Were all the Azure Hills Clan this bold?
In Immortal-Crossing Hall, the fox woman’s shy words made all the sect elders secretly exclaim in astonishment. In contrast, the over ten experts from the Azure Hills Clan wore smiling expressions, seemingly…
Proud?
Perhaps this was their racial talent.
Spirit Moth stood up with a faint smile, bowed to the fox woman, and said softly:
“Respected Senior, please take this junior’s seat…
My Master’s is focused solely on cultivation and amn’t skilled at handling such situations. I ask Senior to be more mindful of my Master’s reputation.”
As she spoke, Spirit Moth put on a serious face and calmly sat in the back row.
She had already reached the Celestial Immortal realm and was, in Immortal-Crossing Gate’s known history, the person who had advanced fastest in cultivation!
At this point, let alone such moderate words, even if she directly cursed the Azure Hills Clan, Immortal-Crossing Gate would surely back her.
Spirit Moth’s action wasn’t purely emotional; there were several considerations behind it.
The most important was to directly express Little Jade Peak disciples’ attitude toward the fox woman, giving the sect leadership a clear picture so they wouldn’t arrange random marriages for their Peak Master.
Senior Li laughed inwardly as the fox woman gently pressed her lips together, thanked Spirit Moth, and sat down in Spirit Moth’s original place.
Afterward, the fox woman moved closer to Senior Li, watching the old Daoist beside her.
Her gaze lingered, her feelings apparent.
Spirit Moth’s lips twitched several times as she thought to herself:
‘Immortal Lady Cloud Peak, come quick! Someone has bold intentions toward my Senior Brother!’
“Daoist…”
The fox woman called out softly, her body nearly falling onto the low table, her delicate hand propping up her cheek as she gazed at Senior Li’s Paper Avatar.
Senior Li responded according to his Master’s usual character:
He first showed a somewhat forced, embarrassed smile, then fixed his gaze forward, focusing intently on the greetings between Immortal-Crossing Gate and the Azure Hills Clan visitors.
Today’s situation was half caused by Senior Li himself.
Last time when Senior Li cursed demons at Immortal-Crossing Gate, he had directly used the Azure Hills Clan as an example, describing them as a clan that “pursued love and equality” to support his argument.
This matter had spread like wildfire throughout the primordial world, viewed as a classic approach to cursing demons!
But unexpectedly, the Azure Hills Clan took it seriously…
They truly believed that the Heavenly Court’s Water God, with his Human Dao background, greatly admired their Azure Hills Clan!
This time they came to Immortal-Crossing Gate bearing gifts, mainly hoping to establish connections with the Heavenly Court’s Water God, and incidentally board the solid and spacious ship of the Human Dao…
For this, the Azure Hills Clan had thought of a brilliant plan to kill two birds with one stone.
“Sect Leader Worryless,” the elderly woman with the most profound aura smiled and said, “How about our Azure Hills becoming in-laws with your Immortal-Crossing Gate?”
Season Worryless, who was drinking tea, couldn’t help but cough again.
Were all demon clans this bold and direct?
Perhaps if this had been before Spirit Moth’s few sentences, Sect Leader Season might have nodded in agreement.
But now…
“Friend, you jest,” Season Worryless smiled and said, “Our Immortal-Crossing Gate is a place of otherworldly cultivation. How could we speak of becoming in-laws?
Moreover, the Human Dao lineage follows the four words of ‘quiet non-action.’ We absolutely cannot force our cultivators to do anything against their hearts.”
“How can this be called forcing? How is it against their hearts?”
A rather plump elderly demon smiled and said: “Look at our Azure Hills’ Little Lan, she has already set her heart and made her decision.”
Elder Forgotten Emotions slightly frowned, looking at the situation, and said calmly: “But our Immortal-Crossing Gate’s disciple has shown no such feelings toward your Azure Hills Clan member.”
The plump elder said: “Isn’t that just a matter of spending ten or fifteen days together!”
“That’s not how it works,” a Supreme Elder of Immortal-Crossing Gate spoke up, “Our Immortal-Crossing Gate’s disciples all cultivate their hearts and nature, regarding matters between men and women…”
At this point, the elder’s tone suddenly weakened.
“They all have their views.”
Senior Li was also amused listening to this, but his current expression remained slightly tense, without any flaws.
Both sides began a not-so-intense verbal exchange on this matter, while Fox Demon Lan continued to watch Senior Li’s profile as if no one else was present, occasionally revealing unconscious gentle smiles…
As if this moment was already enough.
How should this matter be handled?
Senior Li used his Divine Sense to look at his Master sleeping drunk on Little Jade Peak, then looked at this fox woman;
Right now his Master was in an emotional void period, very vulnerable to this fox woman taking advantage…
Setting aside whether Master could resist or not, just considering what impact having a fox woman as their Master’s wife would have on himself and Spirit Moth?
The answer was no impact at all.
If she wanted to marry into Little Jade Peak, Senior Li would necessarily plant something in her soul – even Heaven’s Dao oaths wouldn’t be stable enough.
“Qi Yuan…
Qi Yuan…”
The fox woman hurriedly said: “Daoist, please say something.”
“Oh,” Senior Li pretended to snap out of his thoughts and immediately looked toward the Sect Leader who had called him, standing up and lowering his head to walk around the low table.
At this moment, he perfectly played the role of a stubborn and etiquette-mindful Mundane Immortal!
“I was momentarily lost in thought, please forgive me, Sect Leader.”
“Qi Yuan, first take Lady Lan for a walk around the mountain. Return to the hall in half a day to give us your answer.”
Season Worryless smiled and said: “Don’t worry about anything or consider other matters. In your personal affairs, everything is entirely your own decision.
If you can’t make up your mind, go discuss it thoroughly with your disciple.”
Half a day…
This was Immortal-Crossing Gate giving some face to Azure Hills, letting Qi Yuan spend half a day alone with Azure Hills Lan to see if she could move Qi Yuan’s heart.
Three hours wasn’t too long or too short.
It wasn’t long enough for subtle feelings to develop between people, but just enough for a simple understanding of each other.
Senior Li turned and made a gesture of invitation;
The fox woman became nervous, rising gracefully, first bowing to Senior Li, then lowering her head to follow ‘Old Daoist Qi’ out of Immortal-Crossing Hall.
Spirit Moth and Junior Sister Jiu immediately wanted to follow but were stopped by an elderly woman of Immortal-Crossing Gate who smiled and said:
“Don’t rush, she can’t harm your Master here in our mountain.”
Spirit Moth and Junior Sister Jiu could only wait temporarily in the hall. They weren’t at all worried about Senior Li’s situation, instead feeling sympathy for this Azure Hills fox who had targeted the wrong person from the start.
And so, moments later.
…
[Lost?]
Creak, creak—
The wooden sign hanging on the tree branch swayed back and forth as Fox Woman Lan couldn’t help but pat her forehead in frustration.
Having followed ‘Qi Yuan’ to Little Jade Peak right after leaving Immortal-Crossing Hall, she had somehow found herself alone in a formation while taking a walk with ‘the person from her dreams’…
She sighed softly: “Daoist, you won’t even give me these few hours?”
The fox woman’s expression was quite desolate as she stood there in silence for a while, then suddenly seemed to have a revelation.
“Daoist, are you testing my understanding of formations?”
At this point, the fox woman stepped forward, continuously searching everywhere, naturally unable to escape the formation.
In the lakeside cottage, Senior Li had already shaken his Master awake, directly sobering him up, then shouted:
“Master! Demons are attacking!”
“What?!”
Old Daoist Qi leaped up, grabbed his whisk, and rushed toward the door, shouting: “The moment for this poor Daoist to sacrifice himself for the Dao has finally come!”
Senior Li tilted his head – why was this Master’s first reaction?
Old Daoist Qi rushed out the door only to realize something was wrong. He turned his head to glare at Senior Li, cursing: “Where are the demons?!”
“Master, look,” Senior Li casually conjured a Cloud Mirror, showing the situation in the containment formation.
That alluring fox woman was continuously searching for something.
Old Daoist Qi naturally recognized this fox woman. His brows furrowed into the shape of a river, and he said softly:
“Disciple, why has she come again?”
Senior Li transmitted with a smile: “Don’t worry, Master. I’m having someone inquire at the Marriage God’s Palace about this matter, to check Master’s marriage destiny.
This fox woman seems determined about you.”
“Ah,” Qi sighed, “This master will go explain things clearly to her again.”
“She’s deeply infatuated; words alone won’t solve this,” Senior Li frowned and said, “Moreover, if Master enters the formation directly, I’m worried she might…”
“What?”
“Use force.”
Old Daoist Qi couldn’t help but grasp his Daoist robe’s collar, his old face turning somewhat pale, “Your Master has maintained his purity for a lifetime! This absolutely cannot happen!”
Senior Li said: “Rest assured, with disciple here… Master, please wait, I’ll check your marriage destiny.”
Pausing his words, Senior Li gestured to his Master to remain calm, immediately closing his eyes to concentrate.
Meanwhile, the Water God Paper Avatar in the Heavenly Court had already rushed to the Marriage God’s Palace, where the Marriage God eagerly welcomed him…
Senior Li used a simple excuse:
[Recently, demon clans have been hostile to both the Human Dao School and the Heavenly Court. He came to see if any Human Dao disciples had formed marriage destinies with demons. If so, it would be good to plan.]
How could the Marriage God refuse?
Immediately, the Marriage God led the great Water God to the rear hall, quickly bringing out the clay figures of the Human Dao’s six major sects.
There were about a dozen pairs with demon clan connections;
Among them, the most conspicuous was the Mundane Immortal Qi Yuan of Little Jade Peak, Immortal-Crossing Gate, paired with the Azure Hills demon woman Little Lan!
Currently, Master’s clay figure had only one thread end on its entire body, corresponding to Rain Poetry’s marriage destiny figure;
Fox Demon Lan’s clay figure also had only one red string, but this string was now directly tied around Qi Yuan’s clay figure’s waist.
It even had a dead knot!
“This!”
The Marriage God’s eyes widened, and his forehead was instantly covered in cold sweat.
Senior Li had wanted to question why the Marriage God had done such a thing, but seeing the Marriage God’s current unusual state and quick reaction…
“Marriage God, what’s going on?”
“Have I been drinking recently?”
The Marriage God countered, then pointed at these three clay figures, this one, that one, unable to speak complete sentences, his expression increasingly anxious.
After a moment, the Marriage God finally sorted out his thoughts and spoke:
“This isn’t right!
Earlier when Daoist Friend Qi came to the Heavenly Court, I had intervened, helping Daoist Friend Qi and that somewhat closer Rain Poetry next door become entangled, even tying a joyous knot!
How did this red string directly break, and even connect… connect to a demon woman…”
“Marriage God!”
Senior Li directly interrupted the Marriage God’s words, frowning: “Speak carefully! Besides you, who else can influence the Marriage Palace?”
“The Marriage Palace…”
The Marriage God first shook his head, then clasped his hands behind his back and paced back and forth, continuously muttering.
The Marriage Palace was a place of Heaven’s Dao importance – even someone as powerful as the Grand Master couldn’t do such manipulation without the Marriage God knowing…
The two servant children couldn’t access the Marriage God’s scissors, and the Marriage God rarely made such major mistakes…
Soon, the Marriage God trembled and looked up at Senior Li, saying softly: “That embroidered ball, that red embroidered ball that once presided over the Heavenly Wedding, could accomplish this.”
Hearing this, Senior Li immediately fell silent.
The Holy Woman?
Why would she do such a thing? A small fox demon, a Mundane Immortal who probably couldn’t even win against a Primary Immortal in battle…
When a Sage acts, there must be profound meaning – it couldn’t possibly be just to watch an interesting show.
Could there be some earth-shattering calculation behind this that he couldn’t see yet?
“Marriage God, besides the red embroidered ball…”
“There’s no other possibility,” the Marriage God looked around the rear hall and said softly, “The Marriage Palace and the Heavenly Court’s Divine Halls were formed from Heaven’s Dao power, protected sacred grounds of Heaven’s Dao.
And that red embroidered ball that should be in the Marriage Palace, its power surpasses even mine as the palace guardian spirit.”
Senior Li looked at this red string, momentarily able only to maintain silence.
The Marriage God continued: “Can’t touch it, absolutely can’t touch it!
Great Water God, you must believe this small deity – even if I had ten times the courage, I wouldn’t dare to have such troublesome thoughts about the marriage destiny of your close friend!”
“Enough, thank you for your guidance, Marriage God. I’ll think of other methods.”
Senior Li had just turned to leave when something struck his mind, and he turned back to look at his Master’s marriage destiny clay figure.
In a flash, he saw this scene:
The Marriage God came from outside the hall, summoned Qi Yuan’s clay figure, looked at Qi Yuan and Rain Poetry’s figures, first stabbed them both a few times with the Tree of Mutual Longing, then pulled together their red strings that had grown somewhat distant, tying a joyous knot.
But after the Marriage God left satisfied, the two red strings gently swayed and were pulled apart again, with Rain Poetry’s clay figure even pulling back most of her red string.
The scene abruptly ended, leaving only traces of the familiar Dao rhythm.
It was indeed the Holy Woman’s intervention, but this scene was telling Senior Li that she hadn’t broken apart Rain Poetry and Qi Yuan’s marriage destiny, nor had the Marriage God secretly done anything.
Incidentally, the Holy Woman also acknowledged that she had tied Fox Demon Lan’s red string.
This was…
Had she gotten tired of reading action stories and wanted to switch to something sweet and romantic?
Senior Li had no strength to mock this, finding it quite headache-inducing. In his mind appeared the image of [The Lakeside Goddess cupping her cheeks with both hands, watching the Cloud Mirror with eager anticipation].
It gave Senior Li an enormous headache!
Bidding farewell to the Marriage God, Senior Li’s consciousness returned to Little Jade Peak.
He still didn’t quite believe that the Holy Woman would intervene just to watch a story, persistently feeling she must have other calculations.
And he absolutely couldn’t oppose a Sage at this point!
Even the ‘Senior Wave’ in the era before the Six Sages had been reduced to remnants – facing these six ‘rare survivors’ from ancient times to the present, Senior Li didn’t dare harbor any thoughts.
On Little Jade Peak, Senior Li watched his pacing Master and pondered for a moment…
“Master?”
“Hmm?”
“You truly feel nothing for this fox woman?”
“Of course,” Old Daoist Qi declared firmly, “Do you take your Master for some demon of lust? How could I lower my state of mind for a woman’s beauty!”
Senior Li couldn’t help but cover his forehead with his hand, “Why don’t you… try?”
“Try what?”
Qi swept his whisk and rode his cloud toward the maze formation, successfully finding that sign.
[Lost?]
Qi snorted lightly, standing still in place, holding his whisk, and closing his eyes to cultivate.
Soon, Little Lan, who had been circling in the formation, walked over somewhat dejectedly, entering this section of the formation…
“Daoist!”
This cry was so genuine and earnest that it made Old Daoist Qi shudder several times, his entire body’s hair standing on end, his Dao heart trembling.
He turned around to see that beautiful woman in a rainbow-colored dress rushing over.
Quick as lightning, Old Daoist Qi stepped back half a step, almost instinctively saying:
“Friend, please stop.”
The fox woman quickly halted her lotus feet, revealing a slight smile, her eyes shining, her fair skin tinged with a faint blush as she said softly:
“You can finally see me, right?”
“Friend, to be honest, this poor Daoist has no thoughts toward you…”
“Then why do your eyes wander, not daring to look at me directly?”
Old Daoist Qi couldn’t help but retreat two more steps, his turbid Dao heart now somewhat flustered, “Friend, please… show some restraint.”
By this point, Senior Li had completely given up on his Master and began thinking about how to stabilize this fox woman next, as well as ensure Master wouldn’t leak his identity…
Some things absolutely couldn’t be kept secret between pillows.
Senior Li quickly discovered that this fox woman had come prepared…
At this time, Junior Sister Jiu, Spirit Moth, Uncle Jiu Wu, and Sister Jiu Shi returned together to Little Jade Peak. After meeting with Senior Li, he opened a Cloud Mirror, and they all observed the situation inside the formation.
Soon after, Senior Sister Lin brought Rain Poetry to the spot as well, joining the ranks of spectators.
Watch as that fox woman deployed a set of still-green, notably methodical courtship steps…
She first said: “Daoist, can we sit down and talk?”
Old Daoist Qi frowned and nodded, the two sitting three feet apart.
After a moment of silence, the fox woman began pouring out her heart, softly telling Old Daoist Qi about her day and night yearning, the scenes she dreamed of daily.
She didn’t use any charm techniques or enchantments, just spoke like this.
Half an hour later, she said another line:
“Even if Daoist doesn’t wish to keep me, I still want to dance once for Daoist.”
Old Daoist Qi by this point couldn’t bear to refuse and nodded in agreement.
Watch as the fox woman stood up and walked out a few steps, dancing gracefully in the forest, unconsciously shedding her outer layer of thin gauze dress, her dance moves beautiful enough to shock the heart and soul…
After the dance ended, looking at Qi, this old Daoist’s expression was solemn as he calmly nodded and said: “Have you finished dancing?”
Suddenly Senior Li transmitted: “Master, your nose, your nose!”
Hmm?
Old Daoist Qi blinked, raised his hand to touch under his nose, and found… it covered in fresh blood.
“Daoist! What’s wrong!”
Fox Woman Lan cried out, transforming into a fragrant breeze, hurriedly flying to Qi’s front.
Qi’s cultivation wasn’t high enough to dodge in time, and a delicate hand had already pressed against his mouth and nose. He reflexively raised his hand, pressing back against that delicate hand.
The forest instantly fell silent, the two pairs of eyes met, and both the old Daoist and fox woman’s faces flushed red.
The old Daoist moved his hand away as if stung, but the fox woman’s eyes were full of tender feelings as she said softly: “Daoist, I’m just helping you treat your injury.”
“Mm… mm!”
Outside the formation, Senior Li, for the first time, moved in perfect unison with his Ancestral Master, Uncle, Aunt, Junior Sister, and Cousin Sister, all covering their foreheads with their hands.
It was unbearable to watch, absolutely unbearable.