Chapter 13: Call Me Master

Jiang Xie looked at Ji Wuyue once again.

His heart was filled with emotion.

At the very beginning, he had only taken her back from the Blood Demon Sect in order to activate the statue.

His original plan had been to let her go once the statue was activated.

Yet he had never expected that activating the statue would take more than two full years.

Nor had he expected that he would fool her with nothing more than an ordinary bracelet, telling her it was the Soul Control Lock, and that she would actually believe him.

Over the past two years, although Ji Wuyue would occasionally throw little tantrums and her words were never forgiving, she had still done whatever he told her to do.

She had practically become the image of a proper little maid.

Though her mouth was stubborn, she had also brought him no small amount of amusement...

But days like these would eventually come to an end...

Staying by his side was not a good thing for her in the end...

Only by going back would she have the best future...

The dangers and hardships he would have to face on this road, with no talent for cultivation, were not things an ordinary person could bear.

He had the ability of Undying, so even if he failed, it would not matter.

But Ji Wuyue was different.

If she encountered danger, then if she died, she would truly be dead...

Just wait a little longer. In a few more days, you will be free...

Although these next few days might be somewhat painful...

At that moment, countless thoughts passed through Jiang Xie’s mind, and even the tea in his hand seemed to lose its taste in that instant...

“Bad scoundrel, what are you staring at? If you like looking at me that much, then call me a good big sister, and I will let you see what I really look like!”

At some point, Ji Wuyue had already come to Jiang Xie’s side, a crafty light in her eyes.

Jiang Xie came back to his senses, gently shook his head, and smiled. “A little maid dares to climb onto her master’s head now? Call me ‘Master’ and let me hear it. ‘Young Master’ would also do.”

“In your dreams. This young lady would never call anyone that!” Ji Wuyue lifted her chin, looking incomparably proud.

“It has been more than two years, and that young-miss temper of yours has not changed in the slightest,” Jiang Xie said with a hint of emotion. (Some of their experiences during those two and a half years are written later in flashbacks, not that there are no details!!!)

Then suddenly, in a tone that was both earnest and faintly pleading, he said, “Call me Master, or Young Master. After all, you are my maid now. What do you think?”

Ji Wuyue had originally wanted to retort, but the moment her eyes met Jiang Xie’s gaze, her heart trembled for some reason.

It was as if something important was about to slip away from her side.

For no reason at all, her heart clenched.

She actually forgot to argue back, and instead softly called out, “Master.”

Jiang Xie’s eyes lit up. He sprang to his feet and ran off while laughing loudly. “Hahahaha! Fooled you, Little Yue'er! I did not think you would actually say it!”

“You hateful wretch! How dare you trick this young lady! Take this!”

Seeing Jiang Xie suddenly run off, Ji Wuyue immediately chased after him.

But the trace of unease in her heart did not fade in the slightest.

She knew that the feeling she had just experienced was definitely not as simple as a mere illusion...

....

Inside the hall where Xue Li was staying in the Blood Demon Sect.

Xue Li sat in the seat of honor, while below him an old man was being firmly restrained by two figures.

The old man was kneeling on both knees, his face filled with uncontrollable fear.

“I heard that you once saw Ji Wushuang’s daughter?” Xue Li looked at him with contempt, a trace of coldness flashing through his eyes.

The old man’s body trembled, but he did not speak.

“Not speaking, are you?”

Xue Li smiled faintly, then clapped his hands.

“Grandpa!”

Immediately afterward, the old man heard a childish voice.

Terror appeared in his eyes.

When he turned his head to look, his pupils contracted sharply.

“Well? Do you want your grandson, or do you want to keep refusing to speak?” Xue Li looked at him with great interest.

The old man did not hesitate for long.

The instant he saw his grandson, his mental defenses collapsed.

He immediately cried as he spoke, “I have seen her, I have seen her!! Please spare my grandson, I beg you!”

“Very good.” Xue Li laughed loudly. “As long as you carefully help me determine whether a certain person is Ji Wuyue, I will let him go. So... you understand what you should do and what you should not do, do you not?”

“I understand, my lord, I understand! I absolutely will not deliberately conceal anything from you, my lord. I only ask that you do not harm him.”

The old man continued kowtowing without pause.

It was obvious that the child not far away was his weakness.

And Xue Li had seized precisely upon that point, which was why he had him brought here.

“Then next, let us go meet Young Master Jiang.”

With a mocking laugh, Xue Li strode out of the hall.

....

Inside the little courtyard, after Jiang Xie and Ji Wuyue had finished fooling around, a faint sword hum suddenly rang out from the void.

Ji Wuyue noticed nothing at all, and even Old Wu, who had been napping off to the side, was the same.

Only Jiang Xie’s gaze flickered.

Ji Wuyue’s soft little hand swung toward Jiang Xie. Jiang Xie lightly caught it, and his expression calmed.

Under Ji Wuyue’s puzzled gaze, he said flatly, “We have guests.”

And they did not come with good intentions...

When Ji Wuyue heard this, she withdrew her hand and was just about to open the courtyard gate.

Who would have thought that, with a bang, the gate would be blasted straight off.

Immediately afterward came a burst of laughter. “Hahaha, Young Master Jiang, I came uninvited. I trust I have not caused you any inconvenience?”

There were not many visitors, only two.

They were Xue Li and that old man.

As for whether there were others hidden in the shadows, that was impossible to know.

Old Wu instantly woke from his resting state and moved to Jiang Xie’s side. He had just been about to speak when Jiang Xie raised a hand to stop him.

A trace of cold light flashed through Jiang Xie’s eyes, but there was still a smile on his face. “I was wondering why dogs had been barking outside all day today. So it turns out one of them was happy because its companion was coming.”

Xue Li’s expression turned cold.

How could he not know that Jiang Xie was sarcastically calling him a dog?

But he did not get angry.

As the Demonic Heir of the Blood Demon Sect, if he could not endure even this much humiliation, how could he possibly sit in this position?

Xue Li automatically ignored that remark and instead turned his gaze to Ji Wuyue beside Jiang Xie.

With a teasing smile, he said, “Only a few days ago, I learned that more than two years ago, Young Master Jiang asked Xue Tu for a person. I imagine it was this young lady, was it not?”

As he spoke, he signaled with his eyes to the old man behind him.

The old man’s body trembled. He did not dare disobey, so he began carefully observing Ji Wuyue.

Jiang Xie knew their intentions perfectly well.

Ji Wuyue beside him also frowned.

For some reason, the moment she saw the man before her, a surge of disgust rose from the bottom of her heart.

“What? Has Young Master Xue come here to demand someone back? As the saying goes, what is given away is like water that has been thrown out. How could there be any reason to ask for it back? That would be rather inappropriate, would it not?”

A flicker passed through Xue Li’s eyes, and he replied with a smile that did not reach his eyes, “Naturally, I have not come to ask for her back. I am only curious why Young Master Jiang would go so far out of his way to specifically ask for one person.”

Jiang Xie slowly walked over and sat down to one side. He picked up a cup of tea, took a light sip, and only then smiled. “If I said it was on a whim, would you believe me?”

“Heh heh...” There was no way Xue Li would believe such an explanation.

Without drawing attention to it, he glanced at the old man behind him, and the old man gave a slight shake of his head.

Xue Li’s expression instantly grew sharp and cold.

The old man’s face changed drastically, and he began carefully examining Ji Wuyue again.

As he observed her, his brows remained furrowed. Just when it seemed he still could not tell—the old man suddenly shuddered violently.

It was as though he had discovered something.

And he really had seen it.

He had seen a small mark on Ji Wuyue’s left arm.

Three years ago, when the Sect Master of the Haoran Sect had once passed through a certain city during a trip, he had happened to be there as well.

Among the righteous powers of Dongzhou, the Haoran Sect had the greatest reputation.

So naturally, the appearance of the Haoran Sect’s Sect Master and Saintess had attracted the attention of countless people, and he had been no exception.

To say he looked at them a few extra times would have been putting it mildly.

At the time, he had even thought that if his grandson could one day become Dao companions with such a woman, then his life would have no regrets.

And it was precisely because he had been observing so intently that, when Ji Wuyue once raised her hand, he had accidentally noticed the mark on her arm.

A mark on the arm of the Saintess of the Haoran Sect was naturally something unforgettable.

Because of that, although the appearance of the young woman before him was worlds apart from that little girl back then, he could say with certainty that the mark could not be wrong!