41 Yin and Yang

Lan Xiang shrugged the matter off and properly stood up.

He directed his qi towards his eyes once more. His two pupils gave off a subtle glow that Lu Xifa found familiar.

Ah, that's what he used when he pierced his little sister with needles! That's why he was so accurate. Lu Xifa found the mystery out.

Lan Xiang scanned across the whole room, shelves upon shelves of crates new and old entering his sight. The items inside only served to befuddle his original goal.

When Lu Xifa saw Lan Xiang's troubled expression, she was disheartened. After all of my searching, it seems the other half of my necklace isn't here.

Suddenly, Lan Xiang widened his eyes and walked in a certain direction. Lu Xifa followed along, not knowing what to expect.

"There, it's right there. An upside-down, white version of your necklace, inside this crate."

Lu Xifa couldn't hide the grin on her face as she stared at the crate Lan Xiang pointed at.

It was small, fitting of the size of a necklace. As her hands got closer, Lu Xifa could feel a soothing but overbearing aura leaking out of the crate's imperfections.

She pulled the crate off the shelf and placed it on the floor. Using her own technique, she opened the crate with minimal sound.

The sides of the crate were all intact, falling in their respective directions. Lu Xifa threw the top side off and what was inside the crate was revealed to her eyes.

There was a tiny compact box lined with white wool around the corners. The convex top was engraved with a barely readable symbol.

"Yang."

Lu Xifa's hands trembled as she caressed the box. All these years had she been looking for this very item, trespassing in this storage room again and again. Who would've thought that it would be solved by Lan Xiang so quickly?

Gratitude for Lan Xiang overflowed inside of Lu Xifa. At the same time, a melancholic feeling also rose. If she found the necklace already, wouldn't that mean that she had no reason to stay in this country anymore? She could go back to living her life in Pei Luan with her friends.

Lu Xifa let out a wry smile. Well, I can always come back here any time anyway, no need to feel sad.

She slowly opened the box, the aura growing stronger as more and more of it leaked out. A fine light glowed through the box, blinding both her and Lan Xiang's eyes.

As she fully opened the box, she saw the necklace inside, softly resting on a black pillow. All of the aura that built up inside the box dispersed around the room, with only a faint pulse emitting from the pendant itself remaining.

She pulled the white string up, the pendant flying out of the box. On the pillow, an imprint was left, indicating that it was left there for a long time.

Putting it side-by-side her own necklace, she noticed that pendants would fit each other perfectly.

"So what's gonna happen now that you found both of 'em?" Lan Xiang got a bit excited.

"Honestly... I have no idea. I only know that my Yin necklace had a partner, but I don't know what they actually do to each other. I'd have to ask my grandma to know."

"What if you fit them together, like a puzzle?"

"Hmm..." Lu Xifa also thought about the same idea that Lan Xiang had. However, she was hesitant, as it might do irreparable damage to either of the necklaces.

"Just do it. How long have you waited for this?"

"Okay, fine."

Lu Xifa nudged the pendants closer to each other. A repelling force slowed her down as they inched nearer to one another.

It's like a magnet, but I'm trying to stick similar poles together. It just isn't working.

Lan Xiang saw her struggling and decided to help. He went behind Lu Xifa and extended his arms around her, using his fingers to push both pendants.

"Grr..."

As she exerted more force, Lu Xifa could feel Lan Xiang's breath on her neck as he slouched. His arms that surrounded her grazed her skin from time to time.

She bit her lip, her entire face getting redder and redder.

"Ah, this isn't working. Let's try something else."

Lan Xiang grabbed the Yang pendant. "Xifa, you take the Yin one. I'll take this one... wait, why are you so red? Was it that tiring to push the pendants together?"

"No! Never mind that..." Lu Xifa slapped herself on both cheeks and shook her head quickly before getting the Yin pendant. "What now?"

"Let's walk towards each other, holding the pendants in front of us."

Lu Xifa nodded.

.....

Right outside of the Ning Auction House storage room.

"Grab my son some of the medicine in the storage room, now!" Ning Muqin hurriedly informed her assistant.

"But, ma'am, we are going those auction the elixirs and pills!"

"Doesn't matter. We'll pay for it."

"Why don't we just ask an expert pill refiner to refine a recovery pill for the Young Master?"

"Fool! That would take days, nay, weeks to finish. The mass produced pills won't be of any help either, they're too diluted or low-level to be effective. According to inventory list, there is a high-level Body Reconstruction Pill in the storage room. That should help my son recover."

"!!!" The assistant adjusted his glasses. "The Body Reconstruction Pill from the Xie family? That would be expensive to compensate!"

"My son's life is on the line, I don't care about some stupid money! Just go in and take it! I'll take care of the troubles that arise from this."

"Uhm, yes, ma'am." He rushed to the storage room.

Ning Muqin was too worried to think straight.

After the incident about a week ago, the Ning family rushed Ning Luoxue to the hospital. His condition wasn't good.

The various actions that the doctors took to remedy him didn't seem to help, as even after 4 days, he hadn't gained consciousness despite being a cultivator in the Elemental Mastery Realm. What's more, his condition worsened just this morning, forcing Ning Muqin, his mother, to take drastic measures.

"Ai, that child. I've always told him off for hitting on girls. Now he's met real trouble, pissing off a hidden expert in the streets."

Although Ning Muqin had thoughts of taking revenge for her son at the time, she realized that it was her son at fault in the first place. According to eyewitnesses, he tried to take unwilling women with him, even going so far as to pull them by the wrist, which resulted in a companion beating him up badly. After that, both the woman and her companion ran.

"Hai... I hope he survives through this mess, and learns his lesson."

"Ma'am, the door won't open! It's locked."

"Locked? No one ever locks that. Is there a new guard?" Ning Muqin looked distressed. "Um, never mind. Just open it with the key."

The assistant took out his keys and tried out the first one. "Ah, no, it isn't this one. Ah, not this either. No, no, no..."

Ning Muqin counted the number of keys the assistant was holding. It was more than ten!

"Ah, it isn't in this set." The assistant put the keys back in his pocket... and pulled out an entirely new set of keys.

Ning Muqin tapped her foot impatiently. The keys this time numbered more than twenty...

"Ah, not here either." The assistant took out yet another set of keys.

"Forget it, just break the door down!" Ning Muqin grinded her teeth.

"Ah, yes, sorry." The assistant activated his cultivation of Hidden Qi Realm. Right before his fist reached the metal door, he heard a crashing sound inside the room.

"Hm? What is that?"

The sounds became increasingly frequent and louder. "S, something's happening inside the storage room!"

.....

A few minutes earlier.

Lan Xiang started walking, and so did Lu Xifa. At first, it was a leisurely walk, nothing happening to prevent them from walking towards each other.

As they got closer, the repelling force that kept the two pendants apart appeared. It grew stronger with each inch.

Every step became heavier and heavier, especially for Lu Xifa.

A current of wind started forming between the two pendants, spinning rapidly. It got larger the closer they got.

Soon enough, both of them were forced to activate their cultivation to stand their ground. The wind was too strong-- if they were careless, they could smash themselves into the walls!

Lan Xiang squinted his eyes as the light and sound around him became distorted. A suction force similar to that of a black hole spun around between the two pendants.

"Ah, shit...!" Lu Xifa felt her clothes getting torn off, and so did Lan Xiang. The swirling dust was sharp, a particle barely grazed her and blood started to flow.

Around them, the crates and metal shelves shook uncontrollably, some of the smaller ones being pulled by the current.

Lan Xiang widened his eyes as he took a small sidestep, barely dodging one of the crates. It sped across the room and smashed onto a wall.

The other crates followed through, crashing on the floor, on the roof, on the walls, everywhere!

Wooden splinters flew around the room, the artifacts inside the crates scattered across the concrete floor.

Lan Xiang took another step. His foot embedded itself into the floor, yet he was still at risk of being pushed away.

"Xiang, I- I can't take it anymore!" Lu Xifa's previously smooth skin was filled with blisters and wounds. She bit her lip to persevere, but it didn't help that much.

"Just a couple inches more!" At this point, Lan Xiang was essentially naked, his body in a worse state than that of Lu Xifa's. Blood dripped from his cheek as a wooden splinter sped past him and cut his skin. However, he decided to push on on account of the fact that they already got that far. There was no turning back now.

"Aaaahhh!"

The whole room started quivering. A crack appeared on the floor beneath them, spreading around the room like a spiderweb. The metal shelves fell over and crashed beside Lan Xiang.

Lu Xifa breathed deeply, as she exerted her full cultivation!

Budding Spirit Realm!

Lan Xiang also activated his full cultivation!

Elemental Mastery Realm! He had only entered it earlier this week.

The last push that they gave finally made the two pendants touch...

A clink sound echoed throughout the room, and the suction force disappeared.

Lan Xiang and Lu Xifa looked at the pendants, fully fitting each other.

Suddenly, the Yang pendant shivered... and turned into dust.

Boom!

A massive explosion originated from the dust particles of the Yang pendant, flicking Lu Xifa towards the wall! She hurriedly opened a rift behind her.

Lan Xiang gritted on as he stayed in his place, forming an Earth Wall around himself.

The explosion broke almost everything inside the storage room, from the shelves to the artifacts, the pills to the books, the light bulbs to the hard floor.

Lan Xiang's Earth Wall stayed intact, but the shockwave reached inside. His internal organs shook as he spurted a mouthful of blood.

Not long after, the Earth Wall dissipated into dust. Lan Xiang could barely stand.

Lu Xifa came back through the rift and found Lan Xiang wobbling from side to side. "Xiang! Are you okay?"

"Y, yeah, I'm fine. Ugh, that really wasn't a good idea..."

Lu Xifa grabbed her Yin necklace and examined it. She found no scratches, no trace of anything that transpired just now.

Wearing the string around her neck, she was about to put it inside her blouse when she realized that she had no clothes at all.

"Ah, Xiang! Don't look here!" She hurriedly covered her privates.

When she glanced at Lan Xiang, she widened her eyes. Not only was he not looking at her, his eyes closed. His whole body fell over.

Lu Xifa caught him unconscious. "He's heavy... and really bloody too."

"Ah, our skin is touching..." She was really self-conscious.

Lu Xifa gently laid Lan Xiang on the floor as she tried to open a big rift, when a bout of dizziness overcame her. "I'm out of qi? I can only open this small rift..."

Suddenly, she heard a banging sound on the metal door.

"Crap, they're coming..." Lu Xifa didn't have any time to think as she hugged Lan Xiang tightly and jumped through the small rift.