Spectating the Angsty Romance of the Master and Disciple from the Sect Next Door Chapter 148

“People say, ‘To be old and not dead is to be a thief,’ but Wu Zhaoxing is too hard to kill, isn’t she? Is she the chief thief? How can her destiny not be depleted?!” Li Jin’an propped her chin on her hand and looked at Xie Huaixue. Her gaze was extremely serious; she just avoided looking at the hot tea.
The tea was top-grade spiritual tea, the temperature was just right, and it was brewed personally by her cultivation partner, but it wasn’t a reason for her to drink seven or eight cups in a row.
She was a sword cultivator, not a water buffalo.
“What destiny?” Xie Huaixue’s porcelain-white fingertips picked up the teacup. She elegantly skimmed off the foam in the cup, then tilted her head, asking back in confusion.
Her gaze was clear and pure, as if she truly didn’t understand Li Jin’an’s question.
Wind stirred beneath the trees, quiet and profound, but she was feigning ignorance while knowing full well.
Li Jin’an mischievously shook her head at Xie Huaixue, with a peculiar expression that clearly said, ‘Everyone knows, don’t lie to me.’
With Li Jin’an’s deep understanding of Xie Huaixue, this person thought far more than she said. She could see through all the intricacies at a glance, mentally simulated countless times, and anticipated all possibilities and outcomes, understanding the next move better than the enemy.
What limited Xie Huaixue was not her cunning or her power, it was merely that she couldn’t openly intervene.
If not for the Heavenly Tome, the three villains wouldn’t even be able to crawl before Xie Huaixue.
When Xie Huaixue took in the three villains, did she truly not know about their issues?
Qingxiao Immortal Venerable’s art of discerning people wasn’t that poor. She was merely cool and distant, adhering to rules, not ignorant of worldly affairs.
Li Jin’an slowly came to her senses, realizing something—even if she couldn’t inform Xie Huaixue of the Heavenly Tome’s existence, wouldn’t Xie Huaixue know?
It wasn’t truly a slow realization. She was simply too well pampered by her cultivation partner, rarely using her precious brain, and only when inspiration suddenly struck could she think of these things.
After realizing this, Li Jin’an didn’t need to dwell on it to be terrified. After all, if even she could think of it, then even a rough thought was terrifying.
She clearly knew how many moles Xie Huaixue had, when she would have tears welling up in her eyes, and that Xie Huaixue would subconsciously agree to her unreasonable demands when she was dazed with passion. So how could Xie Huaixue not know the little secrets she hadn’t explicitly mentioned…?
That would be underestimating Xie Huaixue too much.
Although it couldn’t be equated, the meaning was the same.
“Let’s not talk about that for now.” Li Jin’an sat upright with a solemn expression and seriously asked, “Can you tell what I’m going to do next just by which eye I blink?”
“…Yes.” Xie Huaixue was silent for a moment. She still answered honestly.
Li Jin’an immediately gave up thinking about serious matters. She excitedly began making expressions for Xie Huaixue to guess.
She puffed out her cheeks, her gaze drifted, and her ears quietly twitched.
Xie Huaixue didn’t voice her judgment of Li Jin’an. She simply took the opportunity to lightly pinch Li Jin’an’s ear.
This was because Li Jin’an’s expression wasn’t anger, but rather irritation from embarrassment. She was shy, but couldn’t say it.
Li Jin’an found joy in the game. She winked and made all sorts of expressions for Xie Huaixue to guess her joys, angers, sorrows, and delights.
Pouting, raising an eyebrow, widening her eyes, gritting her teeth, wrinkling her nose, tilting one corner of her mouth into a wicked smile…
Li Jin’an displayed the most rich and flexible facial expressions for a Human Venerable.
Every time, Xie Huaixue could give an accurate answer and take timely measures to coax her well, as if this had already been carved into Xie Huaixue’s instincts.
Li Jin’an came to her senses. Let alone the few years they had been cultivation partners, even during the thousand years of hostility, Xie Huaixue could accurately guess what mischief she would make next. Much less now; it would be strange if she guessed inaccurately.
“We’re so childish.”
She was clearly the one who started it and had just been having so much fun, but now it was time to equally share the blame.
“Not childish, I like it very much,” Xie Huaixue smiled sweetly.
Li Jin’an knew she wasn’t being perfunctory. The corners of her mouth curled up, and she subconsciously puffed out her cheeks.
Xie Huaixue raised her hand to pinch her ear. A faint amusement flickered in her eyes as she even added another question, “Is that right?”
If one looked at this action alone, it was nothing; it was very tender and affectionate. But once combined with the previous game of guessing expressions, it inexplicably seemed unnecessarily mischievous.
If Jingting Dao Lord and Chixin Sword Lord hadn’t left, they would probably have been laughing and slapping the table. However, Jingting Dao Lord mocking Li Jin’an for being as useless as Chixin Sword Lord would lead them to start another big fight with Chixin Sword Lord, thus ending their torment of Li Jin’an.
Li Jin’an speechlessly slapped her hand away. She couldn’t feel shy anymore. Couldn’t she let her be moved for a little longer? Truly mischievous.
“Business! We’re talking business, don’t interrupt!”
Xie Huaixue lowered her eyelids, thought for a moment, then looked up and directly into Li Jin’an’s eyes. She said earnestly, “This is the business.”
Qingxiao Immortal Venerable always had a way to make the increasingly shameless Jijin Sword Sovereign quiet down.
This time, Xie Huaixue didn’t need to pinch her ear; Li Jin’an was already fidgeting with her reddening ears herself.
“I’m your business?”
Li Jin’an rarely spoke so softly, her tone unbelievably soft. Her eyes scanned the sky and the ground, just not Xie Huaixue opposite her, as if looking for a moment would burn her.
Who knew who the straightforward sword cultivator truly was? It was strangely embarrassing.
Xie Huaixue, always candid and straightforward in such matters, chuckled softly upon hearing this. “Yes, you are the most important business, placed before all other matters.”
She paused for a moment, then continued, “If there’s a conflict with anything else, you are still the most important, none other.”
“So no matter what you encounter, always prioritize self-preservation. Nothing is more important than your safety.”
Qingxiao Immortal Venerable had always been composed, unaffected by external gains or losses, yet she alone couldn’t accept the cost of losing Jijin Sword Sovereign.
After those three sentences, a dizzy Li Jin’an almost couldn’t recognize the word ‘important’ anymore.
No wonder Yinyue Monarch had Xie Huaixue cultivate the Path of Ruthless Cultivation; that was truly an incredibly correct decision.
If someone cultivating the Path of Ruthless Cultivation could already say such sweet nothings, then if she hadn’t cultivated it, Li Jin’an felt she would truly need seventy or eighty cups of hot tea every day to cool herself down and put out fires.
Yinyue Monarch truly had foresight.
“…Ah, I know I’m the most important to you.” Li Jin’an came back to her senses, her eyes sparkling, but her mouth was still incredibly unyielding. “You know me; if there’s real danger, I’d run faster than the people from Lingjing Sect. If I acted tough before, it was because I thought I could win!”
She just thought that way too many times, and never ran each time.
Xie Huaixue didn’t expose her, her gaze gentle. She smiled and said, “Alright.”
“Wait!”
Li Jin’an straightened her expression. She suddenly asked seriously, “Are you saying this because of… the serious matter I mentioned earlier?”
In terms of intuition for directly pointing out enemy weaknesses, even the people from Lingjing Sect would have to concede defeat. After all, they only perceived dangerous auras in advance and ran away early.
Sword cultivators indeed don’t like to think, but they are quite smart; they’re just usually too lazy to use it, because using a sword was often more effective than using their brains.
This time, Xie Huaixue was silent for a long time.
Li Jin’an didn’t urge her. She leaned closer, staring at her with burning eyes.
After a moment of distraction, a freshly filled cup of hot tea appeared before Xie Huaixue.
She laughed despite herself.
Li Jin’an enjoyed this kind of role reversal. She crossed her arms and said proudly, “Now it’s time for true honesty… Say what you can say. Forget about anything too complicated.”
Anyway, Yinyue Monarch had already said to trust Xie Huaixue and the Heavenly Dao.
The Heavenly Dao was debatable.
Li Jin’an still maintained a skeptical attitude towards the Heavenly Dao, mainly because its preventing her from forcefully killing the villains made her very displeased.
Also, the matter of the Heavenly Tome drilling into her Sea of Consciousness—even if the Heavenly Dao’s purpose was for her to know everything to break the situation, she also incidentally disliked the Heavenly Dao.
The foul-smelling grass she ate was disgusting, so wasn’t the originator who made her eat it detestable?
Li Jin’an felt that transferring her anger was very reasonable; what’s more, this wasn’t even transferring anger.
As for Xie Huaixue, there was naturally unconditional trust. This was something even Jijin Sword Sovereign firmly believed during their archenemy days—a gentleman might be outmaneuvered by their own principles; Xie Huaixue was annoying, but she could be trusted with everything.
“Yes, the important matter you spoke of led to my own important matter.”
“You admitted it!!” Li Jin’an stood up excitedly, more thrilled than if she’d won countless battles. “You really knew!”
This was an implicit admission that Xie Huaixue knew about the Heavenly Tome!
It was precisely because she knew that she cared so much about Li Jin’an’s safety.
The lessons from the past were vivid and unforgettable, lessons she would never dare to forget.
Xie Huaixue pursed her lips. Seeing Li Jin’an so happy, her expression softened, and she spoke honestly, “I never denied it.”
Li Jin’an was utterly speechless. She put her hands on her hips and reasoned with Xie Huaixue, even willing to belittle herself. “To me, what’s the difference between not clarifying something and denying it?”
Is quibbling over words Jijin Sword Sovereign’s forte?!
It directly attacked her weakest point; she couldn’t react in time, unable to even discern if she had been fooled.
Xie Huaixue pulled Li Jin’an’s sleeve, looking up at her with tender, clear eyes. “It’s my fault.”
Li Jin’an swiftly sat down, her heart still pounding. The conceding Qingxiao Immortal Venerable was truly… beautiful enough to shame frost and rival snow.
She used to love having lucid dreams of defeating Xie Huaixue but could never dream of what happened next, as she simply couldn’t imagine Xie Huaixue looking crestfallen. Now her wish had come true, yet she was the first one to give in.
“If you have something to say, just say it properly; no physical contact.” Li Jin’an tried hard to keep a straight face, but secretly glanced at the sky, planning to finish quickly, so she could resolve the important matter and then do other things.
“Alright.” Xie Huaixue complied and withdrew her hand. “You ask, I’ll tell.”
“When did you know?”
“All along.”
Li Jin’an closed her eyes deeply. She knew it!
Whether Xie Huaixue conceded or not, she was still Xie Huaixue, the black-bellied direct disciple of the Dao Sect, whose schemes left no stone unturned!
She could finally empathize with Chixin Sword Lord.
If she got angry, she couldn’t really sustain it, as Xie Huaixue hadn’t actually lied to her. But if she didn’t get angry, she felt wronged, for Xie Huaixue had kept her in the dark the entire time.
The favorite thing for the master and disciple pair of Yinyue Monarch and Xie Huaixue to do was to shield the master and disciple pair of Chixin Sword Lord and Li Jin’an from all dangers. It was concealment, but also protection.
“Are you angry?” Xie Huaixue asked.
Li Jin’an crossed her arms and gritted her teeth. “Not angry!”
Understanding was one thing, but she just felt a strong urge to bite someone.
A smile flashed in Xie Huaixue’s eyes. “That’s good then.”
“Then is there anything else you’ve misled me about by not clarifying?”
After a moment of thought, Xie Huaixue raised her gaze to meet Li Jin’an’s. “During the trip to Purple Leaf Town, I never lost my memory.”
“…Is that another way of saying you woke up earlier than me?” Li Jin’an said numbly.
“Yes.”