There was a heavy downpour as Lu Qingyun and Qi Keqin cuddled together as the bamboo umbrella was not that big.
The usually crowded street was now almost devoid of people and the few people that they saw were all running for the nearest shelter.
As Lu Qingyun was trying to be a gentleman, he had made sure that Qin Keqin was fully protected from the rain but alas, one side of his shoulder was completely wet.
Lu Qingyun muttered, "Such a heavy rain. Alas, it seems that it would stop anytime soon."
Qin Keqin smiled as she turned to peek at him from behind her curtain hat veil, "Why do you want the rain to stop so soon? Now that it is raining, you have fewer things to remember and your training actually becomes easier. So it seems that even the heaven is taking pity on you."
Lu Qingyun was smiling weakly. He had completed forgotten about his training and in fact, half of the faces that he had seen were all forgotten by him. He was thinking, "I am going to fail the training on the very first day…"
He did not know that Qin Keqin was only teasing him about the training and it was only her excuse to take him out for some sightseeing.
At this moment Qin Keqin was saying, "I hope this rain will never stop."
Lu Qingyun chuckled, "If it don't stop, the city will soon be flooded."
Qin Keqin looked at him as she smiled weakly to herself, "Qingyun, you are so unromantic…"
While he was looking at the heavy downpour, there was a question that was perplexing to him so he asked, "Master-"
Qin Keqin said unhappily, "Keqin, you suppose to address me directly by my name. We are not in the clan now."
Lu Qingyun was a little flustered as he said awkwardly, "Keqin…" It was unnatural for him to address his master by the name and it was considered to be an extremely rude thing in the celestial realm. It was especially rude when a disciple was to address his master by the name in front of the master. But since Qin Keqin had insisted, he felt that he had no other choice. Anyway, he thought, I was always addressing her by the name in my dreams…
"I remember that the other vendors who are selling the bamboo umbrellas are only selling only around ten copper pieces but that old man jacks up the price for fifty coppers. Isn't it too outrageous? And why are we paying him a silver? That is a lot of money." He smiled weakly as he asked.
He had thought that by remembering how much to pay for the bamboo umbrellas, he would get praises from his master and it turned out to be quite a different matter entirely. In fact, Qin Keqin had intentional overpaid and he was curious why.
Qin Keqin had a faint smile on her countenance as she lowered her glances. To her one silver is nothing. She had often spent millions of silvers frequently every month. She had spent more than a few hundred million silvers on the celestial herbs that she had made for Lu Qingyun in the past month alone. This amount of money that she had spent exceeded the wealth of the wealthiest person and celestial clan alone.
Although she was quite poor now after spending so much money but she still got a lot of money parked elsewhere all over the divine realms of the Nine Celestial Fraternity. Worse come to worst, she could even 'borrow some money' from her arch rival the Nine Celestial Goddess Ye Jing. By that, she meant to exhort her provided that she could actually outwit her. There was this new epic plan that she had wanted to try on the Nine Celestial Goddess. The fight between the nine patriarch divine realms of the Nine Celestial Goddess and the three heretic dark divine realms of the Devil Goddess was about to start anew….
But that had to wait until she could settle Lu Qingyun first for he was a calculation that she had not expected to see.
The Nine Celestial Fraternity used to have two of the greatest heroines that everyone had revered and that were the Great Saintess Ye Jing aka the Nine Celestial Goddess and the Great Saintess Fan Yuqing. She was actually the Great Saintess Fan Yuqing but she also had another secret identity and that was the Golden Mask Devil Goddess that had terrorized the entire Nine Celestial Fraternity in the past.
When the Great Saintess Fan Yuqing had suddenly disappeared from the Nine Celestial Fraternity, it was because she had taken back her old identity as the Golden Mask Devil Goddess to pacify the three heretic dark divine realms and brought it under her dark banner.
When the nine patriarch clans who were in charge of each one of the patriarch divine realm respectively heard that the Devil Goddess had made a comeback and had even united the three heretic dark divine realms under her banner, they were shocked and pleaded with the Nine Celestial Goddess Ye Jing to settle her, once and for all.
However the Nine Celestial Ye Jing seemed unwilling to get involved and since the Devil Goddess had made no move against the nine patriarch divine realms, it soon became a status quo for the past couple of centuries.
The patriarch celestial clans had no idea that the Devil Goddess was actually not in the heretic dark divine realms most of the time and was actually in their midst, doing nothing most of the time except for gathering gossips.
Qin Keqin smiled, "He can only sell his bamboo umbrellas only on a rainy day. When the seasons change, only can he make some money for himself and his family. Circumstances may change all the time. It is just good that we can help him to earn a little bit more. One silver is actually nothing much to me but it may mean a lot to him."
Lu Qingyun was startled by her reply and he was impressed as he thought, "Keqin really has a good heart. She is thinking of helping the others but I am so inflexible. Alas, it is no wonder that she is a fifth realm expert. I wonder when I can ever attain to her level of cultivation?"
He quickly nodded but he still had another question, "Then why don't we buy two umbrellas instead?"
Qin Keqin: …
Why was he asking me the obvious?
But she said instead, "I'm your master and you are my disciple. So you ought to hold the umbrella for me. But if we brought two of the umbrella, it is impossible for you to hold two umbrellas at the same time, am I right?"
Lu Qingyun gasped softly, "Alas, I didn't think of this. I am really so silly and dense…"
Qin Keqin smiled to herself, "You are more than dense. You're…hopeless…but this is good. In this way, no other maidens may stand you…"
All of a sudden there were several flashes of brilliant yellow lightning that thundered so loudly that the entire ground was shaking and the surroundings were all vibrating.
This startled the two of them.
Lu Qingyun was muttering, "I've never seen yellow lightning before. Purple lightning is already scary enough. Maybe there is a war in the heavens at the moment."
Qin Keqin smiled, "The immortal wars in the heavens do not concern us because the righteous immortals had already won the latest war."
Lu Qingyun was startled, "There is a war in the heavens?" He was only casually saying that there was a war in the heavens and he did not really mean anything about it.
"The saints and the righteous immortals have been at war with the desolate immortals for a long time. What is left now is now the remnants but they can still cause a great deal of trouble from time to time." She said. All of a sudden she had realized she had said something that she should not have said and quickly added, "That is only a story that I've heard. Please don't take it as the real thing."
Lu Qingyun nodded as he said, "I've heard similar stories about the heavenly wars. I wish that the desolate immortals can be purged from the heavens and the righteous side will win the day. Then there will be no more heavenly wars. Better yet, I hope that the desolate immortals will all go to the abyss…"
All of a sudden Qin Keqin had placed her fingers on his lips in panic, "Don't say that because…"
"Huh?" Lu Qingyun had a strange look on his countenance as he smiled, "Since the desolate immortals are the bad guys, they shouldn't have existed in the first place."
Qin Keqin looked at him with a melancholy look, "If I tell you that you are once the leader of the desolate immortals, you won't think of the same way again." But she said, "It is just a mythical story and isn't real. We shouldn't let it affect our emotions."
"Right…" Lu Qingyun said, "I was getting a little too emotional. It is just a story after all."
Qin Keqin looked up to the heavens as the yellow lightning kept thundering nonstop and was shaking the heavens and the earth. Therefore she quickly moved her fingers to make a divination. All of a sudden she was startled and gasped to herself, "Something is happening in the immortal realm now?! A Great Goddess has actually fallen?! Who will it be…"
But just as she was thinking about the divination, her clan signet ring began to glow and a weak transmission could be heard echoing and it was the voice of Grand Elder Celestial Shi Guanyin, "Sect Leader Qin, I'm sorry to disturb you…but this is an emergency…the Solitary Manor is here again….and they…have…a seventh realm expert…we need you to come back fast…"
Lu Qingyun was startled and stunned when he had heard the transmission, "A seventh realm expert has come with the Solitary Manor? Keqin…"
Qin Keqin chuckled softly, "There is nothing to worry about. Come, let's us return to the clan now and meet this seven realm expert. I'll like to see what he is up to."
Lu Qingyun said anxiously, "Shall we go to the hideout first and get your sister saintesses to help you? They may be able to aid you…"
Qin Keqin said calmly, "Our hideout is too far away from here and we will waste valuable time going there and going back to the clan. We should make haste to return to the clan and see what the Solitary Manor is up to."
Lu Qingyun was really anxious and worried for her as he thought, "How can she be so calm. My master is indeed my master and her cultivation level is really profound. If I were her, I won't be able to maintain my composure."
Qin Keqin looked up at the heavens as she mused to herself, "So they've managed to find a seventh realm expert to deal with me? What a surprise. I wonder who is this seventh realm expert is."