Lotus's Hobby

"You should have begged for mercy earlier, but now it's too late! You were already injured, so you shouldn't have fought. But you insisted on pushing yourself and fighting me just now. My Hidden Strength is even stronger than my master's.

So, your little heart probably can't take much more! I'm truly sorry, but there's nothing I can do now," Xia Daoming said with a look of "apology."

But his "apologetic" expression was no different from the smile of a soul reaper in Shi Yingdeng's eyes.

"My father will definitely investigate this and kill you to avenge me." Shi Yingdeng, seeing no hope of survival, finally became ferocious, his eyes filled with hatred as he stared at Xia Daoming.

"You really are scum. Do you wish for your father to join you in the underworld so soon?" Xia Daoming narrowed his eyes and smiled.

Shi Yingdeng was stunned for a moment, suddenly realizing that Xia Daoming's combat power was no less than that of a Seventh-Rank Great Martial Master, while his father was only a Sixth-Rank and already advanced in age.

"No! No!"

Shi Yingdeng's heart instantly plunged into a bottomless abyss, filled with fear.

"However, to raise a son like you, your father must also be scum. It's better for him to join you sooner rather than continue to harm good people," Xia Daoming sneered coldly and poked Shi Yingdeng's sunken chest with his toe.

"Ah!" Shi Yingdeng let out a scream, his eyes bulging as he died.

Although she had always known her master was formidable and couldn't be judged by ordinary standards, Liu Qiaolian was still stunned speechless, unable to recover for a long time, seeing two Fifth-Rank Great Martial Masters easily killed by Xia Daoming in the blink of an eye.

As Liu Qiaolian had said, the accommodation conditions in Ironstone Town were very ordinary.

There was only one inn in the entire Ironstone Town.

The guest rooms exuded a damp, musty smell, and the bedding looked somewhat dirty and messy.

Liu Qiaolian couldn't possibly let her master stay in such a dirty room. As soon as they entered, she personally started tidying and cleaning.

Xia Daoming told her not to bother, suggesting they just pay the innkeeper more to have someone else tidy it up. But Liu Qiaolian felt they wouldn't clean it properly and insisted on doing it herself.

Watching Liu Qiaolian, with her graceful and voluptuous figure and beautiful appearance, someone who could easily be a beauty queen in his previous world, busily changing the bedsheets in the room, Xia Daoming felt a mix of emotions.

In his past life, with his own circumstances, no matter how humbly he fawned over someone, they probably wouldn't even glance at him. If someone did give him special attention, it would surely be because they wanted him to be a cuckold.

But in this life!

It's incomparable!

Xia Daoming thought to himself, taking out a small bottle from his embrace.

He uncorked the bottle, which contained about half a bottle of green liquid. A pleasant fragrance wafted out, refreshing and invigorating.

This small bottle was something Xia Daoming had found on Lin Lu.

Besides this small bottle, Lin Lu and Shi Yingdeng had also carried over ten thousand taels of silver on them, which surprised and delighted Xia Daoming.

"What is this thing? Lin Lu kept it close to him, so it must be precious. Moreover, Lin Lu didn't feel like Jing Xuanying, the steward of Wu Family Fortress, whose vital energy was depleted. After enduring my sudden burst of full power, he could still escape quickly.

Lin Lu, in his sixties, still had such vigorous vitality. Could it be related to the green liquid in this small bottle?" Xia Daoming turned the small bottle, his nose twitching slightly, his eyes filled with thought.

"Lian'er, come here," Xia Daoming called out to Liu Qiaolian.

"What are your orders, Master?" Liu Qiaolian came before Xia Daoming and asked, bowing.

"Do you recognize this liquid?" Xia Daoming handed her the small bottle.

Liu Qiaolian looked at the small bottle, her delicate nose twitching slightly. Her eyes showed a hint of surprise as she said, "The scent of this liquid is very pleasant and refreshing, but I don't know what it is, my servant."

"It's fine if you don't know," Xia Daoming said, putting the small bottle away and no longer dwelling on it.

After all, he could consult Ji Wenyue when they returned.

Liu Qiaolian finally finished tidying the room.

The room not only looked brand new but also had its musty smell completely gone, making it fresh and clean.

After tidying the room, Liu Qiaolian quickly asked the waiter to fill the wooden tub in the room with water. Then, she closed the door and served Xia Daoming his bath.

Washing away the dust of the journey, Xia Daoming popped a few pills into his mouth and sat cross-legged on the bed, feeling refreshed as he circulated the Dragon Serpent Art.

In the room, Liu Qiaolian stared intently at Xia Daoming for a long time, then took an Azure Lotus Vitality Pill into her mouth and sat cross-legged, circulating the Dragon Serpent Art.

The market price for an Azure Lotus Vitality Pill was one hundred and fifty taels.

In the past, Liu Qiaolian would never have been willing to take one, but now she took a pill of this caliber every ten days or so.

This was only because her cultivation was low, and taking it too frequently would be unbearable for her meridians and body. Otherwise, Xia Daoming would have her take one every day.

After about an hour and a half, Liu Qiaolian felt pain in her meridians, so she slowly opened her eyes, stopped circulating her vital energy, while Xia Daoming was still cultivating with his eyes closed.

Seeing that Xia Daoming was still cultivating with his eyes closed, Liu Qiaolian took out a yellowed book from the bundle placed beside her and then got up to sit at the table where the candlestick was placed.

She lowered her head and flipped through the book, sometimes frowning, sometimes lost in thought, sometimes drawing on the table seemingly at random with her fingers, and sometimes looking up at Xia Daoming. As she watched him, a blush unconsciously spread across her pretty face.

After an unknown amount of time.

Xia Daoming opened his eyes and saw Liu Qiaolian engrossed in the yellowed book again. He smiled knowingly and got out of bed quietly.

"Master's studies are done. This servant will now serve Master to sleep."

However, as soon as Xia Daoming's feet touched the ground, Liu Qiaolian sensed it and quickly got up.

"It's already the third watch! My cultivation takes a long time, so you don't need to wait for me in the future. Just go to sleep first," Xia Daoming said.

"How can this servant sleep before Master? Besides, I don't feel sleepy when I read," Liu Qiaolian replied.

"This book looks like gibberish. After just a few glances, I get dizzy and my head starts to ache. You've read it over and over, so many times, how can you still find it so fascinating?" Xia Daoming said.

"This servant doesn't know why either, but this book seems particularly interesting. It's a shame that when this servant tried to set up formations at home according to this book, there wasn't any change at all.

If only it were like what's written in this book, where with just a few formation flags planted, people outside couldn't see those inside, or they couldn't break in, or if they entered, they'd be like in a maze and couldn't get out... How wonderful would that be!" Liu Qiaolian said with a look of longing and yearning.

"Heh, what kind of formations could be so magical! Even if there were, that would be the art of immortals. How could a book roll you casually picked up at a market possibly record such things?" Xia Daoming said dismissively.

Ever since Xia Daoming started living with Liu Qiaolian, he had seen her engrossed in this yellowed scroll from time to time.

Out of curiosity, he picked it up to take a look and found that it was filled with what looked like gibberish, along with some patterns similar to what he'd seen in his previous world, like Bagua and Jiugong, and some miscellaneous ancient texts related to these topics.

Seeing that the scroll looked quite old, Xia Daoming thought it might have been passed down from the Liu family ancestors. He studied it carefully, but his head began to ache. The contents of the scroll still appeared as gibberish to him, chaotic and without any discernible pattern.

Later, when Xia Daoming asked, he learned that this yellowed scroll was something Liu Qiaolian had bought from a street vendor in a northern market town while she was traveling as a merchant.

This left Xia Daoming feeling a mix of amusement and exasperation.

However, Liu Qiaolian was very engrossed in it and would take it out to read from time to time.

Xia Daoming had seen it so often that he'd become accustomed to it.

It was just that tonight, as they were traveling far from home and alone in a room, and seeing that it was already past midnight, Liu Qiaolian was still reading this scroll. He took the opportunity to say a few more words.

"Yes! Master is right." Liu Qiaolian nodded with a hint of dejection, but she still carefully rolled up the scroll and put it into her bag.

Seeing Liu Qiaolian's obvious disappointment, Xia Daoming felt a little apologetic. He quickly smiled and said, "I was just saying casually, don't take it to heart. Everyone's hobbies and interests are different; as long as you like it, that's all that matters."

"Mhm, thank you, Master, this servant understands." Liu Qiaolian's mood clearly improved as Xia Daoming comforted her. She smoothed her hair and gave him a charming smile.

"Then let's go to sleep. If we don't sleep soon, it'll be dawn." Xia Daoming looked at the alluring Liu Qiaolian, his heart stirring slightly. He reached out and pulled her into his embrace.

That night, they stayed together in the small inn, holding each other.

PS: Please collect, please follow up, and there have been many comments and likes in recent chapters. Please keep it up, thank you very much! There will be another update at noon.

Thanks to book friends Xin Qiang Ge, Xi Zi Hua Kai, Qiu Zhi Shen Guang, RPG Fang Shou, and others for their rewards.