I don’t know how long it had been, but when the first ray of morning light fell on Chen Ye’s face, he slowly opened his eyes.
He felt a heavy weight on his chest, as if something was pressing down on him.
Chen Ye looked down and saw his eldest disciple clinging to him tightly like an octopus, using both her arms and legs.
"This little girl, she sleeps peacefully with Qing Jun, so why, when sleeping with her master, does she act like a little child?"
Chen Ye helplessly thought that his disciple was trying to strangle him in his sleep!
Lu Zhiwei was really too naughty!!
Chen Ye wanted to poke her fluffy little head with his chin in anger, but he was worried about waking his disciple, so he suppressed the urge to punish her.
At this moment,
The little girl was peacefully resting her head on his chest. Her long, ink-black hair was spread across the bed, with a few strands playfully sticking to his chin, slightly tickling him.
But honestly, having a disciple to accompany him made sleep so much sweeter...
He hadn’t slept this soundly in a long time.
There was nothing to be done,
His eldest disciple was soft and fragrant, better than the world’s best pillow!
Chen Ye looked at his disciple’s defenseless, serene sleeping face and reached out his hand, intending to gently move the strands of hair off his cheek.
"Hmm?"
Chen Ye’s heart stirred as he noticed the long lashes of the little girl in his arms, fluttering ever so lightly, almost imperceptibly.
He discreetly paused his hand and carefully observed the little girl.
Um...
Chen Ye realized the small head buried in his chest was gently rubbing against his robe with tiny movements.
He coughed softly, "Ahem... Could it be this girl is awake?"
The next moment, the fluttering lashes instantly went still.
Her previously steady breathing also became noticeably longer and deeper.
But to Chen Ye, wasn’t this a classic case of "there are no 300 taels of silver here"?
This girl was probably already awake.
No wonder toward the end of his sleep, Chen Ye dreamed of a pair of terrifying eyes staring at him from a dark abyss.
It seemed those were the eyes of his naughty disciple!
Chen Ye didn’t expose her but instead spoke to himself in a lazy, just-woken tone:
"Ah, my eldest disciple is so adorable even when asleep. But this drool, it got on my robe. Tsk, tsk, Zhiwei’s drool must be smelly, right?"
He reached out a finger and mischievously pinched his disciple’s tightly closed lips, deliberately showing disdain,
"There really was drool..."
"! No way! When Zhiwei woke up, there wasn’t any drool!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the furry head that had been pretending to sleep could no longer hold back and snapped up abruptly.
Zhiwei’s beautiful little face was full of embarrassment and anger.
"Oh?" Chen Ye found it even more amusing, and he stretched out his hand to show her.
His fingertips were damp; if not drool, then what?
"I... I..."
Zhiwei looked at her master’s shameless expression, both shy and angry.
This was obviously the wetness from when her master pinched her lips just now!
But deep down, Zhiwei knew that with a rogue like her master, no matter how she explained, it would be useless!
She had no choice but to bury her little face back into her master’s chest, mumbling continuously:
"Qing Jun was right."
"?" Chen Ye was puzzled.
"Master is a bad guy, a big bad guy!"
Chen Ye chuckled. The warm sunshine on his face made him reach out to ruffle his disciple’s hair.
At that moment, the morning light was just right, and time was serene.
...
Playing with his disciple was indeed relaxing.
But in the end, serious matters were more important.
One hour later.
At the entrance of Lisong Valley.
Chen Ye, along with the newly appointed guard Duan Ling, were escorting a carriage filled with various spirit plants and a mass of ordinary herbs, the monthly produce of Lisong Valley, out of the Mountain Protection Array.
Even in the Cultivation Realm, the price of large storage bags was exorbitant, accessible only to those in the middle and upper tiers within the sect.
As for the small Lisong Medicine Valley, they had to use twenty storage bags to categorize and store the spirit plants in different lower-grade storage bags.
Even so, just the twenty lower-grade storage bags alone were worth six hundred Spirit Stones.
Let alone the spirit plants inside?
Chen Ye estimated that this batch of goods was worth about two thousand four hundred Spirit Stones.
Two thousand four hundred Spirit Stones could buy a decent Magical Treasure.
Not just Duan Ling, even Chen Ye felt a bit on edge.
If anything happened to this carriage, his head would be on the line!
"Steward Chen... this... Duan is acting as a guard for such valuable goods for the first time."
Duan Ling had one hand on his sword hilt, fully alert and watching his surroundings closely.
Although he appeared meticulous and calm, cold sweat was trickling down his temples.
Chen Ye reassured him, "Taoist Friend Duan, don’t panic. This carriage is specially made by the Lingyin Sect and is protected with seven or eight arrays of various sizes. Unless a Foundation Establishment Cultivator arrives, with our combined strength, no one can rob this carriage."
In the past, at this time,
This task was handled by two late-period Qi Cultivation steward deputies of Lisong Valley, who were at the eighth and ninth layers of Qi Cultivation.
Apart from them, five mid-period Qi Cultivation disciples accompanied them, and they never encountered any problems.
Though the previous arrangement appeared lavish, Chen Ye was confident that the combined strength of him and Duan Ling was no less than that of the former Lisong Valley team.
What truly worried Chen Ye was something else.
"Steward Chen..."
Duan Ling glanced quietly at Chen Ye, noticing that although Chen Ye kept saying there was no need to worry, he was gripping a sword in each hand, making him seem more anxious than Duan himself.
He couldn’t help but ask:
"Then, Steward Chen, why are you being so cautious? Could it be..."