Dao Companion Crippled, Coveters Move

Chapter 396 382: "Brother Pei, Fan Xuan is already dead, that's just your fantasy.

In the Saintess Hall.

A tall woman in black gazed at the thick, dark clouds gradually dispersing on the horizon. Her fists, clenched for several hours, finally relaxed.

TAP, TAP—

The crisp sound of heels approached from a distance.

Fan Ya approached, wrapped in a purple satin qipao with subtle, flowing patterns. Her long, snow-white legs, peeking through the high slit, were particularly eye-catching.

She stopped three steps away from the woman in black. Her long eyelashes cast shadows on her eyelids, and as her nose twitched, the damp, earthy scent of post-rain vegetation filled her lungs.

"Pei Yuhang has successfully completed his tribulation crossing. He's entered the Void Refining Realm one step ahead of our Holy Daughter."

"Yes."

Jiu, wearing a lotus-patterned mask, nodded lightly.

"Jiu, you're awfully calm. Aren't you worried for our Holy Daughter?

Why do I get the feeling you're more concerned about that White-clothed Sword Immortal than our Holy Daughter?

The stronger Pei Yuhang gets, the worse it is for our Holy Daughter."

Faced with Fan Ya's smiling, probing question, Jiu simply replied in a slightly hoarse voice:

"You're overthinking it... Pei Yuhang is just one step ahead of the Holy Daughter in his cultivation. It doesn't change anything.

What belongs to the Holy Daughter will always belong to her."

"Has it ever occurred to you, Jiu, why Pei Yuhang's cultivation has been progressing so rapidly lately?

As the commander of the Red Lotus Guard, you must know how many women he has around him, right?

Especially that Jade Pool Saintess. Who knows how much his power increases after a single cultivation session with a chosen one like her."

VMM—

A falling leaf beside Fan Ya was sliced by an invisible blade, fluttering to the ground in two halves.

Sensing the faint hostility, Fan Ya pressed her lips together and said no more.

"Fan Ya, you and I are both close attendants to the Holy Daughter. There are many things we are not in a position to gossip about.

If the Holy Daughter knew what you just said, I'm afraid you wouldn't be able to avoid another whipping tonight."

Hearing Jiu's cold voice, Fan Ya's body trembled instinctively.

Jiu looked at the sun reappearing on the horizon, then averted her gaze. As she passed by Fan Ya, she added a quiet reminder:

"Don't play these little games to test me again... The Red Lotus Guard are the Holy Daughter's shadows. If you have any disloyal thoughts, I can execute you at any time."

Jiu snorted coldly and, ignoring Fan Ya, walked alone into the shadows at the back of the hall.

Fan Ya stood in the warmth of the sun, watching Jiu disappear into the shadows, and remained silent for a long time.

...

...

「Several days later.」

The morning dew had not yet dissipated. Qing Yueqiu walked along the stone path to her master's courtyard, holding a celadon tureen. The aroma of chicken soup wafted from it in wisps, mingling with the cool floral scent on the morning breeze.

Halfway there, she encountered an unexpected Fairy.

"Sister Lin?"

"Oh, Yueqiu, are you also coming to see Brother Pei?"

Lin Qianyan tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, her beautiful eyes fixed on the soup tureen in Qing Yueqiu's hands for a moment before she said softly,

"Yueqiu, you even made a special trip to bring chicken soup. How thoughtful. He's so lucky to have such a well-behaved and filial disciple~"

"Not at all. It's what I should do."

Qing Yueqiu looked humbly at the chicken soup in her hands. The deep affection and longing in her eyes made her look more like a beautiful young wife than her master's wife did.

The two walked with light steps and soon arrived at the gate of Pei Yuhang and Ye Liyuan's courtyard.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK—

Amidst the soft knocking, the wooden door soon opened a crack. Ye Liyuan's face was exceptionally lovely in the morning light, but it couldn't hide the fatigue in her expression.

"Yueqiu, Sister Qianqian, you're here again."

"Master's wife... I came to bring Master some chicken soup."

Qing Yueqiu held the tureen a little higher, but her gaze couldn't help but peek past Ye Liyuan's shoulder into the house.

"How is... Master now?"

Ye Liyuan sighed softly and, after a moment, said quietly, "Ah Han is... still a bit down."

She stepped aside to let Qing Yueqiu and Lin Qianyan in, her voice even lower:

"Ah Han is clearly a Void Refining Cultivator now, and his Dao Heart should be clear and bright, but it seems his heart is filled with even more regrets.

I don't know what he experienced during the Trial of Heart Tribulation."

Ye Liyuan raised a hand to tuck away a loose strand of hair at her temple, pouting her lips like a little hamster. She said, a bit resentfully:

"I asked him, but he won't say anything. He just sits by the window all day, lost in thought... Hmph, I'm sure of it. Ah Han is definitely thinking about a woman!

And that woman isn't me!"

After hearing Ye Liyuan's words, both Lin Qianyan and Qing Yueqiu subconsciously pressed their legs together.

At that moment, both beauties had the same thought.

'His Heart Demon Tribulation... couldn't be about me, could it?! That... doesn't seem impossible. After all, I am his beloved first love... or his first disciple. It's understandable that his Dao Heart was possessed by a demon because of me while he was crossing his tribulation.'

"Huh?" Ye Liyuan suddenly tilted her head, eyeing their crimson earlobes suspiciously.

"Why are your faces so red?"

"Ah, it's nothing, it's nothing," Lin Qianyan said, quickly waving her hand.

"It's nothing, Master's wife," Qing Yueqiu said, her eyelashes lowered and her voice a little softer than usual.

The two of them shook their heads guiltily and quickly changed the subject back to Pei Yuhang.

Although Qing Yueqiu and Lin Qianyan felt quite guilty facing the concerned Ye Liyuan,

it wasn't as if they were intentionally trying to cheat with the Dao Companion of this pure and adorable Fairy Ye.

They could only blame Fairy Ye's Dao Companion for being too tempting.

'Once we all live in the same large courtyard and become "good sisters," we can slowly make it up to Fairy Ye,' they thought.

For now, they just wanted to see Pei Yuhang first.

If Pei Yuhang's Heart Demon was truly one of them, then both Qing Yueqiu and Lin Qianyan felt they had a responsibility to resolve the knot in his heart.

"Ah Han, Qianqian and Yueqiu are here to see you."

Ye Liyuan knocked on the door and then led the two inside.

Inside, Pei Yuhang, dressed in white, came to greet them. His face still wore a smile that was as pleasant as a spring breeze, but any woman who knew him well could sense the trace of exhaustion and worry hidden deep in his eyes.

"Master, this is the chicken soup I made for you."

Qing Yueqiu offered the porcelain bowl with both hands, her fingertips slightly pale from nervousness.

"Mm, thank you, Yueqiu."

Pei Yuhang took the bowl and had a sip. The flavor couldn't compare to his own cooking, but compared to her previous cluelessness in the kitchen, Yueqiu had improved greatly.

More importantly, Yueqiu had improved for his sake.

So, Pei Yuhang gave her a gratified word of praise.

This made the young woman's lips curl up in a happy smile, as if she had just eaten honey.

Seeing the girl so happy, Pei Yuhang was momentarily dazed as he was reminded of another proud yet lively girl. His fingers subconsciously tightened around the porcelain bowl.

Just then, a soft voice transmitted into his Sea of Consciousness.

Brother Pei, what did you experience when you were crossing the Void Tribulation? Why are you in such a bad state now?

Hearing Lin Qianyan's transmission in his Sea of Consciousness, Pei Yuhang's eyes flickered. He said to Yueqiu and Liyuan,

"I have some urgent Sect matters to discuss with Qianqian alone. Liyuan, could you two step out for a moment?"

"Alright."

Ye Liyuan didn't think much of it and left immediately, seeming quite at ease leaving her Dao Companion alone with another woman.

Qing Yueqiu, however, unconsciously clenched her fists.

Perhaps it was a woman's intuition, or the sensitivity that comes at certain times.

She always felt that her master paid more attention to Sister Lin than to her, which made her a little uncomfortable.

She felt gloomy, as if a portion of her master's affection for her had been taken away.

The good mood from her master's earlier praise also faded considerably.

But since her master said it was official business, Qing Yueqiu certainly wouldn't cause trouble. She followed Ye Liyuan out of the room.

And she even thoughtfully closed the door behind her.

Inside, only Pei Yuhang and Lin Qianyan remained. The dignified and elegant Jade Pool Saintess no longer stood on ceremony; she stretched languidly and sat down naturally on the bed that belonged to Ye Liyuan.

"Brother Pei, is there something you need my help with?"

"Qianqian, I'd like you to help me find someone."

"A woman?"

"...Yes."

Pei Yuhang answered, but he couldn't help but find it strange. 'Why would Qianqian just assume I'm looking for a woman? Although, she happens to be right.'

Pei Yuhang took a deep breath, then told Lin Qianyan everything he had experienced during the Trial of Heart Tribulation.

Lin Qianyan's eyes gradually narrowed. She said softly, "So, Brother Pei, your Heart Demon was that girl named Fan Xuan?

Because you regretted not bringing her with you back then, the Celestial Tribulation sent you back to that memory...

But you successfully broke the Celestial Tribulation's Illusion Realm. Logically, you should have moved past that regret. Why has your regret grown even deeper, Brother Pei?"

As she said this, Lin Qianyan's beautiful eyes suddenly widened. She then looked at Pei Yuhang and said in a solemn voice, "Brother Pei, the woman you want me to find... is it that same Fan Xuan?"

"That's right."

Pei Yuhang nodded, his fists clenching slightly.

"I now believe that Fan Xuan isn't dead. She must still be alive."

"Why?"

Lin Qianyan questioned this.

It wasn't that she hoped the little Maid who saved Pei Yuhang was dead. In Lin Qianyan's eyes, that little Maid was her and Pei Yuhang's benefactor.

If it weren't for Fan Xuan, Brother Pei would never have escaped the Yin Yang Sacred Land, and she would never have had the chance to reunite with him. After a hundred years, that Shang Miaoyan might have even used her despicable methods to completely break Brother Pei...

So she was very grateful to the little Maid who risked her life to help Pei Yuhang escape the Sect.

But... with Shang Miaoyan's brutal, arrogant, and pathological personality, facing a mere Maid who dared to betray her and spirit away her "precious darling Xiaohan,"

how could she possibly have spared her life?

Being executed directly, without suffering ten thousand torments, might have been an act of mercy from Shang Miaoyan.

Lin Qianyan was a rational woman.

If Pei Yuhang believed Fan Xuan was still alive, she at least needed a convincing reason.

"At the end of the Trial of Heart Tribulation, Fan Xuan told me herself that we would meet again one day," Pei Yuhang said earnestly.

"But Brother Pei, that was just an Illusion Realm... The Fan Xuan inside was just a projection created by the Celestial Tribulation from your memories and impressions. She wasn't real."

Lin Qianyan felt that Pei Yuhang hadn't truly emerged from his Heart Demon, and that this was all just his imagination.