As Xiao Hong Xin finished speaking, Jiang Xuan was completely bewildered.
He initially thought Xiao Hong Xin just had a particularly keen sixth sense. Little did he know, Xia Xiao Yu had dug a huge pit for him!
All the while, Jiang Xuan, unaware of the underlying circumstances, was busy trying to cover up the situation like a clueless clown. It was no wonder that with each explanation, Xiao Hong Xin’s gaze grew darker and darker.
In a panic, Jiang Xuan scrambled through his brain for a reasonably plausible explanation. But with his mind in chaos, he ended up saying, “Well… it seems like this might have been accidentally left by Xia Xiao Yu. Being childhood friends and all, getting a bit closer is pretty normal, right?”
The moment those words left his mouth, Jiang Xuan regretted his choice. Seriously, in a matriarchal setting like this, a guy explaining it that way was bound to raise eyebrows.
Unexpectedly, Xiao Hong Xin nodded in agreement.
“I see, I never would have thought that the Pavilion Master was such an open-minded youth.”
“Yes, yes, as long as the Deputy Pavilion Master understands, it’s all good! I wasn’t trying to hide it on purpose; I just kind of forgot myself.”
Just as Jiang Xuan let out a sigh of relief and prepared to find a quiet spot to diligently train and boost his powers, Xiao Hong Xin stepped forward and hugged him tight.
“Deputy Pavilion Master, what are you doing?”
Before he could finish, she didn’t respond but rather, with a whoosh, they both vanished from the spot.
Meanwhile, Xia Xiao Yu, who was recovering her spiritual power, sensed Jiang Xuan’s disappearance and was at a loss.
She desperately wanted to find him but luckily didn’t lose all rationality. She knew that with her only half-restored powers, searching for Jiang Xuan wouldn’t be particularly effective.
So, she continued her training to restore her spiritual power, only for the recovery rate to suddenly skyrocket.
In that moment, she found herself in a strange state, with one of her captivating eyes red and the other golden.
Not far away in the mountains near a cave, Leng Wu Shuang and a group of people from the Demon Sect were walking together.
“Just lead the way here, and you all can leave. Remember, this boy is my Emperor. If you dare to lay a hand on him again, it’ll be the end of the Demon Sect.”
Hearing that, several elders from the Demon Sect sighed in relief, quickly agreeing before hightailing it out of there with the young master, Mo Qing.
No matter how reluctant she was, Mo Qing had no choice but to retreat. The opposing side was not only powerful but also had a mysterious old hag who had just appeared.
They in the Demon Sect were simply no match for them. Opposing them would likely mean they would be permanently stuck there!
Once the Demon Sect had left, the old hag spoke up:
“Little Shuang, no need to keep searching. The person you’re looking for has already been snagged.”
“How can this be? Did the people from the Demon Sect fool me?”
“No, they likely don’t have the guts to deceive you. From what I sensed, there are some spatial fluctuations left in that cave. The man was probably taken not long ago, and we’ve missed our chance.”
After hearing this, Leng Wu Shuang asked, “Old Ancestor, can you roughly determine the strength of the person who took away the Emperor?”
“If I’m not mistaken, the strength is around the third level of the Martial Emperor. Strange, though, if they only have that much power, you probably wouldn’t have called me here.”
At that moment, Leng Wu Shuang slowly clarified, “Old Ancestor, I’m not really sure what happened. The person who initially took the Emperor wore a golden mask. Based on my perception, that person’s strength had to be at least the peak of the ninth level of the Martial Emperor.”
Upon hearing this, the old hag pondered and said, “If your perception hasn’t failed you, that person is likely from a top-tier sect. The top-tier sects are not like the third-rate Demon Sect. If that’s the case, we certainly can’t provoke them. If it does come to that, for the safety of the Cold Light Dynasty, I can only advise you to replace the Emperor.”
Leng Wu Shuang could only sigh.
In a run-down little courtyard, Jiang Xuan appeared alongside Xiao Hong Xin.
Seeing the familiar surroundings, Jiang Xuan curiously asked, “Deputy Pavilion Master, how did you bring me here?”
“Master, the previous cave was too risky as a hiding place. It’s very likely it has been discovered by a powerful foe. So, for safety’s sake, I took initiative to bring you here to this little courtyard. Don’t worry! I’ve activated the hiding formation. Last time, I underestimated the strength within the Imperial City and didn’t use the strongest formation. This time, I activated the top-tier formation. Unless they exceed the Martial Emperor level, they won’t be able to see through it. So, for now, you can relax about your safety.”
“Above the Martial Emperor is the type of powerful being that belongs to top-tier sects. There’s no way they’d come to a small imperial dynasty’s capital. By the way, you can hide in the secret chamber of the underground passage. Oh, I remember this underground passage connects to your room in the Jiang family. If you want to return to the Jiang family, you can go back and check it out anytime.”
After hearing Xiao Hong Xin had everything arranged, Jiang Xuan excitedly nodded.
“Awesome! Thanks to you, Deputy Pavilion Master, I don’t have to keep hiding everywhere and can finally focus on training! Um… could you please put me down now?”
“No way! Little Xuan, calling me Deputy Pavilion Master feels too distant.”
Jiang Xuan: “……”
Realizing this, he quickly corrected himself: “Sister Hong Xin, could you please put me down? I’m ready to work hard on my training.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Jiang Xuan instinctively activated the scanning system. When he saw the information it provided, he was left stunned.
Name: Xiao Hong Xin
Current Cultivation: Third Level Martial Emperor
Faction Background: Divine Martial Dynasty – The Abandoned Daughter of the Xiao Family
Spiritual Root: Rare Immortal Spiritual Root
Current Favorability Towards Host: -6666
System’s Helpful Reminder: Current favorability is too low; please be mindful of the host’s words and actions to protect your own safety.
Jiang Xuan: “??????”
Seeing the system’s message, Jiang Xuan couldn’t help but doubt the credibility of the favorability rating for the first time. Clearly, Xiao Hong Xin was doing everything to ensure his safety and even didn’t oppose him training or returning to the Jiang family.
How could such a sweet and considerate Deputy Pavilion Master have a favorability score of -6666?
The more Jiang Xuan thought about it, the more bewildered he became, and just as he was about to argue with the system about this, he suddenly noticed that Xiao Hong Xin lowered her head.
Then, she leaned closer and whispered in his ear, “Since our relationship is so good and you call me sister, isn’t it a bit unreasonable if I didn’t ask you for a few more ‘favors’ this time, just like before?”
Jiang Xuan: “????????”
Upon hearing this unexpected request from Xiao Hong Xin, Jiang Xuan instinctively trembled. He could no longer face the word “favor.”
Before he could recover, Xiao Hong Xin continued, “Last time, you said we were even, but this time, doesn’t it seem like you owe me again? Since you owe me, asking for some compensation seems pretty logical, right? If your childhood friend can leave marks on you freely, why can’t I?”
At this point, Jiang Xuan was utterly dumbfounded. The slightly awkward Deputy Pavilion Master he knew had suddenly transformed into a sharp-tongued vixen. She was leaving him speechless, unsure of how to respond.
Noticing Jiang Xuan was still dazed, Xiao Hong Xin without hesitation scooped him up again and walked into the courtyard room.
Once inside, she finally set Jiang Xuan down.
“If you want to train in peace, you need to repay me first. Also, from now on, don’t call me Deputy Pavilion Master anymore, or every time you do, you’ll owe me a favor.”
“There’s no Deputy Pavilion Master here, just your sister Hong Xin who you owe favors to.”
Jiang Xuan: “！！！！！！”
“Sister Hong Xin, I…”
Before he could finish his sentence, she covered his mouth.
“Sorry, Little Xuan, I don’t want to hear anything you have to say right now because I’m afraid I’ll go soft-hearted and then won’t ask for my favors. We can talk after you’ve repaid me properly.”
Jiang Xuan: “??????”
Initially, Jiang Xuan planned to deliver some witty retorts to cool Xiao Hong Xin down, but she predicted his thoughts and immediately shut him up.
Now he was truly forced into “repayment.” There was no escaping it!
On a soft couch, Xiao Hong Xin was in high spirits as she pointed out the details.
“Little Xuan, are you saying your childhood friend is better than me?”
“Little Xuan, you treat me so well. Don’t worry! I’ll put in the effort to develop the Xuantian Pavilion well!”
“Little Xuan, if you call me Sister Hong Xin a few more times, I’ll let you get away with repaying me less. How about that?”
…
After a while, receiving no response from Jiang Xuan, Xiao Hong Xin continued with a disappointed expression, “Sigh, Little Xuan, are you not going to call me Sister Hong Xin just so you can repay me a few more times? I get what you’re doing.”
Jiang Xuan: “？？？？？”
At this moment, with his mouth still covered, Jiang Xuan was internally shouting, “For crying out loud, can you let me speak? This is beyond ridiculous!
What was I even thinking when I decided to have her as the Deputy Pavilion Master? How did it turn out that I, the Pavilion Master, got punked instead!”
…
Half a day later, finally feeling a bit satisfied, Xiao Hong Xin slowly released Jiang Xuan.
She leaned closer to his ear joyfully, “Pavilion Master, you don’t owe me anything now. Looks like the Great Rejuvenation Pill is really working; your physical condition is much better than last time. I’m very pleased.”
Jiang Xuan: “……”
Just as Jiang Xuan prepared to angrily denounce Xiao Hong Xin’s behavior as Deputy Pavilion Master, the system’s voice suddenly echoed in his mind.
“Ding! Detected that the target’s favorability is at 10,000. Would you like to copy the spiritual root?”
“Copy.”
“Ding! Copy failed. The copy function has a cooldown period of one day. Please try again later.”
At this moment, Jiang Xuan felt completely numb. He realized he had been completely played, and when he tallied things up, he had actually been played twice!
