True Nature

Lu Qingqing looked up to see an endless stream of golden spiritual energy pouring into her body, her temperature rising beyond her control...

So hot...

The flames on her dress burned without cease, spreading upward...

Lu Qingqing's face was flushed, her gaze hazy. Her body had little strength left to begin with, and now this endlessly pure Yang Fire was invading her Dantian...

She was going to break~

Within the divine sense

Jiang Shiyuan pulled Pei Yuhan out of the abyss.

Jiang Shiyuan's white veil had been soaked through by the sweat seeping from her skin. The thin gauze clung tightly to her fair complexion, fragrant sweat dripping from the ends of her disheveled hair...

Jiang Shiyuan panted heavily, her eyes turning toward Pei Yuhan, whom she had pulled free from his Inner Demon.

"Yuhan, you..."

Jiang Shiyuan had only just spoken, her words of concern still unvoiced, when the figure lunging at her cut her off.

Jiang Shiyuan felt herself tightly embraced by a pair of broad arms, her beautiful back—never before touched by another—now in someone's grasp.

Ever since she had set foot upon the immortal path, no one had been able to touch her body without her noticing.

And now, the first man to come into such intimate contact with her was actually her own disciple.

This strange sensation of being held so tightly made Jiang Shiyuan's delicate body tremble involuntarily.

Her pair of straight, well-proportioned jade legs also went slightly weak, her footing turning unsteady.

"Disciple, you..."

Jiang Shiyuan did not realize that her voice, once indifferent and commanding, now held the trembling shyness of a sheltered young lady.

Having spoken, Pei Yuhan seemed to have seized a lifeline. He hugged the delicate body in his arms even tighter, his broad hands clasped around her trembling faintly...

Yet Pei Yuhan did not notice that, overcome with emotion, he had buried his head as he had in childhood into the soft haven of his master, who was like a mother to him...

"Mas... Master, where on earth did you go...?"

Pei Yuhan buried his face completely within, greedily seeking the sense of safety he had lacked for thirty years, like a fish that had drifted across half the world at last returning to its familiar harbor...

"Master... after you left, they all wanted to seize Time Abyss Cave Abode."

"Yuhan was useless. Left with no choice, I ceded the fourth-tier spirit vein of Time Abyss Cave Abode. Yuhan thought that would make them spare Time Abyss... spare my junior sister and me..."

Pei Yuhan's voice carried a sobbing note. His formerly aloof demeanor had vanished without a trace as he poured out his grievances, word by word.

Pei Yuhan knew that the person before him was not his true master, but merely something fabricated by his Inner Demon.

But when he had fallen completely into the abyss, this master before him had pulled him back. In Pei Yuhan's eyes, what difference was there?

Jiang Shiyuan's pretty face reddened, her cheeks growing faintly hot. She had originally intended to speak and push away the disciple offending her.

But Pei Yuhan poured out all the grievances in his heart at once. Jiang Shiyuan opened her mouth, yet in the end said nothing.

She merely used one jade hand to gently stroke the back of Pei Yuhan's head, while the other patted the back of the disciple standing even taller than herself, allowing Pei Yuhan to remain buried in her embrace...

Jiang Shiyuan found the scene before her somewhat familiar. It seemed that... when her disciple had first been brought into the Sword Sect, he had often suffered nightmares and sought her out like this to act spoiled...

Only... she had always maintained the image of a stern, cold master. As her disciple slowly grew up, he became ever more respectful toward her...

Jiang Shiyuan recalled how, over the years, as her disciple gradually grew up, he had become increasingly distant from her, until the two of them seemed like familiar strangers.

Though Jiang Shiyuan knew she was merely an Inner Demon manifested from her disciple's heart, listening to him recount the grievances he had suffered after her disappearance while in her arms made her heart twist with pain.

The jade hand that had been gently stroking the back of Pei Yuhan's head unconsciously tightened as well, as if she wanted to completely meld the grown disciple before her into herself...

Jiang Shiyuan silently cursed her original self for being so thoughtless, vanishing without a word and burdening her disciple for thirty years...

Jiang Shiyuan herself did not notice that a complex emotion called "motherly love" had filled her heart. It was an emotion she had never shown before as his master, only buried deep within...

After a long while, Jiang Shiyuan vaguely felt dampness spreading through her clothes. It must have been soaked by the tears of the disciple in her arms...

Beneath her white veil, Jiang Shiyuan lightly bit her lower lip, an involuntary blush staining her cheeks.

Her slender body beneath the white dress trembled without her control...

Pei Yuhan slowly regained his senses and realized his lapse in composure. Embarrassed, he pulled away from her embrace...

Just as he was about to leave, he felt a gentle touch at the back of his head trying to press him back, returning him to his master's embrace...

Pei Yuhan's deep eyes, their rims slightly red, stared blankly at his silent master.

Pei Yuhan: o_o?

Jiang Shiyuan: (.﹏.)...

Jiang Shiyuan's aqua-blue eyes trembled faintly, the blush on her cheeks deepening as she abruptly withdrew her hand.

Jiang Shiyuan lowered her gaze, not daring to look directly at Pei Yuhan.

"Yu... Yuhan..."

Jiang Shiyuan no longer spoke with her usual coldness; her words came out slightly halting.

Before Jiang Shiyuan could say a word in explanation, Pei Yuhan suddenly threw his arms around her again.

"Yuhan, you..."

"Master..."

"Master, I'm sorry. This disciple was far too obsessed. These past few years, I've constantly shown you disrespect..."

Hearing her disciple's apology, Jiang Shiyuan's heart warmed, yet she could not help but mutter inwardly...

He had just said he'd been disrespectful to her as his master—wasn't he offending her again right now...

Hugging her whenever he pleased—was she his master, or his Dao companion...

"Enough, Yuhan. Tell your master about what happened outside... exactly..."

Pei Yuhan told her everything he knew...

A quarter of an hour later, Pei Yuhan looked at the silent master before him and sighed inwardly...

Sure enough... this was still too cruel for the master before him...

After all, he was fake, his cultivation was fake, and the person standing before her was not her true disciple either...

"Master... this disciple is not..."

"No."

Jiang Shiyuan gently shook her head. Her gaze was calm, and beneath her thin veil, a gentle smile appeared.

Her azure eyes brimmed with spring waters, enough to melt Pei Yuhan before her completely...

"Yuhan, I knew long ago that although you looked at me, you were actually always looking through me at someone else..."

"Someone who seemed to be closer to you than I was..."

"That Lu Qingqing you've always mentioned—I did not know her, but I truly saw her just now..."

"Master, Qingqing, she..."

"It's alright. Though the first thing she did was blame your master for holding you back, I do not blame her..."

"You were never willing to call me Master before, because you never truly belonged here..."

"Can you tell me what happened between you and that real Jiang Shiyuan?"

P.S. I originally planned to take a short nap last night, but I ended up sleeping straight through. I'll make up the chapters today... Please forgive me~