Dao Companion Crippled, Coveters Move

Chapter 87 - 86: Qing Yueqiu's Suspicion About the Unknown Origin of Her Master's Valuables

"Junior Sister, what's wrong?"

Qing Yueqiu turned around and looked at her junior sister, who had a strange expression on her face.

The charming young woman looked up, her eyes meeting Qing Yueqiu's crimson gaze.

"Don't worry, Senior Sister. I'm fine."

Yu Gu Nan smiled and raised her Spirit Sword, gesturing that she could continue practicing.

Seeing that her junior sister seemed to be all right, Qing Yueqiu returned to the front to continue her swordsmanship demonstration.

Of course, as an outsider, she couldn't hear the argument taking place inside her junior sister's body.

'Yu Gu Nan! What are you doing, suddenly seizing control of the body?!'

'What am I doing? Twelve hours have passed. It's my turn to have the body... Even if a big sister wants to spoil her little sister, we still have to honor our agreement, don't we?'

A smile touched Yu Gu Nan's lips as she took a deep breath of the fresh air she had missed for so long.

'Tch...'

Inside the Heart Lake, Yu Xiaoyan stomped her foot in frustration, but there was nothing she could do.

It couldn't be helped. Since she was borrowing Yu Gu Nan's extraordinary talent, she had to pay the price.

Annoyed, Yu Xiaoyan closed her eyes, planning to recuperate her Divine Soul within the Heart Lake and wait for the moment she would regain control of their body.

But soon, a clear and gentle voice from the outside world made her eyes fly open.

'Master is here!'

「In the outside world.」

Clad in white robes, Pei Yuhang descended from the sky. The Spiritual Qi beneath his feet formed a whirlwind, blowing all the snow away to clear a patch of ground for him to land.

"Master."

Joy sparked in Qing Yueqiu's eyes, and a smile unconsciously graced her lips.

Yu Gu Nan still wasn't quite used to calling this handsome, incredibly young man "Master." But when she felt her sister's excitement bubble up from the Heart Lake, she was struck by a wicked impulse.

"Master, you're here!"

Her small feet, clad in white silk socks, went PITTER-PATTER across the snow as she hurried to Pei Yuhang's side, far more enthusiastic than Qing Yueqiu.

Hearing her nominal older sister use her own bright, clear voice to greet the man she loved most felt incredibly bizarre to Yu Xiaoyan.

'Yu Gu Nan, you promised you wouldn't try to steal Master from me! What are you doing in front of him?!'

Yu Xiaoyan was instinctively possessive, but trapped in the Heart Lake, her harsh words couldn't hinder Yu Gu Nan in the slightest.

She could only watch, helpless, as Yu Gu Nan used their body to throw herself into their Master's arms...

Yu Xiaoyan collapsed to her knees, her face ashen as she watched another woman get so close to her Master.

But moments later, her Master's response brought the light back to her eyes.

"You're Gu Nan?"

Pei Yuhang had identified which sister was before him at a glance, causing Yu Xiaoyan, who was in the Heart Lake, to break into a doting, gratified smile.

'Master... he can always recognize me... My love for him hasn't been in vain.'

Yu Gu Nan sensed her sullen, withdrawn sister's spirits lifting again and secretly gritted her teeth.

'I was so satisfied with her reaction just now. I just want to see her looking helpless and miserable as I take away the things she loves... And it's all Pei Yuhang's fault for letting her spirits lift again!'

Though she was grumbling internally, Yu Gu Nan put on an expression of surprise and admiration.

"Wow, Master, did you cultivate the Eyes of Golden Flame Divine Ability? Even Senior Sister couldn't tell who I was."

"I am, after all, a cultivator who has reached the Divinity Transformation realm, so it's normal for my Divine Sense to be more sensitive. Don't think Yueqiu doesn't care about you just because she couldn't tell you two apart."

Pei Yuhang patted her shoulder, feeling a sense of relief to see that Yu Gu Nan was no longer as resistant toward him as she had been at first.

'Loving a person, teaching a disciple—it's all like tending a garden.'

'Nurture them properly, care for them meticulously, and you will be rewarded.'

'It seems Gu Nan is finally starting to accept me as her Master.'

In high spirits, Pei Yuhang said to her, "Come on. I'm taking you and Yueqiu to Dan Yun Pavilion to see Elder Lu."

"Why are we going to the Dan Yun Pavilion?"

"I asked Senior Sister Lu to refine two precious God-Protecting Pills for you and Yueqiu."

"God-Protecting Pills? Those are too precious! Master, we can't accept them!" Qing Yueqiu said urgently, grabbing Pei Yuhang's sleeve.

Yu Gu Nan tilted her head to the side, not quite understanding why a single elixir would cause Qing Yueqiu to lose her composure.

'In her mind, Lu Ruoxi was Pei Yuhang's own senior sister, not to mention an Elder at the Dan Yun Pavilion who commanded vast resources. Surely, refining an elixir for two juniors wasn't such a great favor that Pei Yuhang would be unable to repay it, right?'

'*Junior Sister, you have to help me persuade Master to change his mind. A God-Protecting Pill is a Life-Saving Divine Pill that can protect our lives and souls after Crossing the Tribulation! It's priceless... The favor is too great. We really can't let Master bear this burden.*'

Qing Yueqiu's voice transmission startled Yu Gu Nan.

'So it's that precious? This is the kind of valuable elixir that even Ye Liyuan probably didn't get to take when she was Crossing the Tribulation, right? Otherwise, she wouldn't have ended up so weak and frail...'

'How did Master convince his senior sister to give them to him...? Don't tell me...?!'

Yu Gu Nan recalled her sister nagging her over the past few days about how their Master was frequently going out, not returning until the middle of the night, and often giving his two disciples large amounts of Spirit Stones.

'Pei Yuhang... Don't tell me he's being kept by an Elder from the Dao Sect? And the one keeping him is his own senior sister!'

Yu Gu Nan was dumbfounded.

Meanwhile, Pei Yuhang had calmed Qing Yueqiu's emotions. "Yueqiu," he said, "I've already had Senior Sister Lu finish refining the elixirs. It's useless to try and refuse them now...

I'm sorry I didn't discuss it with you two beforehand. I took on this enormous favor on my own because... I truly don't want to see anyone else from the Cold Palace Sword Mansion come to harm during their Celestial Tribulation."

"Master..."

Qing Yueqiu gripped the front of Pei Yuhang's robes tightly. At the thought of his determination to protect them, her hands fell away, powerless.

But even so, there was a question she had been holding back for a long time, and she had to ask it now.

"Master, can you tell me and my junior sister what you promised Elder Lu to get her to refine two precious God-Protecting Pills for you?"

The silver-haired young woman's glistening crimson eyes watched Pei Yuhang's expression with intense nervousness.

She was terrified of seeing even a hint of hesitation or pain in his face.

Yu Gu Nan wasn't the only one who had considered the possibility that their Master had sold his body... she had thought of it, too.

The seed of doubt that Yu Xiaoyan had planted in Qing Yueqiu's heart had long since taken root. Now, with her Master suddenly producing such a treasure that seemed far beyond his current means, that seed had finally sprouted.

'If Qing Yueqiu were to find out... that some woman had dared use despicable means to coerce and defile the Master she so revered and loved, she swore that she would use the most agonizing method in the world to ensure that woman's very Divine Soul was annihilated.'