Bei Lian drew a sharp intake of breath as she glowered at An Lin.
That’s right, the master of her master was indeed her grandmaster, but she simply couldn’t stomach the fact that An Lin was her grandmaster!
It was simply too much for her to bear.
Bei Lian’s face was slowly turning purple as she tried to grapple with her situation. An Lin immediately burst into laughter as he said, “Don’t mind me, Dragon Princess, I was just making a joke!”
Bei Lian pursed her lips as she cupped her fists. “Welcome back, Sect Leader An Lin.”
“Don’t be so formal. We’re all friends here.” An Lin patted Bei Lian’s shoulder.
A faint blush appeared on Bei Lian’s features. For some reason, her heart was surging with joy at being recognized as a friend by An Lin.
“By the way, Dragon Princess, I beat the crap out of your dad and fifth brother. You don’t mind, do you?” An Lin asked.
“Not at all! That’s what they get for messing with my master!” Bei Lian immediately replied.
Xiao Ze was very touched to hear this. “Then you also wouldn’t mind that I killed your second brother, right?”
Bei Lian: “…”
An Lin: “…”
“Should I pretend to cry grief-stricken tears before forgiving you despite my crushing sorrow?” Bei Lian offered.
“Just… just tell me the truth.” Xiao Ze seemed to be a little scared to look her in the eye.
“In all honesty, I was a little sad when I first heard about it. However, now that some time has passed, I don’t really feel anything anymore,” Bei Lian replied in an honest manner.
Xiao Ze heaved a sigh of relief. He really was scared that something like this would drive a wedge between himself and his disciple.
An Lin was completely speechless. Bei Lian had well and truly turned her back on her family.
“Ever since I was discarded like a broken tool by my father for my bloodline problems and forced to marry some general, I had completely lost faith in the Dragon Court and severed all emotional ties with them. As long as you don’t bring harm to Princess Yin Yu, I’m fine with anything you do,” Bei Lian clarified.
An Lin knew about this story. At that time, aside from Yin Yu, none of Bei Lian’s brothers and sisters had stood up for the injustice she had suffered. Bei Lian’s heart had been completely broken by them.
An Lin offered words of consolation as a hint of sadness appeared in Bei Lian’s eyes. “Don’t think about unhappy things like that, Dragon Princess. The Four Nine Immortal Sect is always going to be your home.”
Bei Lian turned to An Lin, and she couldn’t help but avert her gaze at the sight of the warm, gentle smile on his face. She felt as if her heartstrings had been tugged on in the process.
“Of course, this is also my home in the Kingdom of the Nine States,” An Lin added.
“M-hm.” Bei Lian nodded lightly.
In her heart, the Dragon Princess silently plastered a “family” tag on An Lin.
After making some small talk, An Lin recounted his battle against the Dragon Court mighty figures.
“Ao Qingyu is indeed the most powerful being in the Dragon Court, while my father, Ao Meng, ranks third. It’s definitely a good thing that both of them have sworn dao heart vows to leave the Four Nine Immortal Sect alone.” Bei Lian was feeling a lot more reassured after hearing the entire sequence of events.
An Lin was also feeling quite elated. He managed to defeat Ao Qingyu through the use of some underhanded tactics. If it were a fair and square battle, he wouldn’t be able to defeat him. Essentially, Ao Qingyu had picked up a stone and dropped it onto his own foot.
Now that these two had sworn dao heart vows, there should no longer be any threats from the Dragon Court.
“Wait… Your dad only ranks third?” An Lin was a little surprised.
Bei Lian nodded. “My big sister Ao Xiaowu is also a Return to Void Final Stage mighty figure. She has been more powerful than my father for a long time. However, she doesn’t like to engage in conflict, so our Dragon Tribe has ranked her below my fifth brother in terms of overall power.
“In this current situation, she is the biggest threat to our Four Nine Immortal Sect. However, like I said, she is reluctant to engage in any conflict, so our sect should be safe for now.”
An Lin nodded with approval. “I love this kind of person!”
Bei Lian turned toward An Lin with a cold expression.
An Lin immediately provided an explanation. “I like people like this who don’t want to pick fights with us!”
A faint smile appeared on Bei Lian’s face. “Are you really not interested? My big sister is a fair-skinned beauty with big, long legs…”
An Lin replied with a serious expression, “I am a man with a moral compass! Don’t talk about things like that with me!”
“Heh.” Bei Lian was entirely unconvinced. “Even though there is no longer any threat from the Dragon Court, make sure you don’t go to the Dragon Court. There is an extremely terrifying formation there that can even endanger a Dao Integration Stage super mighty figure’s life.”
An Lin waved a hand nonchalantly. “Don’t worry, why would I go there? To commit a robbery?”
The two of them walked together while chatting, and they soon arrived at a dao plaza.
The sun had already gradually set below the horizon, and everything was bathed in the warm glow of dusk.
There was an adorable little girl who was waving her wooden sword on the dao plaza. Her plain and simple clothes were drenched in sweat, and she was already exhausted, but she still persevered.
“Three thousand left, and you can complete your quota for today! Go, Ye Ling, you can do it!”
The little girl spurred herself on as she swung her sword with intense focus, not even realizing that there was someone approaching her from nearby.
“Little Ling, your movements are still too stiff.”
A familiar, warm voice suddenly sounded.
The little girl’s sword faltered mid-swing, and she turned to look beside her with a blank expression.
Her large, bright eyes were opened wide, and droplets of glittering and translucent sweat were pouring down her intricate features.
Soon, the confusion in her eyes gave way to an elated smile.
“Master!” The little girl leaped onto the man beside her before encircling her little arms around him in an excited hug.
An Lin picked her up joyfully to find that she was still quite light, but she was no longer as soft and fluffy as before and was instead more lithe and well-built.
He pulled out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from the little girl’s face before nodding with approval. “You’re doing really well, Little Ling. To think you’re already at the second-stage Dao Body!”
“Heehee… It’s all because Master taught me well.” A gleeful grin appeared on Ye Ling’s face as she stared at the man before her with her big, bright eyes, as if she would never get sick of looking at him.
“Come on, I’ll instruct you in the way of the sword.” An Lin gently lowered the little girl back onto the ground.
He held onto Ye Ling’s little hands and instructed her through each and every step.
“Don’t grip onto the sword too tightly. Instead, do it this way…
“See? Don’t you feel like you achieved the same result by using less effort?”
“I do! Master is so awesome!”
Thus, the two of them swung their wooden swords with diligent expressions under the light of the setting sun.
They repeated the same simple motions over and over again, but the monotony did not seem to bother them at all.
As Bei Lian looked on from the side, a hint of warmth flowed through her heart.
Soon, night fell.
Ye Ling was quite exhausted by now. An Lin held her little hand as they made their way to the dining hall together.
“Master, I heard you kicked out all of those baddies from the Dragon Court!”
“I sure did! I only had to throw a ball to crush the Dragon King of the Dragon Court of the Eastern Seas, and I didn’t even have to make a move before slicing apart Ao Qingyu, the most powerful being in the Dragon Court!”
“Woah! That’s awesome!!”
Ye Ling’s eyes were practically glowing as she exclaimed in amazement.
In her heart, Master was an invincible hero who could stand firmly even if the sky were to fall upon him.
This was a notion that had been engraved deeply into her mind ever since their first meeting.
An Lin was quite satisfied with Ye Ling’s adoration and worship of him.
Sure enough, adorable little loli disciples were the best! He could at least answer all of Ye Ling’s questions.
Unlike Xiao Ze, to whom he really couldn’t teach anything…
