Chapter 3

“Heh.” Su Rong couldn’t be bothered to say more to him. She casually placed the clothes in her hand to the side and walked over to sit on the soft couch by the window.

“Put on your clothes and leave here tomorrow,” Su Rong said.

“Huh?” Qing Xian stopped his movements. “Didn’t you agree to let me stay?”

Su Rong’s lips curled into a smile, deliberately teasing him: “When did I say that?”

Qing Xian clutched the clothes and said, “I thought…”

“What you thought, I never said.”

She was just this malicious. After all, she was a demon, not an immortal.

Only immortals would selflessly save people. As a demon, she only cared about her own happiness.

Qing Xian visibly deflated.

He didn’t beg her to take him in again. His pride wouldn’t allow him to lower his head and plead once more.

Seeing his state, Su Rong curled her lips and said, “But it’s not impossible for you to stay.”

Hearing her say this, Qing Xian didn’t show a happy expression. He suddenly realized that this person was just playing with him!

His eyes reddened slightly, but his expression remained cold and serious: “No need. Qing Xian doesn’t dare trouble the lady.”

Su Rong knew she had teased him too much, but she wasn’t flustered. She curved her lips and said, “If you want to leave now, you have to be able to leave.”

Qing Xian glared at her, making a motion to get up and leave.

Su Rong sat quietly, even pulling out a book from the shelf and casually flipping through it.

“The mountain path is slippery, young man. Be careful.”

Qing Xian’s footsteps faltered slightly upon hearing this, but he continued forward.

However, his body still hadn’t fully recovered, and having been lying in bed for so long, his legs felt weak as soon as he got out of bed. He stumbled and collapsed on the ground.

He supported himself on the bamboo bed frame to stand up, his face expressionless as he tried to continue walking.

“Sigh.” Su Rong put down the book in her hand and walked in front of him, supporting his arm. “I really didn’t expect you to be so stubborn.”

“Why are you crying?” Su Rong saw tears suddenly fall from his eyes and helplessly reached out to wipe the tears from the corners of his eyes.

The two were extremely close, and Qing Xian’s breathing became slightly shallow.

For some reason, he always couldn’t help but be cautious around her.

“Shan Zhang has already agreed to let you stay. The room next door is prepared for you.”

Qing Xian held back his tears. He actually understood his current situation; leaving wasn’t the best choice.

As a man, he had lost his magical powers and his body was weak. He had no ability to protect himself.

So he took a step back, creating distance between them, and seriously bowed to Su Rong: “Thank you for your kindness in taking me in. Once I’ve recovered, I will take my leave on my own.”

“Mm.” Seeing that his tears had finally stopped, Su Rong withdrew her hand and turned to leave the room.

Qing Xian struggled to walk to the edge of the bed and sat down, his gaze somewhat lost.

The Emperor Mother said she was punishing him to spend three months in the mortal realm, completely becoming an ordinary person for these three months, without magical powers or advantages.

He was just an ordinary person…

As he thought about this, his gaze gradually became firm.

He had endured even harsher punishments before. He wouldn’t become dejected because of such a small disciplinary action.

He thought that the real reason for his dejection was probably because his heart was in turmoil, no longer steadily focused in one direction, single-mindedly aiming to be the perfect divine heir.

He couldn’t help but look at one person, but suddenly realized that perhaps that person only saw him as a plaything.

Since he understood the reason, he just needed to avoid her. As long as he didn’t interact with her anymore, he naturally wouldn’t be affected by her.

Qing Xian thought it was a good plan, but he forgot that they lived in the same courtyard.

Since that day, the woman hadn’t asked him to move out again. Instead, she moved to the wooden house next door herself.

Every morning when he woke up, he could see the woman’s smoky blue figure through the half-open bamboo window.

In the afternoon, he could also glimpse the woman napping under the locust tree.

It was late summer, and the locust flowers were falling in flurries. The woman lay on the bamboo chair, covered in locust flowers.

She seemed to have nothing to do all day except teach. Occasionally, when she finished a book, she would come to his room to exchange a few books.

But she didn’t seem to really read the books either. As she flipped through them, she would often fall asleep, and when she woke up, the books were usually nowhere to be found.

He saw them; they had fallen to the ground.

He couldn’t help but secretly pay attention to her.

The days of recuperation were very boring. An ordinary person’s body couldn’t cultivate, and even when he was lost in thought, she was in his eyes.

After a few days like this, someone suddenly knocked lightly on Su Rong’s courtyard door.

Qing Xian wasn’t surprised. He knew there was a teacher in the academy who often came to see Su Rong; they had a good relationship.

However, this time it wasn’t Si Tu Tang, but an unfamiliar female student.

She stood outside the door and called out, “Teacher Su, Shan Zhang has something to discuss with you.”

Su Rong got up to open the door: “Did Shan Zhang say what it was about?”

“She did. She said someone came looking for a young man,” the student answered, her tone somewhat confused.

Why would they look for Teacher Su if someone was looking for a young man? Were there any men at Teacher Su’s place?

As she was thinking this, she saw someone walk out of the teacher’s room, tall and graceful, with features like a painting, like an immortal from a picture.

But this immortal was a man!

The student stared blankly at Qing Xian, momentarily forgetting how to react.

“I understand. Go back and tell Shan Zhang I’ll be there shortly,” Su Rong said, closing the courtyard door.

She didn’t care how surprised the student was and simply shut her outside.

“Is someone here looking for me?” Qing Xian asked.

Su Rong turned to look at him, not saying whether it was or not, only saying, “Come with me to see.”

“Mm.” Qing Xian responded.

His expression was calm and cold, seemingly no different from what Su Rong had seen in the past few days, except that the hands behind his back were tightly clasped together.

“Shall we go then?” Su Rong gestured to him.

“Do I need to tidy myself up?” he asked, his gaze somewhat lost.

Su Rong said, “No need, you’re fine as you are.”

Qing Xian nodded and walked a few steps to catch up with Su Rong.

His injuries had almost healed. He didn’t know what medicine Su Rong had used on him that could be effective against injuries caused by the divine whip.

Thinking of this, he raised his eyes to gaze at the woman in front of him, his eyes deep and unfathomable.

Because she had to teach martial arts to students, her usually lazily pinned-up black hair was tied into a high ponytail today. She wore a long smoky blue robe, with a jade-colored belt tied at the waist, from which hung a white jade flute.

He had noticed this jade flute of hers very early on, but had never seen her play it.

Now the jade flute swayed slightly with its owner’s movements, making him feel somewhat itchy.

What would she look like when playing the flute?

“Have you looked enough?” Su Rong asked, her voice light but with a hint of teasing.

The tips of Qing Xian’s ears turned slightly red, and he turned his head away, ignoring her.

She always had a way of breaking through his facade.

In front of her, he was always like an ordinary young man, capable of anger and shyness.

But this was not the state a divine prince should be in.

From a young age, Qing Xian had been required to keep his emotions in check, to endure even when angry, to intimidate others with presence rather than rage.

And he had always done so. Before meeting her, he considered himself to have passed.

In fact, it was more than just passing.

That day, Qing Xian was bound in front of the Chongming Hall and lashed a hundred times, without shedding a single tear or showing the slightest fear.

Perhaps he understood that if he showed even a hint of cowardice, the punishment would be more than doubled.

As the heir to the divine realm, he had to be the divine prince first, and then the divine prince.

Before enjoying the honors of a prince, he first had to bear the responsibilities of a prince.

He had to be the most perfect heir in the six realms.

His gender had already made the gods feel he wasn’t perfect enough, so he couldn’t lose in other areas.

“Lost in thought again?” Su Rong stopped and turned to ask him. “Old Si Tu says I like to daydream, but I’m not half as bad as you.”

Qing Xian lowered his eyes, not bothering to argue with her. She clearly daydreamed much more than he did, and she also loved to sleep.

…

In the front hall of the academy.

“Young man, what evidence do you have that your friend is at our academy?” Shan Zhang asked, holding back her desire to lecture the man sitting casually in the guest seat.

The man had sword-like eyebrows and star-like eyes, his beauty aggressive and striking.

It was the first time Shan Zhang had seen such a handsome man, and she found it quite rare.

Most men in the Que Feng Dynasty were weak and gentle, with delicate and tender appearances. Few were as… valiant? as this man.

Shan Zhang thought to herself that he looked somewhat like a woman.

“Huh?” Long Ling was stumped by her question. He had borrowed something in the divine realm to trace the prince’s whereabouts, but it wasn’t convenient to tell mortals about that.

“He’s a good friend of mine. Before leaving, he told me he wanted to come to the Five Paths Academy to study,” Long Ling explained with a smile.

“I see,” Shan Zhang said, “But unfortunately, our academy doesn’t accept male students.”

Long Ling smiled and said, “I’ve heard that the Five Paths Academy is where the Emperor once studied. I didn’t expect it to be so rigid.”

Shan Zhang was somewhat choked by his words. Although the world advocated for more rights for men, deeply ingrained traditional views were indeed not easy to change quickly.

Shan Zhang herself had never looked down on men. History recorded many outstanding men whose demeanor was no less than that of women.

But the customary rules of the secular world were not something she could easily shake.

Long Ling also knew this. Even the divine race couldn’t completely let go of the differences between men and women, how could he expect mortals to completely abandon such notions?

He didn’t dwell on this point and impatiently asked, “Why hasn’t the Teacher Su you mentioned earlier arrived yet?”

“She’ll be here soon. Teacher Su’s small courtyard is quite remote. Please be patient, young man,” Shan Zhang said nervously, rubbing her hands. For a moment just now, the aura around this young man was a bit frightening.

This was because Long Ling had been with Qing Xian for a long time, and through osmosis, he had acquired some of Qing Xian’s imposing manner even without anger.

When Long Ling descended to the mortal realm, his divine powers were also restricted, but Shan Zhang was just a mortal, and she still couldn’t withstand the pressure of immortals.

However, although Long Ling’s divine powers were restricted, his body was still that of an immortal.

Unlike Qing Xian, who had been turned into a completely ordinary mortal body by the Heavenly Emperor.

Thinking of the punishment Qing Xian had received, Long Ling felt guilty.

If it wasn’t for his playfulness in fighting with that fox from Qingqiu and burning down a mountain in Qingqiu, it wouldn’t have disturbed the Fox Emperor.

Qing Xian wouldn’t have been punished by the Heavenly Emperor for protecting him.

That was a full hundred divine lashes, which Qing Xian endured without a sound.

Before his body had fully recovered, he was then punished by the Heavenly Emperor to descend to the mortal realm.

With his sickly body, there were no medicines in the mortal realm to treat his lash wounds. He wondered how Qing Xian was doing now, whether his wounds had been properly cared for.

Long Ling anxiously looked out the door and finally saw two figures, one in blue and one in white, slowly approaching.

He didn’t recognize the blue figure, but he did know the white one.

He immediately stood up, intending to go meet them, when he saw Qing Xian quickly walk towards him and say, “Long time no see, Brother Ling.”

Long Ling was stunned for a moment, then quickly responded, “Long time no see.”

Qing Xian turned to Su Rong behind him and said, “This person is my distant cousin. He has come to visit me.”

Su Rong looked at the man beside Qing Xian and suddenly felt somewhat familiar.