The two of them didn’t walk for long before Chu Luo said to Li Yan, “Let’s not go in. It’s dark.”
Li Yan tilted his head to look at her eyes, which were still sparkling under the moonlight. His lips curled up. “Are you afraid of the dark?”
“How is that possible!”
Seeing her tense face, Li Yan’s smile widened. He let go of her hand and said, “Stand here and wait for me. I’ll go pluck it for you.”
Chu Luo deliberately pointed at a peach tree in the distance and said, “I want the biggest peach on that tenth peach tree from here.”
“Okay.”
Li Yan walked into the peach forest.
Chu Luo didn’t have to wait long before Li Yan walked over with a big peach.
Chu Luo looked at the peach that he handed her and thought about how he had just eaten her own peach. Her eyes darted around and she deliberately made things difficult for him. “I don’t like to peel. Help me peel the skin.”
Li Yan actually didn’t say anything and started peeling the peach for her. His expression was serious as if he was doing a very pressing job.
The skin of the honey peaches was very easy to peel and was very moist.
Li Yan had just peeled off a piece of skin when the sweet fragrance of the peach wafted into their nose.
Li Yan only skinned half of it before passing the peach to her.
Chu Luo took a bite of the peach with both hands and nodded at him with a smile. “Sweet.”
Li Yan looked at her and felt his heart brimming with sweetness too.
His Adam’s apple bobbed and he said hoarsely, “I don’t believe you. Let me try it.”
Chu Luo immediately shielded her food and hid the peach behind her.
In the next moment, her lips were attacked.
“Ooh… Baddie!”
Li Yan stood up straight and licked his lips before nodding. “Indeed, it’s very sweet.”
Chu Luo’s face instantly turned red.
Her eyes fluttered, but she didn’t look at him. After a while, she remembered and asked, “Why are you here so late at night?”
“I wanted to eat peaches.”
“I said I’d bring it for you when I come back tomorrow.”
“But I couldn’t wait.”
After Li Yan finished speaking, he reached out to hug her waist.
“What are you doing?”
With the big peach in her hand, Chu Luo glared at him with her big eyes that were filled with stars.
Li Yan asked, “Do you want to come home with me tonight?”
Chu Luo shook her head fiercely.
Li Yan frowned. “I didn’t bring any change of clothes.”
“…”
Chu Luo reacted and said with a wooden face, “I heard from Jin Hui that there’s no more room here. You should go back. The journey back is only an hour or so.”
“I asked Qin Ming to drive the car away.”
“…” Chu Luo continued to be expressionless. “I can lend you my car.”
“It’s too troublesome. I’d have to send your car over tomorrow morning.”
Chu Luo glared at him and stopped talking.
Li Yan released her at this moment and said, “I can only sleep on the floor in your room later.”
“No!” Chu Luo said. “This is sacred Buddhist land. Men and women can’t sleep in the same room.”
“I’ll go look for President Jin to share a room.”
“…”
Thus, Chu Luo and Li Yan walked into the temple together.
It was already past ten, and the monks were already resting. The members of the Metaphysical Society who had come had long returned to their rooms, so the temple was especially quiet.
The two of them walked into the front yard and didn’t meet anyone on the way.
However, when she walked to the courtyard where the rooms were, a young monk suddenly strode over from a corridor.
He walked over and pressed his palms together. “Patron, your room is ready. Please follow me.”
Chu Luo looked at Li Yan in surprise.
Li Yan said to her, “Before I came, I greeted the abbot here.”
Chu Luo was silent for two seconds. A little unhappy that he deliberately hid it from her, she snorted at him and walked towards her room with her big peach.
After Chu Luo closed the door, Li Yan followed the young monk to the room prepared for him.
The next morning, Chu Luo had just opened the door to her room when she saw Jin Hui pacing around the courtyard. At this moment, he happened to turn to look at her door.
When Jin Hui saw Chu Luo come out, he hurriedly went up to her and asked, “Young Friend, were you alright last night?”
He had sensed what had happened last night near the lake in the peach forest. He had wanted to ask Chu Luo when she came back last night, but he didn’t expect that there would be another man who came back with Chu Luo last night.
At that time, he didn’t look closely at who the man was. Thinking that he was an outsider, he didn’t come out to ask.
Chu Luo smiled at him and said, “I’m fine.”
After saying that, she looked around but didn’t see Li Yan. She wondered if that person had awoken yet.
Jin Hui lowered his voice and asked, “Young Friend, how’s Xuan Ba?”
Chu Luo thought for a while and told him, “You can go to the lake to take a look. Last night, he tried to see if he can achieve immortality after using eighteen bolts of lightning. He might really have withstood the lightning tribulation and become an immortal.”
Jin Hui was stunned for a while before asking in surprise, “Young Friend, do you mean you blew him up with lightning?”
“No. He attracted the lightning himself.” Chu Luo refused to admit to something that she hadn’t done.
At this point, she took out the copper bell from her Heaven-and-Earth pouch.
She removed the talisman from the bell and took it out. It exuded a strong murderous aura.
This was evidence that Chu Luo had deliberately left behind.
When Jin Hui saw the baleful aura on the bell, his eyes widened abruptly, but his expression instantly darkened. “This… this Dharmic Artifact was actually refined into a fiendish object by Xuan Ba.”
“Yes.” Chu Luo nodded at him. “What do you think we should do with this thing and Xuan Ba?”
“We can’t leave that person alive. If we do, he’ll be a scourge.” Jin Hui’s expression instantly became serious. “I’ll immediately gather everyone to discuss this matter. Also, this Dharmic Artifact…”
“This Dharmic Artifact doesn’t have an owner yet. Maybe someone will have designs on it.”
“I won’t tell anyone about this. Why don’t…” Jin Hui thought for a moment. “Why don’t we just leave it at Fangqing Temple and let the abbot find a way to remove the baneful aura from it?”
“Yeah, that’s a good idea.”
After deciding on this matter, Jin Hui gathered people.
Chu Luo wasn’t in the mood to discuss this with them, so she took out her phone to call Li Yan.
Li Yan picked up the call quickly and said to her, “Luoluo, come to the abbot’s courtyard.”
With that, he hung up.
Chu Luo went to the abbot’s courtyard. To her surprise, Li Yan was playing chess with the abbot.
The moment they saw her coming…
The abbot smiled and said, “Patron Chu, you look good today. Looks like staying here last night suited you.”
Chu Luo smiled and nodded at him. “It’s quiet here.”
After saying that, she walked to Li Yan’s side and looked at their chessboard.
This game was already coming to an end, but both sides were blocking each other’s path. To win, it depended on whose chess skill was better.
Li Yan suddenly asked her, “Do you want to eat peaches?”
Chu Luo asked deliberately, “Are you going to pluck them for me?”
“I’ll go pick them if you want.”
Chu Luo looked at the chessboard. “I want to eat.”
Li Yan nodded and placed the black piece in his hand somewhere. The supposed dead-end was resolved immediately. After Li Yan ate all of the abbot’s white pieces, he said before standing up, “Thank you for letting me win.”
The abbot stared at the chessboard. It was obvious that he didn’t understand how Li Yan had thought of that move.
Chu Luo also didn’t understand. She wanted to look at it further, but Li Yan held her hand and led her to the door.
As there were others here, Chu Luo was a little embarrassed.
Li Yan made a move to put his arm around her waist. She quickly jumped to the side and was led out of the abbot’s courtyard by Li Yan.
After the two of them had walked out, Chu Luo said to him with a straight face, “Don’t get too close to me outside.”
Li Yan tightened his grip on her hand and responded with an “Mm.”
Chu Luo tried to retract her hand.
Li Yan said, “No one’s looking now.”
After saying that, he tightened his grip and continued walking with her. As they walked, he asked, “Which peach do you want to eat today?”
Chu Luo glanced at the peach forest bathed in the morning light and pointed at a peach tree in the distance. “The peach on that tallest tree.”
“Okay.”
Li Yan led her to pick the peach she had chosen and skinned half of it for her to eat slowly.
He then said, “I’ll drive your car away later. Call me before you end this afternoon. I’ll come and pick you up.”
Chu Luo looked at him and said with dissatisfaction, “Isn’t Qin Ming coming to pick you up?”
“Can’t be too high-profile during the day.”
“…”
To think that this person knew not to be too high-profile!
Li Yan said that he was leaving and left without eating breakfast. However, before he left, he took half of the peach from Chu Luo’s hand and, at the same time, ate some tender tofu[1].
When Chu Luo walked back, her face was still red.
She stopped under the ancient tree for a while before going to look for the abbot.
At this moment, the abbot was meditating with the monastery’s monks.
Chu Luo didn’t interrupt him and stood outside the door, listening.
Half an hour later, the abbot walked out of the door and greeted her, “Patron Chu.”
Chu Luo nodded at him and the two of them walked towards a meditation room.
When they reached the meditation room, Chu Luo took out the copper bell for the abbot.
Chu Luo said, “This copper bell’s murderous aura is too strong. It can only be suppressed in your monastery. I’ll leave it here.” Actually, she was just too lazy to deal with it herself.
The moment the abbot saw the bell, he immediately chanted a sutra before receiving it.
“Patron Chu, don’t worry. I will bring all the disciples in the monastery to do a sending in the morning and in the evening for the souls of the dead brought about by this.”
Chu Luo nodded and left for the Metaphysics Society conference.
Today, without those from the Xuan Sect around, the meeting was much more peaceful.
Chu Luo could feel that these people were becoming respectful towards her.
Later on, Jin Hui told Chu Luo, “When we rushed to the lake, there was only scorched earth left.” It was obvious that Xuan Ba had been struck to death by lightning.
“Xuan Yi and Xuan Xin don’t have good natures. We’ve decided to cripple their abilities and make them ordinary people.”
As for how their abilities were crippled, Chu Luo didn’t care.
Li Yan seemed to have calculated the time and called Chu Luo just as the conference ended.
[1] Took advantage of her
