“Thank you, Spirit Master Zhong Xi, for taking care of my degenerate disciples.” Wang Tong was slightly displeased but he knew that matters of love could not be forced. He started to thank Huan Zhong.
But these two grand disciples of his blocked him when he talked to Spirit Master Zhong Xi. While Splendid Cloud Sect was a carefree sect, they did not allow their juniors to be so impolite. He frowned and then swept his sleeve with spirit energy to move his two grand disciples to the side.
The two fingers secretly tangled together flashed apart like lightning and only left behind an afterimage.
There was a two feet distance between the pair. Wang Tong’s gaze moved between the pair. He said to Tan Feng who had run over, “Tan Feng, Spirit Master Zhong Xi is going to the guest courtyard.” Then he looked at Kong Hou and the two grand disciples. “You will follow me.”
Tan Feng was unable to even speak to Little Shimei and his two shizhi. “…”
He bowed to Huan Zhong and said with a smile, “Spirit Master Zhong Xi, please come this way.”
Looking at Wang Tong’s departing back, Huan Zhong’s black eyes met Tan Feng’s gaze. “Thank you.”
“Spirit Master has no need to be so polite.” Tan Feng gave a strange cry into the air. Three cranes flew out of the clouds and landed in front of them. “Spirit Master Zhong Xi, please.”
Lin Hu glanced at the cranes. Fortunately, he had some sense of existence in the eyes of Path Friend Tan Feng.
Huan Zhong stepped onto the back of the crane. When the crane flew into the air, he looked down. Wang Tong, Kong Hou and the others flickered out of view on the limestone path.
Tan Feng looked back and saw Huan Zhong looking down at his master and shimei. He explained with a smile, “Spirit Master, do not mind. Master has always been good to Shimei. They have not met for a long time and must have many things to say. It’s good for them to walk together.”
Huan Zhong nodded minutely.
Kong Hou followed Wang Tong back to the cave residence. Eldest Shixiong was already waiting there for them.
Cheng Yi said a few gentle things to his two students before saying, “Go rest. I have words to say to your grandmaster and shishu.”
“Wait a moment.” Kong Hou called Gui Ling back. “Rou Rou, go rest. Gui Ling, stay.”
Gui Ling walked with a lowered head in front of the three and knelt down without even thinking.
Wang Tong had no thoughts of helping his student teach his student. He played with a jade ornament and remained silent.
Cheng Yi’s expression changed slightly when he saw Gui Ling kneel down. “What happened?”
“This disciple was unfilial and made a great mistake. This disciple is willing to accept all punishment. Please, Master, do not expel this student from Splendid Cloud Sect.” Gui Ling bent down and pressed his head to the ground.
The cave residence quieted. Cheng Yi looked at his kneeling disciple and then at Kong Hou.
Kong Hou sighed and told the events to Cheng Yi.
“What do you have to say?” Cheng Yi’s expression did not change after he listened to the story and looked again at Gui Ling.
“This disciple had other intentions when joining Splendid Cloud Sect. But… but I regretted it.” Gui Ling felt his words were so powerless but he still carried a small sliver of hope.
“Have you done anything to harm Splendid Cloud Sect?”
Gui Ling shook his head.
“Do you regret joining Splendid Cloud Sect?”
Gui Ling continued to shake his head.
“Sect Master Shuang Qing sent you to become my disciple. I should thank him.” Cheng Yi showed no anger in his expression. “But you committed a mistake and I have to punish you. You will be punished…”
“To have to walk on the mountain and not ride a steed for three years when there is no emergency.” Kong Hou coughed. “If a child is disobedient, they need to remember.”
Cheng Yi turned to look at Kong Hou and laughed. He said, “Since your shishu has asked for mercy for you, I will spare you this one time.”
Gui Ling had not expected this matter to be resolved so easily. He looked at Cheng Yi and then at Kong Hou. His eyes felt sore.
“Thank you, Master. Thank you, Shishu.” Gui Ling kowtowed. “This disciple will cultivate and make Splendid Cloud Sect proud.”
“You cannot choose your birth, but you can choose the path you walk.” Cheng Yi bent down and patted the youth whose eyes were turning red. “I hope that your future conduct will not make me regret today’s choice.”
“This disciple will not disappoint Master.” The hand on his shoulder was firm and strong. Gui Ling’s fluttering heart immediately felt safe. He looked at his gentle-faced master, his smiling grandmaster and shishu. He finally knew that this was the feeling of warmth.
“All right, go rest as well.” Wang Tong said to Gui Ling, “I have some things to say to your Kong Hou Shishu.”
“This junior will leave.” Gui Ling bowed deeply and then silently left.
After Gui Ling left, Wang Tong’s smile faded. He looked gravely at Kong Hou. “Kong Hou, do you have something to tell me?”
“No-nothing…?” Kong Hou was slightly nervous and guilty seeing the lack of a smile on Wang Tong’s face. “Master, this disciple did not cause any trouble on this trip.”
“Then tell me what is going on with you and Spirit Master Zhong Xi?” Wang Tong slammed his teacup to the table. “Do not tell me that you and him were hiding back there just to play with your fingers.”
“Since Master has already found out…” Kong Hou took a deep breath and then knelt in front of Wang Tong with a bang. She knelt briskly without any anger and regret. “Please, Master, allow this disciple to give Huan Zhong a status.”
“Give, give what?” Wang Tong thought something was wrong with his ears.
“A status.”
“Give who a status?”
“Huan Zhong.”
Wang Tong opened his mouth. He felt his head was ringing. Something seemed to be wrong.
When did Kong Hou and Spirit Master Zhong Xi have emotions between them, and something like status…
“It is this disciple’s mistake. Master did not want me to be together with Huan Zhong, but I secretly exchanged confessions with him. After getting together with Huan Zhong, I worried that Master would be angry so I slighted him and let him stay with me without a status. I could not even tell others that we are in love.” Kong Hou kowtowed to Wang Tong and said, “This disciple was bad. Master, please forgive this disciple this once. But Huan Zhong is in love with me, and I cannot fail him.”
Wang Tong gaped at his apprentice and was unable to recover his ability to speak.
Why did his obedient little apprentice speak like the fickle-hearted man of dramatic plays, and why did Spirit Master Zhong Xi seem like the slighted person in love?
Seeing Wang Tong remain silent, Kong Hou kowtowed again. “Master, please take care. Do not be angry because of this disciple.”
Wang Tong felt that he would not have a problem out of anger, but out of fright. His apprentice was a rare person in the cultivation world for daring to let spirit master Zhong Xi follow her without a status.
Cheng Yi saw his master stay silent and hurriedly spoke up to smooth things over. “Shimei, Master is not one to split lovers up. Go rest, we will speak of this later.” Then he stole a look at Kong Hou, indicating for her to leave and he would stay to persuade their master.
Kong Hou gratefully bowed to him and stood up. She said to Wang Tong, “Master, this disciple bids farewell.”
The cave residence was deathly silent. Wang Tong looked at the empty cave entrance and turned to look at Cheng Yi. “Did Kong Hou just say that she and Spirit Master Zhong Xi are already together?”
Cheng Yi nodded.
“She wants me to agree for her to give Spirit Master Zhong Xi a status?!”
Cheng Yi nodded again.
Wang Tong said after a long moment of silence, “Cheng Yi, our Kong Hou is really the best among female cultivators. She has great cultivation, and great charisma that a cultivator like Spirit Master Zhong Xi is willing to follow her without a status. So no matter the gender of the cultivator, if they have ability, they do not have to worry that they have no beauty to accompany them.”
Cheng Yi had not expected Wang Tong to react like this. “You are not opposed to them being together?”
“Opposed?” Wang Tong asked in response. “Why would I oppose this?”
Zhong Xi was the top-ranked male cultivator in beauty, and he could have universal paired cultivation with Kong Hou. Kong Hou was not the one who would lose out with a man like this. Why would he oppose this?
Cheng Yi: “…”
He felt that there was some uncrossable misunderstanding between Master and Kong Hou Shimei.
Kong Hou came out of Wang Tong’s cave residence and saw Gui Ling standing by and looking at her with bright eyes. She couldn’t help but smile and say, “Weren’t you sent to rest?”
Gui Ling quickly walked to Kong Hou, his face slightly red. “This junior… has some things to say to Shishu.”
“Hm?” Kong Hou stopped walking and looked at Gui Ling with puzzlement.
“Thank you, Shishu, for saving me.” Gui Ling looked down at the tips of his shoes. “If not for Shishu‘s rescue that night, this junior would have died.”
“It is a natural thing for a shishu to rescue you; there is nothing to thank for.” It was easy to become softhearted when a good-looking youth stood there bashfully. Seeing him like this, Kong Hou couldn’t help but say, “The past events have passed. Do not think about them. You are a disciple of Moon Perching Peak now, your actions represent Moon Perching Peak. If someone bullies you, do not endure. If you cannot win, call us. If we cannot win, there is your grandmaster. You will not be slighted.”
Gui Ling couldn’t help but laugh. “Yes.”
He had heard long ago that Splendid Cloud Sect was very protective. When the one being protected was him, Gui Ling felt pleased all over.
He took out a wood carved box out of his storage ring. “This junior bought this in the city. Shishu, I hope you do not look down on this.”
Kong Hou took the wood box. “May I open this now?”
Gui Ling nodded.
She opened the wooden box. Inside was a finely crafted phoenix hairpin with the mark of Sky Sect on the handle. This… seemed to be the new hairpin from Sky Sect?
Kong Hou recalled that Gui Ling had passed by her when she talked with her fellow female disciples about the new phoenix hairpin from Sky Sect on the flying ship. She hadn’t thought that Gui Ling would note it down and spend money to buy this.
Sky Sect’s things were not inexpensive. This child had joined Splendid Cloud Sect for less than two years. She feared that he had no more spirit stones left after buying this phoenix hairpin.
“The phoenix hairpin is very beautiful.” Kong Hou did not tell him not to buy such expensive things. She thanked him solemnly. “Thank you, I like it very much.”
“Kong Hou.” Huan Zhong smiled as he jumped off the crane and walked next to Kong Hou.
He glanced at the wood box in her hand and then smiled at Gui Ling.
Gui Ling almost couldn’t help but take a step back. This was not because he was cowardly but because Spirit Master Zhong Xi’s gaze was terrifyingly calm.
He was clearly smiling but without the least trace of joy.
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