Chapter 22: Master

Liu Changning tilted her head and saw her convenient husband stumble in his steps, completely shielding her behind him.

She raised her head, looking over his shoulder with its bright red clothing, and stared fixedly at the woman standing two arm’s lengths away.

The woman in black wore an intricate headdress, with a high collar that completely covered her neck.

At first glance, she appeared to be an extremely proper person, but her words were somewhat unpleasant.

Liu Changning’s eyes moved, carefully examining “her” from head to toe, and frowned in displeasure. Her tea-colored eyes gleamed with a faint light, and a cold aura like tiny needles fell directly upon “her” body.

Jing Huan suddenly shuddered, the unexpected chill not yet allowing him to come to his senses. He looked over in surprise, just in time to meet the farm woman’s direct gaze. They were extremely close, allowing him to clearly see the color of her eyes.

They were a pair of very light tea-colored eyes, calm and without waves, devoid of excess emotion. Though her gaze fell upon him, it was as detached as if looking at an irrelevant clown.

The contemptuous expression on Jing Huan’s face disappeared, his eyes suddenly widening, his eyelids completely stretched open, turning those narrow phoenix eyes into a pair of round, bulging black eyes.

He was met with that person’s cold and imposing aura, carrying a hint of warning and bone-chilling intensity.

Jing Huan’s lips trembled, a flash of terror passing through his eyes. His heart was hit by wave after wave of trembling.

His body shook minutely, his full lips half-open, the mocking words about to be uttered all swallowed back.

His back was now covered in cold sweat, his palms already gathering a pool of sweat.

His heart pounded furiously in his chest.

Under that cold gaze, he even let out a soft sound unbefitting his usual image.

It’s her! It must be her!

So his feeling during the previous two encounters hadn’t been wrong. This person was undoubtedly his master. If he had carefully looked at her eyes then, how could he have missed it!

In the Immortal Realm, everyone knew. The Patriarch of the Emotionless Way, Liu Cangyun, originally had a pair of extremely black watery eyes, but due to practicing the Emotionless Way, her personality gradually became cold, and her soul was branded with a mark.

Originally, it didn’t affect the color of her eyes, but practitioners of the Emotionless Way face a life-and-death trial when forming their Nascent Soul.

Back then, when she was at the peak of Golden Core, about to form her Nascent Soul, she encountered the most terrifying thunder, which struck her sea of consciousness.

Thus, after successfully passing the tribulation, her soul bore a subtle wound.

To minimize the impact of the wound, she specially invited an elder from the Medicine Pavilion to refine a Soul Transfer Pill for her. The soul wound couldn’t be repaired, but the damage could be minimized by concentrating it in her eyes.

The only price was that as long as her soul didn’t perish, her eyes would remain tea-colored.

If one observed carefully, one could see tiny cracks within her pupils.

This was the wound imprinted on her soul, her mark for life after life.

If he missed her again at such a close distance, what face would he have to say he was once her unworthy disciple?

Pei Yuanshao raised his eyes, suspiciously staring at Jing Huan for a moment. With just one look, he noticed that this person was trembling abnormally.

“Her” face showed complex emotions, seeming both sad and joyful. Those usually unsentimental eyes were fixed intently ahead, their gaze shifting, as if hiding tumultuous waves.

Pei Yuanshao followed his line of sight in confusion and met his wife-master’s plain face.

His fine eyebrows suddenly furrowed, and he looked at Jing Huan again with unfriendly eyes.

He stepped forward, completely blocking his view.

He stroked the long whip at his waist, curled his lips at Jing Huan, and said coldly: “I am no longer the pampered guest in Jinling City, all past matters are but fleeting clouds. Now, I am a man with a wife-master. Although my wife-master is somewhat plain, she has at least promised me a lifelong union. If you’re not here to take this servant back to the capital, then please step aside.”

After speaking, Pei Yuanshao turned and clung to Liu Changning’s arm again. He rested his head on her shoulder, his peach blossom eyes gazing affectionately at the woman beside him.

Liu Changning pinched his palm hard with her fingers, clearly warning him.

Unfortunately, Pei Yuanshao paid no attention and tilted his head, brazenly breathing fragrant breath against her slender neck.

Just as Liu Changning was about to react, the tall woman in black clothes staggered forward from not far away.

The expression on her face was not pleasant, her phoenix eyes filled with a trace of embarrassment. Seeing her look over, she pressed her lips together, quickly concealing her exposed emotions.

Liu Changning frowned, finding this familiar-looking woman before her somewhat strange.

She narrowed her eyes, intending to examine her again, but unexpectedly, her head was forcibly turned by a pair of hands.

Her convenient husband’s enchantingly beautiful face enlarged before her eyes. He curled his lips, with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes, clearly very displeased.

Suppressing his voice, he said sickeningly coquettishly: “Wife-master, this servant will return to the village with you.”

As he spoke, he took her hand proactively, their fingers intertwining, his palm surprisingly covered in fine sweat.

Liu Changning tilted her head and stared at the person beside her for a moment, secretly thinking that her convenient husband was wasting his talent by not becoming an actor. His palm was covered in sweat, clearly nervous to death, yet he put on a familiar, frivolous appearance. Truly a heart of seven orifices and nine apertures, relying on acting skills at every turn.

She could clearly feel the nervously trembling arm of the man beside her, his palm covered in dense sweat. Liu Changning pressed her lips together, no longer intending to break free.

Pei Yuanshao rested his head on Liu Changning’s shoulder, anger rising in his heart.

Although he had expected Jing Huan to suspect him, “her” expression was too strange… disgusting.

Staring directly at the farm woman’s face, gone was the earlier mockery and aloofness, replaced by an extremely disgusting affection and reminiscence. It looked exactly like a young girl’s infatuation, an expression of deep emotion.

Pah…

Thinking of these two words, Pei Yuanshao could no longer maintain his smile. He hadn’t forgotten that this person had a fondness for women.

Just moments ago, she had spoken with a disdainful tone, but now she was staring intently like an infatuated woman.

Could it be that Minister Liu’s fairy-like appearance couldn’t satisfy her, so she came to snatch his… hmm… wife-master?

Is stolen fruit sweeter? This person is truly disgusting to the extreme.

Feeling upset, Pei Yuanshao stopped pretending. He straightened up, abandoning his earlier soft and coquettish demeanor, and firmly tucked the woman beside him behind his back.

He met Jing Huan’s gaze, the corners of his lips curving downwards in a half-smile, half-sneer, and said: “Commander Jing should restrain herself. Such rudely staring at my wife-master, are you taking advantage of my current fallen state, thinking I can no longer do anything to you?”

Pei Yuanshao paused, his eyes flashing coldly, then changed his tone and said sternly: “Even though this commoner and you are as different as clouds and mud, don’t forget that the master in the capital is still this commoner’s own sister. If you insult me like this, even if I have to throw away my face, I can still report to that person and have a word or two with you.”

Jing Huan clenched his fists, suppressing the surging emotions in his heart, forcing himself to regain composure.

With difficulty, he tore his bloodshot eyes away from their intertwined fingers.

Expressionless, he cupped his hands and stepped back, saying: “Chang… Jing’s words are too heavy. I was out of line earlier, I hope the young lady and worthy brother can forgive me.”

Although he apologized, his eyes kept glancing at Liu Changning’s face.

Unfortunately, that person tilted her head and didn’t respond to him, her expression cold, her eyes even showing a hint of annoyance.

After fifty years of companionship, he was familiar with that gaze. He understood that she must be extremely impatient now, and if one looked carefully, one could see a trace of coldness in her tea-colored eyes.

The panic rising in his heart disappeared without a trace, the cautiousness in his expression completely concealed. When he faced Pei Yuanshao again, he had regained his earlier composure.

He took a few steps forward, approaching Pei Yuanshao.

Lowering his voice, he said meaningfully: “Your High… Jing has good taste, to find such an outstanding wife-master. However, acting is just acting, one shouldn’t take it too seriously.”

Pei Yuanshao narrowed his eyes. He reached out, using a bit of internal force, and heavily patted Jing Huan’s shoulder. With a dangerous smile, he said: “What if it’s not an act? Commander Jing, how self-contradictory, showing such strong disgust a quarter of an hour ago, and now changing your tune, truly strange. However, regardless of what calculations you have in mind, the wife-master is mine after all, and not for outsiders like you to comment on.”

After speaking, Pei Yuanshao tightened his grip on the hand of the person beside him and slowly stepped away, leaving the inn.

Jing Huan’s gaze was gloomy. He stared intently at their intertwined hands, his heart turbulent. Yet he didn’t follow them.

Although he urgently wanted to separate the hands of the two people in front, he restrained himself.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t, but that he didn’t dare.

That person must be his master!

But in this life, he absolutely could not recognize her as her unworthy disciple, otherwise, forget about having the qualification to seek a lifelong union with her. Even if he knelt down to be her servant, with that person’s personality, she would still keep him thousands of miles away.

He clenched his jaw, constantly warning himself to stay calm and proceed slowly.

He hadn’t expected that Long Emperor Qing would find that person to be his wife-master.

It was indeed a good eye. If it weren’t for following the trail of his hidden spies buried around himself, tracing it to bring Mo Ran to the surface, he would have almost believed that Pei Yuanshao had truly become useless.

Unfortunately, no matter how tough Mo Ran was, he ultimately couldn’t withstand severe torture and confessed everything about his pretense of being a profligate son clearly.

Although he didn’t know what he was planning this time, it seemed that Long Emperor Qing had learned about the trap set by Emperor Yongtai before his death in advance.

No wonder in these three years, the hidden agents left by Emperor Yongtai in the capital had been rooted out one by one.

Pei Jingzhi truly had good strategies, enduring humiliation to achieve his goal! Not bad, not bad.

Jing Huan narrowed his eyes, quickly analyzing the results in his mind, his expression displeased.

After the two figures had completely disappeared, he finally called for his shadow guards, his expression solemn.