Seeing that Senior Brother Danya was finally safe and sound, the male disciple and the purple-clad maiden breathed a sigh of relief.
Liu Jiang Fusheng did not know why Danya had suddenly fallen off a cliff, and it seemed he had been forcibly dragged down by something. However, this did not stop him from adding insult to injury: "Senior Brother, thank you for your kind reminder. Sometimes, strong winds can indeed cause accidents. But other people's business is none of yours. You should take better care of yourself."
After speaking with a mixture of mockery and sarcasm, he felt satisfied and quickly pulled Gu Junshi away.
The male disciple and the purple-clad youth glanced at Senior Brother Danya, who flew up with a grim expression, and then at Liu Jiang Fusheng and his companions, who were leaving with great merriment. Finally, they decided to retreat first without asking for reasons.
All the way, Liu Jiang Fusheng's mind was filled with the contents of the book "Domineering Sword Cultivator Falls in Love with Me" that Senior Sister Chang E had given him. He wondered how he should develop his angsty romance plot.
Should he first create a misunderstanding, causing her to wrongly accuse him without rhyme or reason, or should he pursue her, silently dedicating himself but attributing his contributions to others, bottling up his grievances until he spat blood?
Gu Junshi was unaware that he had already begun rehearsing cliché melodramatic plotlines in his mind and had become so infuriated that he was close to spitting blood. She stopped and said, "I still have a task to do."
Liu Jiang Fusheng's train of thought was interrupted. He asked with a slight delay, "What task?"
"Cleaning the sparring platform."
Liu Jiang Fusheng knew that she had never been diligent. Before marriage, she had been supported by her younger brother. After marriage, he became the one to wake up early and work late, doing farm work, household chores, and taking care of her.
He thought that there were no conditions to create a misunderstanding now. Perhaps he should start by making efforts without expecting anything in return?
"Then I'll help…"
At this moment, the male disciple hurried over, holding up his communication waist token: "Uncle-Master Fusheng, the Mountain Lord is looking for you everywhere. You need to return to Wumei Mountain quickly, or else the Mountain Lord..."
Before he could finish relaying the message, a circle of golden light appeared beneath Liu Jiang Fusheng's feet, and he was instantly teleported back to Wumei Mountain by the impatient and hot-tempered Zhiyang Daoist using a single skill to locate and summon people.
Gu Junshi looked at the empty spot and mused, "According to the plot of 'The Cold and Aloof Immortal Master's Runaway Little Wife,' I taught a lesson to the cannon fodder who verbally provoked him. I guess that counts as successfully pampering him once. Come to think of it, it seems to have had some effect."
At least, compared to the people around her, he seemed more pleasing to the eye now?
If that was the case, she would continue to strive for it next time.
Seeing that Uncle-Master Fusheng had left in a hurry and had not even left a word of farewell for his wife, the male disciple, intending to turn around and leave, but fearing that the Uncle-Master would blame him for slighting her later, spoke awkwardly, "My name is Yu Hai, and I am a disciple of Wumei Mountain. The Uncle-Master might go into seclusion for cultivation next. If you ever need anything, you can have Xiao Yuan find me."
Without even exchanging communication tokens, having to find someone to relay messages through intermediaries, such verbal assistance was probably just a polite gesture.
Gu Junshi did not pay much attention and nodded casually.
Just then, the purple-clad maiden also walked over. She had a delicate, oval face and was very beautiful, especially her gentle and soft voice. She said, "Your name is Gu Yi?"
Gu Junshi never judged people by their appearance. Although this woman's demeanor seemed polite, there was a hidden edge to her words. So, she replied with a question, "Your name is Fang Rui?"
She was taken aback: "You know me?"
As expected, it was her.
"I wouldn't say I know you, I just know of you."
Fang Rui, the gentle and considerate "understanding flower" who accompanied the young husband in the early stages. If characters were divided by the amount of plot they carried in a book, she would be considered the female second lead with significant plot relevance.
As a female second lead, her background, cultivation aptitude, and appearance were naturally superior. What was most commendable was that she never acted arrogant or overbearing within the sect due to her status. She always treated people kindly and harmoniously, thus she was quite popular within the Great Yan Sect.
Fang Rui quietly looked at her for a moment, then suddenly said, "Gu Yi, you won't be able to keep him."
Knowing the original plot of the future, Gu Junshi understood. The female second lead was here to snatch the man from her. However, upon hearing this, she did not even bat an eyelid: "Not everyone abandons their moral bottom line like this."
Fang Rui pondered her words for a moment, then suddenly smiled: "Your personality is quite interesting. Are you really so confident?" Her voice remained gentle, and her face held a smile: "Tell me, has anyone truly experienced the flourishing beauty of a hundred flowers in bloom and still... only cherishes the solitary grass by the stream?"
Gu Junshi thought to herself, her goal was to enter the Dao of Emotion. What did it matter to her who the young husband loved? Besides, the female lead was still the grand finale. As far as she knew, compared to the female lead, the chosen one, the female second lead was nothing more than a solitary grass by the stream.
Seeing her lack of reaction, Fang Rui said with a look of realization, "Oh, I almost forgot, Gu Yi, you're from the countryside and probably haven't read much, so you don't understand what I mean—"
But before she could finish her affected speech, Gu Junshi interrupted, "I really don't understand what you mean. I have another task, so I'll take my leave."
Fang Rui's slightly parted lips slowly closed, and she stared at her without saying a word.
Gu Junshi nodded to her in acknowledgment and turned to leave.
Yu Hai watched Gu Junshi's slender, bamboo-like figure as she left and said, "Senior Aunt Fang, she's just a mortal. In a few decades, she'll turn into a handful of yellow earth. Why bother arguing with her?"
"I dislike her," Fang Rui said, her smile gone, her voice a low hum like wind scraping against the sharp edges of leaves. "Just a mortal doing menial labor, yet she truly dares not to regard me at all."
—
Gu Junshi walked to the sparring platform. The handyman sisters had already started cleaning. Seeing her arrive, they quickly called out to her. There were ten sparring platforms, and with only a few of them, the cleaning area was quite large. Furthermore, the "content" of the work was indescribable, and they were all hunched over with bitter expressions as they worked.
Gu Junshi looked around and asked them, "Where should these dead bodies be thrown?"
"Look, just throw them off the sparring platform."
"Throwing them down directly, what's below?"
"It's rumored to have been an ancient battlefield. Countless cultivators and demons are buried beneath. Their decaying corpses produced a large amount of poisonous miasma and fog. To prevent accidental harm to intruders, it was sealed off, and disciples were not allowed to enter or exit freely. Later, the handymen found it too troublesome to carry bodies back and forth, thinking that the area below was already a burial ground, so they just threw them down."
Gu Junshi heard this and stared at the unfathomably deep mist and poisonous miasma below, lost in thought.