Chapter 29: A Partner’s Predicament

Quan Haoqing silently observed the myriad expressions flitting across Ye Qingfeng’s face.

Her initial astonishment and shock had morphed into indignant frustration, then a slow descent into despondency, culminating in a pallor that drained all color from her face.

She appeared utterly disillusioned with life.

Just as he had surmised, Ye Qingfeng wasn’t truly ignorant of these basic facts; rather, she had subconsciously overlooked them.

It must have been connected to her past living circumstances.

Once someone brought it to her attention, she quickly grasped the implications.

Yet, weren’t her emotional shifts a touch too extreme?

Defeated, Ye Qingfeng slumped onto the table, resembling a hamster flattened into a ‘mouse pancake’ under the scorching summer sun.

“I want to die.”

Was the blow truly that severe?

Recalling Ye Qingfeng’s rather uninhibited prior behavior, Quan Haoqing suddenly found himself understanding her despair. He offered a gentle reassurance: “It’s alright. I’m the only one who noticed these things, and I promise to keep it absolutely secret, as if nothing ever happened.” [That’s impossible.]

To his surprise, Ye Qingfeng merely cast a sidelong glance at him, then declared mournfully, “Let’s die together.”

Quan Haoqing hesitated. “Perhaps… we should meet our respective elders first? They might not object.”

In response, he received a look of utter disdain from Ye Qingfeng, as though he were a peculiar, troublesome monkey.

“Are you lusting after my body?”

Quan Haoqing averted his gaze, a hint of guilt in his eyes. “No, no, that was merely a jest.”

He was then met with a taunt that ignited an intense urge within him to prove himself.

“You’re not a man.”

‘Do you want to test that?!’

Though his heart roared with unbridled defiance, Quan Haoqing merely offered a sunny smile. “Would you like me to prove it?” he inquired.

Ye Qingfeng, still sprawled across the table, stared blankly ahead, her voice devoid of inflection. “Fellow Daoist Quan,” she intoned, “please mind your words and actions. I’m beginning to seriously question whether you should be considered a trustworthy individual.”

‘Yet, weren’t you the one instigating things from the very start?’

After silently grumbling to himself, Quan Haoqing cautiously probed, “Would my silence from now on help improve your mood?”

Ye Qingfeng replied nonchalantly, “If you were to end your life in front of me, I would undoubtedly bestow upon you the most radiant and beautiful smile. Perhaps I might even achieve instant enlightenment of the Great Dao and ascend directly to immortality. At that point, I would certainly ensure your legend lives on, immortalizing your name in history.”

Quan Haoqing politely declined. “Please forgive my refusal. As a self-reliant and ambitious man, I prefer to forge my own path to immortality through my own endeavors.”

“But I currently wish to kill you,” Ye Qingfeng declared petulantly.

Quan Haoqing sighed helplessly. “That’s truly unfair. I was merely pointing out your inappropriate behavior.”

“You might have been better off not reminding me at all.”

Ye Qingfeng spoke with self-deprecating resignation. “That way, you could continue to enjoy your ‘benefits,’ and I wouldn’t be so depressed that I’d wish for death. Wouldn’t a mutually beneficial world be preferable?”

“Of course not,” Quan Haoqing retorted.

Quan Haoqing stated unequivocally, “Because if that were the case, I wouldn’t be the only one to witness that side of you, Qingfeng. I won’t allow such a thing… Heh, though I’m not sure I have the right to say so.”

He finished with a self-deprecating chuckle.

Ye Qingfeng immediately sensed that something was amiss and, with a newfound wariness, sat up opposite Quan Haoqing.

“What… what do you mean?”

‘Have I overstimulated her?’ Quan Haoqing wondered, a slight frown creasing his brow.

‘Or was I too hasty?’

He shrugged, his voice light and casual, adopting a joking tone. “It’s human nature to want to possess beautiful things. What, do you wish for someone else to see that?”

“Not at all.”

Despite his words sounding like those of a scoundrel, Ye Qingfeng actually relaxed slightly. “What intensely repulsive possessiveness,” she criticized. “To ensure a beautiful sight is seen only by oneself, one would not only destroy the path after viewing it, but even set it ablaze. Fellow Daoist Quan, only with a truly broad mind can you progress further on the path of immortality.”

“I have no desire to be broad-minded on this particular matter, however…”

Quan Haoqing shook his head. He watched Ye Qingfeng, who seemed on the verge of speaking, but ultimately swallowed her words.

‘I’ve made myself quite clear today, haven’t I?’

‘She’s truly dense.’

‘Or perhaps her vigilance is simply too strong. It’s clear she’s never considered me in that light.’

‘I need to be more subtle.’

Still, the primary objective had been achieved. He was confident that Ye Qingfeng would be more mindful of her actions from now on.

At least where other men were concerned.

That was enough for now.

‘There’s always tomorrow.’

Adopting the stern demeanor of a strict tutor, Quan Haoqing admonished, “You’ll need to be more careful about your behavior from now on.”

Ye Qingfeng responded with a sigh of resignation, “Oh, I understand.”

“Good. Now, let’s resume our discussion of serious matters. We were talking about the Blood s*ave Pill, weren’t we? Given your extensive knowledge of it, you must surely possess a method to remove it.”

Despite the terrifying consequences he’d heard, Quan Haoqing observed Ye Qingfeng’s relaxed demeanor and knew she undoubtedly had a solution.

“You have a way to extract it, don’t you?”

Ye Qingfeng nodded. “As long as it’s been ingested for no more than three months, I’m absolutely confident I can extract the Blood s*ave Worm from my Dantian.”

“Three months, you say?”

Quan Haoqing affirmed, “That’s certainly enough time. I don’t know much about the cultivators of the Blood s*ave Sect. How deep is their trust in their Blood Slaves?”

Ye Qingfeng explained, “It’s remarkably high, and this trust only intensifies with time. The longer the Blood s*ave Worm resides within a Blood s*ave, the deeper the controller’s grasp becomes. Every movement, every aspect of their soul and consciousness, falls under their dominion. A Blood s*ave cannot offer even a hint of resistance to their master.”

Quan Haoqing clarified, “But this trust is a gradual process, isn’t it?”

“Precisely! Which is why I sacrificed something else entirely for this!”

“What was it?”

“My face!” Ye Qingfeng declared proudly.

Quan Haoqing remained speechless.

‘So… you genuinely don’t care about your reputation, do you?’

Naturally, with his considerable emotional intelligence, he wisely kept that thought to himself.

Ye Qingfeng gleefully recounted to Quan Haoqing how she had deceived Chang Heyu. In essence, her strategy involved fabricating a husband, feigning a tragic plight, adopting a godfather, and then cleverly absconding.

Quan Haoqing mused, “So, this husband of yours has now become a scoundrel, someone who would stop at nothing to climb the ranks, even abandoning his devoted wife. Madam, you are truly ruthless.”

Observing Quan Haoqing’s exaggerated expression of heartbreak, Ye Qingfeng rolled her eyes dismissively. “Hmph, it’s good you know. Be careful in the future; who knows, I might just stab you in the back one day. Now, tell me about your situation.”

“Aye, aye.”

His initial remark had been a mere playful probe, yet Ye Qingfeng paid no heed to the implications of his address. This secretly delighted Quan Haoqing; with any other woman, such a response would have surely confirmed her interest in him. Alas, this was Ye Qingfeng, whose thought processes were anything but conventional.

Dismissing his fleeting thoughts, Quan Haoqing began to recount his own experiences.

Ye Qingfeng offered a concise summary: ‘Feigned cowardice, a dramatic reversal, became a lackey, acknowledged a ‘big brother.’

“We truly are like the Sleeping Dragon and Phoenix Fledgling, each shining brilliantly in our own right! Since we’ve become so familiar, and share such a profound understanding, why don’t we…”

Quan Haoqing’s heart stirred with a mix of curiosity and anticipation for what Ye Qingfeng would say next.

“Let’s become sworn siblings!”

Quan Haoqing’s lips twitched slightly. He really shouldn’t have gotten his hopes up.

‘If we’re sworn siblings, even if our identities are exposed, it would just mean we couldn’t be siblings anymore, not that we’d have to fight to the death, right?’

Ye Qingfeng’s elaborate calculations clanged wildly in her mind, only to be met by Quan Haoqing’s utterly speechless expression.

“Please forgive my refusal.”

“What?! It’s fine to acknowledge a bandit leader as your ‘big brother,’ but not me as your sworn sibling?! What kind of blatant favoritism is this?”

Ye Qingfeng’s eyes, sparkling like sapphires on a snowy day, were captivating, even stirring a pang of guilt within Quan Haoqing.

‘No, I think we could become Dao Companions.’

‘But how could I possibly say that?’

Quan Haoqing deftly changed the subject. “While I’m unsure what suddenly sparked this particular interest, I believe our focus should now be on your bounty mission, shouldn’t it? And, can you restore your face to its original appearance?”

“Though I don’t judge people by their looks, as a normal person, I still prefer to see my friends looking their best.”

Ye Qingfeng fixed Quan Haoqing with a look of utter disdain. “This face of mine was clearly scratched by *you*, yet you utter such heartless words, telling me to change it back. Hmph, you truly have the potential to be a scoundrel. If we don’t become sworn siblings, how can we possibly resolve this?”

Quan Haoqing was speechless.

‘This is baseless! Didn’t you do this yourself?!’

‘Spinning a tale doesn’t make it fact. Do you think you’re a history book?’

‘Who exactly is the heartless one here?’

‘Moreover, I’m a virgin who hasn’t even broken his ‘child’s heart,’ yet in her ears, I’ve already become a domestic abuser whom everyone should punish. Folks, who understands this plight?!’

‘If you had any conscience, you’d be preparing to be my little wife right about now.’

Ye Qingfeng paid no mind to Quan Haoqing’s rich inner turmoil. She touched the lower half of her face; she couldn’t see it, so she felt nothing in particular, though it did feel rather terrifying to the touch.

Of course, it could be restored. In fact, Ye Qingfeng had felt nothing when the scars were made, only a slight itch.

The reason was that she had developed a method to significantly lower the temperature of her skin through Xuan Yin spiritual power, thereby reducing its elasticity and neural feedback to the outside world. It was akin to how the body’s perception of frozen areas drastically decreases when numbed by extreme cold.

While Quan Haoqing’s taste was commendable, there was no need for him to feel any distress. Why should she let him see her most beautiful side?

Nevertheless, considering Quan Haoqing was now her partner, she decided to humor his small request.