Having cultivated myself into an immortal, all I want to do is raise female disciples.

……

Yunping took a deep breath.

He could understand how terrified Yuan'er was at that moment.

She was afraid that her senior brother Jiang, who used to cook for her, would leave; she was afraid that the calm and collected senior brother Jiang from before would disappear; she was afraid that the senior brother Jiang who had always doted on her would never return.

In his memory... that boy who yearned for light and came from darkness is still deeply imprinted in Yunping's mind.

Raising a spear against the dark past, those who burn their souls as a price to reach the future—

If she were to lose it, it would certainly be a major blow to her.

The same goes for him.

"Who is that person?" Yunping asked.

"His name seems to be Jiang Shengxuan..."

"Is that so?"

Jiang Shengxuan.

Yunping remembers.

Jiang Yuetian's elder brother, the eldest son of the Jiang family whom he personally destroyed.

Is he still alive?

No, it's impossible.

That day, in his rage, he slaughtered the entire Jiang family. Jiang Shengxuan could not have survived, because he left no survivors, not a single one.

Has it become something like a vengeful spirit...?

A glint flashed in Yunping's eyes, as if he had understood something.

He gave a cold laugh, a laugh that looked particularly terrifying, unlike any of his previous smiles. This laugh didn't invite a beating; instead, it made people uneasy.

"Teacher...is what he said true?"

Yuan'er raised her head, her red, tear-streaked eyes filled with worry and hope.

Faced with Xiao Yuan'er's appearance, Yun Ping simply smiled slightly.

"Even if it's true, Yuan'er doesn't need to worry."

"Why……?"

"because--"

Yunping reached out with his right hand from the side and pulled out a jade hairpin from thin air, carefully inserting it into Yuan'er's soft hair.

Yuan'er reached out and touched the hairpin, her little hand stroking the jade lotus at the end of the hairpin, her face showing confusion.

Yunping looked at Yuan'er with satisfaction and smiled as he continued the conversation—

Whether someone is a cursed loner is not something that fate can decide.

……

……

The next morning.

Inside Huang Yisi's cave.

"What is this...?"

The silver-haired maid's lips twitched, her fists clenched, and her face screamed "sour."

Before her stood Lin Yuan, who was standing obediently beside Yun Ping, her eyes still half-red, but her face full of a happy smile.

She chuckled foolishly, spinning around in circles, occasionally lightly touching the jade lotus hairpin in her hair.

"This was given to me by my teacher!"

They spoke in a boastful tone, uttering words that inspired envy.

Ye Yuchan stared at the hairpin, holding back her anger, and couldn't help but say sourly, "Anyway... it's a birthday present or something, right? Hmm, that's definitely it."

"No, it's not." Lin Yuan smiled at Ye Yuchan, but for a moment her eyes suddenly became sharp and her pupils turned crimson. "It's a token of love."

……

A token of love?!

Ye Yuchan felt like she had eaten a lemon, turning into a sour monster, and her eyes were filled with envy, jealousy and hatred as she looked at Lin Yuan.

Everyone simultaneously sensed that a vinegar jar had been overturned.

“A token of love…” Ning Xuchen looked at Yun Ping with fear in his eyes, then quickly turned to Gu Xingzhuo and said, “Master Gu… this… this is…”

"Ahem." Gu Xingzhuo seemed unwilling to elaborate on this matter: "Don't ask any more questions."

--(stare)

Lu Yingqiu, on the other hand, stared at Yun Ping with a sour look in her eyes.

—This girl seems to be jealous too.

The reason is that she woke up to find that her favorite teacher was not by her side, but had gone to another man's bed!

acid!

At this moment, the entire cave was filled with a sour smell.

The only one who didn't react much was Zhang Ruoxue. She was yawning nonchalantly, her clothes were a little disheveled, and she looked like she hadn't slept well last night.

"What's wrong, Junior Sister Yu Chan? You look terrible."

Lin Yuan looked at Ye Yuchan with great interest; the little girl's smile at this moment had a somewhat sinister quality to it.

Ye Yuchan's face darkened, then she glanced coldly at Yun Ping, gritted her teeth, and said, "Tokens of love... I don't think that old rogue is a lolicon, is he?"

“Yuan’er is quite old this year, she’s already quite old.”

Ye Yuchan narrowed her eyes, "But she still looks like a child, isn't that a bit inappropriate?"

“Speaking of children…” Lin Yuan stared at Ye Yuchan’s chest with her scarlet eyes, grinned, and revealed two sharp little tiger teeth, “Junior Sister Yuchan is also quite childlike in some ways.”

"Varied--!"

—That hit a nerve!

The Sand Sculpture—sink it.

The silver-haired girl, bent forward in despair, looked ashen-faced and began to doubt the meaning of her life.

Meanwhile, a certain loli girl revealed a victorious smile and proudly puffed out her chest, which had long since stopped developing but still narrowly outsized compared to Ye Yuchan's, looking smug.

Seeing this, Yunping gave a helpless bitter smile and reached out to pat Yuan'er's head.

"Alright, stop fooling around."

Stroking the girl's hair, the crimson in her eyes vanished instantly, and her expression softened considerably from its previous arrogance.

Yuan'er turned around and chuckled foolishly twice.

Yunping looked around and changed the subject: "Speaking of which, where's Huang Luo? Hasn't he come back yet?"

Gu Xingzhu shook his head, recalling his experience of meditating and guarding the gate yesterday, and replied, "I didn't see him all day yesterday."

"Could he have been deceived as well?" Ning Xuchen was a little worried about that Qin Sect disciple.

"Don't think so badly," Zhang Ruoxue said, having straightened her clothes. "They might just have been murdered."

—Your thinking isn't much better!

Just as everyone was wondering if Huang Luo had died suddenly, the door was suddenly pushed open.

Exhausted and sporting heavy dark circles under his eyes, Huang Luo appeared before everyone, panting heavily.

His clothes were covered in mud, and he looked incredibly disheveled, as if he had just struggled to escape from a mud jar.

"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry..."

As soon as Huang Luo entered, he bowed and apologized, "When I went to look for the Su Yan Guo (a type of fruit), I accidentally fell into a trap... which delayed me a bit."

"A trap?" Ye Yuchan found it a bit strange.

"It's probably for capturing spirit beasts, oh well, never mind..."

He hurriedly retreated and stood in the long corridor outside the door, saying to the crowd, "I heard that the Heavenly City Saint Immortal has returned! He's waiting for us in the center of the city right now."

"Oh? You're back?"

Yunping squinted, his gaze falling on the black mud on Huang Luo's body.

He nodded knowingly, his expression turning cold.

"Then let's go."

After uttering those emotionless words, he was the first to leave the cave.

44. Ghost Lord

Walking along the road leading to the city, the long corridor, which was equipped with a spatial array, appeared exceptionally spacious.

For some reason, apart from the cultivator who led the way, they did not see anyone else along the way.

The cultivator from Xiandu who led the way was not the same person who had chatted happily with Huang Yisi yesterday. Instead, he was an ordinary-looking man with very common cultivation level and aura.

The stone beneath their feet was a very common material. Compared to the attire inside the cave, it was clear that the cultivators in Lake City did not seem to have put much effort into the castle itself.

But the sound of everyone's boots hitting the ordinary stone lingered in their ears for a long time.

Because it was so empty, the only sound that could be heard was the uneven sound of footsteps.

Ye Yuchan looked around, then tilted her body slightly and looked into the distance along the narrow corridor. She wanted to ask why there was no one else around, but instead she saw a crowd of people gathered in front of the extremely magnificent golden gate in the distance.

It seemed that all the cultivators of the Immortal Capital—including the imposing man I had seen yesterday—were gathered in front of that magnificent gate.

"You've arrived."

The man stepped forward from the queue, came to the front of Yunping, and nodded to the cultivator who had led Yunping and the others to this place.