Martial Aunt Qin

The matters here had been settled, and the two headed back toward the sect. When Ye Wan learned that Chen Fan wanted to restore his cultivation through his own efforts, she also approved. This meant there was no need to hurry along the road; they could take the opportunity to admire the scenery, roam the mountains and rivers, like an immortal couple, free and at ease.

Along the way, their feelings grew warmer still. Though they did not burn with the same dry-fire passion as they had that night, they remained brimming with affection, always walking hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder.

Yet happy times were always so brief. As they walked, they arrived before the mountain gate at the foot of Swordcry Mountain. Two inner court disciples were standing guard. Both appeared close to forty, not truly old, yet their cultivation was formidable, comparable to Ye Wan's. The moment they saw her, they cried out in delight, "Junior Sister Ye, you've finally returned? The elders have been talking about you constantly these past few days, wondering why your journey down the mountain had taken so long. They were even worried that you had run into some trouble."

"So it is Senior Brother Liao and Senior Brother Zhu. I truly did encounter some matters during this trip down the mountain, and I was just about to report them to the elders." As she spoke, Ye Wan walked toward the mountain gate, with Chen Fan following behind. At this moment, he certainly did not dare flaunt their affection with Ye Wan again.

"Wait. Junior Nephew, could you show us your disciple token?" the man surnamed Zhu said, stopping Chen Fan.

Chen Fan gave an awkward smile. His outer sect disciple token had been made of poor material. That night, when he and Ye Wan had been consumed by desire, not only had their clothes been utterly destroyed, even the disciple token had suffered the same fate.

"Senior Brothers, I can confirm that he is outer sect disciple Chen Fan. Earlier, he and I encountered some trouble below the mountain, and his disciple token was lost. Please allow him through," Ye Wan said, evidently having guessed what had happened and quickly covering for Chen Fan.

"This... I'm afraid that does not comply with sect rules. How about Junior Sister enters first? I can find the outer sect steward, who can naturally verify this person's identity," the man surnamed Zhu said.

"There is no need. If I say he is, then he is. If there is a problem, you may have the elders punish me!" With that, Ye Wan's aura surged, and a dense wave of Origin Qi spread out to envelop the two senior brothers.

All three were instantly shocked. Yes, even Chen Fan's mouth twitched. This woman had turned back into the peerless and arrogant Fairy Ye the instant she returned to the sect.

"Junior Sister, stop. We will let him pass," the two hurriedly yielded. The man surnamed Zhu added, "I never expected that during this trip down the mountain, Junior Sister would break through to the fifth level. Your fortuitous encounter must have been extraordinary. We truly envy you."

The fifth level already? Chen Fan was shaken as well. Rather than narrowing, the gap between himself and her was growing ever wider.

Ye Wan gave a cold snort and entered the mountain gate, with Chen Fan quickly following after her.

As they climbed the mountain, Ye Wan did not use the Soaring Art. She knew Chen Fan must be feeling incomparably bitter, so she climbed the mountain path step by step beside him.

"I originally wanted to tell you earlier, but then I suddenly discovered your cultivation had regressed, and I..." Ye Wan explained.

"It's nothing. Naturally, I'm happy that you broke through. But I was thinking, how could a fifth-level bottleneck be so easy to break through? Could it be..." Chen Fan suddenly looked at Ye Wan with a smiling gaze.

Ye Wan's face immediately reddened again. "You know, yet you still say it?"

The two understood without speaking. It had been that night, under the stimulation of that supremely yang object, followed by the fusion of yin and yang. It had allowed Ye Wan, whose Internal Qi had already reached the peak of the fourth level, to leap into the fifth level in one bound. So breakthroughs truly depended on opportunity! Chen Fan thought. Passion could be considered one kind of opportunity too.

Not long after, the two entered Swordcry Mountain's main gate. Ye Wan sighed softly and said reluctantly, "We can only part ways now. I need to return to the inner court and report to the elders, then stabilize my realm. You should also return to the outer court and recover properly." Swordcry Mountain had in fact already received reports from several small and medium sects nearby, saying that children had been abducted in the major cities throughout the West Ridge Mountains, and requesting Swordcry Mountain's aid. From all the information Ye Wan had gathered earlier, she had realized the gravity of the matter. She needed to inform the sect as soon as possible so it could make preparations early.

Chen Fan was also rather melancholy. This meant that it might be a long time before he saw Ye Wan again. Nor was it yet time to reveal their relationship, or they would surely draw criticism.

Both understood what returning to the sect meant, but it was also for the sake of cultivating and growing stronger. The days ahead were long; they could take things slowly in the future. So they exchanged words of farewell and went their separate ways.

After Chen Fan returned to the outer sect, he encountered several other disciples. They all knew him. After exchanging a few pleasantries, Chen Fan did not linger and headed straight for his residence.

Chen Fan impatiently opened the door. By his count, he had been down the mountain for half a month this time. Those two snakes had probably been starving miserably by now.

The instant he stepped through the door, two figures shot toward him at lightning speed. Chen Fan did not panic. Instead, he laughed loudly. "Haha, you two little fellows, it seems you've improved again!"

The two snakes were noticeably larger than before, and the patterns on their bodies had become increasingly solid. If ordinary mortals saw them, they would surely be frightened out of their wits. Before Chen Fan could step closer for a proper look, the two snakes, Eastern Evil and Western Poison, lunged straight at him and coiled around his body. The scene was exceedingly terrifying, yet Chen Fan's smile only deepened. The two snakes were clearly welcoming his return. They were truly remarkably intelligent.

"Alright, you two, get down." The moment Chen Fan finished speaking, the two snakes swiftly left his body. Chen Fan had assumed this welcoming ceremony was over. Unexpectedly, it was only the beginning of a grand performance.

The two snakes began twisting their bodies joyfully, dancing lightly. Then one of them suddenly blurred, and its body began shrinking without stop. After several breaths, it had shrunk from several zhang long to only several feet. Chen Fan was greatly amazed. He recognized that this one, with the darker green eyes, was Little West. Though demonic beasts had a certain chance of gaining strange innate abilities, this fellow had only been born not long ago, yet it had already acquired one—and such a peculiar one at that. It seemed his painstaking efforts of feeding it all sorts of poisons had not been in vain.

After Little West shrank, it swayed back and forth before Chen Fan as though showing off. Then it suddenly darted onto Chen Fan's body and coiled around his waist, remaining motionless like a belt. Chen Fan burst into laughter. "You little fellow, you really are clever. This way, it'll be convenient for you to go out with me, right?"

He then looked at Little East. This fellow certainly would not be willing to be outdone. Sure enough, when Little East saw Little West coiled around Chen Fan's waist, it hissed loudly, clearly expressing its dissatisfaction. Then it suddenly rose straight upward, lifting higher and higher until it stood fully erect. At that moment, it nearly reached the roof. The next instant, its straight body began to spin, faster and faster, with a faint glow flickering around it. After a moment, Little East's height gradually decreased, though it did not become as small as Little West.

When it had shrunk to Chen Fan's chest height, the spinning stopped, and the glow vanished with it. Chen Fan discovered that Little East had transformed into a pitch-black Snake Staff. When he reached out to touch it, its surface was hard. He gripped it and gave it a light swing. It really did resemble a weapon. If he combined it with the Golden Wheel Staff Technique he had not practiced in a long time, perhaps it could truly display some measure of power. This way, he could also naturally carry it by his side. Still, he did not dare use the Snake Staff formed by Little East to clash weapons with an enemy. It would be bad if he injured it.

"Alright, I'm very pleased with both of you. Change back first. Here are some pills—take them and eat." Chen Fan casually tossed out several medicinal pills. These were also the only ones he had left, but now that he had returned to the sect, he had plenty of time to make more.

The main purpose of his return this time was to visit the Sword-forging Room and reforge and upgrade his broken sword. To avoid wasting time, he first asked an outer sect elder whether the Sword-forging Room had any openings in the next few days, how much material would roughly be needed, and learned the entire sword-forging process. After preparing all this, Chen Fan decided to visit the Sword-forging Room the next day.

Early the next morning, Chen Fan gathered his Spirit Stones and materials and prepared to head to the Sword-forging Room. Ordinary outer sect disciples rarely used the Sword-forging Room. It was located beside the Sword-Imperial Pavilion in the inner court, and Chen Fan had only gained the qualification to enter after asking an outer sect elder to register an appointment for him the day before.

Just as he stepped out the door, a figure drifted gracefully toward him. The person before him wore a long red dress, with a fiery figure. Her long hair was not gathered behind her head but tied into two long braids that swayed behind her. It was Qin Ziyan, whom he had not seen for over a year. She now carried a distinctly mature charm, her perfect face and figure displayed without reservation.

"Ah, Senior Sister Qin." Chen Fan was stunned for a moment before reacting. "Oh, no, I should call you Martial Aunt Qin now." Chen Fan had previously heard that Qin Ziyan had succeeded in breaking through from secluded cultivation. Though her Internal Qi realm remained at the third level, with her sword arts and divine abilities, she was already effectively a fourth-level cultivator.

"Are you sick? Calling me that makes me sound so old. Can't you call me Ziyan? We're friends." As she said the word "friends," Qin Ziyan's pretty face actually reddened slightly.

What was going on? In truth, after Qin Ziyan had given him that handwritten copy that day, Chen Fan's attitude toward her had changed. This girl truly valued loyalty and kept her word, and her heart was kind. Her only flaw was that her temper was somewhat willful. But she had truly treated him exceptionally well. Could it be that she liked him? Where did he get so much romantic luck?

"Friends, of course we are friends. I still have to thank you for giving me that copied text that day," Chen Fan said sincerely.

"What's so special about that? Don't forget, you saved my life. Compared with a life, what do those things amount to?" Qin Ziyan said disdainfully.

It seemed that his relationship with this Little Witch would be impossible to untangle in the future. Chen Fan then asked curiously, "Did you come looking for me this time because you want to go somewhere again?"

"Haha, yes. How did you know?" Qin Ziyan looked exceedingly happy. "I only emerged from seclusion not long ago, then came to find you because I wanted to see how your cultivation was progressing. Who would have thought you had gone down the mountain? So I went to find Senior Sister Ye, only to discover she was gone too. It was not until I saw Senior Sister Ye return yesterday and asked her that I learned you had actually come back with her." At this point, she looked at Chen Fan suspiciously.

Chen Fan secretly thought that this was bad. Could this Little Witch have discovered something? Earlier, he and Ye Wan had already agreed on their story: they would say that they had been attacked by men in black below the mountain, that he had been severely wounded and his cultivation had regressed, and that he had happened to encounter Fairy Ye, who rescued him in time. He had then returned to the sect with her. This version of events was plain and unadorned, but quite reasonable. No one should question it, right?

"What did Fairy Ye say?" Chen Fan asked indirectly.

"She said that the moment you came back, you were making eyes at some female outer sect disciples. You had just been injured, yet you still had the leisure to flirt!?" Qin Ziyan said angrily.

What? Wan'er's move was a little hard to understand. But on second thought, Chen Fan suddenly realized something and became incomparably impressed by Ye Wan.

It was like the principal wife sending the mistress to watch over the fourth and fifth women. She did not need to show herself; everything remained under her control. It was simply brilliant. He thought that although Wan'er could be gentle and lovely before him, she was, after all, the Ice Fairy who had long been famous. How could her intelligence and methods compare to his or Qin Ziyan's? It seemed that in this regard, he would have to keep his tail tucked between his legs in the future.

"That's not true. How could I possibly be that kind of person? Ever since I returned, I've been meditating and cultivating to recover from my injuries," Chen Fan hurriedly explained.

"Right, how is your injury?" Qin Ziyan had also heard Ye Wan speak of Chen Fan being injured in the attack, and that it might even involve a conspiracy by a great sect. The inner court elders were all deeply concerned.

"It's already fine. There's no need to worry," Chen Fan said lightly.

"Really fine?" Qin Ziyan had heard that the person who attacked Chen Fan was a fourth-level expert. She focused her gaze on him. Suddenly, her entire aura erupted, as though she were furious beyond measure. "Who did it? I'll go kill him!"

"Ah, what's wrong?"

What did she mean? Was she referring to my cultivation regression, or my first time being taken? A strange thought came from nowhere in Chen Fan's mind.

"Cultivating the Starforce Formula itself gives one strong perception of the Origin Qi of heaven and earth, and my realm has improved again recently. How much longer were you planning to hide this from me?" Qin Ziyan's furious face held a pair of faintly reddened eyes. "Who did it? Was it one of the other three great sects?"

Hearing this, Chen Fan finally understood what she was asking about.

"No, don't worry about all that for now. Come! Go with me to see my master. He will surely have a way to help you restore your cultivation." Qin Ziyan anxiously grabbed Chen Fan's hand. She knew very well what it meant to directly fall an entire realm. In her heart, Chen Fan was not only her lifesaver, but a genius like herself. She had thought Chen Fan would soon reach the fourth level as well. She never imagined things would turn out like this.

Feeling Qin Ziyan's undisguised anger and anxiety, Chen Fan's heart was once again deeply moved by her. Her fiery temperament seemed to warm his heart as well.