The shock on Ye Chenyan’s face was far too obvious. Fifth Senior Brother explained awkwardly, “Young Master Ye, there’s no need to worry. I prepared clean clothes.”
“It’s just that I had to go work in the fields earlier, and I was afraid of dirtying my robes, so I deliberately wore old mortal clothes... I’ll change back right now.”
He turned and ducked into the bridge arch. When he came back out, he really had changed into a clean long robe. It did not make him look especially elegant or handsome, but at least he finally looked like a cultivator.
Yu Qingtang regarded him with gratification and introduced him to Ye Chenyan. “This is Fifth Senior Brother of our Biehe Sect, Shen Lieshi.”
Then he pointed at Ye Chenyan. “And this is...”
“I know. Young Master Ye.” Shen Lieshi cupped his fists in greeting, then scratched his head. “Why did you come so early? I was planning to wait until the Golden Core Competition before going to the venue to find you.”
As he spoke, he turned to duck back into the bridge arch again. From the look of it, he actually intended to change his clothes back.
“Wait!” Ye Chenyan hurriedly stopped him. “I booked rooms at an inn. Fifth Senior Brother, stay with us.”
Fifth Senior Brother raised a hand in refusal. “No need. I’m perfectly fine here.”
His expression was sincere, as if he truly saw nothing wrong with it. “Cultivators are different from mortals. Eating wind and sleeping outdoors is no great hardship. Besides, I long ago reached fasting. Eating is only to satisfy the appetite...”
For some reason, Ye Chenyan’s gaze gained a hint of respect.
Yu Qingtang patted Fifth Senior Brother’s shoulder with an air of understanding. “Go on. How did you spend all your spirit stones this time?”
“I met an expert.” Reverence appeared on Fifth Senior Brother’s face, full of yearning. “He told me the reason I still haven’t broken through the bottleneck at full Nascent Soul is that I haven’t returned enough to simplicity and truth.”
“I ought to abandon all worldly possessions and walk beneath heaven with only myself. Only then can my thoughts open wide and let me step into the Out-of-Body realm.”
Ye Chenyan frowned slightly. It sounded a little strange.
Yu Qingtang let out a long sigh. “And after that, did he tell you to give him all the spirit stones you had on you?”
Fifth Senior Brother looked shocked. “Little Junior... Sister, how did you know?”
He seemed somewhat envious. “You truly are extraordinarily talented. You’ve already understood.”
Yu Qingtang laughed dryly twice.
Ye Chenyan pressed his fingers to his forehead. “Senior Brother Shen, this was... probably a swindler.”
Fifth Senior Brother shook his head with certainty. “Impossible! What he said made perfect sense!”
Yu Qingtang patted Ye Chenyan’s shoulder, signaling for him to leave this to him.
Yu Qingtang asked, “What cultivation level was the expert who spoke to you?”
Fifth Senior Brother answered honestly, “Late Golden Core.”
Yu Qingtang asked again, “Then how would he know how to break through to the Out-of-Body stage?”
Fifth Senior Brother froze for a moment. At last, realization dawned. “That’s right! He hasn’t even reached Out-of-Body himself! I was tricked!”
Yu Qingtang nodded in relief. “You finally realized.”
Ye Chenyan actually sighed in relief along with him. “So Fifth Senior Brother only fell into such poverty because he was deceived...”
“That’s right.” Fifth Senior Brother scratched his head. “I originally had more than two hundred spirit stones on me.”
Ye Chenyan: “...”
After a silent moment, he cupped his fists to him. “No more needs to be said. Senior Brother Shen, come with me. This time, I was the one who invited Miss Yu to leave the mountain. I also said beforehand that I would cover all expenses. I absolutely will not let you continue living in a bridge arch.”
Fifth Senior Brother still wanted to refuse. “There’s no need...”
“No.” Ye Chenyan’s gaze was firm. “Come.”
“Let’s go.” Yu Qingtang shook his head too. “If you keep traveling alone, someone might even trick you out of your underpants next.”
Ye Chenyan looked deeply at the two of them. “Please. Follow me.”
Fifth Senior Brother could only follow.
He glanced at Ye Chenyan, then leaned close to Yu Qingtang’s ear and whispered, “Little Junior... Sister, they told me you were supposed to act as a cold, silent female cultivator of the Dao of Emotionlessness.”
He reminded him, “How can you say things like ‘underpants’?”
Yu Qingtang: “...”
He cleared his throat awkwardly and also lowered his voice. “Don’t you think the fact that I haven’t been exposed yet is already a miracle?”
“Besides, that was the character persona Senior Sister planned for me back then. It’s not like I introduced myself to him that way. It should... it should be fine.”
“Oh.” Fifth Senior Brother scratched his head, half-understanding.
Ye Chenyan suddenly looked back. The two of them jumped guiltily like thieves and each took one step away, one to the left and one to the right, pretending they had not just been whispering.
Ye Chenyan handed over two flatbreads. “Pad your stomachs first.”
Yu Qingtang’s eyes widened. “I just finished eating!”
“Oh—” Ye Chenyan asked with a smiling face, “Then you can’t eat any more?”
Yu Qingtang rubbed his nose guiltily. “But one flatbread is still nothing.”
Fifth Senior Brother held the flatbread, smelling its fragrance, and looked eagerly at Yu Qingtang. When Yu Qingtang nodded, he immediately stuffed it into his mouth in two bites as if granted a reprieve.
Yu Qingtang: “...”
With that way of eating, he had probably really been hungry for several days.
He silently handed over his own flatbread too, then patted Fifth Senior Brother’s shoulder. “Eat more.”
Ye Chenyan brought it up as if casually. “You said before that at Biehe Sect, you fished, caught chickens...”
“Mm.” Yu Qingtang answered offhandedly. “Mainly to cook for the disciples who hadn’t formed their Golden Cores and reached fasting yet. Don’t be fooled by my low ranking. There are still several Foundation Establishment Senior Brothers ahead of me.”
Ye Chenyan looked thoughtful. “You even have to gather ingredients yourselves. You don’t go into the city to buy them?”
“We do sell some mountain delicacies and wild game in the city,” Fifth Senior Brother said, shaking his head. “Buying is too expensive.”
“Biehe Sect is usually self-sufficient. Only when a disciple forms a Golden Core and needs to put together a magical artifact does Master leave the mountain to take on missions like slaying demons and eliminating monsters, then earn some spirit stones back.”
Ye Chenyan’s expression became even more complicated. After hesitating for a moment, he asked, “I remember when I saw you that day on the back mountain of Ten Thousand Immortals Pavilion, you were carrying pastries.”
Yu Qingtang: “...”
You really don’t have to remember these tiny details so clearly!
“Ahem.” Yu Qingtang guiltily averted his gaze. “I had a greedy mouth when I was little.”
Ye Chenyan looked deeply at him, then suddenly changed direction. “Then today, let’s go walk around the market.”
Yu Qingtang’s eyes lit up. “Sure. I heard the Golden Core Competition is coming soon, so there are quite a few treasures hidden among the stalls.”
“We’re not going treasure hunting.” Ye Chenyan smiled. “I imagine you never tasted the things used to coax children when you were little either. Come on. I’ll take you to try them.”
“Huh?” Yu Qingtang was a little stunned.
Over the next stretch of road, Ye Chenyan stuffed him with candied hawthorns, osmanthus cake, a sugar painting shaped like a brocade carp, and a sugar figurine that looked aggressively pig-like, though the stall owner insisted it was a cat.
Yu Qingtang’s hands were almost full of these gaudy little things. He could not even eat them fast enough.
“You two sit here and wait for me first.” Ye Chenyan was in high spirits, with all the enthusiasm of someone planning to buy out the entire street. “I’ll go see how they’re selling the sweet soup.”
“Hey—” Yu Qingtang failed to stop him, so he had no choice but to borrow a seat at a roadside stall with Fifth Senior Brother.
Fifth Senior Brother heaved a heavy sigh. “Little Junior... Sister, I feel a little bad.”
“He’s actually strangely nice.”
Yu Qingtang held half a piece of osmanthus cake in his mouth and nodded along gravely. “I think so too.”
He looked at all the food stuffed into his hands and felt a headache coming on. “What do we do, Senior Brother? Our sect already can’t afford to pay him back, can it?”
Never in a thousand guesses would he have thought Biehe Sect had gone bankrupt because of his eating.
Fifth Senior Brother fell silent, equally at a loss. Then he suddenly took out a piercing ceremonial horn. “How about I play him a tune?”
Yu Qingtang: “...Playing it now doesn’t seem very auspicious. Wait until he gets married.”
Yu Qingtang bit into the sugar figurine and suddenly stood up with determination. “How about... I go find Tu Jiaojiao and join Heavenly Fire Cult to learn artifact refining in Jin Lulu’s place!”
Fifth Senior Brother did not know anything about Tu Jiaojiao or Jin Lulu, but he knew Heavenly Fire Cult. He also knew that sect was unparalleled in artifact refining.
After a slight hesitation, he reminded Yu Qingtang, “I heard the forging hammers used for Heavenly Fire Cult’s artifact refining weigh nine hundred catties.”
Yu Qingtang sat right back down and gave up. “Forget it. Let’s think of another plan.”
“I’m back.” Ye Chenyan came over carrying two bowls of sweet soup and looked curiously at them. “What were you two talking about?”
“Nothing!” Yu Qingtang denied it at once. Seeing that Ye Chenyan had not even sat down before turning away again, he hurriedly called after him, “Where are you going now?”
Ye Chenyan pointed at a passing cart. “They have ice cakes over there.”
Yu Qingtang quickly shook his head. “I can’t eat any more, I really can’t. Even for a cultivator, there’s already more than enough stuffed into my stomach today!”
“Oh...” Ye Chenyan actually looked rather regretful.
He had barely sat down for a moment when he suddenly stood up again. “Then I’ll go find some sour plum soup to aid digestion.”
“Wait!” Yu Qingtang felt something was a bit off. He looked him up and down. “Are you... are you acting a little strange today? Why did you suddenly become so impatient?”
“Am I?” Ye Chenyan drank a sip of tea, then frowned in thought. “It seems... I really am somewhat restless.”
Yu Qingtang was just about to ask him more when he suddenly saw a flash of fiery red robes across the street. Before he could pull his gaze back, the other party had already noticed him.
Yu Qingtang instinctively hid behind Ye Chenyan, but Tu Jiaojiao still charged straight toward him. “It’s you!”
Yu Qingtang: “...”
Lately, he had more or less seen through it. The Heavenly Dao only knew how to drag the involved parties together. Whether the scene could still be performed or not, the actors had to be in position.
Tu Jiaojiao came close, saw the sugar painting, sugar figurine, and candied hawthorns in Yu Qingtang’s hands, and her expression turned somewhat odd. “Why did you buy so much candy?”
Yu Qingtang pointed at Ye Chenyan. “He bought it.”
Tu Jiaojiao narrowed her eyes. “Are you trying to sugar her to death?”
Ye Chenyan: “...”
Ignoring the atmosphere entirely, she sat down at their table and fixed Yu Qingtang with a burning stare.
Yu Qingtang dodged her gaze and quietly shifted his backside aside. “Why are you staring at me?”
“Hmph.” Tu Jiaojiao looked unconvinced and spoke sourly. “I’m just looking at certain people who are only a little prettier, only a little more otherworldly, but behind the scenes they’re still candy-loving little children. Nothing special.”
Yu Qingtang opened his mouth and asked uncertainly, “You couldn’t possibly be talking about me, could you?”
She didn’t think this counted as an insult, did she?
“Of course!” Tu Jiaojiao lifted her chin. “What, don’t tell me you’re going to say you don’t know you’re pretty.”
Yu Qingtang choked, then muttered softly, “...It’s not like I can say I do know. How shameless would that be?”
“What do you mean!” Tu Jiaojiao raised an eyebrow. “Thinking you’re pretty makes you shameless? I think I’m pretty. I also think I have a good figure!”
Yu Qingtang understood. She had come here specifically to argue with him.
“You are pretty. Your figure is good.” Yu Qingtang added sincerely, “Better than mine.”
Tu Jiaojiao instinctively glanced toward his chest.
Ye Chenyan also looked over with her. Before his head could even lower, Tu Jiaojiao suddenly turned and glared at him. “You’re not allowed to look! Lecher!”
Ye Chenyan froze, somewhat irritated. “How am I—”
“And you’re blushing!” Tu Jiaojiao abruptly pointed at his face. “Well, well, you little...”
“Stop!” Seeing that the two of them were about to start fighting over a single disagreement, Yu Qingtang reached out to stop this conflict and quickly explained, “He’s feeling a bit unwell today. He’s been restless since just now. We were about to find a medical cultivator to take a look.”
Tu Jiaojiao looked Ye Chenyan up and down, somewhat suspicious. “Really? He does look like his blood and qi are rushing upward. Something’s off.”
She had an explosive temper, but she was also frank and very warmhearted. “Oh, right. I just met a medical cultivator. He was selling chili-flavored blood-and-qi pills. I looked at them, and the quality seemed pretty good, so his medical skill probably isn’t bad either. Want me to take you there?”
Yu Qingtang and Ye Chenyan both raised their heads at the same time. “Chili-flavored blood-and-qi pills?”
Yu Qingtang took out a bottle from his storage ring and asked her, “Were they like this?”
Tu Jiaojiao leaned in and sniffed, then nodded with certainty. “Yes, that’s the smell! Nice and strong! You like this too?”
Yu Qingtang wanted to say something, then stopped. Skipping over the question of her tastes, he asked, “What did the person selling you the pills look like?”
“Looked...” Tu Jiaojiao showed a troubled expression. “How should I put it? Messy. In every possible way.”
Yu Qingtang nodded in confirmation. “It should be him.”
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