63 – Deceiving Yourself
“Senior Disciple Sister, you"re back!”
As soon as Xue Qilin stepped through the inn"s door, Shui Yuner stood up to welcomed her.
“Uh! Yes.” After closing the door, the la.s.s replied casually.
“Senior Disciple Sister…” Shui Yuner seemed to have discovered something, and she frowned.
“Ah!” A vapor-like natural fragrance a.s.sailed her nostrils. Xue Qilin watched in surprise as a porcelain white hand stroked her cheek.
“You"re hurt?”
A gentle feeling came from a scorching hot part of her face, making the expression on Xue Qilin"s face become that of embarra.s.sment. She isn"t used to such intimate contact.
“Hey, it"s nothing…”
Xue Qilin gently removed the other party"s hand and smiled foolishly.
“It"s fine! It stopped bleeding.”
With the strong healing ability of a Heaven Realm master, this kind of minor injury is not worth mentioning.
After carefully examining the wound on Xue Qilin"s face, Shui Yuner pursed her lips, “Be that as it may, you are a girl. Wounds on the face must be handled properly. You have such a beautiful face. Wouldn"t it be a shame if a scar was left on you face due to negligence?”
Although the wound has scabbed, but Shui Yuner doesn"t seem to be relieved.
“It"s not that serious.” Xue Qilin was taken aback.
“Senior Disciple Sister, take a sit first.” Shui Yuner took out a handkerchief from her sleeve, “I"ll get some water to clean your wound, and then treat it with some medicine later. Like this, we will be more at ease.”
Who will be more at ease? Xue Qilin nearly asked, but Shui Yuner has already gone to the counter to ask for water.
Looking at Shui Yuner"s gentle back, the la.s.s feels helpless, and cannot bring herself to stop her. After all, the other party is just worrying about her.
A wry smile appeared on her face. Xue Qilin shook her head and walked to Xia Xue sitting in a corner, propping her head up with a hand. Xia Xue has a look on her face that says “how fun”.
“You accepted a good disciple!”
Xia Xue teased Xue Qilin who has just sat down beside her.
After a pause, she changed the hand with which she propped her head up. Gazing at the la.s.s, she carried on, “She clearly hasn"t officially become your disciple yet.”
“Well, after all, we"re sect-mates.” Xue Qilin replied casually. If she showed any embarra.s.sment, the other party will definitely take it as an opportunity to attack her.
“Sect-mates?” The smile on Xia Xue"s face grew, “She"s been restless the whole time, waiting for you to return.”
“Unlike some people who are indifferent to the fate of others, people are kindhearted.
“Are you talking about me or the Temple Master?” Xia Xue put on a look of surprise, “When you said some people, you were referring to the Temple Master, weren"t you?.”
“You"re intentionally misunderstanding me!” Xue Qilin rolled her eyes.
Feeling that she"ll be at a disadvantage if things continue as is, the la.s.s simply changed the topic and said, “That said, are you really drunk?”
“What do you think?” The corners of Xia Xue"s mouth curled up, and she asked while playing with her hair.
“I don"t know.” Xue Qilin wrinkled her nose, “I"m not omniscient.”
“I"m drunk.” Xia Xue continued casually, “But not completely drunk.”
“Yo yo yo, you know you can"t drink, yet you still accompanied me?”
“I actually like to drink, but my tolerance is low.”
Appearing to feel sorry for herself, Xia Xue sighed suddenly, “The Heavens like making pranks, especially when it comes to the things that you want.”
Is that so? Xue Qilin feels that to be the case.
She sighed, echoing the same sentiment, “Yeah, things never go the way people want to.”
Xue Qilin didn"t wait for Xia Xue"s reply, because…
She heard the sound of footsteps approaching.
Shui Yuner has returned with water.
“Senior Disciple Sister, let me clean the wound first.” As she moistened the handkerchief, the girl who is always surrounded by the scent of water said with her eyes down.
“Oh, alright…” Xue Qilin agreed foolishly.
“I have some Jinchuang Ointment [1] in my bag, and it"s of good quality. If you don"t mind, please bear with it, Senior Disciple Sister. I"ll apply some on your face next.”
Shui Yuner cleaned the wound on her face carefully, her movements gentle.
The water dampened the wound and produced a pleasant coolness. Xue Qilin narrowed her eyes, feeling comfortable.
As she looked at the beautiful and elegant face in front of her eyes, she felt the soft cloth washing her ear. She felt so good that she wanted to moan, but then she glimpsed Xia Xue"s profound smile from the corner of her eye.
“Finished.” Shui Yuner smiled calmly.
“I"ll wash it for you.” Xue Qilin discovered that the handkerchief is stained with a little blood, and she uttered.
“No need.” Shui Yuner got up, “I"ll go get the medicine now.”
Then, she left without waiting for Xue Qilin to react.
“I don"t think so.”
Xia Xue glanced at Shui Yuner who is heading to the second floor, and then plastered that enigmatic smile on her face again.
“Didn"t you get what you wanted, didn"t woo Shui Yuner?”
It took Xue Qilin a moment to realize that she was carrying on with the topic that was suddenly interrupted just now.
“Screw you.”
Seeing Xia Xue continuing with her antics and twisting the facts again, Xue Qilin rolled her eyes.
“How long are you going to talk about this?”
“Three years.”
Xue Qilin"s face froze. She doesn"t have a good way to deal with that little devil Xia Xue.
Of course, she can act as a rogue just like before. But after thinking of Qi Qiqi"s vicious face when she acted as a rogue before, the la.s.s gave up on the idea, dispirited.
If she had to say whom she fears the most in the world, then that would be Qi Qiqi.
For some reason, Xue Qilin is scared of her.
Scared of her preaching, scared of her angry look.
Some people say that the more you care about someone, the more you fear them.
So, is Xue Qilin afraid of Qi Qiqi because she cares too much about her?
She isn"t sure.
This has been puzzling her.
There are many things that cannot be answered by thinking them over.
“Now spill it out.”
Xia Xue"s voice roused the la.s.s, and the latter asked, blinking her eyes, “Spill what out?”
“Who hurt you? I don"t think that a team of fake captors can harm you.”
After a moment of pause, Xia Xue showed a rare for her serious expression, “Just now, I felt a Heaven Realm aura. Who was that?”
“I don"t know, I didn"t have any contact with that Heaven Realm master.” Xue Qilin narrowed her eyes, “It wasn"t they who hurt me.”
“Then who was it?”
“I"m not sure. It was an Earth Realm expert with a very strange agility technique.”
Feeling a little embarra.s.sed that she was hurt by an Earth Realm expert, Xue Qilin added a sentence before Xia Xue could speak, “I was too careless.”
“Someone from the Shadow Gate?” After a moment of thought, Xia Xue asked, which amazed Xue Qilin.
How does she know? Xue Qilin is both surprised and suspicious.
Upon noticing Xue Qilin"s expression, Xia Xue explained, “I don"t think an ordinary Earth Realm expert can harm you. There aren"t many Earth Realm expert who can accomplish this. Senior Disciple Sister Luo [2] may count as one, and the rest may only be a.s.sa.s.sins from the Shadow Gate.”
When she reached this point, Xia Xue scoffed, “Their agility technique is disgusting, making them look like ghosts.”
Indeed – Xue Qilin nodded in agreement.
“I heard that people from the Shadow Gate can be hired?”
“You heard that from the Temple Master, right? They don"t abide by the code of conduct of Demimonde.” The expression on Xia Xue"s face became that of loathing, “Those people only care about money.”
“Why does the Shadow Gate still exist?”
It"s clearly despised – this is the second half of the sentence that Xue Qilin didn"t utter.
“Because it"s needed.” Xia Xue smiled playfully, “Everybody has a few people they want to kill. However, most people don"t want to get their hands dirty. Here is where the Shadow Gate comes in.”
“Hypocrites.” Xia Xue made a verdict on their personality, disdainful.
Everyone has a few people they want to kill – does she also have people she want to kill? Xue Qilin couldn"t help thinking this. But the thought just flashed past in her mind and disappeared.
“I wonder if it"s the Heavenly Sword Gate.”
“You think that it is the Heavenly Sword Gate who hired the Shadow Gate a.s.sa.s.sin?”
Xue Qilin nodded, hesitant.
“It"s unlikely to be them, it"s too obvious.” Xia Xue pondered for a while, “The decision makers at the Heavenly Sword Gate cannot be this stupid. Moreover, Liang Bozhong has a good reputation, and he abides by the code of conduct. Since Hua Tianji said that the grievances between you will end with the fight, then Liang Bozhong will definitely follow through.”
Xia Xue looked up at Xue Qilin again and spoke, “The current Gate Master of the Heavenly Sword Gate is such a person.”
“Really…” Xue Qilin suddenly felt apologetic. After all, Hua Tianji was killed by her.
However, she doesn"t regret it.
“But hatred can make people blind. Maybe Liang Bozhong…”
Xue Qilin didn"t finish the sentence, but the implication is obvious.
Xia Xue"s words didn"t remove her doubts.
Xue Qilin can only think of one ent.i.ty who has a deep hatred with her, and that is the Heavenly Sword Gate. No, there"s actually one more, but she doesn"t want to doubt them.
Xia Xue"s eyes lit up abruptly. It is a pair of beautiful eyes that seem to be able to see all the truth in the world.
“You"re deceiving yourself.”
After a long silence, Xue Qilin spoke lightly, “How am I deceiving myself?”
Xia Xue opened her mouth several times, but didn"t speak.
Until Shui Yuner went downstairs and interrupted the topic.
[1] – [2] – Luo Qing, she died in the previous volume