Xie Huaixue glanced outside the cultivation abode, paused for a moment, then her gaze slowly drifted downwards, landing on Li Jin’an’s hand resting on her shoulder.
Li Jin’an was about to feel guilty, but then something occurred to her. She looked at Xie Huaixue with a half-smile, saying, “What? This Venerable One isn’t allowed to touch you?”
She folded her arms across her chest, her expression cold as she looked at Xie Huaixue, with a look that said, I’ve seen right through you. “No more changing the subject!”
In the Heavenly Tome, the drama of ‘she flees, she chases, she cannot escape’ with its forceful appropriation and abusive master-disciple romance played out in scene after scene. And now she’s concerned about whether her shoulder gets touched? How affected.
What is there that can’t be touched on her?
No matter what, she’s far safer than those three naughty brats outside. She certainly didn’t harbor such vile intentions towards Xie Huaixue!
Her dark hair scattered across her face and shoulders, feeling somewhat itchy. Xie Huaixue tilted her head slightly, her gaze serious. “Say what?”
Oh right, what was she telling Xie Huaixue to say?
The extremely fierce Sword Sovereign stalled for a moment. Xie Huaixue had straightforwardly admitted that her spiritual roots contained cold poison. She hadn’t denied it. So what topic was she trying to change?
Li Jin’an realized, and, infuriated, she laughed instead. “Has Immortal Venerable Qingxiao’s brain been frozen by the cold pond too? This Venerable One asked if Immortal Venerable Qingxiao has any opinions about This Venerable One?”
She no longer wanted to know about Xie Huaixue’s cold poison. She just wanted to spar with Xie Huaixue now, to prevent this person from continuously messing with her.
Against someone with endless tricks, idle talk was unnecessary. Once she wasted words, it gave them room to maneuver. It was better to just start fighting.
“This Venerable One is truly honored to be messed with like this by the Immortal Venerable.”
By the time she reached the last two words, Li Jin’an was already grinding her teeth.
“No opinions. Jin’an is clever; she discovered I was afflicted with cold poison.”
The Immortal Venerable deliberately avoided the words ‘messed with’.
“Don’t let it happen again.” Li Jin’an thought, if it weren’t for the Heavenly Tome, she really wouldn’t have accurately realized the cold poison matter. It was normal for Xie Huaixue to be suspicious. Then, hearing Xie Huaixue’s form of address for her, she immediately frowned. “You are not to call This Venerable One Jin’an.”
The Sword Sovereign and Immortal Venerable were not close. It wasn’t as if they were children anymore, still calling each other by name.
Li Jin’an released her hold on Xie Huaixue, took out the handkerchief embroidered with tiny swords from a wooden box, wiped her hands, then tossed it back inside. Her disdain for Xie Huaixue was evident from this gesture.
Xie Huaixue sat up, reverting to her unapproachable Immortal Venerable Qingxiao persona. Her dark hair cascaded down, her white robe was plain, and she wore no ornaments. Yet, none of this diminished her graceful bearing.
Pushing aside the wooden box, Li Jin’an sat cross-legged on the stone platform. She found Xie Huaixue’s current demeanor quite displeasing. She pursed her lips. “I wonder who was trying so hard to squeeze into my embrace just now? It couldn’t have been a certain Immortal Venerable, could it?”
“What Immortal Venerable? Clearly, it was a clingy spirit.”
She never let badmouthing linger, even doing it to their face.
Xie Huaixue’s gaze swept lightly over her, giving her a very cold glance.
Not only was Li Jin’an unafraid, she even shook her head proudly.
“Childish.”
Li Jin’an snorted coldly, “You’re not childish. You’re those three…”
Xie Huaixue looked at her, waiting for her to finish her sentence.
Li Jin’an decided not to say it. She irritably pressed her brows together. “Have you completely suppressed your cold poison now? Can you fight?”
The Sword Sovereign had nothing more to say. But the Sword Sovereign could wield her sword.
So annoying.
Before, she hadn’t known Xie Huaixue was afflicted with cold poison, so she could challenge her to a fight anytime. Now, great. She even had to make an appointment.
Fortunately, Li Jin’an was currently the only one in line, with no one else cutting in. All she had to do was wait for Xie Huaixue.
“No,” Xie Huaixue truthfully informed her. “If I use spiritual energy for a short period, there will be backlash.”
Li Jin’an spoke quickly and bluntly, “Then what’s the difference between you and being crippled?”
As she spoke, her eyes lit up. “If I widely publicized your condition, hmph hmph, I’m sure someone would come to test Immortal Venerable Qingxiao.”
Xie Huaixue leaned against the headboard, casually pulled a book from the bookshelf, flipped to where she had last left off, and said without even raising her head, “Perhaps.”
Seeing her so perfunctory, Li Jin’an, halfway through getting angry, felt her eyelid twitch. She snatched the book from Xie Huaixue’s hand, leaned in close, her eyes curving upwards, her tone light and teasing. “Then Immortal Venerable had better bribe This Venerable One well. Otherwise, This Venerable One can’t guarantee whether the Immortal Venerable’s secret will be made public.”
Not only could she not read books herself now, she also couldn’t stand seeing others read.
If anyone asked, she just wished everyone else was as illiterate as her. They shouldn’t read, much less write, strange and bizarre books. Especially that existence above all living beings in the Lancang Continent. Just be a normal Heavenly Dao, please. Stop coming up with crazy ideas every day.
Face to face, almost cheek to cheek.
Jijin Sword Sovereign’s warm and burning aura forcefully invaded Immortal Venerable Qingxiao’s personal space.
Xie Huaixue was still leaning against the headboard, her gaze happening to land on Li Jin’an’s earlobe. She retracted her gaze, and logically stated her difficulty.
“I still can’t use spiritual energy right now. I can only bribe you in a few days.”
Even Li Jin’an, whose thoughts often ran wild, had to process Xie Huaixue’s meaning for a moment.
She blinked. “Your way of bribing me is to spar with me?”
Xie Huaixue didn’t answer, just looked up at her, as if asking, Shouldn’t bribing Li Jin’an be done this way?
Li Jin’an was speechless. She turned, walked over, and stuffed the book back onto the bookshelf. To prevent the old fuddy-duddy from getting it again, she kindly returned the book to its original spot.
“Barely acceptable,” the Sword Sovereign said insincerely. She gestured towards Xie Huaixue. “Fighting means you have a request of me. Regardless of win or loss, I won’t let your wooden box gain another trophy.”
“Alright.”
Li Jin’an coughed a few times to clear her throat. “Today is a special circumstance. From now on, I won’t be so good-tempered with you. Don’t harbor any illusions.”
She felt her performance today was too poor. How could she be so pleasant and amiable towards Xie Huaixue? It didn’t have the tense, saber-rattling atmosphere that archenemies should have.
It must have been the Heavenly Tome influencing her, making her constantly feel that the Xie Huaixue before her was the Master who was forcefully appropriated in the book, rather than the Immortal Venerable Qingxiao she was familiar with.
The Xie Huaixue in the book had truly awful luck for eight lifetimes, so much so that Li Jin’an always felt that if she were any fiercer to the “little pitiful one” in front of her, her faint conscience would ache.
Xie Huaixue nodded noncommittally.
Li Jin’an found her demeanor particularly infuriating. But she couldn’t beat up a sick person, so she stomped out angrily, intending to randomly pick some unfortunate soul to torment.
She had already walked out of the main hall, when a spiritual message returned.
“Oh right,” the message said. “Before you can fight with me, I’ll be staying with my disciples on Qingxiao Peak. This is what you owe me.”
Never mind how it was owed, it was owed, nonetheless.
Li Jin’an considered herself the kindest sword cultivator there was. She hadn’t even imposed usurious rates like common casinos. Wasn’t that considerate enough of Xie Huaixue?
Before, she had been occupying Qingxiao Peak alone as its master. Now, she was intensifying her actions, moving her entire household into Qingxiao Peak. Living off Xie Huaixue, eating Xie Huaixue’s food, and even scolding Xie Huaixue’s disciples!
…
Li Jin’an leisurely walked out of the cultivation abode, looking more like the master of Qingxiao Peak than the three naughty brats who had resumed brawling outside. She stood on the stone steps, looking down at everyone from above.
Seeing their Master, Tan Yanyi and Ling Qiu, like little cubs who had found their backing, broke away from the fray and swiftly ran to Li Jin’an’s side, beginning to complain.
Qi Lingzi was a step slower. Everything she had wanted to say had already been voiced by her junior sisters, so she quietly stood on the other side of her Master.
Making false accusations was a specialty of Jijin Peak. For a moment, it was impossible to tell who was Immortal Venerable Qingxiao and who were Immortal Venerable Qingxiao’s disciples.
“Quiet,” Li Jin’an commanded. “Ling Qiu, tell me what happened.”
Unlike when she was with Xie Huaixue, Li Jin’an, when out and about, was highly intimidating. Her aura was powerful, she stood with her hands clasped behind her back. As her phoenix eyes swept and turned, arrogance and disdain seemed to pour forth.
Just by standing there, the title Jijin Sword Sovereign seemed to roar forth. A sense of distant authority spontaneously arose.
The Sword Sovereign disdained to hide her power. And the three naughty brats in front of her were even less worthy of making her conceal it.
This was an unconcealed display of power.
Even without using a trace of spiritual energy, Lan Ci, Zhong Fei, and Ning Zhufeng were all struck by the Sword Sovereign’s intimidating aura, as if they were unarmed and thrown into a sea of fire. Waves of heat washed over them, as if they would drown in the raging flames the next second.
Leaving aside the character of those three naughty brats, each had their own unique abilities. Even so, they gritted their teeth and persevered. Sweat dripped from their faces and heads, and they barely managed not to kneel before Li Jin’an and her three disciples.
Ling Qiu chirped incessantly in Li Jin’an’s ear. By this point, the three of them no longer felt sympathy for Ning Zhufeng, because during the fight they had discovered that although Ning Zhufeng wasn’t yet a cultivator, her moves were sinister!
She cunningly exploited her mortal status, charging towards the cultivation abode as if her life depended on it, as if afraid Jijin Peak wouldn’t strike her vital points, constantly throwing herself into the fray.
At first, they thought she wasn’t doing it on purpose. Who knew she grew even more reckless? The expression on her face also grew increasingly anxious and helpless, her gaze fixed intently on the cultivation abode; she was practically on the verge of tears, crying out for her Master on the spot.
Excellent. This ‘dog-like’ behavior immediately marked her as Jijin Peak’s lifelong nemesis.
Die!
“It seems a few senior and junior sisters don’t welcome us as guests on Qingxiao Peak,” Ling Qiu began. “The three of us were peacefully enjoying the scenery at the foot of the mountain when we saw a few senior and junior sisters rushing over frantically, demanding to know where our Master and the Immortal Venerable had gone. How could we know the affairs of our elders? Even when we told them truthfully, they didn’t believe us. Their words showed great disrespect towards Master, and they intended to forcefully intrude. We thought Master and the Immortal Venerable might have important matters to discuss, so we intervened to stop them. And then, it was just as Master saw.”
It wasn’t exactly twisting facts, but the subtle manipulation of facts was definitely present. The three from Jijin Peak were certainly not as harmless as they claimed.
Zhong Fei, Lan Ci, and Ning Zhufeng all glared angrily at Ling Qiu, each of them seething with anger.
Clearly, the three from Jijin Peak had provoked them first!
They were worried about their Master’s safety.
Unfortunately, Li Jin’an didn’t care about the truthfulness of Ling Qiu’s words. And Xie Huaixue didn’t care either.
Li Jin’an scoffed, and her spiritual pressure swept over them.
The three naughty brats all stumbled, unable to stand steady. Ning Zhufeng, in particular, seized the opportunity to fall to the ground, looking utterly miserable.
Li Jin’an wasn’t buying it. Her phoenix eyes flickered. “Who allowed you to look directly at This Venerable One?”
Good
Go go