The night breeze blew gently, making the wood fire crackle non-stop.
Ye Anping crouched in front of a newly lit fire outside the pavilion, using wooden branches to skewer the marinated chicken he was roasting for Feng Yu Die.
Inside the pavilion, Feng Yu Die and Gu Mingxin sat opposite at the stone table, their golden and red eyes intersecting in a straight line, neither of them speaking.
Xiao Tian was floating a little higher at this moment, feeling conflicted.
What happened between Ye Anping and Gu Mingxin just now, even if she didn't witness it, she could see it from Gu Mingxin's slightly trembling legs under the table.
If Yu Die came here before the two of them had done the deed, it would be fine.
But now, it seemed it was a fait accompli.
If she told Yu Die now, she would probably cry and might even have an inner demon in her heart again, thinking that Master Ye would rather practice dual cultivation with Gu Mingxin than with her...
But if she didn't tell her, Yu Die wouldn't know how many times her place would be stolen!
Xiao Tian bit her lip slightly and looked at Ye Anping who had his back to her. She thought she should wait and ask Anping in private before deciding whether to tell Yu Die about it.
As for now...
Xiao Tian took out a roll of gauze from her skirt, stared at Xue'e floating beside Gu Mingxin, and wrapped the bandage around her hand. "..."
?
Xue'e saw what she did, and after a moment of hesitation, she reached out to the small wooden sword on her back.
The next moment—
"Black bastard!!!"
"Tsk..."
Bang bang—
A flash of golden light hit Xue'e, and Xue'e quickly raised her wooden sword to block.
After a few moves, the two little guys chased each other and fought in the sky above the Blood Prison Mansion.
Meanwhile, Ye Anping roasted the chicken, walked back to the pavilion with a plate, and sat between them, placing the roasted chicken in the middle of the stone table.
Looking at the chicken roasted by Master Ye, Feng Yu Die's eyes were shining, and she reached out to grab it. However, she saw Gu Mingxin on the opposite side also reach out for her Master Ye's roasted chicken, and immediately frowned and wanted to stop her hand.
But before she could do anything, Ye Anping slapped the back of Gu Mingxin's hand.
Pah—
Ye Anping looked at Gu Mingxin coldly. "It's for Yu Die, not for you."
Hearing this, Feng Yu Die thought she was dreaming for a moment, and then raised her head proudly, raising her eyebrows to Gu Mingxin ostentatiously as if to say:
—Master Ye treats me much better than he treats you!
Facing Feng Yu Die's show-off, Gu Mingxin was silent, then pretended to be envious and said aggrievedly, "Ye Anping, can't you give me some of the favor you gave to this white idiot? What's so good about this white idiot..."
Feng Yu Die frowned and retorted. "Dream on."
Gu Mingxin put on a bitter face, laughed a few times, and saw that Ye Anping seemed to be really angry about what she did just now, so she stood up from the stone table. "Sigh... I'm really envious~ I'm tired too, so I'll go back to the house, and we'll continue another day, hehe—"
After deliberately throwing this sentence, Gu Mingxin turned around and walked toward the corridor with an inward-turned limping step, and soon passed the corner.
Feng Yu Die was a little surprised, then asked, "Master Ye, what happened to her?"
"... She had a sparring match with me and got internal injuries." Ye Anping answered casually as he moved the roasted chicken in front of her and quickly changed the subject.
"Eat before it gets cold."
"Well... Okay, hehe—"
Feng Yu Die squinted with a smile. Although she felt that something was strange when Master Ye suddenly treated her well, she felt warm in her heart, so it was okay anyway...
Feng Yu Die picked up the roasted chicken and wanted to eat it in big mouthfuls like before, but thinking that Master Ye would probably urge her to go back to the house to rest after eating, she changed to small mouthfuls and chewed it slowly.
Xiao Tian and Xue'e transformed into two arcs of light, one gold and one black, zipping through the Blood Prison Mansion and bumping into each other.
Ye Anping glanced at them but ignored them as he quietly accompanied Feng Yu Die to eat her roasted chicken, his eyes staring at her profile.
He had no intention, but he was distracted unconsciously and only came to his senses and looked away when Feng Yu Die's ears gradually turned red.
Seeing his slightly abnormal behavior, Feng Yu Die swallowed the roasted chicken in her mouth. "Master Ye, why are you so nice to me all of a sudden..."
"..."
She narrowed her eyes and tilted her head, jokingly asking, "Are you…in love with me?"
Ye Anping turned away and whispered. "Maybe. Or maybe I just want to be nice to you."
Feng Yu Die thought she had heard wrongly, and her eyes opened wide. "...Really?!"
Ye Anping avoided her gaze again. "I said, maybe."
"This maybe, doesn't it also mean that you and I, Master Ye, have taken another big step toward becoming a cultivator couple, eh? Hehe."
Ye Anping exhaled, then knocked on her forehead. "If you were more serious, you'd be quite cute."
"Hehehe…" Feng Yu Die giggled and rolled her eyes. "I'll remember. I will be very cute in front of you, Master Ye~"
"Who calls themselves cute?"
Feng Yu Die grinned. "Hee~"
"..."
"Master Ye, if I had understood this feeling earlier, would you…"
"Don't think too much. There is no medicine for regret in this world."
Ye Anping felt strangely relaxed for some reason, and his shoulders slowly loosened up.
At this moment, a golden light flew over from the pillar of the six-sided pavilion and directly hit the roasted chicken, making it shake.
Xiao Tian leaned on the roasted chicken with a swollen nose and face, pouting as if she was about to cry. Xue'e also flew in at this time.
She was also panting. After glaring at Xiao Tian, she looked at Ye Anping and flew to him with an apologetic face, saying weakly, "Ye Anping, I apologize to you on behalf of Mingxin. I will definitely kick her head and scold her, don't take it to heart. Mingxin is not that kind of person, Ye Anping, I promise you that there will be no next time for that kind of thing."
"...Yeah."
After seeing Ye Anping nod, Xue'e shrank her neck and bowed, then glanced at Xiao Tian and hit her on the head with the wooden sword before hurriedly flying toward Gu Mingxin's bedroom.
After watching her leave, Ye Anping looked back at Xiao Tian leaning on the roasted chicken's butt, and he helped her up with his fingers with a helpless look on his face.
Xiao Tian probed her bruised and swollen face and lowered her head weakly. "Anping, I'm so useless, I can't do anything right…"
"Don't talk nonsense."
Ye Anping rubbed her head with his index finger to comfort her, and as Feng Yu Die looked at Xue'e flying away, she couldn't help asking, "Young Master Ye, what did this black brat apologize to you for?"
Ye Anping paused before replying, "...Nothing."
"Nothing?"
"Really nothing."
Ye Anping was a little scared now; what if Feng Yu Die found out what Gu Mingxin did to him, would she imitate Gu Mingxin and push him down forcefully?!
As just mentioned, if Feng Yu Die really wanted to force him, he could only lie on the ground and endure it silently.
He was silent for a while, then asked, "Yu Die, do you want anything now? I will try my best to fulfill one of your wishes."
"Huh?!"
Xiao Tian was stunned when she heard this, and she immediately wanted to say "dual cultivation", but after thinking for a moment, she did not respond, leaving the right to speak to Feng Yu Die herself. She just signaled her with her eyes: Yu Die! This is a great opportunity!
Feng Yu Die understood the message conveyed by Xiao Tian's eyes. After a moment of silence, she asked, "Anything possible?"
Ye Anping lowered his head, thinking how to make his words clear, and nodded. "Well, basically, if I can satisfy you, I will do it."
"Then..." Feng Yu Die scratched her cheek. "Then, can I lean on your shoulder now, Master Ye?"
Ye Anping thought she would ask him to be her cultivation partner or to practice dual cultivation with her now. Hearing this, he was a little surprised and asked back, "I have said anything is possible, why don't you ask me to be your cultivation partner?"
"Well... I do want to."
Feng Yu Die smiled innocently, moved on the stone bench, and leaned against his side, her cheek resting on his shoulder. "But I want to wait until you completely like me, and then be my cultivation partner. It feels weird to do this... Hehe."
"..."
Ye Anping smiled helplessly, breathed a sigh of relief, and shook his head slightly, only feeling that this "No-bird" girl was still quite attractive and cute.
Seeing his expression, Feng Yu Die narrowed her eyes, leaned on his shoulder, then tore off the drumstick of the roasted chicken and put it to his mouth. "Young Master Ye, do you want to eat drumsticks?"
"Yes."
Ye Anping did not refuse and bit it.
Xiao Tian, who was standing by, looked at the two people who were eating roasted chicken leaning against each other. She was stunned for a long time, but the haze in her heart slowly dissipated.
Humph! That Gu Mingxin and Ye Anping are not true love! Look at my Yu Die, this is true love! Humph.
Xiao Tian knew she should not disturb the two, so she went around the eaves of the pavilion alone, pulled out the Heavenly Dao Scroll from her skirt, sat cross-legged, and continued reading it from where she had left off last time.
… …
The next day, early in the morning.
In the small market outside the gate of Heavenly Sorrow City, people were coming and going among the tea stalls, and everywhere were scattered demonic cultivators who came from all around to seek shelter.
At a table in the corner, four cultivators were talking about the previous incident of the Second Lady of the Sword Sect:
"I heard that the Second Lady of the Sword Sect was caught by the new Elder Liang in Heavenly Sorrow City and was tied up and tormented in the house every day. It has been seven or eight days, right?"
"That's not right. I heard from my friends in the city that Elder Liang is a womanizer who likes to play with women. The Second Lady of the Sword Sect has probably been played to death already."
"Not quite to the point of being played to death. She is still an excellent human furnace, and the identity of the Sword Sect's Young Miss is so high that it is impossible to play her to death directly..."
… …
Ka—
As they chatted and laughed, the three cultivators who were eating noodles at the table next to them suddenly broke their chopsticks, startling them into turning their heads.
The three cultivators glared at them, then stood up and threw down a few spirit stones. They walked out of the tea stall quickly and went to a small alley on the outer street where few people passed by.
"The Second Young Lady is still alive. Let's pass the news to the Patriarch first. Then, we will see if there is a chance to sneak in and rescue her..."
The other disciple hesitated, remembering the discussion of the demonic cultivators, and asked, "Yes, Senior Brother. But how to spread this news, if we spread it as it is..."
"Use the secret order of the Sword Sect to pass it directly to the hands of the Eldest Young Lady and the Patriarch."
"Okay..."
The man nodded and took out a golden short sword from the storage bag, engraving the content with his spiritual power. Then, he swung it, and the outline of the golden short sword disappeared up in the air before heading southeast.
In just three hours, the short sword crossed the three thousand miles of mountains and rivers in the Eastern Region, landed on a large flying boat, pierced the paper window, and directly entered the room.
In the room, Yun Yiyi was frowning, standing in front of the map sent by Ye Anping and searching in her mind for ways to attack the city.
The Sword Sect also summoned all the disciples and Elders above the Core Formation stage, a total of three thousand seventy-five people, and all the magic weapons and formations that had been kept in the storages had been taken out.
It could be said that regardless of whether this battle was a success or a failure, the Moon Shadow Sword Sect was using up almost all the savings accumulated over the years.
However, relying on a little more than three thousand people, it was still a slim hope to break through Heavenly Sorrow City, which had stood in the Eastern Region for a thousand years and even stopped the Imperial Sect cultivators led by Nangong Cheng for nearly a month.
"Hedonistic Sect, Spiritual Charm Sect, Seven Demons Sect..."
Yun Yiyi looked at the demonic sects around Heavenly Sorrow City, and her brows were furrowed tighter and tighter.
Now that the entire Sword Sect had been dispatched, it was almost impossible to hide their whereabouts. After knowing that they were coming, the demonic sects around the city would certainly move out in full force to encircle and suppress them.
According to her estimation, it would take around seven days to capture the city.
If Heavenly Sorrow City could not be captured in seven days, then the three demonic sects would arrive and their chance of winning would be reduced to zero.
Yun Yiyi was so impatient that she cursed in the native dialect of the Sword Sect.
"Dad is such a reckless man, shit!!! Damn it!!"
However, although they had a narrow chance of survival, it was just as her father had said.
The whereabouts of the Sword Sect had attracted the attention of almost all the demonic sects in the south of the Eastern Region. But now, the other immortal sects in the Southern Region had the map sent by Ye Anping, and all the demonic cultivators' spies in each sect had been eliminated.
In other words, while the Moon Shadow Sword Sect drew the attention of the demonic cultivators, the other Southern Region immortal sects could take advantage of the "luring the tiger away from the mountain" situation and take down almost all the second-rate demonic sects in the south of the Eastern Region in one fell swoop.
Yun Yiyi had been racking her brains these days, thinking about how to save the Moon Shadow Sword Sect, and the only way was to defeat the city within seven days.
But in just seven days...
Her husband having sex lasted more than seven days, how could she capture Heavenly Sorrow City in seven days!!
Seeing that the Sword Sect was getting closer and closer to Heavenly Sorrow City, Yun Yiyi felt like giving up on herself. She sat back in her chair and shook her head while covering her forehead. "Anping, where are you..."
Whoosh—
It was also at this moment that the golden spiritual short sword smashed through the window and stuck into her desk.
Ting—
Seeing that it was a secret report sent back by the Sword Sect disciples, Yun Yiyi took a deep breath, and then took it in her hand and checked it with her spiritual sense.
After finding out that Yun Jiujiu had such a miserable experience, and was actually used as a human furnace by a so-called new demonic cultivator "Liang", she had a nauseating feeling in her stomach.
Just thinking about it, she couldn't help but feel a sharp pain in her heart.
Her second sister, who always spoke in her native dialect and was as short as a little girl of twelve or thirteen, had such a fate...
Yun Yiyi couldn't help but throw the golden short sword out.
Bang—
"...Jiujiu."
However, suddenly, as if she had noticed something, she widened her eyes and hurried over to pick up the short sword.
"The new guy's name is Liang..."
Maybe it was a coincidence, but Yun Yiyi remembered very clearly that the Hundred Lotus Sect cultivator whom Ye Anping called "big brother" was surnamed Liang, and Ye Anping seemed to have used the pseudonym "Liang Xiaoliu" many times.
Yun Yiyi was silent for a long time as she held the short sword, with a mix of joy and sorrow on her face. Suddenly, she felt that the pressure that had been accumulated in her heart since Yun Jiujiu's accident, half a month ago, had dissipated without a trace.
"Anping... As expected, you, sob--"
She turned back to look at the map hanging on the wall again, and her brows relaxed.
Although she couldn't figure out what Ye Anping wanted to do, she believed without a doubt that as long as he was there, everything would be solved.
"Hiss– Huu..."
Yun Yiyi took a deep breath, calmed her mind, and thought about how she should cooperate with Ye Anping.
Ye Anping didn't send a letter to ask her to do anything...
But, he sent Jiujiu's hair lock and identity card...
"Anping should be able to predict that Father would bring the entire sect to Heavenly Sorrow City after delivering Jiujiu's hair... So, do I have to do nothing?"