Ye Anping was not ticklish, but the few strands of hair tickling his neck still made it difficult for him to concentrate.
At the same time, he felt a warm current flowing downward from his head as if, down there in the water, there was a monkey shouting, "Get bigger! Get thicker!"
After a moment's hesitation, he used his spiritual sense to probe his meridians and found that the yang energy that had been cleansed by his sister's hugs had slowly begun to fill up his body again.
However, this time, the problem was not so big and was different from the 'golden finger' settlement situation.
When the 'golden finger' settlement took place, yang energy seemed to pour into his meridians like a tsunami, which was extremely uncomfortable and caused unbearable pain all over his body. But this time, it was like a trickle, gently caressing all the meridians.
If a toxic dose of yang energy had the potential to make him act like a hoodlum, a small amount seemed to be somewhat helpful to his meridians.
Ye Anping realized something.
This yang energy appeared to be a materialization of desire, much like hormones, but more destructive and effective, unlike organic substances in traditional medicine.
Was it Xiao Yunluo's ticklish hair that generated yang energy?
He slowly opened his eyes and looked at Xiao Yunluo, who was chatting with Li Longling. There were some water droplets on her cheeks, and her hair stuck to her wet face. Her lips were glittering translucent like a ripe cherry, so attractive that one couldn't help but want to take a bite.
"..."
Ye Anping frowned deeply and remembered several social psychology papers he had read before.
In those papers, three elements of love were showcased:
Affinity -- Unconditional acceptance of a partner.
Passion -- Craving each other's body.
Commitment -- Mutual trust.
Fulfillment of any one of these could be called love.
And the most perfect love required the coexistence of all three.
Without a doubt, he had always loved his sister, but he only became aware of her true feelings after that moment when she took the initiative to kiss him.
Now, thinking from a rational perspective, he had 'affinity' and 'commitment' to his sister, but he lacked 'passion'.
On the other hand, his sister seemed to have all three for him, which was the most perfect love in the truest sense.
As for Xiao Yunluo, he could now conclude that he should have developed a slight 'passion' for her, which could be regarded as infatuated love. After all, she was very pretty.
He was considered a role model in the entire game, holding more 'versions' than Miss Xiyue, though most of them were acting in defeating plots.
Silently, Ye Anping withdrew his gaze from Xiao Yunluo's profile, calmed down, imagined Feng Yu Die's face, and used this to kick away the little monkey shouting "Get bigger" under the water.
The conversation between the two girls beside him gradually changed from domestic affairs to girl talk.
Li Longling clutched Ye Anping's hand gently and asked in a low voice as if she was a little nervous. "By the way, what do you think of Young Master Ye, Sister Xiao? I want to know more about him."
"Ah..." Xiao Yunluo was stunned and turned to look at Ye Anping, who was concentrating with his eyes closed. "He... is a grumpy stone-faced hooligan!!"
?
Ye Anping suddenly opened his eyes and raised his eyebrows, meeting her gaze: You came to peek at me taking a bath, and you call me a hooligan?
"Ah?" Li Longling was slightly surprised and replied in a low voice, "But... I think Master Ye is quite elegant and has a very nice voice. I have always thought that he should be a handsome young man."
"He..." Xiao Yunluo pursed her lips and looked away. "He's handsome, but he's extremely narcissistic! I complimented him on his beauty before, and he simply replied: 'Yes, you are right, I am just handsome.'"
Isn't this the truth? ...Ye Anping raised an eyebrow.
Li Longling was silent for a moment before smiling. "Sister Xiao, you must have fallen for Young Master Ye, right?"
"Ah?! I... how could I like him?! He... he is just a little smarter, a little handsome, a little gentler to others, a little more thoughtful, a little more upright, a little more sensible, and a little more mature..."
As she said this, Xiao Yunluo realized that she talked too much. She raised her hand to arrange her bangs and used them to hide her blushing cheeks from Ye Anping.
"Isn't that good?" Li Longling laughed lightly. "Such a man is hard to find in the world."
"But... he is very cold, doesn't talk much, and doesn't show any expression on his face..."
"No one is perfect, not to mention that these are characteristics, not shortcomings." Li Longling lowered her eyes, and after a while, she said, "Then, I could probably be considered your love rival, right, Sister Xiao?"
?
Hearing this, Ye Anping frowned and turned to look at Li Longling.
When did he seduce Li Longling? He hadn't even started to treat her eyes yet?
Was it possible that he had now taken Feng Yu Die's luck and absorbed her 'magnet' aura?
Thinking about it carefully, that seemed like a possibility. Feng Yu Die had numerous harems in the game, but he had heard the nickname "Second Idiot" from Xiao Yunluo and his sister many times. Last time, she was even mistakenly called "Second Husband" by his sister.
"Oh..." Xiao Yunluo bit her lip, glanced at Ye Anping, and then asked, "Sister Li, do you really want to marry him?"
"It's not like I have a lot of choices now, so I want to grasp this one. As I said before, marrying someone I am willing to, is better than marrying any Tom, Dick, and Harry, no?
"..."
Xiao Yunluo turned her head to Ye Anping and asked him with her eyes: Are you willing to marry Sister Li?
Ye Anping didn't understand her look and didn't react.
Li Longling raised her head to face the bright moon in the sky and stretched out her hand. "In the books, it is said that if you raise your hand to catch the moon, it will seem that the moon is within reach. Sister Xiao, do you think my hand is far from the moon?"
Xiao Yunluo immediately understood the meaning of her words. The moon should be a reference to Ye Anping -- a silver-white light that illuminates everything in the dark night.
However, when she looked in the direction of Li Longling's hand, she found that it did not reach out toward the moon.
The moon was in the opposite direction, behind her, and there was only the endless night sky in front of her outstretched hand.
"..."
Xiao Yunluo couldn't help but feel sad and worried about Sister Li.
Sister Li didn't even know what she was reaching for, just like she didn't realize that she was now leaning on the shoulder of the "moon" she was talking about.
Xiao Yunluo was silent for a moment, then comforted her. "Well, at least it's in the right direction."
"Really?" Li Longling tilted her head and smiled as if she was very happy. "I had a feeling that the moon was in that direction, but I didn't expect to be right, hehe."
Xiao Yunluo forced a smile and nodded. "Yes."
After that, Li Longling didn't say anything else. She leaned her back on the stone and her shoulder on Ye Anping's. She relaxed, soaking in the spiritual pool for a while, then stood up.
"I'm a little dizzy. The spiritual energy in this pool is still a little too strong for a Qi Refining cultivator like me, so I will return to the shore. Do you want to stay longer, Sister Xiao?"
"Ah... yes. You go ahead and be careful on the way back."
"Okay, could you please help me up, Sister Xiao?"
"Ah..."
Xiao Yunluo was stunned and turned to look at Ye Anping expectantly, leaving him speechless.
Ye Anping pursed his lips, then gently held Li Longling's wrist, helping her to the edge of the pool. After seeing her at the shore, Xiao Yunluo, who had followed them, quickly added, "Sister Li, call Ling'er over."
"Okay, thank you, Sister Xiao."
Xiao Yunluo nodded, and, as the water at the shore was relatively shallow, she suddenly saw two clear V-lines on Ye Anping's abdomen.
Although there were only two V-lines, she instantly felt a stinging pain in her nose.
Drip drip ---
The red blood fell into the spiritual pool.
"Sniff--"
Xiao Yunluo unconsciously sniffled heavily, and when she tasted the blood in her throat, she realized that she seemed to have embarrassed herself.
She looked at Ye Anping awkwardly and saw him frowning in displeasure as he looked at her.
She hastily wiped the blood from her nose and said, as if to herself, "Oops... is there too much fire element in this spiritual spring? It's too hot..."