Chapter 32: An Old Acquaintance

Long Feng walked toward the sofa and sat down. After refining pills for several hours, he was slightly tired.

He leaned back on the sofa and rested with his eyes closed, but the sound of the door opening disturbed him.

It was Xiao Ruo who walked inside. Seeing Long Feng sitting there, she smiled and walked toward him.

"Master."

"Did you do what I asked?"

"Yes." She looked quite relaxed, clearly not having any difficulty with what he had asked her to do.

Her relaxed expression also satisfied him with her efficiency.

"Tell me what you found."

Previously, he had told her to find out some information about Su Lingxue. It wasn’t particularly difficult.

Unlike the several thousand outer and inner disciples, there were only around a thousand core disciples in the sect, and among them, only a few hundred were female disciples.

Seeing Su Lingxue’s talent and beauty, he didn’t think it would be difficult to learn about her.

And his assumption proved correct with Xiao Ruo’s next words.

"She is considered one of the most talented young core disciples in the sect. However, her current cultivation is only at the Golden Core Realm."

"A mere Golden Core Realm?"

Long Feng’s eyes flashed with surprise.

He already knew that Su Lingxue was a core disciple, but he didn’t know that her cultivation was only at the Golden Core Realm.

To become a core disciple, one normally had to be at least a Nascent Soul Realm expert.

"Yes. There are several theories about this among the disciples," Xiao Ruo explained to him.

"But she has the support of several elders. They believe her talent is extraordinary and that her future potential is extremely high. Because of that, they made an exception and allowed her to become a core disciple."

Long Feng nodded with a look of realization in his eyes.

"So that’s how it is."

It seemed that Su Lingxue’s talent was truly extraordinary.

After all, becoming a core disciple while being only at the Golden Core Realm was not something an ordinary disciple could accomplish.

Xiao Ruo suddenly smiled.

"And she is also quite beautiful. Many disciples in the sect seem to pay attention to her."

Long Feng couldn’t help but roll his eyes.

"I asked you to investigate her, not admire her."

Xiao Ruo immediately covered her mouth and laughed.

"Master, I’m only telling you what I found. Besides, someone as beautiful as her would naturally attract attention."

Long Feng shook his head.

"How did you find all this information so quickly?"

Xiao Ruo smiled proudly.

"It’s simple."

"I only needed to smile at a few servant disciples. They immediately became very willing to talk."

Long Feng’s expression became strange. He reached behind her and grabbed the soft flesh of her buttocks.

"So you were flirting with other men behind my back?"

His voice was like a deep rumble that sent shivers down her spine.

"Ah?" Xiao Ruo’s eyes widened as she immediately shook her head. "Master, I wasn’t! I only smiled at them."

"Isn’t that enough?"

Long Feng looked at her suspiciously, but Xiao Ruo quickly added, "Besides, I already have Master."

"You really know how to defend yourself."

This made him laugh, and he didn’t continue teasing her. His expression soon became serious again.

"Did you find out about the people around Su Lingxue?"

Xiao Ruo thought for a moment before nodding.

"She doesn’t like having too many people around her. There are only a few disciples who regularly serve her, but I could only find out about one."

"Who?"

"She is an Inner Disciple named Bai Liying. She is one of the people who follows Su Lingxue."

Hearing her words, Long Feng became interested.

Powerful disciples often had people following them. Some wanted their protection, some wanted to learn from them, and some simply wanted to build a relationship with them.

Since Su Lingxue was already a core disciple, having a few followers wasn’t strange.

"When does this Bai Liying meet her?"

"She usually visits Su Lingxue’s courtyard for a day every week. Coincidentally, she went to meet her just yesterday and still hasn’t come back yet."

Long Feng’s eyes flashed as he leaned back on the sofa.

If he wanted to understand Su Lingxue, there was no need to rush toward her directly.

As the official wife of a protagonist, her will should be firm enough that anyone couldn’t easily get close to her.

Getting close to someone wasn’t something that could be done blindly. Knowing the people around them first was much better.

After all, those people might know things that Su Lingxue herself wouldn’t tell outsiders.

’It seems I have to make a trip there.’ Long Feng lightly tapped his finger against the armrest, thinking about his next plan.

"Master, do you need me to find anything else?" Xiao Ruo looked at him and asked.

"No need." ℯℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Long Feng shook his head and looked outside. The sky had already become completely dark.

/

The next morning, Long Feng left his courtyard early.

After asking Xiao Ruo about the location of Su Lingxue’s residence, he headed directly toward the core disciple residence area.

The closer he got, the denser the spiritual energy became.

The core disciple area was clearly different from the residences of the inner disciples. The spiritual energy here was several times denser, and the courtyards were also much more spacious.

Long Feng soon arrived in front of a particular courtyard.

This was the residence of Su Lingxue.

He didn’t enter. Instead, he found a place nearby and quietly waited. He wasn’t in a hurry. After all, Bai Liying would eventually leave.

As expected, after waiting for some time, the courtyard’s door finally opened. A young woman wearing the robes of an Inner Disciple walked out.

Long Feng’s eyes immediately focused on her.

Bai Liying?

He had never seen her clearly before, but judging from Xiao Ruo’s description, this should be her.

The woman closed the courtyard door and started walking away.

Long Feng didn’t approach her immediately. Instead, he quietly followed from a distance. He wanted to see where she was going.

On the other side, Bai Liying’s mood wasn’t particularly good.

She walked through the sect’s streets while occasionally touching her abdomen. A faint pain still lingered inside her body.

Damn it...

Recently, she had attempted to break through from the Peak True Spirit Realm to the Golden Core Realm.

Unfortunately, she had failed.

The breakthrough hadn’t caused any serious damage, but some of her meridians had suffered minor injuries. Now, she needed a healing pill to slowly recover.

Normally, this wouldn’t have been difficult.

The sect had plenty of pills, and she could exchange her contribution points for one.

But the problem was that she had already spent most of her contribution points obtaining cultivation resources for her breakthrough.

And now she had failed to break through anyway. Thinking about it made her feel even worse.

’I really wasted those contribution points.’

Bai Liying couldn’t help but sigh inwardly.

She went to the sect’s market area and walked through several pill shops, hoping to find a suitable healing pill.

But even after half an hour of searching, she didn’t find what she wanted.

Her steps gradually became slower.

’If I can’t find a suitable pill today, I’ll have to exchange one from the sect.’

She was just about to enter another pill shop when suddenly, a sharp pain erupted inside her mind.

"Ahh!"

Her face instantly turned pale. The sudden pain made her vision blur, and she staggered backward.

What’s happening?

She clenched her teeth. Her condition had already been somewhat unstable because of the failed breakthrough. Could her injuries be worse than she thought?

Her legs suddenly lost their strength, and her body tilted forward.

She was about to fall, but instead of hitting the ground, her body fell against a broad chest.

Bai Liying froze as she felt the warmth coming from the person supporting her. She quickly steadied herself and stepped away.

"I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—"

A familiar voice suddenly sounded.

"We haven’t seen each other for so long, and you’ve already learned to be this polite?"

Bai Liying stopped speaking and raised her head, trying to see who had caught her.

She found a handsome young man standing in front of her. He also wore Inner Disciple robes like her, but a Fourth-Rank Alchemist Badge was clearly visible on his chest.

His facial features looked familiar, but she couldn’t immediately remember where she had seen him before.

The young man looked at her with an amused expression.

"You really don’t recognize me? That hurts."

This made Bai Liying frowned. The more she looked at him, the more familiar he seemed. Then, her eyes suddenly widened.

"Long Feng?"

"Finally remembered."

The person was none other than Long Feng, who had been following her since morning.

Bai Liying’s expression became slightly embarrassed.

"We haven’t seen each other in a long time. That’s why."

They had entered the Azura Heaven Sect around the same time. Back then, they had both participated in the entrance examination.

However, they hadn’t interacted much afterward.

Long Feng had gone his own way, while Bai Liying had focused on cultivation.

So although she recognized him after carefully looking at his face, she hadn’t immediately remembered him.

It wasn’t just Bai Liying who had forgotten.

Long Feng also hadn’t expected that the Bai Liying Xiao Ruo had investigated would be someone who had passed the entrance examination alongside him.

He looked at her for a moment, and a hint of surprise flashed through his eyes. After several years in the sect, she had changed considerably.

Her figure had become much more mature and alluring. She had a slender waist, graceful curves, long fair legs, and a soft, feminine charm that made her quite eye-catching.

Her inner disciple robes couldn’t completely hide her well-developed figure, giving her an elegant yet subtly seductive appearance.

’I really didn’t expect her to become such a beautiful woman.’

Long Feng quickly withdrew his gaze. There was no need to stare at her, since he was going to eat her soon.