Wen Xun felt guilty for what his daughter did. "Please don't take her attitude to heart, Shen Wu. She's only showing her displeasure because she was frightened."
Wen Ran knew that she was being targeted with anger when everyone looked disapprovingly at her. She had been wondering why he would be so kind as to hold her in his arms to protect her and she finally got the answer—he was just doing that to gain sympathy.
She secretly gritted her teeth. When Shen Wu's clear and cold gaze looked over, she could clearly feel that he was savoring her schadenfreude.
Shen Wu had an otherworldly appearance that transcended the mortal world, and hidden under it was a malicious soul that only Wen Ran knew about.
Wen Xun asked worriedly, "What did you two encounter here? Why was there such a big commotion?"
They would not have come in that direction had they not heard the rumbling sound of the collapsing cave.
Shen Wu's face slowly regained some color after he ate a Blood-Replenishing Pill, but his blood-stained clothes were still a shocking sight to behold. When compared with Wen Ran, her clothes—though soiled—seemed too clean compared to Shen Wu's.
One could not even begin to imagine how much effort Shen Wu had put in and how much danger he had experienced in order to protect Wen Ran.
He loved Wen Ran so much that he would use his body to protect her even when he was in danger. All the junior brothers could not help but gasp in admiration. If they were women, they would most certainly marry a man with a sense of responsibility like their Eldest Senior Brother.
It was a pity that Junior Sister Wen was still young and insensible at times. They made up their mind to persuade Junior Sister Wen if she threw a tantrum with Eldest Senior Brother in the future.
Wen Ran received stares from all her senior brothers, and she proceeded to look at Shen Wu's blood-stained clothes. At long last, she understood why Shen Wu did not seem to mind his clothes being dirty. It happened to one of the methods he was using to gain sympathy from them.
Shen Wu was careful with his words. As he faced his master's question, he lowered his eyes and said slowly, "Ranran and I fell into a cave and met a snake demon there. That snake demon had strong demonic art, so Ranran and I had to fight with the snake demon several times before we were able to kill it and make our lucky escape."
'Lucky…'
Wen Ran looked at Shen Wu's indifferent posture. His cold expression had never changed, and she would have believed his words had she not experienced it personally.
"That should be the snake demon that my senior brother caught from the mortal world." When Wen Xun heard this, he could not help but feel a lingering fear in his heart."That snake demon can transform and entice a person, making it extremely troublesome to deal it. I'm thankful the two of you were lucky to come out alive."
"Was it the same snake demon in the story that the Third Master once told us?" a junior Brother asked excitedly.
The third master was the one who lived in the medicine garden. She was the only female elder in Wen Xun's generation. Because of her meticulous mind, she was usually responsible for logistics work in addition to making medicinal pills. Almost every budding disciple who had just entered the sect had been under her care.
During her medicinal theory classes, she would often tell stories to the children of how the Mansion Master had subdued the snake demon with a single sword strike. It was from then on that the Mansion Master became a hero-like figure in the children's hearts.
"There's a sword mark on its face," Shen Wu said. "It should be that snake demon."
"Did you kill that snake demon, Eldest Senior Brother!"
"Which move did you use to end that snake demon's life?"
"You're amazing, Eldest Senior Brother!"
One after another, everyone praised Shen Wu to the heavens.
Wen Xun's face was filled with satisfaction too. His disciple Shen Wu had lived up to his untiring efforts to train him. Given time, Shen Wu would definitely be able to lead them to achieve even greater heights in the Immortal Ascension Mansion.
Although Shen Wu previously said that he had taken on the snake demon with Wen Ran, everyone believed that Wen Ran was nothing but a burden. It was probably good enough that she did not hold him back in her weak state, making it even more unlikely that she could fight side by side with Eldest Senior Brother.
At that point, Yan Qing interrupted their bustling conversation. He looked at Wen Ran and said in a somewhat unnatural tone, "Junior Sister... You should take care of yourself first if you encounter a similar situation in the future. I don't think I can live in peace for the rest of my life if something were to happen to you."
Luo Huai came over too, and he was a little mor energetic when compared to Yanqing. "You scared me when you sent us away and stayed behind yourself! I'm your senior brother, so if there's ever a situation, I should be the one to take action. I'm glad you're fine now though, otherwise I'd have to offer my life as an apology for Master!"
"I'm safe now, right?" Wen Ran was feeling a little scared, and in hindsight, she had no idea where she mustered the courage to stay behind and stand guard there.
Wen Xun had already heard about how Wen Ran had sent his two senior brothers out, and he could not help but reprimand her. "Do you think a teleportation formation is something you can just casually use? Have you taken a look at your cultivation level? If there's a backlash, you'll end up dying from exhausting your spiritual energy!"
"Oh," replied Wen Ran.
Shen Wu glanced indifferently at Yan Qing and Luo Huai, who did not surround him like the other junior brothers. The color on his face faded and it once again became as pale as paper. "I'd like to ask for your forgiveness, Master."
On the other end, Wen Xun was just about to continue chastising his daughter about the consequences of her impulsiveness when he heard Shen Wu's words.
"The sword that Master gave me broke when I was fighting the demonic beast."
Wen Xun inhaled sharply after seeing that the treasured sword in Shen Wu's hand had broken into two.
Shen Wu continued. "Sword cultivators like us live by the sword and die without it. It is my fault that the sword is broken. I ask that you punish me."
His thin body swayed slightly as he spoke, and he was already about to kneel when the responsive Wen Xun supported him up.
Wen Xun's heart ached so much that it was almost bleeding, but he knew that it was not easy for Shen Wu to escape from the hands of that snake demon with his daughter. He could not bring himself to blame Shen Wu just because of the sword, so he forced a kind smile on his face. "I can't blame you for this, Shen Wu, and you don't have to blame yourself either."
The junior brothers beside him comforted him hurriedly too.
"It was an accident, Eldest Senior Brother. Don't blame yourself."
"If I were in your shoes, I probably wouldn't've survived even one attack from that snake demon.Your life is so much more precious than a sword!"
"That's right. You don't have to feel guilty. Master will definitely find a way to repair the sword."
"Even if it can't be fixed, Master will still be able to find a sword that's better than Flawseeker for you."
…
Wen Xun could not hold his expression any longer.
A sword like the Flawseeker was a once-in-a-century gem. Did those disciples think that such swords were like carrots just waiting to be harvested from the soil?
He took a few deep breaths before he managed to calm himself down.
"Father," the young girl called out.
It had been many years since Wen Xun heard his daughter call him that. He first felt shocked, followed by ecstatic joy. He could not care less that the Flawseeker was broken and immediately turned to look at his adorable, well-behaved daughter. He then asked her happily, "Yes, Ranran?"
Now, if Wen Ran asked for a star from the sky, he would think of a way to go up and pick one.
A Broken Sword also appeared in Wen Ran's hand. She blinked,"my sword is broken too."
Wen Xun looked at the broken sword in his eldest disciple's hand and then at the broken sword in his daughter's hand. He immediately forgot how to breathe and began to collapse backward.
"MASTER!" the crowd shouted.