After receiving the voice transmission, Gu Qingyi turned her head to look at Gu Shen, the joy in her eyes practically overflowing. “Cousin, the Patriarch called me to the Tianyi Pavilion and asked me to accompany Senior Sister Shen to look around.”
“I’ll have to trouble you to hold the fort here, cousin. Please excuse me for a moment.”
Gu Shen was calmly dealing with the surrounding geniuses. Hearing this, she looked up calmly.
Her cousin usually looked quite composed, but right now, the excitement in her eyes was completely impossible to hide.
After all, being singled out by her mother to personally accompany the heir of the Shen family was indeed a massive honor among the younger generation of the Gu family.
“Go on,” Gu Shen said, seeing through her but choosing not to point it out. She casually instructed, “Accompany her well, and don't forget your manners.”
Gu Qingyi answered crisply, then turned and stepped out of the hall.
At first, she deliberately slowed her steps to maintain her poise, but once she rounded the corner of the corridor and there was no one else around, she immediately lifted her skirt and bolted.
After running for a bit, she suddenly skidded to a halt.
Facing a bronze mirror embedded in a pillar, she quickly smoothed down her hair and flattened her lapels. Once she was sure her appearance was flawless, she resumed her proper walking posture and stepped into the teleportation array in the side corridor.
With a flash of spiritual light, she arrived at the top floor.
Gu Qingyi stopped at the entrance of the pavilion, evened out her breathing, and walked inside.
First, she bowed to the Patriarch, then greeted Ancestor Tinglan. Turning slightly, she stopped in front of Shen Qingci and smiled gently. “Senior Sister, there are a few quite beautiful sights in Cangwu. Let me take you for a stroll.”
“Alright, I shall trouble you then, Junior Sister.”
“Senior Sister, why are you being so polite with me?”
Shen Qingci nodded slightly to Gu Huaiyan and the others present, then followed Gu Qingyi out of the Tianyi Pavilion.
The two of them walked down the external winding stairs, the sounds of laughter and conversation from the pavilion gradually fading behind them. Once she was free from the overwhelming presence of a room full of heavyweights, Shen Qingci completely relaxed.
“Junior Sister Gu, you must have put a lot of thought into today's setup, didn't you?” she asked, a hint of gritted teeth in her tone.
“Hehe, you noticed, Senior Sister?” Gu Qingyi nudged a few steps closer. “I gave my cousin a few suggestions, and the Ember-Spine Fiends were quite cooperative too.”
“But you have no idea, Senior Sister. Ever since the news of your visit to the Gu family spread, those male cultivators went absolutely crazy. Each one dressed up more excessively than the last—it was an absolute eyesore!!!”
“My cousin and I spent several days filtering them out, but we just couldn't get through them all. In the end, we simply blocked all of them and only let the female cultivators from the major factions in. At least that way, you could have some peace and quiet.”
At this point, Gu Qingyi sighed. “Senior Sister, actually, we all know you have a Dao companion, and she's even the number one beauty of the Southern Region, Senior Sister Chi.”
“Where do those clowns get the nerve to try and squeeze their way in front of you? They aren't even fit to carry your shoes. Comparing them to Senior Sister Chi is just an insult!”
Hearing this, the stifling feeling of being gawked at that had lingered in Shen Qingci's heart vanished instantly.
What an incredibly sensible and understanding junior sister!
She secretly thought that if that crowd had really gathered in front of her to make eyes at her... she would probably have drawn the Jinglei Sword and cut them all down.
As for the families backing them, they would all be settled at once.
If she were truly disgusted to that extent, she might even have egged on her aunt to turn the entire Southern Region upside down.
“Did the Gu family not have such intentions?” Shen Qingci asked.
Gu Qingyi raised her hand and made a throat-slitting gesture to her. “There were, but the Patriarch and my cousin dealt with them all.”
“The Patriarch said that the family can tolerate the incompetent and the mediocre, but keeping even one muddle-headed fool is a waste of spirit stones.”
“If they are let out, they will cause a massive disaster sooner or later, and they might even bring about the destruction of the Gu family.”
The black-scaled cloud flood dragon suddenly deactivated its invisibility, its two heads popping out from Shen Qingci's shoulders.
The left head was the quickest to speak: “As expected of a ten-thousand-year-old great family. Your Patriarch is a sensible person.”
“Don't worry. As long as you loyally follow our Eldest Young Lady, if the Gu family holds on for another thousand years, you'll pretty much reach the threshold of a first-rate great family.”
Startled by the sudden Soul Transformation pressure, Gu Qingyi took several steps back, her hand instinctively reaching for the magical artifact at her waist.
A second later, she realized.
With her senior sister right beside her, she was bound to be safe.
She withdrew her hand, her gaze landing on the two arm-thick, dark-green flood dragons resting on Shen Qingci's shoulders.
Four vertical pupils were staring right at her.
“Qingyi greets the two seniors,” Gu Qingyi said, bowing with cupped hands.
The right head tilted slightly, a hint of surprise flashing in its vertical pupils. “Oh, you're an interesting little girl.”
“Others always think we are one, but you called us 'two seniors.' We like you. You speak nicely.”
Shen Qingci raised her hand and flicked the base of the left dragon head's horn, then did the same to the base of the right dragon head's horn.
Two flicks, perfectly fair and square.
“You didn't dare make a sound in the Tianyi Pavilion just now, hiding invisibly on my shoulder and playing dead. Now you dare to pop out?”
The left dragon head covered its horn and grumbled defiantly, “Eldest Young Lady, that room was full of Soul Transformation and Void Refining cultivators. We were scared too!”
“What if some old geezer said, ‘This flood dragon has a predestined affinity with me’? Who would we sisters cry to then?”
Shen Qingci remained expressionless =_=. “You are spiritual beasts of my Shen family. No one would dare say such a thing in front of me.”
The right dragon head mumbled softly, “Well, there's always a chance...”
“Just admit you're cowards.”
“We are not!” the two heads chorused.
Gu Qingyi's gaze shifted back and forth between the two dragon heads.
A black-scaled cloud flood dragon, with two heads and two cores, at the early Soul Transformation stage?
A spiritual beast of this grade would be treated as a clan-protecting treasure in any second-rate great family, yet in her senior sister's hands, it was merely a living accessory used for travel and acting spoiled.
She opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but felt that anything she said would be inappropriate.
“Senior Sister, does our aunt still need any more nieces?”
Shen Qingci kept walking, letting the suspense build before finally speaking: “No. It's enough for Aunt to have me as her only niece.”
Gu Qingyi hadn't really expected to climb into that relationship anyway and was about to laugh it off, when Shen Qingci added, “But after you reach Foundation Establishment, I will give you a spiritual beast egg. Its grade will not be lower than Mystic-grade High-rank.”
“Think carefully about what kind you want. Consider it your reward for this matter.”
Gu Qingyi: “ദ്ദി ༎ຶ‿༎ຶ )”
A Mystic-grade High-rank spiritual beast egg???
She quickly scanned her mind for the most valuable spiritual beasts of the Gu family. The best ones were only Earth-grade Low-rank, and anyone who wasn't a clan elder was strictly forbidden from even touching them.
Her throat bobbed as she forced down the excitement bubbling up in her chest.
Fortunately, the one standing in front of her was Senior Sister Shen.
If it were anyone else making such a promise, she probably wouldn't be able to sleep for years.
“Then I shall thank you in advance, Senior Sister.” Gu Qingyi steadied her mind and steered the conversation back on track. “Senior Sister, the Patriarch instructed me to take you around Cangwu.”
“There are plenty of interesting places in the county. Nansui City has an established spiritual plant shop that often stocks high-quality lightning-struck spiritual wood. Dongheng City deals in rare spiritual beast eggs, where one can occasionally come across rare, exotic species.”
“The spiritual dining stalls in Xiwei are famous for a few pastries. Even the clan sisters who rarely leave their courtyards slip out every now and then just to have a taste.”
“No need. Let's just walk around the city of the branch family,” Shen Qingci said. “I didn't get a chance to take a close look when we entered earlier. This is the perfect time to walk around.”
Rate on N.U.
