Chapter 40: Surrounded by Yanderes, What to Do?

Xia Baiqian giggled and leaned back, her sparkling pink eyes locked onto Chu Huaizhou.
It’s over…
Chu Huaizhou recalled an anime trope: pink-haired characters were usually…
Is Baiqian an even worse yandere than Qingqiu?
He’d never told anyone about the “little ice creams” comment—it’d ruin his masterly dignity.
If they were lovers, fine, but if not…
He shivered, turning his head to avoid her gaze.
When did Baiqian become like this?!

He remembered meeting Xia Baiqian on a snowy dusk.
On a sect mission, arriving too late, he stayed at a villager’s home.
There, in a frost-covered backyard, a filthy young Xia Baiqian curled up by a woodpile, clutching a dead cricket.
Her purple, frostbitten face, streaked with tears, managed a smile when their eyes met.
One glance told him she was neglected.
Wearing thin hemp clothes in winter, bruises peeked from her sleeves and wrists.
Her cute face and charming smile should’ve made her a family treasure, yet she was mistreated.

He learned she loved playing with bugs, her room often crawling with strange insects, startling other kids.
Her mundane family, ignorant of cultivation physiques, deemed her a jinx.
With recent business losses, they planned to abandon her.
Chu Huaizhou, clueless about cultivation physiques then, couldn’t bear to see the sweet girl freeze on the streets.
Despite his own scarce resources, he took her in, hoping she’d balance his icy first disciple.
He paid the family ten low-grade spirit stones.
As they finalized, his system pinged: “Disciple Cultivation Stage Ten-Thousandfold Return,” revealing Xia Baiqian’s one-in-a-billion Myriad Gu Immortal Spirit Body and rare Heaven-Grade Gu Spirit Root.
A pleasant surprise, solidifying his decision.
The family, unaware of her potential, cursed her as a jinx, thanking Chu Huaizhou’s “kindness.”
In the mortal world, one low-grade spirit stone equaled a year’s income.

Young Xia Baiqian, oblivious to being sold, believed Chu Huaizhou’s lie that her family sent her to cultivate with him, promising food, clothes, and bugs.
She beamed, not caring about details, just happy to escape her hellish home, clinging to his robe.
He carried her on his arm, her small frame seeking warmth.
Back then, she wasn’t sunny, smiling only to lessen beatings.
With his care, her childlike nature emerged, sticking to him, practicing, and acting cute.

Now, three hundred years later, in a different place, the same girl.
Her porcelain-doll face overlapped with the memory, but her eyes no longer held innocence—only a predatory, heart-pounding heat.
“Master~”
Her fingertip traced his tense jawline, voice sickly sweet.
“Why’re you ignoring me?”
Her love-filled eyes bore into him as her lace-stockinged legs roamed, her foot grazing his calf, the silk stirring a faint itch.
“Wanna taste the ice cream? Relive old times?”
She directed gu to seal the broken box window, blocking the view below.
The crowd below, struggling against the array’s effects, had no time to notice.
With the monsters eradicated, the array’s collapse was imminent.

Chu Huaizhou’s legs weakened, a shiver running through him. His first thought?
Qingqiu’s coming back soon—this isn’t good.
He slapped himself mentally.
Idiot, what are you thinking?!
He deflected, “Baiqian, your words… I can’t process this yet. Give me time, okay?
“Besides, with my memory gone, even if we were lovers, we can’t do this.”

Xia Baiqian’s eyes dimmed, voice low.
“Fine, but I can’t hold back much longer…”
“You used to massage me, saying it helped my blood flow. I said no, but you insisted. Why so different now?”
She slid off him, gu forming a chair behind her.
Gracefully covering her skirt, she crossed her lace-stockinged legs.
Click.
She slipped off her white boots, revealing faintly pink “food-grade ice creams,” tossing the boots aside.
Pressing a foot against his chest, she purred, “I’m so tired from walking… Isn’t Master best at… helping disciples with blood flow?”

Chu Huaizhou’s gaze locked onto her feet, but—perhaps from seeing Bai Li’s mature form too often, plus sheer willpower—he tore his eyes away.
Victory!
Xia Baiqian clicked her tongue, snapping her fingers.
His arm itched—a small gu crawled there, up to something.
Before he could swat it, the room’s temperature rose, his consciousness slipping.
His eyes drifted back to her delicate feet, an urge to hold them rising.
Having felt this before, he realized—he’d been hit with a charm technique.
Seriously? Everyone knows this trick?
First Bai Li, now Baiqian.
Qingqiu skipped charms for direct action.
They say you don’t trip twice on the same stone, so why do I keep falling?
Wait—Qingqiu gave him a necklace to block charms!
He glanced at Xia Baiqian—she twirled that very necklace on her finger.
Oh no…