Chapter 1351 - 738: You Didn’t Know? (Double-Length)
Taihua Mountain opens wide the path to Ascension with the Dual Cultivation Method of the Golden Boy and Jade Girl. This Dual Cultivation is not like the harvesting and plundering of heterodox Demon Sects, but rather the mutual fusion of Divine Souls, comprehending together; only the Jade Girl’s soul is more translucent, thus she finds it easier to ascend as an immortal.
Chen Yi’s prowess— even that New Year’s Eve in the Capital City, after tossing about her, Tingxue, and Consort Dong— left Chen Yi still unsated. Thinking of this, a faint blush rose on Yin Weiyin’s face, and she promptly recited the Supreme Forget Love Technique to calm herself.
Zhuangzi once said that the Dao lies even in piss and shit; how, then, could it not also be present in sensual form? So Yin Weiyin felt nothing improper in it. In the past, as a concubine, her virtue had already been somewhat stained; now that they were husband and Daoist companions, there was no need to shy away from matters of the bedchamber— she ought to give her all to Dual Cultivation instead.
With this thought in mind,
Yin Weiyin could no longer suppress herself; soft moans slipped uncontrollably from her lips,
"Enough, enough! Softer! Ah!"
.........
The new wedding lanterns had not yet been taken down. In the daylight their warm glow was no longer so mellow, yet the flame within still burned, giving off a faint light.
This pair of kindred spirits had said they would walk a while together, yet at this moment both were silent.
In the long corridor of the Prince Mansion, the lantern shadows were shredded by the wind. Qin Qingluo and Min Ning walked side by side, neither looking at the other, only pausing half a step in unison at the same section of steps.
Both turned their eyes to glance at each other.
At last, Qin Qingluo spoke first: "After we leave the Southern Border, where will you go next?"
Min Ning did not halt her steps. Her gaze rested on the scenery of the courtyard beyond the corridor. At these words, her right hand instinctively touched the hilt of the sword on her back. With a clear "zeng," she drew the sword half a foot from its scabbard; cold light flared, the blade ancient and simple, faint cloud patterns flowing along it, its aura distant and enduring.
"This sword is called Wind and Cloud," Min Ning said, her voice calm. "I once went to Shu, and by a twist of fate not only obtained this sword, but also... a legacy from the ancient Shu Mountain."
With a flick of her wrist, the long sword came fully out of the scabbard, tracing a flower of steel in the air before ringing back into its sheath, the movement clean and crisp.
"The matter of slaying the flood dragon is done. After leaving the Southern Border," she paused, her tone carrying the openness and decisiveness of a Jianghu person, "I will head to Western Jin, to pay a visit to that northern Sword Dao great clan, and meet the world’s sixth-ranked Broken Swordman."
Western Jin is a land even more distant and tumultuous than Shu, with perilous mountains and rivers, spanning the former Ancient Western Xia, the Northern Desert Grassland, and the debauched shores of the Bohai Sea.
Qin Qingluo listened in silence. She turned her head slightly, looking at Min Ning’s clean, sharp profile, as if seeing through her a far vaster world.
"Western Jin..." Qin Qingluo softly repeated, a faint, elusive melancholy in her tone. "I have been confined to the Southern Border for too long. In my youth, when I first trained with the spear, I also once thought of... spear in hand, horse beneath me, riding off far and free, to see what this world truly looks like."
In her voice, the majesty of a Vassal King had, for once, faded a little.
At this, Min Ning almost blurted out, quick-tongued as ever, with her usual straightforward chivalry: "Then I’ll go see it for you."
The words slipped out naturally, as if they were nothing more than the simplest promise between friends.
Qin Qingluo was momentarily taken aback, a trace of surprise flickering between her bold brows.
She had not expected Min Ning to answer thus. She looked into Min Ning’s clear and candid eyes; there was no calculation there, no testing, only the brisk directness of one who walks the Jianghu.
After a brief silence, the corners of Qin Qingluo’s lips curved up, almost imperceptibly. She inclined her head and said, "Very well."
The two walked on in silence for a while longer, the atmosphere much eased from before.
Qin Qingluo suddenly spoke again. This time there was a hint of probing in her tone as she looked at Min Ning: "I had thought... you still held some resentment in your heart over last night’s matter."
At the mention of last night, Min Ning’s heroic brows immediately knitted together. She gave a cold snort and turned her face aside, her voice edged with unmistakable annoyance:
"I know the chief culprit wasn’t you, Prince." Her words were crisp and to the point; she had always been clear on right and wrong. "It was that bastard Chen Yi... greedy without limit, shameless beyond compare!"
She aimed her ire squarely at Chen Yi, her tone bristling with anger.
Listening to her berate Chen Yi without the slightest politeness, Qin Qingluo did not become displeased; instead, a very faint smile flickered in her eyes.
She did not dwell further on last night. She merely turned her gaze back to the distant sky beyond the corridor, as if that absurd episode had already faded with the morning light, and the road ahead, each had their own path to tread.
They walked on in silence again. The thought that had surfaced in Min Ning’s heart before rose up once more. She stopped, turned to Qin Qingluo, and her expression grew a shade more serious.
"Prince," she began, her tone tinged with tentativeness, "I see that your daughter Qin Yue is bright and spirited— a fine seedling for Martial Arts."
She paused, uncertain if she was being too forward.
She wasn’t sure whether Qin Qingluo would agree. After all, she herself was only Fourth Rank. In the Jianghu she might be qualified to open a Martial Arts Sect, but in the eyes of a regional Vassal King, she was perhaps not impressive enough.
Min Ning felt a faint unease in her heart, unsure how this high-ranking Princess would respond.
After all, given Qin Qingluo’s status, the master she ought to find for her daughter would at the very least be a long-renowned Grandmaster of the Jianghu. What’s more, within the Ming’an Divine Sect, whose ties with the Prince Mansion ran deep, there was even a figure ranked seventh under heaven.
Yet Qin Qingluo’s reaction was beyond her expectations.
The Princess scarcely hesitated. Looking at her, she said directly, "Why not?"
Min Ning was slightly taken aback and lifted her eyes to Qin Qingluo.
Qin Qingluo’s expression remained calm as she continued, "I can see that you are forthright by nature, your sword heart clear. That little one, following you— whether she attains profound Martial Arts is secondary. If she can learn even a few parts of your bearing, that will be her fortune."
Min Ning’s heart gave a slight tremor. Even if she knew there might be an element of winning her over in this, she looked at Qin Qingluo and nodded solemnly. "Thank you for your trust, Prince. I will teach her all I have, and not fail the charge you’ve placed in me."