Qi Bingwen's subordinates were puzzled the moment they were recalled, the plan to infiltrate and massacre the entire Su Fu tonight was going well, there should be no reason to retreat. They couldn't understand why their ruthless sect master who never left a single enemy alive would leave so many loose ends, there couldn't have been an expert hiding in the Su Fu, right?
Even if there was an expert, there was no way they could compete with their sect master. Don't look at his age and lesser-known identity, their sect master was at such a high level that many first-rate martial artists couldn't even measure his strength. If it wasn't for the fact that their sect master liked to be lowkey, he would have already taken a spot on the list of top ten martial artists in the jianghu.
He was the genius of geniuses, the prodigy of prodigies. Only some of his closer subordinates knew but their sect master had only begun training in martial arts four years ago, way beyond the age where one could practice martial arts. Since unpure energy would have accumulated in their dantian and their bones would have set by that point. Their sect master adhered to such logic, though, and grew at such a frightening rate, gaining unfathomable strength.
His talents would have allowed him to join any organization and gain a high position but their sect master wasn't interested in being ordered around by others so he started his own sect. It was an unorthodox sect, mostly in name only since he neither cared for the orthodox nor unorthodox factions. When they had asked him why he decided to align the sect as unorthodox, his response was simple, he thought the orthodox faction would bother him more often so he didn't call their sect orthodox.
They were shocked but by that point, they had already gotten used to their sect master's nonchalant attitude toward most things. His only focus was on martial arts so even the development of their sect stagnated once it was created. The massacre tonight was one of the most exciting things they had done in a long time, their sect master never took them anywhere, but even more surprising, he wanted them to kill, rob, and burn houses?
They were riled up immediately and grabbed torches to prepare for the night so when he recalled them before the night was over, they were all very disappointed. They were like children who finally got to play outside being forced to go home but they didn't go against their sect master's orders, his orders were absolute.
But...what was this scene?? The moment they regrouped by their sect master's side, there was an extra person in his arms and it was a woman!
They felt as though the sky was collapsing, how could their sect master h-hold a woman??? Their sect master had never been close to any female, there were many big and small beauties who would offer themselves to him but they were all ruthlessly kicked out. Everyone in their sect knew that their sect master could not be swayed by beauty, the only thing he was interested in was martial arts.
Looking a little closer, this beauty was quite good, better than all the ones they had seen before but even this wouldn't be enough to seduce their sect master! This was their sect master after all! Even though he was both talented and handsome, he never delved into worldly desires. He was the hero inside all of their hearts, the peerless, powerful, and unshakable martial artist who stood at the top of the world.
This was unacceptable! They all turned and glared at the beauty in white collectively.
Lin Qiuyue was rather amused seeing all the jealous glares being sent her way, she glanced at her system. "Doesn't this look like the scene of a wife catching her husband with a little mistress?"
『Y-yes, it does, Host...』
The system who had been silent all this time gave a shaken response, unlike its usual bright and talkative self. It had been panicking from the moment its host entered the main hall until now so it couldn't leave that state so quickly. It was too scared to talk in the main hall for fear of breaking its host's focus and causing her to die, so it only watched silently, the anxiousness overriding its system. It was afraid that its host would die at any moment so it kept its eyes open, watching every single movement of the target. Its bean black eyes which couldn't turn red were about to turn red from exertion.
It had never felt so nervous before but it was all good now, its host survived. She survived and she even increased the target's affection meter, its host was just as awesome as it had imagined!
『Host! You did it! You're so amazing! We survived! You're so great, so talented! Host! Host!』
Lin Qiuyue was about to ask what was wrong when she heard its lackluster response but before she could, the little system returned to normal immediately and began its usual session praising her, her ears felt numb from the endless praise. Sometimes she wondered if it was trying to raise a narcissist, luckily, she was a humble and modest girl at heart so these easy words could not phase her psyche.
Though she was a bit surprised, she tilted her head upwards to glance at Qi Bingwen, she knew that Qi Bingwen wasn't seduced by her surface-level beauty but she could still feel his hand around her waist. This should be an ancient world, wasn't there major emphasis on propriety and the difference between men and women? A martial arts type of world could be a bit more lax but not this laxed, right?
Their bodies were very close, when he used qinggong, she naturally held onto his shoulder, she was afraid of falling but her character setting didn't allow that, so she could only cover it up by holding onto him "lightly". This part definitely wasn't her fault, she couldn't control the fact that she was afraid of heights, she could only hope that he wouldn't notice the tightness of her grip on his sleeve. She still had to act like an unyielding beauty, if he knew she was scared, wouldn't that break her image T^T.
The only upside to this arrangement was the fact that she could very easily look at him, she wasn't so sticky about beauty but even she had to admit that he was attractive. There was no loss for her seducing him.
That didn't mean she couldn't complete a task with a target that was mediocre or ugly, but who didn't enjoy looking at someone beautiful? It was true the other way around too, if her body was beautiful then that was good, it could even help her in completing her task but that didn't mean she couldn't attack with a mediocre or ugly body, only that it would be slightly more difficult. She would definitely rather be beautiful though, her original body was perfect to her taste, unfortunately, she would never be able to use it again since she had died.
She wasn't sure how much time had passed in her original world but that body would be decaying or burned, the traces of her in that world would slowly disappear as time went on and even he would forget...
Qi Bingwen could see his subordinates questioning gazes and hostility towards Su Liling, he looked down at the girl in his arms and caught the pair of clear eyes that snuck a glance at him. He smiled, had she already noticed their glares? When she looked away quickly he could sense that she was in a daze, seeming a bit distracted. He wondered if she was imagining her future.
She shouldn't have suffered any hardship in her life, she was the legitimate daughter of the Su Family, even having some beauty to boast about, she must have been held in the palm of their hands. How could she stand the life of a rough servant? But she chose this path herself, if she wanted to suffer, he would gladly watch such a spectacle.
"This is the new servant I picked up," Qi Bingwen said simply in response to all his subordinates' questions before signaling for them to move. All the black shadows disappeared into the night, leaving the two of them alone.
"How is your qinggong?"
Lin Qiuyue was surprised at his question, she...sort of expected him to carry her the entire way. It would definitely be troublesome for other people but Qi Bingwen was so powerful, this shouldn't be a problem for him at all and while they were so close, she could also brush up on some points. It was hitting two birds with one stone.
It definitely wasn't because she was lazy and didn't want to run for the rest of the night...
Either way, she might have Su Liling's memories and know all those qinggong techniques but she also hadn't performed them herself. That one sword move to block Qi Bingwen's strike was already overwhelming enough for her. She couldn't be expected to dish out even more techniques.
The more she thought about it, the more she had to agree with Su Liling, martial art was really exhausting and not worth it. Lin Qiuyue was already incompatible with exercising, she hated running and all those bothersome physical trainings. Sword dancing and qinggong sounded cool but only in concept, she didn't want to imagine how tired she would be after having to use techniques for hours. Not everyone was like Qi Bingwen who wouldn't even break a sweat fighting a whole army.
She was very glad that her task in this world wasn't something like "becoming the #1 martial artist" or "starting a powerful sect". She would rather fail the entire task and go home, the endless void was also comforting in its own way, she could catch up on some beauty sleep out there.
Lin Qiuyue glanced in the direction that Qi Bingwen's subordinates disappeared in, there wasn't even a shadow left. She definitely couldn't move so quickly.
"My qinggong cannot compare but I will try to keep up with you." Su Liling turned back to Qi Bingwen and answered with a solemn expression, her serious consideration made him chuckle lightly.
"A good master should take care of his servant," Qi Bingwen said and didn't wait for a response before lifting her up and over his shoulder, he ran forward, and in only a few seconds, he caught up to his subordinates.
For the rest of the night, from time to time, there would be small shadows that flickered through the round moon, one of them carrying a sack over their shoulder.