Transmigrated as the Little Concubine of a Paper-Thin Man - Chapter 23

Yan Ling, currently at the Grand Assembly, felt an immense wave of confusion.

Although Shi Yunjii had replied “I’m fine,” based on her understanding of Shi Yunjii, she knew that if nothing was truly wrong, it was impossible for Shi Yunjii to suddenly send her a meaningless message.

Could it be that Shi Yunjii simply missed her? And that’s why she called out?

While Yan Ling dearly hoped this was the case, she knew that with the short time since they parted, even if the gods favored her, this was unlikely to happen.

Therefore, something must have happened at Ling Ling Peak.

However, the situation couldn’t be too serious, otherwise, Shi Yunjii wouldn’t have tried not to disturb her.

Despite this, she decided to quietly return for a visit. As long as she confirmed everything was fine, she could rush back, and it wouldn’t delay too much.

But as this thought arose, her sleeve was pulled by Hua Shu.

“Immortal Master, what are you thinking about?” Hua Shu looked at her with a hint of grievance. “Are you still angry about the Zhou E matter?” She sighed, “I’ve explained many times; I truly didn’t know she was secretly bullying your maid.

“Father has also sent an apology gift to Ling Ling Peak on my behalf. Can we please let this matter go?”

Yan Ling subtly pulled her garment back from Hua Shu’s grasp. “I’m not angry.”

Hua Shu smiled, eyes curving. “That’s good then.”

Yan Ling glanced at her indifferently. In truth, she hardly paid any attention to Hua Shu. As long as the other party wasn’t particularly bothersome, she didn’t care what they did.

Out of courtesy, she said to Hua Shu, “I need to leave for a moment on an urgent matter, but I’ll be back soon.”

“Wait!” Hua Shu quickly stopped her. “Immortal Master, what could be more important than the current Assembly?”

A mere Hua Shu couldn’t stop her. Yan Ling was about to bypass her when she saw Hua Shu’s gaze fall behind her. The next moment, Hua Shu raised her voice to announce, “Father is coming over.”

She seized the opportunity to grasp Yan Ling’s arm again. “Yan Ling, Father is looking for you; he must have something important to discuss with you.”

Yan Ling frowned internally.

After a moment of thought, she turned back and nodded to Hua Yan, who was walking toward them.

The most eye-catching figures at the Fei Xian Sect Assembly, besides Yan Ling, the supremely powerful protagonist, was Hua Yan, the Sect Master of a major sect. Now that the two of them were together, all the surrounding cultivators, regardless of what they were doing, gathered toward this area, fixing their full attention on the pair, not wanting to miss a single detail.

“Sect Master,” Yan Ling spoke first.

“Ah, very good, very good.” Hua Yan cheerfully walked beside her. “Yan Ling, look, for this Assembly, I’ve invited all the notable figures in our cultivation world for you.

“After this meeting, the charges against you can be cleared, and people will no longer mistakenly believe you murdered and silenced Zhou Huaibi.”

Yan Ling listened silently to his words, responding flatly, “I must thank the Sect Master.”

“Alas, I’m an old man; I don’t know how much longer I can toil for you young ones.” Hua Yan secretly assessed her, calculating the success rate of his plan.

After a pause, he got straight to the point: “Actually, we all know that this Assembly is not just about clearing your name. You have another piece of good news to announce to the cultivators, don’t you?”

This remark caused an uproar.

They hadn’t known about this news before, and now that Hua Yan had mentioned it, everyone realized Yan Ling had something else to announce. For a moment, the Assembly ground was a clamor of voices, with everyone speculating about what great ascension opportunity could befall Yan Ling.

Yan Ling’s eyes darkened. “The Sect Master is well-informed.”

Hua Yan waved his hand. “I wouldn’t say that; it’s just that I should always pay extra attention to the affairs of you young people.”

As an elder, this statement could be taken as a polite greeting, but his next sentence exposed his true intentions. Hua Shu had, at some point, stood beside Yan Ling, the two of them side-by-side, and Hua Yan guided the crowd’s attention to them, blurting out, “After all, I only have this one precious daughter, and I’m about to marry her off, so I naturally have many concerns.”

The crowd, who had been excitedly guessing just moments ago, fell silent.

But the silence only lasted for a breath; then, the site erupted into even more fervent discussion.

“So the good news is that the Ling Ling Immortal Master is marrying Fairy Hua Shu!”

“Oh my, a perfect match! Congratulations to the Ling Ling Immortal Master and Fairy Hua Shu on their union!”

“Tsk tsk, their strength, beauty, and family background are all top-notch!”

While the sincerity of these compliments was questionable, Hua Yan and Hua Shu were beaming amid the praises. However, the face of the other protagonist, Yan Ling, was as black as the bottom of a pot.

She had indeed planned to announce her Dao Companion Ceremony at the Assembly, but she never expected to be ambushed like this, creating such a farce before her announcement.

Anger welled up. Yan Ling raised her hand to form a barrier, using her pure spiritual power to establish a sound-blocking restriction.

Once the voices of flattery and congratulations faded, she said, her voice cold and deliberate, “I am indeed preparing to hold a Dao Companion Ceremony, but…”

Before she could finish, her shoulder was pressed by Hua Yan.

Hua Yan used spiritual power to suppress her with this action. Yan Ling, caught off guard, immediately cut off her words.

“Yan Ling, are you truly unwilling to consider Hua Shu’s and my feelings?”

Yan Ling sneered, countering with a question, “Sect Master, the one not considering your feelings is probably not me, right?”

Hua Yan squeezed her shoulder tightly. “Yan Ling, the Sect Master is truly getting old. The future of the Fei Xian Sect must fall into the hands of you young people…”

As he spoke, his eyebrows and eyes were full of implication, afraid Yan Ling wouldn’t understand the unspoken meaning of his words.

Yan Ling coldly scoffed, the chill in her eyes intensifying.

She had no intention of saving Hua Yan’s face. She instantly moved to the side, used spiritual power to resist Hua Yan, and easily escaped his grasp.

“My apologies, Sect Master, I am weak and have never considered taking on such a heavy responsibility as the future of the Fei Xian Sect.”

Hua Yan’s expression drastically changed.

He hadn’t expected that Yan Ling could remain unfazed even when he used the entire Fei Xian Sect as a bargaining chip. He looked at his daughter beside him, a blooming young girl who could be called a “peerless beauty.” Yet, such a beauty, plus the extravagant dowry of the entire Fei Xian Sect, was still disregarded by Yan Ling.

Hua Shu hadn’t realized the seriousness of the situation, looking at Yan Ling with tearful eyes and grievance. “Immortal Master, what are you saying?”

Yan Ling was about to expose the fantasies of the father and daughter, but Hua Yan stopped her first.

“Yan Ling.”

Yan Ling narrowed her eyes and looked over.

This Sect Master of the Fei Xian Sect had lived for nearly five hundred years. He had witnessed much change and suffered several major upheavals.

Perhaps he had enjoyed too much comfort after becoming the Sect Master, leading him to believe that sufficient self-interest could make his favored junior compromise.

“I’ve been too good to you, too merciful.” His gaze toward Yan Ling was somewhat clouded. “Do you remember before, when you wanted to find a spiritual mountain to build your cave residence, other forces were afraid of you settling near them and causing them trouble? It was I who personally came to welcome you into the Fei Xian Sect, allocating Ling Ling Peak and several surrounding peaks to you.

“Do you still remember this matter?”

Yan Ling nodded.

In fact, this was why she was more willing to show respect to Hua Yan than to others—ultimately, she had indeed received kindness from Hua Yan and the entire Fei Xian Sect.

“Then do you know that what I can give you, I can also take back at any time?”

Seeing that soft tactics failed, Hua Yan immediately began to employ hard ones. “Yan Ling, you don’t want to make an enemy of me and the entire Fei Xian Sect, do you?” He slightly curled the corner of his lips. “You’ve always been a pragmatic child.”

Hua Yan had already cast a spiritual power barrier for the three of them, so the surrounding onlookers could barely hear their conversation.

However, from the increasingly oppressive atmosphere between the three, the surrounding crowd gradually sensed that something was amiss. The vast majority of people had stopped talking, their eyes fixed on the scene, quietly waiting to see how the situation would unfold.

“Is that so?” The oppressive atmosphere was broken by Yan Ling’s cheerful laugh.

She looked Hua Yan straight in the eyes, but her words were highly provocative: “I apologize, Sect Master, you might have… always misunderstood me.”

As the words fell, she made a move, directly shattering the spiritual power barrier.

The next moment, Yan Ling’s voice transmission clearly sounded in everyone’s ears.

“I am indeed preparing to hold a Dao Companion Ceremony, with my dearly beloved Yunjii.”

She heavily emphasized the name “Yunjii.”

At this, everyone looked at Hua Shu.

“What’s going on? Didn’t they say it was with Fairy Hua Shu?”

“Yunjii? Yun Chi? Who is that? I’ve never heard of them?”

“Oh my, the Fei Xian Sect is making a huge joke. What’s wrong with this old man Hua? At his age, how could he not even know who the Ling Ling Immortal Master’s Dao Companion is?”

These harsh voices were unbearable. Hua Shu instantly lost control of her emotions and fled the scene in distress.

Yan Ling couldn’t be bothered with them. After speaking, she prepared to return to Ling Ling Peak and take Shi Yunji away—

She had accepted Hua Yan’s kindness merely for convenience initially. Now that the two sides had fallen out, she could leave without any attachment at any moment.

But as soon as she rose into the air, she was enveloped by a vast expanse of black mist.

“You think you can leave?”

“Sect Master…” Yan Ling narrowed her eyes. “Why go to such lengths?”

“Heh.” Hua Yan’s face was stern. “Since you don’t want to walk the path of light, you can go walk the precarious bridge of the underworld with your little Dao Companion.”

Yan Ling’s face turned somewhat pale.

It wasn’t that she feared Hua Yan, but from his words, she immediately realized one thing—Hua Yan must have sent people to deal with Shi Yunji!

That’s why Shi Yunjii suddenly sent her a message earlier but said nothing!

Thinking of this, Yan Ling clenched her teeth.

“How dare you?”

Without waiting for Hua Yan to make a move, she, filled with fury, preemptively launched an attack on him.

Meanwhile, at Ling Ling Peak.

Zhao Feng was stunned for a long time. After regaining his senses, he finally realized the magnitude of the mistake he had made.

“Heavens, heavens, isn’t this the Immortal Master’s life-bound artifact?” His voice trembled. “The Immortal Master would hand over even her life-bound artifact to you, then, you…”

Shi Yunjii looked at him and nodded emphatically again.

Yes, she was the Dao Companion Yan Ling had chosen.

She didn’t know why, but while she felt a little awkward when she agreed to this in the morning, now, she was eager for everyone to know that the person chosen by Yan Ling was her, and not some Hua Shu or Hua Ying.

Unimportant people are simply unworthy of standing beside Yan Ling.

The man in black coldly met her gaze and suddenly cracked a smile.

“It seems the Ling Ling Immortal Master has her flaws, such as… her terrible taste in partners.”

As soon as he said this, everyone who had come with him burst into laughter.

In fact, it wasn’t just them; even Zhao Feng and the maids, though they didn’t show overly obvious expressions of mockery, their uneasy demeanor clearly conveyed the same meaning—

Everyone felt the man in black was correct.

She, Shi Yunji, simply couldn’t compare to Hua Shu, the daughter of the Fei Xian Sect Master.

Since arriving in this game world, there hadn’t been a moment when Shi Yunji felt more infuriated than now.

She even stepped directly out of the restriction barrier, standing before those people, pointing at them, and warning them with her eyes.

The man in black reacted even faster. He immediately erected a barrier behind Shi Yunji, preventing her from retreating back into the restriction.

“Heh, I was just worrying about how to force you out. After all, even if we could break the restriction, Yan Ling would definitely sense it, and that would be troublesome.” He rubbed his knuckles. “You actually walked out yourself. This is truly…”

He grinned, his smile exceptionally cruel. “Too good.”

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