Qing Wei hesitated, then asked tentatively, “Your Excellency, it just so happens that I plan to take a trip back to the Jing Province. Might I accompany you?”

Su Yi was stunned, but before he could ask any questions, Qing Wei explained, “I won’t delay your journey. When we reach the border of the Dark Province, I’ll change course and proceed to the Jing Province.”

“What are you going back to the Jing Province for?” asked Su Yi.

Qing Wei explained that the House of Little Joys had declined; it was a far cry from its former glory. Without Immortal Queen Liu Yun to oversee things, they were a pack of dragons without a leader. The forces they had scattered across the Immortal Realm fell into upheaval with ease.

More importantly, the Church of All Spirits was targeting them, and Immortal Queen Liu Yun’s divine tribulation was a perfect example of this.

When Qing Wei went back, she planned to dissolve the faction’s forces and have them go into hiding until the time was ripe to re-enter the world.

Su Yi couldn’t help but be rueful.

Prior to the Age of Fallen Immortals, the House of Little Joys was among the greatest factions of the Immortal Realm. It was far beyond the top factions of the present day.

But the passage of time had taken its toll. The House of Little Joys was far from what it once was!

“That works too. Get everything in order. We leave tomorrow,” said Su Yi.

The two of them left the Underground Palace of Seeking the Profound shortly after.

……

The night was dark and deep.

A treasure ship shot through the heavens.

Su Yi sprawled out in his wicker chair and stared into space.

When he wasn’t cultivating, he was extremely lazy, to the point that he didn’t want to move a single muscle if he could help it. He much preferred to sprawl out like a salted fish, neither thinking nor doing anything at all.

The only thing different from before was his attire. He’d turned the clothes woven from Divine Illusion Silk into a snow-white shirt, and his long hair was tied casually behind his head.

His features were still handsome, but he’d shifted them around a little to disguise himself, and his presence was aloof and cold as ice.

Qing Wei sat on the little bench beside him, the hem of her skirt pulled up over her knees as she tended to a little stove. She was brewing a pot of tea.

Her features were exquisite and extraordinarily charming. Her skin was snowy and crystalline, and her figure was even more wondrous. The little bench was too small to fit her bottom, and the rest was squeezed over the sides of her seat, creating a striking, ample outline.

Her waist was thin, and her dark hair was tied into a loose bun, but this casual treatment had its own distinctive charm.

When her bright eyes glanced at Su Yi, they quickly looked away, as if she were afraid she’d get caught staring.

Before long, the tea was ready. Qing Wei filled a jade teacup and passed it to Su Yi. “Please enjoy, Your Excellency.”

Her voice was clear and pleasing to the ear, with a hint of distinctive magnetism.

Su Yi accepted the teacup. “Thanks.”

Starting the moment she boarded the treasure ship, Qing Wei kept herself busy. She made Su Yi’s bed, brewed and poured his tea, and she’d even prepared a selection of fine wines, fruits, and other refreshments.

It took Su Yi a little while to get used to it, but he soon realized that Qing Wei was in high spirits, so he didn’t stop her.

“Serving you is an honor, Your Excellency. There’s no need to thank me,” said Qing Wei, twirling a lock of her dark hair and flashing him an enchanting smile.

Qing Wei was a mature beauty, a true enchantress, the type that could bring ruin to entire nations. Her every smile and frown was full of endless charms.

This only made her all the more enticing.

Su Yi laughed. “If others saw an unparalleled beauty like you crouching over a fire to make me tea, I’m afraid they’d want me dead.”

Qing Wei grinned, looked up, and batted her phoenix eyes. “So, in your eyes, I’m… unparalleled?”

Su Yi laughed. “I’m not blind, you know.”

Qing Wei’s lustrous red lips pressed into a smile, and her charming eyes lit up. “Ah, but it seems to me that the word ‘unparalleled’ is insufficient to describe you, Your Excellency. There’s never been anyone else like you, and there never will be!”

She suddenly seemed deeply emotional. “I would never have thought I’d get the opportunity to serve you like this. Back in the Black Dragon Market, you saved me from disaster. If not for you, I would have become Holy Son Zhong Qi’s plaything.

“In Blazing Firmament Immortal City, you saved my master and me yet again, and you even resolved my master’s divine tribulation. I’ve… carved every last act of benevolence into my heart. I don’t know how to repay you.”

Here, she raised her exquisitely beautiful face and gazed directly at Su Yi, her ample chest heaving. It seemed she had something to say, but she hesitated.

A while passed before she rallied her courage and whispered, her voice as soft as a gnat's, “Your Excellency, tonight… allow me to take care of you… Let’s go back to your room.”

As she spoke, her face heated up and reddened. She instinctively averted her gaze.

Su Yi drained his teacup and passed it back to Qing Wei. He said gently, “You don't need to repay me like that. Don’t overthink this. I helped you out of consideration for Xiao Ruyi.”

Qing Wei froze, stunned and flustered. She hurriedly tried to explain, “But I…”

Su Yi rose and laughed. “Come on, let’s drink. If you can get me drunk, you’re welcome to do with me as you please.”

Qing Wei fell briefly dazed, then shot to her feet and said with the utmost solemnity, “In that case, I won’t hold back!”

Su Yi couldn’t help but laugh dryly. “I hope you don't.”

……

They said wine alone doesn’t get a man drunk; men surrender themselves to intoxication.

And beauty could be just as intoxicating as alcohol.

Su Yi had long since lost track of how many cups he’d drained, but he never once used his cultivation base to suppress the alcohol’s effects.

Qing Wei followed suit.

However, she was starting to get drunk. Her eyelids drooped, and her slender, impressive figure was unsteady.

Nonetheless, she raised her cup and continued drinking.

In the end, her loose bun came undone, her eyes were dazed, and she slumped back in her seat. Perhaps because of the wine, heat coursed through her, and she loosened the lapels of her clothing, revealing the eye-catching, snowy skin beneath.

But in the end, she couldn’t drink Su Yi under the table. She was the first to collapse limply onto the tabletop.

Even in her stupor, her lips moved. She muttered, “I’ve got to have my way with you tonight! If I don’t, I might never get another chance…’

Su Yi was stunned. He endured his own intoxicated state and rose to help Qing Wei up.

But after getting drunk, this unparalleled charmer of an Immortal Lady seemed downright wild! She flopped about like a fish and grumbled, “Let go of me! I can still drink! If anyone dares ruin this for me, I’ll… I’ll…”

Thud!

Su Yi tossed Qing Wei onto the bed.

He turned and was just about to leave when a pair of soft, supple arms wrapped around him from behind and held him fast. A moment later, a scalding hot, ample figure pressed up against him and flipped him onto the bed.

…

Late at night.

The radiant moon hung overhead, illuminating the treasure ship as it parted the churning sea of clouds.

It was a glorious sight.

Suddenly, a startled cry resounded from the ship.

“Are you still drunk?”

“Uh…”

“Then rest up properly,” said Su Yi, his voice tinged with laughter. “I said it before, and I’ll say it again. Should the day come that you can drink me under the table, I promise to accompany you to the very end.”

With that, Su Yi left the room.

Qing Wei flushed red with shame. Now that the alcohol’s influence had ebbed, she realized how… bold she’d been.

She took several deep breaths to calm herself down. For some inexplicable reason, a hint of melancholy coursed through her heart.

She rubbed her forehead and leaned back into bed.

He really is admirable! He’s a hundred, no, a thousand times better than those guys who lose their self-control the moment they lay eyes on me!

A little while later, a hint of a smile tugged at her lips. Qing Wei knew she’d been overly abrupt.

Deep within her heart, she really did harbor thoughts of repaying his benevolence. It was a big part of why she’d thrown herself into his bed. She didn’t really have feelings for him.

𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Of course, had Su Yi wanted to possess her, she’d have been willing, but Su Yi had done no such thing.

Qing Wei found this a bit disappointing, but it only made her admire and respect him all the more.

……

Su Yi stood near the ship’s railing with his hands behind his back and let out a deep sigh.

He wasn’t old-fashioned or pedantic, and he’d never been opposed to dual cultivation. But that was on the precondition that he and his partner shared some feelings. He knew that Qing Wei just wanted to repay his benevolence, and he didn’t want to spend the night with someone under such circumstances.

Furthermore, after fusing with the Temple Master, Shen Mu, and Wang Ye’s Dao Imprints and inheriting their memories and experiences, Su Yi gradually took less and less interest in matters of men and women.

He occasionally entertained thoughts of dual cultivation, but he quickly cast them aside.

This change was neither good nor bad. It was just something that happened to cultivators as their cultivation progressed. Some things just didn’t matter as much.

…

Three days later, they reached the border of the Dark Province.

“You’re Excellency, I’m leaving. Once I’ve made arrangements for the House of Little Joys, I’ll return to my master’s side. Also, before we meet again, I’ll… be sure to improve my capacity for liquor!” Qing Wei waved with an enchanting smile.

Su Yi couldn’t help but laugh. “Take care.”

“Hm!”

Before long, Qing Wei disappeared over the horizon.

Su Yi watched her departure only briefly before returning to his treasure ship and continuing into the Dark Province.

Half a day later, a sudden storm fell, plunging the world into darkness. Rain poured from the heavens, lightning flashed, and thunder rumbled, lending the sky an additional austerity.

Su Yi sat at the head of the boat, admiring the storm. He was perfectly content.

This rare tranquility and solitude was the best part of traveling alone. It could get lonely at times, but when you got used to it, it was the most relaxed, comfortable way to be.

Whoosh~

The rain intensified, and soon, it was pouring down in buckets. It was as if the river of heaven had burst through a dam. Their field of view was shrouded entirely in a misty curtain of rain.

All of creation was fuzzy and indistinct.

As the rain poured down, the dense pitter-patter of raindrops suddenly transformed into a downpour of sword qi.

Bang!!

The treasure ship split into pieces. Fragments scattered through the air.

Terrifying murderous intent swept outward.

Su Yi disappeared into the misty rain, then reappeared several tens of thousands of feet away. His snow-white robes were entirely unmarred.

The rain kept pouring down, but any droplets that got within a hundred feet of him collided against an invisible barrier, unable to get any closer.

As he hovered beneath the storm, he turned and gazed into the distance.