He Lan Tianxia

Before Murong Junlan and the Pavilion Master could even finish feeling the pain in their backs, Yan'er suddenly lunged sideways onto the two men. Danger! Just in time! If they had been even half a second later, the person they cared about would have perished. At that moment, the two grown men felt a bittersweet pain; perhaps this was true love.

The two men, disregarding their own safety, each turned to stand up, but as soon as they did, Yan'er on top of them began to fall. So, without thinking, they both turned back and lifted Yan'er up again. At this moment, Murong Junlan suddenly felt something was wrong. He stretched out his long arm and pulled his beloved Yan'er into his embrace. The Pavilion Master also realized the awkwardness and took the initiative to turn to the other side.

At this moment, the white-haired woman also landed. Just as she reached out to grab Yan'er, the Pavilion Master suddenly appeared and blocked her way, wanting to give Murong Junlan enough time to check on Princess Yan'er's condition. In that instant, a protective instinct, like that of a secret guard, suddenly rose in the Pavilion Master's heart—a feeling that had disappeared for ten thousand years.

The Pavilion Master lowered his head, his ears catching the white-haired woman's sudden and fierce killing move. With a flick of his right hand, an Ice Lotus Sword appeared out of thin air. It was a secret technique he had honed in seclusion in the Xuanmo Cave for thousands of years. Its appearance was for two reasons: first, to let the enemy see his power, and second, as a secret guard, to let his two masters see his strength and progress over the years.

"Ice Lotus Sword?" The white-haired woman was indeed startled. Before she could see clearly, the sect leader twirled his hands, and tens of millions of swords appeared out of thin air, forming a pillar of swords, each blade crystal clear and gleaming with a chilling light. The sect leader channeled his energy, and the swords clashed with a series of sharp sounds. He closed his eyes, focused his qi, and with a flick of his wrists, sent tens of millions of Ice Lotus Swords slashing towards the white-haired woman...

"Ten Thousand Swords Converging?" The white-haired woman's eyes flashed with immense surprise. She had never seen or heard of this sword technique before, but seeing the overwhelming array, she knew that she could not underestimate it. As for who this person was, she could not find any clue in her mind.

Run! The white-haired woman fled as if her feet were greased. But the Ice Lotus Sword, chasing after her relentlessly, seemed to have a tail that she couldn't shake off...

The mischievous monkey and the woman with the twin snow swords were also frightened and dared not move for a moment, wondering what other magical tricks this sect leader had up his sleeve.

Murong Junlan had no time to pay attention to the Ice Lotus Array; his mind was entirely focused on his beloved concubine. Apart from being startled and knocked unconscious, he hadn't noticed any injuries on her yet. But he was still worried, so he picked up Yan'er and rushed towards the Lihentian Pavilion.

Upon entering the inner room, Murong Junlan disregarded the fact that this was the Pavilion Master's territory. He dismissed the Pavilion Master's fireball guards, drew the curtain, and was about to examine Yan'er when, just as he rolled up one of her trouser legs, a fair, jade-like hand landed on his arm, and the voice he had longed for continued:

"Your Highness, where am I?"

"My beloved concubine, you're awake?" Murong Junlan cupped Yan'er's small face in his hands with delight, asking with concern, "Where do you feel uncomfortable? Here? Here? Or here?"

Before Yan'er could answer, Murong Junlan took out two pills from his pocket and, without waiting for her consent, stuffed them into her mouth. Turning around, he saw tea on the coffee table, picked up a clean teacup, poured a cup, and brought it to Yan'er. Yan'er obediently swallowed the pills, then stared intently at the far-from-composed Prince Murong, and weakly asked:

"Your Highness, did I fall from the sky? Was the fall very serious?"

Upon hearing this, Murong Junlan stared at Yan'er for a moment, then pressed her shoulders with both hands, touched her hands and feet, and weakly replied:

"My beloved concubine, do you think the fall was serious?"

The two gazed into each other's eyes, momentarily forgetting their words. Murong Junlan thought to himself, "I don't even know how badly my beloved concubine fell, but it must have been a very serious fall." Yan'er, on the other hand, thought, "Prince Murong is so worried that he even gave me some medicine; the fall must have been quite severe, probably a broken arm or leg or something."

In this way, the person who should be sensing has no time to sense, and the person who shouldn't be sensing makes wild judgments. When the Pavilion Master repelled the white-haired woman, the two tense individuals were still staring blankly at each other, and the Pavilion Master thought something serious had happened.

"Your Highness, is the Princess Consort alright?"

Murong Junlan suddenly snapped out of his daze and anxiously patted Yan'er's absent-minded face. "My beloved concubine, are you alright? See, can you take a few steps?"

Murong Junlan carefully helped Yan'er off the bed. Yan'er's legs gave way, and she almost fell. The Pavilion Master's hand reached out halfway, but ultimately stopped in mid-air. He saw Murong Junlan support that slender body, and for a moment, he felt envious as that frail body leaned against Murong Junlan. But with a thousand regrets, he turned and left, instructing the guards to brew a Snow Lotus Elixir and send it over to help the Princess regain her strength.

Knowing that Yan'er was just scared out of her wits and was not seriously injured, Murong Junlan recovered. He had Yan'er drink the Ice Lotus Jade Liquid sent by the Pavilion Master, and then he was about to leave Lihentian Pavilion with Yan'er. Even though he had a heart as vast as the ocean, he would not allow a man who was eyeing his beloved concubine to look at her with covetous eyes.

"Your Highness, please wait." The Pavilion Master noticed Prince Murong's concerns.

"Don't think that just because I let my beloved concubine drink your Snow Lotus Elixir, it's all over." A wise man speaks without going into words, and Murong Junlan wanted the Pavilion Master to back down, but the Pavilion Master stepped forward again.

"Your Highness..." The Pavilion Master wanted to say that he had been your secret guard ten thousand years ago, but he stopped himself. He was afraid that such an absurd statement would make Murong Junlan think that he had ulterior motives, so he had to change his words:

"If you come here in the evening, can you drink a cup of snow?"

"Why?" Prince Murong stopped in his tracks.

"The flower-lined path has never been swept for guests, but today the humble gate is opened for you." The pavilion master paused, then continued:

The market was far away and there were no mixed dishes.

My family is poor and only has old wine.

Willing to drink with the old neighbor,

I called over the fence to finish the last of my cup.

After drinking the Pavilion Master's Ice Lotus Jade Elixir, Yan'er had recovered most of her energy. She knew that the Pavilion Master wanted them to stay for a meal, but Prince Murong must be confused and full of anger. In order to ease the misunderstanding between the two sides, Yan'er quickly interjected, "Your Highness, I'm hungry."

In the freezing cold above, it would be difficult for Murong Junlan to find something delicious to eat right away, unless he caught fish in Lihentian Lake and grilled them. Although it wasn't difficult, it would be even more embarrassing to eat someone else's fish when they invited him to a meal on their turf. Just as Murong Junlan was hesitating, the Pavilion Master made up his mind and ordered the people outside the door: "Serve the dishes."

A moment later, plates of delicacies were brought in one after another by the Fireball Guards. Looking at the steaming hot food, Yan'er was already drooling, and her stomach started to rumble.

The Pavilion Master gave the main seat to Murong Junlan and the Princess, and sat in the secondary seat himself. He didn't know that the Fireballs' cooking skills were so good. They served more than a hundred dishes at once, including all kinds of delicacies. The ice and snow lotus dish was the most refreshing and pleasing to the eye, with perfect color, aroma and taste.

The Pavilion Master introduced the rare dishes and invited Murong Junlan to taste them. Murong Junlan picked up a few dishes for Yan'er and was about to pick up his chopsticks when the mischievous monkey pushed aside the fireball guard and rushed in. Ignoring the Pavilion Master's sharp gaze, it grabbed the dishes in front of it and began to eat them without any politeness.

The Pavilion Master recognized the gorilla as Murong Junlan's pet and didn't dare to drive it away. Murong Junlan, however, stared at the mischievous monkey for a while and uttered two words: "Get out."

But the gorilla was only focused on eating and paid no attention to Murong Junlan. Murong Junlan was about to stop it when he suddenly remembered that the Pavilion Master had forced his beloved concubine to stay and was unhappy about it. He looked at the dishes on the table and thought that he and his beloved concubine couldn't finish them anyway, so he let the monkey waste them.

Thinking it over, Murong Junlan didn't say anything more, and leisurely picked up his chopsticks, took a piece of snow lotus, and put it in his mouth...