Han Ling hugged Han Xinrou tightly, the muscles in his arms contracting as if they wanted to crush the space between them. His face sank into Han Xinrou's delicate neck, and, with a muffled growl of frustration, he sank his teeth into her soft skin. It wasn't a gesture of desire — it was anger, despair, helplessness.
For a moment, Han Ling hated her. Hated how superior she was. How brilliant that Gift was, guiding her as if she were a goddess walking among mortals. Meanwhile... his Gift? Stealth. A rat's talent, a night hunter's, always hiding, fleeing, lurking.
Han Xinrou shivered under the bite but did not resist. Her arms wrapped around him like a mother embracing a wounded child, as if she understood all the turmoil he couldn't express in words.
"Sweetie…" Han Xinrou murmured softly, her fingers drawing circles along his back. "My Gift was weak too at the beginning. It only let me see... what was right in front of me, sometimes a little beyond. It was almost useless. But as my cultivation grew, it... blossomed."
Han Xinrou gently pulled his face back, making him look at her. Her eyes were calm but intense.
"Your Gift will evolve too. You may not realize it now, but that stealth... it can be so much more. You haven't even scratched the surface of what it can become."
Han Ling seemed to absorb the words, but his eyes were still dark, heavy with wounded pride. That's when Han Xinrou's voice turned darker, and a possessive smile bloomed on her lips.
"But no matter how much you evolve, Sweetie… I'll always find you." She pressed her index finger to his chest, right over his heart. "There is no place in the world where you can hide from me. You remember the last life, don't you?"
Han Ling raised an eyebrow, a bitter smile forming on his lips.
"How could I forget? I had stealth activated, total darkness... and you still hit my leg with a damned shot." Han Ling gave a short laugh. "The aim was so precise it could only be the devil's work."
Han Xinrou smiled, but her eyes shone with moisture. The tears formed slowly, silently. She took a deep breath, and the pain she carried in her soul surfaced like a relentless wave.
"I didn't want to kill you… I just wanted… wanted you to stop. To not run anymore." Her voice broke. "But when I saw you bleeding on the ground, alone, in the dark… and I knew it was me…"
Han Xinrou lowered her head. "I couldn't live with that."
Han Ling felt a sharp pain in his chest. Something he hated: empathy. But with Han Xinrou, it was inevitable. He lifted her face with one hand and, without a word, sealed his lips on hers — this time with tenderness.
The kiss began soft. A touch of forgiveness, of comfort. But Han Xinrou responded with a hunger long contained. Her hands gripped his hair, her lips parting under his, intertwining her tongue with his in a mad, passionate dance.
Their breathing became one, their hearts in sync with a wild, melancholic rhythm.
Han Xinrou moaned softly between kisses and wrapped her legs around his waist.
"Sweetie…" she whispered, panting, the tears still falling as she smiled with lips stained by his taste. "If you die again… I'll die too."
Han Ling stared at her, and for the first time in ages... something resembling fear shone in his eyes. Not the fear of dying, but of Han Xinrou dying. Quite an interesting thing for someone like Han Ling to feel.
"Then don't let me die, Xinrou." Han Ling whispered against her lips.
***
A month passed quickly. Han Ling took advantage of the immense resources Han Xinrou had to cultivate, using Han Xinrou herself for dual cultivation.
In a green bamboo cabin atop a mountain, Han Ling was shirtless, revealing the pale skin of his sculpted chest. Sweat dripped from his face as he focused on cultivation.
While cultivating, Han Ling heard a cracking sound — his golden core had shattered, and the dense energy began to dissipate. But Han Ling gathered it forcefully, giving birth to a Nascent Soul.
At this moment, Han Ling had reached the Nascent Soul realm. At the same time, he felt that he had reached a bottleneck, unable to advance further — it seemed he had hit the limit of his potential.
Feeling his body deeply, Han Ling noticed that his Stealth Gift had evolved. When he was in the Golden Core realm, his stealth perfectly hid him from others' five senses, with the only flaw being that divine sense could still detect him. However, now he felt that not even divine sense could detect him.
In the world of his past life, there was no cultivation. The powerful were called the Gifted — they possessed a Gift. Gifts were supernatural abilities awakened by a small part of the population, and it wasn't possible to raise a Gift's rank naturally. So even if your Gift wasn't something absurd like Han Xinrou's All-Seeing Eye, being something like Han Ling's simple Stealth, you could only blame bad luck.
With his evolved Gift, Han Ling could now come and go in the Open Sky Sect without worrying about being detected. Before, he couldn't leave Jade Peak because the divine sense of all nine elders was constantly scanning the sect. He could only remain confined to Jade Peak, as the elders didn't dare extend their divine sense there due to Han Xinrou.
Although the sect seemed fair on the surface, it hid deep rot. Han Ling felt it firsthand when they allowed Lin Yan's death — all to obtain the immortal seed.
Now that Han Ling was in Lin Yan's body, if the elders saw him walking through the sect, they could very well eliminate him to silence him, and still claim he had conspired with demons — all to justify the murder and preserve their spotless reputation.
Han Xinrou suddenly materialized beside Han Ling, hugging him from the front and whispering sweetly in his ear: "You're working so hard to advance."
The hug tightened suddenly, as if trying to trap him, while her voice turned colder and more dangerous: "You're not trying to run away... are you?"
Han Ling let out a low, hoarse laugh, resting his forehead on hers. His amber eyes gleamed with a spark of controlled madness — that cold, incandescent flame that only ignited in Han Xinrou's presence.
"Run away?" Han Ling whispered, his lips nearly touching hers. "Of course not, Master. I just wanted to walk freely through the sect... learn new techniques... strengthen this body." A sharp smile formed. "Avenge Lin Yan, you understand?"
Han Xinrou narrowed her eyes. The aura around her flickered for a moment, and the air grew heavy, almost suffocating. Even the spiritual world around seemed to fall silent, attentive to the response she would give.
"Is that so?" Han Xinrou's voice came out as sweet as honey, but each word was sharp and venomous. "Or is this just an excuse... to start a new massacre?"
Han Ling raised his eyebrows with slight provocation, his fingers lazily squeezing her waist. "...That's just a detail."
Han Xinrou was silent for a moment. Then, with a sigh, her crystalline eyes narrowed with seriousness. She stepped back just enough to look at him intensely.
"Sweetie... you may have fooled many. But the elders of the Open Sky Sect are not like common cultivators. When someone reaches the Dao Integration Realm, they merge with the will of the world. Their divine sense can encompass the entire continent if they wish." She gently touched his chest. "Your current stealth wouldn't fool them."
But before Han Ling could retort, she extended her hand, revealing a black ring with archaic inscriptions pulsing with dark energy.
"This artifact is an exception. A relic from the ancient ruined world. With it, you'll be able to walk through the sect... unseen by mortal or divine eyes alike."
Han Xinrou placed the ring on his finger with a delicacy that was almost ceremonial. But then, her smile changed — becoming poisonous, jealous, dangerously sweet.
"But remember, Sweetie... even if this artifact deceives the elders..." Her voice became a sharp whisper. "It doesn't deceive me."
She pressed her lips to his ear, while her aura enveloped the entire space.
"My divine sense is bound to you. Every step, every breath, every glance at another girl..." Her tone dropped to something as cold as the abyss. "I will know."
Han Ling laughed again, tilting his head with a merciless smile.
"Don't worry." Han Ling gently bit her chin, in a gesture more provocative than affectionate. "My eyes only see you. The others... are just disposable flesh."
Han Xinrou tightened her arms around his neck, laughing with a sound that was almost insane.
"Good boy."
And with a faint shimmer of light, she disappeared — but the weight of her presence remained like an invisible blade resting on Han Ling's throat.
Han Ling looked at the black ring, curious about where she had found it. He didn't doubt its power — after all, Han Xinrou would never lie to him about something so serious.
'Hmm... After reincarnating, she's full of mysteries'
Han Ling laughed at his own thoughts, because it didn't matter — after all, the more power Han Xinrou had, the better it was for him.
Han Ling wasted no time, activated his stealth enhanced by the black ring, and descended the mountain.
Upon reaching the foot of the mountain, the difference was noticeable. While the Jade Peak was completely silent, down below it buzzed with life — cultivators coming and going, flying on swords — of course, none of them dared approach the Jade Peak — Han Ling sensed them with his Nascent Soul divine sense.
Unlike that chaotic flow of cultivators, Han Ling had a goal: the Sacred Library, a place that held a collection of thousands of techniques, being the most complete library in the world, possessing every technique ever created.
Han Ling bypassed that flow of cultivators, heading straight for the central area of the sect.
Unlike the outskirts, that place was calmer, with few people walking around, but their cultivation levels were high — from Soul Formation to Void Refinement — there were even some whose cultivation Han Ling couldn't sense; they were likely at the Dao Integration level or higher.
Han Ling walked coldly among them like an undetectable ghost, arriving in front of the Sacred Library, the place said to guard the knowledge of the whole world.
Han Ling could feel various types of arrays and spiritual formations protecting the library, along with some kinds of spirits with unfathomable strength.
To bypass this protection, all Han Ling did was wait for someone to open the arrays and formations to enter, sneaking in alongside him, infiltrating with ease the place that was supposed to be 'impenetrable.' Han Ling couldn't help but sneer.
"Bunch of idiots."
The disciple who opened the formations heard what Han Ling said, looking around to see who had spoken.
"Who said that?"
Upon finding no one, the young disciple shook his head and said to himself:
"I told the others this herb was potent, but they didn't believe me... Because of them I'm still having hallucinations."
Han Ling watched in silence, his amber eyes glowing with a cold light.
'Great... a druggie... I'll kill him someday.'
Pushing those thoughts from his mind, Han Ling began looking for a technique that would catch his attention.
After hours of searching, Han Ling found nothing interesting. The reason was that most of the techniques in that library were boring and involved hard cultivation.
However, Han Ling had already reached the limit of his potential — such techniques would no longer work for him.
Han Ling could ask Han Xinrou for a technique or medicine, but that didn't match his style — even if she asked for nothing in return, Han Ling would still refuse, because he preferred to make use of others' hard work.
That's why he was interested in demonic techniques — they offer rapid growth, are powerful, and fun to cultivate, even if they later bring enormous disadvantages in cultivation.
***
End of the chapter.