Chapter 29: The Red Fox Leads the Way, No Woman Has Ever Set Foot Here Except You...
Hearing Shen Wenji's agreement, Xie Yunqing's lips curled up slightly, but the moment he turned around, he completely suppressed that triumphant smile.
His voice was deliberately calm: "Then let's just make some simple preparations and set off immediately?"
Shen Wenji's heart rang with alarm, feeling as if she had stepped into a trap. She narrowed her eyes and stared at him warily, "You should know what I'm looking for. You'd better know where it is. If you lie to me, I will never forgive you."
The words were full of threats.
"Don't worry, the owner of Zuihualou has already told me." Xie Yunqing glanced at her lazily and said in a coaxing voice, "It's a pink sachet, right? I'll tell you once we enter the secret realm."
"So mysterious." Shen Wenji muttered softly, really unable to understand why he had to go around in circles. Couldn't he just give it to her directly, or tell her where he was? He had to ask her to accompany him into the secret realm... What a waste of time.
"Let's go." Xie Yunqing took the lead. "Let's go to my place first, change clothes, and put some things away."
"Go to your...residence?" Shen Wenji's ears suddenly felt hot and his voice became stuttering.
Xie Yunqing crossed his arms and explained seriously, "The secret realm has strict rules about what you can bring. Even if you have a storage device, you can only bring five items. Since you are my Taoist partner..."
He deliberately emphasized the two words, his eyes lingering on the red tips of her ears, and teased, "It's safest to keep any extra things with me for the time being."
"Oh." Shen Wenji nodded shyly, his voice as thin as a mosquito's: "Then what should I wear? Can you prepare it for me too?"
"Well, there happens to be one that fits you." Xie Yunqing said casually.
Chen Wenji raised an eyebrow, his tone unconsciously tinged with a hint of sourness he himself hadn't noticed. "Oh, I didn't expect that the place where the Tianxuan Sect's chief disciple practiced seclusion actually had women's clothing? It seems that your dissolute behavior in Zuihualou is your true nature."
Xie Yunqing, instead of being annoyed, leaned closer, his warm breath brushing against her cheek. He lowered his voice and said with a hint of grievance, "That's unfair to me. I was just going to Zuihualou to have a drink, how can I talk about being romantic? As for this dress..."
He fixed his gaze on her startled eyes, speaking nonchalantly, but with a mischievous smile hidden in his eyes: "It's specially prepared for you. The size is only suitable for you."
He paused, his voice slightly hoarse, "This place of mine...except for you, no woman has ever set foot here."
Shen Wenji's cheeks flushed, and he forced himself to look away, saying stubbornly, "Who wants to hear you say this?"
Xie Yunqing chuckled softly, stopped teasing her, and led her into the elegant courtyard.
The stone path leads to a secluded place, shaded by green bamboos.
Shen Wenji was still looking around when his wrist was gently held by a warm hand.
Xie Yunqing did not stop and took her straight into the inner bedroom. When he turned around, there was a hint of subtle tension in his eyes.
"How about wearing the women's clothing of Tianxuan Sect? It won't be out of place if you're with our Tianxuan Sect. After all, there's more than one department in this secret realm." As he spoke, he walked towards the wardrobe against the wall. His slender fingers paused on the cabinet door for a moment before slowly pulling it open.
Shen Wenji originally thought that he would see a cabinet full of plain robes, but he found that he only had a few clothes. In the most conspicuous compartment in the middle, there was a brand new white sect uniform folded up.
The flowing cloud pattern embroidered on the cuffs of her dress was half as exquisite as that of ordinary disciples, and the size seemed to be exactly the same as her figure.
Shen Wenji couldn't hide his surprise: "You really prepared it for me?"
"Well, it's just a piece of cake." Xie Yunqing touched the slightly warm earlobe and pretended to be indifferent.
But in fact, deep in the wardrobe, there were still a few pieces of untouched silk brocade. He had specially picked them out at the sect's cloth shop a month ago, intending to make dresses for her.
At that time, he hadn't figured out a reason to give it to her, nor had he figured out what style to cut, he just felt that these colors suited her.
"A few days ago, I heard the elder say that he wanted to make clothes for the new disciples," Xie Yunqing began to make up a story. He picked up the clothes and handed them over. His ears were red, but his voice was steady. "I thought you might need them, so I asked for an extra set. The size should be right. Why don't you try it on?"
Shen Wenji took the sect uniform, his fingertips touching the cool brocade. When he looked up, he met Xie Yunqing's gaze. He looked away as if burned, his Adam's apple rolling slightly.
"I, I'll go guard the gate of the courtyard. Call me when you're done." Xie Yunqing said as he turned and walked out. His steps were so fast that he staggered a little. He had to hold on to the door frame to steady himself.
The wooden door closed with a creaky sound, but it was not completely closed, leaving a tiny gap.
When Shen Wenji lowered his head to change his clothes, he vaguely heard a very light cough coming from outside the door, as if he was covering up something.
The wind blew through the bamboo branches in the yard, and the rustling sound seemed to be mixed with Xie Yunqing's deliberately light breathing.
That bit of unconcealable panic, mixed with dark and hidden love, was messy in the wind, making people's hearts feel hot.
When Shen Wenji pushed the door open and walked out, Xie Yunqing was standing about a meter away with his back to her. Seeing her come out, his expression was normal, except for the faint red on the tip of his ear that still betrayed his feelings.
"I only brought five items. The rest are stored in storage bags and placed on your desk." Seeing that Xie Yunqing did not respond, Shen Wenji took the initiative to speak.
"Yeah." Xie Yunqing agreed, his gaze falling on her, a flicker of surprise in his eyes. His mind power flickered slightly, and a pink and white half-face mask appeared.
He handed the mask to Shen Wenji and said gently, "This mask is for you. You like pink. Many people in Tianxuan Sect don't know your secret of being a woman disguised as a man. You can use the disguise technique to cover it up first, and then use the mask. Even high-level cultivators will find it difficult to see through your identity."
"Thank you." Shen Wenji felt a little warm in his heart and thanked him in a low voice.
When she lowered her eyes and took the mask, she caught a glimpse of the familiar silver ring on his ring finger.
The owner of Zuihua Tower actually handed it to him, and Xie Yunqing actually wore it on her hand so naturally. She felt inexplicably moved in her heart.
Afterwards, Xie Yunqing brought her to the entrance of the secret realm and introduced her to the elder guarding the gate in a steady voice, "Elder, this is... my Taoist partner. She will be entering the secret realm with me today."
He pronounced the word "Daoist Companion" with great care. His face was calm as water, but the tips of his ears had already turned red. When he turned his head to look at Shen Wenji, their eyes met, and he hurriedly looked away, trying to hide his guilt.
However, even though some flaws were revealed, the elder did not become suspicious and just thought it was just a shy couple.
The elder twirled his beard and smiled at the two of them. His kind gaze fell on Shen Wenji and he paused for a moment: "She is quite an intelligent young lady. In that case, let's go in together. We can look after each other in the secret realm."
"Yes." Xie Yunqing lowered his head and responded, his fingertips curled under the hem of his sleeves. He stretched out his hand openly and held Shen Wenji's fingers tightly.
Shen Wenji's fingertips trembled slightly, but he did not break free and let him hold her.
Xie Yunqing breathed a sigh of relief quietly. The blush on his ears did not fade away, but instead spread further down along his jawline.
He walked side by side with her all the way through the misty fog in the secret realm. He didn't say much, but he always slowed down when she paused.
Occasionally, when he caught a glimpse of the intimacy between other Taoist couples, Xie Yunqing would inadvertently lower his eyes to look at Shen Wenji, and the word "Taoist couple" would play in his mind on a loop.
A faint blush would quietly appear behind his ears, the corners of his mouth would involuntarily bend upwards, and the smile that could not be hidden in his eyes would sway gently like ripples blown by the wind.
It turns out that when I walk with her in this capacity, even the path under my feet becomes different.
Unfortunately, things did not go as planned. Not long after, something happened to the Tianxuan Sect team.
In order to win the favor of the female cultivators, several male cultivators left the team without permission and broke into the thousand-year-old fox demon cave, which was not originally planned, just to hunt high-quality fox fur for the female cultivators to make shawls.
They had been in there for an hour and still hadn't come out. As the team leader, Xie Yunqing had to take responsibility and lead people in to search. At least they had to find the person alive or the body if he was dead.
Shen Wenji had wanted to go in and help, but was flatly refused by Xie Yunqing, who said that this was an internal matter of the Tianxuan Sect and there was no reason to involve people outside the sect. He also asked Shen Wenji to help protect the people left behind by the Tianxuan Sect. If he didn't come out after two hours, he should leave the secret realm and seek help from the uncles of the Tianxuan Sect.
Those who stayed outside the cave were all weak and incompetent. They were bored and started gossiping around Shen Wenji.
For example: "I've never seen Senior Brother Xie be so gentle and considerate to a woman. What do you call this female cultivator?"
Shen Wenji said concisely: "My last name is Shen."
"When I saw Senior Brother Xie today, he was smiling all the time, not even stern. Miss Shen is really amazing. I wonder who your master is?"
“I want to know how Miss Shen and Senior Brother Xie met and fell in love?”
"Who of you confessed first?"
…
The messy questions almost drowned Shen Wenji.
She forced an awkward smile and said, "Excuse me, I have something to do right now. We'll talk when we have time!"
I wanted to find a random excuse to get out and hide away, but unexpectedly she really discovered something.
Suddenly, a blinding flash of lightning flashed across the distant horizon. The weather in each area of the secret realm was generally stable, and this kind of thunderstorm in a clear sky was mostly man-made.
The next second, wisps of weak demonic energy rose from the place where the lightning struck. If Shen Wenji had not been staring at that area, he might not have noticed it at all.
She had no intention of pursuing the faint demonic energy, but the demonic energy was like a living thing, actually attacking their direction.
Chen Wenji flew up on his sword and observed the direction of the evil spirit in the air. He watched helplessly as the ominous black energy entered the fox cave where Xie Yunqing and the others had entered.
At this time, it was less than an hour since Xie Yunqing entered the cave. Although she looked worried, she did not rush in rashly.
She walked to the entrance of the cave and tried to explore it with her spiritual sense. There was a thousand-year-old demonic aura lingering in the cave, which completely covered up the aura inside, and she found nothing.
Time passed minute by minute, and there was still no sound in the cave, only a creepy silence.
An hour and a half later, Shen Wenji paced back and forth outside the cave, extremely worried.
Just when she could hardly contain herself, a small fiery red figure suddenly jumped out from behind the rocks beside her. It was a red fox.
After careful observation, she found that this was actually the little fox she had met before. But this time, it did not hide from Shen Wenji, but instead came over actively, rubbing its head against her feet, and babbling something eagerly.
Shen Wenji's heart sank. He half-knelt down and asked tentatively, "Is Xie Yunqing in trouble? Can you take me to find him?"
This red fox was quite smart and actually nodded twice.
She entrusted the task of getting reinforcements, which Xie Yunqing had asked her to do, to the Tianxuan Sect disciples outside the cave, ignoring the voices of dissuasion such as "it's dangerous" and "wait a little longer".
Shen Wenji followed the red fox into the cave alone.
Although she had been deceived by the cunning fox in front of her, at this moment, since it concerned Xie Yunqing's safety, she did not dare to gamble and could only choose to trust the fox again.
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The author has something to say: Thank you little angels for your support! Don't make me fat [burst into tears], I will work hard to update! Love you [red heart][red heart][red heart] bow!
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