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"Master, it’s about time," said the Wangxue.

In the sea of consciousness, the little deergirl held nine glowing spirit stones in her arms, wearing a polite yet slightly forced smile on her adorable face.

Yino was busy trying to increase his favor points with his senior sister in black stockings, so naturally he couldn’t be bothered with the deer’s bleating in his ear.

But after a moment, Wangxue seemed to think of something:

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"Next time when I see Lily, I’m definitely going to tell her what Master did today!"

"Oh crap, don’t!"

Yino finally broke character, thrown off guard by the little deer.

He clicked his tongue silently, at a loss for what to do with this silly deer.

"Tsk... Master only picks up the bad habits, never the good ones!"

"Hmph!"

The little deer in the consciousness sea stood up proudly with hands on her hips, causing the nine colorful spirit stones to scatter on the ground. But just then, Wangxue caught a glimpse of a white silhouette in her little room in the consciousness sea—

"Wait! Why are you here?!"

Wangxue was shocked, because she saw that white silhouette pick up a white crystal from the ground and immediately flee the scene dragging nine large tails behind.

"Come back! Come back you dead fox, give me back my stone—!!"

Wangxue chased after with a red face, but her short legs were no match for the nine-tailed fox’s speed. The other quickly disappeared using ghostly illusion techniques in the consciousness sea.

Meanwhile, in reality, a white-gold sacred mark glowed on the back of Yino’s right hand, and a white crystal appeared in his palm.

While his senior sister was still moved by emotion, Yino quietly tucked the crystal into his pocket, then spoke with some displeasure in the consciousness sea:

"See! See what happened! The foxy ran off with it!"

"I told you before - with your tiny frame and not even a pocket on your clothes, how could you keep something so valuable safe without losing the key?"

Yino spoke reprimandingly, as if he had nothing to do with that white nine-tailed fox.

"Isn’t that dead fox contracted as your spirit pet? Yino, hurry and help me get the crystal back!"

The little deer couldn’t accept it and raised her face to shout at Yino.

But Yino just shrugged and looked away:

"What are you talking about? Didn’t Yuebai already leave when we came out of the Azure Forest?"

"That white fox realm is tens of thousands of miles from here, where am I supposed to find her?"

Yino continued trying to fool the silly deer.

But thinking carefully, Wangxue felt Yino’s words made sense, since Yuebai wasn’t part of their group to begin with, so going separate ways after leaving the realm didn’t seem wrong.

But the problem was...

Even if Yuebai wasn’t here physically, her soul had stolen Wangxue’s crystal in the consciousness sea!

How could this happen?!

Just what kind of spatial structure was Yino’s consciousness sea anyway? Why could Yuebai break into my little room to steal things, but Wangxue had no idea how to get to Yuebai’s room to ask for it back.

"What do I do, what do I do?! That dead fox stole my things and disappeared!"

Having lost her advancement materials, the little deer grew more anxious, her little face scrunched up like she was about to cry.

Seeing this, Yino’s heart softened and he comforted her:

"Don’t be upset, it’s just one broken stone."

"As long as you promise to keep my secret from Lily, your Master will go to Western Province City later and buy another one from the Hundred Spirits Pavilion Master to make it up to you!"

Yino said rather magnanimously.

Wangxue’s eyes widened, suddenly seeing a glimmer of hope:

"R-really?!"

"Of course it’s real. Although this crystal will definitely cost an arm and leg from the Pavilion Master, you’re my first contracted spirit pet! Now you’re just one-ninth of the materials away from your first life, your master would sell everything to get our Wangxue there!"

Yino gently patted the little deer’s head, speaking with complete sincerity.

The deergirl’s little face turned slightly red, touched by the look in Yino’s eyes. Even the pale golden cowlick on her head stood straight up.

"So... Master really does care about Wangxue!"

In the consciousness sea, the little deer hugged Yino, overwhelmed with emotion.

Yino stroked the little deer’s cheeks, advising earnestly:

"Alright alright, stop fussing now, your master’s still busy trying to raise his Senior Sister’s favor points."

"Mm!"

Without realizing it, Yino seemed to have gained a bit of seriousness.

Influenced by this atmosphere, Wangxue also nodded obediently, no longer disturbing her Master’s important business.

Meanwhile, Yino returned to consciousness in reality.

He felt that ever since he took out the Azure Source Heart, the cold beauty before him showed even more signs of blushing and being moved.

Her eyes were already red, constantly taking breaths trying to control the tears in the corners of her eyes. But she hadn’t expected Yino to still be thinking of her at a time like this. Just looking at Yino’s bright sunny smile made Yuyan’s heart race faster, and the tears gathering at the corners of her eyes finally could no longer be held back, falling drop by drop down her cheeks.

"Idiot..."

Yuyan bit her rosy lips, unsure how to describe her feelings at this moment.

Though the flower appeared plain and simple, its fragrance contained an incredibly powerful life force and natural spiritual energy. Any cultivator with experience in exploration could tell at a glance this was no ordinary treasure.

Yet something so precious, Yino had nearly given his life to obtain. Even in such a state, he still thought to use his last treasure to comfort Yuyan.

"It’s not wasteful, I’m just putting it to good use..."

"I can’t cultivate anymore anyway, and this flower has a limited blooming period. If I keep it myself, it might wither away and be wasted. Better to help Senior Sister brew medicine with it!"

Yino’s eyes were full of joy, as if he’d forgotten the pain of losing his cultivation. Just mentioning his senior sister made his heart smile.

But the more purely and innocently he offered the flower, the more Yuyan’s heart ached. After that first teardrop fell, the floodgates opened, and more and more tears flowed uncontrollably.

"Why must you give me this flower?"

"Your future is ruined... Even at a time like this, why are you still thinking of me? Can’t you think more about yourself, keep these treasures to give yourself a backup plan for the future"

Yuyan bit her lip. Though her heart trembled with emotion, her voice still carried traces of anger in her questioning.

Or perhaps she already knew the answer. She had just never met a boy like Yino before. She still didn’t dare face Yino’s feelings directly, and truly couldn’t bear to watch him continue being so foolishly good to her for the rest of his life.

Seeing his senior sister so angry, Yino’s flower-holding left hand gradually lowered.

He lowered his gaze and sighed:

"It’s alright..."

"Alright?"

"Look Senior Sister, I was originally born with a useless physique. It was only by fate that I met you and came to the Wuji Sect, unexpectedly awakening my cultivation potential... Even if I return to the initial Qi Refinement stage now, for me it’s nothing more than waking from a dream. Life will be no different than my sixteen years in the Grand Tutor’s Mansion. At worst, if Senior Sister doesn’t want me anymore, I’ll pack up and return home. The elders there won’t let me end up on the streets - they’ll still feed me..."

Yino spoke softly, raising his head to gaze into Yuyan’s beautiful eyes, but his thoughts seemed to drift back to that distant mansion.

He reached out to gently wipe away the tears on Yuyan’s beautiful face, letting out a light laugh of acceptance:

"Besides, becoming useless doesn’t stop me from playing chess with Senior Sister!"

"As long as Senior Sister doesn’t dislike me, I’m willing to stay on Ranmo Peak to play chess with you every day, chat, drink tea, or massage your shoulders and legs after sword practice..."

"At least that’s much happier than life in Luo City being gossiped about as the ’wastrel young master’ behind my back!"

Yino spoke with sincerity, his loving gaze like a confession, yet not a single word actually declared love.

But however it was meant, these words tickled Yuyan’s ears and heart. To her, it felt like a youth offering flowers while whispering in her ear about growing old together.

Meanwhile, Wangxue found it rather cloying.

She felt Yino and Yuebai made quite the pair - one acting to deceive his senior sister, one acting to deceive her disciple, both speaking so lovingly it was like the climactic scene from a romance novel.

"You... do you even know what you’re saying..."

Yuyan was still immersed in the emotion of Yino’s sincere ’sort-of confession’, completely unsure how to respond to his feelings, even though Yino had never actually confessed - he had simply expressed wanting to stay on Ranmo Peak to accompany his senior sister.

Yino’s eyelashes fluttered:

"I know... I just feel that Senior Sister hasn’t grown tired of me yet, so I still want to stay on Ranmo Peak with you..."

"Of course, if someday in the future Senior Sister gets bored of playing chess and feels I’m interfering with her private life, I don’t mind returning to the Grand Tutor’s Mansion rather than ending up on the streets."

"So Senior Sister doesn’t need to worry about me having no backup plan. Please feel free to accept this flower without any mental burden!"

By the end, Yino spoke with a faint smile.

The white-robed woman bit her lip, softly sobbing again.

But this time, before Yuyan could respond with her heart full of emotion, a green-haired girl in an elegant dress rushed over anxiously -

"Yino! If someday the Wuji Sect kicks you out, remember to come find this young lady in Jiangnan to fulfill our marriage agreement from ten years ago!"

At these words, not only did the onlookers’ eyes widen, but even Yuyan who had been biting her lip hesitantly was taken aback.

Yino turned to look and saw the destined girl from Jiangnan smiling brilliantly in the sunset.

"What are you looking at? Yino doesn’t just belong to you!"

"Our Liu family of Jiangnan can easily afford to keep a trophy husband! Even if he’s really useless and just stays home eating soft rice, this young lady can support him!"

"If it weren’t for Yino liking mature women’s figures, just wait a few years for this young lady to develop - who knows who’ll be more impressive then!"

Finally, Ruoning snorted, thrusting out her chest and drawing in her waist, confidently displaying her curvaceous figure that showed great potential as another girl of destiny.