Hugging Leng Yulai in her arms, Leng Yaozhu's heart was filled with pain.
Neither she nor Leng Yulai had spoken about healing Leng Yulai's injuries yet.
To refine the Demon God Sword, Leng Yulai had suffered severe wounds.
Her soul core and spiritual world were both gravely damaged.
Even if Yali were here, there would be no way to heal her.
Under such circumstances, no matter what Leng Yulai said, Leng Yaozhu would agree without hesitation.
"Come in," Leng Yaozhu said as she looked at Leng Yulai, calling Xia Yi and Gu Yue back inside.
"Master!" As soon as Leng Yulai saw Xia Yi, she immediately tried to stand up.
"Sit down." Leng Yaozhu pressed her down forcefully and shot a fierce glare at Xia Yi.
Leng Yulai had no choice but to look at Xia Yi with a pitiful gaze.
Ignoring Xia Yi's aggrieved expression, Leng Yaozhu turned to Gu Yue and said coldly, "Yue'er, from today onward, you will stay in the Spirit Pagoda to cultivate. You may leave only one day per month."
"Ah!" Xia Yi and Gu Yue were both stunned.
They hadn't expected Leng Yaozhu to be so ruthless.
Xia Yi felt extremely wronged. He had already returned Leng Yulai to Leng Yaozhu.
Yet Leng Yaozhu still held onto this grudge.
"Ah, what? Do you have any objections?" Leng Yaozhu asked coldly.
"Teacher, I still need to make my battle armor," Gu Yue quickly found an excuse.
"Wait until you break through to Soul King. You can make a full set at once. Besides, you're just designing it, and you can do that in the Spirit Pagoda," Leng Yaozhu said indifferently.
"I also need to attend Shrek Academy," Gu Yue tried again.
"Take a leave of absence. No matter what, focus on breaking through to Soul King first," Leng Yaozhu said, glancing at Xia Yi again.
She would never allow Xia Yi and Gu Yue to be completely lost in romance.
"If I only cultivate in the Spirit Pagoda, my soul power will increase quickly, but I will lose certain insights," Gu Yue argued.
She had just officially gotten together with Xia Yi—how could she leave now?
"Fine, how about this? For every level you increase, I'll give you a week off," Leng Yaozhu snorted coldly. "Don't try to bargain with me. If you do, I'll reduce it to just one day per month."
"Yes, Teacher," Gu Yue lowered her head in frustration.
It wasn't like she couldn't see Xia Yi—he could always visit her at the Spirit Pagoda.
Xia Yi wore a bitter smile.
At the Spirit Pagoda, trying to meet Gu Yue in secret would not be easy.
"Alright, you may go cultivate now," Leng Yaozhu said indifferently.
"Right now?" Gu Yue asked with a long face.
"Right now," Leng Yaozhu said firmly.
"Yes!" Gu Yue nodded.
In reality, she wasn't too concerned. Her soul power had long reached the peak of Rank 39. If she focused, she could break through in a single night.
Which meant that by tomorrow, she could enjoy a full week of freedom with Xia Yi.
After leaving Xia Yi a playful, challenging look, she turned and left.
"Yue'er, don't blame me. I'm only thinking about your future," Leng Yaozhu thought to herself as she watched Gu Yue's departing figure.
She was actually quite satisfied with Xia Yi.
Before confirming his relationship with Gu Yue, he had been carefree, even bold enough to joke around with her.
But ever since getting together with Gu Yue, she had noticed that Xia Yi had restrained himself a lot.
Not only did he stop joking with her, but he also avoided saying anything even slightly ambiguous.
Once Gu Yue was completely gone, Leng Yaozhu turned to Xia Yi and said, "From now on, my sister will be following you. You are not allowed to bully her."
"Huh?" Xia Yi was still brooding over not being able to spend every moment with Gu Yue, when he suddenly heard Leng Yaozhu say this.
"You're not keeping Yulai with you?" Xia Yi asked tentatively.
"'Yulai-jie'—that's a nice way to address her. From now on, call my sister that," Leng Yaozhu said with satisfaction. "And she will simply call you by your name. Do you have any objections?"
"If I agree, can I get more vacation time for Yue'er?" Xia Yi grinned.
"You can," Leng Yaozhu actually nodded and said, "As long as you two stick to that form of address, Gu Yue will get an extra day off per level she advances."
"Really?" Xia Yi was overjoyed.
"When have I ever gone back on my word?" Leng Yaozhu snorted. "But let me be clear—if I hear Yulai call you 'Master' again, I will cancel all of Yue'er's vacation time."
"Ah, Yaozhu-jie, you can't be that cruel!" Xia Yi protested immediately.
Could he really control Leng Yulai?
"That's your problem," Leng Yaozhu said indifferently.
Helpless, Xia Yi looked toward Leng Yulai, who was sitting obediently beside Leng Yaozhu, looking pitifully at him.
Despite her innocent expression, Xia Yi knew he had to train her properly.
Otherwise, his future happiness would be cut in half.
"Ma—Xia Yi, don't worry, I will be very obedient," Leng Yulai said sweetly.
Her submissive demeanor almost made Leng Yaozhu cough up blood.
Wasn't she doing all of this to help Leng Yulai gain some standing with Xia Yi?
But Leng Yulai completely ruined her efforts with one sentence.
Leng Yaozhu turned and glared fiercely at her hopeless sister.
"I'll make tea for Yaozhu-jie and Xia Yi," Leng Yulai said softly, maintaining her docile maid-like appearance.
She carefully retrieved tea leaves and utensils from Leng Yaozhu's desk drawer, took small, precise steps to fetch water, and then used her Dark Phoenix flames to instantly bring the kettle to a boil.
Leng Yaozhu could no longer bear to watch. She pulled Leng Yulai back to sit beside her again. "Sit down. Let Xia Yi do it."
With Xia Yi present, Leng Yulai obediently complied.
"This is tragic. A master making tea for his maid—I must be the first," Xia Yi thought to himself with a sigh.
But he still stood up, took the tea set from Leng Yulai's hands, and skillfully performed the tea-making process, finally presenting the tea to Leng Yaozhu and Leng Yulai with proper etiquette.
He had no choice—after all, this was his half-mother-in-law.
"Now that's more like it," Leng Yaozhu said with satisfaction as she sipped her tea.
"Serves you right! How dare you take my sister as a maid? See if I don't put you in your place," she thought smugly.
But in truth, she was grateful to Xia Yi.
No matter what, he had been the one to pull Leng Yulai out of the Holy Spirit Cult.
Still, gratitude was one thing. Complaints were another.
The two could coexist.
Seeing Leng Yaozhu's triumphant expression, Xia Yi knew exactly what she was thinking.
But all he could do was hug the teapot, slump onto the sofa, and drink straight from the spout.
"Hmph! Even though I served them tea, I drank the most, and I enjoyed it the most," Xia Yi comforted himself.
To him, serving Leng Yaozhu and Leng Yulai tea wasn't a big deal.
What he couldn't stand was Leng Yaozhu's smug look and lips curling in satisfaction.
Leng Yulai took a sip of her tea, then propped her chin on her hands and watched the "teacher and disciple" pair with great interest.
The more she looked, the more she felt they were a pair of destined rivals.
"Big sister, can I ask you a question?" Leng Yulai suddenly spoke.
"What question?" Leng Yaozhu asked in a deep voice.
"Do you still like Yun Ming?" Leng Yulai sat up straight and asked seriously.
Leng Yaozhu's heart trembled. She thought Leng Yulai was thinking about Yun Ming again.
"I..." Leng Yaozhu opened her mouth, but for a moment, she didn't know how to answer.
She didn't want to lie to Leng Yulai.
But did she still like him or not?Even she didn't know.
If this had been before, and Leng Yulai had asked her this, she would have definitely answered that she liked him. But she wouldn't fight with Yali for him, nor would she fight with Leng Yulai.
Yet, at some point, things had changed.
It wasn't until Leng Yulai asked her that she realized she no longer had the courage to admit she liked Yun Ming.
At the same time, she also lacked the courage to admit that she no longer liked him.
Decades of dedication…
If she said she didn't like him, wouldn't that be betraying her decades of feelings?
"How about this? Let me ask again: if Yun Ming and Xia Yi fell into the water at the same time, who would you save?" Leng Yulai asked playfully.
Xia Yi and Leng Yaozhu both rolled their eyes at the same time.
Xia Yi immediately stated, "I don't need saving. I can swim."
Don't forget, Xia Yi had spent three years in Donghai City, right next to the ocean.
How could he not know how to swim?
"Well, if it were me, I'd definitely save Xia Yi first," Leng Yulai chuckled and said, "During my time in the Holy Spirit Cult, I thought about you all the time, sister. Though I did think about Yun Ming too, it was only a fleeting thought. In the four years I spent inside Xia Yi's body, I thought about many things. Our relationship with Yun Ming was never meant to be. Instead of clinging to unrealistic fantasies, it's better to grasp the reality in front of us."
"Sister, I'm really glad you've come to terms with this." Tears welled up in Leng Yaozhu's beautiful eyes once again.
"Sister, I haven't come to terms with it. I've just trapped myself in a smaller dead end," Leng Yulai shook her head and said.
"What do you mean?" Leng Yaozhu asked, puzzled.
"Sister, you just promised me that you wouldn't blame me, right?" Leng Yulai bit her lip and asked.
"What exactly do you mean?" Leng Yaozhu's voice grew heavier.
Leng Yulai gritted her teeth and said, "Sister, do you remember the Demon God Sword I gave you earlier? During my time in the Holy Spirit Cult, my hatred for you reached an unprecedented level. To take revenge on you, I prepared two plans. One was to kill you—the Demon God Sword was born for that purpose. But that was only my backup plan. My primary plan was to make you lose your purity so you wouldn't be worthy of Yun Ming. For that, I prepared a special drug. I named it 'Heavenly Phoenix Song.' If I had to classify its power level, it would definitely be no weaker than the Demon God Sword."
"What did you say?" Leng Yaozhu's face instantly turned deathly pale.
She immediately thought of the tea she had just drunk.
"Sister, why don't you circulate your soul power and see for yourself?" Leng Yulai said.
Leng Yaozhu instinctively activated her soul power, and a burning sensation immediately spread from her abdomen.
"What are you still sitting there for? Go find Gu Yue!" Leng Yaozhu suddenly turned to look at Xia Yi and shouted at him.
She hadn't forgotten—Xia Yi had just drunk the most tea.
"Master, if you leave, once my sister can't hold on anymore, she will definitely kill herself to preserve her purity. At that point, you'll be the one responsible. Will you be able to forgive yourself? Will Gu Yue forgive you?" Leng Yulai suddenly lifted her head and stared at Xia Yi.
"Leng Yulai, shut up!" Leng Yaozhu shouted.
"Sister, I originally planned to wait a while before giving you the drug. But you've been too good to me. I was afraid that if I waited any longer, I wouldn't have the heart to go through with it," Leng Yulai gritted her teeth, tears slowly sliding down her cheeks. "Since you already don't like Yun Ming anymore, I have no guilt. I've already fallen once. Today, I'll fall with you again. What does it matter?"
"Sister… do you really hate me that much?" Leng Yaozhu's voice trembled. She couldn't accept that all of Leng Yulai's affection toward her had been an act, just to set her up.
"Just take it as hatred," Leng Yulai gritted her teeth, wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, and said, "Today, you fall, I fall with you. If you commit suicide, I won't even frown—I'll kill myself immediately to follow you."
After speaking, she stubbornly lifted her gaze to Xia Yi.
Leng Yaozhu also turned to look at Xia Yi, but after just one glance, she turned her head away, closing her eyes as tears streamed down uncontrollably.
She had no choice left. Just like how she wouldn't let Leng Yulai die with her, Xia Yi wouldn't allow her to commit suicide either.
Even with her eyes closed, she could feel Xia Yi cupping her face, gently kissing away her tears, one by one.
"Forget it… let's just treat this as a dream," Leng Yaozhu's tears fell even harder.
Now, she only hoped that Gu Yue would never find out about today's events.
(End of Chapter)