‘How should I look at this?’
Shen Mo’s mind was a mess of paste.
‘What other way can I look at it? I just want to disappear right now!’
“Don’t be afraid… Big Sister just… likes you too much. Be with me, okay? I’ll treat you well—a thousand times better than anyone else.”
Shen Mo didn’t know how to respond to that.
Pei Yu picked up a slice of kylin meat with her chopsticks and held it to his lips.
He turned his head away.
“Yue Hua, why aren’t you eating? Does it not suit your taste?”
Shen Mo forced himself to calm down and shook his head. “Thank you, Fellow Daoist Pei. I… I’m not hungry.”
“Then have some tea.”
Pei Yu personally refilled his cup with hot tea, her demeanor attentive.
Suddenly, Shen Mo felt a gaze boring into him.
It was Qin Shuying.
On the fingertips holding her wine glass, a thin, crystalline layer of frost had formed without her notice.
She watched as Pei Yu’s fingertips brushed against the back of his hand while pushing the tea.
Her teeth ground together audibly.
‘I should stay seated, keep a straight face, act like someone who just happened to be here—unconcerned, uncaring, uninvolved.’
But she couldn’t do it.
She saw Pei Yu reach out again, this time to touch Shen Mo’s face.
She set down her cup and stood up, the motion a little too hurried.
A few drops of wine splashed onto her hand, but she didn’t bother to wipe them off. She strode over.
In the hall, someone noticed her, and gazes followed.
She ignored them and simply walked to that table.
Pei Yu looked up, meeting the icy stare without fear, only confusion.
“Peak Master Qin, what advice do you have?”
Qin Shuying only looked at Shen Mo. “This Miss Shen bears some resemblance to an old acquaintance of mine. Seeing Fellow Daoist Pei chatting so happily with her,” she glanced sideways at Shen Mo, “I couldn’t help but recall some old memories. I came over to take a look.”
Pei Yu raised an eyebrow, her gaze sweeping between the two of them.
Those words were extremely vague, ambiguous.
She didn’t admit to knowing him, nor did she reveal any relationship.
Yet to someone as sharp as Pei Yu, there was too much meaning hidden in those words.
“Oh? What a coincidence! Anyone who can make Peak Master Qin recall an old acquaintance must be a truly remarkable figure.”
“No wonder I felt an instant connection with Little Sister Shen. Great minds think alike, I suppose.”
Qin Shuying’s gaze finally landed on Pei Yu’s face.
The two women stared at each other—one cold, one hot; one like frost, one like wind.
Someone in the hall let out a low laugh, quickly stifled.
“The old acquaintance is gone, no need to mention further. I just saw Fellow Daoist Pei getting along with this immortal maiden and thought of some bygone matters.”
She paused, then changed tack. “The Ten Thousand Flower Pavilion is a place of elegance, but some bonds burn too fiercely, risking injury to others. They… may not be a good match.”
“What do you think, Fellow Daoist Pei?”
“Peak Master Qin speaks truly. Fate is the most wonderful thing, and also the most impossible to force. Whether it’s a good match or a bad one, whether it burns hot or stays warm, one has to try to know, doesn’t one?”
“As for whether it will burn anyone…” She threw back her head and drained her cup, eyes blazing. “I, Pei Yu, only ever act to satisfy my own heart. I never care about the consequences.”
“Fellow Daoist Pei, I have a few words to say to Miss Shen. May I borrow her for a moment?”
The room grew quieter. Many female cultivators set down their cups, their gazes darting between Qin Shuying, Pei Yu, and Shen Mo.
Qin Shuying’s cold aloofness was well known; she had always been indifferent to affairs of the heart.
That she would take the initiative to interfere in Pei Yu’s entanglement with a new favorite today? That was a first.
Pei Yu looked at her for a few breaths, then stood up and patted her robes.
“Of course,” she said, winking at Shen Mo. “I’ll go get some fresh air outside. Call me when you’re done.”
The hall quieted.
Qin Shuying sat down in the spot Pei Yu had vacated and transmitted her voice: “Shen Mo, what did she say to you?”
Shen Mo stirred inwardly. “Nothing much. She just said she likes me.”
“You… how did you respond?”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“Didn’t say anything? She touched you, and you didn’t even dodge?”
“I dodged.”
Qin Shuying took a slight step forward.
“Dodged? That’s not what I saw. If I’d come any later, her foot would have touched you there… What if she found out you’re a man? Do you know what the consequences are? The last person who pretended to be a woman to get close to her got cut. Do you understand?”
Cold sweat broke out on Shen Mo’s forehead.
She stood in front of him, so close he could smell the scent of someone else on her.
“And also, have you forgotten whose person you are?”
Shen Mo looked at her.
Those were deep, burning eyes.
“I haven’t forgotten.”
Qin Shuying’s fingers relaxed slightly.
The fire in her heart didn’t go out; instead, it was replaced by an unspeakable bitterness.
“Shen Mo, next time she touches you, tell her you already have a master.”
With that, she turned and left.
Outside the door, Pei Yu was leaning against a corridor pillar. When she saw Qin Shuying emerge, she raised an eyebrow. “Done talking?”
Qin Shuying ignored her and walked past.
After two steps, she suddenly stopped.
“Fellow Daoist Pei, she doesn’t like women.”
Pei Yu stood there, watching the white silhouette disappear at the end of the corridor. It took her a while to process the meaning.
She leaned against the pillar, gazing at the moon overhead. After mulling it over for a long time, she suddenly understood.
She laughed out loud.
“Interesting.”
In the shadows further away, Han Li’s tiny body clung tightly to a pillar, her ice-blue eyes practically spitting fire.
‘Bad woman! How dare she touch Master! And making Master so uncomfortable! Asking for a beating!’
At the other end of the corridor, adjacent to the water pavilion but in a clearly more secluded and secretive direction, a sudden unusual commotion erupted.
BANG!
OUCH!
Several dull thuds of heavy objects hitting the ground, mixed with surprised cries and groans of pain, shattered the deathly silence.
Immediately after, the tightly shut vermillion wooden door, carved with intricate patterns of joy, was violently pushed open from inside.
Several young men in thin, luxurious robes, handsome with varied temperaments, were thrown out in a miserable state.
Some had disheveled hair buns, others had their collars hanging open, faces still carrying lingering hurt.
The leader was someone Shen Mo had seen in a portrait from afar at Yuan Shi—unmistakably the previous champion of the Ten Thousand Flower Pavilion, known for his qin skills and cool temperament: Jade Bamboo Lord, Liu Yin.
This man, usually surrounded by admirers wherever he went, was now so embarrassed he hadn’t even fastened his collar properly, shoved out the door almost rudely.
Following behind them came a middle-aged female cultivator in the high-level steward attire of the Ten Thousand Flower Pavilion, about forty years old, with a shrewd face.
Her face was ashen. “Worthless! A bunch of worthless things! Usually each of you boasts of your charm and elegance, but when the critical moment comes, you can’t even earn a single smile from an honored guest?! What use are you?!”
Liu Yin’s face alternated between red and white, ashamed and angry but not daring to retort.
“Steward, it’s not that we didn’t try our best. It’s just… that honored guest’s eyes inside are far too discerning. We exhausted our abilities, but the honored one didn’t even look…”
“Get out, get out, get out!”
She waved her hand, signaling the guards to take the boys away, while bowing and scraping toward the door, apologizing profusely: “Yes, yes, yes! Milord, please calm down! It was my poor arrangements that disturbed your pleasure! I’ll change it immediately, bring you better ones! Please, by all means, calm down!”
This scene drew the attention of nearby female cultivators who hadn’t dispersed yet. They whispered among themselves.
Pei Yu was also attracted by the commotion.
She was always fond of excitement, so she immediately walked over, a smile on her face, speaking familiarly to the middle-aged female cultivator: “Steward Liu, what’s this play about? Even Jade Bamboo Lord got the cold shoulder? Tsk, looks like your Inviting Moon Pavilion’s golden sign might be shattered today.”
Steward Liu was already overwhelmed.
Seeing Pei Yu—knowing that although this woman acted recklessly, she had connections in the pavilion—she grimaced and complained in a low voice: “Immortal Maiden Pei, don’t tease me! That honored guest… was personally entrusted by the Pavilion Master to be well entertained! We even took out our treasured Purifying Soul Dragon Spine Liquid as a prize, and it was this guest who suggested it!”
“Purifying Soul Dragon Spine Liquid?” Pei Yu raised an eyebrow, a flicker of surprise in her eyes.
She naturally knew the preciousness of that item; she hadn’t expected its origin to be here.
“Exactly!” Steward Liu wiped the sweat from her forehead, lowering her voice even more, filled with lingering fear.
“But this honored guest… has such picky eyes! And such a strange temper! I sent in the top-tier goods from the bottom of Inviting Moon Pavilion’s chest, even the previous champion Jade Bamboo Lord personally accompanied him, but… you saw the result. Either he found the powder too heavy, or he found the performance too stiff, or nothing was right… In short, not a single one caught his eye! I’ve nearly emptied my family’s savings, and that honored one is still dissatisfied! His face grows darker… Do I still want to keep my head on my shoulders?!”
As she spoke, she was practically crying, clearly terrified.
Not far away, the moment Shen Mo heard the words “Purifying Soul Dragon Spine Liquid,” it struck him like a thunderbolt!
‘The marriage proposal is in that room? A big shot even the Pavilion Master of the Ten Thousand Flower Pavilion doesn’t dare offend?’
Overwhelming shock and a slim, desperate, yet irresistibly tempting hope crashed through his mind like a tidal wave!
‘If… if something goes wrong in the Flower Queen Competition, and I can’t win the championship, can’t get the prize of the Purifying Soul Dragon Spine Liquid… then would that honored guest in the room have some in stock?’
‘Would there be another way?’
‘Even if it’s just a single possibility, even if I have to pay a greater price… for Wan’er, I can’t let any chance slip by!’
This thought burned like wildfire in his heart.
“Oh? Even a cool beauty like Jade Bamboo Lord couldn’t catch his eye? It seems this honored guest has a truly unique taste—doesn’t like the common sort.”
Upon hearing this, Steward Liu’s eyes lit up as if she’d grabbed a lifeline. She quickly leaned close to Pei Yu.
“Immortal Maiden Pei, do you have any brilliant ideas? You have broad connections and vast experience—please save me!”
Pei Yu waved her hand repeatedly. “Hey, you know as well as I do that the people I know are all women. I don’t have any handsome men to introduce.”
Steward Liu’s gaze fell on Shen Mo and sized him up.
Pei Yu said dismissively, “My friend, Shen Yuebai.”
The steward let out an “Oh,” her eyes lingering on his face for a moment before she said nothing more.
Shen Mo stood there, looking at that closed door, his heart burning like a fire.
‘I should leave. I should go back and prepare for the competition. I should stake all my hopes on that stage.’
But he couldn’t move. His feet seemed rooted, planted in this corridor, planted in front of this door.
“Miss Shen?” Pei Yu came over and grabbed his wrist. “What’s wrong?”
Shen Mo snapped back to reality. “Pei Yu, that big shot… do you know her?”
“I know her. How could I not?”
‘Who else in this world could produce the Purifying Soul Dragon Spine Liquid?’
Pei Yu chuckled softly, tapping her palm lightly with her folding fan, then leaned close to his ear and whispered: “She’s the darling daughter of Yun He Archon—the one he holds in his palm afraid she’ll fall, keeps in his mouth afraid she’ll melt, yet the one who’s sworn never to see him again.”