Master and Disciple...? Just Master and Disciple?

Qin Chuan closed his eyes and sensed the lingering traces of Shen Qingyuan's aura, silently planning how to tease her. Only after a long while did he open them.

Time to get down to business. With the plot in hand, if I can kill the male and female leads, I will. If I can't, I'll take Master and flee far away, and we'll be a pair of happy, carefree immortal lovers, Qin Chuan thought to himself.

But first, I'll go pay my respects to Master. She cares so much about me, so as her disciple, I must be properly "filial" to her.

Qin Chuan immediately put on the act of an innocent young disciple. He had to maintain his persona in front of Master.

What Qin Chuan didn't know was that Shen Qingyuan had long since known what he was really like. On several occasions when he had killed people, she had quietly taken care of the loose ends he had left behind.

Only Qin Chuan and his master Shen Qingyuan lived on Supreme Mystery Peak, so their cave residences weren't far apart. It took Qin Chuan only a few moments to reach hers.

"Master, I've reached Core Formation!" An innocent young disciple who had made a breakthrough would naturally come and share the news with his master. By now, Qin Chuan played the part with practiced ease.

"I already know. You mustn't grow arrogant."

Shen Qingyuan appeared before Qin Chuan. She wore plain robes, her white hair falling loose around her. With skin like ice and bones like jade, her beauty was without equal. Her eyes, brimming with affection, held endless tenderness as she looked at Qin Chuan. He felt that even the air around them had grown gentle with her appearance.

Then she took out a storage bag and handed it to Qin Chuan. Clearly, she had prepared it long ago.

"Chuan'er, inside the storage bag is a suit of inner armor I prepared for you, along with some pills to stabilize your cultivation."

Qin Chuan accepted the storage bag Shen Qingyuan handed him, and once again, his heart filled with thoughts of her. Master was always giving to him like this, asking for nothing in return.

"Thank you, Master."

"I am your master. This is only what I should do. Come with me." Shen Qingyuan turned and walked into her cave residence.

"As you command." Qin Chuan followed close behind Shen Qingyuan and entered her cave residence as well.

A pot of clear tea, brewed long ago, sat on the stone table. Just smelling its fragrance made Qin Chuan feel that his soul had grown somewhat stronger. He understood that Master had prepared this especially for him too.

"Advancing from Core Formation to Nascent Soul mainly involves forming the nascent soul, so the soul becomes immensely important. This pot of spirit-awakening tea can help strengthen your soul. Drink it now, but don't drink too much."

Shen Qingyuan raised a hand and pushed the teapot toward Qin Chuan, even reminding him not to overindulge as though coaxing a child.

"All right." Qin Chuan only dared steal one glance at Master. Afraid to look any longer, he turned his attention to the spirit-awakening tea.

He poured himself a small cup and took a sip under Shen Qingyuan's gentle gaze.

In an instant, his soul grew a whole size larger.

His eyes lit up at this stroke of fortune, and he gulped down the rest of the spirit-awakening tea in the cup.

"Chuan'er, don't..." The moment Qin Chuan raised the cup, Shen Qingyuan spoke up to stop him, but she was still too late.

After Qin Chuan drank the entire cup, his soul expanded rapidly, exceeding the limit of what he could currently bear.

"Aah!!!" He cried out and began howling in agony. Pain in the soul was hundreds, even thousands of times worse than pain in the body, and his body was now twitching involuntarily from it.

But soon, an icy-cool aura entered his soul, and Shen Qingyuan's voice rang out at the same time.

"I told you not to drink too much. Now you know how serious it is. Calm your breath and focus your mind, hold fast to your true self. Leave the rest... leave the rest to me."

Shen Qingyuan pressed a finger to the center of Qin Chuan's brow. She separated a tiny wisp of her own soul and sent it into his soul palace, helping him suppress his surging soul power.

Qin Chuan froze at once, excitement filling his heart...

"Don't get distracted. Hold fast to your true self. This is the quickest and safest way for me to help you." Shen Qingyuan's voice was as gentle and cool as ever, as though she truly only meant to help Qin Chuan.

But if Qin Chuan could have seen Shen Qingyuan now, he would have seen her ears burning red and the blush on her cheeks.

And with Shen Qingyuan's cultivation, she had more than a dozen ways to help Qin Chuan suppress the sudden surge of soul power, yet she had chosen this one.

"Thank you, Master." Qin Chuan knew nothing of this. With Shen Qingyuan helping him, he had to take the opportunity to suppress his surging soul power and had no time to think about such messy matters.

A quarter of an hour later, Qin Chuan could suppress his surging soul power on his own, and that wisp of Shen Qingyuan's soul withdrew.

Outside, Shen Qingyuan's eyes were closed and her cheeks were flushed. Her cool, unworldly bearing had been touched by the air of the mortal world.

It took her quite a while to suppress her agitation and desire. Perhaps some instinctive impulse still lingered, for her hand reached out and touched Qin Chuan's face of its own accord, but she quickly drew it back.

Her reason fully returned, and the cool, unworldly Glazed Glass Immortal Venerable was back. Shen Qingyuan sat upright beside Qin Chuan, guarding him in case something went wrong while he suppressed his surging soul power.

Qin Chuan only needed to put in a little effort. He was now fully capable of suppressing it himself and no longer needed Shen Qingyuan's help.

Half an hour later, he had completely suppressed his rapidly expanded soul. As soon as he came to, he looked at Shen Qingyuan with a burning gaze and said, "Thank you for helping me, Master. Thank you for your efforts."

An awkward silence settled over them. Shen Qingyuan didn't want to bring up what had just happened, so she changed the subject. "You are my disciple. This is only what I should do. Since you've come out of seclusion, you should take part in the Pure Void Sect's disciple competition a month from now."

"There's no need to compete for a ranking. Exchanging pointers with the Pure Void Sect's other Golden Core cultivators will benefit your future cultivation. Treat it as a chance to broaden your horizons."

"I'll do as Master says." Qin Chuan looked every bit the obedient disciple, though inwardly he wondered whether Master also had a trace of a different kind of affection for him.

"Take the jade pot with you. It will preserve the effects of the spirit-awakening tea. You may only drink one small cup at a time. Don't drink too much."

"If I'm not by your side and you drink too much, there'll be no one to save you." As Shen Qingyuan said the word "save," her voice grew faint, and she turned her head slightly, not daring to look at Qin Chuan. It was unclear whether she had recalled using a wisp of her soul to help him just now.

"I'll do as Master says." Qin Chuan felt thoroughly content. He stole a look at Shen Qingyuan's profile, restraining the urge to pull her into his arms.

"You can see yourself out." Shen Qingyuan rose and headed for the inner chamber. This time, she wasn't planning to see Qin Chuan out.

"Master, your disciple will take his leave, then. Thank you for taking such pains for me." Qin Chuan lowered his head to conceal his love for Shen Qingyuan and strode out.

"Chuan'er, you've already done very well. Cultivation can't be rushed; take it slowly. No matter what your cultivation is, as long as your master is here, no one can hurt a hair on your head." As Qin Chuan reached the entrance to her cave residence, Shen Qingyuan still couldn't help calling out to him with concern.

"All right, I'll listen to everything you say, Master." The corners of Qin Chuan's mouth curled into a smile that not even an AK could suppress. Sooner or later, Master would be his.

After Qin Chuan left, Shen Qingyuan remained standing with her back turned. For the first time, a pained, conflicted look appeared on her cool, indifferent face.

The cool, unworldly Glazed Glass Immortal Venerable, untouched by mortal concerns and devoted solely to cultivation, had her mind thrown into turmoil by worldly feelings for the first time.

She turned and sat on the stone stool Qin Chuan had occupied, then picked up the teacup he had drunk from and brought it to her lips.

The moment her red lips touched the cup, she let go of it as if in a daze. It shattered with a clang, and she squeezed her eyes shut, painfully suppressing something.

After a long while, a murmur escaped her lips. "I am only Chuan'er's master. I can only ever be his master. How could I have such sordid thoughts?"

Shen Qingyuan opened her eyes, once again the Glazed Glass Immortal Venerable, untouched by a speck of dust. Only her retreating figure looked a little disheveled as she returned to the inner chamber.