Supper ended after Su Chan had calmed down from her emotional breakdown . Yundong had finished his meal anyway, and Su Chan had lost her appetite . Bye-bye cheap monk .

  They moved to the living room after Yundong cleared the table with Qi Kinesis . Su Chan had watched the whole display with subdued wonder . She had seen Master perform it countless times . But still . This was Yundong, someone who, just a few months back, knew close to nothing about Cultivation .

  Now he was performing Qi Kinesis like a master .

  Wow .

  Su Chan would be performing cartwheels in the air right now if she wasn’t feeling so down .

  "Beloved?"

  Yundong looked up from the phone box and smiled . "Hmm?"

  "Who are you calling?"

  Yundong had been staring at the phone box for the past five minutes . He wasn’t calling anyone on it though . He just pressed a few buttons and then went back to staring at the screen .

  "I was just texting Zi Yuan . " He smiled . "She told me to let her know as soon as I found you . "

  "Texting?" Su Chan watched Yundong put the phone box away . "Oh . Is that the thing when you press a few buttons and then Chinese characters appear on the screen?"

  It was like writing a note or a letter by clicking a few buttons .

  Yundong reached over and pinched Su Chan’s cheek . Normally, Su Chan would avoid his hands and then make a face at him . But tonight, she let him .

  "Yes, princess . " He sounded very amused . "That’s what texting means . "

  Su Chan didn’t share his amusement though . "Um…… Yundong…… Is…… Is Zi Yuan zhenren . . . I mean, is she coming over……?"

  Yundong shook his head . "No . She’s in Tiannan City at the moment . Recovering . " Yundong glanced down at the phone box again . "She asked us to meet her once we get back . " Yundong looked towards Su Chan . "She has a few questions for you . "

  Her alarm must have shown on her face because Yundong quickly began to explain himself .

  "Don’t worry, she’s on our side . " Their eyes locked for a moment . "She’s going to help you get your master back . " Yundong stared at her earnestly . "We’re all gonna help . Even Ruan Hongling . "

  Warmth bloomed inside Su Chan’s chest . "Mm . "

  There had indeed been occasions where Su Chan had wondered about the exact nature of the relationship between Zi Yuan and Master . Of course, she wasn’t surprised that they knew each other . After all, the great prodigy Ao Wushuang and Zi Yuan zhenren of the Linggong Sect were both Cultivators of considerable fame . But no, this had nothing to do with fame . Su Chan had the impression that they didn’t just know each other by name, that they were more to each other than just passing acquaintances . It was like Master and Zi Yuan zhenren respected each other, like they shared some kind of bond .

  Whatever that bond was, Su Chan was certain that it had to do with Wang Yuanshan zhenren, the former leader of the Linggong Sect . For as long as she could remember, Su Chan had never seen Master flustered . And yet Master lost all her composure the moment Mo Ahshi mentioned Wang Yuanshan’s name . That was how Mo Ahshi had managed to get the drop on Master .

  "Chan’er?"

  Su Chan looked up from her lap . "Hmm?"

  "Are you alright?" Yundong patted her head . "You zoned out a little . "

  "I’m alright, beloved," she said, leaning into his touch .

  Yundong hummed . "I’m glad . "

  Su Chan cleared her throat . "Recovering . You said Zi Yuan zhenren was recovering . Did she get hurt?"

  Yundong suddenly turned away, but not before Su Chan caught a glimpse of the guilty look on his face .

  Su Chan frowned . What was that about?

  "Yundong?"

  Yundong cleared his throat . "Yeah…… She got hurt during the—" Yundong paused as though he had just remembered something .

  Su Chan waited patiently for him to continue .

  Moments later, Yundong sighed . "It’s a long story . "

  Su Chan reached over and tugged his sleeve repeatedly . "Tell me . Tell me . "

  Yundong smiled and pinched her butt again . Yup . Definitely a new hobby .

  At least she didn’t squeak this time, but that probably had more to do with exhaustion than her non-existent self-restraint .

  Yundong’s smile fell away, and he suddenly turned his body so that he was facing her fully . "I’ll tell you everything . But I need you to know something first . "

  Something in his tone drew Su Chan’s eyes to his face . Yundong’s expression was gentle but determined .

  "Your master is alive . "

  Su Chan nearly leaped off her stool . "W- What?" She grabbed Yundong’s hands . "A- Are you sure, Yundong?"

  A tiny smile played on Yundong’s lips . "Yes . "

  Su Chan could feel a load being lifted from her entire existence . "S- She’s…… alive?"

  Yundong nodded . "This intel came from Zi Yuan . "

  Su Chan stared at her beloved, stunned .

  Yundong smiled . "Like I said, she’s on our side . "

  This time, Su Chan did leap out of her stool . She ran around the table until she was standing beside Yundong, and then tugged his hand insistently . "But the school…… I mean, the assault! The—"

  Yundong cut her off by pulling her onto his lap .

  "Slow down, Chan’er . " Yundong’s chest vibrated against her back when he chuckled . "I’ll tell you everything from the beginning . "

  ***

  "I survived my divine punishment yesterday . " Yundong’s chest rumbled against her back when he spoke . She had decided to remain on Yundong’s lap instead of returning to her seat .

  Right . Yundong’s lap versus a chair . As if it was even a choice to begin with .

  "Well . Technically, it was the day before yesterday," Yundong continued, "since it’s past midnight now . "

  "Oh . "

  What had she been doing when Yundong was out there facing the Heavenly Thunder? Hmm . Most likely she was on her way back to the corn-door after another day of wandering Dongwu City . Or worst, she was busy dishing out verbal abuse to that annoying stalker .

  Something did strike her as weird though . When she was out wandering the city, she had watched the sky every opportunity she got . So how come she never noticed the arrival of Yundong’s divine punishment? Was she asleep when it arrived? Probably . She usually just collapsed into bad after returning to the corn-door .

  "I was in pretty bad shape after I survived . I think I went straight to bed . " Yundong paused as though he was trying to recall something . "When I woke up the next morning, I received a paper crane from Zi Yuan . She’s the one who informed me about the Great Six’s assault on the Fox Zen School . " There was a pause . "She told me that you and your master were missing, and then asked me to head to Mount Tianlong immediately to rescue you . "

  Su Chan turned her head around to stare at her beloved over her shoulder .

  Yundong smiled as though he had already anticipated her disbelief . "She was on our side from the start . "

  "W- Was she there?" Su Chan blurted out . "Was she……?" Su Chan winced . "Was she part of the assault?"

  "She was asked to be part of the assault . But she wasn’t part of the assault . Not really . " Yundong held her gaze for a moment . "She was there at Mount Tianlong though . "

  Su Chan’s mind spun . "She was…… She was spying on the Great Six, wasn’t she? She was secretly feeding you information . "

  Yundong nodded . "That’s right . She even ordered Ruan Hongling to look all over the mountain for you . "

  "I wasn’t even in the mountain," Su Chan mumbled .

  Yundong chuckled . "None of us knew that at the time . "

  "But……" Su Chan shot him a quizzical look . "How did you know where to find me?"

  "I—" Yundong’s brows were pinched together, and something flickered inside his eyes . Something that looked like sadness and fear . The look was gone before Su Chan could make anything out of it . Yundong cleared his throat, and the next thing she knew, he was smiling again . "Let me finish the story first . "

  "Oh . "

  "The assault had already begun when I got there . " Yundong sighed . "It was terrible, Chan’er . There were hundreds of them . "

  Su Chan sat in Yundong’s lap quietly, letting the gravity of his words sink in . She didn’t feel much fondness for the Fox Zen School, but it was still quite sobering to learn about the destruction of her place of origin .

  "It was Yan Fang . " Yundong had uttered those words softly, but the effect they had on Su Chan was profound . "She’s the mastermind of this whole scheme . "

  "Y- Yan Fang?"

  Yundong nodded . "Have you met her before?"

  Su Chan shook her head . "I know her by name only . She’s the Zhengyi School’s Eventide Reaper . "

  Yundong’s lips pulled into a tight line . "So I’ve been told . "

  "But I thought…… Mo Ahshi……" So she’d been right all along . The Mo Ahshi she saw the other day was an impostor .

  "Mo Ahshi is dead . " Yundong paused as though he was trying to gauge her reaction . "According to Zi Yuan, Yan Fang visited the Fox Zen School nine years ago to look for your master . "

  Su Chan nodded . She already knew about this . She overheard the brief exchange between Master and Zi Yuan zhenren the night Yundong killed Hé Shao . So this treachery had been going on for so long .

  "She must’ve infiltrated the school during her visit," Yundong said .

  And then hid in plain sight by posing as Mo Ahshi for over nine years? Eluding even Grandmaster Liu Ye? What an impressive feat .

  "I don’t know how though . " Yundong shook his head . "Not even Zi Yuan knows the details . "

  "I think she killed the real Mo Ahshi and then took over Mo Ahshi’s body with her Yin Spirit . " That was the only explanation Su Chan could think of .

  "And you would be correct . " Yundong paused . "Well, except for one thing . She did it with her Yang Spirit, not Yin Spirit . "

  Or Yang Spirit . Whatever .

  "So Yan Fang currently has Master," Su Chan snarled . "She’s the one holding Master hostage . "

  "Yes . " Yundong’s voice was firm . "But we have the upper hand now . We’re no longer in the dark . We already know that Yan Fang is the one behind the whole scheme . She, on the other hand, probably has no idea that we know . " Yundong smirked . "We also have two allies who knew the enemy very well . "

  Su Chan nodded .

  Zi Yuan jiějie and Ruan Hongling would know how to track down Yan Fang . After that, they would all go and rescue Master .

  Please hang on, Master……

  Su Chan exhaled lengthily, letting her anger fade . "I guess the school is gone then?" There was no way the Fox Zen School could survive an assault of that scale without Master there to defend it .

  "Nope . The Fox Zen School is fine . "

  Su Chan turned around in Yundong’s lap until they were facing each other . She was hyperaware of the fact that she was currently straddling Yundong’s lap, of how intimate the position was, but she didn’t care .

  "But they had an army," Su Chan said, finally voicing out her disbelief .

  Yundong smirked . "I fought hard . " He shrugged .

  "Y- You fought off an entire army of powerful Cultivators?"

  Just how strong was Yundong now?

  "I had help . " Yundong smiled . "Zi Yuan . Ruan Hongling . And the Fan of Seven Treasures . " Yundong paused in thought . "Technically, I didn’t take on the whole army . " Yundong smiled again . "I only fought a few of them . Oh, and also their commander, Zhang Tianhé . "

  "Y- You defeated the Jade Zhenren?!" Su Chan openly gaped at her beloved . "The wielder of the Sword of Seven Stars?"

  Yundong shrugged . "Zi Yuan had some pretty helpful tips . "

  Something flickered inside Yundong’s eyes . She knew then that there was something else that he wasn’t telling her .

  Su Chan cleared her throat . "Were there…… Were there many casualties? On our side, I mean . "

  "There are casualties . " Yundong had a worried look in his eyes . "But not many . As far as I can tell anyway . "

  "Who?" Su Chan held her breath . "Who died?"

  The worried look in Yundong’s eyes was replaced by a look of sadness . His hands rose until they rested on top of her shoulders .

  "Grandmaster Liu Ye . And your shībó Ye Yu . "

  Su Chan’s heart sank . Grandmaster Liu Ye, the kind old man who gave her the paper crane, was gone .

  "There’s something else, Chan’er . "

  Something in Yundong’s tone made Su Chan look up . Yundong’s eyes were burning with intensity .

  "W- What is it, beloved?" Su Chan stammered . "Y- You’re scaring me . "

  "I’m the new Head of the Fox Zen School . "