### Chapter 68: No Pain, No Gain
As Ye Anping pondered matters, the two young apothecary boys reapplied his dressings and bandaged him up.
“Young Master Ye, we’ll be going now. If you need anything, just ring the bell beside you,” one of them said.
“Ah…” Ye Anping snapped back to reality and politely bowed his head in thanks. “Thank you both, young attendants.”
“You’re welcome~”
The two apothecary boys smiled brightly. Relieved that he hadn’t inadvertently offended them, Ye Anping let out a sigh.
As soon as they pushed their cart out of the room, the two people waiting outside entered.
Pei Lianxue and Xiao Yunluo exchanged a glance. Then, Pei Lianxue stepped forward, offering the pastries she was carrying. “Although it’s not our first meeting, please accept this small token of my regard, Young Master Ye. I apologize for misunderstanding you at the physiotherapy center earlier…”
“Miss Xiao is too kind. Physiotherapy is a new concept, and it’s not easy to accept at first,” Ye Anping replied.
“Mm…”
After Xiao Yunluo greeted him, she looked at Pei Lianxue and quickly stepped aside.
Perhaps it was Xiao Yunluo’s presence, but Pei Lianxue seemed somewhat unnaturally reserved. Usually, she would have immediately sat next to her Senior Brother and leaned her shoulder on him.
“Senior Brother, I just came to see how you are and how your injury is healing.”
“It was a minor injury initially, but while Doctor Zhou was examining me, Senior Bai chimed in, and now it’s become like this,” Ye Anping shrugged helplessly. “Don’t worry, this injury isn’t as bad as when you beat me up before.”
Hearing this, Xiao Yunluo froze slightly and looked at the bandages on Ye Anping’s body and the various sizes of medicine jars on the table. He was covered in bandages, and there were so many jars of medicine. And this was *less* severe than when Pei Lianxue had beaten him? Just how severe had it been before?!
She then looked tentatively at Pei Lianxue, curious about her reaction. Pei Lianxue let out a light breath, smiled, and said, “…That’s good.”
Xiao Yunluo was speechless.
Ye Anping glanced at Xiao Yunluo, who was staring at him and Pei Lianxue, and after a moment of thought, he said, “Oh, right. A few days from now, take some time to come to my physiotherapy center, and I’ll take you to visit the Sky Vault Spring Return Pavilion.”
“Sky Vault Spring Return Pavilion?” Pei Lianxue had never heard the name before. “What kind of place is that?”
Xiao Yunluo seemed to have finally found her cue to “join the conversation” and eagerly chimed in, explaining to Ye Anping, “Lianxue, that’s the best jewelry store in the Western Regions! I’ve wanted to take you to see it before, but it’s a bit far.”
“It’s about half a day’s journey by flying sword,” Ye Anping added.
“That’s still quite far,” Xiao Yunluo chuckled.
Pei Lianxue blinked in surprise and asked, “The best jewelry store? Isn’t that very expensive? Never mind, Senior Brother. Besides, I don’t like wearing jewelry. It gets in the way when I practice my sword.”
“A lady can’t go without jewelry!” Xiao Yunluo leaned closer to Pei Lianxue and said, “Jewelry for a woman is like wine for a man; you must have a few pieces to show off. At banquets, while men compete in drinking, women show off their jewelry to each other. Moreover, Lianxue, you’re so beautiful… A necklace or bracelet would just be the icing on the cake~”
“That’s right, Miss Xiao is right,” Ye Anping chimed in.
“Young Master Ye, please just call me Senior Sister Xiao,” Xiao Yunluo corrected him.
Ye Anping and Xiao Yunluo exchanged a look. Noticing this, Pei Lianxue immediately puffed out her cheeks, frowned, and coughed to remind them.
“Cough, cough—”
“Ah…”
Xiao Yunluo paused, quickly averted her gaze, and inwardly sighed again: Lianxue really is possessive, isn’t she? Just a normal exchange of glances during a conversation, and she’s already angry.
Pei Lianxue paused and said with a serious frown, “But I already owe Senior Brother so much, I can’t possibly repay it all. If I buy more jewelry, won’t you regret letting me owe you spirit stones in the future?”
“You still remember that?”
“Of course, I remember!”
Ye Anping joked, “Then you can take your time repaying me. At worst, it’ll take two to three hundred years, and I’ll happily accompany you for those two to three hundred years as your creditor.”
“…”
Listening to the conversation between her Senior Brother and Junior Sister, Xiao Yunluo’s mind was filled with question marks. She thought, this is probably something only people who have been close for over a decade can truly understand.
“Mm…” Pei Lianxue pursed her lips and nodded. After a slight hesitation, she added, “However, let’s buy something cheaper. Let’s go to the marketplace. Don’t they have that jewelry store we passed last time we went shopping, Senior Brother? That one looked good.”
“When you visit the Sky Vault Spring Return Pavilion, if you can truly resist the urge to buy anything, then I won’t buy you anything.”
“Mm…”
Her Senior Brother is working hard at physiotherapy to earn money, so she wants to save him money. She must resist! Pei Lianxue told herself inwardly.
At that moment, Ye Anping suddenly noticed a smudge of blood on Pei Lianxue’s clothes. His brow furrowed, and he asked, “Junior Sister, what have you been up to just now?”
“Hm?” Pei Lianxue looked where he was pointing and realized, “This… I just killed a chicken.”
?
Ye Anping tilted his head slightly and glanced at the gifts they had brought, which didn’t include chicken soup.
“Why kill a chicken?”
Then, after a moment of hesitation, she said directly, “Senior Brother, I saw a ghost last night!”
?
A question mark suddenly appeared above Ye Anping’s head.
“A… ghost? Like a malevolent spirit ghost?”
Xiao Yunluo nodded in agreement from the side. “Yes, Lianxue said that while practicing her sword last night, she saw the ghost of a dismembered little girl in the bamboo forest next to the Three-Bay House.”
???
The question mark above Ye Anping’s head instantly transformed into an ocean of questions. How did he not know about such events in the Xuan Xing Sect? However, a few similar quests flashed through his mind, but those were only encountered in the demonic cultivator territories of the Eastern Domain. The Xuan Xing Sect was a sect of immortal cultivators! It was a land of spirits; where would ghosts come from? Or rather, what ghost would be foolish enough to run to the Xuan Xing Sect?
After pondering for a moment, Ye Anping asked, “Junior Sister, what did this ghost you’re talking about look like?”
“She looked like a little girl, about eight or nine years old, with hair longer than she was tall…”
“Hiss—” Just two sentences, and Ye Anping inhaled sharply. But seeing that Xiao Yunluo was present, he had Pei Lianxue skip that part and asked, “I think I have a general idea.”
Without a doubt, those two characteristics – an eight or nine-year-old girl and hair longer than her stature – were enough for Ye Anping to deduce that it was the Loli Old Woman herself. However, he couldn’t help but feel a little ashamed. Had Si Xuanji already contacted his Junior Sister so soon? Was it a coincidence, or something else? He had thought Si Xuanji wouldn’t show up for at least two or three months. In the game, Feng Yu Die had met Si Xuanji for the first time only after reaching Foundation Establishment. Her favorability with Xiao Yunluo had taken nearly half a year to build. Now, it seemed, he, as the Senior Brother, had underestimated his Junior Sister’s “feminine charm.” His Junior Sister had managed to “trigger” Si Xuanji in about a month. Ye Anping, Ye Anping, look at the Junior Sister you’ve raised! Tsk, tsk, tsk… Grand Void True Person, Grand Void True Person, and look at the Feng Yu Die *you’ve* raised! Ugh~~~ …
