He smiled and said, "These two are elders assigned to protect my safety. I see no spiritual energy fluctuations around you, miss, yet you can sit as steady as Mount Tai within the Imperial City. That state of mind truly earns my admiration."
"If I have no spiritual energy, I can't sit down? Which clause of Great Li's laws says mortals have to stand while eating?"
Su Yueli shot him a sidelong glance, grabbed the wine jug, and took a great swig.
Shen Huai'an was utterly dumbfounded by that sharp retort.
Had it been any ordinary cultivator, they would likely have slapped this ignorant mortal to death by now.
Yet Shen Huai'an had cultivated bitterly for two hundred years. Though his Dao heart was firm, when it came to worldly dealings, he was like a giant infant with a blank sheet for a mind.
In his eyes, everyone around him catered to him and feared him. Only this masked woman before him treated him like some ordinary fool and casually picked him apart.
That strange contrast not only made him lower his guard, but instead made him feel that she was remarkably genuine.
"You speak with refreshing frankness, miss. It is I who fell into convention."
Shen Huai'an laughed at himself, then proactively raised his teacup to Su Yueli. "I am Shen Huai'an of the Azure Moon Sect. May I ask how you are addressed?"
Beneath her mask, Su Yueli smiled faintly.
She raised her wine cup and lightly clinked it against his teacup in midair, producing a crisp chime.
"I am Qingli."
Su Yueli took a sip of wine, her gaze profound.
After two hundred years of karmic entanglement, this superficial friendship had finally been established in a perfectly natural fashion.
Then, the corner of Su Yueli's eye swept