148: Chapter 148 Don't tell me you slept with that young girl.

The night at Tingzhu Peak was always quieter than elsewhere.

Moonlight filtered through the layers of bamboo leaves, casting mottled shadows on the bluestone path.

Faint yellow candlelight shone through the window frames of the bamboo hut, swaying gently in the night wind as if it might go out at any moment, yet stubbornly remaining lit.

When Xu Ruyu pushed open the slightly aged wooden door of the bamboo hut, he still carried an indescribable aura from the Ancient Hall of Love and Heaven—it wasn't Spiritual Qi or dust, but a sense of ancient, clean charm, as if time itself had settled within him.

He had stayed in the ancient hall for a full ten days.

Ten days was neither long nor short.

It was enough for him to deduce the Foundation Chapter of the True Explanation of Taixu Source Energy with Fairy Qing Tian for three full days and nights, enough to digest most of that shocking secret, and even more enough to... understand many things.

"Creak—"

The sound of the door hinges turning was exceptionally clear in the silent night.

Xu Ruyu stepped into the room and closed the door behind him.

The furnishings inside were still simple: a bed, a table, and a chair, with some miscellaneous items piled in the corner that he had brought along when he moved to Tingzhu Peak.

The air was filled with the faint fragrance of bamboo leaves, a scent unique to this bamboo hut.

He walked over to the table and sat down, and just as he was about to pour a cup of water, brisk footsteps came from outside.

"Oh, Xiao Yuer is back?"

The door of the bamboo hut was gently pushed open, and a slender figure leaned against the doorframe, the moonlight outlining her graceful curves.

It was Madam Qingli.

Tonight, she wore a smoky purple dress made of fabric as light as gauze. Intricate dark gold patterns were embroidered on the hem, shimmering with a hazy luster under the candlelight.

Her jet-black hair was loosely pinned up with a jade hairpin, with a few strands falling over her shoulders, accentuating her fair and slender neck.

Her charming face wore a half-smile, and her peach blossom eyes sized up Xu Ruyu with a playful gaze.

"Looking at your complexion, you seem to be doing quite well."

Madam Qingli stepped into the room, her skirt swaying and bringing with it a gust of fragrant wind.

She sat down across from Xu Ruyu on her own accord, propping her chin on her hand as she looked at him with a beaming smile:

"Having stayed in the Ancient Hall of Love and Heaven for ten days, your cultivation has progressed quite a bit. Qi Refining Level 9... tsk tsk, your aura is much more solid than before."

Xu Ruyu poured a cup of water and handed it over:

"Senior, why are you here?"

"What, not welcoming your elder sister?" Madam Qingli took the cup but didn't drink. She simply stroked the rim with her finger, her gaze still fixed on Xu Ruyu's face. "Sister was worried about you. You disappeared for ten days; I thought you might have been eaten by that Little Girl."

As she spoke, her tone was clearly teasing, but her eyes were seriously observing Xu Ruyu's reaction.

Xu Ruyu gave a bitter smile:

"Senior, you must be joking."

"Joking?"

Madam Qingli suddenly leaned in closer, lowering her voice with a hint of ambiguity:

"Xiao Yuer, tell sister quickly, while you were inside... did you 'handle' that Little Girl?"

"Pfft—Cough, cough, cough!"

The water Xu Ruyu had just sipped sprayed out, and he coughed repeatedly, his face turning red.

He looked up with a face full of dark lines at the voluptuous beauty laughing uncontrollably before him, his voice filled with helplessness:

"Senior! You can't make such jokes!"

"Oh, are you shy?" Madam Qingli chuckled, covering her mouth, the mischief in her eyes intensifying. "That Little Girl may look young, but who knows if she's just pretending?

In a place like the Hehuan Sect, what strange things don't happen? Perhaps she just likes to act young to trick innocent boys like you..."

"Senior!"

Xu Ruyu couldn't take it anymore and interrupted her:

"She's... she's still a child!"

When he said this, he actually felt a bit guilty.

A child?

Fairy Qing Tian?

That Little Girl with unfathomable cultivation?

But he couldn't say that.

At least, not now.

"A child?" Madam Qingli raised an eyebrow. "An eight or nine-year-old child staying in a place like the Ancient Hall of Love and Heaven? Xiao Yuer, do you take me for a fool?"

She paused, suddenly withdrawing her smile, her tone becoming more serious:

"So, you really saw her? That... Little Girl wearing Embroidered Shoes?"

Xu Ruyu was silent for a moment before nodding:

"I saw her."

"How... was she to you?" There was a trace of imperceptible tension in Madam Qingli's voice.

"She was okay." Xu Ruyu weighed his words. "Just... a bit clingy."

"Clingy?" Madam Qingli's eyes lit up. "How so?"

"Well..." Xu Ruyu thought back to the ten days of being nagged by the Little Girl to learn the Cultivation Technique, feeling a bit of a headache. "She insisted I teach her a Cultivation Technique and wouldn't let me leave unless I did."

Madam Qingli burst into laughter again:

"It seems she really likes you. Not bad, not bad at all; my judgment was indeed correct."

She picked up the water cup and took a light sip, but her gaze remained on Xu Ruyu's face as if trying to see right through him:

"So... did she say anything to you? Like her identity? Or... why she's in the Ancient Hall of Love and Heaven?"

Xu Ruyu's heart skipped a beat.

What was bound to come had arrived.

Madam Qingli was indeed probing for information about Fairy Qing Tian.

He was silent for a while before slowly speaking:

"She said... her surname is Qing."

"Surname Qing?" Madam Qingli's pupils constricted slightly, and her fingers tightened around the water cup. "What else?"

"Nothing else." Xu Ruyu shook his head. "I asked who she was, but she only said her surname was Qing and refused to say anything more."

He lied.

But that was all he could say.

Fairy Qing Tian's identity was too shocking; once leaked, there was no telling how much of a storm it would cause.

Moreover, that "Little Girl" had explicitly told him: her existence was one of the Hehuan Sect's greatest secrets, known to no one except the successive Sect Masters.

Xu Ruyu didn't know how Madam Qingli knew there was such a person in the Ancient Hall of Love and Heaven, nor why she wanted him to find her.

But since Fairy Qing Tian didn't want him to speak of it, it was best that he didn't.

"Surname Qing..." Madam Qingli murmured to herself, a complex look flashing in her eyes. "As expected... it really is her..."

She seemed to want to say something, but in the end, she just sighed and set down the water cup.

"Forget it, if she doesn't want to say, then don't say it."

Pausing, she looked at Xu Ruyu again, her eyes filled with relief:

"However, Xiao Ruyu, being able to see her and even have her 'cling' to you is a massive Opportunity in itself."

"Make the most of it; perhaps... she really can help you overcome the upcoming challenge."

"Challenge?" Xu Ruyu smiled bitterly. "Senior, are you referring to the Three-Month Agreement?"

"What else?" Madam Qingli said solemnly. "There are only three days left until the duel.

Although your cultivation has improved a lot in these ten days, Qi Refining Level 9 is still just Qi Refining Level 9. Against Leng Ningshuang at the Late Golden Core Stage... your chances of winning are still slim."

She paused, then suddenly lowered her voice:

"Unless... that Little Girl gave you some kind of trump card?"

Xu Ruyu shook his head:

"No. She just pestered me to teach her a Cultivation Technique; she didn't give me anything."

This was half-true.

Fairy Qing Tian indeed hadn't given him any "trump cards" like Magic Treasures or Talismans, but she had spent three full days helping him deduce the Foundation Chapter of the True Explanation of Taixu Source Energy to a near-perfect state.

This kind of "guidance" was more precious than any Magic Treasure.

But these things, he likewise could not speak of.