Tianji Zi flicked out his horsetail whisk, hooked it around Ye Chenyan’s neck, and dragged him back in through the window.
Ye Chenyan rolled once in midair, so angry that he grabbed a handful of Tianji Zi’s beard. “What now?”
“Pull all you want. It’s fake anyway, made from an illusion.” Tianji Zi did not care at all and drew back his whisk. “I haven’t asked you yet. What do you plan to do?”
Ye Chenyan knowingly played dumb. “What do I plan to do about what?”
Tianji Zi narrowed his eyes. “You’re pretending to be stupid with me?”
Ye Chenyan let out a long breath and leaned back against the couch. “What can I do?”
“That person...”
He could not help grinding his teeth. “If I hit him, he has an ultimate move. If I scold him, he’s pitiful.”
He turned his head aside. “I want to know what I’m supposed to do with him too.”
Suspicion appeared on Tianji Zi’s face. “What ultimate move?”
“Aren’t you usually fearless under heaven? What ultimate move could make even you shrink back?”
Ye Chenyan choked.
He slowly sat up and put on an innocent, harmless smile. “Aren’t you the one who claims to calculate every heavenly fate and everything under heaven?”
He turned and ran, even shutting the window behind him. “If you’re capable, calculate it yourself, you old swindler.”
“Hey—” Tianji Zi scrambled up in a rage. “Brat, today I’ll teach you what it means to respect your teacher and honor the Dao! Don’t run!”
He rammed the window open directly and chased him out.
“Cough!” Ye Chenyan let out a muffled grunt. “Old swindler, you’re serious!”
“Heh-heh. Did you think everyone hits you like your Little Junior Sister Yu, two punches as if playing around?” Tianji Zi was in high spirits. “My two punches will teach you how to respect your teacher and honor the Dao! Take my Whatever Fist!”
Ye Chenyan froze, then grew a little annoyed. “How do you know about me and him... You were spying during the day!”
“You two were flirting and whispering sweet nothings right here on my Whatever Peak, showing off right in front of me, and you blame me for watching?” Tianji Zi grabbed Ye Chenyan by the back of the neck and, for once, grew serious. “As master and disciple, I’ll advise you only once.”
Ye Chenyan stopped running, tipped his head back to look at him, and raised a brow. “What?”
Tianji Zi spoke with heartfelt earnestness and tapped Ye Chenyan’s chest. “Don’t use your head. Use your heart.”
Ye Chenyan narrowed his eyes. “That’s it?”
“Hey—” Tianji Zi was so angry he punched Ye Chenyan on the forehead. “Hopeless blockhead!”
...
Early the next morning, Yu Qingtang opened the door and was surprised to discover that Ye Chenyan was already waiting outside.
Ye Chenyan smiled at him, as if he did not want to stay here even one second longer. “You’re awake? Let’s go down the mountain.”
“If we go now, we’ll arrive just in time for breakfast at Ascension Tower. The steamed cakes and pastries there are exceptional too.”
Yu Qingtang swallowed and nodded, but still tilted his head at Ye Chenyan with some confusion. “Why is your forehead red?”
Ye Chenyan abruptly raised his hand to cover his forehead, his smile turning slightly stiff. “Nothing. I bumped it a little.”
Yu Qingtang looked blank.
With how hard Ye Chenyan’s skull was, what could possibly make him bump it? Did he use his head to ram Guiyi Sect’s mountain-protecting grand array?
He was puzzled, but his heart was already set on steamed cakes and pastries, so he quickly tossed the matter to the back of his mind and followed Ye Chenyan down the mountain in high spirits, heading straight for Ascension Tower.
As a high-end, luxurious restaurant built in Qingzhou’s most prosperous district and charging the highest prices, Ascension Tower naturally had something special about it.
At the entrance stood a bodhi tree that grew around the restaurant. One of its branches happened to reach into the Heaven No. 1 room. It was said that an extraordinarily precious bodhi fruit hung from that branch, and if one cultivated beneath it, there was a chance of comprehending the Dao in a single instant.
—However, no matter how many people flocked to it, true comprehension of the Dao was exceedingly rare. In the end, it still depended on talent.
But there were always people who refused to accept that.
Yu Qingtang had no interest in comprehending the Dao. He was only interested in Ascension Tower’s signature food.
The two found a table and sat down. After Ye Chenyan ordered and asked about it, sure enough, the Heaven No. 1 room had already been reserved.
Yu Qingtang looked over curiously. “You want to go?”
“I asked casually.” Ye Chenyan laughed. “If I can’t go, then there’s no fate.”
Yu Qingtang consoled him. “The time simply hasn’t come yet.”
In the future, he would not need to spend a great deal of money cultivating under a bodhi tree for one night. As Long Aotian, he would have his own bodhi tree.
The pastries were brought over quickly. Yu Qingtang’s eyes lit up, and while enjoying the delicious food, he secretly observed the surroundings.
People came and went through Ascension Tower, and it was much livelier than when the two of them had first arrived. With the Golden Core Competition approaching, most of the people coming and going were younger-generation Golden Core cultivators.
Yu Qingtang tried to match them to characters from the book—that horned fellow seemed to be a rough man with some demon-cultivator bloodline. In the mystic realm, he had temporarily cooperated with Ye Chenyan once, so he counted as one of their own.
Sensing the other party looking over, Yu Qingtang revealed a friendly smile.
The female cultivator on the other side, dressed in silver ornaments, came from Nanzhou. Most cultivators from that place were skilled at driving poisonous insects, and their strange techniques were quite troublesome. She had traded several special poison pills for a few spiritual fruits from Ye Chenyan, so she also counted as friendly.
The woman looked back with great interest. Yu Qingtang slightly raised his cup to show goodwill.
And over there, that dark-faced Daoist...
That one was no good thing. He was a lecher whom Ye Chenyan had beaten up and driven out of the Ancient Academy Realm.
Seeing that the man was about to look over, Yu Qingtang quickly withdrew his gaze and pretended he had not been looking.
He was about to look elsewhere when Ye Chenyan suddenly pressed down on his head, turned it back, and smiled. “What are you looking at?”
In the time it took Ye Chenyan to eat a bun, Yu Qingtang had practically fluttered around the whole room attracting bees and butterflies.
Yu Qingtang looked innocent. “It’s my first time seeing so many young Golden Core cultivators, so I looked a little more.”
Ye Chenyan found it funny and silently blocked the dark-faced Daoist’s line of sight. “Don’t look around.”
“Cultivators are especially sensitive to being watched, and the Golden Core Competition is right around the corner. Plenty of people are deliberately trying to test other people’s depth...”
Before he finished speaking, a chopstick suddenly shot diagonally from behind him.
Ye Chenyan did not turn his head. He raised his hand and caught it, flicked his wrist, and sent it back along its original path.
The dark-faced Daoist who had attacked just now deliberately tried to copy him and also reached out to catch the chopstick, but to his surprise, he let out a muffled grunt. Two bloody lines were scraped between his fingers, and the chopstick drove straight into the wall behind him.
Ye Chenyan glanced at him as a warning, then put a flower roll into Yu Qingtang’s bowl. “Eat.”
Yu Qingtang obediently lowered his head and did not dare look around anymore.
—These cultivators’ tempers were truly something else!
The attendant inside Ascension Tower looked as if this was nothing new. He laboriously pulled the chopstick out of the wall, swiftly cleaned up the scene, and said with a smile, “Everyone, no need to mind it. Please continue eating and drinking. Haha.”
The surroundings returned to calm. The attendant brought over a small bowl and smiled at Yu Qingtang. “Miss, the egg you requested. We specially instructed the kitchen not to let it cool, so it’s piping hot. Please see whether it suits you.”
Yu Qingtang reached out and touched it, then nodded with a smile. “Perfect. Thank you!”
“Not at all!” The attendant’s smile grew even brighter. “Please call for anything you need!”
Yu Qingtang could not help sighing inwardly. So this was the service at a high-class hotel. Although even a boiled egg was sold at such a high price, the service truly was on point.
Ye Chenyan was a little puzzled. “You wanted to eat an egg?”
“It’s not for eating.” Yu Qingtang pressed the egg against his forehead. Ye Chenyan’s eyes widened slightly, as if he did not know what Yu Qingtang wanted to do.
“Roll it a little. It’ll reduce the swelling.” Yu Qingtang knew it worked on swollen eyes. He did not know whether it worked on foreheads. In any case, this was his sincere goodwill.
He muttered softly, “How exactly did you get this?”
Ye Chenyan only stared at him, his gaze wavering slightly—obviously, it was because a certain wicked old swindler had deliberately made him lose face.
Yu Qingtang suddenly leaned closer. “Why is your face red?”
Ye Chenyan abruptly came back to himself. “Nothing! It’s... it’s a little hot, that’s all.”
He changed the subject. “There are too many fire-attribute cultivators in Qingzhou lately.”
Before his words fell, someone screamed and flew in through the doorway, bringing rolling waves of heat. For a moment, the temperature inside the restaurant rose noticeably.
Yu Qingtang was so startled he threw the egg away, then asked Ye Chenyan first, ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) “Can we watch this excitement?”
Ye Chenyan raised his hand and caught the egg, then lifted a brow with interest. “Let’s watch.”
The male cultivator who had flown in was dressed all in red and looked like a Heavenly Fire Cult disciple. As for the person beating him...
She was dressed in red, beautiful in a bright and flamboyant way. Even with a fiery red whip in hand, she could not suppress the various searching gazes around her.
Yu Qingtang noticed the phoenix-patterned pendant hanging at her waist and immediately reacted—the plot was here! This was the holy maiden of Heavenly Fire Cult, Tu Jiaojiao!
“What are you looking at?” Tu Jiaojiao shouted angrily and lashed her whip through empty air. A clear phoenix cry actually rang out amid the flames. Everyone was startled and realized this female cultivator not only had an outstanding appearance, but most likely possessed no weak strength either.
“Holy Maiden!” The Heavenly Fire Cult disciple she had beaten inside knelt on the floor in a sorry state. “Holy Maiden, please see clearly! When did I ever do anything to that female cultivator? She framed me for no reason—ah!”
Before he finished, he took another lash.
“Pah!” Tu Jiaojiao glared furiously. Her face, when angry, looked even more dazzling and vivid. “Do you think I’m blind? You committed outrages and still dare spout nonsense. To prevent you from doing evil in the future and implicating the cult, I’ll cripple you today!”
The Heavenly Fire Cult disciple screamed. Seeing that she meant it, he could no longer care about anything else and scrambled to flee through the hall.
Seeing him arrive in front of them, Yu Qingtang excitedly tugged Ye Chenyan. “Help!”
Ye Chenyan’s expression shifted slightly. He shook his head helplessly, raised his foot, and kicked out the chair beside him. It struck the Heavenly Fire Cult disciple’s leg perfectly, making him stagger and roll away—right to the feet of the Nanzhou female cultivator.
The woman’s voice was charming, and she even helped him up. “Oh my, how did you become so pitiful?”
The Heavenly Fire Cult disciple’s eyes went straight for a moment. Then he suddenly felt his neck itching. He lowered his head and saw a fiery red centipede crouching on his neck and waving its feelers. He immediately let out a scream.
A dark crowd of Heavenly Fire Cult members surged in through the entrance. The leading female cultivator lowered her head in salute. “Holy Maiden!”
“Bring him back to the cult and punish him there.”
Tu Jiaojiao let out a cold snort and did not refuse.
The Nanzhou female cultivator had already withdrawn her poisonous insect. The Heavenly Fire Cult members dragged the disciple away, and the leading female cultivator cupped her fist. “We have disturbed everyone’s refined enjoyment. Please eat and drink as you like today. This meal is on Heavenly Fire Cult.”
Yu Qingtang clicked his tongue. These major sects truly were richer than the last.
Tu Jiaojiao was in no hurry to leave. First, she thanked the Nanzhou female cultivator. “Many thanks to you, miss, for helping.”
The Nanzhou female cultivator covered her lips and laughed softly. A small green-scaled snake flashed past at her sleeve. “Not at all. I simply hate rotten men.”
Tu Jiaojiao turned around again and looked Ye Chenyan up and down. A strange light flashed through her eyes. “And this...”
She seemed a little interested. “Which sect are you from? Why don’t you wear a jade token on you?”
Yu Qingtang lifted his teacup to hide his face and stole a look while pretending not to watch. Here it came, here it came, the plot was here!
In the plot, Tu Jiaojiao was the one who became interested in Long Aotian first. It was just that her way of showing interest was rather special. Fighting was affection, scolding was love. Before she revealed her feelings, she spent the whole time making trouble for him.
Ye Chenyan suspected nothing and answered politely, “Guiyi Sect, Ye Chenyan.”
Tu Jiaojiao froze. Then she clapped her hands. “It’s you! You two are that ‘immortal couple’!”
Ye Chenyan and Yu Qingtang looked at each other, both with odd expressions.
Tu Jiaojiao suddenly slapped the table, leaned close, and glared at Yu Qingtang. “You’re the qin cultivator fighting me over Little Junior Sister!”
“Me?” Yu Qingtang pointed at himself in shock.
Tu Jiaojiao’s beautiful eyes were full of anger, and she had already shown her whip. “I’d like to see what skill you have. Come on! Exchange a couple moves with me!”
“Why are you fighting again...”
Just then, Jin Lulu walked into the restaurant with a pout. The instant she saw Yu Qingtang, her eyes lit up, and she nearly threw herself over. “Senior Sister Qingtang!”
Tu Jiaojiao was so angry she nearly exploded. “You’re not allowed to call him that! You haven’t joined yet! You’re not allowed to call her Senior Sister!”
Yu Qingtang: “...”
No.
How did this plot connect so messily?
Is this how a shura field is supposed to shura field? There’s a whole huge Long Aotian right there. Let him participate a little!
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