The Hehuan Sect cultivates alchemy; my senior sister helps me refine alchemy throughout the world.

Shen Yifei continued massaging.

"What...what did you do to me?" Luo Qinghe asked through gritted teeth.

"It's nothing, I'm just helping you clear your spiritual meridians." Shen Yifei looked innocent. "Saintess Luo, you've cultivated the Ice Heart Technique for so many years, your spiritual meridians are a bit blocked. I'll help you clear them; it'll be good for you."

Luo Qinghe wanted to curse him, but all she could do was gasp for breath.

Shen Yifei's hands didn't stop; the spiritual energy at his fingertips, like a small snake, swam around where her spiritual veins converged.

With each press, Luo Qinghe's body trembled, as if someone were tickling his heart with a feather.

"You...you stop..." she finally managed to squeeze out a few words, her voice no longer cold and aloof, but rather a little hoarse.

"Stop?" Shen Yifei looked down at her, his usually icy face flushed red, his eyes half-open, and teeth marks on his lips. "Saintess Luo, didn't you say that the eighth level of the Ice Heart Technique is unmoved by external things? How come you're like this after I just moved a finger?"

Luo Qinghe wanted to retort, but Shen Yifei pressed down again, and the words she was about to say turned into a muffled groan.

Shen Yifei was overjoyed.

What ice-cold saintess, what half-step Nascent Soul cultivator, they all melt into water before his skillful hands.

The technique Qin Wan taught him worked.

He leaned down and whispered in her ear, "Saintess Luo, let's take it slow."

"You... shut up..." Luo Qinghe gritted his teeth.

Shen Yifei no longer held back. His dual cultivation technique had become much more proficient, and his spiritual energy circulation was very natural and smooth.

……

……

After a long while, Luo Qinghe finally spoke: "I feel like my cultivation level has improved a little bit."

Luo Qinghe raised her head, her cold eyes fixed on him with a complex expression.

"You're a strange person."

"So what if it's weird? It's not like it's the first time someone's said that to me."

Luo Qinghe lay back down, and after a long while, he said, "From today onwards, you can only cultivate with me. You can't go back on your promise to me."

"Fine, no take-backs. But you can't take it back either. You said you'd take 50% of the pills."

"I never go back on my word."

After Luo Qinghe left, Shen Yifei lay on the bed, staring blankly at the roof beam.

That night went more smoothly than he had anticipated. Although Luo Qinghe was a saintess, she was still a woman at heart, with her own needs. She came to him for two reasons: to control the situation and to break through her bottleneck. It was a win-win situation; neither of them lost out.

"Little guy, you've really stirred up a hole in the sky this time." Liu Mengli came out of the cauldron, leaned against the bedpost, and stared at him with her green eyes.

"So what if I stabbed her? She'll take the blame anyway."

"Are you so sure she won't turn on you?"

"So what if we turn on each other? We might as well die together." Shen Yifei rolled over. "Going to sleep, I'm sleepy."

"Hey, you know, women are the most fickle. Their faces can change in an instant, faster than turning the pages of a book."

Shen Yifei ignored him. He knew what was going on; it was just an exchange of benefits!

In the days that followed, Shen Yifei lived an even more comfortable life at the Qingyun Sect.

Luo Qinghe kept his word and issued a strict order the next day: no female cultivator in the Qingyun Sect was allowed to approach Shen Yifei's courtyard without permission, or they would be expelled from the sect.

The moment this order was given, the female cultivators of the Qingyun Sect were in an uproar.

"Why should she? Senior Brother Shen isn't just hers!"

"Exactly, what business is it of hers if we cultivate together with Senior Brother Shen?"

"Even a saintess can't be this domineering, can she?"

But no one dared to disobey. Luo Qinghe's authority in the Qingyun Sect was second only to the Sect Master. Her words were law.

Shen Yifei's courtyard suddenly became quiet. No more female cultivators knocked on the door in the middle of the night, and no one brought snacks or spiritual fruits. Only Luo Qinghe came every few days, and each time he stayed until late at night. When he left, his complexion was much rosier than when he arrived.

The pill business continued as usual. Even more people came to him for pill refining, because Luo Qinghe's orders only applied to female cultivators, not male ones. Male cultivators could now openly seek him out without fear of being expelled from their sects.

In just half a month, the number of spirit stones in his ring had exceeded 80,000. He had also accumulated a large number of top-grade pills, including more than 30 top-grade Foundation Establishment Pills and more than 200 top-grade Qi Gathering Pills.

That evening, Shen Yifei was practicing boxing in the courtyard when Zhao Qingshan rushed over.

"Junior Brother Shen, the sect leader requests your presence."

Shen Yifei lowered his fist and wiped his sweat: "What is it?"

"I don't know, the sect leader didn't say." Zhao Qingshan's expression was not good. "But I see the sect leader doesn't look well, so be careful."

Shen Yifei pondered to himself that Xie Liaochen was probably looking for him about Luo Qinghe. The fact that the Holy Maiden and he were cultivating together was no secret within the Qingyun Sect. Although no one dared to say it openly, it had already spread far and wide in private.

He followed Zhao Qingshan to Qingyun Palace, where Xie Liaochen was sitting in a chair drinking tea. When he saw him come in, he put down his teacup and looked him up and down.

"sit."

Shen Yifei sat down, and Zhao Qingshan withdrew, leaving only the two of them in the hall.

"Shen Yifei, how long have you been at the Qingyun Sect?"

"It's been almost a month."

"A month." Xie Liaochen nodded. "How has this past month been?"

"It's fine, the sect leader is taking good care of you."

Xie Liaochen smiled, but the smile didn't reach his eyes.

"Shen Yifei, do you even know that Luo Qinghe is my daughter?"

Shen Yifei's heart skipped a beat. A daughter? He really didn't know.

Luo Qinghe is a saintess, and Xie Liaochen is the sect leader. They have different surnames, so how could they be father and daughter?

Xie Liaochen chuckled, "Qinghe takes her mother's surname. Her mother passed away early, and I raised her single-handedly."

Xie Liaochen stood up, put his hands behind his back, and took two steps in the hall. "She has cultivated the Ice Heart Technique since childhood, and her heart is as calm as water, unmoved by external things. She reached the peak of the Golden Core stage at the age of twenty-eight, and was half a step into the Nascent Soul stage. She is the seventh person in the entire Qingyun Sect in eight hundred years."

He turned around and stared at Shen Yifei: "But you've only been here for less than a month, and you've already ruined her composure."

Shen Yifei didn't respond. At this point, anything he said would be wrong, so he might as well keep quiet.

"Do you know what she said to me last night?" Xie Liaochen walked back and sat down.

"What...what did she say?" Shen Yifei asked, feeling a little guilty.

She said... she wants to marry you.