Chapter 72: Li Yuilan
Looking at the two disciples in front of her, Zhang Mei crossed her arms over her chest, emphasizing them, and then said with a cold face and stern voice:
"Li Yuilan, Xie Yu. An important guest is coming to us and I need you to meet him in the city of Xianyu." Zhang Mei said in her usual cold-apathetic voice: "I need him to get to the sect without any problems. Is that clear?"
"Yes, Master," Li Yuilan replied submissively, bowing.
"Yes, respected Master," Xie Yu nodded and lowered her head.
"Good. He has already arrived, go now."
Zhang Mei nodded and threw out these words, returning to her work. Li Yuilan and Xie Yu exchanged glances and then left the office. Closing the door, they began to walk along the long corridors.
"Listen, older sister, do you know who this important person is? Could it be Lady Xu Mei?" Xie Yu asked curiously.
"I don't know," Li Yuilan answered and gently smiled, still keeping her eyes closed. Her posture was straight, and she was dressed in traditional restrained white garments.
The dress was long, hiding her legs, and except for her arms and neck, no more skin could be seen. She wore long beige boots that covered her slender legs, and in her hand, she held a folded umbrella.
"Well... I don't want to welcome someone boring. If it's another rich merchant who can't control his lustful gaze, I wonder if I should kill him?" Xie Yu grumbled in annoyance, looking unhappy.
"Violence begets violence, and this cycle can only be broken by a union that will stop the bloodshed. Isn't it wonderful to live in peace, so that our descendants can grow up surrounded by virgin nature?" Li Yuilan answered with a smile, fixing her hair behind her ear.
"Older sister, your words are true, but you are too kind. This world does not deserve such a kind girl like you. It's no wonder they call you a Saint." Xie Yu chuckled.
"That nickname is too exaggerated. I am also human, and I am not as kind as I may seem," Li Yuilan replied, shaking her head.
Xie Yu did not know how to respond, so she remained silent. The girl in front of her was the future heir of the Starry Stream Sect, and many envied her - in terms of her background in the influential Li family, in terms of beauty, and status.
Although several ill-wishers tried to tarnish her name, her kindness and actions always covered up opportunities for this. Everyone was forced to admit that she was kind and fair to all, regardless of their status.
And today, Li Yuilan was indeed excited. Ever since Zhang Mei said that someone important was coming to their sect, the fate around her had been chaotic. She felt excitement, the threads of fate trembled with joy and happiness.
This was something unusual. She had never noticed such a reaction before, even when she met Xu Mei, whose aura made the threads of fate avoid her, not daring to touch.
And as they approached the city, Li Yuilan noticed that the air felt somehow different, a little heavier. And the threads of fate shone brightly, standing out like a beacon in the endless darkness.
Somewhere in the distance, about five kilometers away from them, there was something so bright that it replaced the sun in the sky.
"This... is the teleportation formation there, isn't it? Could this radiance be coming from this guest?!" Li Yuilan was excited.
Xie Yu also felt the excitement in the city, and her family token, which allowed her to detect members of her family, was trembling. She looked suspiciously in the direction that Li Yuilan was looking.
"It could only be Uncle Xie Hai, but... is he able to leave the estate right now?" Xie Yu wondered.
The option with her father was also ruled out - he was busy on military service at the border of the Dynasty, and her brother Xie Xui was too busy with management schemes to ease his rise to power.
"Hm, it can't be my ugly brother. Then who could it be?"
Their curiosity was piqued, and these two headed towards the teleportation formation. They arrived there five minutes later, taking into account that they used swords to fly. Stopping right in front of the crowd, Li Yuilan and Xie Yu looked at each other in bewilderment.
"What's going on here? Why isn't the guard dispersing the people? The operation of the formation will be suspended," Xie Yu muttered.
"There's... someone's presence here. Very strong, most likely a cultivator at the peak of Core Formation or higher," Li Yuilan muttered.
Very soon, their presence was noticed by the crowd of onlookers, who began to move aside, clearing a path for them. No matter how great the people here were, in the presence of Li Yuilan, they were all like villagers.
And so, when the crowd had parted, Li Yuilan was able to sense that someone with a powerful presence was standing in front of her, and his aura was all-consuming.
"This...
"Aaaa?! Elder Brother Xie Qing is that you?!" came the loud cry of Xie Yu.
"Hm?"
Li Yuilan raised an eyebrow in surprise, and Xie Qing, hearing his name, turned towards the two girls and froze in place.
"Ghe... Xie Yu..."
"What's this 'ghe'?! Aren't you happy to see me?" Xie Yu said with a pretend-angry face, leaving Li Yuilan in place and running towards Xie Qing, freely opening her arms and running towards the young man.
He could not help but sigh and pray to the heavens. A second later, Xie Yu crashed into him, and he felt like vomiting blood from how hard she was hugging him.
"I missed you so much, big brother!"
"D-damn... let go of me, I... can't breathe..."
Xie Qing looked away and could not help but lament his fate. Of all the people he had to meet, it was this annoying girl.
Why annoying? Well... let's look at a flashback.
***
"Big brotheeeer!"
Behind the young Xie Qing, who was reading, came a loud childish cry. Immediately, Xie Qing's face changed, and he threw aside the book and began to run.
"Stoooop! Brother, where are you running?! Stop right there!"
"If I stop, I won't be able to run away from you! Get lost!" Xie Qing shouted in response and only ran faster.
"I'll catch up to you eventually!"
In the end, the estate was not infinite, so Xie Qing ended up in a dead end, and at the moment when he tried to run into a room, he was suddenly pinned to the wall by a girl's body.
"Brother, bad brother! Why are you running away from Yu'er?!" the girl pouted and asked Xie Qing with her pink eyes.
"...I want to die..."
Xie Qing snorted and turned away, embracing the girl's body. This was his cousin, Xie Yu, who was too attached to him.
Every day, she would catch up to him and hug him, not letting go for the entire day, so he had to run away from her.
Every damn day!
***
Helplessly lying on the stone floor, Xie Qing patted Xie Yu's back, hinting for her to let go. But it didn't work, and the girl was still hugging him, her nose nuzzling against his neck.
So Xie Qing could only stand up, like a vampire rising from a coffin, and then, embracing Xie Yu, who was hanging on him like a koala, he walked over to Li Yuilan.
"Greetings, young miss. I am Xie Qing, here at the invitation of Sect Master Zhang Mei," he politely introduced himself, although, with Xie Yu hanging on him, it looked comical.
"It's nice to meet you, young master Xie Qing. I am Li Yuilan, of the Li family and a disciple of Sect Master Zhang Mei. I came here to escort you," Li Yuilan said with a gentle and friendly smile, and then curiously asked: "Are you Xie Yu's older brother? She often talks about how handsome and charismatic you are."
"Uh... you flatter me, young miss Li. I have a perfectly ordinary face," Xie Qing replied.
"Pfft! If you have an ordinary face, then all other men are dirt!" Xie Yu finally finished sniffing Xie Qing's body and slid off him, standing next to Li Yuilan. She proudly puffed out her chest and said, "Older sister Li, my brother is the most handsome man in the world! Don't believe his words."
"There it is..."
Li Yuilan gently giggled and smiled, nodding. Then she tilted her head to the side and said a little embarrassedly: "But... I am really curious. Would you allow me to touch your face?"
"What? Uh, sure, no problem," Xie Qing answered and nodded, not quite understanding the problem with just opening his eyes.
"Thank you."
Li Yuilan nodded and moved closer to Xie Qing, who had to lean forward because of the height difference.
Feeling the young man's face, Li Yuilan began to move her hands around his face, touching his nose, mouth, eyebrows, and eyes. Then she exhaled in surprise.
"You are very handsome. Although I cannot see your face, only by touch and analyzing your Qi, I can say that you are an unmatched man," Li Yuilan said with a smile and took two steps back.
"You can't see my face?" Xie Qing asked in confusion.
"Yes. You don't know me, so you don't know, but I am blind," Li Yuilan said with a light smile and opened her eyelids, revealing empty eyes. Despite this, they looked very beautiful: "I gained my ability to predict the future at the age of ten, and then five years later, I went blind in my left eye, and then in my right eye.
But instead, I can see threads of fate and predict what may happen in the future."
"This..."
Xie Qing, who was enchanted by her eyes for a second, came to his senses when he heard these words. He looked at Li Yuilan with sympathy.
"I can't imagine how unlucky you are that you can't see my beauty," Xie Qing was about to say, but remembered that it was not the time for such jokes, and only replied: "You must have suffered a lot."
"Eh? Well, it can't be helped. The heavens punished me for my curiosity, but now I have the power to see the future and the threads of fate," Li Yuilan replied in a peaceful voice, and her hand rested on Xie Qing's cheek, gently stroking it: "And I am a little surprised. I can't seem to read your fate at all, young master Xie Qing. And the threads of fate around you are so beautiful and happy.
You must be a great person."
"A great person..."
Xie Qing did not understand most of Li Yuilan's words, but he could understand why fate loved him so much. Dragons were creatures of nature, and his bloodline belonged to dragons, although it had not yet fully awakened (that is, he had not yet become half-dragon), his aura was close to it.
Perhaps that was why the threads of fate were so excited. After all, they had encountered the aura of a superior being.
"Are they flirting?"
Xie Yu, who was watching their conversation, could not help but lose her voice. Li Yuilan was looking at Xie Qing with a strange excitement, and her eyes remained open despite being shy about showing them.
Even to her, who was her younger sister, Li Yuilan showed her eyes only after a year.
"My older brother just asked her about her vision, but she immediately showed her eyes! This... as expected of my brother! I knew he would grow up to be a ladies' man!" Xie Yu thought proudly, but she was a little jealous.
In the end, feeling her younger sister's gaze on her, Li Yuilan blushed and let go of her hand. Only then did she realize that her actions had been very intimate.
"I-I'm sorry... I was rude," she muttered, blushing with shame.
"Don't worry about it. Your hands are very pleasant and soft," Xie Qing replied with a smile.
"Eh..."
Li Yuilan weakly smiled and hid her face with her hands, still blushing. Xie Yu fell silent, the onlookers fell silent.
"Kha-kha... I-I... think I've got diabetes!" someone in the crowd muttered.
Well, the atmosphere here was sweet. A pink aura surrounded these two.
***
Finally, after ten minutes on the road, Xie Qing, Li Yuilan, and Xie Yu reached the entrance to the sect.
"Saint Li!" two guards greeted Li Yuilan, and then nodded: "Miss Xie Yu and... who is he?"
"This is young master Xie Qing, he is the guest that the Master summoned," Li Yuilan explained, responding to the greetings of the elders with the gesture "Gongshou".
"Young master?" the elders repeated Li Yuilan's words and looked at Xie Qing, then nodded doubtfully: "Since you are escorting him, Saint Li, we will not require further proof."
"Here, young man, take the guest token. Don't lose it, or the sect's formation will alert the elders of your presence and they may attack you," one of the elders said, handing over the token.
"Thank you for your help, elders!" Xie Qing thanked them, clenching his fist and bowing forward.
====
* Gongshou or Fist-and-palm is a gesture that you have probably seen in kung fu movies or martial arts competitions. It is a traditional Chinese greeting used to show respect and friendship.