"Impossible! As long as you feel any desire to cherish a woman like a delicate flower or precious jade, you'll be controlled." Chu Fangfang could no longer keep up the act. In her shock, she exposed the truth: she had indeed secretly used restrictions in an attempt to control her fiancé.
Chen Bufei said candidly, "I've never thought you needed me to cherish and protect you. You're all outstanding women. I respect you and believe you're every bit the equal of men. Treating you as delicate creatures in need of my protection would only mean looking down on you."
Chu Fangfang asked, "If you knew all along, why didn't you say anything?"
Chen Bufei said, "My sect arranged for me to marry you. As long as we could get married, there was no need to grow extra branches from the trunk and complicate matters. I knew you preferred Miss Mo and were only using me as a shield. I didn't mind. You could be with Miss Mo; I just needed to give my sect an answer. Now, if there's a Teleportation Gate, my sect and the Prefect can cooperate without a marriage alliance." It turned out that he had been clearheaded all along, merely putting the bigger picture first.
For a moment, Chu Fangfang didn't know what to say. She had vastly underestimated this man. She had thought she was controlling him, only to discover that he had been playing the fool. Her feelings were complicated: anger at being made a fool of, mixed with a trace of admiration.
Mo Caihuan hadn't expected another master to be hiding among them. She had thought Chu Fangfang was clever enough, but Chen Bufei's great wisdom hid beneath an appearance of foolishness. Beyond every strong hand lay a stronger one. Was this what cultivators were like?
To be honest, she didn't know many cultivators. The only ones she had spent much time with were Food Immortal and Daoist Wealth. Compared with these two, Daoist Wealth was practically an infant.
No wonder Daoist Wealth had no potential and couldn't reach foundation establishment. Just look at these foundation establishment cultivators-they were far too shrewd.
Honestly, it was a little frightening.
Chu Fangfang stared at Chen Bufei for a long time before finally saying, "I concede, heart and mouth alike. You truly deserve your reputation as White Dew Academy's genius. Fine, we'll control the Teleportation Gate together, but you have to keep acting as a shield for me and my little sister."
Chen Bufei said, "I have no objection, but do you really like Miss Mo? I hope you'll tell me the truth."
Chu Fangfang said, "Of course I do."
"But she's a mortal, with a limited lifespan. Even if you can prolong her life, she won't live past a hundred." Chen Bufei said earnestly, "If this leaves you with a tribulation of love, inner demons will inevitably assail you, and your path of cultivation will end here."
Chu Fangfang suddenly looked at Mo Caihuan, a strange emotion in her eyes. "It isn't just affection. It's trust."
"What do you mean?" Chen Bufei asked.
Mo Caihuan also said, looking puzzled, "Please explain."
The young lady gave a bitter smile and said, "When my master saw me choose the Aroma Cherishing Heart Method, she warned me to be careful. She said that my art of reading people, combined with the Aroma Cherishing Heart Method, would yield twice the results with half the effort, but that wasn't necessarily a good thing. I didn't understand then. Only now do I understand why."
She lowered her head to look at her empty hands, as though unable to grasp her own fate, and continued, "My cultivation should have centered on me, but somehow it gradually came to center on my little sister. And I trust her more and more. This isn't ordinary trust. It's more like the trust children have in their parents-without reservation, without reason. Simply trust."
Chen Bufei frowned. "Could it be because of the misty fragrance?"
"Exactly. Different constitutions produce different misty fragrances. Clearly, Sister Mo's misty fragrance is just like her personality, embracing everything like the boundless sky. Gradually, even my fragrance was enveloped by hers instead. So now I can't do without her. Unless I advance another realm, perhaps there's no way to change the situation."
Chen Bufei nodded. "I see. I thought you were trying to toy with Miss Mo's feelings."
"I'm not that bored," Chu Fangfang said. "Liking someone is liking someone. It's just that affection can shift. It's like toys. When you find a better toy, it's perfectly normal for your affection to shift from the old one to the new one. Didn't you ever experience that as children?"
Academician Chen was excellent, but Mo Caihuan was better, so her affection had shifted. If she met someone better than Mo Caihuan in the future, it would shift again.
The young lady could meet someone better. She had the means.
Chen Bufei stopped dwelling on the matter and returned to the subject of the Teleportation Gate. "Please lead the way, Miss Mo, so we can confirm its existence first. Once we've confirmed it, I'll contact my sect."
"The Teleportation Gate is deep in Jinling. It's very dangerous."
"I'll ask my master to come protect us," the young lady said. "She's always either brewing wine or chasing butterflies anyway. She'll definitely have time to look for a Teleportation Gate."
Fiercely protective of her own, Wine Butterfly Fairy received her treasured disciple's Sound Transmission Talisman and arrived in Taichang City in just three days. But she wasn't alone. Beside her was an old man whose cultivation was unfathomable.
"Greetings, Master." Chu Fangfang was very well behaved in front of her master, though she didn't recognize the gray-haired old man beside her.
"Greetings, Senior." Mo Caihuan and Chen Bufei stood behind Chu Fangfang and bowed together.
Wine Butterfly Fairy was a middle-aged beauty who still retained her charm. She wore a long purple dress beneath a black cloak, with a light touch of makeup. Gazing kindly at her disciple, she said, "Your cultivation has improved quite a bit. It seems you haven't been slacking."
"I wouldn't dare slack off, Master." Chu Fangfang truly hadn't neglected her cultivation.
"Good. This must be your fiancé, Chen Bufei. A fine-looking young man. White Dew Academy chose well." She took her disciple's affairs very much to heart.
The old man beside her, dressed in a dark blue Daoist robe, said, "Fairy, you can catch up another time. Let's discuss the Teleportation Gate first."
Wine Butterfly Fairy said irritably, "I never asked you to come. You shamelessly insisted on tagging along. I haven't even settled the score with you for eavesdropping yet."
"Fairy, there's no need to stand on ceremony between us. We'll be family sooner or later," the old man said with a chuckle.
"Pah! Who's going to be family with you? I won't become your Dao companion," Wine Butterfly Fairy said.
But the old man said, "Fairy, there's more to our lives than cultivation. Honestly, I don't think the Lower Realm has much time left. We might as well become Dao companions and enjoy ourselves while we can."
"Moon Worshipper, you weren't like this before," Wine Butterfly Fairy said angrily.
Chu Fangfang and Chen Bufei both turned to look at him, for Moon Worshipper was one of the four great Rogue Cultivators. Known as Moon Worshipper Daoist, he was also a nascent soul powerhouse.
Mo Caihuan also knew who Moon Worshipper was, but felt that he was different from the rumors. Of the four great Rogue Cultivators, Yi Xitian was said to rank first, possessing the greatest talent. Moon Worshipper ranked second and was the most hardworking. Supposedly, he cultivated beneath the moon every night, and over time people had begun calling him "Moon Worshipper." He liked the name and adopted it for himself.
Yet this Moon Worshipper seemed more like a Rogue Cultivator who treated life as a game, not nearly as hardworking as the rumors claimed. Rumors really can't be trusted completely, she thought.
Moon Worshipper merely said leisurely, "People change. I was too foolish before."
Wine Butterfly Fairy looked at her disciple. "Fangfang, tell me. Where is the Teleportation Gate?"
Chu Fangfang said, "Let Sister Mo explain."
Mo Caihuan cupped her fist. "Seniors, please allow me to explain."
Wine Butterfly Fairy looked at Mo Caihuan and noticed something strange about her. There was a powerful misty fragrance inside her. She must be my disciple's Dao Companion. But why is she a mortal without a spiritual root?
"Whoa!" Moon Worshipper suddenly let out a strange cry, drawing the fairy's displeasure.
"What are you doing?" The fairy rolled her eyes at him.
Moon Worshipper pointed excitedly at Mo Caihuan. "Look inside her!"
"What about it?" Wine Butterfly Fairy said. "Isn't it just misty fragrance? My disciple must be practicing dual cultivation. Misty fragrance is a type of Bloodline Secret Art, so it can be cultivated even without spiritual energy. You're making a fuss over nothing."
"I'm not talking about the misty fragrance. There's something else."
Mo Caihuan's heart lurched. Has Food Immortal been discovered? Food Immortal was hiding inside her spirit altar, concealing his aura. In theory, he shouldn't be discovered.
After all, Mo Caihuan was a mortal. When cultivators saw that she had no spiritual root, they couldn't be bothered to inspect her spirit altar. Without even a spiritual root, her divine sense surely had no value.
Wine Butterfly Fairy looked at Mo Caihuan, examined her closely, and also gave a surprised murmur.
"Master, what's wrong with Sister Mo? Is there a problem with my dual cultivation?" Chu Fangfang asked anxiously.