We Agreed On Experiencing Life, So Why Did You Immortals Become Real? Chapter 644: My 'Love' Is Not as Cheap as Some Insect!

Three thousand years ago...

A young woman of sixteen followed her own master on a mission.

This particular mission was not especially difficult.

Mainly, a princess of some kingdom, cultivating at the Dragon Spring Sword Sect, had already reached the middle stage of the Foundation Building realm, and needed to undertake a training journey outside the sect, and so had accepted a mission to suppress a band of mountain bandits.

The young woman and her master's task was simply to protect this princess along the way, ensuring her safety.

Though the mission itself was rather tedious, having her own master by her side made the young woman feel that every flower and blade of grass along the journey seemed especially lovely, especially interesting, but before long, the young woman found herself growing displeased.

For a simple reason, the young woman felt that this kingdom's princess seemed to have taken a liking to her own master.

Along the journey, this woman named Zhou Xijun took every opportunity to cling to her master.

When master lit the campfire, she would squeeze in close beside him.

When master drove the carriage, she would come sit close, wanting to drive alongside him.

When master practiced sword, she would walk over, wanting him to teach her hand in hand.

Every time the young woman watched this Zhou Xijun approach her master, she felt her teeth clench in frustration.

She had never encountered such a shameless woman before!

"Master, I don't like that Zhou Xijun."

This day, the young woman said to her own master.

Xiao Mo, an elder of the Dragon Spring Sword Sect, smiled, rubbing the young woman's head, “What's wrong? How has she upset you, Qingyi?"

"I... I simply don't like her getting close to master." Jiang Qingyi pouted.

"Ha ha ha..." Xiao Mo smiled. "Since that's the case, then master will keep further distance from her."

"Really?" Jiang Qingyi raised her lovely head.

"Really." Xiao Mo nodded, answering softly.

Sure enough, over the following days, Xiao Mo maintained greater distance from the woman.

Jiang Qingyi felt genuinely happy.

Before long, the young woman's group encountered those mountain bandits.

Xiao Mo and Jiang Qingyi did not intervene, simply watching Zhou Xijun fight off the enemies, not interfering with any of her decisions.

Only when she truly faced genuine danger would Xiao Mo and Jiang Qingyi step in.

At first, dealing with the bandits went smoothly enough, the strongest among them being merely at the early stage of the Foundation Building realm.

For Zhou Xijun, at the middle stage of Foundation Building, this proved effortless.

The bandits fled in every direction, driven off by Zhou Xijun.

The leader of the bandits fled to a Buddhist temple.

Zhou Xijun gave chase, and Jiang Qingyi and Xiao Mo, naturally, followed as well but who could have known that this temple was, in fact, the very backing behind these bandits.

The temple was called Huanxi Temple, practicing a heretical harvesting technique, specifically preying upon ordinary common folk.

The abbot of Huanxi Temple was, himself, a Nascent Soul realm cultivator.

Xiao Mo and the others engaged in a great battle against him.

The three of them found themselves trapped together within a Mandarin Duck Cauldron, on the verge of being refined alive.

Fortunately, Xiao Mo managed to break free from the cauldron in time, slaying the Huanxi Temple abbot.

Every heretical monk within the temple was slaughtered without exception but Jiang Qingyi and Zhou Xijun, having been affected by the Mandarin Duck Cauldron, found their own desires stirred within them.

Sensing danger, Xiao Mo brought Jiang Qingyi and Zhou Xijun into a cave, setting up a barrier, trying to help them regain their composure.

Jiang Qingyi and Zhou Xijun, feeling their bodies burning with heat, pressed themselves ceaselessly against Xiao Mo but Xiao Mo remained entirely unmoved.

Three days later, Xiao Mo had fully quelled the burning desire within them both.

The three of them returned safely to the sect.

Only, after that, Jiang Qingyi felt both shame and a certain displeasure in her heart.

Shame, because throughout those three days in the cave, her memory of everything remained perfectly clear.

Displeasure, because her master had done absolutely nothing to her at all.

"Master, at the time, Zhou Xijun was consumed by desire, and she herself loved you too, master. Even had you done something to her, she wouldn't have blamed you for it. Why did master remain so unmoved?"

One day, Jiang Qingyi asked, curious, but in truth, what Jiang Qingyi was truly asking about was not merely Zhou Xijun.

"Had this master done anything at the time, that would have meant taking advantage of her in a moment of weakness, making me a scoundrel." Xiao Mo shook his head with a smile. "And besides, this master doesn't love her."

"Then master, what if, one day, a woman master loved was consumed by desire like that, alone with master? What would master do?" Jiang Qingyi asked once more.

Xiao Mo shook his head again, “This master would still do nothing at all."

"Why?" Jiang Qingyi found this even more puzzling. "The other party would already be consumed by desire. Even if master did something, it would be to save her, entirely reasonable, and could be explained afterward."

"You silly girl, not practicing your sword properly, always thinking about such things."

Xiao Mo tapped her head lightly.

"What does it matter if it's reasonable? What does it matter if it can be explained? So-called 'love' is something mutual. It cannot be forced upon, or else..."

"Or else what?" Jiang Qingyi asked curiously.

"Or else..." Xiao Mo smiled gently. "This master's love would be far too cheap."

…

Jiang Qingyi watched Xiao Mo slowly raise the bowl of wine.

For some reason, certain things that had happened before, certain words he had once spoken, rose once more within the woman's heart.

"Don't wish to be treated as a little girl anymore?"

Xiao Mo held the wine bowl in his hand, gently swirling the clear brew.

"But Sect Master Jiang, is it possible that, in his heart, you're already no longer a child at all?" Xiao Mo turned his head, smiling at Jiang Qingyi. "It's simply that he's never found the right moment to tell you..."

Hearing Xiao Mo's words, Jiang Qingyi turned her head away, biting her lip lightly, “You're not him. How would you know?"

"Well... I'm just guessing... but I feel he would think this way too."

"And besides, Sect Master Jiang said that even without love, one should force it anyway. But I don't think Sect Master Jiang is that kind of person at all."

As he spoke, Xiao Mo turned his head, smiling at Jiang Qingyi.

"Because the 'love' in Sect Master Jiang's heart would never be so cheap."

With these words, Xiao Mo raised the wine cup, about to drain it in one go but just as Xiao Mo's lips touched the rim of the bowl, a flash of sword-light streaked past before him.

Before Xiao Mo could even react, the bowl in his hand shattered into two halves, the other half falling to the ground along with the wine, the shattered fragments mixing with the spilled liquid and that tiny insect had already been sliced clean in two by Jiang Qingyi.

"What is this, Sect Master Jiang?" Xiao Mo asked, puzzled, uncertain what had come over Qingyi again.

"It's nothing. I simply felt Your Majesty had a bit of a point. My 'love' is not as cheap as some insect!"

With these words, Jiang Qingyi rose to her feet, walking out of the Dao Inquiry Platform.

"This girl..."

Watching her retreating figure, Xiao Mo shook his head with a smile.

Though he did not fully understand what had just happened, it seemed, at least, that whatever had been weighing on her heart had been resolved. That was good.

Brushing off his clothes, Xiao Mo rose to his feet, intending to continue his sword practice but at that very moment, beneath the steps, that gu insect, sliced in two, gradually began to take shape once more.

The gu insect transformed into a single white hair, resembling a fox's fur, drifting on the wind into Xiao Mo's own hair.