After leaving Qing'er with A Yao, Xie Chen finally had some peace and quiet again. He enjoyed this tranquility in the Sword God Palace for about three months when Qing'er returned from the Phoenix Palace. The little girl wore a light green dress, her hair still styled in double buns, and her cheeks were slightly flushed. She found Xie Chen, who was drinking tea, and asked him, her cheeks still red:
"Can we cultivate together?"
"puff……"
The usually calm and composed Sword God spat out a mouthful of tea. He looked at the shy Qing'er and thought to himself, "Feng Yao, what exactly did you teach her?"
Qing'er, who was initially shy, became a little unhappy upon seeing Xie Chen's reaction. She looked at Xie Chen and asked, "Is it not allowed? Can't we cultivate together?"
Xie Chen looked into her clear green eyes, calmed himself down, and asked:
Why do you want to cultivate with me?
"Sister Fengyao said that dual cultivation can only be done with someone you like. I... I've never tried it before, so... that's why I asked you." Qing'er lowered her head as she spoke, her cheeks flushing again. Her fair skin glowed with a peach-like hue, and her youthful and beautiful face was incredibly captivating.
However, Xie Chen was getting a headache just looking at it.
"Do you think you like me?" Xie Chen asked calmly.
Qing'er looked at him, her cheeks flushed, and she nodded shyly, like a chick pecking at rice.
Xie Chen picked up a cup of tea, took a sip to calm his nerves, and remained expressionless. After a while, he finally said, "Do you know what it means to like someone?"
Qing'er nodded again like a chick pecking at rice: "I know, I know. Sister Fengyao said that when you like someone, you will be happy when you see him, you will miss him when you don't see him, and you will get angry when you see other girls with him."
"So, are you happy to see Feng Chu?"
"I'm so happy."
"When you're not with him, do you miss him?"
Qing'er thought for a moment and said, "Yes."
"If he gets nice to another girl and forgets about you, will you be angry?" Xie Chen asked again.
Qing'er thought for a moment. If Xiao Chuchu were to be nice to other girls and forget about her, ignoring her completely, she imagined how angry she would be. Xie Chen, seeing her confused and bewildered expression, said:
"If one day Feng Chu is nice to another girl and forgets about you, you will be angry. By that logic, you should like Feng Chu."
Qing'er opened her mouth, wanting to refute, but couldn't say a word. She felt something was wrong, but didn't know how to express it.
Xie Chen continued, "Weren't you happy to see Xu Mubai? When you can't see him, don't you miss him? If he ignores you one day, you'll be sad, won't you?"
Qing'er felt her head spinning. She didn't know how to refute him, so she could only look anxiously at Xie Chen. Xie Chen looked into her eyes and said, "You're still a child. Wait until you understand what 'like' means before you talk to me about dual cultivation!"
After saying that, he reached for a book on a bookshelf in the distance, started reading, and ignored Qing'er. Qing'er watched him from the side, then left angrily. She went to Phoenix Palace to find Feng Yao. A few days later, Qing'er returned from Phoenix Palace. She angrily told Xie Chen, "You're fooling me. My feelings for Xiao Chuchu and Xiao Baibai are different from my feelings for you."
“I like them as friends, which is different from me saying I like you.”
Xie Chen was practicing calligraphy. After hearing this, he didn't even look up: "How can you tell the difference?"
“Of course there are differences. I don’t want to cultivate with them, so I’ve never thought about it,” Qing’er said, hands on her hips.
Xie Chen put down his pen, pressed his temple with one hand, and sighed, "Alright, even if you really understand what love between a man and a woman is, dual cultivation is something that requires mutual consent. To me, you're just a child."
Qing'er lowered her arms. She remembered what A Yao had told her: only those who liked each other could cultivate together. Her eyes dimmed, and she softly asked, "Don't you like me?"
Xie Chen did not answer the question.
"Because I always call you 'old man,' you don't like me? Then, then I won't call you 'old man' anymore," Qing'er said, her head down.
"It has nothing to do with how you're addressed. You're only fourteen years old, while I've already lived for over a million years."
"You think I'm too young?" Qing'er pouted.
Xie Chen remained silent.
"I will grow up, I will grow up soon. In a few years, I will be grown up. At that time, will you be able to cultivate with me?" Qing'er walked closer and reached out to take Xie Chen's hand, but Xie Chen avoided it.
Qing'er grabbed his arm forcefully, pulled his hand, and asked coquettishly, "Please, please, okay? When I grow up, you can cultivate with me."
"When you grow up, you may feel ashamed of what you said today."
"Why?"
"You'll understand when you grow up."
Looking at Xie Chen's cold face, Qing'er wished she could grow up quickly. She glared at Xie Chen for a while and said, "Anyway, anyway, when I grow up, you won't have a reason to refuse me. I will grow up. A hundred years, a thousand years later, we can cultivate together again."
Qing'er released Xie Chen's hand and strode out of the main hall, the bells hanging on her body jingling. Xie Chen glanced at her retreating figure and continued practicing his calligraphy.
He didn't take Qing'er's words to heart. In his view, it was just childish talk, and she would forget it when she grew up. This girl's fickle nature wasn't a new thing. Her enthusiasm for anything fun or delicious didn't last long. This time, she only had this idea because she saw other weddings and witnessed dual cultivation for the first time. Perhaps in less than a year, this little girl would forget about it.
Time passed just like that, and a thousand years went by in an instant.
A thousand years later, Qing'er had grown tall, voluptuous, and graceful. Her appearance was frozen at around eighteen years old, with bright eyes and white teeth, delicate features, fair skin, and a delicate, elegant air. She was a rare beauty in all the heavens and myriad realms.
Her seniority within the Sword God Palace was too high, and she possessed the genuine cultivation of an Immortal Emperor, so naturally, the disciples dared not harbor any disrespectful thoughts towards her. However, outside the Sword God Palace, many talented young men were deeply enamored with her. Yet, she still loved Xie Chen, which greatly troubled Xie Chen. A thousand years had passed, how could she still not have forgotten about their dual cultivation?
A colossal waterfall cascaded from the void, creating countless rainbow bridges above the clouds, with flocks of cranes gracefully flying across them. Opposite the rainbow bridges stood a celestial mountain suspended in the clouds. Inside a palace atop the mountain, a man in white sat before an intricately carved French window, sipping tea. His expression was cold and his face icy, yet he did not frighten the young woman in blue standing before him.
"Dual cultivation? When will you cultivate with me?"
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