"Rongrong, I'm fine."
"It's just a pity. This peach blossom and dragon-patterned mask has been with me for several years, but today, its strap was broken."
"However, I must thank Sect Master Ning for his help. Otherwise, at my current level, I would have been the one to be defeated."
Just as Tang Hao fled in defeat, Su Ran turned to thank Ning Fengzhi. As he turned, everyone could see that the right side of his mask was missing a corner, and the strap had snapped.
He gently removed the mask, and at that moment, his perfect, immortal face was revealed to all.
Su Ran's victory had been a perilous one. To land that final sword strike, he had put himself in harm's way, grazing past Tang Hao's Clear Sky Hammer. If the corner of the hammer had been just a fraction closer, a bloody scar would have been left on his world-stunning face.
However, as great as the risk of that sword strike was, the reward was equally high. After all, he was fighting someone twenty ranks above him. He had to take the gamble. It seemed that not only had he pierced Tang Hao's right shoulder, but he had also damaged the Spirit Bone in his right arm.
Su Ran casually extended his hand. The immortal peach branch that had been floating in the air flew back to him, carrying a fragmented piece of a Spirit Bone. A shattered Spirit Bone suffered immense damage to its quality. Tang Hao's right arm bone had been cracked by the peach blossom sword; he would be fortunate if it could be preserved at all. It would, at the very least, lose ten thousand years of quality.
It was only after Su Ran had retrieved his peach branch and was lost in thought that he came back to his senses and realized that everyone present was staring at him, dumbfounded.
"What... what's wrong? Do I... look a bit disheveled right now?"
"No... that's not it... Teacher..."
"You're... really handsome..." Meng Yiran and Zhu Zhuqing stammered, still in a daze.
With the mask gone, Su Ran looked as if he had stepped right out of a painting, a true Peach Blossom Immortal.
Standing amidst the radiant peach blossoms, his dark hair swayed gently in the wind. A few strands fell across his forehead, lightly entwined with pink and white petals.
His eyes were exquisitely handsome, as bright and full of spirit as the stars and moon in the night sky. In their depths seemed to lie millions of years of starlight and the divine charm of peach blossoms. His nose was high-bridged, and his thin lips were crimson without any rouge. When he smiled, it was like a spring breeze sweeping through a sea of flowers, causing every tree to burst into bloom. When he was cold, he was like a frost-covered peach branch, a clear chill tinged with aloofness.
He wore a moon-white robe embroidered with peach blossoms outlined in silver thread. The hem of his robe fluttered in the wind, and petals danced down to rest on his shoulders, complementing him perfectly, as if echoing his very being. He was breathtakingly handsome, an otherworldly beauty, seemingly formed from the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, a Peach Blossom Immortal descended to the mortal realm. With a single glance, it felt as if all the colors of the world had faded away.
Only he stood, independent and peerless in all the world.
As the saying goes:
A dream of the Jasper Terrace shatters, departing the golden throne,Sprinkling through the clouds, the shadow of a Peach Immortal.Pink petals flutter down into the mortal world,Crimson clouds swirl, reflecting a clear face.His eyes hold the vastness of the starry river,His form embodies the carefree breadth of heaven and earth.It must be the Immortal Teacher, gracing the mortal realm,Teaching disciples his skills, to be evergreen for eternity.
"Teacher, you scared Rongrong to death! You're not allowed to put yourself in danger like that ever again! I'd rather you protect yourself and run away alone than see you in danger, boohoo~"
It was Ning Rongrong, who had seen Su Ran's face before, who was the first to recover. She threw herself into his arms and, catching him off guard, planted a kiss on his cheek, crying her complaints.
"Hey... Rongrong, don't... sigh..."
"Alright, alright, don't be so upset. If Sect Master Ning sees this, he'll think I've taught his daughter to be a crybaby."
Su Ran touched his cheek. This girl, Rongrong, was genuinely worried about him, but there was definitely an element of taking advantage of the situation as well.
"Ning Rongrong! What are you kissing him for?!"
Meng Yiran, who had been stunned for a long while, her eyes filled with the image of her teacher's peach blossoms, finally snapped out of it when she saw Ning Rongrong actually kiss him. Her heart instantly dropped. It felt as if her favorite treat had been eaten by someone else, or as if someone was snatching something she dearly loved. The young girl couldn't quite process it. Perhaps this was selfish desire?
At this moment, she finally understood why their Eldest Senior Sister of Taoyuan Academy, Ning Rongrong, was always clinging to Teacher Su Ran. Even when she was already quite proficient in certain techniques and ultimate skills, she would still pretend to be half-ignorant and ask him for guidance. They had all thought she was just striving for perfection. Now it seemed she truly did want to be 'mastered'...
Teacher is just too handsome. You probably couldn't find another like him in the entire world.
The image of this peerlessly handsome Peach Blossom Immortal overlapped with the back of the teacher who had diligently taught them and supervised their training in the academy. In their eyes, the reverence they held for him began to bloom into a deep, intense affection.
How lucky were they to have become his students?
This figure, this Martial Soul, this strength, this depth, this face—the lethality to a young maiden was simply too great.
What young girl doesn't dream of love? What young girl's heart doesn't yearn for a Prince Charming?
And Su Ran was the most transcendent and captivating of them all.
But it wasn't just Ning Rongrong. At this moment, Meng Yiran and Zhu Zhuqing were no different!
A blush spread across the usually cold Zhu Zhuqing's face, and ripples appeared in her eyes, full of disbelief. The teacher who had been instructing them all this time was truly a transcendent immortal from the heavens, born with such handsome and otherworldly beauty!
The cat... is wet.
"Lalala~ This was Teacher's promise to me! As long as I can kiss him, you're not allowed to! Don't move!" Ning Rongrong stuck out her tongue and hugged Su Ran's arm to her soft chest. She loved having her teacher all to herself.
"That was clearly a promise you made yourself! Teacher never agreed to that!"
"Exactly," Zhu Zhuqing added coolly, glancing at Ning Rongrong. If she had known earlier that her teacher was this young and this devastatingly handsome, she would never have agreed to let Ning Rongrong have him all to herself!
For the past few months, she had been mostly focused on her own cultivation. While she sometimes marveled at her teacher's heaven-defying teaching and felt a sense of curiosity and admiration for him, whenever Ning Rongrong asked, she would tactfully find another place to train, creating opportunities for her to be alone with their teacher.
But now...
The look in Zhu Zhuqing's eyes changed. A rebellion was brewing.
"I don't care, I don't care," Ning Rongrong said childishly.
"Phew~"
"Old man, help me check. Is my hair a mess? Do I still look dignified? Am I pretty?" Nearby, Snake Grandma couldn't help but ask the Dragon Duke.
"It's fine."
"Wait a minute." The Dragon Duke's expression changed. He suddenly felt something was off about his wife. "You haven't cared about whether you look pretty or not for twenty or thirty years. What are you up to?"
"Old man, you don't understand. They say that a spring awakening in old age is the rarest of all," Snake Grandma said, her face rosy.
"You don't... toward Teacher Su—"
"Don't you dare! You're in your seventies and eighties!"
"No, we have to leave Soto City today. We have to leave today..." The Dragon Duke broke out in a cold sweat. He remembered back in the day, when his Tianxiang was courting him, she was just this shy...
"Teacher Su is too modest. With your talent, you are a rarity in this world. Even that Clear Sky Douluo is likely far inferior to you. Without my buffs, but with Rongrong and the Unrivaled Dragon and Serpent helping, Tang Hao couldn't have made any waves. This is the first time I have ever seen such a peerless individual as yourself, Teacher Su. You are nothing like that brute."
"With you looking after Rongrong, I can rest assured," Ning Fengzhi said at this moment, his eyes filled with admiration for Su Ran.
Only Gu Rong, who was beside him, looked a little perplexed. Sect Master? That's not what you said back at the sect. You said you wanted to see what kind of beast had stolen little Rongrong's heart, making her so lovesick that she even dared to write a letter home asking for opinions. You were planning to teach this person a good lesson!
(End of Chapter)