The clear, crystalline moonlight spilled onto the girl’s fair, well-proportioned calves, like fine jade tinged with a hazy, soft glow. The slightly lifted pomegranate-red skirt, though torn, complemented her snow-white skin and possessed an even more captivating beauty.
Ning Ying tilted her head. “Master, is it alright?
Yun Qingyuan came to his senses, secretly forming a hand seal to make the blush at his ears fade, then said reservedly: “Your master has seen it. Put your skirt down now.”
“Hmm…” Ning Ying silently pulled her skirt down to her calves. She’d been warming herself by the fire, and found it quite cool this way, so she hadn’t thought much of it.
A moment of stillness filled the slightly chilly night air.
Just as Ning Ying was about to break the silence with “another day is fine too,” her master suddenly took her wrist and brought them both riding clouds back to his cave dwelling.
Standing at the entrance to her master’s cave, Ning Ying was momentarily stunned. “Master…”
“Don’t overthink it,” Yun Qingyuan said calmly. “I brought you here to mend your clothes.”
Ning Ying nodded but still felt somewhat confused.
Overthink what? Surely Master didn’t think she was the kind of rebellious disciple who would want to start a master-disciple romance? She could swear to the heavens—she had absolutely no such thoughts!
Even if she went to Master’s cave in the middle of the night, things between her and Master were perfectly innocent.
Only someone like Senior Brother Gu would see obscenity in everything.
“Master, don’t misunderstand. I understand your good intentions. I could leave my clothes here in your cave…” Ning Ying said hastily. “You can take your time mending them.”
Yun Qingyuan raised a hand to rub his brow. “Do you have a change of clothes?”
Ning Ying thought for a moment, glanced into her storage pouch, and shook her head. “No…”
“Sit.” Yun Qingyuan led her into the cave and had her sit on the jade couch. Then he sat down beside her.
Ning Ying obediently sat still, watching helplessly as her master slightly leaned down, using his cool, jade-like fingers to gently hold her ankle, slightly lifting her foot and placing it on his immaculate Daoist robe.
Ning Ying: “!!!”
She inwardly warned herself not to overthink—Master was only doing this to conveniently mend her clothes. Yes, that’s right! She wasn’t someone like Senior Brother Gu who saw obscenity in everything!
Master was so innocent; he probably didn’t even realize… how intimate this gesture was.
Ning Ying’s eyelashes fluttered wildly. She suddenly regretted coming to the master’s cave dwelling tonight. At this hour, even if nothing had happened at all, it would still give people ideas.
As her Master took up needle and thread, lowering his head to mend her clothes, her mind grew dizzy. Watching Master’s handsome, beautiful profile in the candlelight, various strange thoughts kept popping up.
Like—
Was dual cultivation really that beneficial for cultivation?
Ning Ying quickly dismissed the thought.
She was already at Grand Ascension stage. If she cultivated any further, she would have to ascend. Rather than getting caught up in the rat race in the immortal realm, it was better to remain in the mortal world as a carefree loose immortal. It didn’t seem like there was any need for dual cultivation…
Wait a minute, why was she even thinking about dual cultivation in the first place?
Ning Ying tilted her head, watching Master’s focused expression, momentarily in a daze.
She silently recited “no distracting thoughts” several times before finally regathering her focus. Just then, Master’s cool fingertips holding the needle and thread inadvertently brushed against her skin, like a winter snowflake, fleeting.
Ning Ying: “!!!”
A tingling numbness spread from her leg all the way to her heart. The roots of her ears turned red.
When Master finished mending her skirt, she hurriedly thanked him and fled his cave dwelling like she was escaping.
After the girl’s figure disappeared, a semi-translucent ghostly figure silently emerged from the deep shadows beyond the candlelight.
“As I see it, the fated love tribulation in Senior Brother’s destiny is her.” Mu Bie crossed his arms, lounging lazily against the edge of the screen, a faint smile playing on his lips.
“Nonsense.” Yun Qingyuan’s expression was aloof and reserved. “Though I did cast a divination, I don’t believe in fate. Besides, how could I possibly have designs on my own disciple?”
“If Senior Brother doesn’t believe, why have you kept yourself pure all these years?” Mu Bie counted on his fingers. “In all these millennia, with no one by your side, have you never felt lonely?”
Yun Qingyuan: “… You are also a cultivator. Surely you understand the principle that the Great Way is merciless.”
Mu Bie shook his head. “No, I’m a ghost.”
Yun Qingyuan: “…”
“And just now when she got close to you, Senior Brother, I saw you blush.” Mu Bie revealed a gratified smile. “Senior Brother Yun, after all these years, you’ve finally awakened. If news of your feelings got out, quite a few female cultivators in the cultivation world would probably be heartbroken…”
“I am originally without heart or feelings—how could I develop feelings?” Yun Qingyuan said coldly.
Mu Bie clicked his tongue. “Still putting up a front. Little do you know, just now when I merely held her hand, someone got angry.”
Yun Qingyuan explained calmly, “…At that time, I had not yet confirmed your identity and was worried you might harm her.”
“Now that you know my identity,” Mu Bie said, pushing his luck, “may I hold your disciple’s hand?”
Yun Qingyuan’s pupils suddenly constricted, his entire person emanating a piercing cold aura, like the frost of the far north.
“D-don’t get excited…” Mu Bie quickly raised his hands in surrender. “Senior Brother Yun, I was just speaking casually. I won’t actually do anything to your disciple. Actually, I do think she’s quite cute.”
Mu Bie’s explanation only made the Immortal Lord’s expression grow colder.
He himself wasn’t entirely sure… about his feelings toward Aying. But when he saw her holding hands with another man, even if she wasn’t in danger, he felt displeased.
Was this the heart of a master protecting his disciple, or some dark possessiveness?
He didn’t understand, and dared not think too clearly.
Mu Bie: “?”
See? He’d said Senior Brother had encountered his love tribulation!
“Let’s talk about your situation instead,” Yun Qingyuan subtly changed the subject. “How did you become the Ghost Lord?”
Mu Bie scratched his head, reminiscing. “…After I died, I drifted through the wilderness. Later, I discovered I could devour wandering solitary ghosts and transform them into my own power, allowing me to remain in the world in a state between illusion and reality. Because I was too strong, I attracted Senluo Temple’s attention. They wanted to devour me, but were no match for me. After killing the original Ghost Lord, I naturally became Senluo Temple’s new Ghost Lord.”
Ning Ying left her master’s cave and was about to return to her own when she ran into two people secretly observing.
“Senior Sister Sang, Senior Brother Gu,” Ning Ying nodded at them. “Not resting yet at this late hour?”
“We were worried you might get scolded,” Gu Qi said with a teasing smile. “Say, Junior Sister, staying so long in Master’s cave—did something happen?”
“N-nothing.”
“Junior Sister, why are you blushing?” Sang Jinse suddenly said.
Ning Ying: “!!!”
“I’m blushing?”
Sang Jinse nodded. “You and Master didn’t really…”
“I can testify, Junior Sister and Master are real!” Gu Qi said seriously. “Last time I even saw…”
“Stop talking, it’s all misunderstandings,” Ning Ying said bitterly. “Master was just mending my clothes.”
Gu Qi: “???”
Sang Jinse: “???”
Gu Qi: “Master can do that?”
Sang Jinse: “No, that’s not the point. The point is, how did Junior Sister’s clothes get torn? It wasn’t Master who…”
Ning Ying: “???”