‘Master?’
Upon hearing the word “Master,” Dongfang Qingwei raised an eyebrow.
What does this mean?
She had met everyone from the eldest disciple to Chu Fan’s newly accepted fourth disciple, Lin Anlan.
So what was this sudden appearance of someone calling him Master?
A fifth disciple?
She hadn’t heard him mention it.
Moreover, the girl before her—Dongfang Qingwei could tell at a glance that she was no ordinary person.
An extreme ice-type constitution; the air she exhaled carried faint ice particles; the moment she opened the door, the temperature in the room dropped a few degrees.
On second thought, forget Chen Qianchi—even Shen Yuying, her eldest disciple, might not get the better of her.
You’re telling me she’s a new disciple he recently accepted?
It would be more believable to say she’s his illegitimate daughter.
“Chu Lingshuang? Why are you here?”
Just then, Chen Qianchi, now dressed, walked out from inside.
Though she acted somewhat submissive in front of Chu Fan, she never backed down an inch in front of his disciples.
Instead, she spoke in a calm, matter-of-fact tone: “I came on orders from the Sect Leader to discuss the lineup for the sect tournament with Master.”
‘No way!’
Hearing the name Chu Lingshuang, Dongfang Qingwei’s expression flickered with shock.
What did she just say?
What did Chen Qianchi call her?
Chu Lingshuang, right?
It was Chu Lingshuang, wasn’t it?
What’s her surname?
Say it again—what’s her surname?
This is bad.
Dongfang Qingwei really felt this was bad.
Liang Yixue’s meridians were naturally blocked, making cultivation impossible; she could only assist Chu Fan as a pharmacist.
His other disciples were definitely incapable of producing a child with an extreme ice constitution.
Which meant…
That bastard Chu Fan has another woman outside?!
I!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dongfang Qingwei spewed every curse word she knew in her heart.
After that, her heart felt clean.
She began to calmly face what might be the reality.
“If that’s the case, Qianchi, you go on ahead.”
“But Master…”
Chen Qianchi was extremely uneasy about leaving Chu Fan alone with her, even if there was also an unfamiliar person.
After all, this was the woman who had once pierced through Chu Fan with a single sword strike.
How could she be at ease?
“Be good, go on.”
Chu Fan patted her head, calming her a little.
“…Fine…”
Though she walked away reluctantly, as she passed Chu Lingshuang, she deliberately slowed her pace and whispered: “If you dare disrespect Master, I’ll make sure you die without a complete corpse.”
“That depends on whether you have the skill.”
They brushed past each other, sparks flying.
Chu Lingshuang would never disrespect Chu Fan, but she didn’t want to appear weak by yielding to Chen Qianchi’s feelings.
So she wouldn’t show weakness in front of her, and she didn’t want Chu Fan to think she was the type to be afraid of someone her own age.
Among her peers, she was confident she was invincible.
Originally, she hadn’t wanted to go all out against peers her age…
But unfortunately, her talent was too outstanding, and combined with the Bingxin Yingyue Sword Art that Chu Fan had taught her—a sword art that matched her perfectly—even at the Sixth Realm, she could already cross a full major realm to fight enemies.
If she could really cultivate to the Ninth Realm, she believed she would become a giant in the world, if not the strongest.
At the very least, she would never lose to the likes of Shen Yuying—that much Chu Lingshuang firmly believed.
After Chen Qianchi left, Chu Fan gestured for the two to sit around the wooden table.
Chu Lingshuang quickly chose the seat next to Chu Fan and sat down.
Ye Liuli, too lazy to compete with her, naturally sat across from them.
Once seated, Dongfang Qingwei, still inside Chu Fan, didn’t know what to say, so she simply continued the previous topic.
As they chatted, Chu Lingshuang felt something strange.
Today, her Master seemed different from usual.
Was it that he wasn’t keeping her at arm’s length, or that he smiled more often?
In any case, facing him today felt much easier, and she even lost track of time.
Meanwhile, on the other side, when Shen Yuying saw only Chen Qianchi return, she frowned slightly.
“Qianchi? You’re back alone? Where’s Master?”
“No idea.” Chen Qianchi’s tone was extremely impatient.
And understandably so—such a perfect opportunity had almost succeeded, only to be ruined by an outsider for no reason.
If it had been Shen Yuying deliberately sabotaging, she could have accepted it, but this was pure bad luck.
All she could do was blame her misfortune; there was no one to reason with.
That’s why she was so angry.
Sitting down on a stool, Chen Qianchi leaned over the table, wrapped her arms in a circle, buried her face in them, and brooded silently.
Seeing her like this, Chu Fan smiled inwardly.
He was well aware of Chen Qianchi’s temperament.
Probably she had tried to do something to Dongfang Qingwei, got rejected, and was told to come back and cool off.
That would explain her mood.
It meant the girl still had some conscience, not laying a hand on her own disciple—worth praising.
But why hadn’t Dongfang Qingwei come back yet?
Though a little curious, Chu Fan didn’t dwell on it and decided to wait for her return.
With her high cultivation, even if something happened, there was no need to worry.
What he failed to notice was that beside him, Shen Yuying had become completely still, not even blinking.
Behind her, a nearly transparent mass of energy slowly pulled away from her body and soared into the sky.
Soul Projection was a very dangerous technique.
Not only during cultivation did it risk the three souls and seven spirits crushing each other, leading to complete destruction, but even more dangerous was after the soul had left the body.
Once a cultivator’s soul left their body, the original body became a completely inactive, corpse-like existence.
And if the projected soul was attacked, there was no longer a physical body to cushion the blow; the attack directly struck the three souls and seven spirits.
Furthermore, the soul itself suffered a sharp reduction in both offensive and defensive capabilities, only a third of normal.
Thus, Soul Projection had long fallen out of use.
Even Chu Fan himself never used it, and he naturally didn’t know that Shen Yuying knew this technique.
Shen Yuying had learned it by chance, practicing it in secret from Chu Fan, because she liked the sense of security that came with being fully prepared and leaving nothing to chance.
Although Chu Fan had known for a long time that Shen Yuying had changed after that incident, becoming more diligent and calculating, learning many things even he didn’t know, and mastering more spells than he did—
He still didn’t know that she would even use such a dangerous technique as Soul Projection.
In Chu Fan’s knowledge, only Dongfang Qingwei likely knew this technique, and she could use it more safely and proficiently, since she was a soul-refining cultivator with a soul strength on a different level.
Yet despite its danger, Shen Yuying still used it.
Her soul flew through the air, appearing preoccupied.
After confirming her direction, she turned and sped straight toward Chu Fan’s room.
At the same time, in the room, Dongfang Qingwei.
She had already sensed a familiar spiritual energy fluctuation approaching via Soul Projection.
This genuinely surprised her.
She knew this wasn’t something Chu Fan had taught her.
First, he didn’t know the technique himself; second, he would never let his disciple take such a huge risk to learn such an impractical spell that only traded life-threatening danger for unknown intelligence.
I never expected this little girl, Shen Yuying, to learn such a rare technique behind her Master’s back.
Dongfang Qingwei couldn’t help but silently add more points in her mind for the girl.
But judging by this, Chen Qianchi had already returned to them without exposing what happened here.
If she had, Shen Yuying would have just come over directly, and Chu Fan would have followed.
Since she came alone, it meant Shen Yuying suspected something and wanted to verify it herself.
Thinking this, Dongfang Qingwei decided on something.
Since the little girl was so suspicious, she would have some fun teasing her.
After all, suspicious people were the most fun to tease.
With that thought, Dongfang Qingwei changed seats, sitting between Ye Liuli and Chu Lingshuang.
Then, raising both hands, she reached out to either side.
One arm around each of their shoulders, Dongfang Qingwei smiled like a seasoned playboy and said: “You are both my wings. I won’t let you get hurt.”