Feng Yudie looked at Ye Anping, who had just walked out of the courtyard, and her expression instantly became stunned.

Where was her pretty senior sister or cute junior sister? How did they turn into her elder cousin or big brother?

Rubbing her eyes to make sure it was really Ye Anping, Feng Yudie suddenly felt awkward.

“Oh my, it’s Young Master Ye! It’s been a few months, and you’ve also reached Foundation Building– Hmm?!”

With that said, Feng Yudie hesitated for a moment, and a question mark appeared above her head. Her eyebrows also furrowed as if she couldn’t believe it, and she used her spiritual sense to repeatedly examine Ye Anping.

Ye Anping was a bit annoyed by her constant probing, so he raised his right hand and snapped his fingers, sending her spiritual sense back and interrupting her.

“Could you please stop scanning me with your spiritual sense so many times? No matter how many times you scan, I have indeed reached Foundation Building.”

Feng Yudie shook her head, retracting her spiritual sense, and asked in confusion, “But… the last time we met, weren’t you only at the fifth level of Qi Refining?”

“I encountered some opportunities.”

“I see…” Feng Yudie nodded hesitantly and then asked, “So how did you become an accompanying disciple for Senior Sister Xiao?”

“It’s also because of an opportunity.”

“An opportunity, huh…”

Feng Yudie nodded again and then glanced at Xiao Yunluo, who was standing nearby. A strange smile appeared on her face.

Ye Anping didn’t understand the meaning behind her smile and was about to ask when Feng Yudie suddenly ran over and grabbed his sleeve.

“Senior Sister Xiao, I’d like to have a private conversation with Young Master Ye.”

Hearing this, Xiao Yunluo’s eyebrows twitched slightly, but she couldn’t find a reason to object, so she remained silent.

Feng Yudie pulled Ye Anping a bit farther away and then leaned on his shoulder, making him bend down slightly. She looked at him with a silly smile and said, “Hehe…”

Ye Anping was completely puzzled. “What?”

Feng Yudie’s eyes formed crescents, and she looked at him with a funny expression. “Young Master Ye, how about we make a deal?”

“What kind of deal?”

“Well… I’ll help you get closer to Senior Sister Xiao, and in return, you agree to let me be with Junior Sister Pei. What do you think?”

“?”

“Young Master Ye, I really, really, really genuinely like Junior Sister Pei. And Junior Sister Pei also genuinely likes me. As the saying goes, lovers will eventually be together. As her senior brother, you shouldn’t interfere in their relationship. That wouldn’t be nice.”

Ye Anping frowned deeply, thinking, ‘Could it be that during my Foundation Building, this girl snuck into my junior sister’s Spirit Gathering Array and tricked her, causing my senior sister to not complete Foundation Building yet?’

In an instant, a trace of killing intent flashed in his eyes as he confirmed, “My junior sister likes you?”

Feng Yudie nodded vigorously and argued, “Yes, yes! Previously, Junior Sister Pei even praised me for looking good in her old clothes. And before I reached Foundation Building, Junior Sister Pei cared about whether I had the materials for it. She even spent a lot of spirit stones to buy excellent Foundation Building materials for me.”

“…”

Hearing this, Ye Anping’s furrowed brows relaxed slightly, and after pondering for a moment, he showed an expression of disbelief.

“Really?”

“Hehe– Really! Junior Sister Pei really likes me.” Feng Yudie nodded, blinking her watery eyes. “So, Young Master Ye, you see– I’ll swear to treat Junior Sister Pei well for the rest of my life, only liking her. Can you agree? Pretty please?”

“No.”

Ye Anping replied with a slight smile, then returned to his emotionless demeanor. He simply pushed her hand off his shoulder, turned, and headed back towards the courtyard, ready to continue cleaning the house.

“Ah– Young Master Ye…”

“…”

“Sigh…”

Feng Yudie felt a bit disappointed and sighed lightly. She wondered if she hadn’t gained enough favor with him. Weren’t they cooperating quite well last time?

At this moment, Xiaotian also floated out from her soul realm. Unlike before, it seemed a bit sluggish, as if it had just woken up. After stretching lazily on Feng Yudie’s head, it rubbed its eyes.

『Ah~ Congratulations on reaching Foundation Building, Yudie,』 it said without much enthusiasm.

Afterward, it looked around and, upon seeing Ye Anping, its usually sleepy eyes suddenly lit up.

『Hmm?! Ye lad actually reached Foundation Building!』

Previously, Xiaotian had always thought that Ye Anping and Feng Yudie might be a natural pair, but it was still uncertain, given that Feng Yudie had excellent talent while Ye Anping had relatively ordinary dual spirit roots. In this case, after Feng Yudie formed her Nascent Soul, Ye Anping might reach the middle or late Foundation Building stage.

But now, seeing that Ye Anping had also reached Foundation Building, it made Xiaotian even more certain! Ye Anping and their Yudie were indeed meant to be together.

No wonder it found Ye Anping more and more agreeable as time went on!

“Yeah,” Feng Yudie shrugged and replied, “He said he obtained some opportunity, and now he’s also become Senior Sister Xiao’s accompanying disciple.”

『Opportunity? accompanying disciple?』

Seeing Ye Anping walking towards Xiao Yunluo’s courtyard, Xiaotian suddenly realized and felt a sense of worry for their Yudie – your destined partner might be going away!!

『Yudie, how could you let him stay with that Xiao girl? He’s your future partner!!』

“?”

Feng Yudie was stunned for a while, then gave Xiaotian an annoyed look and simply ignored it. Afterward, she waved to Xiao Yunluo and said, “Senior Sister Xiao, I’ll head back now~”

『Yudie! What are you doing? Listen to me– Hurry up and go after him!』

Ignoring Xiaotian pulling its dumb hair, Feng Yudie didn’t pay any attention and turned to walk back to her own courtyard.

Back in the room, Ye Anping couldn’t help but think, “Yare yare daze.”

Just a moment ago, he had almost reached into his storage bag to grab something to smack Feng Yudie on the head. Thinking about the emotions he had felt at that time, Ye Anping immediately began to reflect on his actions.

“Don’t let emotions take over your mind, always stay rational.” This was a lesson he had been taught by his junior sister since childhood. How could he make such a low-level mistake himself?

Even if Feng Yudie hadn’t added the second part of her sentence, he should have known immediately that it was impossible for his junior sister to be swayed by her.

“Sigh… lost my composure.”

Ye Anping mentally noted this incident in his little notebook so that he wouldn’t repeat it in the future. He continued to clean the room. Just as he crouched down to pick up the mess on the floor, he suddenly noticed a book hidden beneath an empty pill bottle.

The book’s cover prominently displayed four big characters: “Erotic Art of the Immortal Palace.”

If he hadn’t misunderstood, this should be… Everything here belonged to Xiao Yunluo, so this book should also be hers.

She actually reads this?

Ye Anping glanced towards the direction of the room’s door and saw Xiao Yunluo walking towards her own room. After some hesitation, he took the book out from under the pill bottle and held it in his hand.

“Phew…”

He blew away some dust from the cover and gently opened the first page.

The first page had only one sentence written on it: “Examined with spiritual sense, lifelike.”

“What does ‘examined with spiritual sense, lifelike’ mean?”

Ye Anping furrowed his brows slightly and continued to flip through a few pages, giving it a cursory look.

As he had suspected, this was an adult content book. For him, the illustrations were somewhat challenging to arouse any interest. However, after thinking about the sentence on the first page, he hesitated for a moment. He extended a finger and attempted to infuse a bit of spiritual energy into the book.

Then…

His understanding of a cultivator’s “adult” materials was instantly refreshed. After infusing spiritual energy into the book, the static images drawn with ink on each page turned into animated scenes. Although due to the artistry, the book was still not particularly stimulating, but…

Biu…

Two drops of ink flew directly out of the book page and landed on the floor, then quickly disappeared.

“…”

Ye Anping stared at the book in silence for a while, then decisively withdrew his spiritual energy and closed the cover.

He didn’t know how to evaluate the book. However, he suddenly remembered the lessons given by the elders at the Hundred Lotus Sect.

The Hundred Lotus Sect had similar courses where the elders would teach servants and disciples above the age of six about relevant knowledge. They covered topics such as “taking care of one’s body” and “the separation of men and women.”

He had attended these classes with his junior sister in the past. Now that his junior sister had reached an appropriate age, it was time to teach her some of the finer details in this regard. Even though she might not need this knowledge, when he took her outside in the future, they might encounter similar situations.

At that time, if his junior sister asked, he wouldn’t know how to explain. The content of this book seemed appropriate, with nothing too unusual. So, he thought it might be a good idea to give the book to his junior sister and let her learn on her own.

It could also serve as a meaningful coming-of-age gift for her.

“Hmm…”

After thinking for a while, Ye Anping took the book and walked towards Xiao Yunluo’s bedroom.

Knock, knock…

“Senior Sister Xiao.”

“What’s the matter?” Xiao Yunluo’s voice came from inside the room. “Don’t come in!”

“Well– I found a book. Can you sell it to me or lend it to me?”

“A book? Hold on.”

Xiao Yunluo, who was halfway dressed, hesitated for a moment, then looked towards the bedroom door. She quickly finished putting on her clothes, fastened her belt, and then walked over to open the door.

“What book is it? If you want it– just– just– just…” Xiao Yunluo, who had opened the door, saw the book “Erotic Art of the Immortal Palace” in Ye Anping’s hands. Her voice became quieter and her cheeks grew redder as if she were a stuck recording.

“It’s this book. I found it while I was cleaning up.”

“…”

Xiao Yunluo averted her gaze and after a long pause, she finally answered, “This… this isn’t mine.”

“So can I take it?”

“Um, it’s up to you.” Xiao Yunluo nodded and, after some consideration, quickly feigned curiosity and asked, “By the way, what does this book contain? I’ve never seen it before.”

“…”

“I– I really haven’t seen it. Why are you staring at me?”

“Nothing,” Ye Anping replied somewhat helplessly without revealing the truth. “It contains some interesting stories.”

“Interesting… stories?!”

“Yeah.”

“Oh… then you can take it…”

“Thank you.” Ye Anping bowed respectfully.

Xiao Yunluo slowly closed her bedroom door and leaned against it, taking a deep breath. Then, she twirled, jumped, closed her eyes, and flung herself onto her bed. She buried her face in the pillow and rapidly beat the mattress with her hands and feet.

“Wuwuwu—wuwu! I can’t show my face anymore!!”

Hearing the commotion in the room, Ye Anping shook his head and chuckled softly. It was likely that Xiao Yunluo wouldn’t come out of her room today. He also didn’t need to worry about her peeking at him while he bathed.

After tidying up his room, Ye Anping went to the bamboo forest outside the courtyard and practiced swordsmanship for a while. Later, he confidently headed to the bathhouse for a shower. Before going to bed, he knocked on Xiao Yunluo’s door and reinforced her sense of shame.

Knock, knock…

“Senior Sister Xiao, I’m going to sleep.”

“Ah– oh– okay!!! I got it.”

“Goodnight.”