Chapter 32 Why blush if you're not flustered?
The old ancestor was determined to die.
"Why can't I say?" Di Jiang moved his gaze from the collar of his cloak to Duan Jiuyou's face. He had a pair of captivating eyes that were like a stagnant pool when calm, but with the slightest ripple, they revealed a stunningly beautiful color.
A smile was hidden in his eyes, and he gave a slight smile, "In the middle of nowhere, with your people so far away, who are you afraid of hearing you?"
He possessed a youthful charm, not frivolous, with clean and frank eyes, yet not entirely innocent, which made people's hearts itch.
Whether it was the darkness of night or not, Duan Jiuyou felt that the Imperial Territory was different today than usual.
She remained silent, but he seemed to have something to say.
Wasn't this the one used for pressing the bed that day?
He recognized the pattern on the cloak; it was the one he had thrown by the bedside the day he killed Fang Zhuo.
That night, the two slept in the same bed. Duan Jiuyou was worried that he was cold. He had only been asleep for a short while when he suddenly got up as if in a daze and brought up the cloak to cover the two of them.
She wasn't afraid of the cold; she even kicked off the covers halfway through her sleep, but she held onto the corner of the cloak tightly in her hand, knowing to cover him up even when she was half asleep.
Di Jiang believed that, given her "relationship" with this cloak, she should remember it well, but—
"You didn't remember to bring it when you left."
Emperor Jiang withdrew his gaze, which could be considered a conclusion to the matter.
His words were so natural that Duan Jiuyou began to suspect that she was a new bride who had married into his family and had brought the wrong clothes because she was unfamiliar with the environment, and that her husband had caught her in the mistake.
He spoke casually and slowly, seemingly without blaming her, but in reality, every word he uttered was aimed at her.
The scene was so realistic that Duan Jiuyou was speechless and even somewhat "drawn" into it.
But she quickly snapped out of it, thinking, "Are you trying to seduce a young girl? Don't you know how much younger he is? You have the nerve to even think about that!"
"You were still half asleep this early in the morning, who would remember which clothes to take?" Duan Jiuyou looked away, his voice rising, "I'm already considered awake if I even remembered to put that dark blue outer robe on you! Besides, we were originally going to Liuxian Temple, who would have thought we'd end up going to Zhaozhao City? Zhaozhao City isn't actually cold, it's just that your cold symptoms flared up, you're uncomfortable no matter where you are!"
She didn't know what she was saying, she just wanted to act proper and put aside the strange thoughts that only she herself understood at that moment.
After listening for a while, Di Jiang suddenly grabbed Duan Jiuyou's face with one hand, his slender fingers sinking into her delicate, fair cheeks with a slight force.
"What's the panic?"
He looked at Duan Jiuyou with a calm expression. The longer they spent together, the better he could judge her emotions from her subtle expressions.
Duan Jiuyou was taken aback and quickly slapped his hand away: "Who's panicking? Don't pinch my cheek!"
"Why are you blushing if you're not flustered?"
He was a shrewd man; what could escape his eyes? He sensed something was off about her. When she spoke to him, her eyes darted around, even though there were only the two of them nearby. Where was she looking?
"Whether you're famous or not, you can't just lay hands on me like that!" Jiuyou said angrily, looking down for the small soup bowl and gulping down two mouthfuls. "This is hot! There's a difference between men and women, I've told you countless times. You're the leader of a clan, your manners and upbringing should be even more proper than ordinary gods, how can you behave so recklessly?"
Duan Jiuyou adopted an elder's tone and lectured him, "I'm talking to you, didn't you hear me?"
"Um."
She said so much, but Emperor Jiang only gave a soft snort.
The imperial territory is actually not quite right today.
He has always been decisive in his actions, but this time he didn't even understand why he came.
Was he trying to take her back? Or something else? Anyway, after arriving, she found herself missing this "old man" quite a bit. She was sitting on the mountain wearing his cloak. Although she wasn't as "sick" as Fengchen and Xiaocui had described in their letters, she looked exactly like the person he remembered.
Arrogant, cute, and fair-skinned with plump flesh.
His dwelling place has always been very quiet, whether it is the abandoned house now or the former temple in the desolate mountains. This silence is a rule passed down from generation to generation, as if only in this way can the solemnity of the desolate tribe be reflected.
He never told anyone that he disliked it. When no one was talking to him, he would talk to himself. When people were talking, he couldn't stand them.
For example, the vassal who roasted pheasants upwind.
He's not even fully developed a brain, what do you think you should talk to him about?
Then, what was talked about most was this "neither small nor old thing" in front of us.
She was talkative and often "recited scriptures" in his ear. At first, he found it hard to get used to it. He would kick her out, and she would come back. He would kick her out again, and she would come back again. He could only treat her as a noisy bird.
Later, after getting used to her nagging, he discovered some advantages. For example, her way of speaking was interesting, her expressions were rich, and when she was happy, she would smile and coax people. His emotions were gradually stirred by her, and he gradually went from talking to himself to talking back.
He developed a new hobby: he enjoyed watching her be speechless and dumbfounded when he said something to her.
It looks so lifelike.
He lost his temper with her last time, and while others didn't know why, he himself had some idea.
The matter of repairing his primordial spirit had been weighing on his mind for too long, and she had just hit a nerve with him, so he used this as a trigger to vent his frustration.
He rarely acted so willfully, especially in front of outsiders, but Duan Jiuyou seemed to be different from others from the very beginning.
He knew she wouldn't leave, and he knew she wouldn't die; the very existence of such a person provided him with a great sense of security.
A woman who, even when angry, won't stray too far from him, a woman who is healthy and as strong as a mountain—if you think about it from another perspective, even if he loves and pampers her, she won't become his weakness.
This is just one person, easily captured. Whoever captures him will regret it. If you don't believe me, ask around the Three Realms. Which blind god or demon would be willing to provoke the Ao Zong Patriarch Duan Jiuyou?
Before coming here, Di Jiang had not thought about these things carefully, but now that he thought about it, he felt a sense of pleasure from the bottom of his heart, and his eyes showed a hint of interest when he looked at Duan Jiuyou.
"I didn't see you react this strongly when you covered your hands before."
He deliberately wanted to see her get anxious.
She didn't disappoint him. She turned to face him and said, "Is it right to cover your hands? How many times have I told you to cover your hands? If your hands are cold, go find a hand warmer. You earn so much money and don't spend it. Are you saving it to get married? You should buy what you need. There's no reason to cover a young woman's face with your hands. Besides, were you covering her hands just now? You were clearly pinching her!"
Di Jiang remained silent, letting her ramble on, a slight smile playing on his lips.
This inexplicable night seemed to make something clear, yet also blurred something else entirely. What he was actually doing here no longer seemed important. The cold mountains, thick snow, and the dark, windy night weren't exactly scenic, but he just felt good.
In a good mood, the Lord of the Wilderness, for the first time ever, asked a woman a question—
"Are you coming back with me? There aren't many dishes I like these past two days, and I don't want to waste time talking to them. It will be much easier for you if you come back."
Duan Jiuyou said firmly, "I won't go back."
This was an answer she herself hadn't expected.
She was waiting for him to pick her up, but tonight, for some reason, she was acting strangely and her mind was in turmoil.
Her emotions were too easily written on her face, while Di Jiang was the opposite; he was used to controlling himself, and Duan Jiuyou could hardly read his intentions from his expressions.
Are you kidding me?
—Are you just bored?
—I'm also wondering about this today. I've seen his body while he showered before, and I've slept with him. Sometimes I even held him when I woke up in the morning. Back then, my mind was pure, and I didn't have any bad thoughts. Why am I feeling awkward now?
She suddenly yelled at herself, "Duan Jiuyou, you're tainted! You've been seduced by male beauty!!"
Ancestor Duan was greatly annoyed by this discovery. He shook his head at the Emperor again, emphasizing each word: "No! Back!"
Di Jiang stared at Xue for a while without saying a word: "Fine, don't bother coming back then."
The dark patterns on his robe rippled as he rose. This time, he didn't intend to tire his legs. He followed the footprints he had come from, took a few steps, and with a faint flash of his shadow, used the technique of "shifting steps."
Two strange people, one with a firm attitude and the other without forcing anything, just like that, they parted ways!
The disciples of the Ao Sect, huddled behind the broken thatched hut and the open window, were slapping their palms in disbelief. They looked at each other and asked, "What's wrong with our ancestor?"
They were too far away to hear the details of their conversation, but they knew that the ancestor got angry as they talked, then calmed down, and then suddenly shouted, "I'm not going back!"
Logically, he should go back now, otherwise how will he save face later?
Are we really expecting this person to come and pick us up again?
But if you look at the expressions of those two, the one who left didn't seem angry at all, as if he had just asked casually.
What about the other one?
The disciples braved the heavy snow to go and observe their ancestor.
Her face was expressionless as she calmly sat cross-legged on the large rock.
The disciples waited for a while, but couldn't contain their curiosity and asked, "What are you doing? You're not a cultivator, you don't even have an inner core, and you can't improve your cultivation by meditating. If you want to sleep, go back to your room and sleep."
The old patriarch didn't even lift his eyelids, his posture unchanged, his voice ethereal: "Cleanse the soul..."
Old Master Duan cleansed his soul all night.
The next morning, as the sun rose high in the east, she sent her disciples down the mountain to buy four fried dough sticks and two bowls of tofu pudding. After they finished eating, she picked up the section of thread connecting the shoulders of the fox fur coat and told them to take it apart exactly as it was sewn.
The disciples dared not ask further, for the patriarch had a bad temper, and asking too many questions would only annoy him and he might be subjected to a severe scolding.
A group of people surrounded her to serve her. One carried her fox fur coat, another untied her needlework, and the others fanned her and served her cool tea so she wouldn't get too hot while waiting.
Xiao Cui didn't care about any of that; she just ate.
I buried my head in my food! While doing so, I used my peripheral vision to connect the situation from last night with the present, making a random guess as material for writing the letter.
After all the needle and thread were removed, Duan Jiuyou felt relieved, and a look of genuine ease and joy appeared on her face. She stretched her little hand forward again, this time asking for a wet cloth.
The disciples quickly rinsed her face with water. She didn't need anyone to serve her; she simply smeared a wet cloth over her face, pressed her hands against it, and rubbed it vigorously, and that was it.
After everything was arranged properly, she changed into a rain-colored brocade robe, combed her hair simply, packed a small bundle on her shoulder, and left with a message.
"I'm going back to the Heavenly Realm. You all stay here and guard the Ten Realms until I return."
The disciples were astonished, wondering what had happened to their ancestor. Yesterday, the woman from the abandoned house came to fetch her, but she didn't go with him. She spent the night cleansing her soul, and today she wanted to eat and drink. They thought she had come to her senses and wanted to go back on her own, but it turned out she wanted to go back to her "old home."
Why go back in the first place? Is it because your soul hasn't been cleansed? Can't you cleanse it for a couple more days?
“The Heavenly Realm is a better environment than here, with its clear skies and abundant spiritual energy,” a disciple came up with a reason. The logic seemed to make sense; the miasma here was heavy, and there was almost no spiritual energy, so it was indeed not as clean as the Heavenly Realm.
"But what will happen to the Imperial Territory once the Ancestor leaves? Will the opportunity of the Heavenly Lord be abandoned?"
The disciples began to whisper among themselves.
"I think the Ancestor is a bit disheartened. Di Jiang is unruly and always makes the Ancestor furious. If I were the Ancestor, I wouldn't want to be humiliated here either."
“But I see that the Emperor’s attitude toward our ancestor has also changed. He is not as cold as before.”
"What's the use of that?"
"Why don't you just take us with you!"
After discussing it, the disciples cried out in unison, none of them willing to stay any longer in this desolate and treacherous place.
Before Duan Jiuyou could finish yawning, she heard a complaint. She crossed her arms and looked at them, saying, "I'm going back for a while, not forever. It will be at least fifteen or sixteen days, and at most a month. I will definitely be back."
As for what she would do when she went back, she didn't say. She simply recruited a few disciples to accompany her to open the Heavenly Sea Stone Gate.
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