After leaving Jubaoge, Liu Jinghong's face remained somewhat dazed, his heart pounding rapidly. He didn't even dare to glance at Chu Hongluan once more.
When the two returned to the foot of the nameless mountain, it was already dusk.
Liu Jinghong had walked up this long staircase countless times, and the scenery along the way had gradually become commonplace.
But today seems to be a little different.
The sky was ablaze with brilliant red clouds, casting a golden glow over the ordinary flowers and leaves. A gentle evening breeze stirred the flowers and leaves, making everything appear vibrant and colorful.
"Today at Jubao Tower... Thank you for your protection, Junior Sister."
Chu Hongluan turned her head upon hearing this. Under the moonlight, the young man's face was slightly flushed, as if he had applied a thin layer of rouge.
After a long pause, he replied half-jokingly, "Now that I'm part of the Heavenly Mystery Pavilion, I can't just stand by and watch my senior brother be bullied by outsiders, can I?"
Back in her own courtyard, Chu Hongluan lay on the bed, her mind wandering freely with all sorts of wild thoughts.
When she read the novel, she completely empathized with the male protagonist, Mo Yu. Every time Mo Yu painstakingly acquired a treasure, before he could even enjoy it, Liu Jinghong would snatch it away. Liu Jinghong always seemed to enjoy this, letting Mo Yu do the dirty and tiring work before jumping in to clean up the mess. It was precisely because of this that readers were so infuriated by him.
But now that she has personally met Liu Jinghong, she has a different understanding.
Contrary to popular belief, Liu Jinghong was deeply affected by the destruction of her spiritual abode, which caused a drastic change in her personality.
Rather, it's because he's always been this cynical and irreverent. The seemingly refined and aloof Young Master Liu was just a facade he had to adopt to meet the expectations of the world, burdened by responsibility and pressure.
But after his spiritual palace was destroyed, he gave up and stopped pretending.
Do you really expect a useless person at the seventh level of Qi Refining to shoulder the responsibility of saving the world?
Yet he still went to great lengths to search for the medicinal herbs needed to repair his spiritual palace, because... he wanted freedom.
Chu Hongluan scratched her severely overloaded head, her eyes filled with struggle.
If dragon marrow is indeed one of the medicinal materials needed for the pill formula, then all her previous guesses would be correct.
Just think about how Liu Jinghong, with her shattered spiritual body, was able to repeatedly snatch opportunities from Mo Yu's hands—isn't that the legendary beautiful, strong, and tragic character?
From Liu Jinghong's perspective, his actions were entirely in line with humanistic values and were reasonable and justifiable.
His subsequent imprisonment in the Cave of Ten Thousand Demons was a mistake even the wisest can make, and it was not what he wanted. Becoming a Heavenly Demon was also not what he wanted.
But if Liu Jinghong never actually "turned evil" from beginning to end, then should she kill this person or not?
Thinking about this, Chu Hongluan couldn't sleep all night.
On the other side of the Tianji Pavilion, the courtyard presents a completely different scene.
"How was your day? I managed to get rid of your friend Gu for you."
"Very good."
"What is good?"
"The peach tree is young and tender, its blossoms are bright and beautiful. This land cannot compare to even half of the beauty of Junior Sister Chu."
"Ugh! It's so sour! And what about young friend Chu? Has young friend Chu ever been happy because of you?"
"...I don't know."
"Don't know?"
"I was so flustered during today's visit that I dared not look at his face."
"What do you mean?! You mean you went out all day and didn't even dare to look at anyone's face?! How could I have given birth to such a useless son like you!"
In the following days, Chu Hongluan's thoughts were in turmoil. Finally, she remembered that she had a cheap master, so she directly grabbed her sword and went to spar with that cheap master, treating it as a form of cultivation.
The master of Blade Peak, whose title is Wang Sheng, is over six hundred years old and at the peak of the Nascent Soul stage. It is said that in his early years he was a free spirit who roamed the world with his sword, and he especially loved adventure. Later, for some reason, he changed his nature and actually settled down. His only hobby was drinking a little wine, and he hardly ever held a sword anymore.
Over the years, he hasn't taken on a single disciple at Blade Peak.
It wasn't that he didn't want to fulfill his responsibilities as the leader of a peak, but the mistress of the pavilion wouldn't let him accept it, saying that he would mislead the younger generation.
Unexpectedly, the Pavilion Master's wife personally gave him a disciple, and the young disciple had already broken through to the Nascent Soul stage. He didn't even need to teach her personally. He got a disciple for free, and he was very proud!
When Chu Hongluan came to find him, he was drunk and lying in the bushes.
Without saying a word, Chu Hongluan slashed out with her sword!
Wang Sheng felt his hair stand on end in an instant. The instinctive reaction of a high-level cultivator in the face of danger instantly brought him to his senses. He dragged his limp body to the ground and rolled over while grabbing his knife, but his clothes were still torn open.
Before Wang Sheng could react, Chu Hongluan slashed horizontally again: "Master, practice your swordplay with your disciple."
Wang Sheng, while channeling his spiritual energy to expel the drunkenness from his body, muttered curses, "You want to practice your swordsmanship with me? Anyone who didn't know better would think you were trying to kill me to silence me!"
"I'm sorry, Master, I'm in a bad mood today, and I was a bit reckless." Chu Hongluan smiled insincerely, but then raised her knife and moved closer again!
Wang Sheng's eyes sharpened as he met Chu Hongluan's attack head-on. His long sword transformed into an arc of light, clashing and intertwining with Chu Hongluan's fierce blade light. In the blink of an eye, the two had exchanged dozens of blows!
Wang Sheng felt a slight numbness in his tiger's mouth and was terrified. He subconsciously released the pressure of his Nascent Soul stage cultivation to try to stop this inexplicable fight. However, Chu Hongluan's movements did not stop for the slightest. Instead, it was his distraction that caused the blade to reach his face!
Wang Sheng's breath hitched, and in the blink of an eye, the blade's momentum came to an abrupt halt, hovering precariously less than a finger's width from the tip of his nose!
"Master, be serious. If you don't use your full strength, it will be very embarrassing to lose to your own disciple."
Wang Sheng suddenly calmed down. "You really didn't come here to assassinate me, girl?"
Chu Hongluan looked completely bewildered. "Didn't I say I came to practice my swordsmanship with you? As a master, isn't it my duty to help my disciple hone their swordsmanship?"
Wang Sheng gave an awkward smile, "That's right, that's right."
After saying that, Wang Sheng attacked Chu Hongluan with all his might, determined to dampen the young man's arrogance, otherwise he would definitely feel more and more frustrated as her master in the future!
However, this cheap apprentice's swordsmanship is all deadly moves, with no superfluous blade paths! There's no established sword technique! It's completely unpredictable! This can't be described as merely ruthless! It's downright brutal!
The more Wang Sheng fought, the colder he felt. He realized that even with only ten points of Chu Hongluan's strength, she could unleash fifteen points of explosive power with a single strike! Moreover, her soul was exceptionally powerful, completely unaffected by his Nascent Soul stage pressure! She could even turn the tables and intimidate him!
That's simply impossible!
Chu Hongluan is definitely more than just a Nascent Soul cultivator!
After that fight, Chu Hongluan returned feeling refreshed, while the poor old man felt like all the bones in his body were about to fall apart!
He thought to himself: Please don't come tomorrow.
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