Jin eyed Ye suspiciously. While Ye didn’t ruthlessly mock or belittle him anymore, he was not above pranking. Such behavior was a unique byproduct of being created by Xuiying, as none of Jin’s fairies dared to prank their Master.

“You… you aren’t planning on humiliating me, are you?”

Ye shook his head, looking hurt. “Jin, brother Jin, why would I try to humiliate you?”

“That’s not an actual answer.” Jin observed astutely, knowing perfectly well that Ye was great at deception even if he couldn’t lie.

The fairy huffed. “So little trust! I’m not trying to humiliate you, I’m trying to have you experience something very human.”

Jin gave Ye an intense stare, his eyes glowing more gold than blue, and his mountain spirit bearing down on the fairy like a heavy weight. Ye felt himself break out in a sweat for the first time that day. When the Lord of the Mountain wanted, he could be very forceful without saying a word.

After a few minutes of the suffocating pressure, Ye cried out: “I’m really not going to do anything bad! I’m only trying to make your day a little better! Being like this, I’m regretting even offering!”

Seeing that the fairy wasn’t confessing anything, Jin gave an inward sigh of relief. Ye couldn’t lie outright, after all, so if he said he was doing something good, than Jin could have some confidence that was true.

“Very well, do you have a place in mind?” Saying this, Jin removed his forceful presence, causing Ye to slump slightly.

The little fairy glared at the man for a moment, slightly miffed at the mistreatment.

“There’s a great pond not too far from here. The water is very cool. There’s even a waterfall on one end too.” Ye jumped to the entrance of the cave home, somehow pushing the door open despite his size. “You’ve got to walk to the pond, understand? If you just zip over there, it defeats the purpose.”

The moment Jin stepped through the door, he felt a wave of intense, humid heat. It was so thick he almost choked on it and he was immediately drenched in sweat.

“Ugh…” Jin’s whole face blanched in distaste. Their home, being inside a thick layer of mountain rock and fairy-enchanted, was always just the right temperature. If it was hot outside, it was cool inside. If it was freezing outside, it was warm inside. It was perfect, except for the lack of sunlight.

“You really expect me to walk in this?” Jin complained, the heat getting worse as he made his way into the forest, following the fairy.

“To appreciate the best in life, sometimes you’ve got to experience the worst. The water won’t feel nearly as cool if you aren’t nice and sweaty before you get in.” Ye explained. “And MeiMei went out in this and worked hard for your sake. If you take a shortcut, doesn’t that make you a wimp?”

Jin’s eyebrows came together in consternation, knowing Ye was right. He knew it’d been hot recently, but he hadn’t gone outside today so he hadn’t been aware of how bad it’d gotten. The fact that MeiMei worked out in this was amazing.

“MeiMei isn’t still working in this heat, is she?”

“Nope! She finished her basket repairs and is relaxing right now.”

“Good, good… she could suffer from heat stroke with this kind of weather.”

Ye nodded. “Right? I told her to send you out to do the repairs. What’s the point of having all that strength if it’s not put to use? But she insists on doing the work… ah… that girl, so much pride… why won’t she let us spoil her?”

Jin ignored the comment about being used as a workhorse and agreed with Ye on the spoiling. MeiMei was highly independent. She disliked asking anyone but Ye for help, and even with Ye it was only certain situations. The only time Jin was allowed to help was if it was related to survival, otherwise, she denied his offers of assistance.

It was very frustrating for Jin. He’d been selfish for years, only paying attention to her if she was singing, and ignoring her struggles otherwise. He wanted to repent of those actions, show that he was not that kind of person anymore. But she wouldn’t let him, she just insisted on doing things her own way.

Of course, the fact that he hadn’t actually told her who he really was to give context to his actions… that he’d just ignore.

By the time Jin and Ye arrived at the pond, Jin was ready to dive in. His clothes were drenched and the heat was making him furious. Before Ye could even say anything, Jin had stripped off his sticky clothes and leapt in. Ye stared after him, and then smirked.

This particular pond was narrow and bent at a sharp angle, and on one side was a small but boisterous waterfall. The side with the waterfall was deep, while the far side was shallow and had several large rocks around the edges. Jin had leapt into the deep waterfall side of the pond.

The cold mountain water not only cooled Jin’s overheated body, but also his temper. He had to admit that the contrast of the hot day and the water was refreshing. While being human could be annoying, being able to feel nature like this was something he could never do as a spirit and he quite enjoyed it.

On the shallow side, Mei Hua had finished swimming and started washing. She’d found a flat stone that sat just above the water and used it like a seat while she washed her hair. She heard a splashing sound, looked for the source, and froze.

Jin was in the pond. He’d surfaced out of the water, almost fish like, with his back to her. It was clear he had no idea she was there.

Very carefully, she set down her soaps and slid her body down into the water. By some miracle, he didn’t hear or see her. The water wasn’t deep, so she squatted with her knees to her chest, her shampoo filled hair floating around her like a spider web.

It was odd hiding like this. Frankly, she should have thrown her soaps at his head and told him to scram. She’d gotten there first, after all, and he was the intruder.

But, despite having seen him naked before, he’d never seen her naked. None of the rocks nearby were high enough to hide her unless she crouched, as she was currently doing. If she made any noise, he’d definitely turn and look and then whatever was left of her womanly purity would be gone. So instead of being the outraged victim, she ended up being the peeping tom.

His body had gone through a drastic change since the last time she’d seen it. There use to be a certain softness to his muscles, a thinness to his body that made him almost delicate looking. His once pale skin had darkened under the sun into a ruddy tan. Constant martial arts training had changed his almost effeminate body into a sharp well-defined muscular power house. Every move he made caused a visible muscle to ripple. Even his face had filled out, now more sharp and angular.

Currently, he was standing and smoothing back his long black hair to get it out of his face. Gorgeous back muscles flexed at his arm movements, glistening under the sun. Her eyes went farther and farther down…

She gulped.

When exactly had he gone from a man-child to a man’s man? She’d never seen any guy even remotely like him in appearance. And she’d fought enough strong men to understand that was she was seeing was rare. It wasn’t just that he was powerful, he also looked wild and untamed.

And very, very handsome.

Her face started to turn red at her own thinking. Feeling embarrassed, she buried her face in her knees.

How could someone change so much in so little time? It had felt like a blink of an eye, despite it being over three years. Why hadn’t she noticed?! There’d been little signs here and there but… first impressions were really something, because no matter how much he’d changed, until today, she’d not really counted it for anything. Her mind had always gone back to that first meeting.

But today.

If she didn’t notice that he’d changed, she’d have to have been both blind and stupid.