34 The Pride of Heaven (Part 5)

◎It is because he has deep feelings for me. ◎

Lou Tinglan stood still, a long silence spreading between him and Lou Yi.

Seeing that he did not answer, Lou Yi's displeasure intensified, and his voice suddenly turned stern: "Do you know what the crime is for trespassing on the tower's forbidden gate? Or did you knowingly commit the crime!"

Lou Tinglan's silence was not because she had nothing to say, but because she had a thousand thoughts stuck in her chest and didn't know where to begin.

For example, Lou Yi did not, as Lou Shuang claimed, imprison innocent cultivators in the Nascent Soul Realm Tower Prison out of personal favoritism.

Because the Nascent Soul Realm Tower Prison imprisons very few cultivators, and even vengeful spirits are few and far between.

But in the deepest part of the tower, there dwells a vengeful spirit that has set up numerous restrictions. What kind of being is it, formed from countless intertwined streams of resentment?

The uncle who had taught him and raised him since childhood seemed like an indescribable stranger to him. If he could, he would rather believe that Lou Yi was completely unaware of this.

Behind them, a voice broke the silence between the two. Ran Qinghe calmly said:

“Tinglan… naturally came to find me.”

She deliberately used an intimate tone, and that short sentence only added fuel to the fire.

"Tinglan, what's going on? Why is she here?" Lou Yi was both shocked and angry.

Shockingly, his good nephew had also learned to protect others. It would have been one thing if it were anyone else, but it was Ran Qinghe, who was always against him.

What angered him was that Ran Qinghe truly treated his Discipline Hall's Tower of Babel as his own home, coming and going as he pleased.

She saw through Lou Yi's thoughts and said dismissively:

“Old man, you’re really strange. When I didn’t want to go into the Tower Prison, you insisted on making me go in. Now that I’m just going in to see my brothers and sisters, you’re acting like this again.”

Lou Yi's spiritual energy surged, and an invisible pressure poured out as he angrily said, "Trying to treat vengeful spirits as brothers and sisters? I think you really don't know anything."

She couldn't see through Lou Yi's level of power; she only felt that the pressure was about to shatter her internal organs.

Forced to kneel on one knee, she continued to taunt, "The vengeful spirits were also cultivators in life, why can't I recognize them as sisters?"

"Since the hall master harbors such deep resentment towards me, when he dies and his spirit dissipates, he will likely become nothing more than a vengeful ghost. What difference will there be between us then?"

However, those last words were like a poisoned needle, precisely piercing Lou Yi's most hidden pain. His eyes turned bloodshot, and he roared, "Insolence!"

The palm strike came down with such force that it was almost fatal.

A white shadow flashed by, and Lou Tinglan stood firmly in front of her, his voice calm and composed, "Uncle."

With just two words, the stance is clear.

Lou Yi was furious and pointed behind him: "Lou Tinglan, are you going to disobey your uncle today because of this Ran Qinghe?"

Ran Qinghe peeked out from behind Lou Tinglan and said, "Tinglan fell in love with me at first sight and can't forget me. Wherever I go, he goes. If I die, he naturally won't want to live alone."

The absurd claim acted like a bucket of ice water, slightly calming Lou Yi's anger. His gaze was fixed on Lou Tinglan's face, trying to find a flaw in her expressionless countenance. After a moment of composure, he asked:

"Tinglan, tell the truth, is it because Ran Qinghe forcibly broke into the Tower Prison that you had to chase after her into the Tower Prison in order to stop her?"

Lou Tinglan parted his thin lips slightly and said, "No, it's me..."

However, Ran Qinghe interrupted him halfway through his sentence: "Old man, you've got it backwards. It was Lou Tinglan who insisted on entering the Tower Prison. I just went in with him to take a look."

Upon hearing this, Lou Yi began to mentally reconstruct the complete truth.

His good nephew, in order to protect Ran Qinghe who had secretly entered the prison, did not hesitate to lie to him.

Seeing that Lou Tinglan was about to speak up for her again, Lou Yi waved her hand and snorted coldly:

"Alright, you don't need to say anything more." He said with great distress, "You've really lost your mind over Ran Qinghe."

"Go to the solitary confinement room and think carefully about what you should and shouldn't do."

"As for Ran Qinghe..."

Lou Tinglan was about to get up again, but Ran Qinghe suddenly grabbed her shoulder and pulled her down.

She spoke eloquently: "It was the Hall Master who sentenced me to three years in prison for the Tower of Babel. Now I am just going back to serve my three-year sentence, but he stopped me. What wrong have I done? No matter what the fault is, it is Lou Tinglan who should not have stopped me."

Lou Yi was furious and uttered three consecutive "you, you, you"s, but he couldn't find a single logical flaw in her statement.

He could only be angry at Lou Tinglan for her lack of self-control, "Look at her, look at her, she's determined to pin all the blame on you, and what's wrong with you?"

He was truly at a loss with Ran Qinghe. "Fine, fine, since you consider the Tower of Babel your home, then get back now."

Ran Qinghe said innocently, "But Lou Tinglan said that he would take over the remaining two years and nine months of his sentence. He is so devoted to me, I can't let him down. Hall Master, don't you agree?"

Lou Tinglan pinched her palm, seemingly to warn her not to go too far.

He then added, "I am willing to accept the punishment from the Hall Master, but Ran Qinghe's sentence has been served and there will be an academy selection in half a month, so please forgive me, Hall Master."

Lou Yi squeezed his eyes shut, pretending not to see their little actions. They dared to do this right under his nose; he couldn't even imagine what they were doing behind his back.

He glanced at Lou Tinglan's forehead, which was only hastily wrapped with a strip of cloth. It wouldn't be like this unless she was seriously injured. He felt sorry for her, but then thought, well, she'll be gone in half a month anyway.

Thinking of this, he finally calmed down a bit, and then he couldn't help but admonish Lou Tinglan a few words before turning his sleeves and leaving.

Lou Tinglan said, "Why won't you let me admit the truth?"

Ran Qinghe said matter-of-factly, "It was my fault that you were caught red-handed by the old man, so naturally I should take the blame." This was only one reason. On the other hand, she felt that since Lou Tinglan had gone to the Tower Prison repeatedly, he must have some secret he didn't want to tell anyone.

She smiled brightly, "But more importantly, I need your help."

Lou Tinglan asked seriously, "What is it?"

She said without any politeness, "Lend me one of your swallows from the Discipline Hall."

Lou Tinglan understood: "Is it Xi Qi?"

Ran Qinghe asked, "How did you find out?"

It's only been half a day since the spiritual vein was blown up last night, and he just infiltrated the Tower of Babel prison alone. How could he know that she suspected Xi Qi? It's really strange.

Lou Tinglan said, "It's just speculation at the moment. However, you don't need to worry. I have already sent Tang Zhongfeiyan to his residence to closely monitor his every move."

From the moment she said "no," he had already connected the clues from the past.

Ran Qinghe clapped her hands. "That makes things much easier."

However, as she was leaving, he grabbed her sleeve.

Lou Tinglan had solved a major problem for her, and she patiently asked, "Is there anything else?"

He lowered his eyes slightly and pulled a storage bag from his sleeve. "Here are some medicines. The academy selection is imminent, and any injury cannot be treated hastily."

Ran Qinghe initially didn't take this little incident to heart, but unexpectedly, she emptied the contents of the bag onto the couch and examined them closely: Jade Bone Regenerating Pill, Dragon Blood Bodhi Vine, Heart-Clearing Jade Dew Pill...

Each item was a rare and precious healing artifact. Her back stiffened; he must have given her his entire fortune.

*

"Xi Qi".

Ran Qinghe smashed open the courtyard gate with a single palm strike, leaving only two bamboo curtains hanging pitifully in mid-air.

Xi Qi sat upright in the main hall, holding a celadon teapot in both hands, letting the boiling water slowly fall, as if undisturbed.

Ran Qinghe sat down directly opposite him, her pure black eyes fixed on him.

In just a moment, she knew the answer: it was him!

He smiled faintly and said, "Qinghe, I still prefer you to call me Senior Brother Xi. That way, it's as if we're still in Qingxiao."

"I will teach you sword techniques, and you will train with me."

Ran Qinghe curled her lips into a mocking smile.

“Such days are indeed good. You exorcise demons, and I take the blows for you. You uphold justice, and I am the one who is cursed for you. In every single instance, the good reputation falls on your head, and I bear the infamy for you.”

"You mean, you want me to go back to those days?"

ridiculous.

At that time, she naively believed that Qingxiao was different from Fanren Valley. All the people in Qingxiao were noble gentlemen and bright moons. Therefore, when Xi Shu put on a haughty demeanor as a hermit and said he wanted to take her into his sect, she did not have the slightest doubt.

But time will tell.

Although Xi Shu was in Qingxiao, he was studying medicine. She became his disciple, and after only three months, he used various excuses to urge her to go deep into the poisonous miasma land to obtain medicinal ingredients for him.

After all, she was born with a spiritual body, which made her use it much easier than other disciples.

Although she knew that Xi Shu didn't take her seriously, even the little bit of resources he let slip through his fingers was enough for a cultivator in the Mortal Valley to accumulate in half a lifetime.

She endured it all, because although the world is vast, there aren't many places that can accommodate her.

Until that time, when Xi Shu ordered her to sneak into the poisonous miasma land to retrieve the heart of the ghost miasma, he knew that she was only at the Golden Core stage, and that going there would be tantamount to sending her to her death.

It was at that moment that she suddenly felt utterly bored.

The Valley of Mortals is the same, and so is Azure Sky. They're both muddy ground; how can you possibly compare them?

Xi Qi seemed to understand that she didn't like this topic, and then said:

"Do you still remember Lingyu? She liked you very much. When she went back, she kept asking me why Master expelled you from the sect because of a small spiritual vein?"

“I told her that Master never did that, and that he had always been hoping for her to come back.”

Ran Qinghe: "Hoping I die?"

"The Netherworld Sea, the Mire Forest, the Ghostly Miasma Land... Doesn't he find it laughable that he sent a mere Golden Core cultivator to deal with them?"

Xi Qi: "Master, he..."

"Enough!" If it weren't for Fei Yan from the Discipline Hall being there, she wouldn't have had the patience to waste words with him.

"Last night, the Snowfall Peak spiritual vein was your doing, wasn't it?"

Xi Qi slowly sipped her tea. "Junior Sister is joking. Why would I do such a thing?"

“I don’t understand this either, but you deliberately left my scent there. Only you could pull off such a clumsy frame-up.”

Xi Qi's smile froze: "I don't understand what Junior Sister is saying."

"I have drawn countless talismans for you in Qingxiao. What, you think I can't see through your disguise of my talismans to frame me?"

"Does Senior Brother think he concealed his aura very well, leaving no trace in that place?"

Xi Qi's hand, hidden beneath her sleeve, tightened. Her certainty meant she must have discovered something.

Since that's the case, he simply admitted it frankly:

"Yes, but I just want Qinghe to go back to Qingxiao. Yunya Academy is not suitable for you; it's full of lunatics..."

"Shh—", Ran Qinghe raised an eyebrow, signaling him to shut up.

Now that she's admitted it, things are much easier. She raised her hand and summoned a swallow, which fluttered its wings and affectionately pecked at her hand.

She stroked the fur on its back and released it into the air.

"Remember, you must be in the most bustling place."