IVYSCP - Chapter 126

Chapter 126

"Pei Yin, my Desire Phase has already passed."

Ling Qingyue said it abruptly.

Pei Yin kissed her way to Ling Qingyue's ear. "So?"

Ling Qingyue's hand, resting on the woman's waist, suddenly tightened. Their positions flipped in an instant. Ling Qingyue sat astride Pei Yin, looked down at her startled eyes, and raised an eyebrow. "So I have to take it back."

Pei Yin made no attempt to struggle. She lay still and watched Ling Qingyue, waiting for her to come.

Ling Qingyue froze for a beat. She had braced herself to wrestle for it.

Her fingers unhurriedly worked the sash free, fingertips slipping deftly beneath the clothing. Ling Qingyue's palm glided over smooth, warm, supple, taut waist, and her own breathing faltered first.

She bent down and kissed Pei Yin's lips, sucking and sipping at the fragrant softness like a kitten drinking water, lapping and tasting, yet refusing to go any deeper.

When Pei Yin's patience ran out and she parted her lips to offer her tongue, Ling Qingyue pulled her head back. Pei Yin chased forward, but still missed the kiss.

She opened her eyes and looked at Ling Qingyue, gaze hazy, a question lodged deep in the dazed expression, along with desire already surging.

Ling Qingyue's heart pounded.

This was no stone. This was a spirit, bewitching the heart and luring one into ruin.

"Qingyue…" Pei Yin tilted her head back, baring the long pale curve of her neck, her throat rising and falling with each shallow breath.

Pei Yin opened her eyes and looked at her, without the embarrassed evasion that always came whenever Ling Qingyue heard such words.

"Then have you been thinking of me?"

She shot a glare at the woman beneath her, whose smile was knowing and smug, caught hold of her wrist, and moved her hand aside. A glance out of the corner of her eye caught the slender pale fingers glistening with a crystalline wet sheen.

"You are not allowed to move!" Ling Qingyue commanded fiercely.

Afraid Pei Yin would slip a hand in again while she was distracted, Ling Qingyue pulled the sash free and bound her wrists. The tie was loose, easy to break free of, but at a glance Ling Qingyue could see it.

She reached out and stroked Pei Yin's face, smiling with delight. "Tonight, Immortal Venerable, you'd better think of me properly."

Pei Yin turned her head and kissed her palm.

The ticklish numbing sensation traveled through Ling Qingyue's whole body. She clenched her teeth in secret, now certain that Pei Yin was deliberately seducing her.

She bent down, and the disguise on her face slowly faded. Her true features emerged, the sharpness between her brows fiercer, eyes bright as stars, still carrying the youthful heroic spirit and the proud, high-spirited air of those earlier years.

Pei Yin's gaze contracted sharply, and her breath quickened right after.

"Let me do you like this, all right?"

Ling Qingyue's tone was that of someone asking for agreement, but her hands showed no mercy at all. She took advantage of Pei Yin's stunned moment and slipped inside.

Pei Yin was more intense than she had ever been before, the rims of her eyes burning red. "Qingyue, Qingyue…"

"Seems you really have been thinking of me." Ling Qingyue murmured.

Pei Yin gave a small tug at her wrists. The loosely tied sash slid away. She reached out and wrapped her arms tightly around Ling Qingyue, just holding her, doing nothing more.

She felt the woman's belly begin to quiver. Ling Qingyue's gaze darkened. Her other hand pressed against Pei Yin's lower back, drawing their bodies even closer together.

Pei Yin had nowhere to hide. In the moment her vision went blank, she went limp in Ling Qingyue's arms.

Ling Qingyue held her with one arm; the other hand was still buried inside.

"Does this feel uncomfortable?" she asked softly.

Pei Yin shifted, then immediately stiffened, realizing what she was asking about.

"…No."

"Good."

Ling Qingyue truly stayed still.

No matter how composed Pei Yin could usually pretend to be, the overpowering presence of that thing now made the tips of her ears flush red.

The two held each other for a while before Ling Qingyue finally moved to tidy them both up. Every room in the Bamboo Courtyard had a warm pool out back. The pool bed was thickly planted with spiritual herbs, excellent for nourishing the body and purifying the marrow.

The pool was meant for one, but the two of them soaking together was not too crowded.

Steam rose in wisps. Ling Qingyue's face was a little red. She turned her head to look at Pei Yin, who had her eyes closed as she leaned against the pool's edge, her expression aloof and detached, indeed radiating an air of pure-hearted dispassion. Yet beneath that face, her neck, her chest, and even the waist, belly, and legs hidden beneath the pool water were all covered in a dense tracery of ambiguous red marks.

Ling Qingyue pressed her lips together and laughed aloud. She scooped water into her palm and splashed it onto Pei Yin's face.

Pei Yin opened her eyes. Her lashes clung with water droplets, and the depths of her eyes still held desire not yet faded.

Ling Qingyue swallowed. How was it that this woman was one person with her eyes closed and another altogether when she opened them.

The eyes do not lie, and that was real.

Splash!

A handful of water hit her in the face. Ling Qingyue came back to herself and saw Pei Yin about to splash her a second time. She hurriedly splashed back.

For a moment water flew everywhere in the pool, their laughter mingling together.

"Pei Yin! Are you five years old or what!" Ling Qingyue scolded even as she sent up an even bigger spray.

Pei Yin's brows curved with unrestrained delight. Soaked through, she did not look the least bit bedraggled.

Neither of them used any arts. It ended when Ling Qingyue cried tired.

---

The next day the Ranking Tournament began. When Ling Qingyue woke, Pei Yin was already gone from her side.

The tournament was held at the Dao Debate Platform on Sword Trial Peak. Ling Qingyue led the Piaomiao Sect group over. The other immortal sects had set out as well. For a time the midair was awash with streaking light, all converging on a single place.

Although Piaomiao Sect had withdrawn from the Immortal Alliance, it still ranked among the Seventy-Two Sects, and its position was toward the middle.

Eyes kept probing from all around, most carrying curiosity and scrutiny, likely all wondering why Piaomiao Sect had suddenly left the Immortal Alliance and fallen out with Shangtianqiong.

Some gazes were also sizing up Ling Qingyue, the rumored Dao companion of the Immortal Venerable.

"The Sword Venerable and the Immortal Venerable have arrived!"

The crowd stirred.

Ling Qingyue lifted her gaze and looked over. Above, two figures had appeared at the chief seats. Pei Yin and Lou Wudu.

Pei Yin swept her robes aside and sat, and then her gaze swept, unerring and direct, toward the direction of the Piaomiao Sect.

Lou Wudu did not immediately sit. As the host of the tournament and the Sect Leader of Shangtianqiong, she naturally had to speak a few ceremonial words.

The first stretch made one drowsy. Ling Qingyue did not listen closely either. Sitting below, she would occasionally blink and smile in Pei Yin's direction. Every time, Pei Yin caught it. Ling Qingyue even suspected Pei Yin had been staring at her the whole time without looking away.

Until Lou Wudu brought out a sword.

Only then did Ling Qingyue rein in her expression and look over.

A surge of excitement rippled across the Dao Debate Platform. Many of the younger generation did not recognize this sword and asked their sect leaders and elders for answers one after another.

"This sword is so beautiful. For the Sword Venerable to bring it out, it must be extraordinary."

"Of course. This is the divine armament Jiuge, the sword of the Sword Venerable's junior sister."

"Divine armament? It doesn't look like it. It's so dull and lusterless."

"Because its master has been dead for a hundred years."

Listening to the hushed murmurs around her, Ling Qingyue's expression remained unchanged. Beside her, Lu Yao leaned in. "Senior, that's your sword."

Ling Qingyue nodded.

On the platform Lou Wudu raised the Jiuge Sword high and spoke in a ringing voice. "This sword is named Jiuge, a divine armament that has lain sealed in the Sword Pavilion for a hundred years. Not long ago it suddenly stirred. It seems it also does not wish to remain gathering dust. After consulting with the elders under my command, I have decided that at this Ranking Tournament we shall find Jiuge a new sword master."

"Really! Shangtianqiong is actually willing to part with it, to bring out a divine armament!"

"What are you thinking? Do you not see who will take the final victory? With Cui Heng here, how could anyone else have the chance to claim a divine armament? It's far more likely that the Sword Venerable meant from the start to give the sword to Cui Heng and this is just going through the motions."

"True. Then what is there even to watch in this tournament? Ah."

Ling Qingyue pressed her lips together and said nothing.

How could there be nothing to watch? This was going to be the most spectacular, the most thrilling Ranking Tournament in a hundred years.

The tournament matches were assigned by drawing lots. Two to a match, ten matches held simultaneously on the platform.

Lu Yao rose, clutching her sword nervously. "Senior, I'm going!"

Ling Qingyue raised her hand. "Do your best."

Lu Yao looked at the raised hand, mustered her courage, and slapped it.

The Piaomiao Sect disciples behind her were also itching to follow. One after another, they each stopped in front of Ling Qingyue to slap her hand and hear a word of encouragement.

As if by slapping Ling Qingyue's hand and receiving her encouragement, they would somehow become stronger.

Yu Liuli sighed from the side. "A hundred years in the blink of an eye, and now you've become the elder watching them step onto the platform."

Ling Qingyue raised an eyebrow and laughed. "It feels pretty good."

The drawing ended. The ten Piaomiao Sect disciples had all been fairly lucky. None had drawn a disciple from a major immortal sect, so their odds of winning were high.

The first round of ten matches began. There were no Piaomiao Sect disciples among them, but there was one person Ling Qingyue could not help but pay attention to.

That was… Meng Qi!

She had not been mistaken yesterday! Meng Qi had truly come to Shangtianqiong, but what was going on with her cultivation?

Just as Ling Qingyue fixed her gaze on the platform, someone came up behind her, voice carrying uncertainty. "Is that Meng Qi?"

"It's her."

Xue Zizai drew a breath. In truth she had not seen Meng Qi's face clearly. What truly made her recognize Meng Qi was the long sword on her back, inlaid with gold and set with jade. That sword was one she had given to Meng Qi. Meng Qi was still carrying it.

Meng Qi's opponent was a disciple of the Wushi Sect whose cultivation was not weak and whose sword art was also exquisite. She had been full of confidence, yet had not expected to be defeated within ten moves.

"Meng Qi is not right." Ling Qingyue said with certainty.

Xue Zizai was still stunned that Meng Qi had truly won so easily. Hearing Ling Qingyue say this, she was instantly baffled. "What… do you mean?"

Ling Qingyue narrowed her eyes. "Her cultivation is problematic."

She had tested Meng Qi's foundation. Her natural talent was indeed good, but nowhere near enough to reach the Nascent Soul stage in just a few short months.

In the beginning Meng Qi had indeed been impatient for results, but after getting beaten badly by Ling Qingyue she had reined in those thoughts and her cultivation had been fairly steady, step by step. Who had tampered with her and forcibly raised her cultivation?

Ling Qingyue turned a sharp glare toward Lou Wudu in the chief seat.

Lou Wudu had once done the same to Liu Qingtang.

The very next moment after her gaze landed on the other woman, Lou Wudu looked over, the corner of her lips curving into an enigmatic smile.

Ling Qingyue's pupils shrank.

It was her!

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