Yun Yun's Teasing and the Xiao Clan Today

Some time later, a party set out slowly from the Misty Cloud Sect Mountain Gate toward Wutan City.

Yun Yun, the Misty Cloud Sect Master, led the party herself.

In the past, a declining little clan like the Xiao Clan would hardly have warranted a personal visit from her. Sending a Da Dou Shi Elder would have been more than enough.

But times had changed. The Xiao Clan's star was rising across the Empire, and even the Misty Cloud Sect could not take them lightly. Sending only an Elder now would seem dismissive.

So Yun Yun had decided to make the trip herself and settle the matter of her disciple's long-troubling engagement while she was there.

"Teacher, do you think things will go smoothly for me at the Xiao Clan?" Nalan Yanran asked from where she nestled against Yun Yun in the carriage. She tilted up her face, hope and unease mingling in her voice.

Her plan was simple: dissolve the engagement quietly before her grandfather, Nalan Jie, found out.

Once it was done, a man as proud as her grandfather could hardly swallow his pride and ask the Xiao Clan to restore it.

"Don't worry. If you don't want to marry, no one can force you." Yun Yun gently stroked Nalan Yanran's head. Her voice was soft but firm.

Nalan Yanran was her disciple. Yun Yun would never stand by and watch the girl be forced to marry someone she did not love.

Warmed by her teacher's assurance, Nalan Yanran burrowed deeper into her embrace. "Thank you, Teacher. You're the best."

"You little rascal." Yun Yun smiled helplessly. Then something occurred to her, and she looked down. "You said your fiancé wasn't at the Xiao Clan last time?"

"Mm-hmm. When I went with Grandfather, Uncle Xiao said he'd gone