What the hell is going on here?!
Hua Xiran internally screamed. She could not believe what she was seeing in front of her. She rubbed her eyes and opened it again, but the scene stayed the same.
In front of her were Bai Shuying and Hua Qingyan, embracing each other with a smile on their faces, peacefully sleeping. Bai Shuying and Hua Qingyan cried to the point of exhausting themselves, unaware when they both passed out.
This…This?!
Hua Xiran silently stamped her bare right foot onto the ground, then glared at the sleeping Bai Shuying.
You have Meilin, then me, but now my mother as well?! Even if you're half fox, you're still a little temptress!
Hua Xiran thought about the absurd relationship situation.
If Bai Shuying knew Hua Xiran thought this, she would have yelled with injustice, "I'm just an innocent half fox!"
Sigh, forget it.
Hua Xiran smiled warily at the sight of her mother sleeping peacefully.
Hua Xiran knew her mother was pretending to be fine when she was not, but what could she do to help her? Her mother never opened up to her about what happened to her dao companion, but she knew, after all, it was a major event in the sect.
Hua Xiran looked around the garden. "I always believed this garden was her cage, but to think it was because of this garden, she was saved."
Hua Xiran turned her attention back to Bai Shuying and narrowed her eyes. "Ye Mingyue and Xiao Wuji can be handled by Shuying, while I'll take care of Mo Xingyu."
Hua Xiran, as the sect master, investigated the incident of Hua Qingyan's dao companion. "You covered your tracks well, but you would have never thought a mere labor disciple to have evidence."
Hua Xiran pulled out a crystal sphere from her spatial ring and peered inside. Inside the crystal sphere was a scene that made her gag. "Disgusting!"
The crystal sphere was a form of video recording. These crystals were easy to produce and obtain. A labor disciple caught Mo Xingyu in the act years ago, kept the recording to blackmail her in the future, but Hua Xiran intercepted it and offered the labor disciple enough to trade for the crystal sphere.
I need to cleanse my eyes!
Hua Xiran thought, putting the recording crystal away and pulling out two recording crystals from her spatial ring. One, she levitated, recording the scene in front of her, and the other, she watched intently.
The scene that played was the morning Bai Shuying woke up to find her master sleeping next to her. Normally, Hua Xiran did not have the habit of recording things, but it was not until she remembered something from her childhood that she began to understand the value of keeping records.
Her record only started two months ago, and the main focus was on Bai Shuying.
"Ugh…"
Bai Shuying groaned in her sleep as her face was stuffed between Hua Qingyan's two peaks.
Panicking, Hua Xiran quickly vanished. Bai Shuying released her tight grip from Hua Qingyan, but could not get up due to Hua Qingyan tightly holding her. Memories of what happened moments ago flashed through Bai Shuying's mind, making her face turn red.
"Ahh, what did I do?!" Bai Shuying was dying from embarrassment.
Bai Shuying exhaled and inhaled a breath of air to calm her nerves down, but she did not notice that her actions made the sleeping Hua Qingyan blush and wiggle.
Bai Shuying looked up at Hua Qingyan's face and thought.
I said what I needed to say. I'll wait until Elder Hua wakes up.
After a moment, Bai Shuying felt bored and started to close her eyes, placing her head back between Hua Qingyan's two peaks, running her cultivation art, Blooming Lotus. A blue lotus formed under Bai Shuying and Hua Qingyan.
What Bai Shuying did not know was that the Blooming Lotus cultivation art was a very special cultivation technique; after all, it was once used by a person who earned the title of venerable.
The Yin qi from Bai Shuying entered the lotus. The blue, cold Yin qi started to change into a golden, warm Yang qi. The golden Yang qi flowed into Hua Qingyan while Hua Qingyan's Yin qi traveled into the lotus was refined and sent to Bai Shuying. A cycle of energy exchange was created between the two.
A miraculous change started to happen to Hua Qingyan. The wrinkles on her face slowly faded. Her once gray hair turned back into a glossy silver. In the past, Hua Qingyan was known as one of the greatest beauties in the Yin-Yang Sect. After all, how can an ugly mother give birth to a beauty like Hua Xiran?
Hua Qingyan's cultivation that stagnated in the nascent soul ninth-stage started to push forward, the restriction on her realm loosened, increasing the probability of reaching the soul transformation realm.
When one reaches the nascent soul realm, they can resist aging, so Hua Qingyan, who had reached the late stage of the nascent soul realm, appeared as an old woman, baffling many.
People could not help but think.
It's only been a few years, how did you age so much?!
Due to killing her dao companion, Hua Qingyan lost any interest in cultivating, and not using the Yin-Yang Fusion Scripture for years affected her negatively. Not only did her appearance on the outside decline, but she also formed a demon inside her heart.
Now, expressing her pain and releasing her emotions she suppressed for years by confiding in Bai Shuying allowed her to start healing.
For Bai Shuying, changes may not be happening on the outside, but on the inside, a drastic scene was unfolding.
In her dantian, Bai Shuying sat on her lotus cross-legged in meditation. The energy that was taken from Hua Qingyan did not go to her cultivation or demon core. Passing through her lotus, it collected beneath it.
A clear, dark blue puddle started to form with the lotus resting on it as if floating. Minutes passed by slowly, the puddle expanded more and more to the point that calling it a puddle was ridiculous; now it was a lake.
The dantian that was once just a void with a levitating lotus, now has a lake with a lotus floating on it.
…
After sleeping for a long time, Su Meilin opened her eyes to see only a pillow in her arms.
"Hmm, where is Shuying, and master?" Su Meilin rubbed her eyes, looking around the room.
"Yawn!" Su Meilin stretched her arms, making her twin peaks bounce.
She jumped out of bed and looked around the residence for Bai Shuying.
"Where did she go?" Su Meilin pouted.
Su Meilin uncorked the Yin Gourd and drank a few sips of wine. "Shuying does have good taste!"
Earlier in her rush to leave, Bai Shuying forgot to take her Yin Gourd. Curious about the blue gourd, Su Meilin took a sip and became addicted to the cold beverage.
Su Meilin went to the training ground to practice and happened to run into her master, Hua Xiran, attentively staring at a crystal sphere.
"Master, what are you looking at?" Su Meilin curiously asked.
Hua Xiran quickly placed the sphere behind her back and replied, "Nothing, just inspecting an object."
Su Meilin looked at her master for a moment and ignored her odd behavior, thinking.
Master had always been weird.
Hua Xiran, who reached the middle of the soul transformation realm, read Su Meilin's thoughts.
How dare you, little girl, call me weird?!
Hua Xiran thought, offended by Su Meilin.
Upon reaching the Soul Transformation Realm, a cultivator gains the ability to glimpse the unguarded thoughts of weaker minds. Only those versed in mental defense arts, ascended to the Nascent Soul Realm, or wielding rare soul-protecting artifacts could hope to resist such intrusion. Su Meilin, merely a foundation establishment cultivator, devoid of such protections, was helpless against her master.
Su Meilin, oblivious, grinned and pulled out a recording crystal. "Master, look at what I captured!"
Su Meilin excitedly showed off her new treasure. Hua Xiran was curious, decided to look at the video recorded in the sphere, but what she saw stunned her.
In the video, Bai Shuying was performing her sword dance. Hua Xiran had never seen such a beautiful performance before her heart started to beat faster.
"It's amazing, right, master?" Su Meilin said with a smile filled with pride.
"Hmm, Meilin, is it okay if I make a copy?" Hua Xiran asked. She wanted to add this to her new collection.
"Sure! But, master, I know you have some recordings as well. Let's exchange!" Su Meilin said with a cunning glint flashing in her eyes.
Su Meilin was not a fool; she knew her master was interested in Bai Shuying. Before Hua Xiran could hide the recording sphere, Su Meilin saw an image of a sleeping Bai Shuying.
Hua Xiran smiled and proudly took out three spheres, surprising Su Meilin, who only had the one.
Little girl, can you compare with me?
Hua Xiran smuggly thought.
"Hmph, I was in seclusion!" Su Meilin said with a pout.
Su Meilin and Hua Xiran began their exchange, but unknown to Su Meilin, Hua Xiran had another recording sphere she had hidden.
…
After the events that unfolded at the sect meeting, Mo Xingyu was haggard and biting her nails. While the room around her was in chaos, porcelain vases meant for display lay on the ground shattered, and the paintings that adorned the walls were ripped into pieces and spread across the floor.
In front of her sat her two disciples silently with their heads down, not daring to make a sound.
While Mo Xingyu thought.
Why did Su Moyan, Qin Xuan, and Xue Ling help Hua Xiran and Hua Qingyan? What did she offer them?
Mo Xingyu would have never thought that Hua Xiran and Hua Qingyan did not offer them anything, but a charming little fox won their favor.
Ye Mingyue looked at her master, and a hint of coldness flashed in her eyes. "Master, about the author of the book?"
Mo Xingyu, hearing Ye Mingyue's voice, came out of her thoughts and asked, "Oh, did you find anything?"
"Well, I did not find anything except that a new addition to the book was released." Ye Mingyue nervously took out the new book and handed it to Mo Xingyu.
What a useless disciple, can't even find a single person.
Mo Xingyu thought with disdain.
The Task Hall was completely under Elder Ling's control, so which disciple would dare rat out Bai Shuying to offend her?
She snatched the book from Ye Mingyue's hand. Before she read it, she turned her attention to Xiao Wuji.
"You're so useless! You can't even set a duel with the girl. Now I have to put my Yang qi crystal on the line. You better win or otherwise I'll deal with you." Mo Xingyu said with contempt in her voice, while murderous intent flashed across her eyes at the end.
Xiao Wuji did not say anything. He did not expect that before he could act; his master had already set a duel for him, but now, hearing the contempt in her voice, his anger started to rise. He swallowed down his emotions and did not say anything. He felt the murderous intent in his master's eyes.
Mo Xingyu snorted at his behavior and began to read the book while Ye Mingyue silently sat there.
Time passed by, Ye Mingyue and Xiao Wuji were bored, but dared not do anything, afraid to anger their master further.
Mo Xingyu suddenly ripped the book into pieces and yelled, "How dare she?!"
Ye Mingyue and Xiao Wuji were startled by her behavior, neither understood since they did not read the book.
Mo Xingyu felt as if she had been slapped across the face. The evil character with a similar name to her own acted as a seductress, ruining a perfect couple out of her jealousy and desire.
Bai Shuying depicted the character exactly like how Mo Xingyu is. As they say, the truth hurts more than a lie.
Mo Xingyu fumed in rage; she started to stomp on the shredded pieces of the book. Ye Mingyue and Xiao Wuji were surprised, for they had never seen their master behave in such a manner.
After exhausting herself, she noticed the gazes of her two disciples and quickly fixed her clothes, taking a seat again.
"Mingyue, you focus on getting ready for the secret realm and continue investigating this Xiao Bai," Mo Xingyu said, glossing over her previous actions.
Ye Mingyue quickly nodded her head.
Then she turned her attention to Xiao Wuji and narrowed her eyes, "You better beat the girl mercilessly and humiliate her in front of the entire sect."
Mo Xingyu wanted to vent and believed that Bai Shuying, a mortal two months ago, could not beat Xiao Wuji, who has been cultivating since he was eight.
Xiao Wuji was delighted to hear his master's words; after all, it aligned with his fetishes.
"Don't worry, Master, I'll treat her well!" Xiao Wuji said with a big smile.
Ye Mingyue was expressionless, but on the inside, her disgust for her junior brother increased, and memories of the poor female labor disciples flashed through her mind.