Chapter 239

Zhuang Buran's eyes flashed. He walked into the inn, ordered a table full of dishes, and then found a seat by the window in the main hall.

Before long, a woman wearing a pale purple gauze dress walked straight over and sat opposite the young man in white carrying a sword.

One could see her slender waist and long legs, her graceful posture, and her entire being exuded a mature, charming, elegant, and generous temperament.

"I am a complete stranger to you, Miss. Is it really okay for you to be so familiar?"

"Setting aside previous lives, since we can meet in the same inn today, it is fate. Why talk about what is not okay?"

"As the old saying goes, 'a thick-skinned person eats their fill, while a thin-skinned person goes hungry'." Zhuang Buran shook his head:

"Your manner of freeloading with such righteous indignation truly leaves me speechless."

"Who is freeloading?" The woman in purple's pretty face froze, and she said:

"I plan to open a tavern, so I've been secretly scouting the market everywhere, and tasting the food and wine of various places along the way."

"I would very much like to believe that, but I just can't."

Upon hearing this, the woman in purple took out a silver ingot, slapped it on the table, and called out:

"Waiter, put his table of dishes on my tab, and bring a few more pots of good wine."

"Coming right up!"

A waiter hurried over, beaming with joy as he took the silver.

Zhuang Buran raised an eyebrow:

"You are quite generous, Miss. Why not help me open a superior guest room as well?"

The woman in purple was stunned and asked:

"Didn't you say we were strangers? How can you be so pushy?"

She became inexplicably agitated:

"Do you still remember me?"

"First, you took the initiative to strike up a conversation, then you showed off your wealth, and now you are fabricating a connection from a past acquaintance."

Zhuang Buran sighed lightly:

"My master was right: when traveling away from home, not only should young ladies learn to protect themselves, but young men must also learn to protect themselves."

"What do you mean?" the woman in purple asked suspiciously.

Zhuang Buran asked in return:

"It is clearly you who saw my appearance and had designs on me, so why ask me what I mean?"

The woman in purple finally realized, and said indignantly:

"You actually took me for a lecher!"

Zhuang Buran corrected her earnestly:

"Wrong, a sucker."

"You..." The woman in purple thought of something and smiled sweetly:

"That's right, I have taken a fancy to you. I wonder what it would take for you to be willing to like me?"

Zhuang Buran looked her up and down:

"You are very beautiful, Miss."

The woman in purple looked expectant:

"And then?"

Zhuang Buran picked up his tea and took a sip:

"Don't get your hopes up too high."

"You..."

Zixuan was furious. In her heart, she secretly blamed the Mount Shu Five Elders. How did her steady, resolute, affectionate, and inarticulate lover come to have such a tricky and eccentric temperament in this lifetime?

"Miss, I know you are in a hurry, but please don't be in a hurry first." Zhuang Buran said unhurriedly:

"Considering that your appearance is acceptable, it's not impossible for me to give you a chance."

"In this mundane world, gold and silver best represent a person's sincerity. You can let me see your sincerity first, Miss."

"You want money?" Zixuan looked suspicious.

Zhuang Buran said solemnly:

"I don't want money, but I want to see how much weight this so-called 'love at first sight' carries in your heart."

Upon hearing this, Zixuan actually took out a bulging money bag and pushed it in front of the young man in white carrying a sword:

"This should be able to show some of my sincerity."

Zhuang Buran opened the bag and saw that it was filled with gold. He couldn't help but sigh:

"You are indeed very sincere, Miss. But if you give all your money to me, how will you open your tavern?"

"I have quite a bit of family wealth; this money is not worth mentioning."

Zixuan decided to play along to the end, wanting to see exactly what the young man in white carrying a sword before her had become.

"Then I will accept it without modesty."

Zhuang Buran generously put the money bag into the cloth bag slung across his shoulder and said:

"I am Xu Changqing. May I ask your name, Miss?"

"Zixuan."

"So it is Miss Zixuan. Then let me give you one piece of advice: don't just focus on love and romance all day long. You should have more important things to do."

Zhuang Buran said unhurriedly:

"Living in this world, one should watch how flowers bloom, how water flows, how the sun rises, and when the sunset falls. Then, go and understand some principles, or encounter interesting things. How can one live only for love?"

Having said this, he stood up and waved his hand:

"The money just now will be the reward for my guidance to Miss Zixuan. You should reflect on it yourself."

The young man in white carrying a sword found the innkeeper to open a superior room and, led by a waiter, left the inn's main hall.

"Three lifetimes of cultivating the Dao, and you still can't change that annoying habit of wanting to lecture people." Zixuan's eyes were like autumn water, and she thought to herself:

"I knew this 'money-grubbing' act was something you were deliberately putting on."

At the same time.

Inside the Mount Shu Wuji Pavilion, the Mount Shu Five Elders, relying on their cultivation and a magical artifact capable of observing things for ten thousand miles, glimpsed everything that happened in the inn. Their expressions were somewhat strange.

Daoist Qingwei laughed:

"Hahaha, Changqing has always been serious since he was a child. I didn't expect him to hide such a mischievous temperament in private."

Youxuan replied:

"The most crucial thing is that Changqing did not fall for the descendant of Nuwa again, but instead advised her not to take love to heart."

Elder Canggu frowned:

"We have already sealed Changqing's memories. Why would he give such a warning?"

"And I have said long ago that women cannot be trusted. This descendant of Nuwa is just as I expected—she came to see Changqing without keeping her promise. It's fortunate that he remembered the words I warned him with before."

"Primordial Spirit Elder, calm down." Daoist Qingwei said gently:

"Some things Changqing must face himself in the end. We should trust him."

The four of them fell silent.

"Memories and emotions are intertwined. Even if we sealed Changqing's memories, emotions are like the strings that move a puppet. One never knows which string, when pulled, will hook the memories out again."

Elder Heyang sighed:

"It is precisely because of this that Changqing ended up unable to help himself and advised the descendant of Nuwa."

"And emotions are the most ethereal things. One does not know where they are born or where they end, yet they are extremely stubborn—tough when pulled, weak when pushed. They follow the heart's nature and cannot be destroyed or taken away by ordinary external forces."

"Furthermore, the reason Changqing is Changqing is because, beyond his devotion to cultivating the Dao, he has feelings for all things. I am deeply afraid that he will unknowingly recover his past memories and follow in the footsteps of his previous two lives."

Elder Canggu said sternly:

"As long as Changqing devotes himself to cultivating the Dao, he will surely become an immortal. Judging by his ability to gain the recognition of the Divine Realm, this is Heaven's will. How can we let him fall into the giant wheel of the mundane world's endless bitter tribulations because of the karmic debts of his past lives?"

Daoist Qingwei's voice was soothing:

"The two elders need not worry too much. Didn't Changqing perform very well just now? It shows that even this relationship spanning two hundred years cannot shake Changqing's Dao heart for the time being."

Upon hearing this, the few of them immediately thought of how their eldest disciple had only offered advice and shown no abnormalities even when meeting the person he loved deeply in his previous two lives, and they couldn't help but set their hearts at ease for the moment.

(End of chapter)