Spectating the Angsty Romance of the Master and Disciple from the Sect Next Door Chapter 88

Li Jin’an had made the decision herself but still feigned asking Xie Huaixue’s opinion, “What do you think?”
After all, a cultivation partner ceremony required two people to appear together; she couldn’t form a bond by herself. The Heavenly Dao wouldn’t witness it, so she still had to inform Xie Huaixue.
What if she showed up for the ceremony, and Xie Huaixue didn’t?
Though it was a question, Li Jin’an’s eyes held a hint of arrogance, as if she hadn’t even considered the possibility of Xie Huaixue refusing her.
Xie Huaixue naturally wouldn’t refuse her. She responded clearly, “Good.”
Seeing Xie Huaixue’s pure and indifferent demeanor, Li Jin’an felt an itch in her heart, in her hands, in her teeth—everywhere.
Xie Huaixue wasn’t like this when they were in bed. Her eyes would be misty, her entire self fragrant, soft, and sweet. Taking a bite left a lingering fragrance in her mouth, with endless aftertaste…
In broad daylight, her mind was already filled with unhealthy thoughts, and her gaze, full of presence, lingered on Xie Huaixue.
She unreasonably thought, Zhong Fei isn’t some major figure… a major demon creature. So what if there’s a follow-up? A mere half-yao, why bother a dignified Sword Sovereign and Immortal Venerable? So inconsiderate, even dying is so troublesome.
For such matters, she had selectively forgotten that Xie Huaixue was Zhong Fei’s former master, and she was the one who had publicly and officially reported Zhong Fei as a half-yao. It would be strange if they didn’t attend. If Yun Liuguang hadn’t informed them, that would have been truly disrespectful and inconsiderate.
“Focus on flying, don’t look at me,” Xie Huaixue said helplessly.
Li Jin’an retracted her highly intrusive gaze and, looking straight ahead at her leisure, chuckled internally. She privately transmitted, “Are you saying we shouldn’t engage in lewd behavior during the day?”
“…”
Xie Huaixue remained silent.
Li Jin’an understood something from her cultivation partner’s silence and finally quieted down.
She was quiet for a moment, then steered her Blazing Radiance Sword closer to Xie Huaixue, mischievously asking, “When you said ‘good,’ did you mean that holding the cultivation partner ceremony quickly is good, or that I am good?”
“Both are good.”
“Which is better?”
“You are good,” Xie Huaixue said concisely.
Li Jin’an was greatly surprised: “Then you don’t think it’s good to become cultivation partners with me?”
“…”
Amidst Xie Huaixue’s increasingly helpless voice, they arrived at the Sect Main Hall.
Li Jin’an flicked her sleeve and, with a solemn expression, walked into the hall with Xie Huaixue, showing no trace of her previous antics.
Unfortunately, this brief solemnity couldn’t last.
Jingting Dao Lord, seated on the high platform, saw them walking side by side and teased, “Oh, isn’t this Jijin Sword Sovereign, who has relentlessly pursued Qingxiao Immortal Venerable for tens of thousands of years? It seems you’ve finally achieved your wish and your hardships have come to an end. It truly warms my heart, as an elder, to see you both.”
All the elders in the hall looked over accordingly.
Li Jin’an’s raised foot paused before she set it down.
Those four words again: relentlessly pursued!
She had grown utterly sick of hearing those four words lately!
Although Jingting Dao Lord loved to play matchmaker, her imagination and eloquence were no match for the idle gossips outside; her words held no real sting.
However, this was no excuse for Jingting Dao Lord to be malicious and treat her and Xie Huaixue as entertainment.
Li Jin’an’s face immediately fell. She forced a strained smile and said clearly, “You jest, Elder. How can outsiders know the truth of my relationship with Qingxiao? But surely you know?”
Jingting Dao Lord said as if it were obvious, “I’m not with you two all the time, so there’s plenty I don’t know.”
Xie Huaixue took her seat, looked up at Jingting Dao Lord, and stated plainly, without any fluctuation, “Sword Sovereign has not relentlessly pursued Qingxiao; it is Qingxiao who has achieved her wish.”
The elders inwardly gasped, instinctively translating Xie Huaixue’s words.
Does Qingxiao Immortal Venerable mean that Jingting Dao Lord only needs to know that Sword Sovereign did not relentlessly pursue her, and that she was the one who fell in love with Sword Sovereign first, and as for anything else, Jingting Dao Lord has no need to know?
However, knowing Jingting Dao Lord, she wouldn’t necessarily be angered…
“Good, good, good.” Jingting Dao Lord laughed heartily. “I won’t talk about her, don’t worry.”
Li Jin’an looked at her cultivation partner’s expression, which was calm and peaceful. Hearing such nonsense, her aura remained stable, without a hint of disorder. So how did Jingting Dao Lord connect such a calm Xie Huaixue with ‘worry’?
Is she truly just caring about her own happiness and ignoring everyone else’s well-being?!
Li Jin’an suppressed the urge to roll her eyes at Jingting Dao Lord and asked, swallowing her indignation, “Didn’t you say there was a follow-up on the half-yao matter? What is it?”
Young Sect Master Yun Liuguang glanced at the suddenly uninterested Jingting Dao Lord, knowing it was her turn to speak. She then gently said, “Previously, with Sword Sovereign and the two Sword sovereigns as witnesses, the matter of the Monster King Mo Lin’s son, disguised as Zhong Fei, infiltrating the Dao Sect to spy for secrets and attempt wrongdoing, was exposed. The half-yao was executed on the spot, but many lingering issues remain to be resolved.”
Sword sovereign Xiao Xiang and Sword sovereign Jun Xing, who had almost become permanent mascots at Dao Sect meetings, forced smiles that conveyed a sense of great hardship. In truth, they genuinely had no interest in Dao Sect affairs. If they could, they would rush back to the Sword Sect right now.
They hadn’t been out for many days, so why did they miss home so much?!
Li Jin’an was still admiring Yun Liuguang’s art of speaking. This way, it made it seem as if the Dao Sect had long discovered Zhong Fei’s true identity but had kept it hidden, secretly investigating Zhong Fei’s background and intentions, and then specifically invited people from the Sword Sect to witness her execution, all to uphold the glorious prestige of the Dao Sect.
If this incident hadn’t been orchestrated and instigated by her, she might have actually believed it.
Moreover, one could infer from this how much the Dao Sect disliked demons; they completely erased Jie Yunjin’s role in the matter, probably thinking it wouldn’t sound good if a great demon accused a half-yao disciple within the Dao Sect.
Yun Liuguang paid no mind to what the other parties involved might be thinking. Her expression remained normal as she dropped a bombshell: “The elders and disciples responsible for opening the sect gate that year passed through the Heart-Questioning Mirror and were all found to have a dark brown mark in their sea of consciousness. The color is already very faint and will fade completely soon.”
Everyone was stunned, whispering among themselves, their shock evident.
This was the Dao Sect, the foremost immortal sect in the Lancang Continent, a forbidden zone for demons and fiends. How could they have been manipulated by a half-yao for so long so easily?
If Jijin Sword Sovereign and her great demon friend hadn’t exposed Zhong Fei in public, wouldn’t this half-yao have become a threat before anyone even noticed!
Someone couldn’t help but ask, “Was there a great demon who helped confuse the elders and disciples responsible for opening the sect gate?”
Li Jin’an lowered her eyes to conceal the mockery within them. This didn’t happen in the Heavenly Tome; the three villains had been utterly smooth sailing due to their “extraordinary” luck. Naturally, they wouldn’t explain how they managed to enter the Dao Sect. In reality, everything required logic, and after the villains’ luck weakened, some things simply couldn’t be hidden anymore.
Yun Liuguang nodded, “After investigation, the spirit that was first killed by the sect’s protective formation was the great demon Bloodfang, who was parasitic within Zhong Fei. Unless there’s another possibility, it was Bloodfang who awakened and helped Zhong Fei confuse the elders and disciples.”
Li Jin’an’s eyes held a clear, innocent look. She lowered her head and asked Xie Huaixue, “Who is that?”
She didn’t even recognize people from the cultivation world, let alone those great demons. In her simple and unbiased view, great demons were equivalent to spirit stones: demon cores were the most valuable, followed by essence blood and bone marrow, and then flesh and bones.
Xie Huaixue softly clarified, “Bloodfang, active seven thousand years ago. Rumored to be a descendant of the Bi Fang, but unconfirmed. The only certainty is that it possessed a faint trace of Kunpeng bloodline, allowing it to gain progress by devouring energy. It once committed heinous crimes in the human realm, kidnapping and devouring countless cultivators. It was finally slain by various seniors of the cultivation world at Three Realms Mountain, disappearing ever since. Who knew…”
She sighed at the end, the unspoken meaning clear.
Who knew this wretched thing hadn’t died completely and was hiding inside a half-yao, even making its way to the Dao Sect!
Others also pricked up their ears, listening in on Qingxiao Immortal Venerable’s exclusive explanation for Jijin Sword Sovereign. Not everyone was as knowledgeable as Qingxiao Immortal Venerable; for example, the three sword cultivators present were all illiterate.
Li Jin’an ignored the others and instantly turned to look at Jingting Dao Lord, who was idly seated at the head of the table. She opened her mouth and asked, “Venerable Lord, this Bloodfang person lived in the same era as you. Do you know about it?”
Jingting Dao Lord lifted her eyelids, glared at her, and then said, “The last sword thrust was mine, so that fiend effectively died by my hand. How could I not know?”
Before Li Jin’an could say anything, she continued, “No need to worry about Bloodfang stealing Dao Sect secrets. Not to mention whether it could bypass my sight, when I killed it the last time, I used ten-tenths of my power, and the sword was even coated with small things that could harm spirits. Even if it feigned death to escape, a few thousand years wouldn’t be enough for it to repair its spirit.”
Li Jin’an bared her teeth, and everyone else’s expressions were also strange, showing what they were thinking on their faces.
What a brutal person.
Aside from her love triangle with Yinyue Monarch and Chixin Sword Lord, Jingting Dao Lord’s past had never been hidden. It was laid out clearly for all to see, fearless of any controversy or slander.
In summary, there were only four words: ending slaughter with slaughter.
Her rise to power was bloody and violent; she was once called the tyrant of the cultivation world. There were even rumors that Jingting Dao Lord, due to her extreme disagreement with the Dao Venerable’s philosophy, had killed the Dao Venerable to seize sole power and make the Dao Sect follow her will… Of course, these were all fabricated rumors, as the timeline didn’t match at all, and the Dao Venerable wasn’t so useless as to be killed by a disciple.
In short, Jingting Dao Lord was an authority on this matter and immediately convinced everyone present.
Li Jin’an’s eyebrows twitched uneasily. Jingting Dao Lord’s ‘sight,’ could it be that she released her divine sense to wander around the Dao Sect when she had nothing better to do?
Unable to speak it aloud or transmit it privately, she mischievously winked and made faces at Xie Huaixue.
After this small interlude, the meeting proceeded as usual. The backgrounds of Zhong Fei, Bloodfang, and Mo Lin—two and a half yao races—were all uncovered. What was in the Heavenly Tome, the Dao Sect found. What wasn’t in the Heavenly Tome, the Dao Sect also found, including the insidious evil deeds Zhong Fei committed after entering the Dao Sect. For example, how any disciple who spoke a few words of admiration for Qingxiao Immortal Venerable, or wished they could sweep snow on Qingxiao Peak, would be secretly ostracized and framed by Zhong Fei.
Li Jin’an was forced to learn about Zhong Fei again. The words entered her ears, but her sea of consciousness felt like it had been heavily damaged, the impact as great as re-reading the Heavenly Tome.
Indeed, evildoers are full of schemes. Zhong Fei was never a good person to begin with. The premise of all her wicked deeds was her malicious intent, and she even shamelessly used Xie Huaixue’s name, claiming it was for her Master…
Just because you raise the banner of a noble person doesn’t mean you can cover up your filth.
She felt annoyed listening, growing angrier and angrier. She slumped bonelessly onto Xie Huaixue’s shoulder, knowing without looking that Jingting Dao Lord was staring at them intently.
“…The Dao Sect will not tolerate provocation. In three days, we will cleanse the Ink Dragon Clan,” Yun Liuguang said coldly.
If Mo Lin and Bloodfang hadn’t died so utterly, the Dao Sect would probably kill these two great demons again.
The Dao Sect was not so easily fooled.
Previously, when Mo Lin stirred up a beast tide and died under Xie Huaixue’s sword, the troublesome Ink Dragon Clan was decimated once. This time, it seemed nothing short of their extinction would quell the Dao Sect’s killing intent.
Jingting Dao Lord was not interested in such small-scale scenes. After they finished speaking, she turned to a radiant Li Jin’an and said, “Just now, you came in looking so joyous. Is there some good news?”
Li Jin’an didn’t bother to refute that she wasn’t joyous but dignified and serious. She simply stated clearly,
“We plan to become cultivation partners. At that time, Venerable Lord, you must bear witness for us.”