Xue Mu glanced out the window, only to realize it was already the middle of the day.
It was probably past one in the afternoon…
You didn’t even offer to treat a guy to lunch, and you’re already talking about a ‘spectacular reward’?
Keep your reward…
A sudden knock rattled the doorframe, followed by Yue Xiaochan’s voice.
“Master.” With a casual wave of Xue Qingqiu’s hand, the door swung open on its own.
Yue Xiaochan skipped into the room.
Spotting the extra teacup resting on the table, her face lit up with a grin.
“Wow, you actually poured tea for him yourself, Master?
It looks like your little chat went incredibly well.” Xue Mu felt thoroughly awkward.
He knew with absolute certainty that Yue Xiaochan had overheard everything they said earlier.
Yet, her demeanor suggested she couldn’t care less, maintaining that exact same cheerful, smiling face.
While Xue Mu failed to spot any visible difference in Yue Xiaochan, Xue Qingqiu was instantly struck by a wave of pure ecstasy.
With a single glance, she discerned that Yue Xiaochan’s soul force had perfectly harmonized with her inner core—her cultivation had successfully smashed through a monumental bottleneck!
This particular barrier had trapped and broken countless geniuses throughout history.
Even Xue Qingqiu herself hadn’t achieved this milestone until she was fifteen.
For Xiaochan to break through at the mere age of thirteen was an unprecedented feat in the entire history of the Star-Moon Sect!
No, it wasn’t just their sect—this was an achievement completely unheard of across the entire realm!
It was a legendary feat destined to shine down through the ages!
Yet, right in the middle of her overwhelming joy, a realization suddenly struck Xue Qingqiu, causing her to freeze.
Xiaochan had shown absolutely no signs of an imminent breakthrough earlier.
The only reason she had advanced right at this specific moment was because…
Her lips thinned, a sudden wave of anxiety dampening her sheer euphoria.
She asked, “What did you run all the way over here for right now?” Yue Xiaochan stuck out her tongue playfully.
“You might not care about starving yourself, Master, but I was worried you would starve my Uncle to death.
I came to call you both down for lunch.” The two adults sharing the surname Xue blurted out in unison, completely dumbfounded, “Uncle?!” “Right now, every single one of our disciples and the outsiders believe Xue Mu is your brother, Master, and you didn’t deny it…” Yue Xiaochan offered a sweet, knowing smile.
“Since I am still so small…
shouldn’t he be my Uncle?
What else could he possibly be?” Staring at her flawless smile, the two older Xues looked at each other in sheer bewilderment, temporarily entirely at a loss for how to respond.
After a long, heavy silence, Xue Qingqiu spoke indifferently.
“Then Uncle it is…
Chan’er, have them send the dishes up.
Accompany your Uncle for a proper meal.” Xue Mu’s mouth twitched violently.
Instead of feeling the triumphant joy of securing a powerful backer, he desperately wanted to burst into tears.
Didn’t we literally just agree that you eventually grow up?
What the hell am I supposed to play at now that I’ve been downgraded to a literal Uncle?!
Yue Xiaochan nibbled on her fingernail, looking back and forth between the two of them.
Giggling merrily, she teased, “Did Master and Uncle hit it off so well that you wish you met sooner?
Are you two going to have a deep, late-night heart-to-heart talk tonight?
Truthfully, I think you should seriously consider it, Master…” Xue Qingqiu raised a hand, feigning a strike.
“I’m going to beat the absolute skin off your shameless face!” Yue Xiaochan giggled and bolted out the door.
Left behind, Xue Mu lowered his head and silently sipped his tea.
Xue Qingqiu rose to her feet, walking over to the window to trace Yue Xiaochan’s retreating figure.
“How old are you this year, Master Xue?” she asked suddenly.
“Twenty-seven.” “A year younger than me.” Xue Qingqiu fell silent for a moment before continuing.
“Earlier, I considered assigning you an official position within our ranks.
However, if you do not formally join our sect, any title I give you will lack proper legitimacy.
Furthermore, our sect hasn’t accepted a male disciple in years, and I have no desire to break that tradition just yet.
Therefore…
it truly is best for you to operate under the guise of my adoptive younger brother.” Xue Mu let out a wry smile.
“Judging by your tone, Sect Master, you seem rather reluctant.” Xue Qingqiu burst into an amused laugh.
“Granting you the status of my brother carries completely unpredictable consequences for the Star-Moon Sect.
It is only natural to exercise caution.
Did you honestly believe I would just casually claim random relatives?” Xue Mu replied with a casual shrug.
“Then let’s just forget about it.
Since your heart isn’t truly in it, there’s no need to force the matter.” “You sound rather reluctant yourself,” Xue Qingqiu noted, her curiosity piqued.
“Do you have any idea how many people out in the world would—” She cut herself off mid-sentence, a strange gleam flashing deep within her eyes.
She suddenly seemed to catch a glimpse of what Xue Mu was actually playing at.
Was it simple self-esteem?
Or did he harbor other desires?
And if he did harbor other desires…
were they directed toward a grown-up Yue Xiaochan?
Or were they aimed at…
Xue Qingqiu herself?
He hadn’t explicitly stated his reasons, leaving her entirely free to interpret his hesitation however she pleased.
She genuinely found him highly entertaining.
Just then, the servants arrived to set down the lunch trays, with Yue Xiaochan close on their heels.
“The Imperial Court is an absolute clown show today,” the girl announced with a bright grin.
Xue Qingqiu’s mind was still lingering on her thoughts about Xue Mu.
Hearing her disciple speak, she asked absentmindedly, “Oh?
What happened?” “We set an excellent precedent, so the Joyous Union Sect immediately followed our lead.
They rushed out to hunt down female disciples from the Orthodox sects just to strip them of their robes.
Even the high-ranking nobles who run the local taverns and gambling dens across the capital are getting ideas.
While they aren’t as aggressive as us when it comes to actively capturing people, they’ve already started placing secret orders for custom uniforms.” Yue Xiaochan giggled with absolute schadenfreude.
“The major sects don’t have a strong powerhouse presence stationed in the capital.
After suffering such a massive defeat at our hands earlier, they don’t dare resort to violence again.
Instead, they ran to beg their friendly court bureaucrats for political favors, and now the entire Imperial Court is locked in a massive screaming match.” Xue Mu grabbed a bowl of rice and began shoveling food into his mouth like a starving man.
“The government won’t be able to reach a solid resolution anyway,” he noted casually between bites.
“My guess is they’ll summon Xiahou Di for a purely symbolic tongue-lashing, and then let the whole matter slide entirely.” Yue Xiaochan propped her chin in her hands, quietly watching him inhale his food.
An unreadable emotion flickered briefly across her eyes before she swiftly suppressed it, offering a sweet smile.
“Uncle truly is incredible.
Your prediction is completely spot on.” Xue Mu blurted out instinctively, “I am not your Un—” “You are, in fact, her Uncle.” Before he could even finish his sentence, Xue Qingqiu cut him off with absolute finality.
“…” Staring at Xue Qingqiu, who had smoothly retreated to the side to elegantly sip her tea as if nothing had happened, Xue Mu felt entirely powerless to argue.
Son of a bitch, he grumbled internally.
I’ve heard of forced marriages before, but forcing someone to be a younger brother is a new one.
Do you honestly think this little arrangement solves your problems?
It’s a real pity you people have absolutely no concept of that legendary, glorious discipline back home known as ‘German Orthopedics’…
Besides, a ‘foster sister’ is a title that can be heavily reinterpreted depending on which syllable you stress!
Yue Xiaochan’s eyes darted back and forth between them.
She purred in a sweet, lingering voice, “Dear Uncle…” Xue Mu nearly shuddered.
“What do you want?” “There were no customers this morning, so the girls have already been busy hand-copying your little story…
When exactly is the next chapter coming out?” When it came to this serialized smut, despite its seemingly absurd nature, it actually carried the weight of Xue Mu’s massive ambitions.
It was a calculated, exploratory offensive against the established structure of this entire world, and he took it incredibly seriously.
After pondering for a moment, he said, “Let’s see the actual results of tonight’s distribution first.
I can churn out a story whenever we need one, so there’s no rush.” Yue Xiaochan immediately shifted back into her spoiled act.
“But I want Uncle to tell me a story first.” “…If you can use your normal speaking voice, we can talk about a story…” “Fine, fine.” Yue Xiaochan immediately sat perfectly upright, adopting a serious posture.
Even though she was deliberately provoking him out of a complex, somewhat bizarre headspace, the young girl’s explosive, naturally curious disposition inevitably took over the moment a tale was on the table.
In truth, even Xue Qingqiu was growing rather curious beside them.
Back in the carriage, a casual little story from Xue Mu had touched a deep chord within her, leaving her quite expectant of his narratives.
Hearing them mention the girls hand-copying a short story earlier, she still had no idea what kind of content it actually was.
Xue Mu took a casual bite of his food, speaking in a measured, relaxed tone.
“Once upon a time, there was an old man named Yugong, the Foolish Old Man.
Two massive mountains blocked the path right outside his front door, making traveling in and out incredibly difficult.
He made up his mind to dig both mountains flat.” Yue Xiaochan smiled.
“The power to shatter mountains?
Even I am a far cry from that level.
Was he a supreme expert of the Void-Breaching Realm like my Master?” Shatter my ass.
Can people in this unscientific world actually flatten mountains with raw strength?
Xue Mu nearly choked on a grain of rice, coughing for a long while before managing to reply, “He was just an ordinary civilian.
He had zero physical strength, just like me.” Xue Qingqiu let out a dismissive snort.
“A mortal trying to move a mountain?
Utterly overestimating his own capabilities.” Xue Mu nodded.
“Another clever man named Zisou, the Wise Old Man, also mocked him for being a fool, believing it was an impossible task.
But Yugong replied: ‘When I die, my sons will carry on.
When they die, there will be my grandsons, and then their sons and grandsons, generation after generation, without end.
Why should I ever worry about not being able to flatten these mountains?'” The master and disciple were instantly struck by a wave of profound emotion.
They exchanged a heavy look, both lapsing into a deep, absolute silence.
For over a thousand years, their sect had struggled to survive amidst endless shadows, carrying their lineage through fifty generations without their ancestral fire ever being extinguished.
Now, seeing their sect on the verge of a magnificent resurgence, Xue Qingqiu was holding the banner high while Yue Xiaochan stood ready to carry the torch forward.
Was this dynamic not the absolute living manifestation of the Foolish Old Man’s story?
Xue Qingqiu let out a soft, heavy sigh.
“I was shallow.
Tell me…
did this Foolish Old Man succeed in the end?” Xue Mu immediately adapted the tale on the fly, swiftly replacing the original mythical gods of the legend with local terms.
“Later on, a few passing powerhouses of the Void-Breaching Realm were deeply moved by Yugong’s unyielding spirit.
They lent a hand, and the story naturally reached a happy ending.” The duo’s sense of immersion was clearly off the charts.
Hearing his words, both of them let out a faint sigh of relief, smiling as they spoke in unison.
“Splendid.
If we happened to pass by such a sight, we would have lent a hand as well.” Xue Mu smiled, lowering his head to continue his meal.
He had naturally selected this specific tale to strike directly at their heartstrings.
Inspirational chicken soup for the soul was universally resonant across any era; even in his highly advanced information age back home, social media feeds were perpetually flooded with the exact same invariant motivational content.
Not to mention this ancestral-tier masterpiece of motivation—for a master and disciple who constantly bore the absolute weight of their sect, no story could have provided a deeper, more profound echo.
Yue Xiaochan pondered the tale for a moment, her small face inevitably clouding over with a touch of melancholy.
She murmured, “Yugong’s luck was quite good to have passing experts step in to help.
What about us…?” Xue Mu seized the perfect tactical window to speak.
“You have me.” The master and disciple both tilted their heads to look at him, their expressions identical in their knowing, playful smiles.
They were perfectly aware that his declaration carried a highly calculated, ulterior motive, yet they thoroughly enjoyed hearing it in this exact moment nonetheless.
Xue Qingqiu merely laughed, poking fun at him.
“Who knows who is actually the Foolish Old Man, and who is the Void-Breaching powerhouse here.” Xue Mu mumbled under his breath in a near-whisper, “Oh, I know exactly how void and breached you are.” As he mumbled, he placed a subtle, almost unnoticeable emphasis and pause right between the words “void” and “breached,” giving the standard cultivation realm name a thoroughly vulgar, anatomical double meaning.
The duo was completely accustomed to hearing that cultivation rank on a daily basis, so it was fundamentally impossible for their minds to wander down such a warped path.
No matter how brilliant they were, they completely failed to catch his crude joke, simply replying with a smile, “It’s good that you know.” Xue Mu swallowed his final mouthful of rice, his mood reaching an absolute high.
He had officially secured an absolute, ironclad footing in this world.
Xue Qingqiu might look like a ruthless, terrifying empress of the demonic path whose hands were bathed in blood, but in reality, as long as he grasped her underlying psychology and maintained the correct boundaries, she was incredibly easy to get along with.
In fact, she was likely far easier to manage than those hypocrites from the Orthodox Faction with their endless, rigid rules.
Even if he wanted to pursue a romance with her down the line, it didn’t seem entirely hopeless…
After all, she truly was magnificent.