Today, The Villain Couple is Settling Scores Again

The teahouse grew busier by the minute, with each table buzzing with different conversations. Laughter and chatter blended into a lively, albeit noisy, atmosphere.

Jian Huan crunched on a piece of sugar, her peach-like face scrunching up in frustration. Her lips were red, and her teeth white, but her expression was anything but sweet.

She angrily fiddled with her disheveled hair, glaring fiercely. "I already told Baili Dao we’d meet him outside the teleportation array in Luo'an City. How am I supposed to face him with my hair like this?"

Shen Jizhi's eyelashes fluttered slightly, an inexplicable irritation flickering across his face. He scoffed lightly, "Do you really need to be so meticulous just to see Baili Dao?"

He had never seen her put in such effort for him.

Baili Dao, someone with a temperament similar to Fu Li, was he really worth all this fuss?

Jian Huan nodded earnestly, her words slightly muffled by the sugar in her mouth. "Yeah, it’s been so long since I last saw him. I kind of miss him."

It had been three years since they parted ways outside Azure Dragon City.

She wondered if Baili Dao had gotten any fairer or if he was still as simple-minded as before.

As memories of the past surfaced, a smile crept onto Jian Huan's lips.

Shen Jizhi watched her in silence, drinking cup after cup of tea without a word.

When it was time, the two got up and left the teahouse, heading toward the teleportation array.

Jian Huan had finished her sugar painting, tossing the long bamboo stick into a nearby basket. As she turned around, she heard Shen Jizhi's voice.

"You’ve got sugar crumbs on your face."

Not wanting to waste even a speck of sweetness, Jian Huan glanced at the crowd, then turned slightly toward Shen Jizhi. She half-covered her face with her right hand and quickly licked the corners of her mouth with her tongue.

No sweetness lingered on her tongue. Puzzled, she asked, "I don’t feel anything."

She looked up at him, her almond-shaped eyes filled with suspicion. "Were you lying to me?"

Shen Jizhi: "..."

Recalling some scenes from his dreams, Shen Jizhi's thick lashes trembled guiltily. He quickly averted his gaze and remained silent.

He glanced around, noticing a few onlookers, and lowered his eyes, striding forward on his own.

Jian Huan watched his retreating figure, her eyes narrowing as a thought struck her. She had seen this trick before!

When a boy tells a girl there’s something on her face, he’s just waiting for the perfect moment to sneak a kiss on her cheek, followed by blushing, heartbeats, and bubbles of romance...

"Such a cliché move!" Jian Huan muttered, clutching her bag of peanuts as she followed Shen Jizhi like a shepherd herding a sheep. She raised her voice slightly, "Shen Jizhi, why are you walking so fast? Don’t think I don’t know what you’re up to..."

What a sly man, full of little tricks.

Who taught him all this?

His unreliable master, perhaps?

Up ahead, the crowd thinned, and a cluster of flowers spilled over the wall of a nearby courtyard, casting a patch of shade.

The young man in black suddenly stopped, turned around, and grabbed Jian Huan’s arm, pulling her into the shade and out of sight of the teahouse.

Shen Jizhi bent down, guiding Jian Huan’s finger to her own cheek. He pressed her fingertip against her face, then showed her the reddish-brown sugar crumb stuck to her finger. His voice was tense as he said, "I meant your face."

Before she had licked her lips, he hadn’t been thinking of anything.

Jian Huan: "...Oh."

By the time they arrived in Luo'an City, it was already late at night.

The Hundred Artifacts Sect was established on Luo'an Mountain, and the city at its foot was renowned throughout the land as a hub for master craftsmen.

Every day, countless cultivators traveled great distances to Luo'an City to purchase spiritual artifacts or have their weapons repaired.

Though the night was dark, the teleportation array outside the city was still bustling with activity.

Baili Dao hadn’t arrived yet, so Jian Huan and Shen Jizhi waited under a tree in a secluded corner.

Jian Huan idly chatted with Shen Jizhi, "Are the people from your Equipment Forging Hall not as skilled as those from the Hundred Artifacts Sect?"

The Jade Purity Sect was a comprehensive sect, with sword cultivators, artifact forgers, talisman masters, and more. But the Hundred Artifacts Sect specialized solely in artifact forging, so logically, they should be more skilled.

Shen Jizhi: "Do you know who founded the Hundred Artifacts Sect?"

Jian Huan didn’t want to play along with his riddles. "Just tell me."

Shen Jizhi: "...The first sect leader of the Hundred Artifacts Sect was a senior sister from our Jade Purity Sect’s Equipment Forging Hall, seven hundred years ago."

In other words, Shen Jizhi and his peers were the more skilled ones.

Jian Huan shrugged, her eyes flicking upward as she used a flicker of spiritual energy to guide a falling leaf onto Shen Jizhi’s head.

Shen Jizhi brushed it off and asked, "Did you tell Baili Dao why we’re here?"

"No, I was afraid he might let it slip," Jian Huan shook her head, muttering, "I just said you’ve hit a bottleneck in your forging skills, and you’ve been so anxious you can’t sleep. That’s why we came to Luo'an City for guidance."

Shen Jizhi: "..."

After a few more moments of idle chatter, they suddenly heard a loud, heartfelt call: "Miss Jian! Master Shen!"

Jian Huan quickly turned toward the voice and was momentarily stunned. It took her a moment to recognize Baili Dao by his bright, lantern-like eyes.

The night was overcast, the moon hidden behind clouds, and the surroundings were dimly lit. The man before them was dressed in black, and Baili Dao, who hadn’t been fair-skinned three years ago, was now as dark as coal.

Back then, his complexion could have been described as caramel, but now it was closer to charcoal.

Jian Huan was so shocked she almost didn’t recognize him. "Brother Baili?"

Baili Dao stopped in front of them, his excitement evident as he looked at Jian Huan and then Shen Jizhi. His dark skin made his eyes seem even brighter. He clasped his hands in apology, "I’m really sorry! Some important guests were leaving tonight, and my parents asked me to see them off, so I got delayed! You haven’t been waiting long, have you?"

Shen Jizhi, with his hands clasped behind his back, shook his head with a hint of reserve. "Not at all."

"No, no, we just got here," Jian Huan said with a bright smile, walking over to Baili Dao and circling him, inspecting him from all angles. "You look great! Seems like these three years have treated you well..."

A faint, familiar fragrance wafted into the air, and Jian Huan’s words trailed off.

It hadn’t been there earlier... She leaned closer to Baili Dao, sniffing carefully.

The scent was unmistakable. She had smelled it before when she lived with Senior Sister Wen Jiu in Jiuzhou City. Senior Sister had said it was the scent of Ran Mu'er.

Baili Dao had the same scent on him, and it hadn’t faded yet, which meant he had been with Ran Mu'er recently!

Shen Jizhi, standing nearby, noticed Jian Huan’s reaction. His eyes flickered thoughtfully as he glanced at her, then turned his gaze to Baili Dao, who was nearly invisible in the darkness.

Baili Dao, oblivious to the undercurrents, was genuinely happy. His smile revealed two rows of white, even teeth, and he gestured ahead with a broad hand. "My house is in the city. I told my parents you were coming, and we’ve prepared rooms for you..."

"Thank you, Brother Baili! We won’t stand on ceremony with you," Jian Huan said, her sharp eyes glinting as she continued to smile. She casually asked, "You said you were seeing off some guests earlier? Was it because you needed to make room for us that they left?"

"Of course not!" Baili Dao scratched his head. "We’ve got plenty of rooms at home. She came to have my mother repair her Harmony Bell, and my mother finished it today, so she left..."

Harmony Bell.

Jian Huan and Shen Jizhi exchanged a quick glance.

With a million gold bounty at stake, Shen Jizhi dropped his reserve and asked, "Did she leave by the teleportation array?"

Baili Dao shook his head. "She has her own spirit horse."

"A spirit horse?!" Jian Huan exclaimed, feigning interest. "Which way did she go? Let me see if we can still catch a glimpse of it."

Baili Dao turned around and pointed in a direction, enthusiastically saying, "That way, but the spirit horse is probably long gone by now..."

When he turned back, he found the spot beside him empty.

Jian Huan and Shen Jizhi, who had been there just moments ago, were now far away. All that remained was the wind rustling through the leaves, scattering them across the ground.

"???"

Baili Dao stood there dumbfounded, his lantern-like eyes blinking once, then twice, before he finally snapped out of it. He hurried after Jian Huan and Shen Jizhi, shouting anxiously, "Where are you going?! My house isn’t that way!!"

The night grew quieter.

The stars and moon were dim, and the autumn wind was chilly.

Suddenly, the clouds obscuring the full moon parted slightly, revealing most of its round shape.

A spirit horse pulled a small, exquisite carriage, galloping through the clouds, covering ten miles in a single step.

From a distance, it looked as though it were flying toward the moon.

Fortunately, they hadn’t wasted much time.

Jian Huan and Shen Jizhi had been hurling teleportation talismans nonstop, and after about the time it took to drink a cup of tea, they finally caught sight of the spirit horse’s fading silhouette.

The teleportation talismans used along the way could have been sold for two to three thousand spirit stones.

Jian Huan felt a pang of regret. Together with Shen Jizhi, they rode their swords at the fastest speed, chasing after the spirit horse like two dazzling meteors streaking across the sky.

The spirit horse was incredibly fast, its speed creating a gust of wind that lifted its shimmering, brownish feathers.

Sensing its pursuers, the horse raised its head high and neighed at the moon, its hooves kicking with even more vigor.

Still ​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌‌​​​​‌‌​​​​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌​​​‌​​​‌‌​​​​​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌‍some distance away, Shen Jizhi's eyes flickered as he calmly calculated. With a sudden stomp on his snow sword, his spiritual energy surged, propelling him forward like an eagle diving toward the spirit horse.

He reached out first to grab the horsewhip, his long legs twisting agilely in mid-air, flipping his body as he landed precisely on the horse's back.

The snow sword flew back to his hand. With one hand gripping the sword and the other clutching the horsewhip, he planted his right foot on the horse's neck and his left on its body.

The spirit horse reared its head in fury, its hooves kicking high into the air as it struggled violently.

The black-clad youth held on firmly, his wooden hairpin torn off by the fierce wind, his long black hair scattering and dancing in the air.

A cold, murderous sword intent emanated from him.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Feeling this oppressive aura, the spirit horse's struggles began to weaken, and its neighs gradually grew quieter.

With a thud, a hand grabbed the horizontal beam of the carriage.

The girl hung from the carriage, lifting her face, radiant as spring sunshine.

Below her stretched an endless forest, shrouded in the eerie darkness of night.

Her pink skirt fluttered incessantly as Jian Huan pushed herself up with a burst of strength, landing lightly on the carriage.

The carriage curtains were tightly shut. How could the person inside remain unresponsive after such a commotion?

Jian Huan's eyes narrowed with caution, and she refrained from entering rashly.

She raised her sword, and with a flash of sword intent, the moon-white curtain was instantly torn apart.

A fierce wind rushed in, scattering the items inside the carriage.

Jian Huan glanced inside.

The carriage was empty!

Just as the curtain was destroyed, a red pill suddenly fell to the ground.

The moment it touched the ground, a loud explosion rang out, and the pill instantly turned into a cloud of red dust.

The red mist quickly spread through the air.

A strange fragrance filled the space.

Jian Huan's eyelids twitched, and without hesitation, she covered her nose and leaped off the carriage. She was about to shout for Shen Jizhi to be careful when he suddenly rushed over, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her into his embrace. A cold mask was swiftly pressed over her face.

The strange fragrance vanished as the two of them plummeted through the air, locked in each other's arms.

When they landed, Jian Huan could clearly sense that something was... off with Shen Jizhi.

...

Thousands of miles away, atop a mountain peak, a woman in a blue-purple dress rolled up her teleportation scroll and gently brushed aside the strands of hair by her ears. Her eyes carried a shy yet flirtatious charm, exuding an innate allure.

With a smile on her lips, she picked up the vibrating Xuantian Mirror.

Someone had asked her: "Mu'er, is it done?"

Ran Mu'er replied: "It's done. I'm nearby now."

After exchanging a few more words, Ran Mu'er's eyes sparkled as she sent a message to Jian Huan.

[Let's Part on Good Terms: Ah, I originally planned to leave quietly, but when I saw it was you two, I couldn't resist leaving a little gift.]

[Let's Part on Good Terms: Don't panic. It's just a bit of Harmony Fragrance, very easy to resolve.]

[Let's Part on Good Terms: Miss Jian, Young Master Shen, I shall now impart to you the dual cultivation techniques of Ran Mu'er from the Harmony Union Sect. When cultivating, use this technique to ascend Wu Mountain together and revel in the clouds and rain. It has wondrous effects, guaranteed to make you feel as if you're floating in a heavenly realm, unable to tear yourselves away.]

After sending the message, Ran Mu'er covered her mouth and chuckled as she left.

It wasn't really her fault, after all.

She had been urging Jian Huan for three years. In those three years, she had already "parted on good terms" with so many cultivation partners. How could these two still not have made any progress?

She was just worried for them, that's all.

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