Seeing the beautiful woman before him remain silent for so long, Lin Tianlu wore a puzzled expression.
"Madam?"
"Cough! That child..." Mao Ruoyu's thoughts raced as she gritted her teeth and said, "Because of what happened last night, I had someone send her to relatives outside Changling County."
"You sent the child away?"
Lin Tianlu asked in surprise, "The fire was fierce, but it never spread here. Sending the child away outright seems a little..."
"Mister Lin may not know this."
Mao Ruoyu shook her head. "There is something unusual about my eyes. I can see demonic and evil things. That night, demonic energy filled the sky above the cloth shop, transforming into dark clouds that circled overhead. The spectacle was terrifying. For the child's safety, I could only send her away as quickly as possible."
Lin Tianlu found this rather astonishing.
This neighborly woman actually possessed such a peculiar ability?
Looking carefully, he saw that her eyes did indeed seem to reflect faint traces of blue-green light, unlike those of ordinary people.
"No wonder Madam Mao insisted on keeping me away from the cloth shop last night."
"I hope you can forgive me, Mister Lin." Mao Ruoyu lowered her head. "If I told outsiders about this directly, they might regard me as an ill-omened person. But you..."
"Rest assured, Madam. I absolutely will not mention this to anyone else."
Lin Tianlu smiled frankly and gave a solemn bow. "You have such a kind heart, and I am already endlessly grateful. How could I continue to harbor doubts and suspicions?
"Since you have awakened and recovered, I will not trouble you any further. If you encounter any inconvenience later and need help, feel free to come to me. I will do whatever I can."
"Thank you for your concern, Mister Lin." Mao Ruoyu forced up a faint, somewhat feeble smile.
After exchanging a few more farewells, Lin Tianlu quickly left the residence without lingering.
"..."
Only after the courtyard was empty did Mao Ruoyu suddenly collapse into a chair. Her smile vanished as she pressed a hand to her pounding heart, trembling and gasping for breath.
"At, at long last, I managed to bluff my way through!"
That brief exchange had felt like an entire year.
Because she was not anyone's madam at all, much less the mother of any child.
Those had merely been false identities she had casually invented back then. She had never imagined that she would be dragged down by those wild lies and nearly exposed on the spot.
"Why didn't I realize it then... He was no helpless scholar with a pale face. He was clearly an unparalleled expert hiding his true abilities!"
Mao Ruoyu's face was ashen, her heart filled with boundless regret.
Just now, she had cautiously probed him again, and sure enough, she could not sense the slightest trace of his aura.
It was as though the man before her did not exist in this world. If not for her eyes, she could hardly have confirmed whether he was even standing before her.
Ethereal and illusory, mysterious beyond measure—he was practically like an immortal from legend!
"No wonder the Heart-Enchanting Pastry and Soul-Capturing Candle had no effect on him. That attempt to intimidate him with sinister winds must have been as laughable as a child's game. I actually set my wicked thoughts on such an expert. I truly brought death upon myself!"
She covered her face and let out a long sigh, feeling utterly bereft of the will to live.
"—Wait."
But Mao Ruoyu abruptly lowered her hands, her face filled with alarm.
"Lin Tianlu could effortlessly exterminate that evil spirit. His methods must have long since transcended the mortal realm, and the depth of his cultivation is surely rare in this world. Yet such an expert treated me with... such courtesy and gentleness in his guise as a scholar, repeatedly reassuring me. He seemed not to have noticed all the schemes I had used against him before. Could it be that he was...
"Testing me?"
Mao Ruoyu lightly bit her red lips, her expression shifting unpredictably.
"My cultivation all depends on absorbing a trace of living people's 'vital qi' in my dreams and refining yin energy into my body. But I have never taken a life over the years. At most, I made people suffer nightmares at night and feel slightly fatigued each morning. I have never incurred the karmic burden of killing. Perhaps that expert, Lin Tianlu... spared my life because we were neighbors?"
"But if I go back to those despicable schemes again, I'm afraid—"
Mao Ruoyu clenched her pale hands, her heart filled with unease.
That evil spirit had been destroyed in a single strike. As an insignificant Ghost Arts practitioner, she might be no more than an ant he could crush at will.
"What should I... do?"
At that moment, inside the residence.
After washing up, Hua Shuya gave a light yawn.
"I somehow fell asleep yesterday. Was I really that exhausted?"
She vaguely remembered sitting down and sinking into a deep sleep not long afterward, without even eating more than a few bites of those delicious pastries.
And—
"To have exposed myself sleeping in front of Senior was truly too discourteous."
Hua Shuya sighed inwardly, stroking the delicate robe over her body as she murmured softly, "Was it Senior who carried me into my room?"
As soon as she had risen that morning, she had realized that she was sleeping on her bed. In the enormous residence, only Lin Tianlu could have performed such a considerate and gentle act.
But when she imagined Senior touching her body while she was unconscious and taking her into his arms...
The young girl's pretty face flushed crimson, and her eyes glistened with shy, nervous embarrassment.
"No, no! I can't think of such strange things! That would be far too disrespectful to Senior!"
She shook her head repeatedly, casting those chaotic thoughts from her mind. Every so often, she even patted her head to restore her spirits.
Once the warmth gradually faded from her cheeks, she tied up her beautiful hair, took her sword, and left the residence.
She arrived at Lin Tianlu's home with practiced ease and looked around several times, but did not see the person she cared about.
Perhaps he had gone out into town?
"I've been busy with official matters these past two days and truly neglected Senior. I must do my best to help him adapt to life in the mortal world." Hua Shuya nodded inwardly, her thoughts delicate and gentle.
But she soon furrowed her brows and thoughtfully looked at the sword she held tightly in her hand.
For some reason, she suddenly felt that the sword's weight... seemed to have lightened considerably.
It was not that her arm strength had improved. The change lay at a far deeper level.
Hua Shuya tried slowly drawing the long sword.
Clang—
The distant ring of the sword was crisp and ethereal.
The girl's eyes lost focus, and her expression became dazed.
Her entire body seemed immersed in a freezing river, gradually sinking toward the riverbed.
But when she slowly opened her eyes, the scene from yesterday's sparring was reflected before her like a dream in broad daylight.
Lin Tianlu's seemingly casual, languid thrusts and lifts appeared to contain some strange artistic conception, profound beyond words. At the same time, ripples spread all around, while the force and Sword Intent surged like river waves, rolling on without end.
"This is..."
That familiar figure suddenly shattered into countless points of light. Like fleeting reflections, they swirled and gathered before continuously pouring into her body.
The girl's arm trembled slightly, and she swept her sword across without realizing it.
Crack!
A sword mark suddenly carved itself into the stone platform nearby, scattering wisps of dust.
Hua Shuya abruptly returned to herself. Seeing the deep sword mark, she was rendered speechless.
Sword Qi running rampant, capable of splitting metal and stone... This was a skill that only warriors of the Azure Spirit Realm or grandmasters could display!
She had merely recalled Senior's move from yesterday and clumsily imitated it, yet she had actually displayed such an exquisite technique!?
"Senior clearly gave me proper guidance yesterday. I was actually so dull and lazy that I only vaguely realized the essence of its mysteries today."
Hua Shuya knocked her head in vexation. "Senior must have been disappointed when he saw how indifferent I looked... No! When Senior returns, I must show him my sincerity properly!"
Tap—
"Who is it?!"
Hua Shuya's expression suddenly turned stern as she shouted.
In an instant, the girl's delicate, adorable face became solemn. Sword Intent seemed to ripple from her beautiful eyes, and her entire bearing shifted sharply, shooting toward the gate like a drawn sword.
"Little girl, I merely paced around outside the gate twice. Why are you so rash?"
The already ajar gate was pushed open casually, and a white-bearded old man stepped into the courtyard with a faint smile.
At the same time, his foot stamped down. The ancient long sword strapped across his back suddenly unsheathed itself and flew in a whirl into his hand.
With the long sword in hand, the old man's aura erupted. A fierce, intangible sword force spread and circled through the air, making him seem like an immortal within the sword!
"—Outsiders are not welcome here. Please leave at once!"
Hua Shuya was not the slightest bit afraid. Her pretty face tense, she raised her long sword.
The old man's lips lifted. "That peerless expert is someone this old man must meet!"
The moment his voice fell, cold light flashed through Hua Shuya's beautiful eyes. She immediately lunged with her sword, stepping forward in a swift thrust.
"Hm? The Thirteen Forms of the Army-Breaking Sword... So you're a descendant of the Hua Family?"
The old man was slightly surprised, but soon curled his lips and turned his sword edge with interest. "Very well. Let this old man play with you for a while."
—Clang!
The two swords met, sending out a deep, muffled ring.
The old man immediately let out a soft cry of surprise.
Pure and profound inner force, a fierce and decisive sword technique—what formidable skill!
At such a young age, she actually possessed such astonishing cultivation?
In the blink of an eye, the two had exchanged more than a dozen moves. Sword cries rang out without pause, sparks flying everywhere. But the longer they fought, the more astonished the old man became. He found the girl's swordsmanship truly extraordinary.
"Haah—!"
At that moment, the girl suddenly gave a low, delicate shout. Sword light exploded as though she had fused her entire sword technique into a single sudden thrust.
"Sword Intent?!"
She was barely sixteen, yet she had already grasped such profound Sword Intent?!
The old man's heart shook violently. He hurriedly drew out illusionary sword shadows and met her attack with his own sword.
Clang—!
The instant the two swords touched, sword wind and surging force exploded outward, sending both figures retreating.
The old man planted his left foot to steady himself, forcibly stamping a footprint-shaped depression into the ground as he exhaled a long breath of force.
When he looked at Hua Shuya again, the casualness in his eyes had vanished. He was now utterly astonished.
"Her Sword Intent is as ethereal as a rainbow, impossible to fathom, yet it secretly contains the principle of balancing strength and softness. Truly extraordinary!
"Could this girl... be the expert who exterminated the evil spirit last night?"
But that expert was a pale-faced scholar. How had he turned into a beautiful young girl?
Before you continue