After Breaking Off the Engagement, I Started Pursuing My Master - Chapter 244

Chapter 244: It can’t get worse than it is now

Xu Qing still stood in place, her fingers gently pinching the white dress, seeming a bit at a loss.

Jiang Huai leaned back in his chair to rest with his eyes closed, but after a short while, when he opened his eyes, Xu Qing was still standing there, stealthily observing him with the corner of her eye. When he looked at her, she hurriedly averted her gaze.

“Why don’t you sit for a while too, don’t just stand there.”

Jiang Huai said softly, so Xu Qing moved her snow-white legs and slowly walked towards him, sitting on the chair next to Jiang Huai, with a tea table separating them. Jiang Huai leaned against the bed and continued to rest with his eyes closed.

“You…” Xu Qing took a deep breath.

Seemingly to ease her stuttering, she tried to slow down her speech and spoke in a gentle and pleasant voice, “Would you like some tea?”

“A little?” Jiang Huai was somewhat tempted.

So Xu Qing started to brew tea with the set on the table. She was making a special tea from the Aolai Continent. When the boiling water poured into the tea cup, the light fragrance of tea quickly filled the air, reaching Jiang Huai’s nose as he opened his eyes. Xu Qing was seriously using the lid of the pot to scrape off the foam at the spout, her movements skilled, her dark eyes earnest. After a while, she pushed the tea bowl towards Jiang Huai.

Jiang Huai picked up the tea cup and took a light sip, the fragrance overflowing between his lips and teeth.

Gradually, he noticed that the sharp pain in his head seemed to be soothed a lot by the effect of this cup of tea. He looked at Xu Qing with some surprise, “What did you add to the tea?”

“It’s the special Snow Swallow Flower tea from the Aolai Continent, it has a calming effect.”

Xu Qing hurriedly answered, and after a while, she added softly, “I can see that your soul is overexerted…”

Jiang Huai then remembered that Guangxue Sect holy maiden Xu Qing was the rare Pure Moon Holy Body, able to absorb the power of the moon into her body during cultivation, possessing the Moon Pupil, capable of breaking through illusions, formation eyes, and others’ vital weaknesses.

He looked into her eyes, which were no different from others’, just with pitch-black pupils and bright eyes. However, as soon as he looked at her, she couldn’t help but look away.

“Thank you.” Jiang Huai took another sip of tea, offering a small courtesy.

After a little while, Xu Qing carefully continued to ask, “Is your lifespan… really restored?”

“Yes, I’ve found some secret methods, and I have another hundred or two hundred years to find a way to rebuild my qi sea.”

Xu Qing nodded lightly, “That’s good.”

She remembered how Jiang Huai’s cultivation was ruined. When she first heard the rumors about his cultivation being wasted, she was lost and despondent for a long time. At sixteen, she met Jiang Huai in the Daoji Ancestral Land, was defeated by him, and since then, she took him as her goal for cultivation. She was even willing to bind her own qi sea, pouring all her energy into tempering her body, just to produce a heavenly pill better than Jiang Huai’s and fight him again.

Perhaps she wasn’t really competing with Jiang Huai, but with her past proud self. Her path of cultivation had always been smooth, with outstanding talent, noble birth, and loving parents. The entire sect took great care of her, and she had hardly encountered any rivals over the years. That was her first loss, defeated in the swordsmanship she was most proud of, her pride completely shattered, unable to muster a single bit of fighting spirit.

She didn’t know when it started, but seeing Jiang Huai again and then defeating him became some kind of obsession for her. Yet, those obsessions seemed to be quietly changing. Now, she couldn’t see clearly what she was thinking in her heart. It was a hazy fog, and she couldn’t see her own eyes in that fog.

Before coming to Ziyun Pavilion, she asked her parents for a large sum of spirit stones to buy this life spirit fruit. Before she left, her mother pulled her aside and asked softly if she had fallen for that guy. Her cheeks flushed red at the time, but she stammered and couldn’t speak.

Did she fall for him? That phantom she had chased for many years, that young man who drew his sword in her moment of despair?

Xu Qing couldn’t tell, but whenever she was by his side, it was as if she had changed. Clearly, in the sect, she was always composed and unflappable as the senior sister of Guangxue Sect, but in front of him, it was as if she really was like a young girl in love.

The room became somewhat silent, so quiet that it seemed they could hear each other’s heartbeat.

Jiang Huai sipped his tea in small sips. He couldn’t drink it too hot, so he gently blew on it, sitting quietly for a while. Jiang Huai felt the atmosphere was a bit awkward, so he stood up, “Let’s go, we’ll go to Ziyun Pavilion to get that life fruit.”

Xu Qing also hurriedly stood up, following by his side, and they walked out the door together.

…

Arriving at Ziyun Pavilion, the attendant quickly led them to the treasure storage room where the life fruit was kept. Jiang Huai took it into his hands, and the Cold Soul Snow Spirit was also collected by Jiang Huai, while nearly all the spirit stones in Jiang Huai’s account were spent, leaving only five hundred thousand as his remaining fortune.

Jiang Huai took out the life fruit and handed it to Xu Qing in front of him. Xu Qing hesitated for a moment, then raised her head to look into Jiang Huai’s eyes.

“Maybe you should keep it…”

“Take it.”

“Oh.” Xu Qing lowered her head again, not daring to refuse, and obediently took the life fruit. The two walked back to Ziyun Inn side by side. After tonight, they would part ways again.

“Will you come to this year’s Eastern Region competition?”

“I will.”

Jiang Huai replied softly, “I will represent Yuelan Continent in the battle.”

“But your cultivation…”

“I still practiced the Overlord Art back then, it should be enough.” Jiang Huai answered casually, and after a few more steps, Xu Qing suddenly asked softly, “That…”

“What?”

“I want to ask you for some advice on swordsmanship, I don’t know if you…”

“I don’t have time.”

“Oh.” Xu Qing lowered her head again, her courage that she had mustered up was once again scattered by Jiang Huai’s blunt response.

Ziyun Pavilion seemed to be holding some kind of fireworks festival that night. The sky gradually filled with the sound of crackling fireworks. As they walked on the streets of Ziyun Pavilion, Jiang Huai looked up when he heard the noise, and the sky full of fireworks caught his eyes. He couldn’t help but stop and watch.

Xu Qing also looked up, watching the brilliant fireworks in the night sky with him, both silent for a long time without words, until Jiang Huai continued to walk, and Xu Qing hurriedly followed, not daring to say more.

Jiang Huai suddenly felt an inexplicable sense of guilt. Logically, Xu Qing had been good to him, and he shouldn’t be so cold to her. She hadn’t done anything wrong, so why be so indifferent? If he was acting cold to make her dislike him and to disguise himself, it seemed foolish.

“What swordsmanship do you want to ask about?” Jiang Huai suddenly asked out of the blue.

“Three years ago, in the trial of Qingxuan True Person, those last few moves you made, I found a way to break them.” Xu Qing said softly.

“So this isn’t asking for advice, is it that you want to find an excuse to beat me up?”

“That’s not it…” Xu Qing replied aggrievedly, “I just think… after these three years, you must have realized a lot more, and I’ve also learned a couple of new moves, but there are some parts I still can’t grasp, so I want to ask you for advice.”

“What did you learn?”

“My mother’s swordsmanship.”

“Do you have the sword manual?”

“Yes.”

“Can I see it?”

Xu Qing obediently handed the sword manual to Jiang Huai. He took it and glanced through it, indeed it was a profound sword technique. He thought for a moment, “If you don’t mind, can I return it to you tomorrow morning?”

“Okay.”

So the two continued to walk forward.

Fireworks burst open above their heads, and as they passed a small stall, Jiang Huai saw the vendors at Ziyun Pavilion selling candied fruit made from spirit fruits. He suddenly craved one, approached to buy one, and then thought for a moment and bought another, handing the extra one to Xu Qing by his side.

Xu Qing took it in a fluster, biting into one, so sweet.

The two had already arrived at the foot of Ziyun Inn, where they should part ways. Jiang Huai looked up inadvertently, looking at the upstairs pavilion, with several windows open. However, his gaze quickly caught Luo Yueguan by the window, looking up at the fireworks in the night sky, her snow-white profile illuminated by the light, bright one moment and dark the next, with the shadows of her eyelashes flickering.

But then she looked down.

In her line of sight, Jiang Huai and Xu Qing stood side by side, each holding a candied fruit, with Xu Qing’s cheeks rosy. Her shyness was unmistakable, unable to hide or escape.

Luo Yueguan only glanced once before shifting her gaze away and then turned to close the window. A sense of foreboding rose in Jiang Huai’s heart. He looked at Xu Qing beside him, “I’ll go back to rest then. We’ll meet here tomorrow morning, and I’ll return the sword manual to you.”

“Okay, good.” Xu Qing nodded lightly, and so the two of them headed in different directions.

Jiang Huai ascended to the attic, remembering that Luo Yueguan had mentioned her room was right next to his. But standing at the door, he was uncertain whether he should knock and disturb her, or perhaps explain? But he and Xu Qing had been completely proper, what was there to explain? Besides… even if things weren’t proper, why should he explain to Luo Yueguan? What exactly was their relationship?

He hesitated outside the door for the time it takes half an incense stick to burn and finally decided to knock. But before his hand could touch the door, it opened.

Luo Yueguan, in a purple dress, stood at the doorway, her eyes clear and cold as she looked at him, her dark pupils inexplicably filled with a deep grievance.

“I was making a bet with myself.”

“A bet on what?” Jiang Huai was taken aback.

“I bet whether you standing outside would knock first, or whether I couldn’t help but open the door and call you in. I bet on myself to win, but I lost. I was afraid you would go back to sleep soon and ignore me.”

Jiang Huai looked at her cheeks, feeling as if her eyes were brimming with a hint of grievance. He replied softly, “Xu Qing and I went to get the Life Fruit and the Cold Soul Snow Spirit, so we came back together.”

“Is the candied haw good?”

Jiang Huai still had half a skewer in his hand, which he offered to Luo Yueguan, “Want to try?”

“I don’t want it. It’s little girls who like that sort of thing. You buy a couple more skewers to coax little girls,” Luo Yueguan turned her face away, leaving Jiang Huai at a loss for words.

He took out the Cold Soul Snow Spirit and handed it to Luo Yueguan, “You keep it, and don’t be mad at me.”

“What if I insist on being mad?”

“Then I’ll smash it.”

“Smash it then,” Luo Yueguan’s eyes reddened.

The Cold Soul Snow Spirit was stored in a special container, which, if destroyed without immediate refinement, would quickly dissolve into the world. It was an item bought for twenty million spirit stones; Jiang Huai actually couldn’t bear to really smash it.

But with Luo Yueguan acting so petulantly, he was gradually finding it hard to breathe.

“I was just saying that. I can’t bear to smash it,” Jiang Huai sighed softly.

“But I have my own emotions too. I can’t always accommodate and take care of your whims. If every time you throw a tantrum, I have to coax you, over time I’ll become more and more bad-tempered.”

“When all the good temper is worn away, and only the bad temper remains, that’s when a bad ending comes,” Jiang Huai once again offered the Cold Soul Snow Spirit to Luo Yueguan.

“You can’t expect me to unconditionally coax and tolerate everything about you. No one likes a girl who’s always capricious.”

Luo Yueguan’s body trembled, “I am capricious…”

“Then learn to change,” Jiang Huai looked into her reddened eyes.

“I’m someone who doesn’t care much about many things, and I’m not in a hurry to get anything. There’s a long, long time ahead of us, and I can wait patiently for you. I’ll always be by your side to accompany you, but you can’t rely on me because I’m also a child. I have many things I don’t understand or know, and I can think them through slowly with you.”

“And what if we never figure it out?”

“Anyway, it can’t be worse than it is now,” Jiang Huai shrugged.

“The Cold Soul Snow Spirit should be easy to refine. You should do it here in Ziyun City. It’s safe, and I’ll stay by your side to accompany you.”