CHAPTER 281: HUAISU’S HIDDEN FEELINGS, QINGLUO’S MARRIAGE PLANS

Whether a rogue cultivator or one from an orthodox sect, anyone who had cultivated to the Goden Core stage was, more or less, no simple person.

Don’t be fooled by how Kou Hongying always addressed Wei Tu as “little niece” in front of him, never overstepping, and wholeheartedly helping him plan things. The truth was, back in the Zheng Kingdom, Kou Hongying already had the nickname “Jade Rakshasa.”

Now, scheming against Fairy Shuang was simply Kou Hongying playing to her usual strengths.

“This method could work.” Wei Tu nodded slightly at her words, agreeing to the proposal.

Murder and arson—these sorts of things, Wei Tu would never engage in. That would cross his personal line, damage his Dao heart. But scheming against Fairy Shuang, bartering over the Earth Essence Mushroom… as long as it benefited him, he didn’t see much reason to resist.

At most, it was a blemish on morality—not an unforgivable crime.

Besides, in the world of cultivation, all spirit lands were firmly in the hands of powerful factions. If a rogue cultivator truly kept their head down and focused only on cultivation, they might never reach the Nascent Soul Realm in their lifetime.

Golden Core stage was already the end of the road for most rogue cultivators.

…

After they finished discussing business, Kou Hongying started inviting Wei Tu to visit Yuping Mountain.

“Huaisu has been thinking of Uncle Wei for quite a while now. If you don’t go meet her, she’ll surely blame me later,” Kou Hongying said with a smile.

Last time, after she successfully formed her core, she had planned to bring Qiu Huaisu to visit the Fen Shan Tribe and check in on Wei Tu. But Wei Tu had turned down the idea in a reply afterward.

Now that Wei Tu had come to the territory of Moon Condensation Palace, it wouldn’t be right to just ignore Qiu Huaisu and avoid meeting her.

“I’ve got a lot of trouble around me lately. It’s not a good idea to draw attention or meet too many people,” Wei Tu replied after thinking for a moment, then shook his head in gentle refusal.

Over fifty years ago, to honor a promise with Venerable Venerable Master Shentu, he went to the Jing Kingdom and brought Qiu Huaisu and her younger brother away, arranging for them to join different sects.

Even back then, he had seen that the young girl, Qiu Huaisu, already held a sense of admiration for him—young affection from a maiden.

If they met again now, Wei Tu worried that Qiu Huaisu’s feelings might have deepened. That wouldn’t be good for either of them.

There was a clear mismatch in age and generation between him and Qiu Huaisu.

“Huaisu can be trusted,” Kou Hongying gently reminded him, pressing her lips together.

Wei Tu had given Qiu Huaisu the opportunity to enter the path of cultivation, and she herself had personally guided the girl.

Qiu Huaisu, aside from herself, was the only person in Mirror Water Pavilion whom Wei Tu could truly trust.

“Huaisu is different,” Wei Tu glanced at Kou Hongying and spoke in a more serious tone. “Uncle has never doubted Huaisu, it’s just… there’s a difference between men and women.”

Wei Tu made his stance very clear.

As the elder, he ought to stop this kind of misguided affection early on, not indulge it.

A difference between men and women?

Kou Hongying heard the hidden meaning and instantly understood what Wei Tu was trying to say.

Her thoughts turned hazy. It was hard to believe that Qiu Huaisu, whom she had always viewed as a daughter, harbored such feelings for Wei Tu.

“Well, Uncle Wei, aside from being a bit average-looking, your cultivation level, talent, and character are all top-notch among the cultivators Huaisu has met. Not to mention, you keep your promises and have looked after her more than once…” Kou Hongying thought silently, starting to empathize a little with Qiu Huaisu’s feelings. ṘÂɴo͍ᛒЁŜ

If she weren’t Wei Tu’s niece, and didn’t understand the blurry line of taboo between them, perhaps she, too, would’ve developed a fondness for the man who had repeatedly helped her.

“Uncle Wei is absolutely right. Now really isn’t the time to see Huaisu. Maybe once she’s matured a bit, that’ll be more appropriate,” Kou Hongying forced a smile.

But somehow, Wei Tu’s indifference toward Qiu Huaisu made Kou Hongying feel a strange sense of connection.

Maybe it was because she and Qiu Huaisu both owed their progress on the Dao to Wei Tu’s help.

“I’ve been staying in Yuhe Market recently. If anything comes up, just send word to this address,” Wei Tu said, noticing Kou Hongying’s distracted state. He shook his head inwardly, then pulled out a jade slip from his sleeve and handed it to her. With a sweep of his robe, he flew off.

It wasn’t until long after Wei Tu had left that Kou Hongying came back to her senses. Holding the still-warm jade slip in her hand, she returned to the sect.

“Master, was that Immortal Master Wei just now?” In the cave residence, Qiu Huaisu had been cultivating when Kou Hongying walked in. Her face lit up, and she quickly ran over.

Immortal Master Wei?

Kou Hongying wasn’t slow to react this time. She instantly caught the unusual way Qiu Huaisu addressed Wei Tu.

Given their difference in generation, Qiu Huaisu ought to address him as “grandmaster,” not this somewhat distant “Immortal Master Wei.”

Back in the Zheng Kingdom, when she had first become Kou Hongying’s disciple, Qiu Huaisu hadn’t yet corrected her form of address. That could have been brushed off as unfamiliarity. But all this time later, how could she still be calling him that?

“Was Uncle Wei right after all?” Kou Hongying’s gaze turned stern the moment she looked at Qiu Huaisu.

“Huaisu, did you just call him Immortal Master Wei? You should be calling him Grandmaster!”

Kou Hongying scolded her in a sharp tone.

As soon as the words fell, Qiu Huaisu, whose face had been full of joy, froze.

It was the first time she had ever seen her master angry—and all over a matter of how she addressed someone.

“I called him Immortal Master Wei because… that’s what I’ve always called him in the Jing Kingdom. If Master thinks I was wrong, I’ll change it right away.”

Qiu Huaisu’s eyes welled up with tears. She lowered her head and stared at her toes, trying to defend herself.

Hearing that, Kou Hongying realized she might have been too harsh. It was just a matter of how she addressed him—no need to blow it out of proportion.

Maybe it was just Huaisu clinging to the past.

“Huaisu, come here.” Kou Hongying walked over to the stone table in the courtyard and waved her over, motioning for Qiu Huaisu, who was still being punished, to come and sit.

Once she had taken her seat, Kou Hongying spoke earnestly, “Huaisu, there are many men in this world. Many of them are excellent in their own right. When you have the chance, go out and see the world. Don’t stay trapped in one place.”

Her words carried more than one layer of meaning.

A disciple secretly admiring her elder—things like that weren’t all that rare in the cultivation world.

Unlike in the mundane world, most elders in cultivation weren’t wrinkled old men. Many had high realms, youthful appearances, and were still in their prime.

Plenty of sects and cultivation clans had rumors circulating behind closed doors about powerful figures behaving improperly toward juniors.

“I understand,” Qiu Huaisu replied quietly, like a little quail nodding along.

But Kou Hongying knew her disciple well. She could tell Qiu Huaisu was only agreeing on the surface. Her words had gone in one ear and out the other.

“If you keep being this stubborn, your grandmaster might never see you again in this lifetime.”

Kou Hongying threw down a harsh line.

“What? Immortal Master Wei—?” Qiu Huaisu trembled inside when she heard that, as if she couldn’t believe it.

Even though she had long understood that her feelings for Wei Tu were one-sided, she had never imagined she’d be rejected this directly.

“You’re still calling him Immortal Master Wei?”

Kou Hongying’s tone turned severe again.

If she didn’t correct Huaisu’s mistaken affections, she wouldn’t just be failing Wei Tu—she’d be failing herself as a master.

“Master… do you have someone you love?” Qiu Huaisu didn’t accept the rebuke. Instead, she suddenly blurted out that question.

The moment the words dropped, silence fell over the courtyard.

Mirror Water Pavilion might’ve been a sect for female cultivators, but apart from those who kept their virgin essence for cultivation, most female cultivators had Dao companions.

Especially once they reached the Golden Core stage.

Virgin essence had some benefit during Foundation Establishment, but by the time one reached the Nascent Soul stage, it made little difference.

As far as Qiu Huaisu knew, Kou Hongying had always coldly rejected the advances of male cultivators. She never gave the slightest indication of interest.

“Someone I love?”

Kou Hongying blanked for a moment.

She didn’t respond.

But her gaze softened from sternness to gentleness. She got up and gently patted Qiu Huaisu’s head a few times, then changed the subject.

“Huaisu, if you really want to stay by Uncle Wei’s side, then the only path left is to cultivate with all your might.”

“Cultivate until the seas dry up and the stones crumble.”

“Until all the cultivators who remember your difference in seniority are dead and gone. Then, no one will be left to stand in your way…”

“Joy is only fleeting.”

Kou Hongying spoke in a quiet tone.

With that, she turned and walked into the chamber of the cave residence. She no longer paid attention to Qiu Huaisu in the courtyard. She didn’t try to correct her any further, either.

“The Dao alone is eternal?”

Qiu Huaisu stood there in a daze, her pink lips parting slightly as she muttered those words, as if they were a reply to Kou Hongying’s last sentence.

“Young people… shouldn’t meet someone too perfect too early. Master, looks like you’re just like me.”

Qiu Huaisu lifted her head and looked toward the base of Yuping Mountain. A smile tugged at the corner of her lips, but a cool, damp sensation had begun to trace down her cheeks.

It was late autumn.

Faded yellow maple leaves were falling from the bare branches, fluttering down to the ground—and onto Qiu Huaisu’s shoulders and hair.

“In this lifetime… will I really never see him again?”

Qiu Huaisu murmured to herself.

She didn’t know if, after another fifty, one hundred, or even two hundred years, the figure in blue robes who had once broken into her heart would slowly fade from memory—or become even clearer with time.

Wei Tu, temporarily residing in Yuhe Market, knew nothing about the conversation between Kou Hongying and her disciple.

Fairy Shuang and Kou Hongying were only acquaintances at best. To successfully carry out the plan and obtain the Earth Essence Mushroom from her would still take some time.

So in the meantime, Wei Tu didn’t sit idle. He made a trip to the Wufu Merchant Guild’s branch in Yuhe Market and used their network to repeatedly get in touch with Yu Tong, asking whether the purchase of the Vajra Fruit had succeeded.

—Moon Condensation Palace was located in the southern part of the Kang Kingdom, right on the coast of the Xiao Kingdom, a seafaring nation within the Grand Cang cultivation realm.

Because of this, if Yu Tong had successfully procured the Vajra Fruit in the Xiao Kingdom, he would definitely pass through the region where the “Two Mountains and One Palace” were located.

One month later.

Yu Tong replied to Wei Tu, saying that in a few days he would arrive in Yuhe Market and personally deliver the Vajra Fruit.

The Vajra Fruit wasn’t some common spirit herb. It was a third-rank treasure used for body refinement—expensive and extremely rare.

It wasn’t something just anyone could find.

Wei Tu had asked Yu Tong to look for it with no real expectations, just giving it a shot. But unexpectedly, Yu Tong had actually found it in the Xiao Kingdom, giving him a pleasant surprise.

“Well… To be honest, with just my own efforts, it would’ve been nearly impossible to fulfill Priest Wei’s request. Luckily, that Miss Zhao stepped in and borrowed the strength of Shengya Mountain. That’s how I managed to get my hands on these two Vajra Fruits.”

Half a month later, Yu Tong arrived in Yuhe Market, covered in travel dust. After meeting with Wei Tu, his gaze held a hint of envy and admiration as he spoke.

As he talked, Yu Tong took out a seven-foot jade box and handed it toward Wei Tu.

“Miss Zhao?” Wei Tu immediately realized it was likely Zhao Qingluo who had helped him.

However, he typically referred to her as “Princess Qingluo,” rarely calling her “Miss Zhao.”

“Priest Yu, aside from these Vajra Fruits, did Miss Zhao leave behind any letter for you to pass along?” Wei Tu raised an eyebrow slightly and asked.

“A letter?” Yu Tong shook his head. “I asked Miss Zhao, but she said there was nothing worth writing, so she didn’t give me anything.”

“But… I got the feeling she was kind of sulking.”

Hearing this, Wei Tu paused for a moment.

Sulking? That did seem possible.

After all, it had been fifty years, and he had only written her that one letter. He hadn’t gone to the Xiao Kingdom either—just settled temporarily in the Kang Kingdom instead.

“Although there was no letter from Miss Zhao, I also helped Priest Wei gather some information about her.”

Yu Tong paused, then took out a green jade slip from his sleeve and handed it over.

“Thank you, Priest Yu.”

Wei Tu nodded and thanked him, then casually took the green jade slip and began reading its contents.

But as he read, his expression started to stiffen uncontrollably. His face didn’t look good.

Inside the jade slip, apart from details about how the Qixue Zhao Clan had moved to merge with the Shengya Mountain Zhao Clan, there were also rumors that Zhao Qingluo and “Jiao Zihua” were going to hold a dual cultivation ceremony.

Back in the Cloud Ze Secret Realm, although Wei Tu had refused to acknowledge his past misconduct after killing Blood Demon Elder—and the disrespectful things he had done to Zhao Qingluo… in the years since, as time passed, he had developed a certain affection toward her. Maybe even feelings.

And it was clear to Wei Tu that Zhao Qingluo had some feelings for him too.

They had just never spoken it aloud.

Seeing Wei Tu’s expression, Yu Tong immediately confirmed some of his suspicions. Taking the chance, he shared more of what he had learned.

“When I first saw the news that Miss Zhao and Jiao Zihua were going to hold a dual cultivation ceremony, I was shocked too. But after some investigation, I discovered that the Qixue Zhao Clan had their own struggles.”

“Although the Qixue Zhao Clan and Shengya Mountain’s Zhao Clan are technically from the same family, they’ve been separated for too long. They have no real standing within the main clan anymore…”

“These past fifty years, the Qixue Zhao Clan has been barely holding on. And it just so happened to be time for a political marriage between Shengya Mountain’s Zhao Clan and the Tianyi Sect’s Jiao Clan. The Zhao Clan’s direct daughter, Zhao Zhujun, refused to marry, and among all the Zhao Clan’s direct and collateral descendants, only Miss Zhao—who is in the Golden Core stage—fit the requirements…”

“Under pressure from the clan, Miss Zhao was forced to agree.”

Yu Tong explained slowly.

“Forced?” Wei Tu’s tightly clenched heart loosened a little. If Zhao Qingluo had agreed to it willingly, he truly wouldn’t have known how to deal with that.