The clear night was dustless, and the moonlight was like silver.
A summer night breeze stirred Chu Xianning’s skirt, causing a faint fragrance to drift to Jiang Huai’s nose.
Jiang Huai had been quiet for a long time, and Chu Xianning said nothing, yet the atmosphere was not awkward. The flames from the stove on the flying sword danced, exuding warmth. Jiang Huai quietly turned his head, looking at Chu Xianning’s snow-white profile.
Moonlight spilled onto her cheeks, as if every strand of her flying hair was also rendered silver by the moonlight. Chu Xianning continued to gaze quietly at the night sky in the distance.
Jiang Huai’s heart gradually quieted down as well.
In his previous life, he was a very introverted and taciturn person, much like Chu Xianning, who remained silent all day. After being reborn, he found himself following Chu Xianning, and instead, he learned to talk a lot of nonsense to amuse her. Otherwise, if they were both too quiet, the courtyard would be so silent it would hurt his bones.
“Oh, right.” Jiang Huai suddenly remembered something. “I also found the Golden Scale Fruit in Dragon Burial Valley. The Golden Scale Pill refined from it can be used to temper my Immaculate Golden Body.”
“Oh,” Chu Xianning replied faintly.
“Master, when do you think I’ll finish tempering?”
“As you wish.”
“What if I get so dizzy I fall off the flying sword?”
“I’ll catch you.”
“Okay.” So Jiang Huai took out the Golden Scale Pill he had refined last time and swallowed it without a moment’s hesitation. Soon, his meridians were filled with a needle-like pain.
Jiang Huai had always been an advocate of joyful cultivation, not believing that the path of cultivation had to be fraught with hardship and trials. However, some pains were unavoidable. Soon, his features twisted in pain, and his body began to tremble slightly.
Chu Xianning turned her head, quietly looking into his eyes. Jiang Huai tried his best to widen his eyes and meet Chu Xianning’s gaze. Neither of them spoke until Chu Xianning took out a handkerchief and gently wiped the sweat from his face.
“Does it hurt a lot?”
“A little.”
“I’m here,” Chu Xianning’s voice softened slightly.
So Jiang Huai said nothing more. The pain in his body surged like a tide, layer by layer. By the time the Golden Scale Pill was fully refined, he was covered in sweat and felt somewhat weak. Yet, he tried his best to sit steadily to avoid falling. Chu Xianning’s spirit sword descended from the night sky and landed in the bathhouse. Before Jiang Huai could even speak, Chu Xianning had already grabbed him by the neck, hoisting him up like a little chick and throwing him into the bathhouse.
Jiang Huai’s body was submerged in the bathhouse’s cool water. He looked at Chu Xianning above him. Chu Xianning hesitated for a moment before sitting on the steps by the bathhouse. She reached out and gently lifted her skirt hem, dipping her white and tender calves into the bath.
Her eyes were innocent and clear. Jiang Huai gazed at her white and tender, slender ankle and snow-white little feet beneath the water, feeling somewhat perplexed.
Just as he swam over from the bath, Chu Xianning lifted her leg, sending a splash of water onto him. She bit her lower lip and looked at him displeasedly, “What are you coming over here for?”
“…I thought Master wanted me to bathe your feet as a filial act.”
Chu Xianning turned her face away. “I was just feeling a bit hot and wanted to soak for a while.”
“Then does Master want to come down and soak with me?”
“Do you still think you’re a child?” Chu Xianning’s voice held a hint of dissatisfaction.
“When I was six, Master, I bathed in the same pool as you. This year I’m nineteen, but Master is already six hundred years old. For you, over a decade is just a moment, with no real difference. The hundreds of years between us mean that it’s only reasonable for you to still treat me like a child. Luo Yueguan treats me like a childish kid all day.”
“You’re quite skilled at playing the victim.” Chu Xianning unhappily lifted her leg again, and a few water droplets fell on Jiang Huai. Although her expression was calm and indifferent, her action was like a child playing a prank.
“But the bathhouse is really cool, Master. Why don’t you come down and feel it?”
“It’s improper for a master and disciple to bathe together.” Chu Xianning turned her face away, refusing to look at Jiang Huai.
“But there are only you and I in this bathhouse, and no one will know.”
“Heaven knows, Earth knows, you know, I know.”
“I read a script recently. It said there was once a widow who took in a boy as her adopted son. But the boy grew increasingly handsome, and when he got older, the widow could no longer suppress her desires, and then…”
“If you want to be beaten, I can fulfill that right now.”
The water in the bathhouse condensed into a whip, hovering above Jiang Huai’s head. Jiang Huai’s eyebrows twitched, but he couldn’t help but feel a strange sense of anticipation.
It would be even better if the whip were in Chu Xianning’s hand.
Sometimes Jiang Huai would reflect on why he always acted so shamelessly in front of Chu Xianning, always wanting to provoke her a little to stir up some emotion in her heart. But later, he realized that if he were always well-behaved and acted like a gentleman in front of his Master, she would simply treat him as a disciple, just as she had before he was fourteen, never having any other thoughts about him.
It was only later, when he daily acted like a scoundrel and provoked Chu Xianning, that she stopped treating him like a child.
“Actually, I just wanted to find an excuse to get beaten to test the strength of my newly trained Immaculate Golden Body,” Jiang Huai said innocently, looking at Chu Xianning.
“I’ll satisfy you.” Chu Xianning sneered. The next second, the water whip fell onto Jiang Huai. In an instant, the whip dissipated into water droplets, but it left a red mark on Jiang Huai’s chest.
Jiang Huai cried out in pain.
“What realm is this power approximately?”
“Nascent Soul stage.”
“Then let me try one at the early Nascent Soul stage.”
Chu Xianning took a deep breath, and the next moment another whip fell on him. Jiang Huai almost jumped up, looking at Chu Xianning as if he were about to cry. “Why does it feel heavier than before?”
“Just slipped.” Chu Xianning tilted her head up, feigning innocence.
“You almost damaged my clothes,” Jiang Huai said, taking off his top. As Chu Xianning looked at him, his upper garment was already gone. However, Chu Xianning’s gaze did not waver; she simply looked at him calmly, wanting to see what other tricks this little scoundrel had up his sleeve.
“Speaking of which, when does Master plan to open the remaining four acupoints?”
“I’m not opening them.”
“It’s a shame to stop halfway.”
“I don’t care much for it.” Chu Xianning said faintly.
“It’s good for the injury.”
“I don’t need it.”
“Why is Master always so stubborn?”
“I don’t need you to teach me how.”
“Alright.” Jiang Huai nodded obediently and stopped bringing it up. Chu Xianning had already lifted her slender legs from the water. Water droplets slowly flowed down from her snow-white insteps, glistening under the lamplight. She sat on a higher chair beside the bathhouse, gently dangling her slender jade feet. Drops of water dripped down. Jiang Huai approached her at some point, and Chu Xianning glanced at him sideways.
“What are you coming over here for again?”
“To wipe them?”
Chu Xianning stared at him for about two or three seconds without blinking, then slowly sighed, “You…”
She didn’t say anything more, just lifted her slender legs slightly. Jiang Huai moved closer, picked up a soft towel, and gently wiped the water droplets from her insteps. Jiang Huai held her white and tender little feet in his hands. She lowered her head slightly, looking at Jiang Huai’s face.
She had expected to see a despicable smile on Jiang Huai’s face, but his expression was exceptionally serious. Chu Xianning was silent for a while, then suddenly whispered, “Do you know why I don’t treat you like a child anymore?”
“Why?” Jiang Huai was stunned.
“Because you started acting like a little scoundrel when you were fourteen.”
“…” Jiang Huai’s mouth twitched slightly, but he seemed powerless to refute it, as it was indeed the fact.
“If you were as obedient as before, I wouldn’t be so wary of you.”
“Then is it too late for me to change now?”
“What do you think?”
“I hope it’s not too late.” Jiang Huai’s fingertips gently stirred Chu Xianning’s delicate pink toes. Chu Xianning’s toes curled slightly, but she didn’t say anything. She simply sat there quietly, letting Jiang Huai wipe the water droplets from her white and tender little feet with the towel.
“But I don’t think I’m too excessive,” Jiang Huai said after a moment of silence. “I think anyone would find it hard to resist Master’s charm, let alone after living together for thirteen years? Having some dark thoughts occasionally is only human nature.”
“You can have dark thoughts, but you are not allowed to speak them.”
“What happens if I say them?” Jiang Huai looked up at her.
Looking into Jiang Huai’s eyes, Chu Xianning always felt like he was about to test her limits again in the next moment. She suddenly felt inexplicably annoyed. She lifted her white and tender little foot, and her toes suddenly approached Jiang Huai’s cheek. Her delicate pink toes neared his lips. She looked down at the young man in the bathhouse, her voice growing colder, “If you say them, you are no longer worthy of being my disciple.”
“I haven’t said anything, have I!” Jiang Huai looked at the white and tender little foot only a millimeter away from his lips. Damn it, why did he suddenly want to lick it and see Master’s reaction? Would she be enraged or blush?
Chu Xianning was even more exasperated.
You haven’t said them? You said quite a lot when I was asleep… Not to mention speaking, you’ve done plenty of despicable things.
“It would be very uncomfortable to keep some words bottled up inside.” Jiang Huai muttered in a low voice.
“Still bottle them up!”
“For my whole life?”
“For my whole life!”
“I won’t. I’ll find a chance to say them eventually…”
Jiang Huai seemed to want to say more, but the next second his eyes widened.
Because Chu Xianning had stuck her white and tender jade foot into his mouth, and even her toes moved, as if searching for his tongue, as if trying to clamp down and pull it out. Her voice was cold and angry, “I told you to speak! I told you to speak! If I say you can’t speak, then you can’t speak!”
After a few breaths, Chu Xianning seemed to realize what she had done. When she withdrew her white and tender little foot, her toes were still somewhat wet.
She looked into Jiang Huai’s eyes, her breathing slightly accelerating, and her voice trembled slightly, “Are you still going to speak?!”
“I won’t.”
“Slurp.”
Jiang Huai licked his lips with the tip of his tongue.
The next second, Chu Xianning completely lost her composure because of his action. Almost instantly, she appeared in the water, her snow-white body creating a large splash in the pool. Her slender, jade-like hand grabbed Jiang Huai by the neck. “Do you want to anger me to death before you’re satisfied?!”
