Chapter 955: White Jade Sect
‘It has been several months since I have been apart from my lord and gentleman. I wonder if you have been well?’
Zu An couldn't help but smile when he saw the beautiful and graceful handwriting. As expected, the words reflected the person, just as beautiful as Chuyan herself. There was a faint fragrance of orchids coming from the letter, which was Chu Chuyan’s unique smell. He could imagine her sitting in front of her table, flattening out a sheet of paper and writing seriously.
‘...the weather recently has abruptly become cold, and it has already begun to snow in Brightmoon City. Huanzhao has never seen snow before, so she has been quite excited, running out into the snow to make a snowman. However, she is unfortunately not too skilled in the arts, so the end product was quite different, to say the least.
‘I was quite curious about what she made. At first, she was too shy to tell me, but I made sure she understood what the phrase ‘an older sister is like a mother’ meant. She finally gave in…’
Zu An had a smile on his face. Chu Chuyan had a bit of that side to her too after all; that brat Huanzhao had probably been bullied a bit.
‘She said she was making a snowman of you, but she could not do it no matter what she tried… I could not help but want to laugh when I saw how ugly that snowman was. I really wanted you to see it.
‘Because I cultivated the Snowflake Sword, my hands and feet were ice-cold last year. But this year, even though there was such a huge snowfall, my hands and feet were still warm. All of that was because of you…’
Even though he didn’t see the words ‘I miss you’ at all, Zu An could feel her strong longing for him. He thought to himself that Chu Chuyan’s nature was naturally cold and indifferent, so it wasn’t too likely for her to say anything too cheesy. But when he saw what she wrote afterward, his smile suddenly froze.
She told him that after she had dealt with the Chu clan’s matters, something seemed to have happened back in her sect, so they had called her back. She was quite nervous too. Furthermore, she didn’t know when they would be able to meet again.
“White Jade Sect?” Zu An mouthed the name of the sect she had written. He grabbed Chu Youzhao, who was playing with an assortment of toys, and asked, “Your big sister is from a sect?”
“Of course! Where do you think her Snowflake Sword came from? It’s not as if the great art passed down in the Chu clan is the Snowflake Sword.” Chu Youzhao rolled her eyes.
Zu An thought about her answer. Chu Zhongtian and Qin Wanru indeed didn’t use the Snowflake Sword, and Chu Chuyan had even taught him the Snowflake Sword. He had clearly sensed that the technique was profound and mysterious, and it even seemed to have a powerful growth factor. His previous confusion was now finally resolved.
“But doesn’t this world not really have any sects? Aren’t most people members of the court?” Zu An asked out of curiosity. After all, according to his understanding of this world, cultivation decided how far one could go in an official position, so what sect’s resources could compete with the court? That meant there shouldn’t have been many people who were willing to stay in a sect.
“That’s just stuff that happened in the last few decades. Before his majesty unified the world, the different sects were actually flourishing,” Chu Youzhao explained. Even though she did like to play, she had still been raised in an influential great clan after all. Her knowledge and experiences were beyond those of an ordinary person. “Later on, after his majesty defeated the fiend races and left all the outstanding warriors helpless with his power, the various sects closed their gates and secluded themselves from the world. The small sects didn’t have such strong backing, so they were quickly absorbed by the court. As time passed, the ordinary people have already forgotten that the world still has sects.”
When he heard the pride in Chu Youzhao’s tone, Zu An knew it was something every citizen of the Zhou Dynasty had. After all, the Zhou Dynasty had been founded on martial might, so that kind of domineering and awe-inspiring might was something its citizens were extremely proud of.
“Then what’s going on with this White Jade Sect?” Zu An wanted to know more about his wife’s sect, the more details the better.
“I only know that the White Jade Sect is just a branch of Dao Gate, and furthermore an extremely influential branch. As for everything else, we really don’t know too much since the White Jade Sect has secluded themselves from the world. Even though my big sis was taken in as a disciple because someone from the White Jade Sect saw her talent, she wasn’t allowed to talk about any of their secrets either. That’s why we don’t really know either,” Chu Youzhao replied after thinking about his question.
“Dao Gate?” Zu An frowned. He had heard of the term before in his previous world, but this world’s Dao Gate was clearly not that similar.
“If there’s a Devil Gate, then there’s naturally a Dao Gate. The Devil Gate seeks to do whatever the heart desires, while the Dao Gate seeks the natural law, the transcendence of the self,” Chu Youzhao answered, looking surprised.
Zu An had a strange expression on his face. Qiu Honglei seemed to be the saintess of the Devil Sect, and Chu Chuyan was now an inheritor of the Dao Gate? What if it was like something from those TV shows of his previous world, and the inheritors of the two sides had to fight it out? He was sandwiched right in between, so what was he supposed to do then? He was curious as to just why the White Jade Sect had called Chu Chuyan back. Unfortunately, Chu Youzhao had no idea.
Chu Youzhao was getting annoyed from all the questions too, saying, “Don’t talk about that stuff anymore, and kick this shuttlecock with me.”
Zu An’s expression darkened. He was obviously not in the mood to kick a shuttlecock right now. He suddenly thought of something and asked, “Right, isn’t there still something you haven’t given me?”
“Why would I have something else for you…” Chu Youzhao tried to avoid eye contact. But in the end, she couldn't defeat his penetrating eyes. She took out a letter from her inner pocket and said, “Okay, okay, I’ll give it to you, okay?”
Zu An couldn't help but smile. That’s more like it. I knew that kid Huanzhao wasn’t so heartless. How could she not write me any letters? When he opened up the letter, he saw some crooked chicken scratch. It wasn’t even close to her sister’s handwriting.
‘Number three, if you dare to peek at this, I’m going to beat you up the next time I see you!’
Zu An had a knowing smile on his face when he saw those words. Chu Huanzhao’s Wailing Whip suddenly appeared in his head. It seemed she knew about her little sister’s bad habits too. After a few more sentences threatening Chu Youzhao, she then got to the main topic.
‘Brother-in-law, is the capital fun? I want to come too, but mom and dad won’t let me. It’s so annoying!
‘I’ve been so bored all by myself ever since you left. No one is here to play with me, and you ended up killing my Bootlicker too. The academy is boring; the kids are either scared of me or trying to kiss up to me. There are some kids who are trying to act all mature to get my attention. Hmph, compared to someone as amazing as brother-in-law, those brats’ mature act is just laughable.’
Zu An couldn't help but smile when he saw this. Did that girl forget that she was a brat herself? But according to the letter’s implications, it seemed she had some pursuers now too. It wasn’t all that surprising. Chu Huanzhao’s family background was great, and she was a beauty in the making. Those academy students would be blind if none of them liked her. Hmph, I should send a letter back when I get a chance, telling mother-in-law to keep a closer eye on them. They can’t let any random useless guy approach her.
He continued reading what Chu Huanzhao had written.
‘Also, that Ji Xiaoxi became my good friend. Hehe, she thinks I don’t know, but she only got closer to me to find out more about you. Hmph, I was upset at first, but those pills of hers were pretty tasty, so I guess I can reluctantly accept her. It’s better for me to be keeping an eye on her than to just let her sneak around secretively.’
Zu An was speechless. Why are you randomly eating Ji Xiaoxi’s pills? Are you not scared of anything?! But he wasn’t too worried. Ji Xiaoxi was a nice girl, so she would never hurt Huanzhao.
The shy and pretty young lady appeared in his mind again, as well as that kiss she had given him to pass on that Fake Death Pill… He couldn't help but touch his lips. That soft feeling was still fresh in his memory.
“Huh? What kind of stupid things are you thinking about? Your expression looks lewd!” Chu Youzhao cried out.
Zu An’s face heated up. He shot back, reprimanding her, “Nonsense, what do you know about lewdness?”
Chu Huanzhao talked about some more trivial stuff about her life. Zu An felt warm reading it. In the end, though, she changed the topic again.
‘Stinky brother-in-law, I didn’t even see you write me a single letter after all this time! You didn’t even tell big sis to pass any words onto me! Did you forget about our friendship already? Or were you blinded by those seductresses in the capital?! Number three, I know you secretly read this, so you have to remember to help big sis protect brother-in-law! Don’t let those vixens get him, got it? If you fail to do that, I’m going to smack your butt with my Wailing Whip the next time I see you!’
Zu An and Chu Youzhao were left speechless.