Chapter 402 - 184: A Solution for the Threads of Love, The 9 Great Giant Houses and the Qishan Jiang Clan, Breaking the 3 Limits, and Wearing the Purple Ribbon

Chapter 402: Chapter 184: A Solution for the Threads of Love, The 9 Great Giant Houses and the Qishan Jiang Clan, Breaking the 3 Limits, and Wearing the Purple Ribbon

Jiangyin. The Xie Residence.

Ji Xiu’s heart pounded as he accepted the complete volume of the Feathered Immortal Robe. After exchanging a few pleasantries with Xie Fuyao, he suppressed his excitement and was about to take his leave.

From within the screen,

Xie Fuyao chuckled softly from the daybed, her voice tinged with amusement.

"You’re so good to your apprentice."

"Instead of first visiting your ’esteemed master’ on Golden Turtle Island, you came rushing to me, all to find the complete Feathered Immortal Robe for your apprentice."

"It was his good fortune to have you as his master from the very beginning."

"But your apprentice was just sneaking glances at you. You didn’t even budge. Why didn’t you want to see him?"

Behind the screen,

the figure Ji Xiu had noticed earlier—the one concealed in voluminous robes—was revealed as Xie Fuyao spoke. He had a handsome, resolute face with sharp brows.

It was none other than Duan Chenzhou.

With one hand on his saber, he coughed. His voice was somewhat unnatural, a stark contrast to the domineering, composed front he put up for Ji Xiu.

"What’s there to see? I’ve been unyielding my entire life. If he saw me humbling myself to ask you for help, wouldn’t I lose face as his master...?"

Hearing this, Xie Fuyao pushed aside the screen.

The woman appeared to be in her twenties. Her beauty was like jade, radiant beyond description. A faint, mocking smile now touched her lovely, cool features as she glanced to the side.

"Hmph. Lose face?"

"Then are you aware that back at the Beicang Marquis’s Mansion, your apprentice kept calling me ’Master Xie’?"

"And yet here, in my private chambers behind two screens, is a man—obviously a man—sitting across from me as an equal."

"What do you think he’ll make of that?"

Duan Chenzhou’s head snapped up. His gaze shot toward the doorway, his body instantly straightening. His eyes widened in disbelief.

"What did you say? He called you his master’s wife? I..."

The man flew into a rage.

Having been his master and supported him all the way from Anning County, he knew the temperament of his little bastard of an apprentice all too well.

’He wasn’t acknowledging her as his master’s wife, was he?’

’He was clearly just sucking up to her for his own benefit, ready to sell his master out in a heartbeat!’

"Don’t mind him. The kid just saw you had the complete scroll of the Feathered Immortal Robe, so he’s trying everything he can to suck up to you and get something for himself."

"I was his first master on the Martial Dao. I know exactly what that kid is thinking. He’s just running his mouth. Next time I see him, I’ll definitely..."

However, before Duan Chenzhou could finish his torrent of explanations, Xie Fuyao cut him off, her voice cool.

"What if."

"I’m saying, what if."

"What if I told you I accepted the ’title’?"

The man’s voice died in his throat.

Duan Chenzhou’s eyes widened.

"You..."

Xie Fuyao fixed her gaze on him. Her tone was neutral, as if she were stating a simple fact, yet it plunged Duan Chenzhou into silence.

After a long moment, he sat back down and sighed, a flicker of weariness crossing his brow.

"Why must you be like this?"

"What happened back then is over. Why are you still holding on to it...?"

Xie Fuyao’s tone remained level.

"The first time I met you, it was outside Jiangyin Prefecture. A Realm Gate had reawakened in the East Canghai, and the authorities of Jiangyin Prefecture were suppressing Chaotic Heaven Lake. I was just passing through and got involved."

"You were so arrogant back then. Just because your master was Wang Xuanyang, you bragged that your Saber Technique was peerless, that one day you’d tread upon Sword Mountain, shatter the Celestial Pillar, and sweep aside the Eighteen Lords’ Paths. Utterly full of yourself."

"I was young and naive back then. I just thought, ’Even I, born into a Giant House, wouldn’t dare be so presumptuous. What right do you have?’ So, I got angry and beat you up."

Duan Chenzhou looked sheepish.

She recalled the past with a smile, but it was a cold one.

"Then your master, who’s ridiculously overprotective, without asking who was right or wrong, used the excuse that I, a Qi Cultivation Grandmaster, was bullying someone weaker, and suppressed my Cultivation on the spot."

"I was just like Zhinan back then, fresh from the Jade Universe Ancestral Land. A pampered daughter of a Giant House. How could I possibly stand for that?"

"After he suppressed me, I refused to yield. Of course, I hurled all sorts of threats at him, claiming that an Ancestor from my clan could crush his piddling Celestial Blade School to dust with a single finger."

Duan Chenzhou coughed sharply.

Even now, as she spoke of it—despite being a Female Monarch of immeasurable nobility and boundless prospects—her voice was tinged with the fury of gritted teeth.

"But that old fart was even happier after he heard my threats! He sealed my Cultivation, dragged me back to Golden Turtle Island, and said a girl from the ’Jade Universe Xie Clan’ wasn’t half bad—just right to be his apprentice’s wife!"

Duan Chenzhou listened in silence.

Xie Fuyao’s voice grew soft. As she spoke, she lowered her gaze and smiled—a smile like a spring breeze brushing a willow bank, sending gentle ripples across a lake.

"Of course, I refused to submit."

"I was seventeen that year. No one could insult a daughter of the Xie Clan. I would kill anyone who dared to trample upon my dignity."

"I even swore a silent oath back then that if I ever escaped, I would one day return with sword and armor, leading the Xie Clan’s private army to storm Jiangyin and wipe your Celestial Blade School from existence."

She lifted her chin slightly, her eyes glittering like stars in that moment.

Xie Fuyao was proud. It was an innate nobility, one that seemed to forbid being trampled upon.

"Fortunately, you still have a conscience. That sets you apart from your master, who, despite hailing from the Sword Dao Ancestral Court, is no different from a bandit."