soft whimper into the kiss. She leaned entirely forward, her hands sliding down from his neck to tightly grab his right arm, holding onto his bicep with a lovely grip.
When they finally broke the kiss, their foreheads resting against one another, their breaths mingling in the quiet space of the hall, she did not let go of his arm. Instead, Bai Qingyue shifted her grip. She took his warm hand in both of hers, brought his forearm up to her face, and gently pressed her lips against his wrist.
She then rested her soft cheek heavily against his forearm, closing her eyes as she embraced the steady, rhythmic pulse of his heartbeat beneath his skin. She just wanted to feel his warmth, to confirm with her own senses that this wasn’t an illusion born of her despair. He was real. He was here. He was back.
"You’re back," she whispered, her voice incredibly soft, muffled slightly against his arm.
"I promised it would only take a few days, but..." Lin Yuan replied, his voice a low, soothing rumble. He gently stroked her hair with his free hand, his fingers lingering affectionately among the strands. "I’m sorry it took so long. And I’m sorry I wasn’t here when they came."
"You are here now," Bai Qingyue said, finally opening her eyes to look at him, a radiant, beautiful smile breaking through her tears. "That is all that matters. I was so terrified, Lin Yuan. I thought... I thought they would. I am so, so happy to see you."
"I am right here, Qingyue. I will never let anything harm you, ever" Lin Yuan vowed, his purple eyes softening with boundless affection. "No one in this city, no one in the Nine Provinces, will ever lay a hand on you."
It was a profound, and deeply intimate reunion, a pocket of absolute peace amidst the wreckage.
However, outside the hall, hovering above the courtyard, the imprisoned Patriarch of the Xu Clan was experiencing a completely different emotion.
Suspended within the crackling lightning sphere, his cultivation shattered and his legacy stolen, Xu Canghai had been forced to watch the entire exchange. At first, his mind was too clouded by the agonizing pain of his destroyed Golden Core to process what he was seeing.
But as he looked closely at the woman in the wheelchair, his bloodshot eyes suddenly widened.
Despite her lack of spiritual qi, despite the modest outer-city clothing, Xu Canghai recognized that face. Every Clan Head in the City knew that face. It was the fallen genius, the crippled prodigy who had once been the absolute pride of the city.
It was the First Miss of the Bai Clan, Bai Qingyue!
Instantly, Xu Canghai’s paranoid mind connected the dots, forming a wildly inaccurate but entirely logical conclusion.
’This wasn’t a random outer-city rat!’ Xu Canghai’s mind screamed. ’This young monster is married to the Bai Clan’s precious daughter! The Bai Clan didn’t exile her—they hid her here! They employed this peerless cultivator to slaughter my elders and cripple me under the guise of a random dispute! This was a calculated conspiracy orchestrated by the Bai Clan to eradicate the Xu Clan!’
The sheer indignation and fury of being "outsmarted" in a clan war temporarily overrode his physical agony.
"I see it now!" Xu Canghai suddenly shrieked from within the lightning cage, his voice shattering the intimate silence of the courtyard.
Lin Yuan paused, his purple eyes narrowing slightly as he looked over his shoulder.
Xu Canghai pressed his bleeding face against the crackling surface of his spherical prison, pointing a trembling, accusatory finger directly at the woman in the wheelchair.
"Bai Qingyue!" He roared, spitting blood. "So the Bai Clan is behind this! You treacherous snakes! You set this trap to cripple our foundation! I will not let—"
Xu Canghai’s accusation was caught abruptly in his throat.
Lin Yuan did not even turn around fully. He merely flicked his gaze toward the sphere.
Inside the prison, the tribulation lightning violently shifted. A massive arm made entirely of purple thunder materialized directly in front of Xu Canghai.
Before he could even blink, the thunder arm reared back and swung with the force of a falling meteor.
SMACK!
The sharp, deafening sound of the slap echoed across the area. The thunder hand struck Xu Canghai directly across the face with force. The impact instantly shattered half the teeth in his mouth, violently snapping his head to the side and spinning his body like a top within the confined space of the sphere.
Blood and broken teeth splattered against the inside of the sphere. Xu Canghai collapsed into a dizzy, groaning heap at the bottom of the sphere, his cheek instantly swelling to the size of a melon, his accusations silenced by a single satisfying slap.
Lin Yuan turned his attention back to his wife, his expression returning to gentle warmth as if the interruption had merely been a buzzing mosquito.