Night at the Shrine, Imperial Cherry Mansion.
To make Yushen Longyi let his guard down even more, Yun Liu took the opportunity to stay overnight here.
In the dead of night, Yun Liu rubbed his brow, fiddling with the pill furnace, with a little pink-haired jellyfish girl still on his back.
“I’m going to owe Madam another huge favor.”
Ah Lian clung to him like an octopus, as if afraid he would suddenly disappear. She stared at him without blinking.
Surprisingly, even though his junior sister’s intense chest pressure was overwhelming, the young man couldn’t muster any wicked thoughts toward the poor girl. He only wanted to take her away from here and personally feed this incredible blessed fate into his foolish daughter’s mouth.
The warm inner chamber was spacious and luxurious, far better than the worn thatched huts on Celestial Phenomena Peak, but it felt cold.
This didn’t look like a maiden’s bedchamber. There were no undergarments or pretty clothes scattered on the floor, disappointing a certain false holy son of the Demon Sect.
A wooden sword hung on the wall. A small comb, a few crescent-shaped hairpins, empty medicine bottles, and several Illusion Pavilion texts were placed by the mirror.
Yun Liu smiled wryly and shook his head. These were all things he had given her. There was nothing else.
His junior sister had everything arranged by her family since childhood. All matters were handled by other shrine maidens, so during her academy cultivation days, she couldn’t do anything.
During that time, as senior brother, Yun Liu felt as if he had picked up a baby to bring home. He had to teach her everything outside the sword way personally. That was probably why he was so skilled at adopting Little Yellow Hair.
In the eyes of others, this child was born just to die. Such matters were utterly unimportant.
At this thought, Yun Liu put away the pill furnace, dispersed the Blood Aura Guise, turned around, and slipped into the bedding.
“A divine servant maiden’s mission must be accomplished!”
“It really is Senior Brother! Are you sleepy? Then let’s hurry to bed.”
Ying Lian curled her lips and let out a light sigh. She was finally convinced.
Then she started to pull at her clothes, preparing to strip naked and roll in the sheets with Lord Priest.
“Then the baby will fall out of my butt. The shrine maidens all say that if you roll in the sheets with a man, your belly gets big. That way I’ll have two Senior Brothers to play with me. That’s not bad either.”
“Oh, I told you I’m just pretending! Listen carefully. From now on, don’t just take off your clothes in front of anyone. You are not anyone’s property!”
Yun Liu pinched Ying Lian’s nose and said seriously.
“No one is allowed. A girl needs to be modest. When you grow up, you can’t be like certain people. As for the specifics, I’ll teach you slowly once we return to Celestial Phenomena Peak. Forget everything they told you!”
Ao Tian lifted one eyelid and gave a “hmph.”
‘A guy who doesn’t know how good he has it. You don’t think Little Ji would be this proactive with just anyone, do you?’
“Alright, wahaha~”
Ying Lian yawned and rubbed her eyes. She was clearly sleepy but didn’t dare to sleep.
Yun Liu had no choice but to hold his junior sister, lie down properly, cover her with the blanket, and gently pat her back until he coaxed the little jellyfish to sleep.
“I’m not dreaming, am I?”
“No. Sleep safe. I’m here for everything.”
“If I wake up and can’t see you, I’ll be angry. Then I won’t give you a little Senior Brother.”
“What in the world is that…”
Ying Lian curled up in Yun Liu’s arms, holding tightly to his collar, burrowing into his chest with force.
She finally knew how to curl her lips. This was the most peaceful night she had had in the shrine in all these years.
The next morning.
Yun Liu’s nose itched intensely. He couldn’t help sneezing. His divine soul withdrew from the Sea of Consciousness, ending his cultivation.
He opened his eyes and saw Ying Lian straddling him, holding a beautiful golden feather in her hand, fiddling with it on his face.
Ao Tian had a bitter expression, crouching beside the pillow. One could guess where the feather had been plucked from.
“Good morning. You were amazing last night.”
“…Who taught you that line?”
Fortunately, his junior sister was completely oblivious. She even sat on the little tent as if it were a chair.
Yun Liu smiled and raised his hand, moving Ah Lian’s little bottom aside to ease his morning erection embarrassment.
Ying Lian raised one index finger, put her hands together in a prayer gesture, and said solemnly.
“A qualified daughter of the spirit attendant must learn to praise her partner, even if you haven’t ascended to immortality. He Zi said so. From now on, Senior Brother is my god!”
After speaking, Ah Lian happily gestured with little pincers again, as if she had resolved a major life matter.
Though nothing happened during the night, in the girl’s heart, it was as if a sacred contract had been made. Lord Priest, on behalf of the Divine Dragon, had accepted her. Now she just had to wait for the baby to fall out on its own.
“So I told you to forget all those perverse cult thoughts!”
Yun Liu sighed. In his heart, he thought that to reverse such deeply ingrained ideas, he could only take it slow. The head instructor of Jueyun Peak had accepted another abnormal student.
He helped the pink-haired little jellyfish put on her divine robe, tied her hair into two braids, clipped on the hairpins, and carefully put socks and shoes on her fair little feet. She couldn’t go barefoot and get dirty again.
“Aren’t you coming?”
Yun Liu shook his head.
“I’ll wait for you at home, just like before.”
Ying Lian nodded heavily and extended her pinky.
“Pinky promise.”
“Pinky promise.”
The contract was made. Ying Lian was completely relieved.
She said goodbye to Senior Brother, grabbed her little wooden sword, and went out to play.
Life at the shrine was very monotonous. It was nothing but hitting birds in the trees and having fruit fights with wild monkeys.
Even so, Ah Lian was looking forward to it. Today, she decided to climb to a higher place and pick the fruit she had always been reluctant to eat, to give it to her god.
Yun Liu stood at the shrine entrance and waved. It felt like an old father sending his daughter to school.
“I know the Divine Radiance Sect doesn’t raise idlers, but I didn’t expect your junior sister to be even more naive. You’re not thinking of snatching food from the dragon’s mouth and letting Shiyu eat her heart, are you?”
Ao Tian shook his feathers. Even he thought that was too cruel.
“What are you thinking? If we’re going to eat something, it’ll be the Dragon Core. The Sakura Dragon has parasitized the tree canopy for a thousand years. That pest has devoured countless divine servant maidens. Compared to it, Ah Lian is small potatoes. Let’s go. We’ll take a look at the cradle of sin in the Root Mansion.”
Yun Liu turned with a somber face, went deep inside the shrine, and used an emblem to open an underground secret door.
The roots of the giant divine tree spread throughout the entire Sacred Tree Yingying Island. In an unknown place beneath the Heavenly Cherry Pavilion, the secret of the Yushen Clan’s prosperity was buried—the Misty Cherry Nursery.
A corridor stretched endlessly into the depths. Down in the darkness, a red mist began to rise, and the smell of blood grew heavier.
Yun Liu channeled the Five Elements Spell in his palm to illuminate. By the torchlight, one could see countless twisted roots in the underground tunnel. Every branch as thick as an adult’s waist had a slit cut into it.
Those gashes looked like scarlet eyes forcibly pried open by someone, from which blood teardrops of various sizes dripped down. The eerie sight made Ao Tian shudder.
“Is this… the Fortune Seed?”
“Yes. The shrine maidens use their own blood mixed with spiritual medicine to feed the divine tree, prompting the Root Milk Crystals to grow here. Once they turn entirely crimson, they are mature.”
“These so-called fortune seeds are Ah Lian’s food. Occasionally, substandard rejects are ‘rewarded’ to other shrine maidens. This life started when she was three years old.”
For the Yingzhou Mother Tree, such evil deeds were an unspeakable sin as well.
To please the Sakura Dragon, the Yushen Clan defiled this sacred land, draining the pond to catch all the fish.
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