A gentle breeze drifted across Jade Bamboo Peak, rustling the emerald bamboo leaves with a soft whisper.
Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the canopy, casting dappled patterns of light and shadow across the ground.
The small building where Zhao Yanran lived was encircled by spirit flowers and rare herbs, filling the air with a faint, delicate fragrance.
Zhao Yanran stepped briskly out of the building, her face alight with joy she could not conceal.
When she saw Chen Yang standing in the courtyard, the smile in her eyes deepened even further.
Though Chen Yang's face was dark with fury and his eyes blazed with anger, this was still the first time he had come to find her on his own initiative.
"Chen Yang, you've finally come to see me." Zhao Yanran said softly, her voice carrying a faint, coquettish lilt.
She gently smoothed her sleeve and took a few steps forward, her skirt swaying lightly in the breeze. "The three Senior Brothers haven't been at the sect lately — they've gone down the mountain to train. Tonight… would you like to stay the night in my building? I'll make it up to you properly."
She paused, her voice growing even softer, tinged with a hint of shyness. "My husband…"
Hearing that, the fury on Chen Yang's face only intensified.
He let out a cold laugh, his fists clenching involuntarily. "Stay the night? Was Li Baode staying the night in your building last night, then?"
Zhao Yanran's expression instantly turned cold, a flash of displeasure crossing her eyes.
She tilted her chin up slightly, her tone hardening. "What do you mean by that? I don't quite follow what you're saying."
Chen Yang cut straight to the point, his voice icy. "I'm asking you — why did you send Li Baode to humiliate Liu Yiyi?"
The displeasure in Zhao Yanran's eyes flared into outright anger. She stepped forward, her water-blue dress stirring without any wind. "You came here today to stand up for that Liu Yiyi?"
She let out a cold snort and admitted it openly. "So what if I did? I can't stand how close she gets to you. No woman alive could put up with that!"
Her tone grew sharper with every word, each syllable cutting like a blade. "That Liu Yiyi, before she came up the mountain, was nothing but a prostitute in a brothel! A woman who sold herself — what right does she have to get near you?"
Chen Yang's rage peaked. He raised his hand to slap Zhao Yanran across the face.
But his palm was stopped mid-air by a ripple of jade-green water, which let out a soft hum.
The water ripple undulated, dissolving his force into nothingness.
Within the flowing jade waves, intricate Runes flickered faintly.
This was none other than the Jade Ripple Art passed down by Elder Song Jiayu of Jade Bamboo Peak.
Although Zhao Yanran was only Song Jiayu's registered disciple, this Elder treated female cultivators with great generosity, teaching her arts without reservation and tailoring instruction to each disciple's aptitude.
With Shen Hongmei's recent guidance on top of that, Zhao Yanran had made considerable progress with the Jade Ripple Art, wielding it with practiced ease.
A wounded look flashed through Zhao Yanran's eyes, and her voice trembled slightly. "Chen Yang, you actually raised your hand against me for the sake of a prostitute?" She suddenly laughed — a laugh laced with sorrow. "It's fine. If it pleases you, go ahead and hit me."
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She studied Chen Yang carefully, noting the change in his cultivation, and her tone turned sardonic. "You said you didn't want my Pills, yet here you are, having broken through to the second level of the Qi Refinement Realm with the help of Pills. Without my assistance, you'd probably be stuck at the first level of the Qi Refinement Realm for the rest of your life, wouldn't you?"
Chen Yang's anger surged further.
Though the Pill he had taken was a duplicate Pure Origin Pill, it had indeed originated from what Zhao Yanran had given him.
The thought filled him with humiliation, and his expression grew even more unsightly.
Seeing that he said nothing, Zhao Yanran softened her tone and reached out to take his hand.
"The slap has been thrown — or nearly — so your anger should be spent by now, shouldn't it? I know you came here for Liu Yiyi's sake. I can promise not to trouble her again."
She spoke with a show of magnanimity. "Men are all like this — they can't help being drawn to women of the pleasure quarters. It's fine; I won't make too much of it."
She paused, then explained in a gentle voice.
"The three Senior Brothers aren't at the sect today. Stay here in my building for a few days. As for Li Baode… you don't actually think I'd let him spend the night, do you? That was just something I said. He's Senior Brother Li Yan's cousin, and the way he looks at me has always made me uncomfortable. I was simply using him."
She blinked, a playful glint in her eye. "Could it be… you were jealous?"
Chen Yang grew angrier still. He shook her hand off. "I am not jealous! But you keep calling Junior Sister Liu a woman of the pleasure quarters, a prostitute — that is going too far! In every interaction I've had with her, she has shown a fierce and upright character. She is nothing like what you describe!"
Zhao Yanran finally snapped.
No woman could endure hearing the man she loved praise another woman so effusively right to her face.
Her expression turned utterly cold, a glacial light glinting in her eyes. "Chen Yang, you refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit! Fine — if it comes to it, I'll drag you into this building myself!"
She calculated inwardly that the three Senior Brothers wouldn't be back for at least ten more days. These few days would be the perfect opportunity to properly reconnect with Chen Yang and keep things from growing any more distant between them.
She was determined to make Chen Yang change his mind and accept her again.
Zhao Yanran formed hand seals with both hands, activating the Jade Ripple Art.
Wave after wave of water surged from her hands, weaving together in the air into a jade-green cage that trapped Chen Yang within.
The water ripples churned, radiating powerful waves of spiritual energy.
Chen Yang struggled with all his might, but found that this cultivation technique was profound and intricate — far beyond anything the crude spell techniques he had learned from the old laborer could contend with.
Only in this moment did Chen Yang truly grasp the gulf between himself and Zhao Yanran and her three Senior Brothers.
It was not merely a gap in cultivation realm, but a world of difference in the lineage of cultivation techniques they possessed.
He threw himself against the Aqua Prison again and again, but it was like an ant trying to shake a great tree — he could not break through at all.
The water ripples surged and swelled, dissolving every ounce of his force.
As his fury continued to mount, that familiar savage power within Chen Yang began to stir once more.
His eyes gradually suffused with crimson, and faint tiger-stripe markings began to surface beneath his skin.
Just as he was on the verge of losing control, a cool, clear voice rang out from inside the building.
"Yanran, do not casually strike a Menial Disciple. To bully the weak with strength — is that the conduct befitting a cultivator of our kind?"
Zhao Yanran startled at the words, her spell techniques faltering for a moment.
She had clearly not expected Shen Hongmei to intervene.
She hesitated briefly, and considering that this Elder from Spirit Sword Peak was present, she had no choice but to withdraw her spell.
The jade-green cage dissolved into scattered motes of watery light and dissipated into the air.
With the Aqua Prison gone, Chen Yang stumbled a step, breathing hard.
He looked toward the building, unsure who was inside, but from the sound of it, this was someone with a clear sense of right and wrong.
He could feel the powerful surge of spiritual energy that had emanated from within, and knew that whoever was in there possessed cultivation far beyond what he could fathom.
Before leaving, Chen Yang fixed Zhao Yanran with an icy stare, his voice resolute. "Do not trouble Liu Yiyi again. If you do, I will not let it go!"
Zhao Yanran stood rooted to the spot, watching Chen Yang's retreating figure, a tangle of emotions swirling in her eyes.
There was anger, there was indignation, and there was a thread of sorrow that was not easy to detect.
She clutched her sleeve tightly, her fingernails digging almost into her palm.
Inside the building, Shen Hongmei stood quietly by the window, her gaze distant.
In that moment just past, she had unmistakably sensed the familiar aura radiating from that Menial Disciple — the very same Baleful Ferocity Aura she had felt that night in the back mountains.
It had been only a fleeting flash, but she would never mistake it.
"So it really is him…" Shen Hongmei murmured to herself, a complex expression flickering through her eyes.
She looked at Zhao Yanran standing dazed and forlorn in the courtyard, then gazed in the direction Chen Yang had gone, her mind churning with a tide of unanswered questions.