The Seventh Elder Who Listened at the Wall All Night

As dawn broke and the sky turned a pale white, a thin mist veiled the ancestral land of the snake clan.

"Junior sister, you rest first, I'll be back soon..."

Before closing the door, You Su whispered some instructions to the girl inside.

Ji Lingruo mumbled and rolled over, "Okay... I don't care if you don't come back..."

You Su shook his head and smiled wryly, sighing that his junior sister had really worked hard tonight; it was rare to see her so exhausted.

He hugged the person in his arms tighter and then gently closed the door.

Ji Xueruo's dark hair fell onto his arm, like a handful of flowing night. She was so tired that even her fingertips were curled up, but she still stubbornly clutched his clothes, mumbling that she wanted to go back to her bedchamber.

Even though she was so exhausted she was almost unconscious, she still insisted on not staying there overnight. After crossing the line of sharing a husband with her sister, not letting the elders discover her relationship with You Su became her new bottom line.

"Miss Xue Ruo looks even cuter than usual," You Su said with a light laugh, nuzzling the top of her head.

Ji Xueruo stubbornly raised her eyelids, but she really didn't have the strength to argue with the boy. She could only glare at him weakly before curling up in You Su's arms like a lazy kitten.

Feeling the woman's affection, You Su felt an overwhelming sense of joy. He tidied her disheveled hair, but couldn't resist giving her another light peck, whispering in Ji Xueruo's ear:

"I will definitely not let you sisters down."

He carefully carried Ji Xueruo, afraid of waking the beauty in his arms, and walked slowly but steadily across the dew-soaked cobblestone path, hoping to send their chieftain back to his palace before the snake women sobered up.

However, after he quickly left, the damp morning breeze swept across the flower stand, and faint rustling sounds came from the shadows.

Seven figures suddenly emerged from the flower forest. The one in the lead, Liu Yinyin, gripped a snake-headed staff. Her newly formed face looked like a jade carving in the morning light, but the tips of her ears were tinged with a suspicious crimson.

She now deeply regrets accepting Senior Sister Yu's gift of cultivation. If she hadn't entered that golden cocoon, things would never have turned out this way.

After learning that You Su with the body of Heavenly Furnace Body, the six elders realized that their young clan leader's Demon Core had likely been purified by You Su!

Last night at the ball, Ji Xueruo and Ji Lingruo switched identities, thinking no one would notice. But how could they escape the notice of those with ulterior motives? That's why none of the elders bothered to check on the clan leader, who left earlier, after the banquet to see if he was drunk.

Because they all mobilized, using moral blackmail to lure Liu Yinyin, and taking advantage of the snake clan's strongest member's magic concealment, they hid in the shadows outside Ji Lingruo's courtyard in advance, just to verify their own conjectures.

This examination lasted all night, and even the scene of You Su secretly transferring Ji Xueruo back to his home was witnessed.

"What an audacious brat!" Elder Jin roared. Her true form was a Golden Thread Snake, and she was the most conservative of the elders. Now, she was so angry that her golden-scaled earrings jingled as she banged them together. "How dare you attack both young ladies at the same time! Do you think my snake clan is some kind of flower garden for you?!"

As her name suggests, Elder Xiang, whose true form is a Fragrant Snake, exudes an almost poisonous, alluring scent. Her carefree nature often clashes with Elder Jin's, but now she smiles gently, saying, "Elder Jin is certainly indignant, but if he's truly angry, why didn't he stop the Second Young Lady when she climbed over the wall? Instead, he listened to her erotic tales all night? Is it only now that he can no longer hear them that he's starting to get angry?"

"Stop spouting nonsense!" Elder Jin was even more enraged upon hearing this and made a move to attack.

Elder Hua, who had just gracefully landed on the plum branch, quickly raised her hand and pressed it against her shoulder. "Elder Jin, calm down. It's not that he can win the Second Young Lady's heart, but if even the Eldest Young Lady is in love with him, it means he's no ordinary philanderer. I saw the way he held the Eldest Young Lady just now; his eyes were filled with only care and love, without the slightest hint of disrespect."

"Elder Hua's words are reasonable, but to say there was no blasphemy is something I cannot agree with." Elder Yin, with a silver chain around his neck, truly resembled Silver Ring Snake come to life. "Everyone heard it all night long. This Young Master You appears dignified on the surface, but in private he's been playing all sorts of tricks. I thought it was one thing to fight two against one, but he also made some utterly shameful noises. Even though he's clearly regained his sight, he still claims to be blind, using this to deceive the innocent Second Young Lady into helping this outsider to torment her own sister. And then, he even made the Eldest Young Lady hold her younger sister while he..."

Perhaps unable to continue speaking, Elder Yin sighed again, "Alas! In short, I absolutely do not believe that such absurd behavior was without blasphemous intent."

"What are you pretending to be so high and mighty for?" The tall and thin Elder Zhu frowned her green eyebrows. Her true form was Bamboo Leaf Green Snake, and her words were the simplest and most venomous among the seven elders.

"What do you mean?!" Elder Yin glared coldly. Of the seven elders, the one whose temperament clashed with her the most was this Bamboo Leaf Green Snake.

"Don't you and Elder Xiang have plenty of private activities? How can you call it profanity to indulge in the pleasures of the boudoir? In my opinion, the Eldest Young Lady and Second Young Lady enjoy it just as much. Even if it is truly degrading, it should be the Eldest Young Lady and Second Young Lady who think so, so how dare you, a two-faced outsider, interfere?"

"Hey, hey, how did this get me involved..." Elder Xiang blushed and gave Elder Yin a resentful look, as if blaming her for revealing their private fun.

Elder Yin was both angry and innocent, wondering how Elder Zhu had known this. However, Elder Zhu's tendency to be vain and pretend to be aloof was a common knowledge among the snake clan. She couldn't help but retort, "Zhu Qing! Don't think I don't know! You're not abstinent, you just prefer to take care of yourself! You have quite a few good things hidden by your bedside!"

"Let me tell you something you don't know," Elder Zhu said calmly, without the slightest shame. "It's only human nature. At least I'm not like some people who are so secretive and hypocritical."

"You!" Elder Yin's eyes blazed with fury.

Seeing the elders' argument escalating, Granny Liu, who had remained silent until now, could no longer stand idly by and immediately struck the ground with her cane:

"Enough!"

Although her image had been severely damaged by her affair with You Su, her influence remained. Upon hearing this, the elders quickly shut up, their expressions varying.

"You two were spying on each other all night just so we could argue?!"

"Of course not." Elder Hua, whose mind was the most active, narrowed his eyes and sized up Liu Yinyin, who had regained her youth. "Since Elder Liu knew about this all along, why didn't you tell us sooner? Could it be that you wanted to keep it a secret for Young Master You?"

Liu Yinyin's eyebrows shot up in a flash, startling Elder Hua, who wondered if he had been too disrespectful.

But Liu Yinyin did not get angry as they expected. Instead, she lowered the snake-headed staff she had been holding high and let out a long sigh.

"The Second Young Lady lost her Demon Core at a young age to exchange for the future of the snake clan. She is sensitive and can hear the unintentional words of her clansmen. That's why she always liked to hide in her room when she was young, which eventually led to her running away from home."

"In the three years since she left the snake clan, if she hadn't met Young Master You, she probably would have died far from home long ago; if she hadn't met Young Master You, she probably wouldn't even be able to cross the Spirit Platform Realm yet; if she hadn't met Young Master You, she wouldn't have become the lively and cheerful Second Young Lady she is today."

"This is all thanks to Young Master You, not to you or my snake clan! Young Master You is her blessing in life, while we are the villains who used racial righteousness to coerce a child. How can we then sever this hard-won bond between them?"

Upon hearing this, all the women fell silent. They had all participated in the exchange of Demon Core between the sisters years ago, and although it was for the good of the snake clan, it was undeniable that it had hurt the Second Young Lady. In this light, it was this young man who had made up for what they owed the Second Young Lady.

"Then... how did Eldest Young Lady meet him?" Elder Hua asked with concern.

Upon hearing this, Liu Yinyin shook her head and said wistfully:

"I don't know the specific details either, but based on my guess, it's because the Eldest Young Lady had an entanglement with him when she was retrieving Lotus Root Heart in the Central Continent."

She stroked the engravings on the snake-headed staff, gazing at the gradually whitening mountain ridge in the distance, as if she could see through time the girl kneeling alone in the Snake Ancestor's Temple— Ji Xueruo's back was straight, her black hair adorned with a snake hairpin symbolizing the clan leader, but the snake scales behind her ears, cracked from the forced breakthrough, were more dazzling than any pearl or jade.

"I still remember when the Eldest Young Lady was ten years old, she soaked in the medicinal pool for three whole days." Her voice was shrouded in the morning mist. "When she came out of the pool, her body was covered in sores, but she smiled and said to me, 'Granny Liu, I have broken through to the Spirit Platform Realm.'"

The elders held their breath, naturally remembering the serpent clan's celebration that day, after all, a ten-year-old Spirit Platform Realm was truly astonishing.

"Since then, the Eldest Young Lady has never worn light-colored clothes again." Liu Yinyin's fingertips brushed against the snake pattern on the cuff. "She said that even if there was blood on the black fabric, it wouldn't be noticeable, so as not to worry the clansmen."

"Until she returned from the Central Yuan Continent." Liu Yinyin's tone suddenly changed, the icy expression melting away. "That day I went into the palace to deliver medicine and happened to see her reading a letter in front of the bronze mirror—I had never seen that gleam in her eyes before."

Liu Yinyin will always remember Ji Xueruo's appearance at that time, her ear tips as red as a newly ripe peach. "The Eldest Young Lady is also a pitiful child... She has carried the burden of a blood feud and the great responsibility of her race since she was a child. At such a young age, the burden on her shoulders is heavier than ours. She grew up under heavy pressure. This is the only thing that makes her secretly happy. How can I take away this happiness from her?"

A morning breeze carrying the scent of sulfur swept through the flower grove, and the seven elders held their breath in unison.

They had seen the decisive and ruthless clan leader and the resourceful Second Young Lady, but it was only in the early hours of this morning that they saw Ji Xueruo's shy and blushing appearance for the first time.

"I didn't know before that the person she admired was the same as the Second Young Lady, and I only guessed it after hearing the news of You Su's death. But now, their bond with Young Master You is so deep, how can we possibly sever it?"

The women remained silent upon hearing this, seemingly in agreement, but Elder Jin, being more traditional, hesitated for a long time before finally speaking:

"How can sisters share one husband? This is utterly improper..."

"What tradition does the Snake Clan have that sisters cannot share a husband?" Elder Hua suddenly asked.

"That... of course not, but that's because our snake clan doesn't have husbands either..."

Elder Hua, her pink sleeves brushing against the dew on the stone steps, interrupted Elder Jin, "If you ask me, regardless of whether this matter between the young ladies is absurd or not, whether the Eldest Young Lady and Second Young Lady are happy or not, we've heard it all night and we know the truth. Besides, a man like Young Master You is a perfect match for our two young ladies. Otherwise, looking across the whole world, who else is worthy of the Eldest Young Lady and Second Young Lady? Are you suggesting we resurrect Yu Xiaoran?"

"That Yu Xiaoran doesn't even deserve it!!" Elder Jin was the first to object.

Elder Hua covered her mouth and chuckled, "That's it. Young Master You is top-notch in terms of appearance, personality, talent, ability, and even background and lineage. What's even more special is that he has the physique to purify Demon Cores. It is a blessing for the Snake Clan that such a golden son-in-law can enter the Snake Clan. How can we just kick him out?"

Upon hearing this, all the elders showed their approval and nodded slightly. Since the clan leader overruled the objections and chose to protect You Su, they had all seen what You Su had done. Without a doubt, no one in the snake clan would regard him as an outsider anymore.

"It seems the Serpent Clan is truly about to break precedent," Elder Yin sighed softly. "Well, we've seen all the secrets tonight, everyone may disperse."

As he said this, the elders all began to consider leaving. But Liu Yinyin seemed to sense something and frowned, saying:

Where is Elder Chi?

The women then came to their senses in surprise and realized that during the long argument, Elder Chi, who had the most fiery temper, had not uttered a single word.

They looked around, but couldn't find the figure in the bright red dress. But she had clearly come to eavesdrop!

Strangely enough, they stopped concealing their auras and used their Divine Sense to search for Elder Chi. However, they exchanged a smile the instant they focused their Divine Sense. Elder Chi hadn't gone far at all; he was clearly right under their noses.

A cluster of flowers in the distance trembled slightly, and a corner of a red dress was still hanging on a leaf.

Elder Xiang chuckled softly, "So that's why Sister Chi has suddenly become so quiet—" She gently rolled up her jade-like hand, and a fragrant breeze parted the cluster of flowers, revealing a slender figure curled up inside. "So she's quietly digesting the 'lessons' she overheard last night."

Upon hearing this, all the women couldn't help but giggle. Elder Chi, on the other hand, had completely changed her fiery demeanor. She lay among the flowers like a petal softened by spring rain, one of her hands nowhere to be seen, hidden somewhere among the blossoms.

"You... don't worry about me..."

"Oh, Elder Chi, who used to have the worst temper, has now learned to act cute?" Elder Hua wouldn't miss this opportunity to tease Elder Chi.

Elder Chi's cheeks were flushed, and a suppressed pant escaped his throat. His eyes shimmered, possessing a captivating charm that was even more alluring than when he usually glared at people.

"Your own pants are wet, yet you have the nerve to laugh at me? When the moon is high in the sky, some of you make excuses to go find water, while others secretly rub their legs. Do you think I'm blind? At least, I'm not as shameless as you are normally... Don't laugh at me when I'm no better..."

As soon as the words left her lips, the bamboo grove fell into an eerie silence. The smiling elders, all dressed in their vibrant attire, froze, their faces flushing with a suspicious blush, secretly thinking that she was definitely not referring to them.

Seeing this, Liu Yinyin rubbed her forehead and shook her head, feeling that these elders were all incredibly awful. She quickly scolded Elder Chi before he could focus his gaze on her skirt:

"Disgraceful! Get up!"