Xu Lin didn’t find his inexplicable curiosity about Jiang Luo strange.
After all, the respective positions of the Righteous Path and the Demon Sect might sometimes make no difference to the Outer Sect, or even to the lowest-level disciples.
The decisions of the higher-ups basically had little to do with them, and they couldn’t decide anything either. They only needed to follow the Sect Master and the Elders.
Sometimes, even within the same Outer Sect, the Righteous Path sects were not necessarily better than the Demon Sect.
Jiang Luo had just advanced to the Inner Sect not long ago. In another period of time, her understanding would change somewhat.
But that was not something Xu Lin needed to consider right now.
When he learned that he also had to go to the Luo Xu Mountains, aside from the situation inside the mountains themselves, he couldn’t help but worry about certain things that might soon happen.
“Senior Brother.”
Jiang Luo approached, searching for an angle to get a clear look at the thing on Xu Lin’s abdomen, while also noticing that his expression seemed off.
“Your complexion doesn’t look too good.”
“Does it?”
Xu Lin grinned, pretending to be calm, while sighing inwardly.
He also had to go to the Luo Xu Mountains. When the time came, encounters with Righteous Path sects would be unavoidable, and he might even run into people from the Vast Dao Sect.
Never mind that old bastard Xi Ranchen, who just wanted to use his former identity to make trouble. If he encountered people from the Vast Dao Sect, how should he conduct himself and explain?
The reason he was able to leave the Vast Dao Sect was by pretending that something had gone wrong with his cultivation, that his cultivation base had regressed, so he resigned from the title of Head Senior Brother of Green Cliff Peak and even gave up succeeding as Peak Master.
He wasn’t afraid of the pretense becoming reality. He was afraid that someone at that time would truly misunderstand something. Most critically, this time, the original protagonist would also be going to the Luo Xu Mountains with them.
In the end, wasn’t he still going to collide head-on with the storyline?
Coming back to his senses, Xu Lin noticed Jiang Luo’s eyes narrowing slightly, staring at the inside of his clothes that he had taken off but not fully fastened.
She was paying so much attention that Jiang Luo didn’t even notice her body had already leaned somewhat lower, obviously so.
Xu Lin paused, extended his hand, put two fingers together, and pressed them to Jiang Luo’s forehead, applying a bit of force to push her back.
“Weren’t you just recently admitted to the Inner Sect?”
Xu Lin looked at her suspiciously.
“You wouldn’t have been corrupted by some people so quickly, would you?”
Jiang Luo staggered back a few steps, awkwardly holding her forehead.
“But Senior Brother, why does it look like there’s a strange thing tattooed there?”
“……”
Xu Lin didn’t know how to explain for a moment. When Xi Ranchen had acted back then, he had guessed that one day someone who saw it would ask him this.
“I heard some disciples who’ve had contact with other sects mention before that some sects practice cultivation techniques of male-female indulgence and pleasure. Some people also tattoo this in that spot. It seems to be called…”
Before Jiang Luo could finish, Xu Lin hurriedly cut her off.
“Do not speak of the improper. Don’t talk nonsense.”
If she kept going, his lifetime of reputation would be ruined.
“But yours really does look like what they described.”
This time, Xu Lin kept his two fingers together, but raised them high, using the gesture to say that if she said any more, he would chop down.
Jiang Luo hastily stepped back, puffing out her cheeks in dissatisfaction.
“Fine, if you won’t let me say it, then I won’t.”
Xu Lin sighed, the depression in his heart hard to dispel. Although he already trusted Jiang Luo, there were still some things he couldn’t tell her directly.
Like the Demon Curse Forbidden Pattern. Even if he told her, it probably wouldn’t be of any use.
“Alright, go back early and properly stabilize your realm. The Luo Xu Mountains are not a place where you can play around as you please.”
“Then Senior Brother, will you be coming with us this time?”
Jiang Luo was very concerned.
Xu Lin sighed, truly feeling that Jiang Luo was so carefree. He had just warned her like that, and with her words, anyone who didn’t know better would think they were going on an outing.
But speaking of this, he still felt very troubled.
“You’ll know when the time comes.”
“Oh.”
Jiang Luo responded flatly, the corners of her lips curving high.
Before leaving, Jiang Luo repeatedly turned back, wanting to take advantage of Xu Lin’s inattention to catch a clear look at what that thing on Xu Lin’s abdomen was.
But she saw Xu Lin looking speechless, pressing the hand holding his clothes against his abdomen to keep it from being exposed, pointing at Jiang Luo with one finger, and warning with a snort,
“Hmm?”
In the end, Jiang Luo could only give up.
Honestly, he had practically seen all of me, yet he won’t even let me see this tiny bit.
Thinking this, though Jiang Luo felt warmth at the base of her ears, resentment at the unfairness welled up in her heart.
For a moment, she didn’t even know whether to call Xu Lin stingy, or to say he was treating her too differently.
With her petty mood, Jiang Luo slowly returned to her residence.
As she advanced to Inner Sect disciple, she would soon be moving elsewhere. Compared to the place where Outer Sect disciples lived, the conditions would be better.
Suddenly thinking of something, Jiang Luo felt it strange.
“That’s right, Senior Brother is a Saint, so why has he always lived in that place?”
Xu Lin’s residence was neither like Yang Yao’s, located near the Main Hall, nor close to the residences of Outer Sect and Inner Sect disciples.
Few people went to that place. She herself had discovered it by accident before. It was said to have been used to receive people from visiting sects in the past.
But in recent years, not to mention between the Demon Sect and Righteous Path, even among the various sects within the Demon Sect, relations weren’t that close, so there was basically no one who came to visit and stay.
The cluster of courtyards where the Outer Sect disciples lived—that had been her best refuge when something went wrong with her cultivation.
Thinking back to when Xu Lin was at the Grand Tournament, and when she first met him, those two Senior Brothers who had brought him to his residence seemed not to know Xu Lin’s identity as Saint.
Moreover, Xu Lin’s identity had always been deliberately hidden.
“So strange. Next time I’ll have to properly ask Senior Brother.”
Jiang Luo knew Xu Lin was a very impressive person, but when she thought about it carefully, it seemed odd.
There was no way she was the only disciple who knew Xu Lin was a Saint.
It felt like holding a secret, one about Xu Lin at that. Jiang Luo felt a subtle sensation in her heart.
Just as she walked into the small courtyard, Jiang Luo saw from afar that someone was standing at the door of her room, peering inside as if checking whether anyone was in.
Jiang Luo frowned and sized the person up, feeling only familiarity.
“Shen Yun?”
Jiang Luo tried calling the name.
Hearing the voice, the woman’s body trembled, and she immediately turned around. After seeing clearly that it was Jiang Luo, she couldn’t help but smile awkwardly.
“Jiang Luo, so you went out. I thought you were inside.”
Shen Yun scratched her head, her gaze vaguely evasive.
“Mm.”
“I noticed you haven’t been around much these past few days. I didn’t know when you’d be back, so I waited here.”
“Is something the matter?”
Jiang Luo was puzzled.
She had indeed not been around much these days, often running over to Xu Lin’s side.
As for Shen Yun suddenly coming to find her, she was rather surprised.
Shen Yun had originally entered the Sunset Sect together with her, but since she was relatively young, most people called her Junior Sister.
In the past, when they first began cultivation, they and several others often kept each other company, coming and going together, sharing interesting stories they heard about the outside world together.
But later, because of certain matters, as well as Jiang Luo’s embarrassing performance at the Grand Tournament, those people deliberately distanced themselves from Jiang Luo, afraid of being mocked too.
About this, Jiang Luo didn’t complain. She only felt it was human nature.