To be honest, Ji Hanyue’s reaction was giving Xu Fan a serious headache.
Every time he tried to bring up the matter indirectly, she would either respond with a forceful tone like before or let out a string of dramatic sighs, looking utterly pitiful. “Fan’er, I worked so hard to raise you to this point, and now you’re just going to abandon your master?”
“You really have the heart to leave me all alone in the sect, without support or companionship, like a lonely old woman, sitting in her cave day after day in a daze?”
Her sorrow was written all over her face. Her long lashes drooped, and her eyes even reddened a little at the corners. “First it was Xianglan, and now I don’t even know what vixen is trying to steal away my one and only good disciple. My life is truly full of suffering…”
Xu Fan’s teeth ached just watching her.
He wasn’t afraid of Ji Hanyue being all hard and overbearing, nor of her trying to coax him with sweet words.
But when she used both softness and pressure at once, he was completely helpless, like punching into a pillow—no resistance at all.
Ji Hanyue remained calm on the surface, but deep down, she was beaming with joy.
Her reactions were all an act.
Having secretly observed Xu Fan in Chiba City for half a year, she had completely figured out her precious disciple’s temperament. Her grasp of his personality was terrifyingly precise.
She had already seen through him. Xu Fan had internal doubts about their taboo-like relationship as master and disciple.
But the more that was the case, the more excited Ji Hanyue became—and the more she wanted to possess her darling disciple entirely.
After all, she simply couldn’t accept the terrifying thought of some random woman showing up and stealing away her obedient, adorable disciple.
If one day Ji Hanyue woke up and didn’t see Xu Fan by her side, she felt she would truly go mad.
…
Xu Fan was on the verge of a breakdown.
“System, my master is driving me crazy!”
Back from Ji Hanyue’s cave, Xu Fan collapsed onto his bed, limbs sprawled like a starfish, face gloomy to the point of almost rolling his eyes. “Do you think I should just run for it?”
Xu Fan rolled around in frustration, grabbed a chibi Ji Hanyue pillow she had gifted him, and began punching it furiously. “The way home is right in front of me, but this awful master just had to show up. She’s killing me here…”
Ji Hanyue, using her divine sense, saw everything he did but remained silent, only watching quietly as Xu Fan angrily pounded that little pillow, pondering over the meaning of what he had said.
Home… which home was he referring to?
Xu Fan gave the chibi Ji Hanyue another thump in the head out of annoyance.
But despite his frustration, he quickly came up with a new plan. “Maybe my approach before was too aggressive. You can’t get fat in one bite. Maybe I should first reduce how often I go see Master, let her gradually get less attached to me…”
That was what Xu Fan thought—and what he acted on.
But he didn’t expect that skipping just one morning would lead to Ji Hanyue storming into his cave in a fury.
“Fan’er? Why didn’t you come greet your master this morning?!”
Seeing Ji Hanyue’s hostile stance, Xu Fan immediately broke out in cold sweat and forced a smile, “Master, I had some insights into my cultivation this morning and completely forgot…”
Ji Hanyue sneered, her voice laced with sarcasm, “So you just forgot to greet your master?”
“I thought maybe you’d forgotten all the years of kindness I’ve shown you and were busy thinking about that old flame from your childhood!”
Hearing this, Xu Fan instantly realized his careless words from yesterday had somehow reached Ji Hanyue’s ears. His legs nearly gave out from fright.
No wonder when he was punching the chibi pillow last night, he kept feeling a chill on his back, like someone was watching him.
Turns out it wasn’t just paranoia…
Thankfully, Ji Hanyue hadn’t picked up on his true intentions yet. That gave Xu Fan a tiny sliver of room to maneuver.
After painstakingly soothing Ji Hanyue, Xu Fan gently placed the chibi Ji Hanyue pillow aside with great care, then let out a long sigh and began silently reflecting on recent events. This story is hosted at novelping.com.
Something felt wrong. Deeply wrong.
Xu Fan thought about his past lives.
In his six previous lives, after completing the Seven Lives Strategy System missions with his exes, they had all acted deeply in love with him too. But none of them had behaved as bizarrely as Ji Hanyue did now.
It wasn’t just simple affection—there were clearly some other twisted emotions mixed in: obsession, possessiveness, and a kind of pathological entanglement that was hard to define.
He didn’t know if it was just his imagination, but Ji Hanyue’s possessiveness… seemed way too intense.
Of course, he didn’t seriously consider the possibility she was some kind of yandere.
After all, in his past six lives, none of his exes had ever shown such tendencies while he was alive. Ji Hanyue likely wouldn’t go that far either.
But thinking of how she was even restricting his personal freedom now, Xu Fan still frowned slightly. “Maybe Master is just too bored from all the cultivation and developed this unhealthy habit of hovering around me…”
“If she finds a new hobby, she probably won’t act so clingy anymore.”
Learning from his previous mistakes, Xu Fan drafted a brand-new plan tailored just for Ji Hanyue.
In the days that followed, he began hovering around her with enthusiastic devotion.
Xu Fan said, “Master, I heard that mastering calligraphy complements your ethereal, celestial temperament~”
Ji Hanyue: [Pensive] → [Looks Xu Fan over] → [Pinches his cheeks]
Xu Fan (accepting fate like a hopeless fool): “Master, they say that if one masters the art of calligraphy to the highest realm, they can even glimpse the path of the Great Dao. Why don’t we give it a try?”
Ji Hanyue said, “Fan’er, I’m tired today. Let’s talk about it another time.”
Xu Fan scratched his head and tested the waters, “Alright… I was thinking since I’ve made some progress in calligraphy, I could personally guide you through the basics…”
Ji Hanyue: !!!
“Fan’er, I want to learn!”