The lovers in the small city of Tianshuang Kingdom naturally didn’t know that Chen Yu got a free overseas trip because of Lu Xingzhou’s casual prank. Even if they knew, they could do nothing but pray that everything would be alright.

Early in the morning, Ye Tinglan, her mood having calmed down all night, went next door to find Lu Xingzhou. The first thing she saw was Lu Xingzhou meditating cross-legged by the bed. His soul injury seemed to have almost recovered; even if there were some lingering effects, more rest would naturally heal them, and no further deliberate treatment was needed.

The morning sun shone on him, making him look much more圣洁 (shèngjié – sacred and pure), and she suddenly felt that the intimacy of the past few days was like a dream. Especially yesterday, Ye Tinglan couldn’t recall what her state of mind was when she was eating cherries at that time, and how she had agreed to it… Now that his injuries were healed, the excuse of “healing” was gone. Would the illusion of these past few days also dissipate, returning to square one?

Ye Tinglan knew it was unlikely. Even if this man disappeared from the world right now, she probably wouldn’t be able to forget him when she returned to Tianyao Holy Land for cultivation. According to the cultivation theories she learned since childhood, one should 太上忘情 (tàishàng wàngqíng – transcend emotions and forget love). She followed the Path of Forgetting Emotions, while Yuan Muyu was more extreme, following the Path of Severing Emotions. Regardless of whose path was correct, it seemed that neither of them had succeeded yet. After all, they were still far from the true peak of cultivation. The so-called 超品 (chāopǐn – transcendent rank) in this life was only considered mid-tier in the broader definition of cultivation. Mid-tier meant there was still a long way for everyone to explore, and whether it would lead to success or failure could not be determined at this moment.

Let Yuan Muyu figure out her own internal struggles. For herself, forgetting emotions didn’t mean being heartless. She had fallen in love, and there was no need to deny it. She would simply enjoy the good times with him, and she was indeed very happy. As for when she would forget and finally feel no ripples, perhaps that would be when she attained the Dao. She once told her disciple to “let nature take its course,” and this was what she meant. Her disciple hadn’t encountered it yet, but she herself had already entered the game, so she would play it.

On the path of cultivation, Ye Tinglan had always been consistent, and her understanding had always been clear, seemingly much clearer than her sister, who didn’t know what she wanted to do. But the problem was… when would she be able to forget? What if she could never forget? And before that, what if he wanted to do the things from last night, or even go further? Should she also let nature take its course?

While she was lost in thought, Lu Xingzhou’s eyes moved slightly and slowly opened. A flash of divine light flickered in his eyes, a sign of entering the inner chambers of cultivation. In Ye Tinglan’s judgment, this meant he was almost ready to attempt a breakthrough to the third rank.

So she said, “Your cultivation speed is unprecedented. While it is certainly aided by the Immortal Bone and… and by dual cultivation, your personal talent is also top-notch. For more than ten years before, you were truly held back.”

Lu Xingzhou grinned. “Thank you for the compliment, Madam.”

Ye Tinglan no longer reacted much to the title of “Madam.” Instead, she smiled and walked over, rubbing his head like a puppy. “Cultivation requires seizing every moment. The sooner you break through, the more beneficial it will be for your future. For example, a secret realm that cannot be explored now can be explored after a breakthrough. But if you delay, others will get there first, and you will lose out on opportunities. This is what is meant by ‘one step slow, every step slow.'”

Feeling her unchanging gentle indulgence, Lu Xingzhou relaxed slightly. Her usual “motherly” lecturing had become her cute point. He smiled and said, “Then, Teacher, help me break through to the third rank.”

His tone carried a hint of coquettishness, making Ye Tinglan smile. Her head-rubbing turned into rubbing his face with both hands. “Does your cultivation method tell you that cultivation relies on others helping you?”

“It didn’t before, but now I have Teacher,” Lu Xingzhou said as if it were obvious.

Ye Tinglan’s smile stiffened. “I’m telling you these things to urge you to cultivate diligently, not to always put your mind on how to take advantage of women and how to push your luck! Look, after leaving you alone all night yesterday, your injury is almost healed, and your cultivation has also slightly increased…”

Lu Xingzhou mumbled, “Are you sure this effect isn’t because of the yin and yang harmony with Madam last night?”

Ye Tinglan: “…” It seemed to have some effect. After all, in terms of healing, his injury was only to his soul, and the harmonious progress in cultivation was still working.

“So, isn’t Teacher’s urging also urging this…” Lu Xingzhou wrapped his arms around her, pulling the big sister who was rubbing his face into a hug.

Ye Tinglan, exasperated, pressed his head against her chest. “Urging, I’ll urge you to death!”

Lu Xingzhou waved his hands at his sides. “Mmm mmm mmm…”

“Do you have something to say?”

“Mmm.”

“Don’t say it.”

“…” Lu Xingzhou quieted down and simply held her waist, motionless.

Ye Tinglan looked down, her eyes gradually softening with a hint of seduction. She bit her lower lip and said, “Don’t just stand there. How did you move yesterday? Move again.”

Lu Xingzhou: “?” How could he move when she was almost suffocating him? Was she talking about moving his teeth? Oh, maybe it was. It couldn’t be his tongue; what could his tongue do with her clothes on? So Lu Xingzhou turned his head slightly and bit her gently.

Ye Tinglan let out another soft muffled groan, and the hand holding his head softened by a third. Ye Tinglan truly didn’t want to admit it, but at this moment, she had to admit that she truly had desires. In long-term strict self-discipline, she thought they were extinguished, thought they were gone, but it turned out they were merely suppressed and never faded. Once they rebounded, they seemed to be more intense than for ordinary people. At least the young mistress in the erotic novel didn’t act as proactively as she did.

Forget it, what was there to compare between a young mistress and herself? What was wrong with having a young man serve her? Just as she was thinking this, Dugu Qingli’s voice came from outside: “Shi… uncle, are you there?”

Ye Tinglan dropped Lu Xingzhou as if electrocuted. She looked down at the not-so-obvious damp spot on her chest, then sternly walked out the door. “Why are you back so quickly?”

Dugu Qingli didn’t notice the damp spot, but she was becoming more accustomed to the concept of her master becoming her “shishu.” “You’re giving me a stern look… I did you a favor by not bringing back an Anuoyi, alright?” Anyway, she had been expelled from the sect, so she didn’t care.

So her face was even more stern than her master’s. She replied expressionlessly, “Are you annoyed that I ruined your good time?”

Ye Tinglan said, “What are you thinking? We were discussing cultivation, and you interrupted us.”

Dugu Qingli looked at her master suspiciously; her master’s expression didn’t change. How could this “little white hair” know that her master had changed so much? Instead, she felt a bit apologetic. “Sorry. But when I went to Xiazhou, Ji Wenchuan was already leaving. He only said a few words before he left, so I didn’t delay and came back earlier.”

Lu Xingzhou peeked his head out from behind Ye Tinglan. “What did he say?”

“He said King Yan personally ordered the Yīnjīgong (Yin Corpse Sect) to listen to you.”

Ye Tinglan subtly squeezed the man’s hand, making it crackle. Lu Xingzhou’s expression twitched; he didn’t know what had happened. Yuan Muyu had been furious at her sister on the “phone” before, so how did things turn around and get better? But as for Yuan Muyu scheming against him, Lu Xingzhou never even considered that. Regardless of what happened between them, his trust that she would never do anything to harm him remained unshaken.

“Since that’s the case, there’s no time to lose. I’ll go contact Old Man Yinfeng.” Lu Xingzhou hesitated, then smiled apologetically. “Madam, please don’t come. I’m afraid you’ll scare him to death. I’ll go by myself.”

Ye Tinglan was a bit worried. “Do you know where Old Man Yinfeng is?”

“Since he’s in charge of the Tianshuang Kingdom affairs, he definitely won’t be too far from Yingyue City, the core of Tianshuang Kingdom. I’ll send out the Yanluo Hall signal near Yingyue City, and the Yanluo Hall people will know.”

“Since that’s the case, Qingli will accompany you as a guard. If you find anything amiss, immediately send a message. I’ll go to Yingyue City to inspect the situation; it’s also along the way.”

Dugu Qingli pointed to her nose, wanting to say something but not saying it. “You really trust me… no, you really trust him. You really let me be alone with him!”

Ye Tinglan looked at her strangely. “What’s wrong, niece? Do you have a problem?”

“No… no.” Dugu Qingli said expressionlessly, “Then let’s go, Shishen (Master’s wife).”

Lu Xingzhou was torn between laughter and tears. He took out his wheelchair and sat on it, preparing to fly. Dugu Qingli glanced at him and tragically realized that the thought running through her mind was “Oh no, Master is going to sit on it.” Then she thought it shouldn’t be the case; the wheelchair was Lu Xingzhou’s own flying tool, what did it have to do with Master? Master herself could fly… Just as she was blaming herself for thinking ill of her master, she saw Ye Tinglan very naturally sit on the man’s lap. “Let’s go.”

Dugu Qingli turned into an ice sculpture, watching as the wheelchair flew into the sky and became a small dot. The ice sculpture slowly cracked and then transformed into a sword light, chasing after them. “I can’t have this master anymore.”

The journey to Yingyue City wasn’t too far. Before long, Ye Tinglan reluctantly left the man’s arms, looking back and waving goodbye, full of worry as she instructed her disciple, “If anything happens, crush the jade talisman immediately. Remember that.”

Dugu Qingli really didn’t want to talk. “You weren’t this nervous when you sent me out for training.” Seeing her master enter Yingyue City to find Su Yuan, Dugu Qingli finally let out a sigh of relief, her shoulders slumping a bit. She glared at Lu Xingzhou. “Are you satisfied?”

Lu Xingzhou was stunned for a moment, not immediately understanding. “Satisfied with what?” “I am indeed very satisfied that I could win over the top person in the world, but that shouldn’t be what the ‘little white hair’ is asking…”

But then Dugu Qingli said, “You pursued me to no avail, so you turned to my master to make me furious. Are you satisfied now?”

Lu Xingzhou: “?” “You and Yuan Muyu are ‘Sleeping Dragon and Phoenix Chick,’ you two should sit at the same table.” But then again, when Xiao Yan pursued Yun Yun back then, it basically satisfied this mindset of the readers, right? Men… However, Xiao Yan had good character and let Nalan Yanran go. Lu Xingzhou felt he wasn’t that good. If he were Xiao Yan, Nalan Yanran wouldn’t have escaped.

So he said, “How is that your master? That’s clearly Yuan Muyu. I knew her much earlier than I knew you.”

Dugu Qingli: “…”

Lu Xingzhou said, “Furthermore, calling her ‘shishu’ is also incorrect. Yuan Muyu has long since ceased to be a Tianyao disciple. You were originally separate, so there’s no issue of seniority.”

Dugu Qingli’s heart skipped a beat. “What are you trying to say?”

Lu Xingzhou looked at her pale face and smiled slightly. “Nothing… Let’s find Old Man Yinfeng first.”

“Swoosh!” The Yanluo Hall’s special fireworks shot into the sky. Dugu Qingli broke out in a cold sweat, feeling as if she had just fought a battle.