After washing her hands and standing up, Yang Qinglan regained her usual composure, but her lips lifted in a slight smile and her eyes shone clear and bright as autumn water upon seeing Li Changzhou.
Her snow-white complexion was tinged with a faint blush, as tender as the peach blossoms of May.
"Don't look." She covered Li Changzhou's eyes with her hand.
"Let me see if there's still a smell," Li Changzhou teased, taking her hand.
"Smelly death for you." Yang Qinglan promptly covered his mouth and nose with her hand.
Li Changzhou's eyes peeked out, watching her gently and happily as he chuckled, "Does this count as foul language?"
Yang Qinglan tilted her head slightly, her voice low and slightly husky as she chuckled, "It doesn't count when I'm swearing at you."
Li Changzhou laughed and took her into his arms, and Yang Qinglan also laughed and pressed herself into his embrace.
The sea was quiet and silent, the two embraced within the temple on the sea, with the galaxy slowly revolving above their heads, brilliantly shining.
"This is the future I've imagined," Li Changzhou couldn't help but whisper tenderly into her ear, "Embracing you on every star."
Yang Qinglan pressed her face even closer, her voice a soft laugh, "What if I don't want to go to the Sun?"
"Then we won't go." Li Changzhou tightened his arms around her slender waist, her body soft and warm.
"Your promises are so casual?"
"Mm, I only do things that make you happy and that you're willing to do."
Yang Qinglan hooked her hands around his neck and looked at him with pursed lips, chuckling after a while, "You've become better at sweet-talking than before."
"Hmm~" Li Changzhou started feeling proud, "I've been eating too many sweets lately."
His gaze fell on her lips.
Yang Qinglan "hmphed" with disdain yet full of laughter and pride, refusing to let go even while feigning disdain.
Li Changzhou inhaled her intoxicating scent, feeling greedy yet satisfied, holding in his arms a dream, the most beautiful fairy from the Heavenly Palace.
He whispered softly and earnestly, "I love you so much, Qing Lan."
"I love you so much too."
The couple held each other for who knows how long before finally stabilizing their emotions.
Though they both wanted it to be forever, they knew it wasn't the time and started discussing the mission.
"Has your strength decreased?" Li Changzhou asked.
"No, it's just that the way I use it and the things I can do have changed," Yang Qinglan mused in response.
"Did it all turn into that thing called 'Divine Will'?"
Yang Qinglan nodded lightly, "It's a bit like the time I was a Vampire Hunter; the 'Ability' turns into strength from another system. I lose some but gain others."
The total sum of their abilities didn't change, and both still possessed Human Immortal Level powers.
However, the distribution was different, and in this mission, the things they could do differed, as did the methods of doing them, just like when they became vampires, capable of turning others but also fearing sunlight.
"Would you like to come to my spaceship with me? There's a Tentacle Monster on board."
"No, Qian Xia told me, pretty girls should stay away from Tentacle Monsters."
Li Changzhou couldn't help but laugh, "What on earth has that guy been telling you!"
"A lot." Yang Qinglan's eyes curved into crescents, "I'll stay here, wait for Divine·Valent to seek me, and if there's anything, I'll inform you with a telepathic connection."
They didn't actually have a telepathic skill, but they could sense each other through "Life and Death." Yang Qinglan deliberately referred to it as 'telepathic connection.'
"Okay, good. Oh, and I should tell you, the moment I entered the mission and opened my eyes, I was sitting in an ultra-fast Flying Car, and another car was heading straight for me. Do you think, as a man, I could just let it go? I collided with it head-on!"
"Is it because you're a man, or is it because your physical abilities have declined and you couldn't react in time?" Yang Qinglan asked with a smile.
"What do you think?!"
"Let's just say it's because you're a man. Then what happened? After the collision?"
"The result was that the Flying Car belonged to someone else, thirty million Divine Will Coins, and I—you know, have no interest in Money, so I have none."
Yang Qinglan laughed merrily.
Li Changzhou gazed at the girl's face and said with a smile, "I made a solemn promise to the owner that I would reimburse her. Imagine, over the five thousand years of Xia Country's history and the ten thousand years to come, who doesn't know Li Changzhou is as good as his word, and the result—"
"The result?"
"The result is that my crew, neither human nor ghost, told me I always keep my promises, but only—what I promised you, I'll make sure to do in this lifetime; so don't rush, take it slow."
Yang Qinglan's laughter, which had just subsided, welled up again.
Li Changzhou stoked the flames and continued, "During the argument, the owner even asked me why I didn't stop, you know what? Exactly at that moment, a crew member with a dinosaur head and a Tentacle Monster crew member started singing!"
"What did they sing?" Yang Qinglan's eyes twinkled.
"Only a sissy would slow down~, oh~, baby~, we're flying towards the stars~"
"Haha~, I just discovered, you have such a nice singing voice."
"Then I'll sing 'The Moon Represents My Heart' for you. You ask~! How deep~! My love~! For you is~!"
Before he could finish singing, Yang Qinglan was already collapsing into laughter in Li Changzhou's arms.
"Uncle Changzhou, which era are you from?"
Li Changzhou held her tight.
◇
Li Changzhou returned to his spaceship.
"Ah!" A cry of surprise reached his ears.
The water cup was airborne, and the blue liquid was about to spill when Li Changzhou took another look at Itheri, who was slowly falling down.
He even had time to think: Itheri happened to pass right where he had disappeared, and when he returned, they bumped into each other.
Then, he caught the flying water with the cup, and also caught Itheri.
Even with his diminished physical strength, he still had such reflexes.
Itheri's powerful psychic force burst forth from her mind, and it was only after seeing it was Li Changzhou that she took a couple of breaths to regain her composure.