Chapter 30

Di Jiang shyly covered his face with his wings; although he might not be able to see it, he could feel that many pink bubbles had suddenly appeared between Ling Xiao and Shi Ran, ya ya ya!

Di Jiang couldn't look; Di Jiang would start dancing! Di Jiang sighed while quickly flying away.

Drip! A water droplet fell onto the lake surface.

Ling Xiao's Adam's apple slid silently. The scorching warmth in his embrace, the long hair scattered on the bed, the gazing eyes—all were like invisible vines, slowly twining around.

Though his body should be immune to cold and heat as an Immortal Venerable, he now felt the fabric of her clothing pressed against his chest rapidly absorbing her warmth, becoming scorching.

Shi Ran looked at him dazedly and softly called, "Master, you're so heavy....."

Ling Xiao suddenly lifted his gaze; what met his eyes was her flushed cheeks from drunkenness, her eyes moistened by steam, and her lips as delicate as flower petals, with a few strands of her black hair scattered messily beside her neck, one strand happening to be pressed beneath him....

The stormy waves repressed deep in the heart-lake could no longer be contained and surged upward.

Ling Xiao rose in a panic, his hands trembling slightly; he coughed violently a few times, as if trying to drive all the lingering affection from his heart, only the depths of his unfathomable eyes churned with an unprecedented, fierce and tumultuous undercurrent.

"Master!" Shi Ran scrambled up, swaying left and right, "My head hurts!"

Ling Xiao glanced at her, then calmly turned away, as if the flustered person just now weren't him, "Put on your clothes!"

"Clothes?!" Shi Ran, dazed, tugged left and right, only exposing a large patch of skin; her head felt like it would split, and the harder she tried to dress properly, the less she could find the crucial strap.

Just as regret welled up, a pair of slender, handsome hands suddenly seized her sash; Shi Ran froze, only to feel a flash before her eyes, and her clothes were pulled up.

"This atmosphere is wrong!" Shi Ran's drink instantly wore off halfway; she didn't dare lift her head, fearing that Ling Xiao's beauty before her would make her lose control and want to do something.

"But that's my master," if she really thought about it… well, should she push him away or go along with it?

Shi Ran, who had been single since birth, felt panicked; two versions of her argued in her mind: one said, "Shi Ran, you're stupid, such a handsome catch right in front of you—why not take it?" The other shook her head, "How can you skip dating and go straight to home base? That's too unchaste!"

The two little figures in Shi Ran's head bickered incessantly, but the instigator, after dressing her, made no further move, rose lightly, sipped tea calmly, and acted as if she didn't exist at all.

Fine, all that worrying was for nothing!

Shi Ran suddenly felt deflated; many original-text descriptions of Ling Xiao's unrequited love popped into her mind. Her face grew colder and colder until she returned to normal, then she weakly murmured, "Thank you, Master, I must go back!"

Ling Xiao nodded, looked at the listless Shi Ran, took two exquisitely packaged pastries from his Moment's Treasure Ring and handed them to her, "These are the famous cloud slice cakes from the capital; take them back and try them!"

Shi Ran took the cloud slice cake; a faint tea fragrance drifted from the box. Though she couldn't see it, the scent told her the pastry was surely fresh, sweet, soft and fragrant, but she said, "Master, why give me two boxes? I can't eat that much!"

"Can't eat it?" She had only eaten one chicken leg just now, the other gnawed by Di Jiang, and aside from a cup of pear blossom wine, she hadn't eaten anything else—wasn't she hungry? Taking these two boxes back should be about enough… right?!

Ling Xiao rubbed his fingers, then said calmly, "Give some to your senior sister too!"

See? She knew it! Shi Ran could only smile at Ling Xiao, "Okay, Master!" She had apologized, eaten her meal, drunk her wine, and seemed to have no reason to stay.

Ling Xiao nodded, watched Shi Ran about to leave, then suddenly recalled, "In a few days the Heavenly Gap Sect will send several disciples to conduct an entry-bound sparring; I still need to enter closed-door cultivation, you lot must not act rashly, understand?"

"Heavenly Gap Sect?" Shi Ran raised an eyebrow. She remembered that in the original text, the female lead equal to Mei Ruoxue came from the Heavenly Gap Sect; she wondered if this one would appear this time.

"But did the original text mention this sparring before entering the Lotus Secret Realm? She couldn't recall."

Shi Ran overthought it, bowed to Ling Xiao, then walked off with the cloud slice cake in hand.

Ling Xiao watched Shi Ran's departing back, shook his head helplessly, not knowing whether his reminder had sunk in; Little Di Jiang flew over, excitedly waving its arms and legs before him.

Ling Xiao startled, then returned to his original spot to continue meditating, somewhat vexed, "I don't have any; Master said I was born without love threads!"

Little Di Jiang flew dumbly to Ling Xiao's front, slowly circled him; Ling Xiao stayed silent, then after a while said, "I'm just..... been alone here too long, I feel…… anyway, there's nothing else!"

Like a red stroke suddenly appearing in an ink painting, for him Shi Ran was the same—she forcefully barged into his life, laying down a bold, heavy-colored line—but what of it? The ink painting remains washed in black ink; his world has always been only black and white!

Di Jiang stopped flying, he sat beside Ling Xiao's leg, peacefully bathing in the spiritual qi of heaven and earth, from sunlight to starlight, the heart-cavity regained calm; that little stone, who knows whose heart it disturbed?

Shi Ran's dwelling is called Cuiwei Residence, taken from "a wisp of cooking smoke"; "People in Cuiwei Residence!" The name carries that atmosphere, yet it hints at a hint of loneliness; the original owner was previously unliked, so she retreated to a corner, far from wind, frost, rain, snow, and Gu Yusheng and the others.

Thinking of going to Mei Ruoxue's Floating Cloud Pavilion, she still had to climb half a hill, but Shi Ran didn't want to fly on her sword; she ate the cloud slice cake step by step as she went up, pondering the original plot.

It's obvious the next segment will be the Lotus Secret Realm; because of her appearance, the plot once went off track, adding many nonexistent events, but that doesn't matter—the upcoming direction has finally returned to the proper course.

In the original text, Gu Yusheng married a total of six wives, had many fleeting romances, and numerous nameless, status‑free red‑beauty confidantes; almost every time a beautiful woman appeared, a new map would be opened.

Originally Shi Ran planned to stay away from the protagonist crew, just make it to the big ending, but now she's been poisoned with gu, so she must follow the male lead to the Lotus Secret Realm first.

Shi Ran decided that after leaving the Lotus Secret Realm she would part ways with the protagonist crew; otherwise she wouldn't know how she'd die later. Don't underestimate a woman's jealousy, especially such a woman—Gu Yusheng will never be able to marry enough of them.

From beginning to end, from the icy Mei Ruoxue to the spicy, gorgeous Wei Yuzhu, from petite beauties to noble ladies—all types and looks, like a stamp collection, were all swallowed by Gu Yusheng; the original text even exaggerates to have a steamy little scene every three chapters that makes readers blush and pound their hearts.

But Shi Ran now thinks, how many chapters is that? Gu Yusheng is as bland as clear broth and water; the author must be anxious, hence the pre‑chapter of the entry trial: Heavenly Gap Sect—the fiery, gorgeous senior sister Wei Yuzhu is about to appear!