Chapter 520: No Way!
Even though it was late autumn, the sunlight today was unusually bright and grand.
In the Imperial City of the Central Province, Ji Qingxuan was strolling with Jiang Huai.
This was where she grew up, and she was incredibly familiar with everything in the Imperial City of the Central Province. She led Jiang Huai through the pastry shops she had loved since childhood, tasting various pastries. The air was filled with the scent of osmanthus, and bright light filtered through the tree shadows, casting scattered patches of light on the ground.
It was evident that she had a fondness for sweets.
She wore a silver-white long dress, and even in high heels, her gait remained elegant and light, like a cat’s.
There was a clear river in the Imperial City. Jiang Huai and she boarded a small boat. The river flowed leisurely, its surface shimmering with light. A gentle breeze blew. Ji Qingxuan sat in the boat cabin, her slender and well-proportioned calves resting on his thighs. The high heels she had worn earlier were neatly placed aside, while Jiang Huai held her delicate, white, and tender jade feet in his hands, playing with them.
When Ji Qingxuan looked into Jiang Huai’s eyes, she suddenly felt a surge of anger.
She always felt she had fallen into his trap, as if she were slowly sinking into the trap woven for her by this evil man before her. However, what was interesting was that she could sense that this trap wasn’t deliberately and meticulously crafted by him. Instead, it seemed more like his instinct – being distant yet close, sometimes infatuated, sometimes indifferent, sometimes restrained and polite, and sometimes utterly despicable.
Thinking of this, her eyes turned cold as she looked at him. “Don’t pinch anymore.”
Jiang Huai looked up, his gaze no longer fixed on her jade-white feet. He looked innocently at her face. “You were the one who put your little feet into my arms earlier, and now you’re looking at me with such cold disdain… Huh, distant yet close, sometimes hot and sometimes cold, you’re too much.”
Ji Qingxuan’s eyes widened slightly, and she was instantly furious.
How could anyone be so shameless as to play the victim first?
******
Perhaps it was because the afternoon sun was too lazy and dappled, or perhaps she had exhausted too much energy last night, but Ji Qingxuan felt a bit drowsy. Jiang Huai, as if sensing this, gently patted his thigh. Her head naturally rested on it as the small boat swayed on the water. Jiang Huai quietly gazed at the woman in his arms.
She slept very soundly.
Perhaps she was too tired from the previous night, as she slept for a long time. When she woke up, the sunset was already burning across the sky outside the boat canopy. Ji Qingxuan slowly sat up, looking at Jiang Huai’s face. Her eyes were still a bit hazy, and she hadn’t quite come back to her senses. When she slept, she had vague dreams. She dreamt that Jiang Huai held her in his arms and whispered softly, his voice so gentle it felt like it could melt her. But then, she also dreamt that he abandoned her and, the next time she saw him, he had a cold expression, pretending not to know her.
Thus, her eyes, falling on Jiang Huai’s face, became very complex. But in the next moment, Jiang Huai gently grabbed her shoulder. He slowly leaned closer, getting closer and closer in her sight, so close that it seemed in another instant, he would kiss her lips.
Almost instinctively, she slightly turned her face away.
Jiang Huai’s movement also stopped perfectly, as if it wasn’t because she turned her face away, but because he hadn’t intended to kiss her in the first place. In the next moment, Ji Qingxuan’s intuition surfaced. This guy… might just be testing to see what her reaction would be, nothing more.
He hadn’t intended to kiss her at all.
Thinking of this, she became even more annoyed. She reached out and wrapped her arms around Jiang Huai’s neck. Before Jiang Huai could even speak, her body had already leaned forward and straddled him. Her delicate pink lips pressed against his. Before Jiang Huai could say anything, she had already begun to try and pry open his teeth for a deeper kiss.
******
“You want it, but you push me away! Didn’t you dodge when I kissed you earlier?”
Jiang Huai wiped the water stains from the corner of his mouth and looked at her with dissatisfaction. Ji Qingxuan’s eyes widened slightly, and she became even more exasperated. Her small fists began to rain blows on his chest. Jiang Huai didn’t dodge, letting her hit him for a good while. Seeing that her resentment had seemingly dissipated a bit, he leaned closer. “So, are we still going to cultivate together tonight?”
“Companion Cultivation,” Ji Qingxuan said coldly. “After two sessions of Companion Cultivation, we will go our separate ways!”
Jiang Huai was slightly stunned at first, but his face showed an indifferent expression. “Really?”
Ji Qingxuan suddenly realized that this guy seemed to be expecting her to say this. No, he might also be deliberately provoking her because he didn’t expect her to say this, hoping she would do the opposite. She took a deep breath, trying to calm her thoughts, but she didn’t answer Jiang Huai. Instead, she walked directly out of the boat cabin and back to shore. Jiang Huai followed closely behind, keeping pace beside her.
They walked side-by-side back to Ji Qingxuan’s palace. The sky had darkened by now. Ji Qingxuan walked towards the bathhouse. Jiang Huai pondered for a moment before stopping outside the bathhouse door. Ji Qingxuan, who was about to enter, looked back. “Why are you standing silly at the door?”
“Aren’t you going to bathe? You go first.”
“Not together?”
“You didn’t say I could join you.”
“Pretending. As if there’s any part of me you haven’t seen.” Ji Qingxuan turned her face away, suddenly feeling ashamed and furious, thinking about the break she had yesterday when Jiang Huai had meticulously examined her. Damn it… she suddenly wanted to kill him.
In the bathhouse, Jiang Huai once again took on the duty of scrubbing bubbles for her. The water was icy cold. After bathing, Ji Qingxuan put on an ice-blue nightgown and walked towards the palace, her jade-white feet stepping on the floor. She didn’t even wait for Jiang Huai, who was still getting dressed.
When Jiang Huai arrived in the palace again, she was sitting on the bedside, dangling her white and tender little feet. She looked up. “If you want to cultivate together, let me humiliate you properly first.”
“…” Jiang Huai looked at her helplessly but still obediently agreed.
******
One session later.
Ji Qingxuan’s fingertips were tightly gripping his back. Her voice was slightly soft, like a hint of pleading. “No more second sessions.”
“Hmm?”
“If we do a second session, I’ll want a third, a fourth… I don’t want you to take so much advantage of me anymore.”
“Oh, then let’s sleep?” Jiang Huai was indifferent. He didn’t show the slightest bit of disappointment. Instead, he naturally pulled her into his embrace. His movements were so practiced, as if he were coaxing an unhappy wife. Ji Qingxuan felt awkward and leaned closer, biting his shoulder. Whispering in his ear, she said, “Don’t you like to bully that?”
“Ha?”
“That… you can bully me once.”
******
In fact, Jiang Huai did not sleep well that night.
He was lost in thought, wondering if not cultivating together a second time tonight meant he wouldn’t be able to cultivate tomorrow either. Would he and Ji Qingxuan remain bound by the symbiotic blood contract until their next meeting, serving as a catalyst for them to do “bad things” again?
He wasn’t particularly uneasy, but he found Ji Qingxuan’s thoughts unfathomable.
When he woke up the next morning, Ji Qingxuan was already straddling him, her hands pressing down on his chest, her eyes looking down at him from above. Last night she was soft and obedient, but now her face was cold and aloof.
“I’ve thought about it all night. Let’s cultivate, lest keeping this one session always makes you think about the next meeting and be annoyed.”
“Oh, I’ll listen to you,” Jiang Huai replied naturally, reaching out to gently support her body. Ji Qingxuan, however, slapped his hand away, saying coldly, “I can do it myself.”
“Oh…”
Because Jiang Huai might grab her waist and press down when she wasn’t paying attention, Ji Qingxuan, having been tricked once, had become smarter.
******
Saying once means once.
Ji Qingxuan raised her wrist and watched their spiritual Qi intertwine. The red thread of the symbiotic blood contract was now gradually becoming transparent, until it completely disappeared. The two no longer felt the connection of the symbiotic blood contract; it had been completely severed.
Ji Qingxuan lay on her side on the bed, pulled the quilt over herself, and said coldly, “You can go.”
“Shall I help you bathe first?” Jiang Huai asked softly.
“No.” Ji Qingxuan refused coldly.
“Oh… then, when we meet next time, do you want me to call you Grand Princess, or Ji Qingxuan?” Jiang Huai slowly put on his clothes and asked quietly.
Ji Qingxuan did not answer the question. Instead, she clutched the quilt and covered her head. “You bastard! Get out!”
“You don’t have to despise me so much…” Jiang Huai sat by the bedside and gently poked her back, which was covered by the quilt. “We were so happy when we cultivated together, why are you pretending not to know me after it’s over?”
“When I get close to you, I fall for it.”
“Fall for what?”
“No matter what, you’re a bastard.”
“Then, when we meet next time, shall I call you Grand Princess?”
“Call me Ji Qingxuan.”
“Then call you Ji Qingxuan?”
“No.” Ji Qingxuan shook her head again.
“You woman are so difficult to serve,” Jiang Huai grumbled unhappily. Ji Qingxuan, however, said coldly, “Then don’t serve me.”
“Then I’m leaving, okay?”
Ji Qingxuan buried her head entirely under the quilt, but there was no response. Jiang Huai’s footsteps indeed sounded. After a long while, when she lifted the quilt again, she was the only one left in the palace.
She was the one who had driven Jiang Huai away, yet he was leaving anyway. Could she possibly ask him to stay? But for some reason, Ji Qingxuan, looking at the cold air, suddenly felt unable to breathe, and her nose stung.
Before her vision blurred with tears, Ji Qingxuan suddenly noticed a storage bag placed by the nightstand.
She was stunned for a moment and took out the storage bag.
Inside was a pair of glass earrings made of scarlet spirit marrow and mithril, and over a dozen exquisite pastries, not from the Imperial City of the Central Province, but likely made by Jiang Huai himself.
There were also several paintings.
One was of Ji Qingxuan sitting quietly in a cave, looking out at the heavy snow. At that time, her eyes showed a hint of bewilderment, like a sculpture.
One was of Ji Qingxuan holding a spirit sword, fighting the Snow Bear Demon King. At that time, her eyes were determined, inexplicably giving people a sense of sacredness.
One was of Ji Qingxuan drawing her sword against the Snow Bear Demon King in the wind and snow. In this painting, she was full of murderous intent, like a Valkyrie descending from the heavens.
One was of her curled up and sleeping, looking so obedient and gentle, with a smile on her lips as if she were having a beautiful dream.
Ji Qingxuan stared blankly at these paintings. There was one last one. She looked at it with anticipation but suddenly froze.
Because the woman in the painting was also her, but she was in a posture of lying on the bed, spreading her hands to open her buttocks. He had even depicted every detail with extreme clarity. Ji Qingxuan gritted her teeth in anger.
Her spiritual sense instantly covered the entire Imperial City of the Central Province, and she found Jiang Huai’s aura. She transmitted a message, her voice filled with killing intent, “Next time we meet, you’re dead, Jiang Huai!”
“La la la,” Jiang Huai responded with a single sentence.
Ji Qingxuan glared furiously at her own reflection in the painting. The person in the painting had shy and expectant eyes, with even a hint of love that clearly wasn’t there. She coldly reached out her hand, as if preparing to tear the painting, but her action froze. After a moment, she turned her face away, a blush rising on her cheeks.
While Jiang Huai hadn’t gone far, she transmitted another message, “You like painting so much, I’ll show them to your other Dao Companions later.”
“You’re going to use this move that kills a thousand enemies but harms yourself in half?”
Ji Qingxuan was stunned.
Because Jiang Huai wasn’t transmitting a message, he was right outside the room door, looking at her with a helpless expression. He walked closer step by step. Ji Qingxuan tilted her head up and snorted, carefully putting away that painting. Jiang Huai had already reached her.
She instinctively lifted her calf, extending her white and tender little foot to press against his chest. “No way!”
“Hand over the painting.”
“I won’t. Why should I hand over what you left for me?” Ji Qingxuan curved her lips. In the next moment, Jiang Huai grabbed her ankle and leaned closer.
