Time was running late, the sky had darkened.
He Qiu had practiced and consolidated several sword techniques, finally deciding to return to the attic to rest.
When he returned to the bottom of the attic, before he even pushed the door open, He Qiu’s sharp sixth sense detected something amiss.
There was someone inside.
He Qiu closed his eyes.
Soon, an image formed in his mind: an old man with a white beard, sitting upright at the table, quietly sipping the hot tea in his cup.
So He Qiu opened his eyes, speculating that if he pushed the door open now, the scene in his mind would appear before him in the next second.
He had possessed this unusual perception ability since childhood, and He Qiu had always kept practicing like he just did, so his intuition was almost never wrong.
It was the same this time.
Sure enough, He Qiu pushed open the door and looked aside, seeing the white-bearded old man sitting at the table drinking tea.
That was Elder Xueyin, An Daosheng, the great benefactor who had led He Qiu into the sect for cultivation.
“Greetings, Master Venerable.”
He Qiu performed a bow.
An Daosheng saw his polite and well-behaved little disciple and immediately wore a kind smile, like an old father beaming as he looked at his future son-in-law.
“He Qiu, you’ve been training with the sword these days and must be tired, right? Come, don’t be restrained. Sit down and chat with me for a while… Oh, right, don’t call me Master Venerable anymore. That’s too formal. Just call me Master.”
“Yes, Master.”
He Qiu nodded and sat down opposite An Daosheng, attentively refilling the latter’s teapot with hot tea.
An Daosheng stroked his beard, smiled, picked up his teacup, and took a sip.
He was indescribably happy in his heart.
When he sat and chatted with An Lingran, that precious daughter of his had never once poured him tea.
She didn’t understand the proper etiquette of a junior at all…
Tsk tsk, He Qiu was much more pleasing to the eye.
No wonder he was the Immortal Venerable’s illegitimate child in the Mortal Realm.
Look, though he had a Wasted Spirit Vein and no cultivation, his elegant temperament and mature mindset far surpassed other children his age.
What a likable good boy.
While lost in these thoughts, An Daosheng casually asked about daily life.
“Ahem, He Qiu, how’s your cultivation lately? Have you encountered any difficulties?”
“Thanks to Senior Sister Lingran’s guidance, my sword technique has improved rapidly!”
“Oh? Quite confident, huh…”
Seeing He Qiu answer so easily, An Daosheng couldn’t help feeling a little puzzled.
Hadn’t An Lingran given He Qiu a Seven-rank Sword Art that day and told him to cultivate it?
How could a complete novice directly cultivate a high-rank sword art and get results? Let alone improve rapidly?
Something’s not right.
Wait…
An Daosheng raised his eyebrows, and suddenly understood!
So that’s it.
Just now, the boy emphasized “thanks to Senior Sister Lingran,” which meant he was so happy because Senior Sister Lingran guided him.
The boy’s subtext was expressing: he really likes his fiancée, An Lingran!
Good kid…
Promising young man, promising young man.
He’s already starting to play riddles with his master.
As expected of that lord’s child.
Moreover, An Lingran also seemed to have feelings for her junior brother.
Tsk tsk, mutual affection.
What a wonderful development.
“Very good, very good. It’s good that you haven’t encountered difficulties in cultivation.”
Stroking his white beard, An Daosheng said leisurely, “Actually, I’ve been quite busy with many things lately. So, for the task of guiding you in sword techniques, when you have time, ask An Lingran to teach you more.”
“You are close in age. She is your senior sister and a Saintess. When it comes to teaching you sword techniques, she is actually not much worse than me.”
“What do you think, He Qiu?”
At the end, An Daosheng looked at He Qiu with a beaming smile.
In fact, everything he just said was complete nonsense.
He was so idle every day that he was practically moldy, but in order to create time alone for An Lingran and He Qiu, he sat on Xueyin Peak every day drinking tea and playing the retiree, not personally teaching He Qiu cultivation, letting An Lingran teach him swordsmanship instead.
Look, now they’re practicing swordplay, correcting postures hand-in-hand…
How wonderful, the young people’s world for two~
Before long, He Qiu and An Lingran, a perfect match, would take a liking to each other, then gradually turn raw rice into cooked rice—make the engagement real from fake.
With a seamless plan to conceal everything from the heavens and cross the sea, he would successfully marry his daughter into the Immortal Sect, repaying his debt and achieving ascension in one fell swoop!
Moreover, the most perfect part of this plot was that currently An Lingran and He Qiu already had good feelings for each other.
No one would be made unhappy by An Daosheng’s plan.
In the future, his daughter would willingly marry into the Immortal Sect and not suffer any grievances.
And He Qiu was a good kid with integrity, sensible, hardworking, and polite.
He would definitely take good care of his wife in the future.
In this way, a world where no one gets hurt would be achieved.
This plan was simply too perfect.
This time, this old man had truly grasped the perfect timing, location, and harmony!
Meanwhile, He Qiu had already agreed.
“If Master is busy and has no time, and Senior Sister Lingran doesn’t mind her junior brother’s foolishness, then this disciple has no objections.”
“Good, good, good. Then, He Qiu, I’ll entrust your future cultivation to my Lingran.”
Saying good three times in a row, An Daosheng drained his teacup in one gulp.
He Qiu straightened up, picked up the teapot, and refilled An Daosheng’s teacup.
“Master, you’re a little too excited.”
“Oh, oh, don’t mind me. I just remembered something happy…”
An Daosheng coughed calmly a few times, then resumed his dignified expression as a master and talked about another very important matter.
“By the way, tomorrow there’s a small sparring match between the Inner and Outer Gates. He Qiu, how confident are you now?”
“Ninety percent.”
“Mm, don’t be too discouraged. I’ll help you with this… Wait, what did you say? Ninety percent?!”