Since Bao Hui’s negotiation took place early in the morning, Aotian was just leaving his room as it ended.

In the air, the aroma of spiritual rice spread throughout the house, guiding his steps toward the kitchen.

Wealthier cultivators, like Rihai, usually didn’t eat spiritual rice, preferring fasting pills instead. Those pills contained some impurities, but they were minimal and allowed one to go days without needing to eat again.

However, ever since Aotian arrived, Rihai had started preparing spiritual rice for him, showing how much she valued him. Otherwise, she could have just handed him the rice and let him deal with it himself.

Of course, since Aotian used the rice for training, she always made a large amount. In the end, she would eat just a little, while the rest disappeared into Aotian’s bottomless stomach.

Upon reaching the kitchen, he saw her preparing the rice on… a spiritual stove?

Either way, it was a stove that used formations to generate flames.

‘No need to worry about gas, water, or electricity… all powered by spiritual energy. These cultivation apartments are amazing!’ Aotian thought, amused.

His gaze shifted to Rihai, focused on the stove. He approached her slowly, planning to hug her from behind.

Unfortunately for him, Rihai was a cultivator.

Even though Qi Refiners didn’t have divine sense and couldn’t see through walls or locate people in crowds, sensing nearby life auras was no problem at all.

So, just as Aotian’s arms were about to wrap around her waist, she immediately turned around, placing a firm hand on his chest and stopping the hug.

“What are you doing?” she asked, puzzled.

“Hugging you! Isn’t it obvious?” Aotian raised an eyebrow.

Rihai hesitated for a moment but then steadied her gaze.

“Aotian, this… Yesterday, we were too hasty and let our instincts take over, okay? I want to take things slower.”

Now it was Aotian’s turn to be puzzled.

“Uh… I don’t get it. If we like each other, why go so slow? Why do you women always make simple things complicated?” he grumbled.

“I just want to take my time. Can you do that for me?” Rihai looked into his eyes with her gentle blue gaze, almost pleading.

Aotian sighed bitterly.

“Hah… It’s unfair to look at me like that and ask me this way!” he complained, but in the end, he shook his head and agreed.

“Thank you!” Rihai smiled softly.

“Okay, but what about kisses? Can I kiss you? If I can’t even kiss you, I’m going to complain!” Aotian said, exasperated but amused.

“Uh…” Rihai hesitated, remembering the kisses from the night before. Her cheeks flushed as she finally made up her mind.

“Alright, but only when the ‘weather’ is right!” She finally conceded, tapping a finger on his chest as she teased, playing with the word weather, referring to the emotional climate.

“Uhm! Alright, I agree!” Aotian nodded quickly and then leaned toward Rihai.

Rihai panicked and quickly pressed her hand to his lips, stopping him in his tracks.

“W-What are you trying to do?!” she stammered, baffled.

“Huh?” Aotian pulled back, confused, from her hand to speak. “Didn’t we agree that if the ‘weather’ was right, I could kiss you? I felt the weather was good!” He joked, playing along with the word weather too.

Rihai looked at him, both exasperated and amused, and couldn’t help but roll her eyes at Aotian’s shamelessness.

“Aotian, if you were the one defining the ‘weather’, I don’t think it would ever rain!” she teased.

“Rain is good weather too! It waters the plants and quenches thirst,” Aotian quickly defended, smiling.

“Pfft!!” Rihai couldn’t hold back her laughter. “See? There’s more proof that, for you, every weather is good weather.”

“It seems I’m defenseless in this argument!” Aotian shrugged, amused, and with a smile, he went to sit down while Rihai finished preparing the rice.

He then entertained himself by watching her stand there, attentively monitoring the large pot.

For some reason she had never explained, Rihai hated being late. No matter the event, she was always one of the first to arrive.

Even when cooking spiritual rice, she refused to leave its side, avoiding any chance of it burning. Always making sure she was never late for anything in her life.

Looking at her beautiful golden hair, Aotian remembered a topic they hadn’t finished discussing.

“Rihai, remember when we talked about spiritual roots?” he asked.

“Yes, why are you bringing that up now?” Rihai replied without turning around, still focused on the rice.

“You said that the combination of fire and wood elements can cause a mutation and result in golden hair, right? Are those your roots?” Aotian asked, curious.

Rihai remained silent for a moment before answering.

“No, my affinity is only with fire.”

Aotian frowned, surprised.

“Huh? But didn’t you say that people with pure fire spiritual roots are usually born with red hair?”

This time, there was no response.

Aotian then realized.

“A secret, right?” he asked with a smile, trying not to discourage her but failing to notice that, deep down, he himself felt disheartened.

“Sorry…” she whispered, her head lowered, eyes fixed on the pot.

“It’s okay,” Aotian replied gently, trying to comfort her.

“Uhm…” she murmured softly.

The only sound left was the crackling of the flames from the spiritual stove.

Suddenly, Aotian seemed to understand.

They were more than friends, but not yet truly a couple. They didn’t know each other well enough to fully open their hearts—or their secrets—to one another.

‘Haah… Here I am, being a hypocrite. I feel sad that she can’t tell me her secrets, while I’m not even willing to tell her mine… I don’t even know if I ever will. All because of that damn common sense from reincarnation novels I’ve read so much. Making me think that keeping secrets was the right thing to do.’

He sighed again.

‘I can’t demand anything from her when, in reality, I’ll be telling lies just to reveal a small portion of my extraordinary.’

But then, that last thought bothered him.

‘I may not tell her everything, but I won’t hide behind lies. That’s not the kind of person I, Long Aotian, am.’ His eyes shone with determination.

Standing up, he walked over to her without hesitation.

Fortunately, perhaps because she was feeling down, Rihai didn’t stop him.

Without a second thought, he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close, feeling her curves pressed against him. But this time, that wasn’t his focus.

“Rihai! Look at me!” Aotian demanded, resting his head on her shoulder.

Rihai hesitated, but in the end, she lifted her gaze and met his eyes, their faces dangerously close.

It wasn’t that Rihai was shy or hesitant. At that moment, she was afraid.

Afraid of losing the first friend she had in a long time… and perhaps, her first love.

But cowardice was not something that defined Liu Rihai.

So, she held his gaze.

Aotian felt satisfied but kept his expression serious.

“Rihai, I also have secrets. Secrets that I might never be able to tell you completely, for certain reasons. But I want you to know that I will never lie to you, nor will I hurt you. And even though we have secrets, I don’t want that to interfere with the love we have for each other.”

He said it all at once, laying bare what he truly felt.

Rihai was visibly moved. But upon hearing the word “love,” her cheeks flushed.

“This…” She hesitated. “But… can a relationship work if there are secrets? Shouldn’t there be complete honesty between us?”

She finally admitted what she had been avoiding saying. For the first time, she spoke about being in a relationship with Aotian.

Aotian’s heart pounded, and his embrace around her tightened even more.

Rihai felt the change and understood, her face turning an even deeper shade of red.

Aotian’s desire to kiss her grew, but he held back.

“Everyone has secrets, Rihai. We’re just being more transparent by admitting we have them… if that makes any sense.”

“What matters isn’t the secrets,” he continued. “What matters is that we love each other. And I can say with certainty that I love you like crazy right now!”

“We’ll take things slow, just like you want, but that won’t change the final outcome. I’m sure of it because I won’t give up on you, Rihai.”

His declaration made Rihai’s eyes shine, small tears forming in her eyes, filled with emotion.

Then, for the first time, she took the initiative.

Closing her eyes, she tilted her head slightly and pressed her lips against his.

Aotian eagerly responded, deepening the kiss as his embrace became even more intense.

Now that everything had been said, he finally allowed himself to feel the softness of her body against his.

He held her so tightly it felt like he wanted to merge with her.

They kissed passionately for a long time.

During which, Aotian got his hand slapped for trying to venture into forbidden areas.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep