"What's the rush?" Jin Yue sat up straight, leaned forward and asked, "Girl, have you gotten what I asked you to get?"
Qiu Lingling nodded: "Got it."
Jin was stunned.
Jin Yue laughed: "Let me take a look at it."
Qiu Lingling secretly raised her eyes and glanced at Jin Huanlai, then slowly took out a palm-sized, dazzling plaque from her bosom, held it with both hands, and respectfully presented it to Jin Yue.
"Thousand Hands Order!" Jin almost vomited blood.
Sleepless nights in the deep valleys of the west wind
Ignoring Jin Huanlai's expression, Jin Yue laughed loudly: "Good, you even managed to steal the Thousand Hands Sect leader's token. I'll regret this in the future. I should have let Lingling be the leader. Now that you've passed the test, why don't you hurry up and become my disciple?"
Qiu Lingling quickly kowtowed three times.
Jin Yue pulled her up, tossed the Thousand Hands Token into Jin Huanlai's arms, and smiled maliciously: "I wanted to test your progress with the Fire Toad, and I was afraid you wouldn't be able to get it, so I asked her to help you. The Thousand Hands Token is the question I was going to use to test her. What a clever girl. In the future, the sect leader should keep a close eye on the token and make sure it's not stolen again."
He turned to Qiu Lingling with a smile and instructed her, "This is my eldest disciple. Quickly call him senior brother."
Qiu Lingling hesitated and whispered, "But I like to call him Jin Huanlai."
Jin Yue smiled brightly: "As long as the leader has no objection, it's fine."
Jin remained silent, his teeth grinding together.
"What was that sound?" Jin Yue feigned surprise and tossed the fire toad to him as well. "I've already seen the thing. There's no use keeping it. The sect leader worked hard to get it, so you should take it back."
Jin Huanlai remained expressionless, clutching the fire toad tightly in his hand. He turned and walked towards the door, shouting, "You come out here!"
.
Once outside, Jin walked away without looking back, striding forward until he stopped behind a large rock. Qiu Lingling followed silently behind him, and when she saw him stop, she stopped as well.
Jin Huanlai suddenly turned around: "Come here!"
Qiu Lingling stood far away with her hands behind her back, her head slightly lowered, her lips pursed, looking at him cautiously with a sly smile.
Jin laughed angrily, "Are you coming over or not?"
Qiu Lingling pouted, knowing she had done something wrong, and slowly moved closer to him.
Jin scoffed, "Master only told you to steal the token, not the Fire Toad?"
Qiu Lingling responded with an "Mm".
After realizing she had been tricked, Jin almost fainted. "This mere fire toad is something I could easily obtain with a few tricks, but instead, I made her sacrifice her image and dress up as a woman!"
"When did you steal my token?"
“I secretly took it from you when you were feeding Baili Ying the wine,” Qiu Lingling said innocently, her big eyes darting around like a clever little fox. “I’ve seen this brand before, I recognized it at a glance.”
The person you trust most stole your things, and yet they can describe what happened so seriously in front of you with such an innocent expression. Jin was furious, glaring at her so fiercely that his eyes seemed to pin her to the stone. No wonder she kept clutching her clothes and wasn't on guard. He never imagined that he, the dignified leader, would make such a great sacrifice for you, and you would help that old man to get back at him!
"You're not going to tell me?"
"Master forbade me to say it."
"Are you going to listen to him or me?!" she snapped, losing her temper.
"Didn't you say we should listen to Master...?"
If it were anyone else who was so disrespectful, Master Jin would have beaten them up and destroyed the evidence long ago. But he couldn't just lay a hand on a child. He was angry but couldn't vent his anger, so Jin decided to give her a warning. He used his usual threatening tactic and slapped a large rock next to him. Instantly, the rock, as tall as a person, flew more than ten meters away and then cracked into several pieces.
Qiu Lingling's eyes widened in shock.
"You're scared now, aren't you?" Jin grinned sinisterly, leaned down, and approached her with a menacing look: "When I'm not around, you listen to him. But when I'm around, you listen to me, understand?"
Qiu Lingling slowly came to her senses, completely ignoring his words. She raised her hand to touch that handsome yet wicked face, admiringly saying, "You're amazing!"
I know I'm powerful, but can't you see I'm threatening you? Does this cult leader enjoy putting on a show? His warning backfired, and Jin was driven to madness. Clearly, this most effective threat against others had no effect on the little girl; she wasn't afraid of him at all.
Qiu Lingling's eyes darted around, and she hugged his arm, smiling sweetly, "I'm sorry, don't be angry, I'll listen to you."
The little girl is spoiled and is actually acting like a spoiled brat! Jin was both angry and helpless, and he shoved her away: "You stay here and learn kung fu from your master. You're not allowed to run around."
"Then will you come to see me often, okay?"
"Okay, okay, we'll talk about it another time," Jin replied dismissively, then turned and left.
.
The maids set out the food, and the two of them ate with Jin Yue.
Jin Yue was in a good mood: "Girl, I can't teach you for many more years. Besides stealing, I have many other skills here: lightness skill, hidden weapons, disguise, and poison. Which one do you want to learn?"
Qiu Lingling thought about it seriously: "Are there any people who run away after rescuing someone?"
Jin Yue nodded: "Yes, if you learn light-body skills, you can run fast."
“Then I’ll learn lightness skill,” she said, turning to Jin Huanlai and asking, “What’s the skill you’re worst at?”
Jin was in a bad mood, and she was even more annoyed when she asked that question. Wasn't this deliberately exposing the shortcomings of this leader? So she rolled her eyes and said irritably, "Me? Hmph, this leader is good at everything!"
Jin Yue chuckled sinisterly: "My eldest apprentice is a bit too thick-skinned. He can never quite master the art of disguise, but he might be alright at dressing up as a woman."
Qiu Lingling bit her chopsticks, finding it amusing: "Yeah."
Jin Yue asked, "You've seen him before?"
Jin's face darkened.
Qiu Lingling understood, quickly shook her head, and made up her mind: "I want to learn disguise."
Jin Yue asked curiously, "Why do you want to learn disguise?"
Qiu Lingling tilted her head and looked at Jin Huanlai: "Because his disguise is terrible, I need to learn to be better so I can help him in the future."
Jin was stunned for a moment, then shouted angrily, "Who needs your help?" He suddenly realized how childish his words were, almost like a child throwing a tantrum. So, feeling extremely embarrassed, he put down his chopsticks, got up and left, saying, "I have things to do at the sect. I'm leaving. You stay and learn kung fu from the master. Don't cause me any trouble!"
Qiu Lingling tried to get up, but Jin Yue held her down, so she could only plead loudly, "Remember to come see me!"
Jin didn't answer, and went straight out the door.
The black figure vanished in a flash, and Qiu Lingling almost cried.
Jin Yue patted her shoulder, glanced at the door, and smiled mischievously: "Good girl, he'll definitely remember to visit you. Come on, have dinner with your master first..."
.
Loneliness isn't the most terrifying thing; what's truly terrifying is getting used to a life without loneliness and then returning to this kind of loneliness.
Night fell again. There was no moon, and Jin Garden was pitch black. The only sound was the rustling of the wind through the trees, bringing back that unbearable loneliness that had been absent for so long. In the days that had passed, Jin had almost forgotten what it felt like. The soft, warm body in his arms that had once tormented him, the voices that had bothered him... Now all of that was gone. The emptiness beside him made him feel very uncomfortable and a little cold.
Jin still wanted to go out for the night.
Strangely enough, after not going to a certain place for a while, he even forgot about his physiological needs? He suddenly thought of a terrible problem: could it be that he'd developed a problem from holding back every day? This is outrageous! This sect leader must go and verify it! Jin was so frightened that he sat up abruptly. Damn it, he was so composed! Old Master Liu must have been holding an ugly woman back then!
Those beautiful curves that clung to me, that warm, supple skin, and those smooth, soft little hands…
Just as he was thinking about this, he suddenly realized that his body was perfectly normal.
Jin wanted to slap himself. There were plenty of women in the world, and every girl he'd been with was beautiful and gentle. How could he fantasize about a young girl? How disgusting!
So he began to try to recall the beautiful faces and bodies of those girls, but unfortunately, he couldn't remember anything.
"Don't waste your energy! Solve the problem first!" Jin became increasingly agitated, jumped out of bed, grabbed his cloak, opened the door, and went out.
.
In the cold wind, a large black bat, under the cover of night, silently slipped out of Jin Garden and flew down the mountain without making a sound. Even the guards around Jin Garden did not notice it.
It was pitch black all around, but for the Thousand Hands Cult, this was not a problem at all.
However, Jin had just reached the foot of the mountain when he remembered another important matter.
The little girl is afraid of the dark!
Jin Huanlai would occasionally find it strange that Jin Yue had never married, but he didn't have the gossip to care and was too lazy to find out. Although there was no mistress in Tuishen Valley, there were still a few maids, so the little girl should be able to find someone to keep her company easily.
Knowing that the idea was unrealistic, Jin still decided to believe it, but after leaping forward another ten feet, he stopped, feeling frustrated.
Perhaps due to the wind along the way, the fire that had been lit earlier inexplicably went out. Jin was furious and thought, "What wicked thing did I do in my past life?"
Now that the fire is out, there seems to be little need to go to any particular place.
Jin sighed and turned to rush back up the mountain.
Luckily it was nighttime, and it was dark so no one could see him. Otherwise, most people would have thought he was mentally unstable or had encountered a ghost, and that he had just come out but was running back.
.
Lanterns swayed under the eaves. There were only a few stone houses in the valley. Jin Huanlai easily found the little girl's room because he heard soft, intermittent sobbing coming from the darkest room in the corner.
Although he had never had any hope for Jin Yue, Jin Hailai was still very dissatisfied. The old man was really something. The little girl was crying like this, but he was sleeping soundly. How perverted!
When he saw the lock on the door, he became even angrier, twisted it off, and pushed the door open to go inside.
The sobbing suddenly stopped.
The room was dimly lit, and Jin squinted as he looked around.
There was no one in the bed, but a small figure was huddled in the corner. Perhaps out of fear, she didn't dare to make a sound, but just covered her face and trembled, desperately curling her body up.
Jin Huanlai watched silently for a moment, then coughed and coldly scolded, "Stop crying, get up!"
As expected, the little girl quickly recognized the person in front of her, rushed to him, and cried, "I'm scared, Jin, come stay with me, I'm scared!"
"Alright, alright!" Jin was still having a headache. He said this while trying to push her away. Was she a girl or a child?
Qiu Lingling clung to him, refusing to let go: "Don't go."
Jin was still annoyed. Suddenly, he pushed her away and turned to the door: "Are you trying to save money on lamp oil, old man?"
"My two disciples are truly harmonious." The lights came on, and Jin Yue indeed stood smiling at the door, with a servant carrying a lantern beside him.
.
"She's a little afraid of the dark."
Jin Yue nodded: "I know, that's why I locked her up."
Jin sighed helplessly, "You're still my master, after all."