"Senior Sister, you seem to be in a really good mood. Did you just see Master?"
The voice of her junior sister came from behind, making Qing Yueqiu falter. She turned around, her expression calm as she said, "Yes, I just saw Master."
"But... how did you guess, Junior Sister? Was it your intuition from the Seven-Aperture Exquisite Heart?"
Qing Yueqiu had heard that her junior sister possessed a talent called the Seven-Aperture Exquisite Heart. In the past, she'd always thought this talent only activated when comprehending Magic, never expecting it to have an effect similar to mind-reading.
'This is troublesome. If Junior Sister finds out about my impure thoughts toward Master, and if she tells Mistress…'
Qing Yueqiu subconsciously gripped the hilt of her sword but then immediately let go, a sudden fear gripping her.
'What a terrible thought just crossed my mind…'
Yu Xiaoyan glanced at Qing Yueqiu, whose expression was hard to read. She had wanted to keep her in suspense and tease the blockhead, but seeing how tense she was, she decided to just come out with it.
"Well, the bashful blush covering your face and the smile you can't suppress are telling me one thing: 'Junior Sister, Master just praised me~'"
"...N-Nonsense!"
"I'm not a child anymore. How could I get all shy and flustered just from a little praise from Master..."
As if her clothes had been stripped away to reveal a place of extreme vulnerability, Qing Yueqiu's breathing grew ragged. Her Jade Maiden Peaks, no less impressive than Mistress's, trembled with each hurried breath.
"Don't be so tense, Senior Sister~ Xiaoxiao was just joking with you. Or... was I right?"
Yu Xiaoyan's voice made Qing Yueqiu relax her tightly bitten lips. Realizing she had lost her composure in front of her junior sister, she felt deeply ashamed.
'I promised I would support Master and hold up the Cold Palace Sword Mansion together, but I'm so immature I can't even set an example as a calm Sword Cultivator for my junior sister…'
But there was nothing she could do about it.
Qing Yueqiu didn't know why, but whenever Master was involved, her usually cold and detached personality would become agitated.
After circulating her Spiritual Qi to calm the agitation in her body, Qing Yueqiu returned to her previous state as a cold, silent, silver-haired Fairy.
She gave Yu Xiaoyan a faint nod and said, "I knew you were joking."
The implication was: *I was just playing along with you, Junior Sister. Don't take it seriously.*
"..."
Yu Xiaoyan's eyes swept up and down the silver-haired Fairy's increasingly curvaceous figure—a graceful body that completely contradicted her cold demeanor.
She cursed inwardly, 'Idiot cow. Do you think everyone's as dumb as you?'
'I don't need a Seven-Aperture Exquisite Heart to figure out what's on your mind. Mistress probably figured out your dark little secret a long time ago... She just assumes you'd never dare to cross the line, so she hasn't bothered to expose you!'
...
Mmm—
Pei Yuhang slowly opened his eyes and subconsciously reached out to his side, expecting to embrace something warm and soft, but his hand grabbed nothing.
'Oh, right... Liyuan doesn't sleep with me anymore.'
'We've been sleeping in separate rooms for over half a year, and I'm still not used to it.'
'No, maybe it's not that I haven't gotten used to it. It's more that reaching out for something in the morning has become muscle memory.'
At this thought, Pei Yuhang felt a surge of frustration. He mercilessly slapped his right hand and scolded it, "My entire innocent reputation is ruined because of this restless hand of yours! Can't you control yourself!"
"This is the first time I've ever seen someone fight with themself. You're the one who's horny, yet you blame your own right hand!"
Bai Jingjing's sarcastic voice rang out.
Clearly, this little brat wanted to bicker with her master again.
Even though it always ended with her getting spanked until she begged for mercy with teary eyes, the little brat never tired of provoking her master.
Perhaps this was Bai Jingjing's incorrigible nature, an "M-attribute explosion" that even she couldn't control.
Pei Yuhang began to consider whether he should get another sword...
VMMMM—
It was as if the sword sensed its master wanted to "cheat" on it.
Silence, which was resting on the table, began to tremble violently. The solid wood table was instantly covered in a layer of icy frost.
"Pei Yuhang! Are you trying to replace me?!"
"You bastard! You ungrateful wolf! And after all the years I've spent fighting by your side—"
Bai Jingjing started her racket again, and her yelling ignited Pei Yuhang's anger.
"If you were even a little bit reliable, do you think I'd be thinking of replacing you? Every time we run into Shang Miaoyan, you surrender at the speed of light!"
Bai Jingjing emerged from Silence. As the frosty Sword Qi coalesced, an expressionless loli appeared before him, her arms crossed as she looked down on Pei Yuhang.
"Hey, I've told you more than once, this is your problem, Master, okay? A sword that isn't held by its master can't even use half its power!"
"You're the one who taught your disciples that! To never let go of the swords in their hands!"
"But then you, the great Master, get controlled the moment you run into that bewitching woman. You can't even hold onto your sword!"
Perhaps she was feeling particularly inspired today. Bai Jingjing felt her debating Power had inexplicably skyrocketed, and sentence after sentence shot from her small mouth like marbles, striking Pei Yuhang.
Only when she was a little tired of talking did she finally shut her mouth, huffing twice like a rooster that had just won a fight.
She closed her eyes, like a peerless master turning their back on an enemy, and demurely waited for her opponent to make the first move. She was ready to refute whatever Pei Yuhang said next.
But even after the time it takes for half an incense stick to burn, Bai Jingjing still hadn't heard Pei Yuhang's voice.
She cracked her eyes open a sliver, only to see that Pei Yuhang wasn't looking at her at all. He was just staring blankly at the ceiling.
'Whoops. Looks like I really hit a nerve.'
'I was just trying to play around with you…'
Bai Jingjing floated above Pei Yuhang and extended her small, rabbit-like tiptoe to poke his face.
"Hey, are you okay?"
"Usually, wouldn't you pull out some grand principle to convince me? And if you couldn't convince me... you'd spank me... Why aren't you moving now?"
"You're right, Bai Jingjing. This current predicament is indeed my fault."
"With that damn Demon-Planting Mark, we really can't deal with that Witch..." Pei Yuhang muttered.
"So what are you going to do?"
Bai Jingjing hovered in front of Pei Yuhang's face and crouched down, meeting his handsome, strikingly clear eyes.
Sometimes, Bai Jingjing even wondered if Pei Yuhang truly didn't have any of her Fox Demon clan's bloodline. Otherwise, how could he be even more captivating to women than the male Fox Demons in her clan who were skilled in Charm Techniques?