Chapter 44 : I Wasn’t Thinking of Him
Chapter 44: I Wasn’t Thinking of Him
Before long.
The senior and junior sisters carried the dinner they had bought and returned to the dormitory in Suhua Courtyard.
From afar, Cheng Hua saw her master lounging lazily on a reclining chair, basking in the evening sun like a pile of soft mud.
Sometimes she felt her master was a bit like Fang Chang.
Both were endlessly lazy.
“You’re back~”
Her master glanced at the cute little disciple and grinned. “Come here, let Master hug you.”
“No, Master smells like alcohol, it stinks.”
The junior sister pouted, clutching the food box as she ran over to the table to set things down.
The master turned her head to look at her eldest disciple.
“Went to see your Senior Sister Cui again?”
Cheng Hua did not respond, instead asking, “Any new disciples today?”
“No.”
“Oh.”
The master propped herself up. Her collar slipped off her shoulder, revealing a fair collarbone and the chest bound beneath a strapless garment.
The garment was black like silk, thin cords looping around her neck, firmly supporting what lay beneath.
She pretended to be displeased:
“Is this how you order your master around? Making me check every day if new disciples have come up the mountain—other elders might think I’m desperate for disciples!”
Cheng Hua didn’t listen to the latter part.
A faint trace of disappointment flickered in her eyes.
The master found it amusing and took a swig of wine.
The liquid slipped from the corner of her lips, dripping onto the exposed fair skin beside the strapless garment, tracing an overly alluring wet line downward.
She showed no decorum, unwilling to waste that drop.
So her jade-like fingers slid over that smooth, fair skin, scooping it back, stirring a slight ripple.
Then she put it back into her mouth, savoring it.
“It’s been over a month. If that Corpse Refinement Path guy you’re thinking of were coming, he’d have shown up already.”
“I wasn’t thinking of him.”
“The cultivation world hasn’t been very peaceful lately. Over in Tai Prefecture, they say a Secret Realm descended—many died. Even people from the Grand White Sword Sect and Taiyi Talisman Palace suffered heavy losses.”
“I wasn’t thinking of him.”
“I heard the treasured daughter of the Lü family lost her aunt too—killed, and her corpse taken by someone from the Corpse Refinement Path. Do you think it could be that one of yours?”
“......”
“Probably not. I heard that Corpse Refinement Path cultivator killed a Fifth Realm Jade Planting Path expert and even found a way for them to leave the Secret Realm. That little Qi Absorption fellow you mentioned wouldn’t have that ability, right?”
“......”
The master’s smile grew more unrestrained, no longer teasing her.
“Previously, you said your lower abdomen felt swollen and numb, your whole body restless and hot. Has that happened again recently?”
Cheng Hua glanced at her gloomily and shook her head.
The master grew more serious. “I’ve never heard of such a sensation. Everyone’s constitution is different—it’s hard to say if it’s a side effect of that secret technique… just in case, if it happens again, call me immediately to check.”
Cheng Hua still didn’t answer right away.
Regarding this side effect—
She had concealed part of it.
Every time it flared up, Fang Chang’s face would appear before her eyes.
At that time, she felt like a butterfly, clinging to him, frantically drawing nectar.
Unrestrained, indecent.
Cheng Hua suddenly felt her ears grow warm.
She dismissed that memory.
“Understood.”
Her master still seemed uneasy and added, “Then compare it—exactly where is it?”
Cheng Hua obediently extended a jade-like finger and pointed three inches below her master’s navel, over the black garment.
Her master’s lower abdomen was soft, covered with a thin layer of flesh.
“Here. It keeps… pushing upward.”
Her master froze for a moment. A faint blush suddenly appeared on her face as she slapped Cheng Hua’s hand away.
“You’re teasing your master, aren’t you? You damn girl—no one wants an old woman like me, can’t I just amuse myself?”
“?”
What was her master talking about?
...
...
“In any case.”
“Let’s first summarize the gains from this trip to White Egret City.”
In an unknown forest.
Lamb meat sizzled over the campfire, oil glistening.
Night fell like ink.
The warm firelight stretched Fang Chang’s shadow long.
Where the shadow extended lay the bloodied corpses of a rock goat and an alpha wolf.
Amid insect chirps and bird calls, there were also the fearful whimpers of wild wolves fleeing in panic.
Not long ago—
Fang Chang had rescued that rock goat from a pack of wolves, and in gratitude, the goat willingly offered its body to nourish his small stomach.
Too righteous, Brother Goat.
“In terms of corpse materials: Zhang Su, and a Tai Sui flesh body.”
“That Tai Sui body is hard to assess—the system didn’t even recognize it. One can only say its future potential is promising.”
“In terms of treasures: an S-rank hidden treasure Bìngfēng Twin Birth, an A-rank Talisman Treasure, and various miscellaneous items seized from the Secret Realm.”
“It’s a pity about that ice boat though—a decent hidden treasure, smashed just like that.”
“As for wealth—little in terms of mundane riches, but quite a lot of Tai Sui white flesh and Tai Sui green flesh.”
Fang Chang toyed with the Twin-Dragon Grass Talisman Treasure paperweight in his hand.
Its wooden grain was smooth like jade.
Although it was called a Talisman Treasure, it was neither a talisman nor a treasure in the usual sense.
The Talisman Path entered the Dao through talismans. Drawing talismans out of thin air was impressive—but not something everyone could do.
Most people required ordinary items—brush, ink, paper, inkstone, and so on.
During the process of drawing talismans—
those items would inevitably absorb and carry talismanic power. With special methods, they could then be refined into Talisman Treasures.
Talisman Treasures contained talismanic power within and could be used repeatedly.
The one in Fang Chang’s hand—
aside from the already seen Five Thunder Talisman power, contained three or four additional types, which need not be detailed one by one.
It still had quite a few uses left.
If used sparingly, it might last until the Third Realm.
Fang Chang smiled and shook his head, tearing off a piece of fatty-lean lamb and dipping it in sauce.
With one bite, the aroma of sauce and meat burst forth, making one crave a drink.
Fang Chang didn’t like alcohol.
At a moment like this, a cup of sour plum soup to cleanse the richness would make the next bite even more satisfying.
Zhao Yuntong appeared beside him at some point.
She had changed into a black brocade long dress, with faint silver-thread lotus patterns, falling solemnly.
Her hair was fully tied up in a white jade crown, her makeup cool, lips pale.
This was different from her usual seductive appearance.
Instead, she seemed more dignified and untouchable.
“You really plan to go to Canglan Mountain?”
She rested her chin on her hands, silver bells hanging lightly.
Fang Chang glanced at her and continued eating.
“What else? It was decided before.”
Pleasing a woman wasn’t that simple.
Pleasing a woman like Zhao Yuntong was even less simple.
Even though half a month ago, while falling through the air after escaping the Secret Realm, they had reached a fragile reconciliation—
In reality, Zhao Yuntong still treated him coldly.
There was less teasing, less possessiveness in her words.
Most of the time, she stayed inside the coffin.
Not even speaking to him.
That wasn’t a problem.
Fang Chang was quite used to being alone.
But the problem was… the newly refined Pure Yang demon-subduing rod of his had no chance to take revenge!
“I still have the same question.”
Zhao Yuntong’s face looked beautiful in the firelight, pale with a bluish tint.
“Will Canglan Mountain really accept someone from the Corpse Refinement Path like you?”
“They’re not as strict as you think… where’s our Martial Aunt Zhang?”
Fang Chang asked.
The Yin Corpse had long been refined, and with the past half-month of peaceful travel, he hadn’t seen her at all.
“Her?”
Zhao Yuntong sneered. “Reciting scriptures inside the coffin.”