The two were having a heartwarming interaction when the door was suddenly pushed open.
"Where is Xiao Li? Where is she?"
Looking at the slightly haggard-looking Pavilion Master Ren, Xiao Li felt extremely aggrieved.
"father……"
Ren Gezhu couldn't act as intimately as Jiang Xuemei, so he touched his beard to cover it up.
"You're back? It's good to be back. Do you know that your mother misses you so much every night that she cries? Don't be so willful in the future. If you want to go out to play, you should tell your mother first."
Xiao Li watched as the middle-aged man stole glances at her while speaking in a seemingly calm manner.
"Dad, Xiao Li misses you so much."
Lord Ren was immediately taken aback; who could resist the charm of a delicate and sweet girl?
His expression immediately changed, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but turn up. "Oh, really? I...I also...miss you."
After he finished speaking, his face turned red. He hadn't been close to his daughter for many years, and he was a little overwhelmed by her sudden display of affection.
"Look at you, I'm not the only one who can't sleep every night. Just admit it, and if you show favoritism again, I won't talk to you anymore."
Jiang Xuemei also came to undermine him, and Master Ren couldn't hold back any longer. He chuckled twice and asked about Xiao Li's experiences over the past month.
After learning about his daughter's extraordinary encounter, he took Xiaoli to the training ground and to his private training room.
When they passed by the training ground, the senior students were practicing martial arts. When they saw Xiao Li, they all started talking about her.
"Oh, junior sister is back. You didn't even leave a message. You have no idea how worried your master and mistress were about you."
"It's good that you're back. Don't do this again."
Xiao Li looked at the familiar faces. Although they were biased towards Sima Xindie, they did not deliberately target the original owner.
It's just that the original owner himself couldn't accept it.
Xiao Li nodded to them and quickly followed the Pavilion Master Ren.
Sima Xindie bit her lip. She didn't dare to go up and greet them. She had known since she was a child that she was just fostered, unlike others who were either born here or picked up from outside by Master Ren.
She harbored deep hatred and could not forget her blood feud.
My senior sister is very wary of me, and we've never gotten along since we were little.
She and Wushuang had known each other since childhood, so it wasn't like she had stolen a bride, but her senior sister was very upset with her.
She was afraid that if she went forward, her senior sister would get angry again.
Seeing Sima Xindie's low spirits, Ziyuan comforted her, "Junior Sister, don't be afraid. Xiaoli won't do anything to you. Although she is willful, she is not a bad person at heart."
Sima Xindie gave a soft "hmm". In the past, she had tried to please her senior sister, but it always ended up being a waste of time. Now that she was living under someone else's roof, she should just stay away.
Xiao Li followed Pavilion Master Ren into the training room, where Pavilion Master Ren couldn't wait to start practicing.
"Come on, try this iron ball. It weighs five thousand catties, so two of them would weigh ten thousand catties."
Xiao Li picked up the two iron balls with one hand, effortlessly.
Master Ren couldn't stop smiling and kept praising him.
"Try this one next, infuse it with your internal energy."
Xiao Li picked up the soft sword, infused it with her inner strength, and instantly the soft sword became indestructible. She slashed at the iron lump next to her, cutting through the iron like mud.
"Good, good, good! My son is so brave, his future is limitless."
Xiao Li twitched the corner of her mouth; this was too exaggerated.
"Father, please take one of these Marrow Cleansing Pills. Mother refuses to take it; please try to persuade her as well."
Master Ren was very tempted, but since this was an opportunity for his daughter, he held back.
“Your mother is right. You should take it yourself, and then take it again when your strength is more stable. That way, it will have the best effect.”
He rubbed the jade bottle with a smug look on his face. “We’re all old now, it would be a waste for us to take these pills. You’re still young, you might be able to reach the Grandmaster realm with the help of these pills. The Linglong Pavilion will depend on you from now on.”
Xiao Li sighed, realizing that the original owner's resentment was so great because she had two good parents.
Master Ren instructed Xiao Li to conceal her cultivation level, for he understood the principle that a tree that stands out in the forest will be felled by the wind.
From that day on, Master Ren took Xiao Li under his wing and officially regarded her as his successor.
When the crowd refused to accept her decision, she directly held a tournament, and in the end, none of the younger generation in the manor could defeat her.
Suddenly, everyone realized that Junior Sister Xiao Li was not entirely useless after all. She finally turned the tables and became the leader of the new generation.
"Senior sister, congratulations! Your martial arts have improved even further."
Xiao Li looked at Sima Xindie. This girl was completely different from the Sima Xindie of later years, and she had a guess in her mind.
Perhaps Sima Xindie is not the original one; otherwise, how could she give up on such a deep-seated hatred so easily?
"Thank you, junior sister."
Sima Xindie paused for a moment before smiling, her beautiful eyes crinkling. Her senior sister was finally willing to talk to her and even thanked her.
"Senior sister, I have a jade pendant that matches you perfectly. I'd like to give it to you. Would you like to come with me to get it?"
Xiao Li thought about it and agreed.
She also wanted to get to know Sima Xindie and see if she had really changed.
Sima Xindie took out two small, exquisite jade pendants from her dressing case, each with a tassel hanging from its bottom; they were indeed exquisite and beautiful.
“These were brought back from beyond the Great Wall by someone my mother asked before, and they were made into two exquisite jade pendants.”
She solemnly handed over one, "Senior sister, I am very grateful to Master and Mistress for taking me in, and I also want to get along with you peacefully. Consider this jade pendant my apology to you, okay?"
Xiao Li understood that she was referring to Zhan Wushuang. "What's going on between you and Zhan Wushuang?"
When Sima Xindie saw that Xiaoli didn't answer, she wasn't angry. Instead, she patiently explained.
"I've known Brother Wushuang since I was a child, but we haven't seen each other for many years and we've both changed so much that I didn't recognize him at the time."
Her slender fingers stroked the jade pendant. "I never expected Brother Wushuang to propose to me. Senior Sister, I didn't mean to compete with you."
"Trust me, senior sister."
Xiao Li nodded. "I believe you. Since you two grew up together, you should have explained it earlier. Otherwise, I'll become a laughing stock."
Sima Xindie panicked, "Senior sister, I really didn't mean it. I thought he was going to get engaged to you."
My master wanted Zhan Wushuang to stay, and I also wanted to do something for Linglong Pavilion, so I didn't object.
Xiao Li took the jade pendant. "Alright, I'll accept the jade pendant. You don't need to feel guilty."
Thinking of the time-traveling woman who would come in the future, Xiao Li still took out a soul-stabilizing talisman.
"You should wear this. It's a talisman my mother gave me as a gift in exchange."
Sima Xindie smiled and immediately put the amulet into the small pouch she was wearing around her neck.
Xiao Li has confirmed that Sima Xindie must have been possessed, which is why her personality has changed so drastically.
However, the destruction of Linglong Pavilion was inextricably linked to Sima Xindie, and there was no way for them to reconcile.
?
Xiao Li had not seen Zhan Wushuang for a long time. When she asked, she learned that he had gone to the Four Directions Sword Pavilion to find a famous sword as a betrothal gift and had arranged to return for the New Year's Eve dinner.
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