"Senior Sister Ye, please don't be angry. I'm only thinking of the sect's best interests."
Mu Yunbai bent at the waist, a smile plastered across his lips and both hands tucked into his sleeves, the very picture of a "humble junior brother."
Yet the sly gleam in his eyes flickered beneath the moonlight, impossible to conceal.
Ye Qingyi turned her head, her amber eyes reflecting Mu Yunbai's hypocritical face, as though she were looking at a slime-covered toad that had crawled up before her!
Her long lashes trembled, disgust rising in the depths of her eyes as she said, "Qin Yao is so young, yet he managed to reach the 'sixth layer of the Qi Refining Realm' in a place with such thin spiritual energy.
"That alone is ironclad proof that his 'spirit root' is exceptional!
"Yet you insist on dragging out the sect rules and adding this needless step..."
"You're absolutely right, Senior Sister!"
"It's just that I care so very much about the sect's reputation."
Mu Yunbai kept calling her "Senior Sister" with affectionate familiarity, but when had the mockery in his eyes ever shown even a hint of genuine respect?
"Think about it. If we really take this Qin Yao boy back to the sect, and then test his spirit root, only to find-well, what do you know-it doesn't meet the standard?
"If it really comes to that, you, the esteemed 'Fairy Qingyi,' would have traveled all this way, failed to complete the sect's mission, and even brought a man with an inadequate spirit root back to the sect..."
"Wouldn't that sound awful if word got out?
"I'm just guarding this final checkpoint for you, Senior Sister, to spare you embarrassment later!"
Ye Qingyi's lips twitched. She gave him a sidelong glance and sneered, "Heh. So I