Lu Li was getting a headache from his two troublemaking disciples.
He turned sideways to shield Gu Qingying behind him, then sternly reprimanded Gong Shangyu who stood to the side.
“Bai Yu! Qingkong is your senior brother. Mind your manners! Since Senior Sister Duan already gifted the treasured gourd to Qingkong, it is rightfully his—how could you try to snatch it from him?”
“Hmph… Who bullied him, anyway?”
Gong Shangyu was so infuriated by Gu Qingying that she stomped her foot, pointing at Gu Qingying, who was now hiding behind Lu Li and making funny faces at her in secret.
“Look at him, Master! The way he’s gloating! He was the one enjoying the show the most just now!”
Lu Li turned to look, only to see Gu Qingying standing behind him with a dead-serious face.
But as soon as he turned away, Gu Qingying instantly resumed his arrogant act and stuck his tongue out at Gong Shangyu from across Lu Li’s back.
Although Gong Shangyu was furious at the sight, there was simply nothing she could do about Gu Qingying.
In the end, she decided not to argue further with this black-hearted, purple-eyed freak.
Instead, she plastered on a cheeky grin and tugged on Lu Li’s other sleeve.
“Alright, alright, I know I was wrong, okay?”
“Hehe~ Master, let’s not talk about that anymore. Just tell me, after seeing Senior Aunt Duan lose her temper like that, did you feel better? Wasn’t it satisfying?”
Seeing the crafty, eager look in her eyes, Lu Li couldn’t help but recall Duan Xueyan’s flustered, nearly out-of-control demeanor in the Merit Hall earlier.
The corner of his mouth twitched slightly.
In the end, he couldn’t resist and gave a light, ambiguous hum in response to Gong Shangyu.
“Mm… Well, just a little, I suppose.”
“Hmph! I knew it!”
Gong Shangyu’s eyes lit up like a sly fox who’d just claimed victory.
“Then Master… Since I’ve done such a great job, earned you some face, and even helped vent your anger, how do you plan to reward me?”
“Hehehe… How about teaching me the Supreme Evil-Slaying Sword Formation you used at the Zhao residence?”
Lu Li looked at the look of greedy expectation on Gong Shangyu’s fair little face, and suddenly showed a warm, gentle smile as soft as the spring breeze.
But for some reason, that smile made Gong Shangyu feel a chill down her spine.
Lu Li slowly reached into his storage pouch and, after a moment, brought out a Yutong.
He handed it over to Gong Shangyu with a beaming smile.
Puzzled, Gong Shangyu took the jade slip.
But after reading its contents, her bright smile froze in place, as if she had been struck by lightning.
At the top of the jade slip, five large characters formed from spiritual energy stood out boldly…
Rules of the Void Spirit Sect!
Immediately afterward, she heard her master’s gentle yet unmistakably authoritative voice.
“Hehe… A reward? Of course there’s a reward. Your reward is to copy these sect rules, word for word, one hundred times after you get back. It’ll help calm you down, rein in that unruly merchant’s child temper of yours, and keep you from causing trouble and disrespecting your elders in the future.”
“Ah!? Master…”
Gong Shangyu looked at the jade slip in her hand, which suddenly felt as heavy as a thousand pounds.
She then slowly looked up at her master’s kindly smiling face, and glanced at Gu Qingying, who was covering his mouth and snickering at her misfortune.
A wail of utter despair tore from her throat.
“Ah? Master! Copy the sect rules a hundred times? How is that a reward? This is outright torture!”
Her eyes darted, and she sidled up to Lu Li with a pitiful look, pleading.
“Hehehe… Master, isn’t a hundred times a bit much? How about we bargain a little—just four times, okay?”
Lu Li completely ignored his second disciple’s wails and pleas for mercy.
He straightened his face, and casually instructed Gu Qingying behind him, “Qingkong, take your junior brother back to Duanqing Peak to copy the rules! Remember… one hundred times! If he copies even one less, I’ll punish you too!”
“Yes, Master.”
Gu Qingying lowered his head and replied in a tone of reverent fear.
Then, as if mocking her, she lightly patted Gong Shangyu on the shoulder, “Come on, Second Junior Brother, let’s go back and copy the rules.”
Seeing this, Gong Shangyu had nothing left to say.
She could only glare fiercely at Gu Qingying.
Having settled his two disciples, Lu Li then prepared to head to the sect’s internal Fangshi, planning to buy some pills and Herbs using Ling Stones and contribution points.
Noticing that their master wasn’t planning to return with them, Gu Qingying quickly asked, “Master, aren’t you coming back with us?”
Lu Li replied bluntly, “You two go on ahead! I’m going to the Fangshi first to buy some pills and Herbs. Once I’m done, I’ll come back on my own.”
As if suddenly remembering something, Lu Li turned serious and addressed his two young disciples with grave solemnity.
“After I leave, you two better go straight back to Duanqing Peak and behave yourselves. Copy your punishment, train when you should! Don’t wander around and cause trouble! If I find out you didn’t go back and started stirring up trouble in the sect while I was gone, just wait till I get back and see how I deal with the both of you!”
With those words, Lu Li turned into a stream of light and vanished without a trace, leaving only Gong Shangyu and Gu Qingying standing there, still feigning obedience and fear.
As they watched their master’s afterimage disappear into the sky, the two girls who had just been acting all respectful and well-behaved instantly revealed their true selves.
The respectful and fearful look on Gu Qingying’s face faded away like the tide.
She lifted her foot and gave Gong Shangyu’s calf a not-so-light kick, her tone laced with schadenfreude and a hint of urging.
“Hehe~ Let’s go, Second Junior Brother! Stop dawdling, hurry back to copy those rules! One hundred times—enough to keep you busy till the end of days!”
Gong Shangyu hissed in pain, rubbing the spot where she’d been kicked.
But instead of getting more dejected over her punishment, a wicked, sinister smile slowly spread across her face.
She flexed her wrists and fingers with a series of subtle cracking sounds.
Her pink eyes narrowed dangerously as she locked onto Gu Qingying, who was about to walk away.
“Oh ho? So as soon as Master leaves, your little fox tail comes out, huh?”
Gong Shangyu drawled, making no effort to hide her mocking and vengeful intent.
“Back there in front of Master, acting all well-behaved, playing the dutiful senior disciple—really got into character, didn’t you? Even hiding behind Master to tattle on me!”
As she spoke, Gong Shangyu spread her ten fingers wide, making the classic tickling gesture, her face breaking into the kind of sinister grin a big bad wolf would give a little white rabbit.
She then advanced step by step toward Gu Qingying.
“Hehe… Little Junior Sister~ Looks like… you’ve forgotten just how effective your senior sister’s tickling technique is, haven’t you, after living another life?”
“If that’s the case… then let your senior sister give you a proper test. Let’s see if our obedient little Junior Sister is still as ticklish as in your past life!”
“That ‘tea-like’ aura of yours almost knocked me out just now! If I don’t tickle you until you drop the act and beg for mercy today, I won’t be worthy of the surname Gong!”
With that, Gong Shangyu pounced like a leopard, aiming straight for Gu Qingying’s waist and armpits—her most ticklish spots!
Gu Qingying never imagined her second senior sister would attack so suddenly.
Startled, she shrieked, her previous calm and composure shattering instantly.
“Gong Shangyu! You wouldn’t dare—!”
Her purple eyes widened as she screamed and twisted to dodge, bouncing like a frightened rabbit.
“Ahahaha! Just watch me—!”
Missing her first strike only made Gong Shangyu even more enthusiastic.
With her longer limbs, she kept up the chase, hands outstretched.
“Hmph… You little brat, stop running! Today, your senior sister’s got to clean house for Master and cure you of that ‘green tea’ habit!”
“Ah! Stay away! Go away!”
Gu Qingying staggered backwards, desperately defending herself.
Her pretty face flushed with embarrassment and panic, gone was the smug satisfaction from before.
She tried to block Gong Shangyu’s hands, but her fear of being tickled made her movements clumsy and chaotic.
Thus, the two girls, dressed in men’s clothing, chased and teased each other all the way up the mountain path to Duanqing Peak, their fluttering robes startling several Ling Sparrows from the roadside.
Gong Shangyu’s wicked grin of triumph and Gu Qingying’s shrill, desperate pleas for mercy blended together, adding a burst of chaotic life and energy to the quiet mountain woods.
As for copying the sect rules a hundred times?
Well…
That could at least wait until Gong Shangyu had punished her black-hearted little junior sister to her heart’s content!