“Bang!
“Senior Brother! I…”
Just then, the door was suddenly slammed open by a strong force! Gantang rushed in, her voice cheerful like a bird released from its cage: “Senior Brother! I…”
But the moment she saw the scene inside the room, her words were abruptly cut off, as if sliced by a sharp blade.
Her gaze fixed firmly on the glaring red figure hanging from Senior Brother’s arm!
Shangguan Yunzhu, startled like a rabbit, sprang away from Lu Qiancha’s side with a “swish,” instantly sitting upright on a nearby chair, a faint, almost imperceptible blush rising on her cheeks.
“Ugh… you little scoundrel…”
Gantang’s small mouth parted slightly, her cheeks puffed out, and her clear eyes narrowed dangerously—like a little bird whose territory had been invaded.
Wait a minute, wasn’t she the one… the person who went to Bei Juluzhou to train together with Senior Brother?
Back then, Senior Brother even smiled at her.
A sharp pang struck Gantang’s heart.
Not good, could it be that someone’s stealing her home?!
“Gantang, what are you looking for me for?”
Seeing Shangguan Yunzhu finally behaving herself, Lu Qiancha silently breathed a sigh of relief.
Just now, Shangguan Yunzhu kept rubbing against her and clinging to her, making her ears itch…
It really made her want to claw a little…
“Senior Brother!”
Gantang seemed to find her center of gravity, ignoring Shangguan Yunzhu beside her, and hurried forward. She grabbed hold of Lu Qiancha’s right arm, hanging onto him tightly.
Immediately,
Hum!
A gentle, clear aura suddenly radiated from her body.
A Nascent Soul at peak cultivation, unmistakably.
She lifted her small face, eyes shining with unabashed “please praise me” light: “I’ve broken through!”
Lu Qiancha was slightly stunned.
He looked at his junior sister’s clumsy but sincere boasting.
The deliberately maintained coldness in Lu Qiancha’s eyes suddenly melted away, like an ice lake thawing, filled with the warm gentleness of spring water.
She naturally lifted her other hand and gently ruffled Gantang’s soft hair.
The warmth of her fingertips transmitted through the strands. Her approving voice carried genuine laughter: “Hmm, well done.”
The fragrant warmth lingered inside the room.
But Shangguan Yunzhu’s gaze, like invisible needles, was fixed on the two embracing.
The air suddenly thickened.
She felt like a glaring Shiling Stone Lamp at that moment.
Unable to sit or stand properly.
Every second felt like being scorched by flames.
A difficult-to-express sourness and loss surged from the deepest part of her heart, choking her almost to the point of suffocation.
Forget it.
Forced melons aren’t sweet, and staying here against her will would only bring embarrassment.
She took a deep breath, suppressing the surging emotions, and bowed politely to Lu Qiancha, who was holding the fragrant softness in his arms: “Senior Brother…… Junior Sister has urgent matters to attend to, so I won’t disturb you. I shall take my leave now…”
Shangguan Yunzhu’s voice tried to stay steady, but still revealed a faint dryness beneath.
“Hmm, Junior Sister, take care.”
Lu Qiancha nodded casually, unfazed, even somewhat absent-minded.
That attitude was like a bucket of cold water, dousing the last faint spark in Shangguan Yunzhu’s heart.
She didn’t say more, turning around and almost fleeing from this suffocating courtyard. That bright red figure disappeared swiftly outside the gate.
Once she was gone, Gantang immediately placed her hands on her hips, like a fluffed-up kitten whose territory had been invaded, glaring at the leisurely sipping Lu Qiancha: “Senior Brother! Tell me the truth! What was that Senior Sister just now here for?!”
“What, jealous?”
Lu Qiancha finally raised his eyes, a sly smile leaking from their depths.
“Hmph…Who’s jealous!”
Gantang’s momentum faltered under that smiling gaze, her cheeks flushing slightly. She looked away stubbornly, her voice hard.
But before she finished, meeting Senior Brother’s increasingly knowing and gentle eyes…
Her little fortress of stubbornness collapsed completely.
Gantang’s shoulders sagged, pouting, she admitted awkwardly in a low voice with a hint of resignation: “Okay… just a tiny bit, just a tiny bit!”
She even deliberately held up two fingers to show the “tiny bit” distance.
“Heh.” Lu Qiancha let out a short, clear laugh, shaking his head and setting down his teacup.
His tone was flat, without any ripple: “She was just… following proper etiquette, coming to thank me. Thanking me for the life-saving favor during the Bei Juluzhou trip.”
“Oh……” Gantang’s tightly wound heart finally settled, and the tension at her lips eased into a subtle smile, “I see……”
“You were so close just now! I almost thought……”
“That Senior Brother would be tricked by that bad woman, run off with her, and abandon a pitiful, helpless little junior sister like me, and our lonely Shifu who will only be left drinking alone under the moonlight in her old age on Tianquan Peak! Wah——!”
At the end, Gantang even wiped away nonexistent tears with the back of her hand.
“Gantang!”
The faint smile lingering at the corner of Lu Qiancha’s mouth instantly froze!
A dangerous gleam like a drawn cold blade flashed in his eyes. He silently pulled out a bottle of milky white unknown potion…
“Senior Brother, wait, what are you doing?!”
“Ah, nooo!”
Suddenly, chaos broke out in the south wing room.
***
A moment later, at Zaohua Peak, inside Tianxing Pavilion.
The light patterns of the Shiling Formation flowed on the ground.
Shangguan Yunzhu sat cross-legged within it, eyes closed in concentration, attempting to guide qi into her body to break through the final Void Refinement Barrier.
But every time she closed her eyes, Lu Qiancha and Gantang embracing, that doting smile on his face would surface in her mind.
Along with it came the old vinegar-like bitterness and sourness deep in her heart, and an indescribable suffocating turmoil surging wildly.
“Huh?!”
Shangguan Yunzhu suddenly opened her eyes! Her gaze was complicated and unreadable, laced with a trace of panic and confusion even she hadn’t noticed before.
Clearly… clearly it was just a perfectly normal interaction between senior and junior siblings.
So why…
Did an unmistakable, needle-like sting spread clearly from her chest?
A soft sigh escaped her lips.
Shangguan Yunzhu rose helplessly, her steps light and unsteady, as if treading on soft cotton. Distracted, she pushed open the door and aimlessly wandered along the winding corridor.
The early autumn’s cool breeze brushed against the hanging vines below the corridor, adding a touch of desolation.
A faint, pure fragrance like an orchid in a secluded valley quietly wrapped around her.
“Yun’er?”
A gentle, soft voice followed.
Shangguan Yunzhu looked up, dazed.
By a corridor pillar, a beautiful woman dressed in a simple blue lotus-patterned silk gown, hair tied in a neat cloud bun, appeared without her noticing.
Jade hairpin slanted, steps adorned with gentle pendants.
It was her Shiniang, Qi Lanzhu.
“You child, your soul almost got blown away by the wind.”
Qi Lanzhu reached out, her cool fingertips gently brushing over Shangguan Yunzhu’s slightly furrowed brows, her voice rising softly at the end, “Who upset our Yun’er? Tell Shiniang, I’ll go and teach them a lesson for you!”
“No, no!” Shangguan Yunzhu was like a frightened fawn, waving her hands repeatedly, forcing a faint smile, “Shiniang, you misunderstood! No one… bullied me!”
Qi Lanzhu saw through her obvious panic.
Her eyes curved with a smile, voice even softer, as if coaxing a lost child: “Silly girl. Your worries are written all over your face, and you still want to hide them from Shiniang?”
She took Shangguan Yunzhu’s cool hand and guided her to sit on a bench under the corridor, “Tell me, what could be such a big matter that makes my Yun’er so unhappy? Let Shiniang help you understand?”