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One day, Shen Xingyan got hold of a Four Seasons of the Mortal World Talisman from who knew where. He even managed to send its visions through the Communication Jade Tablet, showing Ye Qingyao the splendor of spring flowers, summer insects, the autumn moon, and winter snow in turn.

Cloudsky Mountain was as warm as spring all year round, with flowers blooming like brocade, but it had never snowed. When Ye Qingyao saw snowflakes dancing through the sky like tiny spirits, painting heaven and earth a boundless white, she could not help reaching out with her jade-white hand to touch that romantic purity. Light shimmered in her eyes.

So snow was this beautiful.

"A-Yao, do you like it? I spent a full hundred Superior Spirit Stones to find this Four Seasons of the Mortal World Talisman for you. If it brings a smile to your face, I'd gladly spend a fortune." When he mentioned the hundred Superior Spirit Stones, Shen Xingyan deliberately raised his voice for emphasis.

He knew the Cloudsky Sect was poor, and Ye Qingyao rarely left the mountain. Surely a hundred Superior Spirit Stones would move a sheltered girl enough to throw herself into his arms.

What he did not know was that Ye Qingyao had an unexpected variable behind her: Ye Zhenzhen.

A hundred Superior Spirit Stones? What a fortune. I only received a hundred thousand Superior Spirit Stones for my one-month birthday.

This talisman is much more useful than an ordinary one. It looks big and yellow, too. It would be perfect for...

After taking a jab at Shen Xingyan, Ye Zhenzhen wheedled and smiled at her senior sister until Ye Qingyao reluctantly agreed to lay the Four Seasons of the Mortal World Talisman over her chamber pot.

Well, would you look at that. The thing was even waterproof.

Every time she peed, she could watch colorful flowers, a bright moon, and a romantic snowscape appear beneath her little bottom. It put her in an excellent mood.

Not a bad chamber-pot liner. Definitely worth a hundred Superior Spirit Stones.

Ye Qingyao watched her little junior sister smile like a flower, her gaze full of affection. Ye Qingchuan's long Auspicious Phoenix Eyes curved into crescents. If Shen Xingyan knew the talisman he had "spent a fortune" on to please a girl had become a baby's chamber-pot liner, he would probably lose his mind.

He had thought landing a fish like Ye Qingyao would be effortless. But more than half a month had passed, and she remained lukewarm toward him, never quite warm enough.

How could that be? Had she not awakened to romance yet?

So Shen Xingyan played her a "little film" he had secretly recorded with a Recording Stone, as though it were nothing unusual. It showed a young male and female disciple on the Kongtong School's Colorful Cloud Peak embracing, kissing, then heatedly stripping off their sect uniforms.

The footage skipped the ten thousand words' worth of exciting scenes that followed. But what was he doing showing even this much to a girl innocent of such matters?

Ugh—

Too indecent to look at!

Ye Qingyao covered her own eyes with one hand and blocked Ye Zhenzhen's unblinking gaze with the other.

Ye Zhenzhen wriggled about. What is that? Why won't you let me watch?

Once it was over, the little ball of sticky rice practically roared.

Why did it end there? What happened next?

Come on! You can't stop a film before the end. Are they asking me to pay?

How many Spirit Stones? I can afford it, whatever the price!

Ye Qingchuan snatched the Recording Stone and slammed it to the ground, then stamped on it several times. "Shen Xingyan is shameless! How dare he show Senior Sister something like that? I want to gouge out his filthy eyes!"

Tsk—

The nine-year-old boy had clearly understood what he had seen. He was precocious, all right.

After Shen Xingyan finished playing the "little film," Ye Zhenzhen suddenly realized that, after casting his net for so long without a single bite, he was getting impatient.

Senior Sister, the White Peacock has worked so hard to fan out his tail, and you still haven't given him a reaction.

Starting tomorrow, be warmer to him. Act just like you do whenever you see me—overjoyed and unable to bear parting. Let's see how he reacts.

Ye Qingyao had been fairly indifferent to Shen Xingyan's pestering so far. It was time to pretend the fish had taken the bait.

Sure enough.

A scumbag's tricks had been the same since ancient times, even in the cultivation world. Once Ye Qingyao forced down her discomfort and showed Shen Xingyan warmth and dependence, he began playing hard to get, trying to turn the tables. At first he barely responded to her; then he vanished for several days altogether.

An ordinary girl who did not know what was going on would have been frantic, her thoughts running wild all day: Why is he ignoring me? Did I do something wrong? Could something have happened to him?

After days of worry, the moment the scumbag reappeared with any old excuse, he could trick her into treasuring him. Repeat that a few times, and manipulating her mind would be as easy as turning over his hand.

But Ye Qingyao already knew his tricks.

During those days when she did not have to pretend with Shen Xingyan, she felt light all over. Food tasted better, she smiled more, and she wished he would never appear again. Lying and acting were the hardest things in the world for her.

After five or six days, Shen Xingyan did appear again—but only in a recording he sent her.

In it, he lay weakly on a bed, bruised and wounded, striking what he evidently thought was a tragically handsome pose. "A-Yao, a few days ago, a large force of the Devil Race tried to invade the Kongtong School and seize our sect's treasure. Though I wiped out every last one of them and their leader, I suffered some injuries myself. I miss you."

Ye Qingyao promptly shared the recording with the other two members of the Scumbag-Fighting Squad. "What does he mean by this? Why didn't he contact me directly?" Her almond eyes were full of confusion and worldly innocence.

He's playing up his injuries. He wants Senior Sister to go comfort him. Don't you think so, Third Senior Brother?

Ye Zhenzhen waved her little arms and winked slyly at Ye Qingchuan. After all, Ye Qingchuan had used that trick on their senior sister plenty of times himself.

Their kindhearted, Mary Sue of a senior sister could not bear to see anyone hurt, especially someone she cared about. She would immediately use her healing abilities as a spirit herb to treat them. Otherwise, Shen Xingyan would never have been able to exploit her in the original book and turn her into his Furnace and personal source of healing.

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