Chapter 284: The Sword Fairy Feels Assured
Luo Wusheng learned another useful piece of trivia today.
Yes, in the future, whenever he interacts with Little Yuli's harem members from the original story... and accidentally takes a small advantage, he must remember to erase or completely conceal any lingering traces of that encounter before meeting the original protagonist.
Otherwise, he'd end up in an awkward situation like this.
"Um... maybe it's the smell of sour plum soup...?"
"I had a bowl just four hours ago. It's hardly enough time for me to forget its scent."
The Sword Fairy coldly interrupted his weak excuse.
Her small foot pressing against his tensed a little harder.
"More importantly... Why are you only now arriving in Sword Rain City? Even at my sword-flight speed, the journey from Sword Cloud City to Sword Rain City takes at most three hours."
She raised her gaze, staring directly into the boy's face, her eyes meeting his somewhat evasive ones.
Luo Wusheng felt the cool sour plum soup in his hand turning slightly icy. Though his body, tempered to withstand cold and heat, should be impervious to the elements, he felt the biting chill of winter in the midst of summer.
He could only silently thank his stars that the scent exposed was merely from holding hands with the Empress Taoist Alter Ego. If it were from a more intimate encounter with Lu Yuliu Master, she would undoubtedly explode with much greater force.
Well, this time's mishap was mostly due to his impatience. His head had been preoccupied with thinking about how to meet Sword Fairy again without arousing suspicion about him being her Master Dao Companion. Normally, nothing would go wrong, given that Little Yuli was still a pure and naive child.
But better safe than sorry. Hence, before entering the city, Luo Wusheng had taken some time to have his two traveling companions wait outside...
Alright, truthfully, it hadn't taken much effort.
Xuan Ming was currently posing as a reliable miner he'd hired. Wanting to keep his identity under wraps, Xuan Ming easily agreed to Luo Wusheng's conditions, such as not mentioning the Soulblade Specter.
Ji Yanyao was even easier to convince. While she probably understood everything going on, outwardly, she had to maintain a pretense of ignorance. For someone unwilling to break character, waiting outside was a minor issue she accepted calmly.
Having settled this, Luo Wusheng carefully considered various scenarios for meeting Little Yuli, even crafting a preliminary script.
But unexpectedly, everything went off course when he got bitten.
'Should I say, as expected of the original protagonist...'
At this point, since he'd soon be introducing Little Yuli to the Taoist Sect Chief Disciple, Luo Wusheng quickly adjusted his mindset.
Pointing with his unrestrained hand, he indicated a direction.
"Ahem, my experience is a long story... I noticed a suitable place for a conversation upon entering the city. Shall we head there to talk?"
There was still time before his meeting with Xuan Ming and Ji Yanyao, but for now, his priority was appeasing the girl in front of him.
Lu Yuli stared at him intently before suddenly grabbing his forearm and downing the bowl of sour plum soup in his hand in a few gulps.
Giving him a glare and slightly distancing herself, the young girl turned her face away.
"...There's a better place over there."
<+>
Within an elegant pavilion in Sword Rain City.
Inside a private room, fragrant incense wafted through the air. Luo Wusheng and Lu Yuli sat side by side at a table adorned with delicate desserts.
The sweets remained untouched.
The Holy Saint of the Demon Sect felt slightly uneasy.
He was explaining the events of the past few days to the young girl beside him... albeit in a heavily edited version.
The Sword Fairy appeared lost in thought.
'Three days ago, he coincidentally discovered an Ancient Heavenly Gate secret realm left behind after a battle between the Sword Emperor and the Sword Ancestor. He acquired the treasures within, gained a large quantity of blank sword intent essence, and spent some time refining it to achieve a breakthrough...'
That was the first major event she'd heard from Luo Wusheng's account, glossed over with mentions of him wandering Sword Province before that.
But this event alone left her dumbfounded.
As the Sword Ancestor's heir, how had she not known that her legendary ancestor had fought the Ancient Heavenly Gate's Sword Emperor? Let alone left behind a secret realm inheritance?
And yet, the Demon Sect's Holy Saint just happened to stumble upon it and claimed its treasures?
What kind of luck was that?
Wait... three days ago? Isn't that when he borrowed my blessing? Could it be related to me again?
No, no, she was overthinking it. There was no way her casual blessing could have such an effect.
'But his sword intent did indeed achieve perfection...'
Little Yuli felt a bit lost.
The Holy Saint of the Demon Sect had only formed the embryonic stage of his sword intent five days ago by relying on an Earth-grade Soulblade Specter. No, it wasn't "only seemed like"—it was definitely five days ago!
When did improving sword intent become this easy?
Her mind was full of question marks, so she didn't notice that Luo Wusheng had deliberately glossed over the timeline while recounting his experience.
"—Later, while in the Sword Emperor's secret realm, I received your message. However, as I was in a critical moment, I could only respond briefly and ended up staying there for quite some time."
"After leaving the secret realm, I originally intended to find you right away, but as soon as I stepped out, I ran into an old friend with whom I'd once forged a jade connection..."
"So, I ended up traveling with Daoist Da Zhuang, only to encounter a Nascent Soul cultivator of Sword Province blinded by greed—"
Slowly, Luo Wusheng concluded his nine truths and one lie.
Having planned this explanation long in advance, and since most of it was grounded in reality, there wasn't a shred of suspicion in his demeanor.
"So... the feminine aura lingering on you belongs to that Taoist Sect Chief Disciple?"
Lu Yuli spoke as she picked up a piece of osmanthus cake from the table. Pinching it lightly with one hand, she began to split it apart with the other. The cake started to crack slowly in the middle.
"Uh... maybe?"
The osmanthus cake broke in two.
"I see... Is she pretty?"
The two halves of the osmanthus cake were neatly placed back on the plate.
Luo Wusheng looked at the girl sitting beside him, who was staring at him after her question. After a brief pause, he spoke.
"...She's pretty."
The plate holding the osmanthus cake trembled slightly.
But then he slowly added, "Though, of course, Little Yuli is still prettier."
At that moment, Luo Wusheng found himself holding Little Yuli's delicate hand, and the ring on her finger was being carefully removed.
The air seemed to freeze.
The beautiful girl quickly realized what had happened.
Her small face flushed a faint pink as she hastily reclaimed her ring and turned her head away.
"Hmph, no matter how pretty she is, you don't get to look!"
Seeing her reaction, Luo Wusheng secretly exhaled in relief.
'Phew... finally managed to handle this.'
With this, he could brush past the events of the past few days for now.
Meanwhile, Little Yuli didn't immediately revert to her aloof demeanor. Instead, her beautiful eyes stole a glance at Luo Wusheng.
Hmm... while it was true that a new woman had appeared by his side, their acquaintance seemed to be only two or three hours old. That shouldn't pose much of a problem, right?
Besides, this guy had mostly spent the past few days in the Sword Emperor's secret realm, napping and improving his sword intent...
While the fortuitous encounter made her a little envious, she couldn't help but feel happy for him.
It didn't seem like anything bad had happened.
The Sword Fairy felt reassured.
<+>
Note: Link to the character Illustration:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1lkIcPnCxeyuyZA4Kkb621dPC05UvWjhD
- - - - - - - - - -
Note: If you want to see more chapters of this story, please join my Patreon[1], for $5 each month, you can read all of the available chapters.
Patreon Account: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=93297024[2]
Latest Chapter In Patreon: Chapter 430: The Reason[3]
Link to the latest chapter: https://www.patreon.com/posts/chapter-430-140786233[4]
[1] https://www.patreon.com/user?u=93297024
[2] https://www.patreon.com/user?u=93297024
[3] https://www.patreon.com/posts/chapter-430-140786233
[4] https://www.patreon.com/posts/chapter-430-140786233