I would entrust my heart to Yaoqin

Yaoqin did not answer at first. Carrying her zither, she entered the room and set it on the table.

Only after sitting down did Yaoqin slowly speak:

"It has been a long time. I thought you were dead."

Chu Xingchen picked up an unused cup beside him, poured Yaoqin some tea, and placed it before her.

He was just about to explain when Yaoqin spoke first:

"I forgot. In your own words, a scourge like you lives a thousand years. You wouldn't die so easily."

Standing respectfully to one side, Xiao Ling could not help bursting into laughter.

But the moment Yaoqin cast a cool glance her way, she stifled it.

Yaoqin waved at the maid beside her. "You may leave."

Xiao Ling froze at her words and looked up at her mistress.

Miss always gets led around by the nose by this fellow! If I leave, I won't be here to warn her. Who knows how he'll fool her this time?

It was strange, really. Her mistress was so clever, yet in front of this fellow, she seemed to become even more foolish than Xiao Ling herself.

Reluctantly, Xiao Ling murmured, "Miss..."

Yaoqin neither shifted her gaze nor spoke. She merely waved her hand again.

Xiao Ling sighed inwardly. If she kept failing to take the hint, her mistress would get angry. Despite her utter reluctance, she could only withdraw.

With Xiao Ling gone, only the veiled Yaoqin and Chu Xingchen remained in the room.

Yaoqin did not look up. With lowered eyes, she gazed at the zither on the table and gently adjusted its strings.

"Tell me. What have you come to see me about this time?"

Chu Xingchen sighed, sounding somewhat indignant:

"Why are you being so distant, Miss Yaoqin? You make it sound as though I only come to see you when I need a favor."

Oh? Distant? Who's been calling me Miss Yaoqin ever since he walked through the door?

Yaoqin still did not look up, but her voice grew colder:

"When have you ever come to see me without asking for help?"

Her words made Chu Xingchen pause. Then he thought it over carefully... Yaoqin seemed to have a point. Whenever he sought her out, it was because he needed a favor.

And he did not seem to have ever repaid her. Thinking of it that way, had he not been freeloading off her all this time?

Even this visit was, in truth, because he needed her help.

Yaoqin waited a moment, but when Chu Xingchen remained silent, she pressed him:

"What? Lost your tongue?"

After a little thought, Chu Xingchen decided this would not do. He had to be more tactful this time, lest he find himself barred from the door the next time he needed help.

Chu Xingchen raised his eyes to Yaoqin. "I would entrust my heart to Yaoqin."

Yaoqin froze at his words. Both hands abruptly pressed down on the strings, and she said coldly:

"What are you trying to say?"

Faced with that icy tone, Chu Xingchen seemed deeply hurt by her cold attitude. He sighed and said:

"I would entrust my heart to Yaoqin. Yet kindred souls are few-when the strings snap, who will listen?"

What made the Bamboo Jade Court so refined was that money alone might not get you anywhere.

But literary talent and a touch of sophistication might. And if you were handsome enough, you had an eighty-percent chance.

Chu Xingchen relied on his own wit and humor, borrowing classical verses from the great poets of his previous life.

By casually tossing out a few masterpieces, he could easily win over these haughty courtesans who sold their art, not their bodies.

At least, that was how it worked with Yaoqin, though he had yet to so much as touch her hand.

This time, weaving in Yaoqin's name made his sincerity all the more apparent.

Chu Xingchen was quite confident that Yaoqin would be deeply moved.

But...

Reality seemed to have other ideas.

What greeted Chu Xingchen was not Yaoqin's slightly bashful voice, but a fierce sonic wave.

Yaoqin raised her hand and unleashed a fierce sonic wave.

Twang-

The rather piercing wave swept past his ears. Chu Xingchen instantly became much more clearheaded and hurriedly rubbed his ears.

Yaoqin snapped, "Lecher! Do you think meeting me a few times gives you the right to toy with me?"

"Wait... How am I a lecher? I haven't even touched your hand. Isn't that a little unfair?"

At those words, Yaoqin swiftly withdrew the hand resting on the table and looked at Chu Xingchen with contempt.

"...Fine, I was wrong."

Chu Xingchen sighed. Had he known, he would have kept things strictly business. He took a Blood Qi Spirit Stone from his Spatial Ring and placed it on the table.

Yaoqin's gaze immediately fixed on the Blood Qi Spirit Stone.

After examining it briefly, Yaoqin abruptly looked at Chu Xingchen. Her divine sense swept over him, only to discover that it could not penetrate his body-protecting divine sense.

"You've reached golden core?" Yaoqin frowned slightly.

Chu Xingchen leaned back in his chair and said:

"That's right. Did I give you a fright?"

Yaoqin was not unaware of Chu Xingchen's aptitude. If he truly were a prodigy, after drinking so much of her Clear Tea, he would have long since recognized its effects and understood just how well she treated him.

He drank Clear Tea as though it were well water. After drinking it so many times, he still had not figured it out.

Naturally, his aptitude could hardly be called outstanding.

The last time she saw him, he had only been at foundation establishment peak. Yet in a mere year or so, he had reached at least middle golden core.

Yaoqin lowered her eyes to the Blood Qi Spirit Stone on the table.

An unpleasant possibility surfaced in her mind.

Furious at his failure to live up to his promise, Yaoqin said, "You've taken up evil cultivation?!"

Chu Xingchen hurriedly protested, "Don't go spreading rumors. Who in all of Yuzhou City doesn't know that the White Dragon of the Waves is a towering pillar of righteousness?"

Yaoqin demanded, "Then how do you explain your cultivation and this spirit stone?"

Chu Xingchen recounted his experiences at the Clearwind Sect's mine and the situation with the Evil Cultivators there, embellishing the tale as he went.

"I obtained this Blood Qi Spirit Stone from the Clearwind Sect's mine."

Chu Xingchen lightly tapped the Blood Qi Spirit Stone before him.

At his words, Yaoqin gently took hold of the spirit stone. Probing it with her divine sense, she found that it did indeed contain vicious baleful intent and blood qi.

It was the work of the most extreme Evil Cultivators.

Yaoqin asked, "So you've come to ask me to deal with the Clearwind Sect?"

Chu Xingchen shook his head. "No, not that. I only wanted to know whether there's a way to purify this spirit stone."

Yaoqin looked at him suspiciously. "Do you have a lot of these spirit stones?"

Chu Xingchen said earnestly, "Only two. I just thought that if I encounter similar Evil Cultivators in the future, knowing a few ways to counter them would keep me safer."

Yaoqin nodded lightly:

"I'll need some time, and I can't promise I'll be able to resolve it... Come ask me again in a few days."

"No need. I'll be staying in Yuzhou City for a while. Once you have an answer, just have someone deliver a letter to this address."

Chu Xingchen picked up the writing brush beside him and wrote down his current address.

Yaoqin lowered her head and glanced at the flowing running script, along with the address in Yuzhou City.

This was the first time Yaoqin knew precisely where she could find Chu Xingchen.

She reached for the paper before her and tucked it into her sleeve:

"Is there anything else?"

Chu Xingchen rose. "No. I'll wait for your good news."

With that, he got up to leave.

"Wait... Leave the verse you just recited before you go."

"What verse?"

"Chu Xingchen!"

"Right away! I'll write it down!"