Qingxue didn't have much knowledge regarding the food path. So whatever Tianlong had said, she believed it to be true.
However, Xia Mengyi's questions surprised her.
Didn't her brother cultivate the food path? Why was she asking these questions which undermined the path then?
It wasn't only her but Xia Jingyi was feeling confused too.
After all, since when did her sister start talking so much?
Tianlong smiled at her question and took an apple from the fruit tray. He understood that Xia Mengyi was testing his character and intelligence from his answers. Furthermore, this was something that she genuinely wanted to know.
Taking a bite of the green apple, he asked her, "Your highness, tell me, why do people consume food?"
"Because of gluttony?" She answered.
"And?"
"To satiate their hunger." She answered after a short silence. This factor naturally didn't apply to cultivators.
"Why do they feel hungry?"
Xia Mengyi raised her eyebrows. This was a simple question, but when correlated to the question she had asked him, there was more to the answer.
Tianlong's lips curled up into a smile when he saw her reaction. Even while frowning, she looked alluring as ever. "Everything under the heavens acts in a constant cycle. The deer eats the grass, the tiger eats the deer, the earth eats the tiger's corpse and the grass eats the earth. What is the world if not a place where one devours the other? Which of these instances don't operate on the principles of alchemy?"
Xia Mengyi looked at him with a complicated gaze. "Prince Yun's comprehension of the food path is very brutal." She said with a sigh.
Even though she had a frown on her face, she remained alluring like ever.
Tianlong's smile widened upon hearing her answer. "I am just sharing my perspective. It might or might not be correct." He paused for a moment. "This is the reason I consider Prince Jianwei as an alchemist too. No matter what kind of path you follow, in the end, they all lead to the same destination."
Once the apple was finished, he took another one but this time he offered it to Xia Mengyi.
"Please."
She hesitated for a moment, before taking it from his hands. In that brief moment that their hands came in contact, Xia Mengyi felt flustered and quickly took away her hands. But when she looked at him, she saw that his expression was still the same.
"In your heart, you doubt that the flower path is weaker than the wood path. But let me tell you, your path is just as correct as theirs! This feeling of inferiority is just in your heart. If you consider it to be a grand dao then it shall become a grand dao!"
Xia Mengyi trembled. She couldn't believe that the person in front of her had seen through her.
Ever since she had met Yun Tianlong, she had never displayed her cultivation method. Even in the competition, it was only her sister who had participated.
However, she wasn't surprised that he had determined her cultivation path. After all, she was constantly surrounded by the smell of jasmine.
With how much she regarded Long Qianmei, it would be a shame if, he, as her son, couldn't even figure that out.
What she was really surprised about was how he had determined her the doubt in her heart that she had kept hidden even from her sister!
It was not only her but the others too who were stunned.
Long Qingxue's heart filled up with a sense of accomplishment when she saw him casually seeing through the heart of the princesses.
No matter what was their status, they were still nothing before her man!
Xia Jingyi felt shaken. She herself didn't know that her sister had such doubts in her heart. After all, her sister never spoke too much.
She couldn't help but re-evaluate the man in front of her.
Xia Mengyi's face blushed. She lowered her head and bitterly smiled. "This one has embarrassed herself in front of Prince Yun. Hope you don't mind."
"Not at all." Tianlong shook his head. "Pointing out other's faults is easy, but judging oneself is the most difficult. Even though you tried to seek answers for yourself by taking your brother's case, it shows that you have the courage to face your own flaws!"
Hearing his praise, Xia Mengyi seemed quite embarrassed. She suddenly didn't what to say.
As far she remembered, those among her generation could only look up to her. They would be mesmerised by her beauty and feel intimidated by her strength.
When was there anyone who dared to give her pointers and praise her like him?
"Prince Yun's answers have been cleared by doubts. In the future, I will do my best to return this favour…" As she cupped her hands and bowed towards him, her heart contained genuine respect for him. Not as the son of Long Qianmei and Yun Dingxing, but as a fellow cultivator.
Hearing their conversation, the two girls had very different expressions.
Xia Jingyi's mind was in disarray. She had never heard her sister speak in such a tone with any other man.
Seeing the red blush in her ear-tips, Xia Jingyi felt thunderous rumbles in her mind.
She had an old habit of overthinking things. She could take a small matter and draw some completely different inference from it.
"Does she like him? Pah, impossible! There's no way my sister would fall for a bird! She just admires him as a cultivator… Yes, that must be it! She had a similar respect for that Ming Yunzhi… However, I always feel like that man is a creep… this guy may be slightly hateful, but at least he's honest… Wait! No, what am I thinking? "
However, no matter how much she tried to deny the fact, her mind would always come back to this same thought.
In fact, it wasn't only her but Qingxue too who had the same thought.
She had always been confident about her looks. Back in the clan, many young men tried to pursue her. However, she only used them to garner Tianlong's jealousy.
It didn't go according to her plan and in the end, she was the one who had to personally seduce him.
Only beauty wasn't enough to sway him.
That's why when she saw the two princesses who almost looked out of this world, she got a bad feeling in her mind.
"Hmph, he only acts strict with me and tells me to work harder and harder… When was the last time he praised me so openly? I'm sure he's trying to seduce this big sister!"
Still looking at Xia Mengyi, Tianlong let out a small laugh and said, "Since her highness wants to repay me, she can just do it right now."
"How?" She asked.
"It's very easy. You just need to ask princess Jingyi to play the zither. Let her music add some colour to this bland journey."
Xia Mengyi revealed a surprised expression. "How did prince Yun know that my sister is a zither player?"
However, before he could answer, she excitedly spoke, "Wait, let me guess! It was the mark on her fingers wasn't it?"
Tianlong looked ahead with a smile. "Princess Mengyi is indeed quite observant."
"Prince Yun surely knows how to joke. This one cannot compare with you at all~" She softly sighed.
As someone who could see through her heart with an indirect question of hers, it was a matter of child's play for him to understand that her sister was proficient in zither.
If Xia Jingyi's most eye-catching feature was her snow-white skin. With a layer of water constantly rippling over her, she looked as if she would melt if someone as much as touched her.
That's why she always covered her face with a veil and wore long sleeves while going outside.
Due to her flawless skin, one didn't need to fix their gaze on her to notice that there were marks of strings on her hand.
Tianlong's guess was just a small assumption that he made after noticing the places where the marks were situated and the depth of them.
However, while Xia Mengyi's opinion of him went up, Xia Jingyi's plummeted down.
"What observant? He must be looking at my hands like a pervert to have noticed such faint marks!" Once she thought this, she quickly hid her fair hands in her sleeve. "No matter how much uninterested he seems to be, in the end, he's just like other men and couldn't resist my looks… Hai, but I really can't blame him. This princess really has the most beautiful skin in the world…"
While the latter was still immersed in her little narcissistic thoughts, Xia Mengyi smiled at Tianlong and said, "Since prince Yun wants little Jingyi to play the zither, why don't you ask her yourself? In addition, how can this be considered as me repaying you?"
Tianlong smiled and said, "I seemed to have offended princess Jingyi. If I ask her, she would definitely not agree."
"Prince Yun must have some misunderstanding. Why would she be angry with you?" She paused and let out a laugh while looking at her little sister. "Right, Jingyi?"
Though no words were spoken, Xia Jingyi understood her. Even though Xia Mengyi's tone was gentle, Xia Jingyi felt the pressure in it.
In front of others, she was a fierce tigress, but when she was with her elder sister or aunt, she would become a docile kitten.
Why do I have to play a song for you just because you have solved your doubt?
Although she thought this in her heart, she didn't voice it out.
"Fine! But it's just because you helped elder sister!" She begrudgingly took out a zither and put it on her lap.
The white zither in her hand looked extremely expensive. Its body was made up of sandalwood and adorned with precious gems. There were wave-like patterns on its entire body that depicted the scene of a waterfall.
Once she put her fingers on the zither, her entire demeanour seemed to have suddenly changed. At once she seemed to have become as gentle as her elder sister. "I'll play a score given to me by senior sister Su Yan."