Chapter 5: Master Is Mine

An orange skirt fluttered in the air, its wearer a petite girl with fluffy, cherry-pink short hair.
With each step, her toes tapped the clouds, sending out faint golden ripples.
Her jade-like feet, wrapped in sheer white silk, peeked through intermittently.
The curve of her arches resembled a crescent moon, her pink soles glowing peach-like through the fabric, giving her a playful, adorable charm.

Led by Bai Li, she headed toward Chu Huaizhou’s location.
Suddenly, as if sensing someone probing her, she looked up with a smile.
Silver bells in her hair chimed, her almond eyes narrowing as if spotting something amusing, making the surrounding spiritual energy dance with excitement.
Even doing nothing, her mere walk summoned phenomena around her.
In another novel, she’d be the final boss.

This was Chu Huaizhou’s second disciple, Xia Baiqian.

“Tch.”

Leng Qingqiu’s expression darkened as her divine sense locked onto the woman.
With multiple arrays outside, Chu Huaizhou’s early Golden Core divine sense couldn’t detect a thing.
Unaware his other disciple and the flung-away Bai Li were approaching, he thought escape was impossible.
Preparing a final stand—or to accept his fate—he noticed Leng Qingqiu’s face sour, sparking hope for a reprieve.

Hoping to stall until Bai Li returned, he quickly said:
“See, disciple, you must think I’m a bit dirty, right? How about I clean up first?”

Leng Qingqiu retracted her divine sense, turning to her beloved master with a shake of her head, eyes tinged with regret.
Joking? Her thinking Master was dirty?
Her earlier pause was only because his words stirred old memories, filling her with sentiment.

Back then, freshly pulled from the dark slums into the light by Master, she was unaccustomed to such a sunny, peaceful life and remained wary.
In the slums, starvation or freezing to death in winter was common.
Orphaned early, Leng Qingqiu learned to distrust everyone.

She’d said harsh things to Master, done foolish things she thought were right.
When he tried to pat her head and she pushed him away, claiming he was “dirty,” it wasn’t about dirt.
She couldn’t believe someone would care for her selflessly, so she rejected kindness, fearing the happiness was a fragile illusion that would shatter, sending her back to the slums where she fought rats for food and faced predators’ stares.

Now, she’d grown wiser, no longer dishonest, ready to face her feelings head-on.
And those feelings?
To lock Master away, make him hers alone, at any cost!

What surprised her was that Master remembered that time.
Despite his amnesia, he recalled it clearly, suggesting those memories were deeply etched.
Master always cared for her in unexpected ways.
Didn’t that just make her love him more?

Her stubborn words back then must have hurt him deeply.
No matter—there was time to make up for it, to repay him doubly.
But for now…

Leng Qingqiu’s chest tightened, and she sighed.
Learning Master had lost three hundred years of memories and regressed to early Golden Core, her mind was consumed with seizing this chance to claim him.
Normally, she’d never be so extreme, but this interruption was cooling her frenzy.
Her eyes cleared.

Master had just lost his memories—she shouldn’t rush.
She needed to shape him to love only her, or it’d be troublesome.
Though she didn’t mind imprisoning him, she’d prefer him to come to her willingly.
She wanted joy, but even more, she wanted him to feel joy.

Plus, her two clingy junior sisters and that wretched woman from the Ten Thousand Laws Immortal Sect were in the way.
Exclusive claim over Master required a long-term plan.
She was Great Vehicle stage, but so were the other three.
One-on-one fights were tough; together, they’d overwhelm her.
Bai Li, that vixen, was a minor nuisance, always sticking to Master.
Separating her long-term needed a good opportunity.

Sighing, exclusive possession couldn’t be rushed, but at least…
Leng Qingqiu eyed Master’s tempting lips, no hesitation.
Her hands snaked behind his head, pulling him close in an instant.

“Hm?! Qingqiu, what are you doing? I said this is absolutely wrong! If you dare disrespect me today, I’ll…”
Chu Huaizhou, seeing her snap out of her daze and lunge, issued a final warning, resolute in his refusal.
Halfway through, something soft silenced him, leaving only muffled, indignant whimpers.

He tried shaking his head to break free, but her arms locked him in place.
Worst of all, as a lifelong bachelor in both lives, a traitorous thought crept in: This isn’t so bad.
Utterly deplorable!

Thankfully, the softness didn’t last long.
Leng Qingqiu released him, standing up.
She quietly retrieved her white gauze from the bed, draping it on as if nothing happened, and said apologetically:
“Huaizhou, I’ll step out for a bit and be back. It’s just… we haven’t been alone in so long, and I missed you too much.”

“I hope you don’t misunderstand and think I’m strange, okay?”

Facing a Great Vehicle stage Leng Qingqiu, what could an early Golden Core Chu Huaizhou say?
He nodded reluctantly, signaling understanding.
She called the shots.

With such a power gap, continuing his defiant stance would likely only excite her more.
This couldn’t go on—he had to recover his memories, or at least his cultivation, fast.
He doubted he could maintain his aloof master persona much longer with this problematic disciple.

Right—his other two disciples!
He could seek them out.
They shouldn’t have changed too much, right?
Bai Li seemed fine.
Surely only Leng Qingqiu had become this extreme.
All three couldn’t have changed so drastically… right?