"Sister Xue, could it be that Qin Xin... I've already had Father search the entire Great Xia Dynasty, but we haven't found him anywhere!"
"I heard it was Han Yao who had his brother do it!"
"These people deserve to die!"
"Unfortunately, the teachers forbid us from leaving the inner courtyard, so we can only stand here anxiously!"
"I hope Qin Xin will be safe."
The voices of three women talking alternated, and Qin Xin could easily identify them as Qin Xue, Ya Ru, and Mao Ruijin.
"Ahem, ladies, isn't it a bit impolite of you to casually enter other caves?"
Standing outside the pavilion, Qin Xin coughed a few times.
"Ah! Qin Xin! You're back!"
"No!...Don't come in!"
Exclamations of surprise mingled with tense voices emanating from inside the pavilion. If it weren't for the familiar voices, Qin Xin would have thought he had wandered into the wrong place.
Previously, the courtyard that Qin Xue had someone build for her was very small, with only two rooms, almost exactly the same as the courtyard where Qin Xin lived in Tianyuan City. But now it has been built like a pavilion, and the carvings on the railings are also very exquisite.
As a virtuous gentleman, Qin Xin naturally chose to wait quietly in place. After a series of rustling sounds came from the pavilion, he was able to continue.
Three beautiful figures appeared at the entrance of the pavilion. Looking at Qin Xin, who was dressed in a black robe, Qin Xue was stunned when she saw him, and her eyes became a little moist.
"Look, I am Qin Xin's younger brother. Good people are always blessed by heaven. I will surely return safely!"
Wearing a long dress, Mao Ruijin twitched the beauty mark at the corner of her mouth and patted Qin Xue beside her, comforting her.
"Haha, you little rascal, your skin looks even whiter than it has been a while."
Ya Ru, adopting an adult-like tone, strode forward, her pink dress billowing, and patted Qin Xin on the shoulder as she spoke.
"You little rascal, you haven't been stealing anything lately, have you?"
Qin Xin removed the tender flesh that was draped over his shoulder and said with a look of disgust.
"Hmph! You little rascal, how could I be that kind of person!"
Ya Ru pouted and reached out to scratch Qin Xin's hair.
"Ya Ru, stop fooling around!" Qin Xue said softly. Ya Ru immediately stepped back, muttering, "Sister Qin Xue, I'm just teaching this little hooligan a lesson for you. You've suffered a lot because of his disappearance these past few days."
Ya Ru mumbled loudly, as if she was worried that Qin Xin wouldn't hear her.
"Sister Xue, thank you for your hard work."
Facing this only relative in the Eastern Wilderness Academy, the warmth of kinship warmed Qin Xin's heart.
"Sigh! It's all because of me that you've been dragged into this. That Han Yao deserves to die for using such despicable means!" Qin Xue's expression, which had been somewhat sad, suddenly turned angry as she spoke.
"Alright, Sister Xue, don't feel guilty. Now that I'm back, I'll naturally settle accounts with him," Qin Xin said coldly.
“But his brother…” Qin Xue said with some worry.
"So what?" Qin Xin said calmly, then changed the subject, "Sister Xue, I want to ask, how did my cave end end up like this!"
Qin Xin's cave dwelling on the main peak of Kunmen is accessible only to him and Qin Xue, so only Qin Xue can explain the changes that have occurred within the cave dwelling.
"Ya Ru, I told you so. Qin Xin will definitely scold you when he gets back." Qin Xue turned her gaze to Ya Ru, her face showing some helplessness.
"Hmph, how can a small courtyard be enough for all of us? I spent a lot of spiritual energy to renovate this place!" Ya Ru said with a wronged expression.
"If Qin Xin tells the teacher that you've spent all your spiritual energy here, she'll beat you up," Mao Ruijin's confident voice followed.
Faced with the three women's back-and-forth chatter, Qin Xin felt a bit overwhelmed. He left the three of them behind and went into the pavilion, where he found a place to sit down in the living room.
I was just about to close my eyes and rest for a bit, but before I could even sit down properly, the three girls came chattering over again.
"Ahem, aren't you going back to Fan Hua Ge?"
Seeing the three women constantly bothering him, Qin Xin felt his head buzzing.
"Who said we're going back? We're going to be living here for a long time."
Ya Ru sat down on the stool and took out some snacks, eating them as if she had already made this place her home.
"Qin Xin, Fan Hua Ge is not very safe right now, so we can only temporarily rely on you."
While she had always appeared poised and confident, she seemed somewhat hesitant when suggesting that she be staying with Qin Xin. After all, staying in a man's place could affect a young woman's reputation, and people would inevitably gossip.
"What's wrong? You're not happy about staying here?" Qin Xue retorted directly when she saw Qin Xin's somewhat displeased expression.
"I'm just worried about affecting the reputations of the three of you. Besides, Sister Xue, you keep calling me a hooligan. Aren't you afraid?"
Qin Xin felt a little better after hearing Qin Xue's somewhat unreasonable words. After all, he was a little uncomfortable with Qin Xue's attitude when he first came back, so he also spoke in a teasing tone.
"Hmph, you little rascal! Come on then, if you dare!"
"I'm now at the first level of the Awakening Realm. If you dare come any closer, I'll slice you in two, so you can't harm any young girls!"
As Qin Xue spoke, she gestured with her hands, which made Qin Xin feel a chill run down his spine.
Ya Ru and Mao Ruijin laughed out loud, not feeling embarrassed at all. On the contrary, Qin Xin, who always thought he had a thick skin, suddenly became unsteady on his chair.
They could only accept that the three women would stay there for the time being.
"Alright, Qin Xin, our teacher has been in seclusion in the pavilion recently, trying to break the seal. She was afraid of affecting us, so she sent us out. Now, in this inner courtyard, only your Kunmen main peak is the safest place, and you won't be disturbed."
Mao Ruijin stopped Qin Xue and Ya Ru from teasing Qin Xin and directly explained the reason.
"Aunt Hua is going to break the seal?"
Qin Xue already knew that Hua Jin's strength was sealed by a mysterious seal, but she still asked in confusion.
"Well, now that Kunmen is about to hold a summit, Leige has long wanted to annex my Fanhuage, so they are preparing to use the excuse that Master does not have the strength of Yuanfu Realm to disband Fanhuage."
Mao Ruijin patiently explained, and Qin Xue and Ya Ru nodded in agreement.
Upon hearing this, Qin Xin didn't say anything more, but he was quite displeased that he had been arranged to stay in a side room next to the pavilion. Of course, Qin Xue cut off Qin Xin's next words on the grounds of the three women's privacy.
When asked where he had been taken by the Wind-Riding Eagle, Qin Xin truthfully recounted his experiences in Dading City, but did not tell the three about the Yang Fire Seed.
However, the three women were very good at grasping the key points. When they learned that Qin Xin was already a third-grade alchemist, they went up to ask for pills. Only after they knew that the three women had divided up the last Qi Condensation Pill on him did they let go.
Qin Xin also eased the pressure on the three women's progress. Under Hua Jin's strict supervision, Mao Ruijin had successfully condensed two true apertures. As for Qin Xue, she had entered the first level of the Aperture Opening Realm. Ya Ru had always been more playful and her mind was not on cultivation at all. Even so, she had entered the ninth level of the Innate Realm. She only needed to wait for the nine main meridians to merge and transform into true meridians before she could condense true apertures and enter the Aperture Opening Realm.
As they prepared to return to their side room to rest, Qin Xin, under Qin Xue's constant questioning, revealed his strength as a fifth-level Qi Opening Realm cultivator. Upon hearing this, the three women seemed to freeze, sitting on their stools and looking at each other.
After a long while, the three of them sighed, secretly marveling at Qin Xin's rapid progress.
As if stimulated, the cave remained quiet for the next few days, with everyone staying in their rooms to cultivate peacefully.
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