A late-night operation

"I..." Ziling was momentarily at a loss for words.

Shen Ji wanted to speak up for her, but Elder Ning silenced him with a look.

"Elder, are you suggesting I came for Shen Ji's Spirit Root?" Faced with this suspicion, Ziling raised her voice as though she had suffered a tremendous insult. "I don't want Shen Ji's Spirit Root!"

She glanced at Shen Ji and said softly, "After everything he's done for me, I simply don't want to let him down. I want to stay on Ethereal Peak and remain by his side. Is even that forbidden?"

Her pleading tone sent a pang through Shen Ji's heart.

Ling'er really does have my best interests at heart, Shen Ji thought. Qiaoqiao's inner voice has no basis whatsoever. Before this, she and Ling'er were complete strangers. How could she possibly know what would happen in the future?

Besides, the Clear Heart Luminous Sword I cultivate requires me to preserve my chastity for the sword Dao. Even with Ling'er, all I've thought of is repaying her kindness and affection. How could I possibly end up like Junior Sister said... deceived by Ling'er into giving her my body and heart?

That's far too absurd!

Just as Shen Ji reaffirmed his resolve, he heard his junior sister's light, melodious inner voice again.

[Right, right, it isn't the Spirit Root she cares about. It's our Flowing Cloud Sect's precious divine lamp, and getting Eldest Senior Brother's primal yang to help her break through to the seventh level of the Purple Baleful Intent Devil Cultivation Method.

I didn't expect everything today to match the dream. Doesn't that mean she'll drug Eldest Senior Brother tonight and steal his primal yang?]

[Wow, just thinking about it is kind of exciting!]

Shen Ji: !!!

Chapter 2: A late-night operation

Shen Ji was utterly stunned by Qiaoqiao's words. Ling'er would drug him and steal his primal yang?

He simply could not believe these words, or anything she had said before.

Shen Ji was not only Immortal Venerable Wanghan's eldest direct disciple in the Flowing Cloud Sect, but also the top sword cultivator on the Cultivation World's Azure Cloud Ranking.

The Azure Cloud Ranking ranked the combat strength of the various sects' young disciples in the Cultivation World. After cultivating the Luminous Sword Heart, Shen Ji had climbed to the very top, and no one had surpassed him since.

Everyone spoke of him as an eldest senior brother as noble and pure as a clear breeze and a bright moon, but no one knew he too had a past too painful to look back on.

Shen Ji had been born into a princely household in the mortal world. When his Lineage plotted rebellion, the entire household was implicated. He had survived by chance, only to become a beggar who lived on handouts.

During his years as a little beggar, he had been forced to bark like a dog and crawl beneath people's □□. At his most desperate, a passing woman had bought him a basket of piping-hot steamed buns.

On that bright spring day, she had given the bedraggled beggar by the roadside a gentle smile.

Looking at her smile, Shen Ji had suddenly found the courage to keep living.

Later, he had met Immortal Venerable Wanghan. The Immortal Venerable had said he possessed an innate sword bone and taken him back to Ethereal Peak. For many years afterward, he had always remembered that smile, as warm as a spring breeze.

He had resolved to grow stronger and never suffer humiliation again. He had practiced the sword tirelessly, day and night. After achieving some success in the sword Dao, he had returned to that city and searched for the woman, but found nothing.

Then, a few days ago, he had gone down the mountain and rescued a woman attacked by a Demon Beast. Recognizing her as the girl from all those years ago, he had been overjoyed and brought her back to Ethereal Peak.

To him, Ziling held an extraordinary significance.

So when he heard how much she wanted to cultivate immortality, he had resolved to give her his own Spirit Root.

He, Shen Ji, could give Ziling everything he possessed. What others thought did not matter. His mind would never change!

Elder Ning said earnestly, "You know nothing about her. How do you know whether she'll harm you?"

Shen Ji came back to himself. "Ling'er would never harm me. She saved me back then."

"What year was that?"

"Thirty years ago."

[Wow, she really does stay forever young, her looks untouched by age.] Qiaoqiao rubbed her chin. [After all these years, Eldest Senior Brother still recognized her at a glance. Do white moonlights have a longer shelf life?]

The immortal crane also said, "Doing the sums, this girl must be at least fifty, right?"

The mocking tone made Ziling's expression stiffen a little. Shen Ji explained on her behalf, "Ling'er said she once encountered a fortuitous opportunity and obtained a Youth-Preserving Pill. That's how she's kept her looks from aging."

"That's right. I obtained the immortal pill by chance," Ziling said. "It was only yesterday that I learned Shen Ji and I shared such a connection..."

She gazed at Shen Ji, her eyes shimmering. "Perhaps this is heaven's arrangement. I know immortals and mortals are different, and our standing can no longer be compared. All I ask is to remain by his side for a while. Can you not tolerate even that?"

"Ethereal Peak does not keep outsiders. That is the rule," Elder Ning said coldly.

This woman was certainly skilled at playing weak and docile, acting as though they were bullying her.

And she claimed obtaining a Youth-Preserving Pill had been a fortuitous opportunity. Where could a mortal like her encounter such an opportunity? Did she really think fortuitous opportunities were cabbages, something she could stumble across anywhere along the road?

Yet Shen Ji was so stubborn that he believed whatever she said.

Inwardly, she leaned even more toward believing Qiaoqiao. Judging by the way he was going, Elder Ning had every reason to believe he really could betray the sect for this woman!

Seeing that Elder Ning remained unmoved, Ziling could not help biting her lip, looking on the verge of tears as her beautiful eyes trembled slightly.

[She isn't wondering which drug to use tonight, is she?]

[Oh dear, is Eldest Senior Brother really going to lose his chastity?]

Elder Ning: ...

This child, Qiaoqiao...

Still, since she said this demoness would act tonight, they might as well turn her scheme against her and see whether she would show her fox's tail.

Having made up her mind, Elder Ning looked at the two of them. "I will inform the Peak Master and ask him to handle this personally. Until then, Shen Ji, you are to remain confined to your room and reflect on your mistakes. You may not take so much as half a step outside."

"As for you-" She looked at Ziling.

"You will stay in a guest room for now and await the Peak Master's decision."

Shen Ji knew he could not hide this from his master, who would learn of it sooner or later. When that time came, all he could do was fight as hard as possible for Ling'er's chance to embark on the immortal path.

But the thought of his master also made him rather apprehensive.