An incense stick’s time later, Jiang Huai met Luo Yueguan.
Ice Soul Fairy Luo Yueguan seemed to particularly favor light purple. She had changed into a light purple halter dress, revealing her snow-white shoulders. The skirt wasn’t long, just reaching her knees, and the slit on the side was particularly high, allowing glimpses of her snow-white legs within the fabric as she moved. Her long, dark hair was not neatly styled, giving her a languid and casual appearance. Jiang Huai’s gaze fell upon her sapphire eyes. After a moment of daze, he snapped back to reality and said softly, “Sect Master Luo… you don’t seem to be dressed appropriately.”
“When you were a child, I held you, and you wriggled in my arms. How many times did that little face rub against my chest? And now you’re telling me I’m not dressed appropriately in front of you?”
Luo Yueguan’s tone was always so proud and disdainful. Not only was she dressed inappropriately, but after sitting down, she crossed her slender legs, exposing a large expanse of snow-white leg skin between the dress’s slits. Her skin was as warm and soft as white jade.
Jiang Huai couldn’t refute Luo Yueguan. He hadn’t been a proper child when he was young. Relying on his age, besides taking liberties with Chu Xianning often, he actually got quite close to Luo Yueguan every time she visited. After all, Luo Yueguan’s body was soft and fragrant.
“Qingyu, why don’t you go bathe first?” Jiang Huai winked at Luo Qingyu and said softly, “Soak for a while longer, it’s good for your body.”
So, Luo Qingyu obediently got up and went to the bathing pool in the backyard. At this moment, only Jiang Huai and Luo Yueguan were left in the courtyard.
“Sect Master Luo.”
“Call me Auntie Luo.” Luo Yueguan glanced at him indifferently.
“Didn’t the engagement get canceled? It’s better for you to call me Sect Master Luo.”
“You’ll be engaged again anyway. By then, you’ll have to call me more than just Auntie Luo; perhaps you should call me Mother along with Qingyu.”
“Sect Master Luo is willing to marry Qingyu to me again?”
“I know you’re angry. I know.” Luo Qingyu’s expression didn’t waver in the slightest. “If you want to scold or humiliate me now, feel free to speak. I won’t talk back. Just like your Master, I am a foolish, selfish, and vain woman. Will that make you feel better?”
“That’s not what I meant.” Jiang Huai sighed helplessly.
Actually, he didn’t really hate Luo Yueguan. When Luo Yueguan learned that his cultivation had been crippled and came to break off the engagement, it was a reasonable course of action. After all, what mother would want her daughter to be delayed for a lifetime? His impression of Luo Yueguan was that she was a bit foolish and didn’t know how to educate her child. But who in this world wasn’t a parent for the first time? Who knew the right way to educate a child?
“Then what should you call me?” Luo Yueguan glanced sideways at Jiang Huai, her snow-white toes flexing slightly.
“Before we get engaged again, it’s still Sect Master Luo.” Jiang Huai didn’t back down. His gaze involuntarily drifted to Luo Yueguan’s white and tender little feet for a moment. Damn it, Jiang Huai immediately pinched his thigh hard.
This woman’s ability to read people was flawless. She was a true demon that devoured people without spitting out bones. If she found your weakness, you were truly finished for life, Jiang Xiaohuai.
“You sent Qingyu away. What do you want to tell me?” Luo Yueguan no longer dwelled on the name issue. She knew she couldn’t make Jiang Huai change his address.
“There are some things I need to say that Sect Master Luo might not want to hear, but I still have to say them. Qingyu’s previous state had nothing to do with Sect Master Luo.” Jiang Huai’s expression turned a bit more serious, and his voice carried a hint of sternness.
Luo Yueguan couldn’t refute. Her proud eyes lowered slightly. “I admit it.”
“When she was young, you forced her to practice sword every day, regardless of whether she liked it. When she was young, she had the opportunity to make friends, but you said those disciples were of low status and unworthy of being her friend. Even when Qingyu wanted to read scripts and learn more about the outside world, you wanted to deprive her of this hobby, telling her that scripts were full of lies.”
“Did Qingyu tell you all of this?”
“Yes, I asked her,” Jiang Huai replied softly.
He had thought Luo Yueguan would defend herself again, but at this moment, Luo Yueguan lowered her eyelids, her voice very soft, “It was my fault.”
Jiang Huai was about to say something more, but Luo Yueguan, with her lowered eyelashes and sincere attitude of admitting fault, made him feel there was no need to say more. Since she knew her mistake, it was good that she could correct it.
“Qingyu has grown up. She has her own thoughts and can handle everything herself. From now on, Sect Master Luo doesn’t need to restrict Qingyu from doing things or make decisions for her.”
“I… I hear you.” Luo Yueguan bit her lip lightly.
“Look up at me and promise me.”
Luo Yueguan raised her head, her eyes falling on Jiang Huai before her. Clearly, he was the junior, yet his commanding tone made Luo Yueguan subconsciously annoyed. However, what he said was not wrong at all. Luo Yueguan bit her lip lightly. “I… I won’t treat Qingyu like that again.”
“That’s good.” Jiang Huai let out a long sigh. It seemed Luo Yueguan wasn’t as unreasonable as he thought.
“I heard that Sect Master Luo’s dancing skills are extraordinary?” Jiang Huai suddenly asked.
“Why ask this all of a sudden?” Luo Yueguan was taken aback.
“I was thinking that Qingyu could learn dancing from you. Firstly, it would give Qingyu something to do. Secondly, I hope you can spend more time with Qingyu. It would be good for you two to talk more and chat. What do you think?”
“I will teach her well.”
“Yes, thank you for your trouble, Sect Master Luo.” Jiang Huai then picked up the tea on the table and took a gentle sip.
Luo Yueguan’s tea was excellent. Jiang Huai couldn’t identify the name, only that it left a lingering fragrance on his lips and tongue.
“Good tea.”
Luo Yueguan tossed a tea bag into Jiang Huai’s arms and said indifferently, “Snow Peak Tea Tree from Finland Mountain, one hundred spirit stones per liang.”
The tea bag she threw him contained nearly half a kilogram, and Jiang Huai didn’t refuse, quietly accepting it. Luo Yueguan glanced sideways at Jiang Huai. “When are you leaving?”
“I’ll stay with Qingyu in the sect for two days and then go back.”
“Why leave in such a hurry?”
“There are still some things to attend to in the sect.”
To say he was busy wasn’t entirely true, but Jiang Huai thought of his Master being too lonely in the courtyard and felt reluctant to leave. Besides, if he stayed here too long, what if his Master mistakenly thought he had been bewitched by Luo Qingyu and wouldn’t return?
Luo Yueguan responded calmly, “I heard you came in first among the inner sect disciples of Tian Xuan Sect?”
“Sect Master Luo’s news is indeed well-informed.”
“How did you do it?”
“Immaculate Golden Body.”
“Let me see?” Luo Yueguan said indifferently. Jiang Huai’s expression showed some surprise. “What’s there to see?”
“I also cultivate the Immaculate Golden Body,” Luo Yueguan replied casually. After a moment of hesitation, Jiang Huai stood up, took off his outer robe, and approached Luo Yueguan. Luo Yueguan reached out, her fingertips lightly resting on his chest, gently caressing it. It felt a little ticklish.
Jiang Huai looked down at her eyebrows and eyes. He felt the atmosphere was a bit strange. Luo Yueguan touched him for a while before asking, “Seventh level, Great Circle?”
“Yes.”
It seemed she knew her stuff.
“Wait a moment.” Luo Yueguan reached out, her fingertips lightly touching her earring. After searching for a while, she finally took out several packets of spirit medicine. Jiang Huai’s eyes immediately caught them – they were medicinal materials for tempering the Immaculate Golden Body.
“Leftovers from when I cultivated before. They’ve been stored for hundreds of years. I don’t know if they’re still usable. Take a good look.”
Jiang Huai picked up the spirit medicines and examined them carefully. Although they had been stored for hundreds of years, they were indeed usable. The Immaculate Golden Body he cultivated was an improved version, with only one-third of the pain compared to the normal one. When he cultivated the normal Immaculate Golden Body, he would roll on the ground in pain. According to the ancient scrolls, the pain increased with each subsequent level. Jiang Huai couldn’t help but ask curiously, “What level of Immaculate Golden Body did Sect Master Luo cultivate to?”
“Tenth level, Great Circle.”
Jiang Huai’s eyes widened in surprise as he looked at her.
Luo Yueguan naturally knew what he was thinking and replied indifferently, “Do you think everyone is as gifted as your Master, who has been unrestrained and smooth sailing since she started cultivating? The year I entered Qingxuan Sect, if I couldn’t become one of the most brilliant disciples, I would have been made a dual cultivation cauldron for the Holy Son of Qingxuan Sect.”
Jiang Huai had never heard such a story from Chu Xianning. Looking at Luo Yueguan’s cold yet somewhat alluring eyes, he couldn’t help but become more curious and looked at Luo Yueguan. Luo Yueguan hesitated for a moment and said, “Your Master and I were both found from the mountains. Unlike your Master’s divinely chosen forty-five acupoints, I only had twenty-nine acupoints when I started cultivating.”
“She entered Tian Xuan Sect and was personally taught by the Seventh Realm’s Snow Moon Fairy upon entry. I entered Qingxuan Sect, starting as an Outer Sect Disciple… and because of my appearance, I attracted covetous gazes. If I couldn’t be the best, in others’ eyes, I was just a flower vase, a plaything that could be easily taken to bed.”
“The later stages of cultivating the Immaculate Golden Body require acupoints to support it. Then how did Sect Master Luo cultivate to the tenth level?” Jiang Huai finally couldn’t suppress his curiosity and asked softly.
“Endure it,” Luo Yueguan’s voice was cold. “No matter how much it hurts, endure it. Endure it until it’s tempered.”
She looked at Jiang Huai’s surprised eyes and suddenly felt an indescribable sadness in her heart, perhaps self-mockery, or something else. She turned her face away and looked at the flowering trees in the courtyard. “I was particularly strict with Qingyu since I was young, precisely because in my era… women with exquisite beauty, without a backer, could easily be manipulated by others.”
“Back then, I only knew that I had to cultivate fiercely. Only by standing tall enough could I look down on everything and not be seen as a plaything that could be easily manipulated.”
“I thought that hardship and solitude would temper Qingyu’s spirit into something as strong as iron, but I overlooked that I was already the Sect Master of Qingxuan Sect, standing above tens of thousands of cultivators in the Eastern Region. Even if Qingyu had no cultivation, I could protect her for life.”
“These are all my faults. I have no intention of making excuses for myself. I promised you that if I could make Qingyu smile again, I would agree to one condition. Tell me, what do you want me to do for you?”
As if afraid her words were too light, Luo Yueguan clasped her hands together, her snow-white body leaning forward slightly, approaching Jiang Huai. Her breath, like orchids, almost fell on Jiang Huai’s face. Her delicate pink lips were slightly glossy, and she softly repeated.
“Any condition.”
