Spectating the Angsty Romance of the Master and Disciple from the Sect Next Door Chapter 43

How could this person eavesdrop on others’ conversations!
Thankfully, they from Jijin Peak weren’t discussing anything confidential. Otherwise, wouldn’t this be Qingxiao Immortal Venerable probing Jijin Sword Sovereign’s secrets?
Can certain Immortal Venerables from other sects have some sense of boundaries? Please keep your distance from your arch-nemesis.
Xie Huaixue first gently nodded towards Qi Lingzi and the others, motioning for them to rise. Then she slowly walked to Li Jin’an’s side and said softly, “Just now, when you were saying, ‘What kind of sword cultivator hums and…’”
Before she could finish, Li Jin’an, who had lost her composure, interrupted, “Alright, alright, I know you heard it, no need to repeat it!”
Repeating it further would be extremely impolite.
Does such a great Immortal Venerable not understand social etiquette? Is she really that out of things to say?!
Jijin Sword Sovereign desperately wanted to dig a hole and bury herself, then scatter some seeds, anything to grow, just to escape this increasingly awkward situation. Xie Huaixue wouldn’t think the ‘acting spoiled’ I mentioned referred to those things in the illusion, would she?
“……”
Damn it, she didn’t!
And how could Xie Huaixue act as if nothing happened? Isn’t she even a little shocked?
They’re arch-nemeses! How could arch-nemeses be at loggerheads outside, then enter an illusion and… do all that?
The sworn enemy relationship between Jijin Sword Sovereign and Qingxiao Immortal Venerable has been tainted!
Li Jin’an stood with her hands behind her back, her face deeply troubled as she gazed into the distance, refusing to communicate or interact with Xie Huaixue.
Xie Huaixue didn’t urge her, simply stood quietly by her side, completely ignoring the disciples piled on the ground, unaware of their life or death.
Although the three from Jijin Peak didn’t say a word, their eye contact was extremely frequent. They looked at the backs of their two elders, then exchanged glances, as if everything had been said.
Tan Yanyi felt a little confused. She always felt that something extraordinary had happened between Eldest Senior Sister and Junior Sister when she entered the illusion. Otherwise, why would their tacit understanding increase so much in a flash? They could understand each other’s thoughts with just a glance and react accordingly. She couldn’t join in at all.
Did they go off to get advanced training behind my back?!
But the problem was, they all entered the illusion together, and came out around the same time, and it was a solo illusion. How could they have increased their tacit understanding in non-intersecting illusions?
And Master, when you’re standing with your hands behind your back, your fingers shouldn’t be fidgeting like that. The people behind you can see it clearly!
Tan Yanyi felt like she was being excluded by everyone on Jijin Peak.
The pair in front, the pair beside her, both formed self-contained units, creating an atmosphere she couldn’t integrate into.
Was she an outsider?
Tan Yanyi looked down at Lan Ci and the others, strangely piled on the ground, and deeply sighed. She felt that out of Jijin Peak and Qingxiao Peak, she was probably the only normal one left.
That sigh was abrupt, yet quite in keeping with Li Jin’an’s bearing, directly startling everyone else present who was still standing.
First, Li Jin’an snorted disdainfully everywhere at the Dao Sect’s disciple acceptance ceremony; then, Tan Yanyi’s sigh shook heaven and earth.
Li Jin’an snapped out of her daze, turned around, and glared fiercely at this troublesome child. Her gaze flickered for a moment. “Where’s that spirit creature?”
“I’ve confined it in a solidified divine sense space, so you needn’t worry.”
A sea of consciousness, a sea of consciousness; the divine sense within it naturally flowed. But for them, solidified divine sense was like water turning into ice, an excellent prison that could hold things that couldn’t resist but were very troublesome, such as that black butterfly that deserved ten thousand deaths.
Li Jin’an pursed her lips. Why would I worry? What’s there to worry about? Xie Huaixue’s tone was as if she was telling me not to worry about the spirit creature spreading rumors of Jijin Sword Sovereign’s and Qingxiao Immortal Venerable’s romantic affairs after it escaped.
She was upright and honorable; she wasn’t afraid of public criticism, because she and Xie Huaixue were simply arch-nemeses, the kind who found each other utterly displeasing!
Li Jin’an gritted her teeth, not caring at all where Xie Huaixue would take that damned black butterfly. She only had one question, one she had wanted to ask the moment she came out of the illusion, but had held back several times.
She transmitted her voice, “When did you regain consciousness? Don’t lie to me!”
If Xie Huaixue had regained consciousness early and just stood there watching me act spoiled and fawn… and then we even…
Li Jin’an didn’t even dare to close her eyes. She was afraid that after everything went black, she would collapse and faint.
Anyone else would have been better to lose face in front of! Why did it have to be Xie Huaixue that I lost so much face in front of!
She no longer wanted to delve into what kind of mood Xie Huaixue was in to allow her to kiss and bite her. She just wanted to return to Jijin Peak and enter a short seclusion, not for long, just starting from a thousand years.
This question was also difficult for Xie Huaixue. She paused for a moment before answering, “…A little earlier than you.”
Clearly, this “little” did not comfort Li Jin’an.
Li Jin’an’s eyes were vacant, her heart turned to ashes. She trembled as she pointed at Xie Huaixue, “You… you… you are simply unreasonable!”
This feeling of having anger but nowhere to vent it was too stifling.
After all, after all was said and done, Li Jin’an was the one who went over to kiss Xie Huaixue; no one forced her to.
This blame landed squarely on her head, and she couldn’t even refute it, because everything was of her own volition. Blaming the black butterfly wouldn’t even work.
Xie Huaixue’s eyes were clear and bright. She tilted her head to look at Li Jin’an, unable to empathize with her breakdown. After a moment of thought, she said softly, “Don’t overthink it. It was my fault. I should have pushed you away then.”
Anyone who heard that would surely say Qingxiao Immortal Venerable was understanding, offering Jijin Sword Sovereign a way out.
However, this way out made Li Jin’an feel like she would sprain her ankle walking on it.
As a master of sarcasm, Li Jin’an felt that Xie Huaixue had mocked her directly to her face.
But, but, but!
Now that such an incident had occurred, if she were to curse Xie Huaixue, wouldn’t she appear incredibly ungrateful and heartless?
The Sword Sovereign also couldn’t bring herself to be kissing one second and cursing the next.
Li Jin’an’s expression flickered between different emotions. She wanted to utter harsh words, but finally, she gritted her teeth and forced out three words, “You’re amazing!”
With that, Li Jin’an turned and left, flying far into the distance, not seeing the three little fools from Jijin Peak following her.
What virtue or ability did she have to possess these three divine disciples who only held her back? She was unworthy, utterly unworthy!
After her anger turned to numbness, she calmly transmitted her voice to the three fools, “Not moving? Are you waiting for me to invite you!?”
The three were startled by their master’s sudden roar. They immediately straightened up, raising their heads and puffing out their chests, their eyes clearing. They gave Xie Huaixue a polite smile filled with apology. “Immortal Venerable, please forgive us, juniors will take our leave now.”
Xie Huaixue let out a chuckle for a moment, then replied, “Go on.”
Stunned by the Immortal Venerable’s smile, the three left in a daze, completely bewildered, unable to regain their senses for a long while.
After they arrived, Li Jin’an interrogated them, “What did Qingxiao say to you?”
Though Qi Lingzi was utterly bewildered, she answered honestly, “We bid farewell to the Immortal Venerable, and the Immortal Venerable only said two words, ‘Go on.’”
Tan Yanyi added, “The Immortal Venerable also smiled for a moment, just for a moment. It was so awe-inspiring that it shook heaven and earth. Your disciple finally understood what it means for a beauty to be ‘like a flower beyond the clouds, with the vast sky above and rippling green waters below.’”
Li Jin’an looked at her with an indescribable expression. She truly hadn’t expected her second disciple to have such a learned day.
“What are you talking about! Is the appearance of a powerful cultivator and an elder something you should be discussing?”
Li Jin’an indeed didn’t respect some of the pompous old-timers in the cultivation world. It was fine for her to be sarcastic, openly sneering, or subtly satirizing them to their faces because her strength and status were established. But Qi Lingzi and these juniors could not. Otherwise, if they were to act like that outside, and others didn’t take offense, fine. But if they were taught a lesson by someone else, Li Jin’an wouldn’t be able to help them regain face.
Tan Yanyi was indeed lively and unconstrained, but not a stubborn child. She honestly admitted her mistake, “Master, I was wrong. I shouldn’t have made presumptuous remarks about the Immortal Venerable.”
Li Jin’an said with a stern face, “Not to be repeated!”
In terms of cursing Qingxiao Immortal Venerable, she had reached the pinnacle, unmatched. But in terms of praising Qingxiao Immortal Venerable, she clearly still had much to learn. But it was fine; she could suppress all other competitors.
That way, she would still be the strongest in this field.
Flying out of the range of Ziye Town, Li Jin’an immediately froze in mid-air. Her thoughts became clear, and inspiration struck. She suddenly realized something very important.
Because the black butterfly had integrated into a large illusion beneath Ziye Town, her senses were veiled once she entered, blocking internal and external divine sense communication. The memories of her avatar and main body were not fully interconnected. For her Integration Stage cultivation, her main body could only see intermittent glimpses.
Once she left this area, within the range her divine sense could cover, her main body and avatar could achieve mutual memory access.
But here was the problem: now her avatar had emerged, so why hadn’t her main body reacted?
Li Jin’an, unaware that her main body had been called to Jingting Dao Lord’s secret realm to reminisce about old times, looked up at the sky with a weary sigh. She finally understood why Xie Huaixue had smiled at the three little fools. Xie Huaixue wasn’t laughing at the little fools; she was laughing at her!
It turns out that facing Xie Huaixue directly after emerging from the illusion wasn’t the worst thing. The worst thing was that such a terrible thing would happen twice!
“……”
No wonder Xie Huaixue laughed.
Li Jin’an also laughed, but it was a laugh born of anger.
“Master, are you alright?” Ling Qiu peeked her head out from behind them and asked. For a moment, she felt as if her master’s suffering was almost fading. As her master’s dutiful and affectionate disciple, it would be unthinkable not to show concern.
Li Jin’an’s mouth was as hard as any artifact in the cultivation world. “I’m fine. You return to the sect; your master has other business.”
She even called herself ‘your master’! This is even more suspicious, alright!
Qi Lingzi hit the nail on the head, “Master wants to wait for the Immortal Venerable. We’ll go first.”
An honest person’s sudden blunder had off-the-charts destructive power.
Li Jin’an looked at her eldest disciple with an inexplicable and highly displeased expression. Why wasn’t this damn kid ever so clever normally? So all this cleverness was reserved for backstabbing her master, huh!
She felt that three escort missions were still too few to exhaust their excessive energy.
Qi Lingzi blinked, then finally realized that superficially, her master and the Immortal Venerable did not have such a harmonious relationship. Their Jijin Peak and Qingxiao Peak were still sworn enemies, incompatible as fire and water. No matter what, they shouldn’t show any closeness between their master and the Immortal Venerable.
Li Jin’an brought her index and middle fingers together. Sword energy erupted, loudly rapping Qi Lingzi’s head.
“This disciple acknowledges her mistake.”
Ling Qiu and Tan Yanyi each took one of Qi Lingzi’s arms and led her away.
After they left, Li Jin’an stood with her arms crossed, her body unmoving. Centered on her, the fierce, scorching Jijin Sword Intent spread out overwhelmingly, directly bombarding the surrounding mountains.
The sword intent, radiating heat, stopped before the arriving person.
“Ah, it’s Qingxiao Immortal Venerable. I failed to welcome you properly, please forgive my offense.”
Li Jin’an gave a forced smile. She felt that at this point, not having a fight would be unjustifiable.