"If you are about to faint then you should consider immediately leaving this place. I'm not interested in dealing with a corpse."
The voice echoed through the empty valley of Snow Fields where Li Ming was currently trying to break through the thick ice that had covered the trunk of a huge tree.
According to the old man, the young girl had gone crazy. For the past hour, she was trying to break the frozen ice, and meanwhile, he was rummaging through his memory and dozens of scrolls to find out exactly what tree was that.
So far, he couldn't found a single use of the Sunleaf tree. Rather than its leaves being bright orange in color, nothing was exciting or unique about the tree.
Moreover, the old man could not remember if he had ever seen a single leaf on that tree in the past millennium.
Therefore, he could not understand why Li Ming was wasting so much energy and time on that tree. Or was it the ice that she wanted?
Li Ming ignored the old man and his stupid talks as she continued to remove the ice from around the tree.
"Are you planning to pass your time like this by doing nothing? Rather than utilizing your time and working on your challenge, you are trying to waste our time by doing stupid things. Do you think I can't see through your crafty tricks?"
Only Heaven knew what was more frustrating for the old man more, him not understanding Li Ming's current actions or her constantly ignoring him.
Deep down even he knew that the girl was working hard to remove the frozen ice from around the tree because there was really something important that she was planning to do, but the fact that he couldn't find any reason for which the tree could be used made him frustrated.
How could a young girl be aware of the importance of a tree which was growing in the Snow Fields for hundreds of years while the Caretaker of that very same place wasn't aware of it?
As usual Li Ming ignored the old man and his nonsense. She had many important works to finish than wasting her time in arguing with a crazy elder person.
The Heaven Emperor who had been watching both the old man and Li Ming from his high position on the high cliff finally decided to interrupt.
"Master, why don't you return to your house to prepare the dinner? I'll stay here to keep an eye on her."
The Heaven Emperor said as he walked closer to the duo.
At his words, the old man glared at him as he said, "Why? Is there a problem if I stay here? Or are you feeling pity for her and want to help her behind my back?"
Here came the accusations!
The old man seriously needed to get a hold of his temper and mouth. Both kept slipping and irritating others.
The Heaven Emperor was about to reply when they were disturbed by the mocking laugh of Li Ming.
"What?"
The old man asked with a raised eyebrow.
"You need to keep your temper under control old man. Your unbalanced temper and unnecessary bickering have started to give me headaches." Li Ming replied politely with a fake smile plastered on her lips.
She watched the expression of the two men that changed immediately. A twitch appeared on the Heaven Emperor's lips while the old man kept standing there glaring at her in anger.
"You are really something. You dare to call me short-tempered and overreactor! Just wait for the day you will come begging for my forgiveness."
The old man huffed in anger as he scurried away from there, but not before passing a hard glare at Li Ming.
However, just as usual, Li Ming didn't give any importance to either the old man or his angry glares.
She had almost become immune to him in the past two weeks.
It had been an entire week since the day when she was sealed inside the Divine Lotus with Wen Guiying.
Many things had changed in this one week. The Supreme Immortal had actually become a soft mate unless they were inside the training grounds.
He had also started to always bid her goodbye with a soft peck either on her lips or on her forehead.
Though, nothing more than that happened. He didn't tease her soul mark again in the entire past week.
Yet his closeness was enough to calm down Li Ming's soul which was getting more and more desperate to see her other mates.
And the Heaven Emperor's closeness was not helping her situation even a single bit. She had even started to avoid coming too close to him for the last few days.
However, as he stood so close to her at the moment, Li Ming was suddenly surrounded by his strong aura and the fragrance which reminded her of a warm sunny day.
She tried to distract herself as she pushed away the last bucket of ice that she had filled just a few minutes ago.
Finally, after the hard work of the last few hours, she succeeded in getting the tree free from the freezing ice.
She took out a few materials from her magical space and started piling them at the foot of the tree.
"What are you doing?"
The Heaven Emperor asked as he watched her taking out weird things from her space.
He was getting tired of the silence that was building between the two of them for the past few days.
He had finally realized the previous night that for the past few days, Li Ming had created a distance between them, and for some reason, he wasn't liking it.
Li Ming looked at him with a questioning look as she asked, "Are you planning to start like that old man now?"
The Heaven Emperor opened his mouth to say something but then closed it.
"I'm actually curious," he finally said after the silence of a few seconds.
Li Ming sighed as she settled on the cold ground and patted the space beside her while looking at the Heaven Emperor.
The Immortal Lord looked at the smiling girl and then at the space beside her. He had no idea about what she was planning but with a sigh, he stepped forward and settled down beside her.
Li Ming could feel her heartbeat accelerating, not because of his closeness but because of what she was about to do next.
She settled in a lotus position and signaled the Heaven Emperor to also do the same.
She started creating a rune at the bottom of the huge tree. The end of the rune was connecting with the bottom of the trunk.
She placed the grey crystal-like gem in the center of the rune and dropped a few pinches of snowflake powder.
The last thing that she added was an orange leaf which looked fresh and beautiful. It also had a few dewdrops visible on it.
The Heaven Emperor had no idea about what was going on but he still stayed completely silent, not uttering a single word.
"The spell that I'm going to perform next is very powerful. I'm not sure if my energy will be enough to complete it or not. Will you allow me to use a little bit of your energy?"
Her words were barely above a whisper but the Heaven Emperor heard every single word clearly.
Though he stayed silent. A person asking to use the powers of the Heaven Emperor was the last thing that any soul in the entire Immortal realm would have ever imagined.
However, there she was! A young fifteen and a half-year-old girl who dared to ask the forbidden.
Yet, the most surprising part was not her request but the fact that the Heaven Emperor found himself nodding his head as he moved his right hand to place it in her open palm.
He had no idea what took over him in that particular moment but all he wanted to do was to agree to any or every request of the young girl.
If it had been someone else, talking nonsense like using the powers of the Heaven Emperor, that person would have taken their last breath by now.
Nonetheless, Li Ming was not someone else. She was the Chosen One. The only person in the entire universe who could be daring enough to ask for such things and who could also be granted such requests.
As the Heaven Emperor placed his hand over Li Ming's open palm, his entire body erupted in currents of pleasure.
His head immediately turned to look at the girl who had closed her eyes as she chanted something under her breath.
The Heaven Emperor kept watching the girl with shocked eyes, his face was a mask of amazement and surprise while his entire being was drowned in the ocean of contentment.
After ten minutes, Li Ming opened her eyes slowly and with a soft smile, she first looked at the tree and then turned to look at her surprised mate.
If the Heaven Emperor was already not left speechless then the soft lips that landed on the corner of his lips definitely did the deed.