The silver-haired, red-eyed Fairy rode her Spirit Sword, tearing through a kilometer of open sky, and soon spotted her master below.
Seeing that her master had no obvious injuries, Qing Yueqiu let out a long sigh of relief.
Then, her cold, hostile gaze locked onto the female cultivator standing before her master.
But before Qing Yueqiu could even speak, she heard Pei Yuhang's sharp rebuke.
"Yueqiu, do not be rude to our honored guest from the Yin Yang Sacred Land!"
Hearing her master's rebuke, Qing Yueqiu's face instantly paled. She obediently hopped off her Flying Sword and stood behind Pei Yuhang, her head bowed.
"Master..."
Pei Yuhang looked at his eldest disciple's pitifully wronged expression, and his heart filled with regret.
'She sensed I was in danger and rushed here from the Cold Palace Sword Mansion, only for me to scold her...'
Pei Yuhang's fingers trembled slightly, and then he stroked Qing Yueqiu's bowed head.
Qing Yueqiu froze. As she felt the long-absent warmth of his hand on her head, the corners of her delicate, pink lips curled up in an unconscious smile.
Her master hadn't patted her on the head like this in a long time, not since the incident with his wife.
Just then, a Sound of Divine Sense entered her Sea of Consciousness.
'I'm sorry, Yueqiu. I shouldn't have scolded you so harshly... The woman opposite us is the True Disciple of an envoy from the Yin Yang Sacred Land... I was just pretending to be strict for her benefit.'
"Mm... I won't be resentful of your decision, Master..."
Qing Yueqiu's eyes glistened with tears, and her usually frosty voice now sounded soft and vulnerable.
Not far away, Shang Miaoyan had been enjoying the show. But upon seeing this tender moment between master and disciple, her expression shifted from the eager anticipation of a gossip to one of sullen jealousy.
'What is this situation?'
'Is the atmosphere between this master and disciple a little too intimate!?'
Shang Miaoyan looked at the silver-haired girl, her own wine-red eyes filled with a frigid Killing Intent.
As a woman through and through, she possessed an extraordinary intuition.
'That shy and endearing look on Pei Yuhang's eldest disciple's face when she gazes at her master... no matter how you look at it, that's not the normal reverence a disciple has for her teacher!'
A dark, inexplicable jealousy began to surge within her, and the crimson lotus patterns in her pupils started to bloom.
HUMMM—
The cry of a sword, like a silver vase shattering, rang out.
A sword mark as fine as a spider's thread appeared silently on the ground, just three inches from Shang Miaoyan's toes.
Her Dao Heart wavering, Shang Miaoyan snapped back to her senses, her eyes meeting Pei Yuhang's warning gaze.
They had been inseparable day and night for decades. A single glance was all it took for them to understand each other.
Shang Miaoyan knew. The Killing Intent she had unconsciously directed at Qing Yueqiu had truly made him angry...
It was an anger he hadn't shown even after she had forcibly kissed him.
"What's wrong, Master?"
Qing Yueqiu, whose senses had just been shielded by Pei Yuhang, looked up at her master in confusion.
Pei Yuhang gave his eldest disciple's pleasantly soft hair one last ruffle, then released her and said:
"It's nothing... But Yueqiu, I still have important matters to discuss with our honored guest from the Yin Yang Sacred Land. You should return to your cultivation for now."
"Mm."
Relieved that her master was not in any danger, Qing Yueqiu nodded and turned to leave.
"Wait, you must be the famous first disciple of the Cold Sun Sword Immortal, Fairy Qing Yueqiu, correct?"
A cloyingly sweet voice, which she found instantly grating, sounded from behind, causing Qing Yueqiu to stop in her tracks.
She turned, bowed calmly to the other woman, and said, "I am no Fairy, merely an unworthy disciple of my master."
Shang Miaoyan said with a bright smile, "How could you be unworthy? Why, back in the Yin Yang Sacred Land, I heard that the number one Sword Dao practitioner of this generation in the Xuanyuan Dao Sect is Fairy Qing Yueqiu herself."
"If Fairy Yueqiu is considered unworthy, then ninety percent of the young Sword Cultivators in the world ought to just snap their swords in two."
Pei Yuhang's expression soured as he watched Shang Miaoyan. One moment she was full of animosity for his disciple, and the next she was suddenly striking up a conversation with her.
'My disciple was about to leave. Why did you call her back? What are you trying to pull?'
His Divine Sense message quickly received a reply.
'This is my first time meeting Xiaohan's disciple, you know. As Yueqiu's elder, of course I have to give a little welcome gift~'
Shang Miaoyan flipped her hand over, and a flawless white lotus appeared, retrieved from her Jiezhi Storage Ring.
As the white lotus appeared, the Spiritual Qi on the entire mountain peak became crisp and clear. One could even faintly hear the ethereal sounds of the Great Dao.
"This is a small piece of Dao comprehension I gained from cultivating the Jade Maiden Dao for many years. I see that Fairy Yueqiu walks the path of the Supreme Heartless Sword, and this insight into the Jade Maiden Dao, which emphasizes the suppression of carnal desire, may be of great help to you."
Qing Yueqiu's lovely eyes widened in disbelief. She never thought this woman from the Yin Yang Sacred Land would give her such a precious gift on their very first meeting.
A Cultivator's comprehension of the Great Dao was something whose value could not be measured in Spirit Stones.
At the same time, a deep sense of confusion arose in Qing Yueqiu.
'Aren't the female cultivators from the Yin Yang Sacred Land supposed to be nothing but despicable, licentious hedonists?'
'So why is this woman practicing the Jade Maiden Dao, which is all about having a pure heart, free of distractions, and remaining chaste?'
'Could it be...'
'This woman is using the decadent environment of the Yin Yang Sacred Land to temper her Dao Heart for the Jade Maiden Dao?!'
'To maintain a Dao Heart as pure as a white lotus emerging from the mud unstained while in such a decadent place... That's truly terrifying!'
Instantly, the way Qing Yueqiu looked at Shang Miaoyan was filled with immense respect.
Seeing his precious first disciple about to develop a favorable impression of this wicked woman, Pei Yuhang worried she might be led down a path of no return.
Pei Yuhang, standing to the side, quickly stepped in front of Qing Qiuyue, preventing his pure-hearted disciple from looking at that wicked woman, Shang Miaoyan, any longer.
"Ahem, it's getting late, Yueqiu. You should hurry back to your cultivation."
Qing Qiuyue nodded obediently and asked her master, "Master, about you being here... should I tell my mistress?"
"No need... wait, that's not right! I mean, don't worry about it! I'm only here discussing some matters with the honored guest from the Yin Yang Sacred Land. I'll be back very soon!"
"Of course, if Liyuan asks, feel free to tell her where I am and what I'm doing. It's not as if I've done anything I should feel guilty about..."
Faced with his eldest disciple's innocent eyes and blunt questioning, Pei Yuhang felt a bit of a cold sweat, but he managed to maintain his composure.
After finally managing to send Qing Qiuyue away, Pei Yuhang turned back to Shang Miaoyan, his expression grim.
"What did you mean by giving Yueqiu that white lotus?"
"Xiaohan, do you suspect I would bring harm to your precious disciple?"
Shang Miaoyan sighed dramatically, clutching her full chest, her sorrowful expression so beautiful it would inspire pity in anyone who saw it.
She looked just like an innocent maiden who had been seduced and then cruelly abandoned.