Chapter 66

In the book, Sect Master Yu only had two disciples, Chu Xingyun and Zhu Changshu.
Both had been miserably harmed by Yu Youyou in the story.
The little cub never expected that when her turn came, an extra Senior Brother would somehow appear.
However, having an additional Senior Brother was hardly a bad thing.
Clenching her tiny fists, she happily greeted Sun Qingrong, "Senior Brother!"
As a junior sister who was so friendly and came to pay her respects at the very first opportunity, Sun Qingrong instinctively cupped his hands in return.
When he was not annoyed, he possessed a very shy and gentle disposition, and being naturally handsome, he always made people feel close to him.
Chu Xingyun had always carried himself like an eldest brother, speaking with a smile to Sun Qingrong. Such a peaceful and stable environment made the younger members of the Sun family feel at ease.
Even Chu Xingyun, suddenly thinking of something, said to Sun Qingrong, "I have a good friend whose medical skills are exceptional. If Junior Brother has time, we can go together and have her examine your meridians."
Having long decided to take Yu Youyou to visit his friend—who had inherited the medical immortal's legacy—in the near future, Chu Xingyun thought it would be best to bring Sun Qingrong along as well.
The young man blushed slightly, saying with embarrassment, "Thank you, Eldest Senior Brother, for troubling yourself on my account."
Such a shy disposition.
Looking nothing like the murderous figure filled with a baleful aura who had been shouting about killing back at the Sun household.
Chu Xingyun couldn't help but smile.
Zhu Changshu, who took exceptionally good care of the younger Sun family members, quietly noted this down in her mind upon hearing those words. She then asked Sun Qingyi, "Will you and your sisters be moving to the Daoist temple of Daoist Master Feihong hereafter?"
Daoist Master Feihong possessed profound cultivation and exceptionally high standards; there were very few disciples who caught her eye. In all her years of attaining the Dao, she had only ever taken two disciples under her wing.
Now that she had taken in two girls from the Sun family in one breath, it showed how much she favored the children of the Sun family. Zhu Changshu was genuinely happy for the sisters.
Sun Qingyi nodded and replied, "Since we have entered our Master's sect, it is naturally our duty to serve her day and night, attending to her by her side. However, our sisters will still frequently return to wait upon the Patriarch."
Naturally, they would continue to show filial piety to Daoist Master Sun.
Fortunately, Daoist Master Feihong's temple was not very far from the main hall of the sect leader. Even with the back-and-forth, it was not tiring, and it was infinitely better than living in the Sun clan in constant daily fear of being traded off to someone by their own kin.
Since they already had a plan, Zhu Changshu did not interfere or boss them around.
Having just broken through, her own cultivation realm also required stabilization. After spending a few busy days refining the spiritual elixirs needed by all her junior brothers and sisters, she returned to seclusion.
Sun Qingrong, however, was in no rush to enter seclusion. Instead, he stayed in the main hall for a few more days to take care of Daoist Master Sun.
It was clear that he shared a deeply affectionate bond with Daoist Master Sun. Staying by the elder's side day after day, he would even use a handkerchief to wipe the faces of the former sect master and Daoist Master Sun every single day...
A little cub was sitting on a small wooden stool right at Daoist Master Sun's feet, tilting her head up and waiting as well.
After serving the two elders, Sun Qingrong lowered his head and saw his little junior sister looking up at him with a small face, her eyes already expertly closed.
He pressed his lips together, a hint of a smile appearing in his eyes, and bent down to wipe the cub's face as well.
So gentle and soft.
They all said how sharp and piercing a natural sword bone was, but in truth, he was exceedingly gentle, and the handkerchief was soft. The little one felt her tiny face being gently wiped.
The moment she opened her eyes, she saw Sun Qingrong's delicate and beautiful face right before her.
If Chu Xingyun possessed a dignified and majestic handsomeness with a natural royal aura, then Sun Qingrong's delicate beauty was tinged with the unique, raw youthfulness of a young man.
Yet when he was not smiling and the shyness faded away, he always retained a certain chill that kept people thousands of miles away. Yu Youyou hummed twice, hugged Sun Qingrong's finger, and whispered to him, "Slash... good!"
At the time, Yu Youyou had thought that sword strike against Wen Shi was supremely cool.
Sun Qingrong's fair face flushed slightly. He patted the little one's head and said instead, "I only hate my own incompetence for failing to chop off his head."
His cultivation was ultimately inferior to Wen Shi's, and the only reason he had succeeded with a single strike was because Wen Shi had been caught off guard and failed to defend himself in time.
Thinking of this, he lowered his gaze and said softly, "I am only grateful to Master, Eldest Senior Brother, and Senior Sister for rushing over to rescue me the moment they knew I was calling for help. Otherwise, I was already prepared to perish together with him."
He would rather fight to the death than compromise with such a despicable villain.
Anger welled up within him just mentioning Wen Shi. Yu Youyou nodded and said, "Taking advantage of the fire..."
"Taking advantage of a crisis, you mean? What's even more hateful is my own clan." While Wen Shi's coercion of Sun Qingrong hadn't broken his heart, the choices made by the other members of the Sun clan made his hands clench just thinking about them.
Fearing that he might hurt the delicate and tender cub, he gently removed his hand from her face and said softly, "That day, I urged them to send the younger clan members to the Primeval Sect, firstly so they would receive the sect's protection, and secondly because joining a major sect is far better than sitting at the bottom of a well within the family. But they were unwilling. They only wanted to sell their daughters for glory."
They had wanted to sell his sister in exchange for the Wen family's support.
Yet Sun Qingrong could never understand why, out of the many daughters and numerous beauties of the Sun clan, the Wen family seemed dead set on his sister.
His sister had been unwilling, preferring to use him as leverage rather than let them pick another maiden to wed.
"Despicable!" The little one shared his bitter hatred, clenching her small fists as she spoke.
Sun Qingrong sneered, "Now that they have offended the Wen family as well, I want to see who they plan to rely on in the future!"
While the senior and junior brother-and-sister duo were deep in conversation, Daoist Master Sun, sitting beside them, remained rigidly seated with a vacant gaze. Yet right at that moment, Yu Youyou heard a crisp "crack."
Turning her head, she saw that the armrest of Daoist Master Sun's chair had actually been snapped clean off by a single grip of his hand.
The little one hurriedly leaned over to check on him, asking honestly, "Grandpa Ancestor?"
She met that pair of still-vacant and soul-lost eyes, but for some reason, she felt deeply that the conversation between her and her Third Senior Brother had reached his ears and touched his heart.
Just like before, when she mentioned encountering that scumbag Huangfu Zhou, the two elders had seemingly shown signs of unusual agitation.
"Don't rush," she hugged Daoist Master Sun and whispered, "...Don't be angry."
Tiny little cub with short legs and short arms, she still tried her hardest to stand on tiptoe, leaning against the chair to wrap her arms around Daoist Master Sun's arm. Even though he was entirely unresponsive, she still earnestly coaxed him to take care of his health and not be angry.
Sun Qingrong had never seen such an obedient and purely kind little creature. Remembering that this was his own junior sister, for some reason—despite still being of a youthful age himself—a measure of paternal fondness arose within his eyes.
He quietly and indulgently watched the little one bustling about trying to comfort Daoist Master Sun, much like... knowing that this Grandpa Ancestor was most prone to anger and flying into a rage, and therefore patiently smoothing down his fur.
Smoothing down his fur...
Senior Brother Sun pressed his lips together, lowered his head, and silently felt guilty for thinking of his own family's patriarch in such a manner.
By the way, for some reason, he recalled the day he had flown into a rage back at the Sun clan, when the cub had skillfully patted the back of his hand to soothe him.
Could it be that...
She had casually smoothed his fur as well...
His delicate face twitched slightly. He raised his eyes and met the gaze of the little one, who was looking over at him with concern.
She was quite busy indeed. Clearly caring for many people, she neglected none of them, managing to bestow her affection intimately upon every single one without missing a soul.
Someone as socially inept as Sun Qingrong, whose only skill was drawing his sword to kill, couldn't help but feel that his Junior Sister was truly amazing.
Hesitating for a moment, and seeing that Daoist Master Sun had ceased his movements, he made a move to pick Yu Youyou up.
Just as he reached out, he saw Ao Xin, clad in black clothes and hair, squinting at him not far away.
"Ao Qing sent me to come get you. Come with me."
This little demon brat was far too fickle. Even though Ao Xin hailed from the Dragon Clan—and everyone knew dragons were rather... rather affectionate—he still felt that this damned child was the absolute pinnacle of fickleness.
The black dragon no longer wanted to inquire about just how many places he held in the cub's heart; he had already grown accustomed to comforting himself that as long as there was some obscure corner somewhere and he wasn't completely out of favor, it was fine.
Scooping up the chubby little demon brat, he glanced at Sun Qingrong and said, "Ao Qing told you to go into seclusion. Hurry up, or else your Dantian will be left with hidden lingering issues, which will impair your cultivation in the future."
Such benevolent advice coming from the mouth of a demonic dragon was truly hard to believe.
However, the black dragon was starting to scheme; he wasn't going to spell it out!
Once this ridiculously handsome fellow went into seclusion and the cub didn't see him for ten days or half a month, wouldn't she naturally shift her attention back to a dragon?
Inwardly, he felt immensely pleased, feeling extremely proud of his clever brain. Sun Qingrong was still youthful and green, failing to grasp the true meaning behind the words, and simply assumed it was genuine care, for which he was endlessly grateful.
"Thank you for your concern, Senior."
"Good thing you know." The black dragon chuckled to himself. Having successfully tricked the cub's new favorite into seclusion, he proudly carried her away to Ao Qing's Daoist temple.
Ao Qing's temple was tranquil today. He was speaking with someone through an exceptionally tall water mirror, his expression deeply gloomy.
On the other side of the water mirror was Ao Yong, Patriarch of the Azure Dragon Clan.
Having recently been blessed with a golden, glittering, and magnificent son, this patriarch was currently radiating the supreme vigor of a dragon encountering joyous occasions. Without the slightest trace of vexation over the various covetous plots and schemes in the realm of cultivation, he was saying, "When you were ambushed in the Far West and injured by that unknown Immortal-stage being, I made inquiries. As it happens, an Immortal-stage being has been in very poor condition lately, urgently seeking to purchase several high-grade spiritual elixirs for healing injuries and purging demonic thoughts."
Seeing Ao Xin and Yu Youyou walk in together, he paused. Ignoring Ao Qing's gloomy expression waiting for him to continue, his eyes lit up instead as he asked, "Youyou is here? I haven't seen you in so long, did you miss Uncle Yong?"
He then began to chatter enthusiastically, "And you must have missed Aunt Zhen, right? Not to mention your Big Brother Ao Ying." Ao Ying was the young member of the Azure Dragon Clan who had gifted Yu Youyou the water-avoidance pearl. Continuing with his crafty plotting, he added, "Ao Lie misses you too. Why don't you come over... No, Uncle Yong will bring him to see you, how about that?"
Ao Qing: "..."
Had this absolute idiot forgotten what took precedence?
Would telling him the identity of that Immortal-stage being cause him to shed scales or something?
Hearing this entire lituary of dragon names, Ao Xin felt a bad premonition and instinctively tightened his grip on the little demon brat in his arms, cursing at Ao Yong, "Insidious! Stop trying to hook up with her! Don't you have your own chubby cub?"
His angry roar plunged the entire hall into silence.
"Well, strictly speaking, no." Although there was a little one in his household, it was scrawny, thin, and terribly long, Ao Yong sighed deeply.
Ao Qing stood before the water mirror with his arms crossed, feeling that every single dragon deserved to be grabbed by the tail and beaten to death on a daily basis.
"Uncle Ancestor!" the little cub called out obediently.
The Azure Dragon in green robes turned around, snatched the cub right out of Ao Xin's arms amidst the latter's curses, and said coldly to Ao Yong, "Continue."
"...You should know this person. He attained the Dao four hundred years ago. In his early years, he was eroded by demonic thoughts in the Divine-Demon Graveyard, slaughtering a city of mortals and mistakenly killing his wedded dao companion. Overcome with remorse upon regaining his senses, he established a massive commercial firm in the Southern Region of this realm—yes, none other than Tianxing Pavilion."