Ci Jiujiu generously shared many of her treasured storybooks with Hua Ying, featuring titles like After Dual Cultivating with the Demon Realm’s Young Lord, I Ascended and I Ran Away with a Baby After Becoming the Demon Queen’s Concubine.
Hua Ying flipped through them with great interest, only to discover that one of the protagonists was actually the Sect Leader On the Night of Our Divorce, Dao Xu’s Sword Sovereign Knelt and Begged Me to Turn Back.
She boldly pulled it out for a closer inspection. The cover depicted a graceful sword cultivator in green robes, vaguely bearing three or four parts of the Sect Leader’s likeness.
Upon flipping to the first page, the opening paragraph made her heart skip a beat.
“Why do you want to divorce me?” Dao Xu’s eyes were blood-shot and filled with despair as he trapped the woman within a narrow space.
He thrust his sword into the woman’s hand, pressing it firmly against his own chest, and gave a tragic laugh: “My life is yours. Just love me, alright?”
Hua Ying did not understand, but she was deeply shaken.
Ci Jiujiu patted her shoulder and gave her a firm, knowing look. “Don’t be fooled by how the Sect Leader rarely shows his face; he’s actually quite famous in the world of web novels. Many widely circulated stories use him as the original prototype.”
Hua Ying: “…”
The tastes of these cultivators are certainly… unique.
But thinking about it, it made sense. The other elders of the Liuyun Sect faced the reality of being several hundred years old head-on and strove to project a majestic image, rarely using youth-retaining techniques.
Only the Sect Leader remained as handsome and elegant as he was in his youth, standing out like a lone flower among a crowd of white-haired, wrinkled elders.
“I heard from my Master that many years ago, the Battle of Peach Blossom Mountain was the Sect Leader’s claim to fame. He was only a disciple back then, but he swept away all the demonic beasts with a single sword strike, successfully saving hundreds of trapped cultivators!”
Ci Jiujiu excitedly gossiped about what she had heard. “From then on, he became the leader of the new generation of young sword cultivators. It was also during that battle that the Sect Leader met his Dao companion.”
Hua Ying wasn’t sleepy anymore at the mention of this; she immediately perked up her “gossip antennae.” “The Sect Leader had a Dao companion?”
But he clearly looked like a lonely old man, and in all her years at the Liuyun Sect, she had never heard anyone whisper about a Dao companion.
Ci Jiujiu seemingly realized she had slipped up and stuck her tongue out sheepishly. Her expression became much more solemn than when they were discussing Yan Zhao. She glanced quickly at her surroundings before leaning into Hua Ying’s ear and whispering in an incredibly low voice: “My Master said it while he was drunk. I heard she was an exceptionally beautiful woman who later abandoned the Sect Leader and ran away for some reason. After that, the Sect Leader forbade anyone from discussing the matter.”
No wonder Hua Ying hadn’t heard a single rumor before.
She clicked her tongue twice, thinking to herself that this trip was already worth it just for this massive piece of gossip. Who would have thought that the seemingly carefree and lazy Sect Leader had actually suffered such emotional trauma?
The location where the key to the Longxu Secret Realm had appeared was in the Bailian Mountain Range.
The Sect Leader had provided a super-luxurious cloud ship for everyone. It not only had plenty of guest rooms but also piles of spiritual wine and pastries. It only required the replenishment of spirit stones to navigate automatically.
Taking the cloud ship to the Bailian Mountain Range would take only a day or two to arrive.
After Yan Zhao activated the formations on the ship, she told everyone to pick their rooms.
Naturally, Hua Ying chose the one closest to her Senior Sister.
Ci Jiujiu chose a room at the very end. After a morning of exchanging gossip, she and Hua Ying had already forged a deep “revolutionary bond.”
Just as she was about to enter her room, she suddenly reached into her robes, pulled something out, and shoved it into Hua Ying’s hand.
“Yingying,” Ci Jiujiu winked at her mysteriously, flashing an “I know you know” smile. “You understand.”
Hua Ying: ? Understand what?
She lifted the items in her hand to look. They were several beautifully bound small booklets. The one on top had a title written in elegant calligraphy with gold-flecked ink: Three Days and Three Nights of the Unspeakable After Falling off a Cliff with the Demon Queen. It looked very high-end.
Oh? Is this Ci Jiujiu’s own work?
Hua Ying flipped a page at random. The sight of two intricately drawn female bodies entwined together instantly met her eyes.
She flipped again; the two had changed positions.
She flipped once more; it was the same protagonists, just in a different location.
There were even several lines of coherent dialogue written on the side:
“Demon Queen Sister, does dual cultivating with me feel good?”
“The Demon King is truly blind to have married a beauty like Sister but never touched her. As for me… I only want to eat you up, bit by bit.”
“Sister, in my bed, you are not allowed to think of anyone else.”
Hua Ying’s pupils shook from the shock.
Is… Is this something I can watch for free?
She had thought Ci Jiujiu’s “storybooks” were just novels with explosive, clickbait titles. She didn’t realize that this “picture book” was actually an exquisitely produced erotic manga.
“If even the personal disciples are like this, the Liuyun Sect is truly doomed!”
Recalling Ci Jiujiu’s strange smile from a moment ago, Hua Ying realized the truth. It turned out that after just one morning of interaction, Ci Jiujiu had already seen through her essence.
So, the subtext behind that smile was— “So you’re the kind of person who likes ‘spicy’ things too. Me too!”
By the time she walked over to Yan Zhao’s side, Hua Ying was still feeling a bit dazed.
Upon seeing her, Yan Zhao’s eyes curved slightly, her gaze sweeping briefly over the top of Hua Ying’s head, which lacked any ornaments.
“Since you advanced to the Foundation Establishment stage a few days ago,” she began, “I should have prepared a gift for you.”
It was just that there were many sect matters that she, the Eldest Senior Sister, had to help handle, which had delayed her.
When she didn’t hear a response from the little half-demon, Yan Zhao raised her eyes in confusion. Seeing Hua Ying’s expression looking somewhat peculiar, she frowned and asked, “Did something happen?”
Hua Ying snapped out of it like she was waking from a dream.
She looked up, and the moment she saw Yan Zhao, the contents of the booklet she had just seen involuntarily popped into her head— *[“Sister’s lips are soft and sweet, most suitable for kissing.”] *
Actually, Senior Sister’s are also… Ah! Stop thinking!
Hua Ying’s face turned slightly red, and she waved her hand guiltily. “Nothing! Nothing at all!”
Her other hand instinctively hid the picture book behind her back.
If she hadn’t moved it would have been fine, but that movement caught Yan Zhao’s attention.
Yan Zhao raised an eyebrow. “What are you holding in your hand?”
“Nothing, really,” Hua Ying dodged in a panic. “It’s just… a small gift Senior Sister Ci Jiujiu gave me.”
Yan Zhao let out an “oh,” her narrow phoenix eyes squinting slightly. She paused. “You and Ci Jiujiu seem to get along very well.”
She had been surrounded by several Junior Brothers all morning, and whenever she caught a glimpse of Hua Ying, she was laughing and talking with Ci Jiujiu.
Get along well? Oh, they got along great.
Hua Ying felt that this should be called the “special attraction between two perverts.”
She nodded without much hesitation. “Sister Jiujiu is a very… very interesting person.”
Yan Zhao unconsciously pinched her fingertips. Her expression suddenly cooled several degrees, and she said softly, “Is that so.”
Without waiting for Hua Ying to say anything else, she turned around. Her voice was cold and clear, like pearls falling on jade. “Go back to your room and rest. You must be tired after chatting with people for so long.”
Hua Ying was completely bewildered. How could chatting and joking around be tiring?
However, she wasn’t given a chance to speak. Yan Zhao had already closed the door to her own room.
Inside the room, Yan Zhao leaned against the doorframe. Beneath her long sleeves, her five slender fingers were clenched tightly together.
In her palm, she gripped a white jade flower hairpin that she hadn’t yet given away.