“Do you think you won or lost?”
Watching the dazed Yao Xining, a hint of a smile flashed in Jiang Yueliu’s eyes.
Given their level of cultivation, how could they not see that Jiang Tong had held back?
The angle of that sword strike had been perfect, but Jiang Tong’s wrist had flicked slightly at the last moment, causing the blade to brush past Ji Nianxue’s ear.
Perhaps Jiang Tong had hidden it well, but he couldn’t escape her eyes.
“…I lost.” Yao Xining closed her eyes, not attempting to cheat. However, when she reopened them, her gaze toward Jiang Tong was somewhat strange.
“Jiang Yueliu.”
“Yes?”
“Tell me the truth… does Jiang Tong also possess a Sword Fetus?”
Jiang Yueliu looked over, meeting Yao Xining’s burning gaze.
She sighed. “So you noticed?”
“I knew it, I knew it…” Yao Xining took a deep breath, nodding repeatedly. “Jiang Yueliu, no wonder you kept someone others saw as trash by your side for eight whole years. So you knew all along!”
Jiang Yueliu’s expression turned cold. “Yao Xining, watch your mouth. Jiang Tong is not trash.”
“Furthermore, the reason I kept him at Ningyue Cliff isn’t what you think.”
“He really isn’t. I never imagined that someone else besides you would actually have a Sword Fetus…” Yao Xining’s expression was complex, but it couldn’t hide the fervor in her eyes.
She shot a wary look at Jiang Yueliu, who remained unmoved. Jiang Yueliu simply said, “Yao Xining, I know what you’re thinking, but Jiang Tong will never go with you.”
“Your grand plan, your vision… that is merely your own delusion. I will not agree to it.”
“Don’t be so sure.” Yao Xining raised her chin slightly, idly twisting the hem of her dress. “A Sword Fetus… I would be willing to pay any price. Are you really certain he wouldn’t consider it?”
Jiang Yueliu gave a cold laugh. “Jiang Tong isn’t as filthy as you think.”
“Men are all the same. There’s no such thing as ‘wouldn’t consider it.'”
Jiang Yueliu shook her head. “Yao Xining, you really are a lunatic. And a deeply delusional one at that.”
“I’d like to see you suffer for once.” Yao Xining suddenly realized something and looked at Jiang Yueliu with a half-smile.
“If your disciple really becomes my disciple, Jiang Yueliu, wouldn’t you be heartbroken?”
Jiang Yueliu didn’t speak again. Her eyes were cold enough to form frost.
That clear Sword Heart of hers was trembling slightly.
To her, Jiang Tong was not just a disciple. He was also, from 200 years ago, her…
“Master… Sect Master?”
A call pulled Jiang Yueliu’s restless heart back to reality.
Jiang Tong looked at the two of them strangely. Yao Xining gracefully rose and smiled at Jiang Yueliu. “According to our bet, I admit defeat. Jiang Tong can come find me anytime.”
With that, Yao Xining gave Jiang Tong a deep look. He felt his heart tighten under her gaze before the madwoman swayed her hips and departed.
“Master, what did Yao Xining want with you?”
Sitting beside his master, Jiang Tong was curious.
Did Yao Xining feel she had lost face? But he had clearly gone easy on Ji Nianxue to let her win.
Jiang Yueliu said indifferently, “I just made a bet with her on who would win between you and Ji Nianxue.”
“What were the stakes?”
“If Ji Nianxue won, I, as your master, would forbid you from seeing her in the future. If you won…” Jiang Yueliu paused. “Yao Xining said she would grant you any one request, as long as it isn’t too excessive.”
She felt a faint pang of regret. Had she known, she wouldn’t have participated in this pointless bet. ‘Wouldn’t it have been better if Jiang Tong had actually lost?’
It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Jiang Tong; she just feared what schemes that crazy woman might concoct.
“I see.” Jiang Tong lowered his head, lost in thought.
Jiang Yueliu glanced at his expression. “Yao Xining already knows you have a Sword Fetus.”
Jiang Tong’s expression became somewhat odd.
He knew Ji Nianxue’s situation and could roughly guess what that crazy woman Yao Xining wanted. For the future of the Shangyuan Sect, she would do anything.
But the problem was, he didn’t want to be some protective divine beast for the sect.
The master and disciple returned to the mountain in silence. 30 minutes later, Jiang Tong went to the Deacon Hall to collect the Golden Crow Essence Fruit. He then used spirit stones to purchase some medicinal herbs. Back at the courtyard, he sat by the stone table, fiddling with a pill formula.
His master seemed to have gone out, so Jiang Tong laid the herbs out neatly on the table. He counted them; he was missing only one ingredient: Flame Phoenix Essence Blood.
This ingredient wasn’t easy to find. Aside from the upcoming Profound Heaven Secret Realm, he would have to kill a Flame Phoenix himself to collect it.
Whether he could find one was one thing, but even if he did, most Flame Phoenixes were at the Body Integration Realm and possessed divine beast lineages. Even if Jiang Yueliu fought one, it would be a struggle.
‘Wait, the Shangyuan Sect has flourished for so many years; how could they not have any Flame Phoenix Essence Blood?’
Jiang Tong pondered, his finger tapping the tabletop.
Yao Xining said any one request. A portion of Body Integration Realm Flame Phoenix Essence Blood shouldn’t be too excessive, right?
—
“Immortal Jiang.”
A disciple bowed. Jiang Yueliu nodded and walked toward the Library Pavilion.
A very long time ago, her master had left a page of paper inside a certain alchemy book in the Library Pavilion, recording a pill formula to suppress the Cold Soul Jade Body.
Her master had told her that if there was ever an emergency, she should come here, take the formula, and find an alchemist to refine it.
At that time, she was very curious. She asked her master what would happen if it was destroyed, taken, or lost while being kept there.
Her master just patted her head and smiled without saying a word.
Soon after…
Jiang Yueliu’s eyes dimmed, seemingly falling into unpleasant memories.
Counting the books one by one, Jiang Yueliu finally stopped in front of a shelf. She reached out and pulled out the alchemy book from her memory.
However, when she opened the cover, her eyelashes trembled slightly.
The pill formula was gone…
Jiang Yueliu carefully flipped through every single page, but that sheet of paper never appeared.
How could this be? She had checked it not too long ago.
Only one suppression pill remained. As her cultivation improved, the frequency of the Cold Soul Jade Body’s flare-ups gradually increased. Thus, she hadn’t dared to make any progress in her cultivation for a long time.
Although she remembered the ingredients, she had searched for many alchemists over the past 100 years, and all of them were helpless regarding the refining techniques.
And now, the original formula had vanished.
A moment later, Jiang Yueliu lowered her head and laughed at herself.
‘That crazy woman always says her time is running out. Thinking about it now, I might go before her.’
Once the Cold Soul Jade Body flared up at the Body Integration Realm, snow would fall for 100 miles, and all things would be encased in frost.
She would likely die without pain.
Her only regret was that even though she was certain Jiang Tong was her master’s reincarnation, she had only spent thirteen years with him.
Thirteen years was too short for a cultivator.
And 200 years had been far too long for her.
Jiang Yueliu didn’t know how she walked back to the courtyard.
But when she pushed open the gate, she saw Jiang Tong sitting at the stone table, his finger lightly tapping a yellowed, ancient piece of paper.
The table was covered with medicinal herbs.
Jiang Yueliu approached and, noticing something, stopped in place, unable to believe it.
Jiang Tong heard the sound and turned back to smile at her. “Master, you’re back.”
Jiang Yueliu looked at the pill formula, then at the herbs on the table. Her gaze fell on Jiang Tong’s smile, and her nose suddenly felt a bit sore.
‘So, did you already anticipate everything?’
“Yes, I’m back,” Jiang Yueliu said, also smiling at Jiang Tong as she whispered in her heart.
‘Master…’
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