Chapter 146

"The world is vast, where can one not go?" Zhuang Buran turned around and squeezed out a smile:

"I'll just head to the wilderness to deal with the night first."

"There is an inn not far from the clinic; you can go there to manage for the night." Yan Hongye's expression was indifferent.

The spear-bearing youth gestured to the cloth bag at his waist:

"Apart from a pile of Yellow Talismans I drew myself, I only have a few copper coins. I really can't afford to stay at an inn."

Upon hearing this, Yan Hongye said:

"Wait here, I will get some silver for you."

After saying this, without giving Zhuang Buran a chance to refuse, she opened a medicine cabinet and threw a small bag of silver at the spear-bearing youth.

"Junior Sister, seeing your cold-outside-warm-inside nature, I feel even more that I have foresight and am indeed not worthy of you."

Zhuang Buran cupped his hands:

"If fate allows, we shall meet again."

He then turned and walked out of the clinic.

Yan Hongye watched his departing back and sighed inexplicably. She began to tidy up the clinic, and as night fell and she prepared to close the doors, she saw a familiar spear-bearing figure on the empty street.

Immediately, she frowned and walked out, saying:

"Didn't you go to stay at the inn?"

Zhuang Buran said helplessly:

"Junior Sister, if I said the Fenglai Inn was full tonight, would you think I was lying to you?"

Yan Hongye heard this, didn't say whether she believed it or not, looked at the sky, and said:

"Let's go, just stay at the clinic tonight."

"Would that be inconvenient?" the spear-bearing youth said with slight embarrassment.

"Fine, then go to the wilderness to manage for the night." After Yan Hongye finished speaking, she turned and walked back into the clinic.

"As your own senior brother, I still feel we shouldn't be too formal." Zhuang Buran followed immediately.

Half an incense stick later.

In the backyard of Bingxin Caotang, in a dining hall.

The spear-bearing youth sat at the table, and Yan Hongye served two bowls of steaming hot noodle soup.

"Junior Sister, the four words 'kind and beautiful' are specifically used to describe you." Zhuang Buran took a bowl and said:

"Tomorrow, your senior brother will show off his skills and cook you a table of good dishes before I leave."

"No need." After Yan Hongye sat down, she said faintly:

"I just hadn't eaten yet, so I cooked a portion for you while I was at it."

"I already said there's no need to be too formal in front of your own senior brother. It's happily decided; I'll go buy groceries early tomorrow morning."

Zhuang Buran's words made Yan Hongye sigh softly in her heart; it turned out that the "no need to be too formal" from earlier could be used in reverse.

The next day, morning.

Yan Hongye was in the front hall seeing patients when her nose suddenly twitched, and she saw plumes of thick smoke continuously pouring into the hall.

She hurriedly pacified the patients waiting for treatment and then walked quickly to the backyard, only to see that the kitchen was not just smoking, but completely on fire.

The spear-bearing youth was outside the kitchen, continuously patting the flames on his robes.

Yan Hongye immediately unleashed a domineering and extraordinary force, not only extinguishing the flames on Zhuang Buran but also putting out the fire that was about to spread from the kitchen.

"Junior Sister, if I said this was just an accident, would you believe me?" The spear-bearing youth gave a dry laugh.

"Do you think I should believe you?"

Yan Hongye really didn't know what to say, and unable to maintain her cold expression, she said irritably:

"Can you even cook at all?"

"Uh... knowing how to cook and knowing how to eat shouldn't be that different, right?" Zhuang Buran said uncertainly.

"You can't even cook, yet you dared to take on the whole responsibility." Yan Hongye was speechless.

The spear-bearing youth looked serious:

"Please rest assured, Junior Sister, I will absolutely not leave until I have restored the kitchen to its original state."

"No need, you should leave quickly." Yan Hongye said with some mental exhaustion:

"If I let you repair the kitchen, I fear my Bingxin Caotang will collapse."

"Junior Sister, you are looking down on me." Zhuang Buran said with full sincerity:

"For me, building a house is easy as long as you have hands; it's much simpler than cooking. Please, you must trust me one more time."

Seeing Yan Hongye remain silent, he continued:

"If I just left like this, I would feel extremely sorry. My state of mind was already lacking, causing my Daoist cultivation to stagnate, and I thought I had caused Junior Sister a lot of trouble, only to just walk away."

The spear-bearing youth sighed faintly:

"Junior Sister, can you bear to see your senior brother become a Daoist failure that everyone looks down upon?"

"You... forget it, just tidy up this backyard first." Yan Hongye didn't know what to say, dropped a sentence, and turned to go to the front hall.

"Rest assured, leave everything to me."

Half a month later, backyard.

"Look, isn't this kitchen exactly the same as before?" Zhuang Buran said with a chuckle.

Yan Hongye kept examining the wooden house in front of her and found that the design was indeed exactly the same as before. Feeling that someone was finally somewhat reliable, she walked into the house and was instantly stunned on the spot.

The room was completely empty; never mind pots, bowls, ladles, or basins, there wasn't even a stove.

"Junior Sister, I can explain this." The spear-bearing youth gave a light cough.

"Speak." Yan Hongye spat out a word.

Zhuang Buran said slowly:

"I dare to build a stove, but does Junior Sister dare to use it?"

Yan Hongye: "..."

At this moment, the exceptionally quiet kitchen had already explained everything.

"Zhuge Liuyun, you don't think your Daoist techniques are top-notch in the opposite direction? It must be because of a lack of tempering, leading to a lack in your state of mind."

Yan Hongye said expressionlessly:

"Starting from tomorrow morning, one hour every day, in the bamboo forest outside Nanguo Town, I will teach you how to reach the Purple Talisman realm faster."

"Usually, it's the senior brother teaching the junior sister." The spear-bearing youth was very troubled:

"So, can you... can you let me ponder it slowly myself?"

"No."

Yan Hongye glanced at Zhuang Buran and then turned to walk out of the kitchen.

The next day, early morning.

In a quiet bamboo forest.

"Junior Sister, the cultivation path of my Xuanxin Sect has always been the parallel practice of Dao and martial arts. You wouldn't just want me to use Daoist techniques, would you?"

Zhuang Buran looked suspicious:

"If you only let me use Daoist techniques, that would be using the name of teaching to commit an act of defying the heavens."

"I am your own senior brother; you wouldn't really want to strike hard, would you? All the previous events were really just accidents."

"Of course you can use martial arts."

Yan Hongye's mouth curled slightly, her clear eyes flickering with a glimmer of light. It was, after all, the nature of a young girl, as if she felt she could finally vent the frustration in her heart openly.

"Zhuge Liuyun, if you want one day for me to sincerely call you 'Senior Brother', you don't need to beat me. Just be able to exchange dozens of moves with me without falling behind."

"It wouldn't be impossible for me to acknowledge you as this senior brother."

"It doesn't have to be that troublesome. Even if you call yourself Sima Hongye, you are still my junior sister." Zhuang Buran smiled:

"Just because Sima Sanniang is my mistress, she will definitely acknowledge me as her disciple, and you will only ever be my junior sister."

Upon hearing this, Yan Hongye pinched a seal and chanted:

"Heaven and Earth Boundless, Xuanxin Orthodox Law, Five Elements Divine Thunder!"

A Purple Talisman transformed into divine thunder as thick as a python and struck toward the spear-bearing youth.

"Bang!"

A deep pit more than a zhang wide appeared on the ground.

Zhuang Buran swept through the air for eight or nine zhang, standing on the tip of a bamboo, looking slightly surprised:

"Junior Sister, you're playing for real!"

"Good lightness skill."

Yan Hongye was ruthless and didn't talk much, successively unleashing seven or eight Purple Talismans, all of which transformed into divine thunder and struck.

"Zhuge Liuyun, if you keep using lightness skills to dodge, then for the rest of your life, the Xuanxin Orthodox Law will never progress and can only remain at the Yellow Talisman realm."

"You really think I'm stupid." Zhuang Buran stood on a distant bamboo tip and said:

"Junior Sister, don't joke around here. Is it possible that being struck by your Five Elements Divine Thunder and losing half my life would lead to significant progress in the Xuanxin Orthodox Law?"

"So you really aren't stupid!" Yan Hongye suddenly appeared behind the spear-bearing youth and kicked out.

Zhuang Buran dodged narrowly, and a calm voice reached his ears:

"Since you aren't stupid, why can't you even cook? And afterward, you exposed your true nature, occasionally saying that the dishes I cook are either too bland or too heavy in flavor."

"If you're so good at talking, why don't you do it?"

The spear-bearing youth listened while dodging the heavy palm shadows coming his way.

"Junior Sister, how long have you been bottling this up? It seems you've even counted the accounts that weren't caused by me onto my head."

"Cut the crap. Apart from my mother, there are few in the world who can compare to my medical skills. If I hurt you, it won't take long for me to have you jumping around again."

Yan Hongye's whole body erupted with energy, shaking out a domineering and extremely righteous true energy, and fierce, biting palm power continuously struck toward the spear-bearing youth.

"They say that after eating someone's food, your mouth becomes soft. If Junior Sister can touch me, it wouldn't matter if I get beaten by you."

Zhuang Buran's body was like willow catkins, and like a kite rising against the wind. Between dodging left and right, he dodged Yan Hongye's overwhelming palm power one by one.

"I forgot to say, my martial arts are top-notch, and my Daoist techniques are top-notch in the opposite direction, but in... the path of lightness skills, if I claim to be second in the world, no one would dare claim to be first."

(End of chapter)