Chapter 3

Chapter 3

I said that purely to disgust Xie Lingyu.

I didn’t believe in his so-called sincerity. I only wanted to rip off that hypocritical mask of his.

And yet, when he heard words that were practically an insult, Xie Lingyu didn’t get angry.

He only looked lost and confused, with a hint of helpless awkwardness.

“But we’re siblings, Yanyan.”

I shrugged indifferently. “So what if we’re siblings? It’s not like we’re related by blood.”

The line was so similar that I subconsciously imitated Senior Brother’s tone from back then.

“Siblings naturally have their own kind of thrill.”

The moment the words left my mouth, even I fell silent for a second.

Xie Lingyu still didn’t get angry. He merely shook his head and said helplessly, “Yanyan, Yu Zhushui acts far too recklessly. Don’t learn that sort of talk from him.”

He could even tell that?

But I still forced myself to pick a fight.

“Don’t talk badly about my Senior Brother. Besides, I’m also a disciple of the Joyful Union Sect. Insulting my Senior Brother is the same as insulting me.”

Xie Lingyu hurriedly apologized. “Don’t be angry, Yanyan. That’s not what your brother meant. Let’s not talk about him anymore.”

He said we wouldn’t talk about it anymore, but he took the matter to heart.

In a certain sense, Xie Lingyu was actually a conservative old stick-in-the-mud. The type of person he disliked most was precisely someone frivolous and unrestrained like Senior Brother.

Add in the fact that I had suddenly asked him to become my cultivation vessel, and Xie Lingyu became even more convinced that Senior Brother must be trying to lead me astray.

Self-reproach, guilt, and worry tormented Xie Lingyu until he could neither eat nor sleep in peace.

Finally, one day, before dawn had even broken, he appeared at my bedside.

“Yanyan, Yanyan…” He lightly patted my blanket.

I was jolted awake and snapped at him in irritation, “Have you figured it out, then? Are you here to climb into my bed?”

Xie Lingyu shook his head and extended his right hand.

A long sword with an imposing aura, its frost-cold gleam as white as snow, was placed before me.

I thought he had finally lost his temper, couldn’t keep pretending to be a good older brother anymore, and wanted to hack me to death with a sword.

Just as I was about to strike first, Xie Lingyu stuffed that sword into my palm.

“This is the paired sword to your brother’s life-bound sword,” Xie Lingyu said without much explanation. “From now on, it’s Yanyan’s.”

I wasn’t a sword cultivator, but even I knew that a paired sword wasn’t something you could just give away casually.

I lowered my head and stared at the sword for a few breaths, then said in a strange tone, “What madness are you having so early in the morning? Don’t tell me you want to…” Propose?

Xie Lingyu nodded.

My pupils quaked.

Before I could sort through the mess in my head, I heard Xie Lingyu say in a firm tone, “Yes. Your brother wants to teach you swordsmanship.”

His gaze was so righteous it was practically deranged.

“Practicing the sword can calm the heart and steady the spirit. It will only benefit you, never harm you. Your brother will pass on everything he has learned in this life to you.”

Me: “…?”

Embarrassed into anger, I flung the sword into the blankets. “I’m not learning. Get out!”

I was a disciple of the Joyful Union Sect. Why would I practice the sword? Was I supposed to cross swords with my Dao companion in bed someday?!