Gu Jin was sitting on the ground in a meditative position with a blue protective barrier around her. There was also a skeleton warrior whose bones were scattered on the ground.
Few beast of Emperor Class were attacking the barrier and the barrier had a faint crack.
Long Yifan and Gu Jihu rushed forward without thinking.
"Gu Jin!" Gu Jihu shouted.
But Gu Jin didn’t move. Her eyes were closed, her breathing calm. She was deep in her epiphany.
Long Yifan quickly checked the situation. "That barrier is going to break soon," he said. "She won’t wake up in time."
The Emperor-class beasts growled and slammed against the barrier again. Another crack formed, and the blue light flickered.
"We have to protect her," Long Yifan said.
Within the next 10 minutes, Long Yifan and Gu Jihu dealt with all the beasts.
Looking at the barrier, Gu Jihu muttered,
"We can’t bring her back ."
"Let her stay here. I will protect her." Long Yifan said.
Staring at Long Yifan’s serious face, Gu Jihu’s eyes narrowed, and he said in a cold voice,
"Don’t think I don’t know what you are thinking. I will stay here too. But the problem is how we are going to check if Gu Jin has made any pill or not.
If she had made one and we can’t submit it, all of her efforts will go in vain."
Gu Jihu had seen the way Gu Jin’s eyes flashed when she passed each round. It was clear that she loved alchemy and had put in a lot of effort.
He couldn’t bear to see her hard work go in vain.
With that he turned toward Gu Jin and asked,
"Space, has Gu Jin made any pills?"
"Yes." A voice echoed in Long Yifan’s mind.
Meaning Gu Jihu was baffled,
"Space? What space? Is it some kind of spy that you have placed near Gu Jin?"
Long Yifan waved his hand,
"I didn’t. It is an artifact that Gu Jin owns, and it just happens that I have a special talent of communicating with artifacts."
Gu Jihu pursed his lips. "So what did it say?"
"Yes, she has made a pill. I will fetch it." Long Yifan said.
He walked toward the protective barrier, and just as he reached the barrier, he didn’t see a slippery leaf and fell straight toward Gu Jin.
The surprising matter was that Long Yifan’s body easily surpassed the protective barrier around Gu Jin, because of which he crashed into Gu Jin.
To prevent himself from harming Gu Jin, he had opened his wings, yet his lips crashed into Gu Jin’s lips.
Long Yifan’s eyes widened, while Gu Jin remained in a meditative state.
Gu Jihu, on the other hand, couldn’t see anything from his angle because of the wings.
"You have wings?" He asked in surprise.
Long Yifan’s heart was beating wildly. For a moment, he wanted nothing more than to kick Gu Jihu away and kiss Gu Jin.
The soft jelly-like lips of Gu Jin were too tempting.
After some hesitation, he lightly sucked on Gu Jin’s lips.
Long Yifan couldn’t help but close his eyes in delight.
It was as if he was eating the most delicious thing in the world. He wanted the time to freeze.
’So delicious...’ Long Yifan muttered and the regret in his heart suddenly burst out.
If only he hadn’t rejected Gu Jin back then, he wouldn’t have to wait so long to taste Gu Jin’s jelly-like lips.
Heck, he might be the dominant one in their relationship. Then he would be the one pampering her, spoiling her and then legally get married to her once she turned 20.
But his stupid past self rejected her. Now, he could only stay by her side like a monk and covet her but dare not go close.
Though Long Yifan thought so, he didn’t forget to suck and lips Gu Jin’s lips.
"Long Yifan, what are you doing? Why aren’t you moving away?" Gu Jihu’s voice brought Long Yifan back to his senses.
That was when he heard the space’s voice too,
"Mister! Don’t take advantage of the master. If she knows she will beat the crap out of you."
Long Yifan ignored the space.
Even if Gu Jin killed him now, it wouldn’t matter. He ate the tofu, he will not run away from responsibility.
Let Gu Jin kill him to calm her anger.
Before moving away, he gave a quick peck on Gu Jin’s lips and moved away.
Long Yifan quickly turned his head, trying to hide his red face. His heart was beating like crazy, and he felt like it might jump out of his chest.
He coughed awkwardly. "I... I was just making sure she was okay."
Gu Jihu frowned. "You were really close. Too close."
Long Yifan avoided his eyes. "It was an accident. I slipped."
Gu Jihu didn’t look convinced, but he didn’t say anything more. He just crossed his arms and kept staring at Gu Jin.
Long Yifan took a deep breath and focused again. He searched inside Gu Jin’s pouch and carefully found the jade bottle.
He pulled it out and opened the lid just a little. A soft glow came from inside, and a sweet scent filled the air.
"She made the pill," he said, smiling. "And it smells amazing."
Gu Jihu walked over and looked at it, too. "That’s definitely a good one," he said.
"We don’t have much time. I’ll go submit it," Long Yifan said, standing up.
Gu Jihu nodded. "Go. I’ll keep her safe."
Long Yifan gave Gu Jin one last look, then flew off with his wings, holding the jade bottle close.
Back at the competition grounds, the judges were watching the sky.
Just then, Long Yifan arrived.
Long Yifan landed in front of the judges and handed them the jade bottle.
"This is Gu Jin’s pill," he said. "She’s still meditating, but she finished it before that."
The head judge opened the bottle, and his eyes widened. "This... this is an Earth Rank pill! And that too of advance stage!"
"She really made it?"
"Even while in an epiphany?!"
The head judge smiled. "This is better than any other pill we’ve seen today."
Cheers filled the air. Some people clapped, and others shouted Gu Jin’s name.
Mrs. Gu started crying tears of joy. Mr. Gu looked proud and calm. Gu Jichun jumped around yelling, "Big Sis is the best! She’s the best!"
"I don’t believe the results!" A voice shouted.
The audience fell silent, and everyone turned toward the source of the voice.
It was Zhao Ming, the last candidate, who was disqualified for not being able to make a pill.
He looked at Long Yifan and said,
"How would we know that this pill is made by Gu Jin herself and not changed by you?"
Long Yifan’s eyes narrowed as he turned to face Zhao Ming.
"I would never cheat for her," Long Yifan said firmly.
Zhao Ming crossed his arms and sneered.
"You expect us to believe that? You’re clearly close to her. Maybe you made this pill and just said it was hers."
The audience started whispering.
"But Gu Jin’s always been honest..."
Long Yifan coldly chuckled,
"There is a way to check the timing at which the pill was made."
The judges looked at each other, then nodded.
"That’s right," the head judge said.
"Every pill holds a trace of when it was made. If we check the pill’s energy, we can see the exact time."
He took out a special golden compass and placed the pill near it.
The compass started glowing, and a thin white light circled around the pill.
After a few seconds, the needle stopped moving, and a small clock appeared above the compass.
The head judge read it and smiled.
"This pill was made 22 hours ago," he announced.
Long Yifan pointed toward the sky. "And I arrived here only five minutes ago. So how could I have made the pill?"
The crowd nodded and started whispering again.
"He wasn’t even here when the pill was made!"
Zhao Ming’s face turned pale, but he still tried to argue.
"Maybe it was your plan all along! You made the pill 22 hours ago and asked Gu Jin to pretend to have an epiphany, and later, you will exchange the pills."
"That’s a serious accusation," one of them said. "Do you have any proof?"
Zhao Ming opened his mouth, then closed it. He had no proof at all.
Long Yifan folded his arms. Wanting to know what more Zhao Ming was going to say when another voice said,
"I, too, feel Zhao Ming’s words make sense." It was Wei Lin.
Though he was scared of going against Gu Jin, his father had told him a brilliant plan just now.