Jin’er whispered softly, "But Master said the same thing..."
"Ahem..."
Chen Ye’s old face reddened, and he glared at Jin’er.
"Adults’ matters, kids shouldn’t pry! It’s decided, if I say you don’t need it, then you don’t need it. Master’s depths are not something you little girls can see through. One Qing Jun pill should be taken directly, and I’ll refine two pills for you all, one for Zhiwei and one for Jin’er."
"As for this Sword Pill... let Zhiwei have it. In this journey, Qing Jun snatched a fruit alone, Jin’er got the Celestial Burning Treasure Scroll, so the Sword Pill should naturally go to Zhiwei."
To treat his three disciples equally, without favoritism, Chen Ye put quite an effort into it.
However...
It seems Qing Jun got the short end of the stick? After all, she only ate an extra half a fruit.
Luckily, the little girl didn’t care about these things at all,
She quietly snuggled into Master’s embrace, rubbing her little head back and forth, closing her eyes with a satisfied sigh:
"Hmm... Master smells so nice, a million times better than that dragon blood big fruit!"
"Shoo shoo shoo, just came out of the Grotto Heaven, all dusty, my clothes are newly changed."
Chen Ye made a disgusted face as he reached to pull her off, but the little girl was surprisingly strong, sticking to him firmly.
Coincidentally...
He actually felt quite pleased inside, so he didn’t bother to struggle and just helplessly patted her back.
Zhiwei and Jin’er saw this and couldn’t help but cover their mouths and giggle.
In their eyes,
No treasure could match even a fraction of Master’s worth... as for Master’s embrace, it was far superior.
"Brother Ye? Have you finished chatting with your disciples?"
Outside, Mao Qingzhu couldn’t help but ask.
When the three little girls left the Grotto Heaven, she was impatient to see them.
But Mao Qingzhu knew that this pair of master and disciples surely had important things to talk about, so she didn’t disturb them.
Now hearing laughter inside, she finally couldn’t help but speak up.
"Okay. You three, tidy up and greet Aunt Mao, remember to be polite!"
Chen Ye pulled Qing Jun off, reminding them.
"Got it!"
The three girls answered in unison.
Qing Jun, however, frowned worriedly.
Darn Aunt Mao!
If it weren’t for her arrival, Master would definitely continue cuddling!
...
Unknowingly, two days had passed.
In these two days,
Various cultivators gradually left Hunyuan City.
The immortal city, which had been bustling due to the opening of Luoxiao Grotto Heaven, slowly returned to its usual peace.
The group from Lingyin Sect also rested enough, ready to set off back to the sect.
Unexpectedly, the reaction from Huayue Mansion was unusually calm.
Out of the Huayue Four, two died and two were crippled!
Not to mention, Gu Tangyin was also forced to hand over ten thousand Spirit Stones and a precious Second Tier Top Grade Sword Pill.
Yet True Man Dongshan didn’t seek retribution, and didn’t even summon Chen Ye for a visit, as if the incident never happened.
And the sects in Yan Kingdom were the same...
Hunyuan City.
Before parting, Gu Tangyin hosted a farewell banquet on behalf of Hunyuan City,
The feast was set in the elegant pavilion at the top of Shixianju, utterly luxurious.
And the Spirit Fruit Immortal Brew flowed generously, with musical harmony filling the air.
A scene of joyous celebration and harmonious interactions between hosts and guests.
Sitting in the main seat, Gu Tangyin wore an exquisitely luxurious dark gold-edged gown today, her makeup refined and her beauty unparalleled.
She held a white jade wine cup, weaving through the cultivators of Yan Kingdom’s sects with a radiant smile, her demeanor poised and fitting.
At the same time,
She smiled warmly at some lucky Loose Cultivators, devoid of her previous arrogance, catching them by surprise.
And the sect cultivators, such as Su Xuange, who was furious during the previous days, now held a wine cup and conversed jovially with Gu Tangyin, repeating the words "Fellowship between two nations, friendship everlasting."
At a corner table.
Chen Ye rested one hand on his chin, using the other to skillfully peel a red jade spirit shrimp.
Admittedly, Chen Ye’s fingers were quite nimble, a fact acknowledged by a certain Miss Zhang.
He could peel shrimp effortlessly using just one hand.
"Master Master! Qing Jun wants that glowing big ham!"
Qing Jun’s mouth was stuffed full, her cheeks bulging like a squirrel’s, and her greasy little hand pointed at the plate of spirit beast meat in the center of the table.
"Eat eat eat, be careful not to burst your belly."
Master sighed, handing Zhiwei, who was sipping tea beside him, a morsel.
The girl with black hair hesitated and slowly opened her small mouth.
"Uh..."
Chen Ye looked at his disciple’s red lips, feeling a little bewildered.
So annoying.
Do none of these disciples have hands?
Qing Jun is one thing,
but now Zhiwei is doing the same?
"Hmm... Master must be thinking something strange. Zhiwei just didn’t react in time..."
Zhiwei thought to herself, outwardly looking dumbly at her master, but inwardly steadfastly justifying herself.
With such a big shrimp that Master is offering, of course, she had to open her mouth? What did she do wrong? Absolutely nothing!
Seeing Zhiwei open her mouth foolishly,
Chen Ye had no choice but to helplessly put it into her mouth, and then smilingly turned to Jin’er: "Next, Master will peel shrimp for Jin’er, okay?"
"Jin’er... does Jin’er get some too?"
Jin’er held her porcelain bowl anxiously with both hands. Just the thought of Master personally feeding her made her quite embarrassed.
But after remembering how her senior sister obediently opened her mouth just now, she started to look forward to it.
"Mm."
Chen Ye sighed inwardly once more.
What else could he do?
After feeding Qing Jun and Zhiwei, he couldn’t leave out Jin’er, could he?
Sigh, being a master is really a tough job, especially being the master of three genius girls!
"Boohoo... Clearly, it’s all Qing Jun’s fault..." a certain greedy little girl lamented, having no choice but to watch her master feed other disciples, unable to stop it.
At that moment, she suddenly understood the expression her senior sister sometimes had—aggrieved, powerless, incompetent, heartache... In short, it was all too complicated.
"Master, why is there no movement from the people of Huayue Mansion? And those four villains even came to hunt us down. Aren’t Spirit Treasure Sect, Medicine King Valley, and our Lingyin Sect going to settle scores with them?!"
Qing Jun casually found something to talk about; she couldn’t really just sit and watch, could she?
At least she needed to divert Master’s attention!
Upon hearing this,
Chen Ye looked at the noisy crowd in the distance. Among the crowd, a cold and enchanting woman was smiling brightly, seemingly inadvertently glancing in his direction.
He sneered with a sarcastic smile at the corner of his mouth:
"Seek an explanation? With what? Luoxiao Grotto Heaven has long clearly stipulated that matters within the grotto do not involve the outside... it’s a perfect excuse, saving two nations from a war."
Nobody wants to escalate the situation.
Even the mysterious True Man Dongshan doesn’t dare to stir up conflict over the death of Zhong Yue.
If Chen Ye were a Loose Cultivator, that might be different,
but now Chen Ye’s reputation is too much, far too much.
Instructor of Lingyin Sect, honored guest of Bai Family, mentor to the Fourth Elder’s daughter, friend of the Xu Family’s patriarch, and the... confidant of the Mao Family’s only daughter, among others.
Each title, alone, might not mean much.
But when combined,
they suggest that Chen Ye is deeply rooted and well-connected in Lingyin Sect and throughout the Yan Kingdom’s Cultivation Realm.
Anyone seeking revenge by targeting Chen Ye’s disciples would have to consider the consequences.
The conclusion is clear.
True Man Dongshan does not wish to go to war over Zhong Yue’s death.
Chen Ye withdrew his gaze, calmly peeled a shrimp, and gently placed it in front of Jin’er, which made the little girl’s cheeks flush slightly. Grateful, she softly murmured, "Thank you, Master."
First, she put her hands together to express her gratitude, then cautiously bit into Master’s fingers... wait, fingers?! Jin’er’s face instantly turned beet red. She quickly and discreetly ate the shrimp, ducking her head back, pretending nothing happened.
"So,"
Chen Ye wiped his hands with a silk cloth and didn’t mind this incident. He casually patted Qing Jun’s puffed-up cheek and said leisurely,
"The adult world is quite realistic. The high-ranking sect members are probably negotiating with Huayue Mansion in secret. Do you really think they would fight to the end with the behemoth of Ruins Country over a few dead disciples?"
Qing Jun pouted, half-understanding:
"Hypocritical! Shameless! Still, Master is the best, Master is upright and honest, he only takes treasures from the bad guys!"
"Ahem..."
Chen Ye almost choked on the tea he was drinking.
This cheeky girl, is she complimenting him or insulting him?
He glared at the outspoken little girl:
"Eat your meat! If you keep talking, I’ll give all this Wind Spirit Sparrow meat to your senior sister."
Since these three girls came out of the grotto,
Chen Ye had to glare several times a day.
No, he needed to quickly take them back to the sect, make them study properly on Baopu Peak to avoid bothering Master.
"Mmm! I’ll eat, I’ll eat!"
The little girl reacted as if facing a major enemy, guarding the plate closely in front of her.
Giving her things to her senior sister and junior sister...
Such a thing, no way!