Hua Yan felt that neither of them really wanted to acknowledge their brotherly relationship. The main reason was the sins of the former sect leader, Xie Changyun. He never acted as a proper father, leading to one being raised solely by his mother and the other growing up alone without even a mother. If it weren’t for their father, they might have had some sense of kinship, and she wouldn’t be so troubled!
She even thought, if only Lu Chengsha had grown up in the Demonic Sect instead of Tingjian Manor—it would have been better. She would have met him much earlier!
Maybe there wouldn’t have been anything with Yu Ye, and she and Lu Chengsha could have been betrothed directly!
And she wouldn’t be so worried now!
But now, they would frequently clash, especially when Lu Chengsha was forced, humiliated, to squeeze out the word “brother” from between his teeth.
Xie Yingxian would laugh mischievously on the spot.
Hua Yan originally wanted to stop it, but then thought it wasn’t a big deal.
After all, they were blood brothers!
So, she didn’t stop it.
She thought calling him brother might improve their relationship, but reality proved her wrong.
She could feel the intense killing intent emanating from Lu Chengsha, mixed with a hint of grievance.
Yet with Xie Yingxian beside her, she couldn’t comfort him and could only let him continue to feel aggrieved.
Now they had already left the Jiang residence. Xie Yingxian, with his sleeves folded, leisurely walked ahead in his gray robe, bringing up his previous suggestion to Hua Yan in a low voice.
Back at the Jiang residence, afraid of causing too much commotion, Hua Yan had politely declined. Now she also wanted to refuse!
Every idea Xie Yingxian had seemed aimed at infuriating Lu Chengsha!
He continued to transmit his voice: “You want to see him, why not give it a try?”
Hua Yan responded through voice transmission: “Won’t he think I’m toying with him?”
Xie Yingxian, as if it was obvious, said: “So what?”
Huh?
Xie Yingxian added: “He’s foolish anyway.”
Don’t bully the honest ones!
Perplexed by her attitude, Xie Yingxian transmitted: “You never used to be so protective of Yu Ye. I’m just teasing him a little, not doing anything serious. If you treat him too well for too long, he might not truly cherish it.”
Hua Yan said, “He will cherish it!”
Xie Yingxian was still puzzled, “You’ve already suffered once, how can you be so sure?”
Hua Yan’s face reddened slightly, “He is different from Yu Ye. My feelings for him… are also different from those for Yu Ye.”
“Alright, I don’t understand,” Xie Yingxian admitted straightforwardly. “But if he wants to marry you, I’m not satisfied with his current attitude.”
Hua Yan hesitated, “What would satisfy you?”
Xie Yingxian said, “He’s too stiff. He needs to change that.”
Hua Yan was shocked, “You call this stiff?”
Xie Yingxian nodded, “Yes, exactly. He is asking to marry you, so he should lower his stance a bit. If he can’t even call me ‘brother’ willingly, why should we in the Zhengyi Sect tolerate him? Elder Qu and the other elders don’t know about this yet; they think you’re just toying with him. He should act deeply in love with you while being utterly ruthless towards the righteous path.”
Hua Yan said, “Ah… what?”
Xie Yingxian raised an eyebrow, showing a mischievous and seductive smile, “Or you could have him cripple his martial arts, becoming a small husband who can only be protected by you and endure others’ ridicule. Then no one would object.”
Hua Yan immediately said, “I’ll go and persuade him to change!”
Xie Yingxian said, “Why not call him down now?”
Hua Yan hesitated again; Xie Yingxian’s bad ideas were really bad!
She hesitated for a long while before tentatively making a somewhat ambiguous sound.
Xie Yingxian slightly pushed her long hair back, exposing one delicate, fair ear, while also tidying up her messy hair. At the same time, he transmitted, “Mess up your clothes a bit too.”
Hua Yan nodded and was just pulling at her clothes when she saw a dark figure swoop down from the air, not towards her, but towards Xie Yingxian.
Xie Yingxian dodged Lu Chengsha’s attacks left and right, while a smile played on his lips, “Weren’t you afraid to see her? Why do you dare to show up now?”
Lu Chengsha restrained his urge to draw his sword, pursed his lips tightly, and said, “Don’t touch her.”
He had actually been holding back for a long time.
Ever since he knew this person was the leader of the Demonic Sect, he couldn’t help but be more vigilant. But because of her closeness with him, Lu Chengsha had to suppress his hostility. He didn’t want to make things difficult for her, but this person was truly despicable, repeatedly teasing and forcing him. And when alone with her, he was even more improper.
He might not look, but he wasn’t deaf.
Xie Yingxian said, “Taking out your frustration on me won’t help. Why not see how she looks now?”
Lu Chengsha remained silent, and without using any weapons, the two exchanged dozens of rapid, fierce moves.
Hua Yan, although she wanted to tell them to stop fighting, felt inexplicably excited watching them. After all, she had long been curious about who was stronger between Lu Chengsha and Xie Yingxian.
She reached into her sleeve, even pulled out a small packet of sunflower seeds, but feeling it was inappropriate, she put them back.
At this moment, Xie Yingxian transmitted his voice to her, “Call out.”
Hua Yan understood, found a clean spot, leaned onto it, loosened her collar a bit, messed up her clothes more, and tousled her long hair slightly, then let out a surprised cry.
Hearing her cry, Lu Chengsha involuntarily turned his head.
His gaze quickly shifted, and he snapped back, almost furious, “What did you do!”
Xie Yingxian replied nonchalantly, “We grew up together, like brother and sister. Hugging isn’t a big deal.”
What kind of brother and sister hug like that!
Xie Yingxian was just taking advantage of Lu Chengsha’s lack of understanding!
As Hua Yan was silently complaining, she heard Lu Chengsha say, “No hugging!”
Xie Yingxian said, “You weren’t here, so you couldn’t stop it, and besides…”
Seeing Xie Yingxian was about to provoke Lu Chengsha further, Hua Yan couldn’t help but say, “Stop fighting. I twisted my ankle, can you help me?”
Hua Yan felt a bit guilty saying this. With her level of martial arts, twisting an ankle was no different from tripping on flat ground. Xie Yingxian was already stifling his laughter, but Lu Chengsha was oblivious.
Xie Yingxian blocked Lu Chengsha’s attack, his shoulders trembling slightly as he said, “You can’t walk, right? Come, I’ll carry you.”
Lu Chengsha stood in front of him and repeated, “No hugging!”
Xie Yingxian said, “We can’t leave her on the ground. If her ankle is twisted, I might need to apply some medicine later.”
Hua Yan quickly took out some rouge, lifted her skirt, and applied a thin layer to her ankle, rubbing it slightly red. She had already removed the old lady’s disguise, and quickly checked herself in a small bronze mirror to ensure she looked beautiful before putting it away.
Lu Chengsha hesitated.
Xie Yingxian said nonchalantly, “Move aside. Go wherever you need to, but don’t block me from carrying her back to the inn.”
Lu Chengsha’s internal struggle was written all over his face. Xie Yingxian watched with amusement until Lu Chengsha was finally forced to say in a low voice, “I’ll do it.”
Xie Yingxian laughed, “You didn’t even dare to face her. How will you do it?”
Lu Chengsha turned his back to her, backed up to Hua Yan, and said, “I’ll carry you.”
Hua Yan was both nervous and thrilled.
However, Xie Yingxian was still not satisfied. He said, “Can she be comfortable on your hard back? If you can’t do it, let me carry her.”
One had to admit, Xie Yingxian was quite something. This incredibly lazy sect leader, who couldn’t even be bothered to carry a few extra things, rarely had his sword with him, but could somehow speak as if he was used to carrying people all the time.
Lu Chengsha froze for a moment.
Xie Yingxian began to walk towards them.
Lu Chengsha turned around, his arm sweeping under Hua Yan’s knees, scooping her up into his arms. Hua Yan naturally wrapped her two delicate arms around Lu Chengsha’s shoulders.
Finally, she saw the tips of Lu Chengsha’s ears turning red, and that slight blush on his face.
Hua Yan almost wanted to kick her legs happily in his arms, but she restrained herself.
Being too obviously happy might give her away!
Xie Yingxian glanced at her sideways, and Hua Yan immediately put on a grateful expression.
But this scene seemed like they were flirting right under Lu Chengsha’s nose. Although he didn’t dare to look at Hua Yan, he could clearly see Xie Yingxian’s expression.
Lu Chengsha was silent for a moment, then couldn’t help but ask in a very low voice, “Do you want him to carry you?”
Hua Yan was taken aback and shook her head, “Of course I want you to carry me!”
She felt Lu Chengsha hold her a bit tighter. After a moment, he asked, “Are you… very close with him?”
Hua Yan didn’t want to deny it outright, so she vaguely said, “Not really, just normal…”
Lu Chengsha asked, “How close is normal?”
Sensing the annoyance in his tone, Hua Yan tightened her arms around him, leaned in, and kissed him on the cheek, “Certainly not as close as we are!”
Xie Yingxian coughed and said, “I’ll head back to the inn first. You should hurry too.”
With that, he quickly left.
Lu Chengsha had no intention of chasing after him. He carried Hua Yan slowly behind him.
As soon as Xie Yingxian was out of sight, Hua Yan heard Lu Chengsha say, “Can you two… not hug?”
Hua Yan laughed and said, “He was lying to you! He did it to irritate you on purpose!”
Lu Chengsha paused and asked, “Really?”
Hua Yan said, “I told you, I’m only close to you. You have to trust me!”
Lu Chengsha nodded slightly, then, while holding her with one arm, used his free hand to straighten her disheveled collar, without looking, his fingers inevitably brushed against her exposed skin.
Hua Yan couldn’t help but let out a soft sound.
Compared to her earlier deliberate noises, this one, right by his ear, was even more alluring.
Her skin was smooth under his fingers, and Lu Chengsha began to sweat slightly.
Hua Yan’s hands were around his neck, her fingers lightly brushing his neck, teasing him, touching briefly and then letting go, making his body heat up. Even her breath was intoxicating.
Lu Chengsha’s body tensed.
Now he wasn’t afraid of offending her anymore, but still…
Hua Yan complained, “How can you hold me without having any thoughts at all?”
Unexpectedly, Lu Chengsha replied faster than she anticipated.
“I do.”
Hua Yan immediately asked, “What thoughts? Tell me!”
As she spoke, she suggestively touched Lu Chengsha’s Adam’s apple, a vulnerable spot for martial artists. But when she touched it, Lu Chengsha didn’t resist, allowing her fingers to move back and forth over that sensitive area.
Lu Chengsha pressed his lips together. He should be reciting sword techniques or scriptures to calm down, but his body and mind were not cooperating.
He struggled to say, “…Just wait.”
With that, Lu Chengsha finally quickened his pace. The inn was faintly visible ahead. Not wanting to be seen, he carried Hua Yan up the wall and over the eaves, bypassing the inn’s entrance, and directly entered through a window, placing her on the bed.
Hua Yan was still pondering what he meant by “just wait.” Now that they were in the inn, could he mean… But Lu Chengsha had already let her go.
Hua Yan thought, “That’s it?”
Then she saw Lu Chengsha suddenly bend down and say, “Injury medicine.”
Hua Yan paused, then handed him a bottle. She heard Lu Chengsha ask, “Which foot?”
She raised the foot she had earlier covered with rouge.
Lu Chengsha seemed to take a moment to mentally prepare himself before removing her embroidered shoe and silk sock, revealing her delicate, beautiful bare foot. The ankle was indeed slightly red, with a silver chain hanging around it.
Hua Yan felt a bit nervous, afraid he might notice something was off.
But it seemed that when it came to her, Lu Chengsha couldn’t see through anything. He poured a bit of the injury medicine, applied it to her ankle, and gently began to massage.
Unlike Youwei Tian, who had cried out in pain under his care, Hua Yan couldn’t feel him exerting any pressure. She could only feel the warmth of his fingers lightly touching her ankle, as if he was handling a precious, fragile piece of porcelain.
Hua Yan bit her lip and slightly lifted her skirt.
Her foot arched unconsciously, the skin on top fair and almost translucent, with her toes curling slightly, tinged with a faint pink. The silver chain on her foot occasionally jingled softly.
Lu Chengsha’s head was lowered, from Hua Yan’s angle she could only see his dark hair. His long hair was tied high, hanging to one side. His eyelashes trembled with nervousness, and his actions were extraordinarily careful. His fingers, which touched her, felt increasingly warm.
A strange, indescribable tingling sensation spread from her ankle.
What was happening!
Why was she suddenly feeling inexplicably nervous too!
It was just applying medicine!
Hua Yan steadied herself, lifted her skirt a bit more, exposing her entire slender, well-proportioned leg, and said to Lu Chengsha, “Aren’t you going to look at me?”
Lu Chengsha murmured, “I don’t dare.”
Hua Yan immediately asked, “Why not?”
Lu Chengsha didn’t answer.
Hua Yan lightly lifted her foot, rubbing it against him, and said, “Just one look, it’s fine! You already saw earlier! One more look won’t matter!”
Lu Chengsha’s voice was hoarse, “It does matter.”
Hua Yan, exasperated, said, “Does any normal person have your level of self-control? Am I that unattractive to you?”
Lu Chengsha’s voice grew even raspier, “No!”
Hua Yan, frustrated, tried to pull her foot away, “Forget it, you can go! I’ll apply the medicine myself!”
If this continued, she might actually give in to her emotions.
As she was thinking this, she suddenly felt something cover her. Coming back to her senses, she realized that Lu Chengsha had already pinned her to the bed and was kissing her deeply.