Chen Wentian took Zhou Ziyun and immediately flew back to Moonlight City. The city was within his province and only a short flight and they soon arrived at the House of Paradise. Zhou Ziyun made Chen Wentian promise once more not to eavesdrop before heading up the stairs. She arrived at Lin Qincheng's penthouse and knocked on the door.
"Chengcheng! It's me, Ziyun." She called out. "It's just me. Master is not here. Can we talk?"
She knew Lin Qingcheng had heard her and could sense no one else was around. She waited patiently for a few minutes before the door opened slightly. She didn't let the chance slip away as she quickly slid into the room before the door shut securely behind her.
The room was dim, the usual light from the floor to ceiling windows were completely blocked off by thick curtains. Lin Qingcheng had puffy red eyes and a tear stained face. Her makeup was a complete mess and so was her hair and her dress.
"Oh, Chengcheng, you poor girl." Zhou Ziyun gave her a tight hug.
Being hugged made Lin Qingcheng's emotions spill over as she started crying once more. "Wuuu, sister..."
Zhou Ziyun let her cry it out and sat down with her on the bed, taking a comb to help fix her hair.
"Was master very angry? Should I tell him I'm really sorry?" Lin Qingcheng asked timidly.
Zhou Ziyun slowly explained that Chen Wentian wasn't angry at all and was instead very confused and worried. This seemed to cheer Lin Qingcheng up, much to Zhou Ziyun's chagrin.
"You knew the paddle would be painful. And you could have stopped him at any time. Why did you slap him?" Zhou Ziyun asked.
Lin Qingcheng wanted to hide her red face, "Ehh? He told you?"
"Don't be embarrassed. Tell me why you slapped him."
Lin Qingcheng thought about it for quite a while before she found her words. "I panicked. I always thought he liked me, that he cherished me... I often thought myself as more simply his disciple. He treats us so well. He makes me feel special."
Zhou Ziyun nodded her head in understanding.
Lin Qingcheng continued, "When he hit me, it was really painful. It hurt so much! It was like I was being punished. It suddenly felt like I wasn't special. I was simply his disciple... a disciple being punished."
"At that moment, you weren't sure he ever thought of you as anything other than that."
"Right!" Lin Qingcheng agreed.
"It must have been a scary feeling..." Zhou Ziyun hugged her again, comforting her.
"I thought everything was just an illusion. I panicked. I had to get out of there."
"But it's not an illusion." Zhou Ziyun said.
"Really? How do you know? Did he tell you?" Lin Qingcheng asked.
"Well... not directly. He's an immortal but he's also an idiot. But he's also an honest idiot and his actions don't lie. Men like him talk through their actions instead of actually talking. The way he treats you, and me, and Qianyu. It's special. You've felt it. I've felt it. Qianyu is smart, I'm sure she has also felt it. It's real, you don't have to worry. Also, he's sincerely sorry for hurting you and he would have come to apologize had I not forced him away."
"Really?" Lin Qingcheng felt it was too good to be true.
"Really, he was really sad when you slapped him."
"Ohh... hehe!" Lin Qingcheng felt much better and broke out in a smile.
"But this isn't the complete issue." Zhou Ziyun still wasn't finished. She pulled Lin Qingcheng back and looked at her seriously. "I have some questions; will you answer them honestly?"
Lin Qingcheng nodded.
"Good... Is master the only man you've ever had sex with."
"Of course!"
"Do you ever see yourself being with another man besides him?"
"Never."
"In the future, do you want to be his wife?"
"Yes!" Lin Qingcheng squealed, blushing
Zhou Ziyun sighed. She fully expected Lin Qingcheng to answer this way, yet she felt ambiguous at how immediate and straightforward the answers were. There were no doubts in Lin Qingcheng's mind about what she wanted. Her emotions were pure and simple, and it was beautiful. The problem was Chen Wentian himself didn't know what he wanted.
Zhou Ziyun tapped her cheeks in thought before continuing, "That's great. But have you ever thought about the issue is that he's our master and we are his disciples? This fact will always remain."
"I have, but masters can marry their disciples! It's not a taboo." Lin Qingcheng argued.
"Right, but he's an immortal. He's also extremely powerful compared to other immortals, he'll no doubt break through to even higher realms and never age for thousands of years. We on the other hand..."
Zhou Ziyun felt her own tinge of melancholy. She was in the same boat as Lin Qingcheng. "We only have a couple decades of youth and beauty before it withers away and we become old and undesirable..."
Both women became lost in their own thoughts, thinking about what was just said. Indeed, this was the greatest, mountain sized issue that faced them. Growing up, they had never even thought of walking the path of cultivation, let alone striving for the immortal realm. Wu Qianyu was arguably the closet along that path but there was no guarantee.
Lin Qingcheng at last stood up, her hands balled into fists in determination. "I'll do it! I'll become an immortal!" She declared. "I'll work hard on developing my special power!"
"That's good! I will do the same with my comprehension." Zhou Ziyun agreed. "Sister Qianyu is already hard at work and we need to catch up."
She wasn't as self-confident as Lin Qingcheng but she comprehended something from her brief moment of self-reflection. It was important to have ambition. They were no longer normal women but cultivators, cultivators that were disciples of an immortal. They should constantly strive for the higher realms or else they would be left behind and fade to dust. Even if it was to chase after their man, such ambition was still better than sitting around and waiting for the eventuality.
"Ambition is good but it's not enough for a man like Chen Wentian. In order to have achieve our goal, as women, we need to make use of all available means so that he will never throw us away."
"What means?"
Zhou Ziyun started listing out her new plan.
"First, help him. He's our master and he's always helping us. But we've never helped him. The thing he needs help the most right now is the sect. It's still small. We should help expand it and improve it. Make it so that at the next immortal competition, we won't be laughed at again for having only three competitors!"
"Alright!"
"Second, independence. Up until now, he's always guided us every step of the way. Making sure we don't stray and get hurt. But to become an immortal, this isn't always the right way. We need to be creative and be independent in our cultivation."
"Third, communication. Your fight with master could have been avoided with better communication. Even though he can be an idiot, we can tell him what we want. We can tell him how we want it."
"Next, be proactive with sex. Master is a person that really likes sex."
Lin Qingcheng giggled. This was true!
Zhou Ziyun continued, "I can tell you from experience that he likes it even more when we are proactive. We don't need to wait for him to find us. We can seduce him. We can make him want us when even he isn't with us."
"Last, we need to unite. You, me, Qianyu, the ice sisters... Well I can't speak for the ice sisters right now. But the three of us, we're all in the same boat together. We all want the same thing. We want to be with master and we're afraid to lose him. We are united, if he abandons one of us, he loses all of us!"
"Yes!" Lin Qingcheng cried out in support.
"We can't just do nothing. We have to use all of our available means. This is our sisterhood."
"Sisterhood." Lin Qingcheng agreed wholeheartedly, hugging Zhou Ziyun.
Her pure heart from the beginning had always treated Zhou Ziyun and Wu Qianyu as her sisters but it wasn't like this. She was extremely glad that Zhou Ziyun confirmed their relationship in this way.
"Elder Sister." Lin Qingcheng's voice was sweet and intimate like never before.
"Hmm?"
Lin Qingcheng had a coy smile, "Speaking of being proactive, I have an idea..."