Qin Xi was taken aback for a moment, then grasped her hand in return. "What do you mean, I was deceived?"
Mo Tiange sneered coldly. "Two old men with no respect for their age! When they left back then, they never intended to see me again. What nonsense about a cauldron... how could that be possible!"
"..." If those two old fellows weren't planning to return, then it was impossible they had captured him to be a cauldron for Tian Ge's sake...
Once he understood this point, Qin Xi completely petrified.
Then, then, then... for all these years, what had he been suffering for?!
"Are you sure?" he asked doubtfully. "They really weren't planning to come back?"
"I'm sure, completely sure!" Mo Tiange said angrily. "At that time, I had just reached Foundation Establishment. For God Transformation cultivators like them, a casual seclusion could last over a thousand years. Who knew if I'd even be alive when they returned? Only a fool like you would believe it!"
"..." Qin Xi thought for a moment, then felt something was still off. "But... if that's the case, why did they bother to transform my physique?"
Mo Tiange continued her cold sneer. "Couldn't a God Transformation cultivator just be bored and amuse themselves by toying with a junior cultivator? You always say I'm overly suspicious, but when others give you benefits, they can still deceive you on the side!"
"..." Alright, he had been successfully deceived. And he had been deceived for decades. Suffered for decades. Those two old fellows would surely be very pleased if they knew...
Having been at the God Transformation stage for thousands of years, had they all gone mad from boredom? Clearly giving him benefits, yet putting on an act of scheming against him, not wanting his gratitude, but deliberately making him resent them.
He had wasted decades, tangled up in this matter. What in the world had he been doing?!
Having clarified this point, both of them fell silent. One was speechless, the other was gnashing her teeth in fury.
A long time later, Qin Xi's voice was heard. "Tian Ge."
"What?" she snapped fiercely.
"You... ahem!"
"What 'you'? Can't you speak properly if you have something to say?"
Qin Xi didn't speak. Instead, he reached out, pulled over a cloak that had been casually discarded, and draped it over her, carefully wrapping her up.
Mo Tiange initially didn't know what he was doing. Watching his movements, she suddenly realized her clothes were in disarray—the entire front of her robe was torn, her undergarments faintly visible... She immediately slapped his hand away, wrapped herself up, and curled into a ball.
"..." He wasn't sure if this feeling was called 'wishing for more,' but he was certainly disappointed. If only he hadn't reminded her...
"What are you looking at!"
"..." He smiled and leaned closer, whispering, "You're blushing."
Mo Tiange paused. With one hand clutching her outer robe, she grabbed whatever was nearby with the other and threw it at him again.
"Tian Ge!" Even if he was a cultivator and couldn't be killed by throwing things... she was too violent! How had he never discovered she was like this before?
After being hit hard, Qin Xi couldn't hold back either. He grabbed both her wrists, clasped them together, and pressed them firmly against his chest. "Stop moving around! Do you really want to smash me to death?"
"It would be good if I did smash you to death!" Mo Tiange struggled. "If you find it troublesome, then die for me to see!"
"You..." This was simply unreasonable!
"What 'me'? Qin Shoujing, let me go! What you've done today is already far too excessive!"
"I..." Alright, it was a bit excessive. But if he hadn't been sure of her feelings, he wouldn't have...
"Are you letting go or not?!" Unable to break free, her anger grew. She pushed him hard.
This push did shove him away. But she pushed him so hard he crashed against the cave wall. He immediately let out a muffled groan, then stiffened and didn't move.
She broke free. Seeing him breaking out in a cold sweat, she couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong?"
After a long while, he revealed a pale smile. He tried to raise his hand but couldn't, so he frowned and said, "My back..."
He had injuries on his back! Remembering this, Mo Tiange felt some regret, but it was too late. She could only ask, "Can you move?"
He shook his head. "Wait a moment." After waiting for a while, sweating profusely, the pain seemed to lessen slightly. He then shifted his body, turning his back to her.
Mo Tiange saw that the back of his newly changed robe was stained with blood again. Her heart trembled. Looking at the cave wall, it was also smeared with a lot of bloodstains. Clearly, her push had directly caused his wounds to split open.
"Take off your clothes," she said after a moment.
Qin Xi obediently went to undo his belt. But his hands trembled for a long time without being able to lift them. He could only look at her helplessly and say, "It hurts too much. Even moving my hands a little is very painful."
"..." After a pause, Mo Tiange shifted forward, lowered her head, and undid his belt for him. This time it went much smoother, but it was also more awkward. Back then, she had only been thinking about treating his wounds, not about anything else. Now, they had already kissed, already embraced...
She kept her head lowered, not daring to look at his face at all. Only when she was removing the clothing from his back, no longer worried about him seeing her face, did she let out a sigh of relief. Then she focused on treating his wounds again.
Untying the originally bound cloth strips, sure enough, the wounds had all split open. She treated them as before, bound them up, and continued changing his clothes. Throughout this process, she kept her head down and didn't say a word.
Only after everything was done did she pretend nothing had happened and began tidying up the medicine bottles she had thrown all over the cave.
"Ahem!" But he, restless again, tried to get her attention.
"What? If you want your wounds to heal, behave yourself for me!"
"I didn't..." He said two words, then ingratiatingly reached to pull her hand. "We hadn't finished talking just now!"
"What else do you want to say?"
"Well..." Having been interrupted, he didn't know where to start. He hesitated for a long time, finally saying, "In short, those thirty-five years, I just couldn't figure it out, so..."
"Later, you finally returned, entered the Myriad Laws of Nature Formation, but ended up injuring your Sea of Consciousness... That's when I realized, no matter what those two God Transformation seniors said, my feelings for you... always existed."
"Feelings?" Mo Tiange looked at him full of doubt. "You have feelings for me?"
"Why would you doubt that I have no feelings for you?" Qin Xi was stunned, countering the question.
"How would I know you have feelings for me?" Mo Tiange was even more baffled. "Did you ever say it? Did you?"
"..." Alright, he hadn't. "But, I made it very obvious, didn't I?"
"Obvious? Where?"
"I... I ended my seclusion because I sensed something had happened to you. Then, to help you wake up faster, I went out to search for medicine... And bringing you to Tianmo Mountain—if it were someone else, I couldn't be bothered!"
"..."
"What kind of expression is that?"
"The expression of calling you an idiot!" Mo Tiange couldn't hold back anymore, not caring if his wounds had just been bandaged. She slapped his hand away. "Right, the things you do always make me feel like you might have feelings for me. But just when I start thinking that, you turn icy cold towards me, hinting that I shouldn't get the wrong idea!"
"I..." Qin Xi was tongue-tied. "I didn't mean that!"
Mo Tiange continued her cold sneer. "I don't care if you meant it or not, your behavior meant exactly that!"
"..." She still hadn't calmed down. She was being unreasonable. Taking a deep breath, he said, "Alright, I'm telling you now, all of that was your misunderstanding. I... I actually think of you every day, dream of you, think of you until I'm going crazy. Do you understand now?"
"..."
"What do you mean by not saying anything?" Qin Xi grew anxious. He had never said such things in his life and didn't plan to say them again in the future. "Are you going back on it again?"
"What do you mean 'again'?" Mo Tiange finally spoke up.
"Isn't that the case?" Qin Xi said somewhat confusedly. "At the beginning, I did sense you had developed special feelings for me. But at that time, I thought you were a smart person who knew how to control yourself, so I didn't say anything. Later, I figured it out, ended my seclusion, but you turned coldly and walked away. Master told me you needed time to accept it, so I didn't disturb you either, just tried to form my Nascent Soul on my own. But, over a dozen years passed, and you didn't come looking for me. Then you formed your Core... If you really still had feelings for me, how could you achieve Core Formation?"
"..."
"Say something!"
Mo Tiange resisted the urge to slap him again, gritting her teeth as she said, "Why couldn't I achieve Core Formation? You didn't say anything. How was I supposed to know back then that you were really doing it for me? Maybe it was just because of my father's entrustment, so you went out to find medicine for me... You just didn't expect the consequences to be so severe."
Qin Xi was left speechless. He hadn't said anything, thinking his actions were enough to make her understand. Yet she, afraid of misunderstanding, dared not presume, and never understood.
After a long while, he continued asking, "Then what about you? What exactly were you thinking?"
"What could I think? If you didn't want it, I didn't dare to force it. You were single-mindedly trying to form your Nascent Soul, so why should I persist?"
"I couldn't form my Nascent Soul because of you, and you 'didn't dare to force it'?!" Qin Xi couldn't hold back, unable to resist questioning.
"How was I supposed to know!" Mo Tiange lowered her head. Though her tone refused to admit defeat, her stance weakened. "I... you never told me..."
"You never told me either!" Qin Xi said. "And you call me an idiot—I haven't seen you being any smarter! If you hadn't stubbornly refused to say anything, would I have thought you had long lost feelings for me? You say I never said anything, but you not only never said anything, you also never asked anything!"
Mo Tiange's anger flared up again. But since he was injured, she could only channel her anger into words. "Why does everything have to be said and asked by me? You're the one who's inconsistent and all over the place, and you expect me to understand everything? I'm not that smart, able to see what's going on in your convoluted mind!"
"You're being unreasonable!"
"You're the one being unreasonable!"
The two glared at each other, each convinced the other was wrong. After glaring for a while, Qin Xi's stance weakened first. He reached out and gently tugged her sleeve, softening his voice. "Alright, you're right, you're right. So, do you understand now?"
"Hmph!"
He smiled ingratiatingly, leaning forward as if to hug her. She slapped his hand away. Undeterred, he went to pull her arm. "I'm an idiot, you're an idiot with me. In short, we're two idiots. Is that fair?"
"..."
"Well, if you don't speak, I'll take it as you're not angry."
"...I'm not an idiot."
"Fine, you're not. But, we've wasted a lot, a lot of time. From now on, let's not waste any more, alright?"
"..."
"If you don't speak, I'll take it as you agree."
"I didn't..."
The rest of her words were muffled by his hand. Then he laughed happily. "You really agreed."