Yu Cenwan had been ten when she was tricked, while Feng Yingbo was thirty-five when she met the traveling physician.
Feng Jin had said Yu Cenwan was thirty years younger than Feng Yingbo.
When Feng Yingbo was tricked, Yu Cenwan was only five. Logically, there shouldn’t be any connection, but… Bo Xuenong always felt something was off.
People who should have lived to a hundred only reached eighty. It was hard to say no one had deliberately interfered.
Calculating carefully, when Feng Yingbo’s parents died at eighty, Feng Yingbo was just forty, and the protagonists were ten.
Bo Xuenong froze in place. She suddenly realized that the year Feng Yingbo’s parents died was exactly when Sang Fan formally took the male protagonist as his disciple.
A bold guess suddenly formed in her mind. The traveling physician Feng Yingbo met was also Sang Fan, and shortening her parents’ lives from a hundred to eighty was also his doing. The purpose… could the purpose be to have the male protagonist and Feng Yingbo enter the Nether Gate Sect in the same year?
What was he plotting?
Bo Xuenong couldn’t quite figure out Sang Fan’s motive for doing this, but she suspected him anyway. After all, Sang Fan could set up schemes to harm a ten-year-old female protagonist; what kind of good person tricked even children?
The Suspended Ink Sword came from Sang Fan’s Nether Gate Sect. If there was something wrong with the Suspended Ink Sword in her hand, it might be related to Sang Fan too.
Of course, Bo Xuenong had no evidence and couldn’t jump to conclusions. She just secretly noted down the matter of Feng Yingbo’s parents dying twenty years early.
—
In a large city like Divine Moon City, the inns had experience accommodating cultivators. Once night fully fell, the inn went completely quiet, ensuring no disturbance to the guests’ cultivation.
At the end of the long corridor, they placed blocks of spirit stones, each specially processed by array cultivators. With a light press and payment of silver, one could obtain needed items. Bo Xuenong thought that since they had arrived in a new place, Shen Yanting would likely want to bathe. She first moved a bath barrel into Shen Yanting’s room before returning to her own to cultivate.
Quite a few things had happened that day, making Bo Xuenong realize even more the importance of strength. She didn’t dare slack off at all.
She finally took out the unused spirit stones and pills from her storage ring. The spirit stones Shen Yanting gave her were excellent. Abundant spiritual qi flowed along her meridians toward her dantian, gradually nourishing her tiny nascent soul. Bo Xuenong thought for a moment and still took out the Suspended Ink Sword.
Shen Yanting had reminded her to use the Suspended Ink Sword less, but for a sword cultivator’s breakthrough, sword intent was essential.
To form the nascent soul sword bone, the first step in refining bones was to bury the lifebound sword into the flesh and connect it to the bones. Through the lifebound sword, one’s entire skeleton would become as sharp and keen as a sword. In the later stages, any bone pulled out would be as good as a high-quality spirit sword.
Bo Xuenong cut a small incision on the back of her hand. The Suspended Ink Sword shrank several times upon touching her blood until its blade was the size of a finger bone, then it squeezed into her body through the wound.
Pain spread from the wound, but Bo Xuenong didn’t even furrow her brow.
She pushed the Suspended Ink Sword forward, greatly accelerating the speed at which it connected to her bone.
Just as the Suspended Ink Sword fused with the bone, Bo Xuenong suddenly heard an unusual sound outside. The source seemed to be from the direction of Shen Yanting’s room. She immediately stopped cultivating, got up from the bed, and headed straight for Shen Yanting’s room.
Bo Xuenong’s room wasn’t far from Shen Yanting’s, and she moved quickly. Before reaching the door, she saw a dark gray figure stealthily crouched at Shen Yanting’s door, fingers lightly hooking the door open a crack.
Water vapor from inside squeezed out through the door seam, and the sound of running water reached her ears. Bo Xuenong froze briefly.
As the figure was about to peer through the crack, Bo Xuenong felt a fire ignite in her chest. She flashed to Shen Yanting’s door, grabbed the figure at the door seam, and upon closer look, it was Ye Zhiyao.
Ye Zhiyao was actually trying to peep on Shen Yanting bathing!
Bo Xuenong didn’t care that the person before her was her Senior Shishu. She smashed a fist toward Ye Zhiyao’s neck, aiming to kill.
Ye Zhiyao panicked and dodged sideways, taking the blow on her shoulder before retreating two steps.
She suppressed her disordered qi and smiled at Bo Xuenong. “If you want to watch too, Junior Nephew, we can do it together?”
At this moment, Ye Zhiyao was very different from usual. Gone was her usual poise; instead, there was an evil allure. Her eyes had turned dark red, and an aura unlike that of ordinary cultivators emanated from her, carrying a thick bloody stench that was pungent and nauseating.
It was demonic aura.
Ye Zhiyao had clearly merged with demonic breath.
Bo Xuenong’s eyes darkened. She really hadn’t guessed wrong; Ye Zhiyao wasn’t cherishing her disciple out of true affection. She was just lustful.
With malice and greed amplified, the first target she fixated on was Shen Yanting.
Ye Zhiyao coveted Shen Yanting’s beauty and even wanted to invite her along. This instantly reminded Bo Xuenong of Guan Caimei, and her gaze fully darkened. “You’re courting death!”
She drew the Suspended Ink Sword and thrust straight at Ye Zhiyao’s chest, while simultaneously binding Ye Zhiyao’s body with spiritual power to ensure no escape.
Just as the sword was about to pierce Ye Zhiyao’s chest, Ji Caiyan suddenly appeared at Shen Yanting’s door.
Ji Caiyan hugged Ye Zhiyao and retreated two steps with her. “Senior Sister, please show mercy.”
At this point, Bo Xuenong only wanted to kill Ye Zhiyao for peeping on Shen Yanting bathing. She completely forgot their statuses and swung her sword even harder. “Since you want to die too, I’ll oblige you both.”
She clearly intended to kill Ji Caiyan and Ye Zhiyao together.
Ji Caiyan glared fiercely at Ye Zhiyao, then suddenly tossed her behind and charged at Bo Xuenong herself.
Just as they were about to clash, a voice floated from the room. “Xuenong.”
Bo Xuenong stopped instinctively upon hearing Shen Yanting’s voice.
She didn’t retract the Suspended Ink Sword when the voice sounded again. “Xuenong.”
“Master!”
Bo Xuenong withdrew the Suspended Ink Sword and instinctively rushed into Shen Yanting’s room, searching for her figure.
Bo Xuenong went around the screen, and the moment her gaze touched Shen Yanting, she quickly squeezed to her side. “Master, Ye Zhiyao was peeping on you bathing. Can’t I even kill her?”
She felt a bit aggrieved, her eyes reddening.
It was the mark of anger with nowhere to vent.
Shen Yanting’s cheeks flushed faintly. She gently raised her hand, and the door Bo Xuenong had pushed open closed.
Shen Yanting didn’t speak, making Bo Xuenong even more upset. “Master!”
She was determined to kill Ye Zhiyao. Shen Yanting’s gaze instantly grew complex. After a long moment, she said, “Xuenong, Senior Sister didn’t see anything. But you… you’ve seen everything.”
Bo Xuenong froze. She finally realized what she was doing.
Shen Yanting’s bath barrel was behind the screen. Ye Zhiyao pulling that thin crack could at most see a bit of rising steam. But she, in her rush to charge in and question Shen Yanting, now had both hands braced on the bath barrel edge, her whole body leaning forward, her face right up close to Shen Yanting.
With a slight downward glance, she saw Shen Yanting’s naked body.
Snow-white skin gleamed smooth and lustrous, entwined with faint pink from the heat, like blooming peach blossoms.
Heat surged in Shen Yanting’s nostrils, hot currents flowing lightly.
She hastily averted her gaze and released her hands from the barrel edge.
Bo Xuenong slid down along the barrel edge into a crouch, avoiding any further view of Shen Yanting’s body. A muffled voice escaped her lips. “Master, I’ll destroy my own eyes right now.”
The last time they bathed in Mistlongevity Village, Bo Xuenong had vaguely hoped to glimpse Shen Yanting. But now that she had, she felt she deserved ten thousand deaths.
If not for Shen Yanting wanting her alive, she would self-destruct right then.
Bo Xuenong gritted her teeth and really reached for her eyes. Before she touched them, a warm hand suddenly grabbed her wrist.
Bo Xuenong instinctively tried to struggle free, but Shen Yanting’s voice rang out. “No fooling around.”
Hearing Shen Yanting’s reprimand, Bo Xuenong’s gaze instinctively turned toward the voice. She saw that Shen Yanting had somehow gotten out of the bath barrel.
Shen Yanting must have rushed to stop her without time to dress. The sight of that snow-white body made Bo Xuenong’s breath hitch. She hurriedly closed her eyes and didn’t dare open them again…
