Chapter 273: Wrong Goods (Begging for Monthly Passes)

Little Bai Mao's CPU started overheating again.

If she's supposed to follow her master's example, and her master is actually looking for a man now, does that mean she has to look for a man too?

But she really has no such intention.

What a lousy master! I'll expel her from the sect the moment I get back!

Anyway, right now she's just a junior uncle!

Du Gu Qingli slowly came back online from the crash, expressionless: "That's right, that day will never come!"

"What if it does?"

"That will never be... no, must we really stand at the mountain gate repeating ourselves?"

Shen Tang finally laughed out loud, stepping forward to put an arm around Du Gu Qingli's shoulder: "Good Qingli, since you're already here, why not stay and play for a couple of days?"

Du Gu Qingli hesitated.

Judging by the current development, it seems she really doesn't need to rush back; returning would only plunge her into a vortex, possibly making her a target to serve as the array's focal point. Worse, she'd become a big lantern for that lecherous couple, disliked by everyone, chased back and forth.

Looking at it this way, it really seems better to hide in Xiazhou and play for a few days... the past in Xiazhou was quite nostalgic, at least much better than her solitary journey through the Jianghu.

But looking at Shen Tang's smiling face, something felt off no matter how she looked; it seemed to carry the vibe of a principal wife looking at her younger sister.

Why are you looking at me with that kind and benevolent expression? If you have the guts, use that expression on my master.

Sure enough, the next sentence Shen Tang whispered into her ear: "Qingli, did you see your master when you arrived?"

Du Gu Qingli almost wanted to flee: "N-no, I didn't see her!"

"Hmm?"

"I-I saw the junior uncle."

Shen Tang: "..."

Remembering she had told her master that even if she and Shen Tang were friends, she would stand with her master on this matter... Little Bai Mao felt as if sitting on pins and needles, truly not knowing how to face Shen Tang's gaze, she gritted her teeth and said: "My junior uncle wants to fight you for the man! Sorry, I have to help my junior uncle!"

Shen Tang almost laughed out loud: "How will you help? Will you join the fight yourself?"

Du Gu Qingli was dumbfounded: "How can you have such vulgar thoughts! The Shen Tang I know isn't like this!"

Shen Tang's expression turned dangerous: "You personally threw me into a man's arms; who exactly is the vulgar one?"

The implication was clear: Just you wait; sooner or later I'll throw you into a man's arms too.

Du Gu Qingli shivered, almost turning to run, but she still remembered A Nuo: "A Nuo, do you want to go see your master?"

A Nuo really wanted to go, but seeing Shen Tang's look as if she were about to beat someone up, she sniffled pitifully: "N-no, let's not go."

Du Gu Qingli: "..."

So it's me alone bearing everything again, is it?

But she would rather fight the Ice Prison Sect over whether to fill the array focal point than face Shen Tang's unreadable gaze; in the end, she fled in panic: "I still have urgent matters in the Tian Shuang Kingdom; since A Nuo won't go, I won't drag you into this anymore. Farewell!"

Watching Du Gu Qingli vanish like a rainbow as if fleeing for her life, A Nuo stiffly turned her head to look at Shen Tang, pitifully: "I miss my master."

Shen Tang bent down and picked her up: "Your master is currently 'making sauce' with your Mr., don't go be a lantern."

What does "master" and "Mr." mean... A Nuo, who was already on the verge of tears, was instead amused by the remark: "Does Sister think they are especially well-matched, one a master and one a Mr.?"

Shen Tang thought for a moment: "From your perspective, it does seem quite matched."

A Nuo asked: "Then what about from your perspective?"

Shen Tang's eyes held an incomprehensible light: "I only feel the world has gone mad."

A Nuo: "..."

"Originally, during those few days they lived here, I thought I was overthinking it... but seeing Qingli's behavior today, I seem to have guessed correctly, unfortunately." Shen Tang's worldview had been overturned to a degree no less than Du Gu Qingli's; previously, when paying respects to the Imperial Preceptor, how solemn, how reverent, how much pressure that scene carried...

And now what is this? I have to fight this entity for a man?

You, went to exterminate the Demon Clan?

More or less.

And I can't just go and snatch him directly; I have to hold onto the big lantern to create an opportunity for them.

Where in the world can you find such a pitiful rival lover? Hearing it makes one sad, seeing it makes one weep.

A Nuo said: "Aren't you panicked? I feel your heart going boom boom boom."

Shen Tang fell silent for a moment, then sighed: "If that is good for him, then I have no choice... anyway, anyway, I can't give him that."

A Nuo clenched her little fists: "But Mr. probably can't give Master that either; you two can still fight fairly."

Shen Tang blinked her eyes: "How do you know he can't give it?"

"It's not that he can't... it's just that Mr. is so obsessed with saving face, I feel Master won't easily get her wish granted."

"Wait a minute, how old are you, A Nuo?"

A Nuo wailed and cried: "I want to eat candied hawthorn..."

"Okay, okay, I know you're five years old." Shen Tang carried A Nuo up the mountain with a bouncing step: "Next time just say it directly; if you pretend to cry and act young again, I'll turn you into candied hawthorn."

"Sect Master!" Just as they reached the mid-mountain, a disciple came running up from below in a hurry: "Commander Wan of the Demon Suppression Bureau requests an audience!"

Shen Tang paused, then turned back: "Wan Cheng usually can't wait to show he has no connection with us Jianghuzong Sect; what major incident could cause such an abrupt visit?"

Going down the mountain to meet Wan Cheng, she saw Wan Cheng leading a group of men, his expression very serious: "Sect Master Shen, we are here to investigate some cases... hmm, no need to be nervous, just routine questioning."

Shen Tang asked curiously: "What happened?"

"A student at the Imperial Alchemy Academy went missing during a trial; the news reached Jingcheng, and Your Majesty is furious, ordering all Demon Suppression Bureaus under heaven to search and solve the case."