Chapter 279

Just as they were about to reach Danxia Mountain, Ye Tinglan remembered to perform an operation.

She dismissed her phoenix palanquin and switched to a small boat.

That boat had been extorted from Shen Tang before—used only once during the extortion, then never again, because she despised it.

Now it returned, along with her little boat, both coming back together.

Then, braving the mountain-protection sword array, she charged straight into Lingquan Mountain.

Anuo, with a bun stuffed in her mouth, stared in horror as the little boat wobbled down toward her, nearly choking herself.

"Anuo!" Lu Xingzhou leapt from the boat and snatched Anuo up, smacking her face with several loud kisses: "Miss your master?"

Anuo swallowed the bun with all her might, then grabbed Lu Xingzhou's face: "Let me check if this master is fake."

Lu Xingzhou laughed: "Why would I be fake?"

"My master is such a lecher—he'd rush to find his mistress the moment he returns, not think of me!"

"Hey, you little brat, your conscience's been fed to dogs."

"I won't listen, I won't listen—master recites sutras. Who's the one who puts lust before disciples, abandoning me to Uncle Ji just to mess around with Mr.?"

"Ugh… the place we escaped from was just too far away, and the situation was urgent, so it wasn't convenient to go back and get you…" Lu Xingzhou's voice grew weak as he explained—truthfully, he could've returned for Anuo then, but he simply trusted Ji Wenchuan; he'd often left Anuo in Ji's care before.

It wasn't about being alone with Mr. —Anuo was always the ultimate assist king.

"I don't care." Anuo extended her chubby little hand: "Where's my compensation?"

Lu Xingzhou immediately pulled out a vial of Black Snake Blood: "We'll use this to experiment and study your past illness from demonic blood—see if we can cure it completely."

Ye Tinglan froze. When Lu Xingzhou collected the Black Snake Blood, she'd assumed it was for studying lust poison—but it was for Anuo.

She hadn't known Anuo suffered from this illness… If so, then the previous demonic blood should've been relevant to Anuo's condition too, though its tier was too high. Starting with Black Snake Blood and gradually ascending was a wise choice.

Anuo carefully tucked the vial away, then asked again for confirmation: "Master, you collected this just for me, right? Not for studying lust poison?"

Lu Xingzhou kept a stern face: "Of course not."

Anuo said: "Then you must have only this one vial, right?"

Lu Xingzhou: "..."

Ye Tinglan turned her head away.

Of course he had more than one—he'd kept several.

Anuo's gaze turned scornful and dismissive: "So Master will personally help me study it, right?"

Lu Xingzhou immediately patted his chest in assurance: "Of course."

"Then why give it to me? Master should keep it and study it for me." Anuo shoved the vial right back: "Now, where's my gift?"

Lu Xingzhou stared, dumbfounded.

He truly had nothing else.

In a flash of thought, he pulled out another jade token, secretly imprinting his spiritual awareness onto it as he drew it: "This is a communication jade token—your master can call you through it… uh, you saw one like this before in the Underworld, right?"

Anuo's stiff little face finally broke into a smile: "Now that's more like it."

Ye Tinglan tilted her head further—this jade token had clearly been given to Lu Xingzhou by her. This scoundrel knew he'd soon need to inscribe the great array at Tianyao Sacred Land and would get a new communication jade token anyway… so he'd just passed off the old one as a gift to his disciple.

Shameless. How could I have ever been drawn to this man?

After Lu Xingzhou finally calmed the little dumpling, Shen Tang rolled over in his wheelchair, gliding up from afar: "I knew it was you returning."

Lu Xingzhou chuckled: "Our flying vessel broke through the array, yet the sect didn't react at all—your security's subpar."

"Because everyone recognizes it as my flying vessel!" Shen Tang casually glanced at Ye Tinglan: "Just like everyone knows—you're my boat."

Ye Tinglan: "..."

How is he your boat? Is your name written on it?

Yet the mighty Sacred Lord had no confidence to directly refute this—she was still formulating a retort when Lu Xingzhou stepped forward, bent down, and kissed Shen Tang's forehead softly: "I'm back."

Ye Tinglan felt a surge of rage rush straight to her brain, flushing her face crimson.

She'd never felt this way before—even when she'd seen the two hiding in a room at Danxia Mountain, fooling around, it hadn't felt like this: a quiet, public kiss.

Like swallowing a bomb whole.

"Lu Xingzhou!" Ye Tinglan gritted her teeth: "You… Dan Academy disciple, no early romance! What are you doing?!"

Lu Xingzhou: "..."

Shen Tang nearly laughed out loud: "When did the Dan Academy institute such a rule?"

Ye Tinglan forced out: "I'm Mr., you're Mr. —I say it exists, it exists! And Shen Zongzhu, fraternizing with an outsider—does your family know?"

Shen Tang's smile stiffened. You're not serious—you want to compete for my affection? Prove it yourself! You're not seriously going to run to the Emperor and tattle, are you? That's cheating!