After Breaking Off the Engagement, I Started Pursuing My Master - Chapter 252

Chapter 252 Trust

A bowl of steaming Yangchun noodles was brought up by Jiang Huai.

Worried that Luo Yueguan might not like such a bland taste, Jiang Huai also placed the specially made chili oil he had prepared earlier on the side. Luo Yueguan sat at the table, picked up her chopsticks, while Jiang Huai went to play with the two kittens under the tree.

Luo Yueguan quickly finished the noodles, adding a lot of chili, her cheeks slightly flushed, and large beads of sweat rolled down her forehead. Clearly, Jiang Huai had reminded her earlier that the chili was very spicy and to use less of it.

Spiciness is not one of the tastes, it’s a sensation of pain.

…

The sun was warm, and Jiang Huai leaned back in the lounge chair under the tree to cool off, holding a jade pendant in his hand. Characters emerged on the jade pendant, he crushed a spirit stone, absorbed the spiritual energy, and then sent the characters back. Luo Yueguan approached him, “What are you doing?”

“Teaching Xu Qing sword techniques,” Jiang Huai innocently replied.

From the information conveyed by Xu Qing’s characters, she had returned to the Guangxue Sect and had shown the revised sword manual to her mother, who thought the details of the improvements were good and suitable for her practice. She began to practice seriously, and whenever she encountered something she didn’t understand, she would send a message to Jiang Huai.

“I thought you weren’t that close?” Luo Yueguan pouted slightly, her voice revealing a hint of sourness.

“Well, she bought that life fruit for me, and even though I didn’t accept it, the intention was there. Empathy is important; I don’t like to owe others favors,” Jiang Huai replied softly, sending another string of characters through the jade pendant before putting it away and looking at Luo Yueguan in front of him.

Today she wore a black dress with gold embroidery on the hem, noble and elegant. The light fell on her cheeks, making her already fair skin look even more translucent. She looked up into Jiang Huai’s eyes, “Can you teach me sword techniques?”

Jiang Huai scratched his head, “I haven’t seen your swordsmanship yet, let me see.”

Luo Yueguan turned and walked towards the bamboo forest in the back courtyard, and Jiang Huai got up and followed. There was a large clearing in the bamboo forest, and Luo Yueguan took out her spirit sword, which she carried with her. Its name was Han Jiao, also a heavenly-grade spirit sword.

Tiny ice spirits danced around her sword. When she struck with it, the ice spirits swirled around, and the blade emitted a faint blue light, so beautiful it was almost unreal. Jiang Huai watched her swordplay seriously until she had performed the entire sequence, and then he asked curiously, “Did you come up with this yourself?”

Luo Yueguan nodded.

As a fellow sword cultivator, Jiang Huai could sense certain emotions that belonged to her in the sword techniques she used. Chu Xianning’s sword, for example, was always decisive and unstoppable, without any hesitation. Luo Yueguan’s swordsmanship, on the other hand, carried a heavy murderous aura, with many moves that were willing to injure herself in order to take down her opponent.

“It feels a bit too fierce…” Jiang Huai thought, picking up a piece of twig and imitating Luo Yueguan’s posture, practicing her sword moves.

He even imitated the sword intent so closely that it was almost indistinguishable. Luo Yueguan, standing still, was slightly stunned. She opened her mouth and couldn’t help but murmur softly, “You… are truly a genius.”

“It’s just good luck,” Jiang Huai replied helplessly with a smile.

Indeed, it was good luck. He didn’t know where his terrifying talent for the Way of the Sword came from. After all, he could learn many people’s sword moves just by watching them once, without needing to put in much sweat and effort. And because even with sweat and effort, he couldn’t improve much, he had always been somewhat lazy about practicing his swordsmanship.

He began to seriously consider the areas where Luo Yueguan’s swordsmanship could be improved. Picking up a twig, he started practicing the moves over and over again. Luo Yueguan stood quietly watching, the wind rustling through the bamboo forest, gradually becoming mesmerized.

When Jiang Huai came back to his senses from contemplating the sword, he looked at Luo Yueguan’s eyes, and her thoughts had already drifted off. He waved his hand in front of her face, and Luo Yueguan came back to reality. Then Jiang Huai picked up a piece of bamboo and handed it to her, “Come on, let’s practice and talk.”

Luo Yueguan nodded, gripped the bamboo tightly, and gathered all her spiritual energy, stepping forward.

“Your swordsmanship is quite good, but it’s too aggressive. The idea of trading injury for injury is too risky and can easily hurt yourself. I’ve tried to modify some moves to minimize your own harm.”

Jiang Huai’s movements were not fast, and the bamboo made a series of sounds in the air. When it hit Luo Yueguan, it made a snapping sound. He looked at the distracted Luo Yueguan, “Why didn’t you dodge?”

“I forgot.”

Luo Yueguan finally came to her senses and began practicing with Jiang Huai, who explained many details of the improvements to her.

Even though Luo Yueguan’s talent for the Way of the Sword was not very high, her experience was particularly rich. What Jiang Huai explained was not too difficult, and in less than half an hour, she had already learned one-fifth of it. Because she had retracted all her protective spiritual energy, the bamboo Jiang Huai used on her damaged her dress, creating several tears and revealing the pale blue undergarment beneath.

“I’m tired,” Luo Yueguan said with flushed cheeks and a light voice.

“Then let’s rest. We can practice again tomorrow,” Jiang Huai replied softly, pointing to a chair by the bamboo forest. Luo Yueguan sat down on it but then looked up at Jiang Huai, “Massage my shoulders.”

Jiang Huai didn’t refuse, walking over and gently placing his hands on her shoulders.

Despite her full chest and hips, Luo Yueguan’s shoulders were very slender, almost without any flesh when squeezed. Jiang Huai earnestly massaged her shoulders, and Luo Yueguan looked at him innocently, “My legs are also sore.”

“Just rub them yourself.”

“You rub them for me,” Luo Yueguan’s eyes stared straight at him.

For some reason, she had a strange intuition that Jiang Huai would refuse, that the Jiang Huai looking at her with that kind of eyes would refuse. Was it because Chu Xianning was in the courtyard to avoid suspicion? Or was it because as soon as he saw Chu Xianning, he had already forgotten about her?

She didn’t want to think about the answer.

Jiang Huai moved a chair next to her and sat down, gently kneading her smooth legs through her dress. Luo Yueguan’s legs parted slightly in surprise as she looked at him.

She had guessed wrong.

The pressure from Jiang Huai’s fingertips was just right, causing a slight tingling sensation that made her unconsciously tense her legs until Jiang Huai spoke, “There are still five days left. From now on, we’ll practice for an hour each day, which should be just right.”

“You’re in such a hurry to send me away?”

“It’s time to take Qingyu back to break through her realm.”

“You can’t wait to be alone with your Master in the courtyard, can you?” Luo Yueguan’s voice was cold and indifferent. Jiang Huai looked at her helplessly and chose to remain silent.

“Feeling guilty, so you dare not answer me.”

Jiang Huai became even more speechless, only able to look at her helplessly, his fingertips gently kneading her legs. After a while, he let go and slowly said, “Since you’ve already guessed a so-called answer and are so convinced of it, why bother asking me?”

“You’re not willing to explain a little more.”

“If one explanation isn’t enough, a hundred explanations would be meaningless. If I’m willing to believe every word you say, then you should also believe what I say, don’t you think?”

“I just don’t believe it. I only believe what I’ve guessed myself.”

Luo Yueguan still stubbornly replied, and Jiang Huai didn’t argue with her anymore.

He couldn’t make Luo Yueguan open her heart to him with just a few words. Trusting someone is especially difficult. When you trust someone with everything, it means you’ve put everything in their hands. And when one day you’re deceived by lies, you’ll be in despair.

Not wanting to trust others means you’ll never be betrayed, but if you feel lonely because of it, that’s also reasonable.

“Why aren’t you speaking?” Luo Yueguan turned to look at him.

“What else can I say?” Jiang Huai said with a mix of laughter and tears, “Anyway, you won’t believe what I say, so isn’t it better not to say anything?”

“You… if you said a bit more, I might have believed you.”

“No more talking.” Jiang Huai shook his head.

“You’re just impatient with me, but if it were your master, Chu Xianning, maybe you’d repeat yourself over and over.”

“You can’t keep testing my patience by deliberately provoking me to see if I’ll keep indulging your little temper tantrums.”

“I’m not.”

Yet Luo Yueguan, who had uttered these words, realized moments later that she didn’t believe herself. She suddenly couldn’t deny that Jiang Huai was right. Although it was she who said and did these things, she felt powerless to stop.

“Kiss me and I’ll believe you.”

“No kiss.”

“See, I guessed right, didn’t I? You just can’t wait to get rid of me. It’s because Chu Xianning is also in the yard, so you feel guilty, it’s just…”

Jiang Huai still didn’t speak, watching as Luo Yueguan began to ramble incoherently again, her voice trembling slightly, “All you need to do is kiss me once and I would believe you… but you refuse…”

It seemed Jiang Huai was beginning to understand.

If he kissed Luo Yueguan now, it might calm her down, but it wouldn’t solve the root of the problem. A kiss was just a way of escaping, like a promise that kissing someone meant you liked them, a shortcut, but it showed no sign of truly opening up to each other.

If he now grabbed Luo Yueguan and kissed her breathless, would she no longer feel as helpless as she did at this moment? But Jiang Huai always felt that wasn’t the right choice, it wouldn’t solve anything, just avoidance.

“Coward,” she said.

“If it were Chu Xianning, you’d probably be jumping for joy if she asked you to kiss her, but when it’s me, you’re unwilling. It’s just because you don’t like me as much…”

“What do you want for lunch?” Jiang Huai asked softly.

“I’m not eating!”

“Fine, then I’ll cook for master and Qingyu, not for you.”

Luo Yueguan trembled with anger, Jiang Huai stood up beside her, giving her a glance filled with helplessness and disappointment.

“Why are you looking at me with those eyes?” Luo Yueguan gritted her teeth.

“It’s nothing, I’m not blaming you.”

“It’s clearly your fault… you’re the one who feels guilty… it shouldn’t be me to blame… you…”

“I’m going to cook.” Jiang Huai said softly, and after speaking, he turned and walked out of the bamboo forest.