“They don’t look alike.” Huan Zong looked carefully several times and answered with certainty.
“The eyes are very similar.” Kong Hou pointed at the corner of the tumbler’s eyes. “Here, where they tilt up slightly—these are exactly the same peach blossom eyes as yours.”
Huan Zong: “…”
“All right, if they don’t look alike, then they don’t.” Kong Hou, seeing that Huan Zong seemed unwilling to accept this fact, put down the tumbler. “I’m going to change clothes. Don’t come up.” After speaking, she closed the door and windows, not forgetting to add a barrier all around.
“Cough.” Huan Zong coughed dryly, turning around somewhat uncomfortably. He saw Lin Hu crouching on the ground digging through snow. “Lin Hu, what are you doing?”
“Young Master, I want to see if there are any more spiritual herbs here.” Lin Hu answered with a straight face, his hands never stopping their movements. In the blink of an eye, he had dug a large pit in the ground.
Huan Zong shook his head. “Stop digging. How could there be so many spiritual herbs growing in the same place?”
Lin Hu said earnestly, “Young Master, even if there’s only a thread of hope, I don’t want to give up.”
Huan Zong was slightly stunned. After a long while, he let out a soft sigh. “The snow is heavy. Sleep inside the carriage tonight—don’t meditate outside the carriage anymore.”
“Huan Zong, the tree house is very big. Later I’ll sleep in the inner room and you sleep in the outer room.” Kong Hou, having changed clothes, opened the window. “There’s a door between—it’s fine.”
With Huan Zong looking so good, no matter how you looked at it, she wouldn’t be the one at a disadvantage.
The tree house was indeed made very exquisitely, with doors and windows, food, toys, tables and chairs all complete. Jade bells hung from the eaves that made soft, beautiful sounds when the wind blew. It perfectly matched all of Kong Hou’s fantasies about tree houses.
It was so wonderful it was like a dream. Kong Hou was very happy—she felt her heart was about to fly out of her chest. Leaning against the window, she smiled at Huan Zong standing below the tree. “Thank you.”
“I’ve never used any of the items inside. You can use them without worry.” Huan Zong’s toes tapped, and he lightly settled on the tree trunk beside the tree house. He leaned sideways against the trunk as scattered snowflakes penetrated the leafless branches and fell on his hair.
He coughed lightly a few times and took out a small medicine bottle from his storage ring. He tilted his head back and swallowed the entire bottle of medicine. Turning his head, he saw Kong Hou staring at him with wide eyes. He put away the medicine bottle. “What’s wrong?”
Kong Hou shook her head. She opened her palm and a folded paper umbrella gradually unfolded. Her fingertip pointed, and the paper umbrella lightly flew above Huan Zong’s head, shielding him from the icy snowflakes. “When snow melts, it will be cold.” Taking so much medicine every day, unable to use spiritual energy freely—such days must be very painful.
The paper umbrella shielded Huan Zong from the wind and snow. He reached out to grasp the umbrella handle, the icy touch transmitting into his palm. “Thank you.”
The jade bells rang ding-ding-dong-dong. Kong Hou looked at Huan Zong’s profile without blinking. She hadn’t known before—it turned out there were men in this world who could make the act of holding an umbrella look so beautiful. A man who looked this good was simply a gift from heaven to the people of the world, bringing everyone the enjoyment of beauty.
Suddenly, Huan Zong closed the umbrella and looked up at the sky.
“What’s wrong?” Seeing Huan Zong’s action, Kong Hou looked up at the pitch-black sky. Apart from snowflakes illuminated by the tree house’s candlelight, she couldn’t see anything.
“Cultivators are coming.” Huan Zong flew to the tree house entrance. With a sweep of his robe, he sat down cross-legged without turning his head. “The tree house has a defensive array. If cultivators enter the forest later, don’t come out.”
Just as he finished speaking, the tree house door behind him was pushed open. A force wrapped around his waist and he was dragged forcefully inside while maintaining his sitting position on the floor. The posture really couldn’t be called elegant.
“Kong Hou, you…”
“Shh.” Kong Hou waved her sleeve to seal the jade bells so they wouldn’t make sounds. She extinguished the candlelight in the tree house. Seeing that Lin Hu below the tree had already put away the carriage and hidden in some tree, she closed the window and said quietly to Huan Zong, “Don’t talk. Maybe they’re just passing by.”
Huan Zong stood up and straightened his robes. Although in darkness, with his cultivation level, he could still clearly see Kong Hou’s movements. At this moment, she was cautiously lying by the door, looking out through the crack—like a somewhat timid puppy.
“Don’t be afraid. The cultivators approaching don’t have high cultivation.” The words hidden in his heart escaped. “I can protect you.”
Kong Hou sat up straight and turned to look in Huan Zong’s direction. But the tree house was too dark—she couldn’t see where Huan Zong was, naturally couldn’t see his expression clearly either. “When out and about, harmony is precious. If we can avoid fighting, we don’t fight. Safety comes first.” Moreover, with Huan Zong’s current physical condition, how could she dare let him make a move?
Thinking of this, she pressed her palms together and silently prayed in her heart: Please don’t let them be evil cultivators or difficult rogue cultivators. Best if they’re just passing by coincidentally and won’t notice them.
Huan Zong looked at the young girl praying silently in the darkness and couldn’t help wondering: Did she know that cultivators above Nascent Soul cultivation could see in the dark? Huan Zong shifted his gaze away, deciding not to let Kong Hou know about this somewhat embarrassing matter.
A young girl this age was probably at the age of caring about face?
“Master, we’ve been flying for two days and nights already. Should we rest for a bit?” The green-robed disciple wiped the frost and snow from his face. When he spoke, a large puff of hot air escaped his mouth.
Daoist Shuiguan looked back at several sect disciples showing signs of fatigue and nodded. “There’s a forest below. We’ll rest here briefly and set out again tomorrow morning.”
Several disciples were delighted and hurriedly maneuvered their flying instruments down into the forest. The green-robed disciple followed behind Daoist Shuiguan and said quietly, “Master, this is just the Nascent Soul celebration of a Peak Master from Yuanji Sect. Why must we rush over so urgently?”
Daoist Shuiguan jumped down from his flying sword and sighed. “Our Longhu Sect’s power is weak. Even if we wanted to become a subsidiary sect of the ten major sects, they wouldn’t regard us highly. Yuanji Sect has developed better and better over the past hundred years. Outside, everyone says Yuanji Sect might replace one of the current ten major sects and become one of the new ten major sects. We can’t afford to offend them.”
The green-robed disciple frowned. Yuanji Sect had indeed developed better and better these years, and its reputation was high among many cultivators. But the ranking of the ten major sects hadn’t changed in nearly a thousand years. For Yuanji Sect to squeeze into the ten major sects probably wasn’t that easy.
“Yuanji Sect accepted two single spiritual root disciples last year. Their talents are said to be extremely high—even five spiritual root disciples can’t compare.” Daoist Shuiguan took out a windproof lantern from his storage bag and held it in his hand, reminding several disciples, “Don’t get separated, in case there are fierce beasts in the forest.”
“Yes.” Several disciples followed closely beside Daoist Shuiguan. The green-robed disciple said somewhat unwillingly, “If we could be like Yuxiao Sect and Hefeng Studio, affiliated under Liuguang Sect, we wouldn’t need to curry favor with sects like Yuanji Sect.”
Daoist Shuiguan shook his head and sighed, not wanting to directly say his disciple was indulging in fantasy. From top to bottom, Longhu Sect members had mediocre aptitudes. The elder with the highest cultivation was only a Nascent Soul cultivator. Nascent Soul cultivation placed in the entire Lingyou Realm was indeed still quite good, but did Liuguang Sect lack a Nascent Soul cultivator? Even the youngest Peak Master in their sect had Divine Transformation Stage cultivation.
In the entire Lingyou Realm, cultivators who could reach Divine Transformation Stage cultivation numbered fewer than ten. One could see how powerful Liuguang Sect’s strength was.
The further inside they walked, the more Daoist Shuiguan felt something was wrong. He stopped and cupped his hands toward the surroundings. “This humble one is Shuiguan from Longhu Sect, bringing sect disciples passing through this place. We had no intention of disturbing fellow Daoists’ rest. Please don’t blame us, fellow Daoists.”
Several disciples, seeing Daoist Shuiguan’s reaction, gripped the magical tools in their hands tightly and looked around frantically. With their cultivation levels, they couldn’t find where any other cultivators were at all.
Crunch, crunch, crunch.
Footsteps came from within the forest. A blurry figure walked out from behind a tree. Daoist Shuiguan took a deep breath and blocked his disciples behind him.
“Daoist Shuiguan, please do as you wish.” The figure stopped more than ten steps away from Daoist Shuiguan. He opened his palm, and brilliant light radiated from his palm, illuminating his calm face.
Only then did Shuiguan see the other party’s appearance clearly—high nose bridge, wide face, very thin lips. He looked somewhat difficult to get along with. The black robe on his body looked very unremarkable, but spiritual energy surged around it. More importantly, the other party’s cultivation was higher than his—should be a Nascent Soul ancestor.
“Greetings to this ancestor. Our presumptuous disturbance—please forgive us, ancestor. This humble one will take my disciples and leave immediately.” Daoist Shuiguan was very tactful. He didn’t dare gamble his own and his disciples’ lives on this ancestor’s temperament.
“No need. This humble one is only temporarily staying here one night with Young Master and will leave tomorrow morning.” Lin Hu saw these several cultivators’ expressions were fatigued and guessed they’d been traveling for a long time. “Everyone can rest here.”
“Many thanks to the ancestor.” Daoist Shuiguan breathed a sigh of relief and bowed to thank Lin Hu. He didn’t know what kind of exceptional person the young master in this Nascent Soul ancestor’s mouth was, to actually have a Nascent Soul ancestor at his command.
Lin Hu paid them no more attention and quickly disappeared into the forest.
“So they really were just passing cultivators.” Kong Hou felt relieved. “Huan Zong, you’re so amazing—you could sense cultivators approaching from so far away.”
Huan Zong smiled bitterly. Right now he couldn’t even judge the cultivation level of approaching cultivators—what was there to be amazing about?
“Originally when I came out alone, I was a bit afraid in my heart. Now with you traveling with me, I’m not afraid at all.” Kong Hou lit the lamps in the tree house and unsealed the jade bells. The ding-ding-dong-dong bell sounds rang out again.
Candlelight reddened Huan Zong’s cheeks. He stood up. “I’ll go to the outer room. Call me if you need anything.”
“All right.” Kong Hou nodded. “Um… sweet dreams.”
Huan Zong’s footsteps paused. He turned to look at Kong Hou, the corners of his mouth curving up slightly. “You too.”
The sudden appearance of a wooden house on the tree startled Daoist Shuiguan. Just now he hadn’t sensed the existence of this house at all. Someone had set up a concealment barrier outside the house?
“Master, could the young master mentioned by the Nascent Soul ancestor be living in this tree house?” The green-robed disciple said quietly. “This seems to be a high-grade magical tool.”
“Don’t talk.” Daoist Shuiguan stopped his disciple, lest he say inappropriate words. “Rest early. Tomorrow morning we’ll go pay our respects and take our leave.”
The night was already deep. Huan Zong sat on the eaves of the tree house. The cold wind blew against his cheeks. He took out the jade medicine box from his storage ring and gently stroked the patterns on it. He reached out to seal the ceaselessly ringing jade bells.
Although the jade bell sounds were beautiful, ringing continuously would still disturb peaceful dreams.
“Young Master.” Lin Hu jumped onto a tree branch and transmitted his voice to Huan Zong. “You should rest.”
Huan Zong turned to look at him. “Lin Hu, do you think I’m taking advantage of this young girl?”
Lin Hu kept a straight face and asked in return, “Does Young Master want to hear the truth or a lie?”