Qin Keqin was quieting meditating in the forbidden ground of the Heavens Ridge Villa when she sensed a strong spiritual aura sweeping to where she was.
Startled, she opened her eyes and responded with her own spiritual probing; it was the work of a high level cultivator that was in the area.
She was a little amused though.
Usually when a high level cultivator swept their perception over an area, it was done in a subtle way so that they themselves would not be detected.
But this high level cultivator was so bold as to sweep through the entire vicinity without masking her profound aura.
Because Qin Keqin had responded with her spiritual sense, this high level cultivator now knew of her existence.
It was because Qin Keqin was equally curious who this high level cultivator was.
"Mm, seventh rank saintess?"
Just as she was about to probe further, this high level cultivator had suddenly withdrawn all her profound aura and had vanished.
"Interesting…" she was musing curiously.
But she had decided to drop that aside first. There was something more important than this that she had to do first.
"Minyue, Danfeng. Is anyone of you there?" she had taken out her transmission.
"Sister Saintess Yuqing, you have ended your cultivation retreat? Have you recovered your strength yet?" Feng Minyue answered.
"Almost." Qin Keqin answered. "Mm, so who else is with you now?"
After the hard lesson learnt the last round, she was now making a check that there was no others.
"Only me. Danfeng she is in the scrying rooms."
Qin Keqin asked shyly as she took in a deep breath, "How is my Yun'Er? Did he drop a hair?"
To her, Lu Qingyun was now the most important person in her heart…
"He is already back in the Heavens Ridge Villa. He is perfectly fine so do not worry about it. Also, this is what we have found out…"
After listening to Feng Minyue who had related the events that had happened during the Red Death Valley, Qin Keqin was startled by what had happened.
"Alright. Thanks Minyue for taking care of my Yun'Er. I will return the favor to you soon! How about I buy you a big gift?"
"No!" Feng Minyue said firmly. "I've just tidied the accounts for last month. Don't you dare to spend so recklessly. You pick such a convenient time of the month to disappear."
"It's my monthly period, you know." Qin Keqin chuckled.
"Rubbish. You're a cultivator. Your period only comes like once every sixty years. This transmission is too expensive to maintain. Next time, we will use pigeons to send our messages." Feng Minyue had turned off the transmission.
Qin Keqin lit a wry smile. "Nowadays Minyue can't even manage a crude joke. It must be the stress of living with the Heaveness and the Heavenly Temptress. It is a good thing that I'm here. I am not going to return to the hideout…until I've a good excuse for what I did, that is…"
Metamorphs?
Desolate cultivator?
Then she wondered if the high level cultivator earlier may be related to the events at the Red Death Valley.
Then she smiled, "But this high level cultivator seems to be quite tactless. I should be able to handle this odd saintess…"
Then she had closed her eyes again.
Three days later;
Qin Keqin had opened her eyes again and she had slowly rose up to walk to the entrance of her retreat chamber.
Her cultivation retreat had ended and she had regained the peak of her cultivation strength!
Minutes later she had already stepped out of the forbidden ground.
To her surprise, there were all six of the grand elders that were already waiting outside the forbidden grounds for her.
"Huh? Grand Elder Shi Guanyin, Grand Elder Ouyang Xue…why are you here?"
Shi Guanyin smiled, "Of course we are all here to welcome our sect leader from exiting your cultivation retreat…"
Yun Xing was smiling too, "Sect leader must have attained to a new cultivation height or has reached a new state of divinity."
Wang Ming laughed, "That is right, that is right!"
There was a celestial array in the forbidden ground that would alert the grand elders if Qin Keqin were to step out of the cultivation forbidden ground. So naturally all the grand elders would be notified immediately.
This was something that Qin Keqin was aware as well but she had never expected that all the grand elders would all immediately arrive to welcome her.
Even Ouyang Xue had a delightful look in her eyes as she said, "Welcome back sect leader…"
Mu Han and Kong Guxin were all trying to speak at the same time, "We welcome sect leader back from your successful cultivation retreat…"
Of course the reasons why they were all so respectful and hastily in welcome Qin Keqin was because they had all overheard that she was actually the Great Saintess Fan Yuqing.
Her grace, the Great Saintess Fan Yuqing was actually in the Heavens Ridge Villa!
Wang Ming, Kong Guxin and Mu Han were looking intently at Qin Keqin. It was as though they could not get enough of this peerless goddess who was their idol.
Qin Keqin felt a little shy with all the stares that she was receiving,, "Mm, what's wrong? Is there something on my face?"
Shi Guanyin chuckled, "Not at all. I think that after this retreat, our sect leader has become even prettier."
Mu Han rubbed his hands and he was smiling, "That is so true. Sect leader is the most beautiful saintess…"
All of a sudden Yun Xing had stepped on his shoe as she shook her head.
Mu Han had a silly smile as he quickly corrected himself, "the most beautiful top beauty in New Empyrean City."
Kong Guxin groaned softly as he looked at the other grand elders, "Flattering will get you nowhere." With a smile he quickly said pleasantly to Qin Keqin, "Sect leader is certainly the top cultivator in New Empyrean City and there is no one that is equaled to you…."
"If sect leader is gracious enough to give me a tip or two on cultivation or even enlighten me, this is my great honor…" he added with a wry smile.
The rest of the grand elders: …
The rest of the grand elders had never known that Kong Guxin would suddenly be so shameless. He was a fifth realm golden celestial and he had always maintained his dignity. But now he was openly asking for cultivation tips from the Great Saintess Fan Yuqing?!
Not wanting to be left behind, Wang Ming, Mu Han, Yun Xing and even Shi Guanyin were all talking at the same time. "If sect leader will be gracious enough to give us some cultivation tips…"
Only Ouyang Xue was unmoved. It was because she was the youngest of the grand elders and she had owed her current position to Qin Keqin. For that, she was already grateful enough. But if there was something that she had wanted from Qin Keqin then it would be…Senior Brother Lu Qingyun.
But Qin Keqin only returned a faint smile as she said, "Maybe next time. I can't wait to see my Yun'Er again."
Shi Guanyin quickly grabbed the chance to say, "Senior Brother Qingyun is alright. He has returned safe and sound with Qiuyue."
Kong Guxin laughed, "I have heard that even the Heavenly Fragrance Heralds are in praise of our Senior Brother Lu during the expedition."
Wang Ming and Mu Han were all nodding excitingly.
For the past several days, they had been paying several visits with the Heavenly Fragrance Heralds and trying to get as much information as possible from them on Lu Qingyun so that they could say something to Qin Keqin.
Qin Keqin rolled her eyes and thought, "Let hope that they don't tell anyone that I am the Great Saintess Fan Yuqing…"
She pretended to say, "Thank you. I shall make my move first." She had of course known what had happened during the time that she was in her cultivation retreat as Feng Minyue had told her everything three days ago.
With that she had walked swiftly away.
"Sect leader…"
"She is in such a hurry…"
Mu Han muttered, "Senior Brother Lu is so lucky to be looking at this goddess everyday…"
Yun Xing stared at him, "You are not supposed to gossip. Have you forgotten about it?"
Mu Han grinned back, "Did I say anything? Or are you envious?"
Yun Xing pinched him quietly, "Mu Han, why don't you die right now?"
Ouyang Xue smiled weakly as she looked at the two of them. She had suspected that Mu Han had actually liked her former protégé master Yun Xing because the two of them would often quarrel without any reason.
–
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Lu Qingyun was in the practice chamber when Qin Keqin had suddenly appeared with a delightful smile.
He was so startled with joy that he had dropped his divine sword, "Keqin, your cultivation retreat has finally ended…"
For the past three days Lu Qingyun was actually in the practice chamber on his own. It was because he had thought that Yue Lingxi was an opponent that was too strong for him to handle alone and he knew that he had to improve upon his sword art in order to stand a fighting chance against her.
With the insight of Yue Lingxi's strength and his experiences with the Metamorph, he had further evolved his Flaming Phoenix Sword to the fourth level, the 'Soaring Heavens as One'. He had of course borrowed an additional insight with his crude understanding of Qin Keqin's 'Heaven and Self as One' sword art.
The fourth level of his Flaming Phoenix Sword as the true essence of his self-created sword art and would have the penetrating power that he needed to truly defeat a fifth realm golden celestial.
However he had felt that this may not be enough. Therefore he had looked at the Phoenix Burst sword manual that he had taken from the Red Heaven Sword Library. Previously this energy aura skill was beyond him since he had not attained to the fourth realm level yet.
But to his utter surprise, once he started on it, the Phoenix Burst turned out to be much easier than he had thought. Therefore he quickly mastered it and even incorporated it into his fourth level of the Flaming Phoenix Sword as an extra sword technique.
Since he was always lazy to give a fanciful naming, he had decided to call his version one as 'Alpha Soaring Heavens as One' and version two as 'Beta Soaring Heavens as One'.
Ever since he had attained to the fourth realm level, he felt as though that cultivation was not hard at all. In fact, somewhere he could fully understand all the laws and principles with only a single read.
He thought that it would be just a matter of time he could be a fifth realm golden celestial and he would actually breakthrough to this ultimate goal of all the celestials very soon.
Usually a typical celestial would require 150-300 years to attain to the fifth realm level under the most optimized condition. But Lu Qingyun felt that he could now accomplish this in just under a year.
He was about to test the new sword art that he had just created when Qin Keqin had suddenly appeared.
For a minute, the two of them were just staring at each other blankly, too shy for any words…
Finally Lu Qingyun made a slow move toward her as he forced her into a corner, "Keqin, do you remember what you've promised me? When I am back from the Red Death Valley, you will…"
He was looking down at her tight bosoms and his eyes had wandered to look at her exposed white slender but firm thigh.
Qin Keqin had always liked her dress to be short and there would always be a slit that opened to the side that showed her beautiful legs. She had obviously known that she had sexy legs and liked to show it off.
"Yun'Er, your eyes…where do you think you are looking at?" Qin Keqin smiled shyly.
As Lu Qingyun moved his hands toward her to hold her slender waist, Qin Keqin had suddenly moved her hands to her back of her butt. She chuckled softly, "I didn't see you for more than two weeks and you are becoming more and more like a lecherous wolf."
Lu Qingyun smiled weakly. Even before his hands had moved to her back, Qin Keqin knew that his lecherous hands would soon be moving to her butt.
He wanted to touch her there and to feel her. It was because he knew that she was not wearing anything inside…
Right now, he had totally consumed by a strong internal fire as he looked lustfully at her.
"Yun'Er, did anything happen while I'm away?" Qin Keqin asked panicky as Lu Qingyun continued to press her on the wall…
"No…" he replied.
He had totally forgotten about the Three-Destinies Old Man, who his old master was and everything that had recently happened. It was only Qin Keqin and her 'promise' to him.
"You like to touch me there, right? But first you got to stay alive first. When you are back alive, I will let you have your three minutes of fun. When you are back, I will let you release it." This was what he had vividly remembered and now he was holding her onto her promise.
He muttered, "Keqin, do you still remember what you've promised me?"
Qin Keqin smiled weakly as she pretended not to remember, "What did I promise you? I promise you plenty of things…"
All of a sudden he had attacked her with his hands on her bosoms and he was kissing her.
Qin Keqin gasped softly as Lu Qingyun put his tongue into her mouth. For a minute he was ravaging her with his kisses and his hands were moving all over her body.
Finally his hands did not attack her on her back but were moving to the side of her skirt as his fingers slipped through…
Qin Keqin was moaning and gasping before she made a light push on his chest with her fingers, "Yun'Er, I am your master!"
Lu Qingyun was grinning, "We are alone now. Therefore you are not my master now…Keqin…I want…"
Qin Keqin chuckled as she pushed him away with both hands, "Yan'Er has a pure spirit. You are corrupting her spirit with this."
Lu Qingyun replied with a soft laugh, "Yan'Er has closed all her senses to cultivate in her own quiet world so she is unable to see, sense or hear us. So this is a most excellent chance for us…"
"You actually order Yan'Er to close all her senses? It seems that you have it all planned?" Qin Keqin rolled her eyes as she interrupted gently.
Lu Qingyun looked shyly at her, "Tonight, I want to make you my woman…"
Qin Keqin gasped softly, "You are so shameless. Did you say this word to all the maidens that you have met?"
Lu Qingyun smiled weakly, "I have only said it once and it is to you."
Qin Keqin smiled shyly, "Who really knows about it? How do I know that during my absence, you and Xingyuan, Qiuyue, Ouyang Xue and Yin Shisi didn't have anything going on? Maybe you have already bedded them. Maybe you are a playboy like that Tang Bufan."
Lu Qingyun laughed softly, "In my heart, I have only you. How can I be compared to Tang Bufan? We are different."
Then he was launching himself forward to hold her when Qin Keqin giggled softly, "Alright, I believe you but you can't touch me yet."
Lu Qingyun was startled and asked curiously, "Why not?"
Qin Keqin rolled her eyes before she smiled, "Because if it is not because I've sent my sister saintesses to aid you, would you have come back alive?"
Lu Qingyun pondered for a while before he smiled bitterly, "Well, maybe…"
"Stop putting on a brave front. I've known all about it. You are just lucky to be back alive. So my promise to you doesn't count this time." Qin Keqin put her hand on his chest before she smiled shyly, "Therefore we have to maintain social distancing for now."
"Waaa," Lu Qingyun pretended to be upset as he said. "The Great Saintess Fan Yuqing will actually break her promise. Unbelievable!"
Then he had seized her to hug her tightly, "Keqin, I love you. Surely I can hug you right? I am after all, manage to stay alive."
"Since you have tried so hard to stay alive, alright then." Qin Keqin chuckled, "You just looking for any excuse to hug me, am I right? Why are you so desperate?"
The minute that Qin Keqin said he could embrace her, he had immediately wrapped his hands around him and was holding her tightly.
As Lu Qingyun hugged her, he was thinking quietly. "Keqin, I really love you. I know that I'm not the one in your heart but I do not mind. I don't mind even if you are no longer a chaste maiden. In my heart, I've only you."
Cultivators can live for a long time. During their long lives, it was not unusual for them to have developed many relationships.
Lu Qingyun understood this and this was something that he did not mind at all.
But he had misunderstood that Qin Keqin did not want to let him know just yet that she was not a chaste maiden. The truth was, she was still a chaste maiden.
Qin Keqin was thinking, "When it is safe enough, I will let you take me. But not now…"
All of a sudden she was flustered and she had pushed Lu Qingyun away with a soft gasp, "What are your dirty hands doing?"
Lu Qingyun had placed his hands on her butt and had felt her while she was holding onto him.
"Erm…exploring…"
"Shameless…"
"Yun'Er, you think that we will have children in the future?"
"Keqin, don't worry. I still love you even if we don't have any in the future."
The higher cultivation level a cultivator is, it is difficult for them to conceive. That is why there are many cultivators in the celestial realm who are married earlier or to a much lower level celestial.