After The Aloof Long Aotian Became Jealous Of Me - Chapter 8

Bai Yi stared in disbelief.

That was not how it had been written in the novel.

Why had Long Aotian suddenly changed his attitude?

Could it be that, with Bai Yi present as a witness, Rong Zhenlü found it inconvenient to stand by and watch someone die, so he had decided to put on an act?

Had Bai Yi not known how indifferent the man truly was beneath the surface, he might have mistaken Rong Zhenlü for a warmhearted person who deeply cared for his fellow disciples.

Fortunately, it did not matter as long as he was willing to help.

Bai Yi nodded rapidly in delight.

Then he saw Long Aotian rush forward without looking back.

Bai Yi immediately became nervous.

Even if they were going to rescue someone, he could not forget to bring his underling!

The area was filled with mist and looked extremely dangerous. Bai Yi did not dare remain here alone.

He hurriedly tried to follow, but before he could even lift his leg, his entire body floated behind Long Aotian like a weightless kite.

The two remained extremely close.

No matter how quickly Rong Zhenlü ran, the distance between them never exceeded one meter.

Bai Yi lowered his head in a daze.

A semi-transparent thread of dark energy had appeared on the bracelet Rong Zhenlü had given him.

When Bai Yi touched it, he could not feel anything at all. Yet with that thread connecting them, there was no possibility that he would become separated from Long Aotian.

Where could possibly be safer than beside him?

Bai Yi raised his eyes toward the cold, imposing back ahead.

For the first time, he experienced what it felt like to be protected by someone powerful.

…

The battle inside the canyon was completely one-sided.

A group of masked Golden Core cultivators dressed in black were relentlessly attacking a young woman in a pale-yellow immortal dress.

Among them were even two Nascent Soul cultivators.

They wasted no time with words and immediately used killing moves.

The young woman’s body was covered in wounds. She barely managed to block while fleeing with her lifebound sword, but she clearly could not endure much longer.

Bai Yi arrived with Rong Zhenlü.

Before the attackers could even see who had come, every head belonging to the cultivators surrounding the woman shot into the air in perfect unison.

Blood dyed the mist red.

It was an absolute instant kill.

The move was unbearably impressive.

The tall figure who descended ahead resembled a god of slaughter. Together with the surrounding mist, his body blocked most of Bai Yi’s vision, making the scene appear slightly less bloody.

Standing close behind Rong Zhenlü, Bai Yi experienced the attack from a first-person perspective.

He felt a little envious and admiring.

Seeing it personally was even more swift and decisive than the novel had described.

At that moment, Bai Wuhen recovered from her daze.

Her eyes immediately sparkled as she hurried toward them, her softly rounded face filled with delight.

“Eldest Senior Brother!”

Rong Zhenlü did not respond.

He picked up a clean branch and used it to lift the masks from the severed heads.

This portion of the plot was exactly the same as in the original novel.

Bai Yi quietly shifted one step to the side, giving them an appropriate amount of space and playing the role of a qualified background underling.

To his surprise, Bai Wuhen’s gaze moved along with him.

Then she suddenly stared directly at his face, her mouth falling open.

What was she doing?

Bai Yi sensed trouble.

He turned his head and discovered that Rong Zhenlü, who had previously seemed unconcerned, had also set down the severed head and looked over.

With both of them staring at him, Bai Yi turned his back and silently pretended to tie shoelaces that did not exist.

He even brushed imaginary dust from the surface of his shoes.

His crouching body curled increasingly inward as he tried to hide within the mist.

The strategy worked.

Conversation finally resumed behind him.

“Eldest Senior Brother, it was all thanks to both of you coming to save me today. If you ever need my help in the future, I will do everything within my power.”

Still crouching in place, Bai Yi listened to her words, which were similar to those in the original novel.

Yet the longer he listened, the more something felt wrong.

What did she mean by “both of you”?

He had not done anything.

Most likely, Long Aotian had moved so quickly that even Bai Wuhen herself had failed to see what happened. She must have assumed Bai Yi had also participated in rescuing her.

What should he do?

Stealing attention from Long Aotian was one thing. No one in the original novel had ever done that before, so Bai Yi lacked a reference.

But if he dared steal Long Aotian’s credit, that would involve the core plot directly.

The novel contained plenty of ready-made examples demonstrating how people died after doing such things.

Bai Yi abruptly stood and turned around.

He was about to explain that Long Aotian had saved her entirely by himself, but how could his movements possibly be faster than Rong Zhenlü’s?

“Mm.”

While occupied with the bodies, Rong Zhenlü unexpectedly responded, as though accepting her statement.

Bai Yi’s turn caused him to meet Bai Wuhen’s gaze directly.

The young woman looked at the beautiful youth dressed in white before her and smiled gently.

“Little Junior Brother, you must be hungry. Spiritual energy is useless here, but immortal cuisine can replenish a great deal of strength and even heal injuries. I brought plenty with me. You and Eldest Senior Brother should come eat something.”

After speaking, she removed several food boxes from the bundle she carried.

An irresistible fragrance immediately filled the air.

Bai Yi was shocked.

He struggled to keep his gaze away from the immortal food while wondering how Bai Wuhen had realized he was hungry when even Long Aotian had failed to notice.

As though understanding his thoughts, Bai Wuhen scratched her head and smiled sheepishly.

“I don’t have many other hobbies. I simply love eating. When it comes to recognizing hunger, there probably aren’t many people who understand it better than I do.”

Upon hearing this, Rong Zhenlü approached.

For the first time, surprise appeared on the face of the man whose emotions were usually so faint.

“You haven’t eaten?”

Bai Yi fell silent.

He pressed his lips together before reluctantly nodding and admitting that he had accompanied Long Aotian on a mission with an empty stomach.

Rong Zhenlü turned away and lowered his head.

His golden lashes cast a gloomy shadow through the mist, making him look exceptionally frightening.

Bai Wuhen had never seen her eldest senior brother like this.

His eyes had always been cold and devoid of emotion.

Now that they finally contained emotion, however, he seemed even more terrifying.

She immediately offered him two boxes of immortal food.

For the first time in history, Eldest Senior Brother accepted them.

He even thanked her voluntarily.

Bai Wuhen had dreamed of this moment since childhood.

Yet now that it had finally arrived, her heart did not flutter at all.

She merely felt anxious, afraid that he would redirect his anger toward the young junior brother.

If she had known, she would never have spoken.

Eldest Senior Brother was definitely angry.

She was about to stop him when she saw all the darkness around him disappear the instant he turned back.

The elegant Immortal Lord personally held the food boxes.

Even amid the mist, he appeared refined and striking.

He pinched the space between his brows and spoke in a voice that could almost be described as coaxing.

“I should have asked earlier. I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”

Bai Yi watched Rong Zhenlü pinch his brow impatiently.

Although he did not understand why the man was apologizing, he obediently nodded when he heard there would not be a next time.

He had been wrong.

He would never dare delay Long Aotian’s business like this again.

Fortunately, Bai Wuhen was present this time, so Rong Zhenlü still had to maintain appearances and had not punished him.

Bai Yi lowered his head and accepted the food box.

The three found a clean place and sat down to eat together.

How unusual.

Bai Yi remained deeply puzzled.

When he had read the novel, Long Aotian had never eaten even once.

Having long since reached the stage where he no longer needed food, he never considered such things.

Yet now, he had opened a food box and was actually eating with the two of them.

As expected, pressure encouraged growth.

Bai Wuhen’s use of the word “both” had ultimately forced Long Aotian to feel responsible.

Bai Yi had wanted to sit somewhere more discreet and avoid interfering with the original plot.

Unfortunately, the thread attached to his bracelet could only extend one meter.

Moving any farther away was impossible.

He had no idea what Long Aotian had been thinking when he gave him the bracelet.

Couldn’t he have made the thread a little longer?

With no alternative, Bai Yi sat beside Long Aotian on the same large rock.

Bai Wuhen sat opposite them.

She first stole a glance at Eldest Senior Brother, who had not yet touched his chopsticks, then looked at the little junior brother whose eating manner was especially adorable.

Faced with two such overwhelmingly beautiful faces at once, she felt slightly dizzy and could not resist looking at the younger disciple again.

Her cheeks flushed.

No matter what Little Junior Brother did, he looked beautiful.

His appearance was so seductive, yet his temperament seemed somewhat innocent, making people instinctively want to approach him.

No wonder even her perpetually unapproachable eldest senior brother coaxed him so gently.

Bai Wuhen gradually became entranced.

Then Eldest Senior Brother’s cold gaze turned toward her, immediately bringing her back to her senses.

She coughed and obediently lowered her head to eat.

Bai Yi had become completely absorbed in the immortal cuisine.

As expected of ingredients nourished by all kinds of spiritual energy in the cultivation world, every dish appeared ordinary but tasted exquisitely fresh and delicious.

Having gone hungry all day, Bai Yi ate without even raising his head.

He soon finished everything and felt completely full.

A single serving of immortal food contained an enormous amount of energy for a fraudulent third-level Qi Refining cultivator like him.

Rubbing his slightly rounded stomach, Bai Yi could not resist asking Bai Wuhen, even with Long Aotian beside him, “May I ask which cultivation ground this immortal cuisine came from?”

Seeing how much he liked it, Bai Wuhen covered her mouth and laughed, looking both pleased and proud.

“I made it myself. Whenever I brought immortal cuisine to Eldest Senior Brother in the past, I always claimed I had bought it. In truth, I made it all personally.”

She blinked.

“After all, if you want to capture someone’s heart, you must first capture their stomach. Hahaha—but I don’t think about such things anymore.”

“Still, some people are too emotionally slow. Not only do they rarely show any expression themselves, but they also struggle to notice how others feel. In that case, delicious food can help when you’re pursuing someone.”

She gave the Immortal Lord a mysterious glance.

Bai Yi nodded, finding her words deeply reasonable.

“Indeed. Good food is extremely important in life.”

He had never expected that a casual question would reveal a hidden detail not mentioned in the original novel.

Looking at it this way, Long Aotian had truly failed the young woman all these years.

He could at least have eaten her food once.

Bai Yi turned toward Rong Zhenlü.

The man was staring down at the box of immortal food, his eyes lowered as though thinking about something.

His entire presence was cool and lacking in human warmth, appearing completely disconnected from the meal before him.

His expression was analytical, and he did not look as though he intended to eat.

He had not touched a single bite.

Bai Yi felt that Bai Wuhen’s sincerity had been terribly wasted.

Fortunately, now that she had admitted making the food herself, Long Aotian finally seemed somewhat moved.

Rong Zhenlü lifted his chopsticks and began eating.

He ate with great concentration and care, tasting every dish and giving Bai Wuhen considerable respect.

Bai Yi felt slightly gratified.

He watched silently before turning toward Bai Wuhen.

To his surprise, she did not look happy at all.

Instead, her curious gaze repeatedly moved between the two of them.

After the meal, Bai Wuhen needed to hurry back.

The original novel had explained that the assassination originated from factional conflict within the sect.

The former sect master’s death had been suspicious. As his daughter, Bai Wuhen had come here to investigate the truth and had been ambushed.

She needed to return to the sect with the evidence as soon as possible and report everything.

After bidding Bai Wuhen farewell, Bai Yi and Rong Zhenlü continued along the path described in the original novel to search for the pattern.

Long Aotian had once spent an entire year inside the Immortal-Prohibited Land.

Even though its terrain changed constantly, he still possessed considerable skill.

Using only the strength of his body, he shattered the spatial ravines blocking their way and successfully located the cave where the Zhong family claimed to have discovered the pattern.

Bai Yi stood on tiptoe and peered curiously inside.

He could not help grimacing.

A cave this dark, filled with mist and seemingly bottomless, was somewhere his former self would never have dared enter, no matter what.

Night had fallen, and without light formed from spiritual energy, he could not see anything.

Fortunately, Long Aotian was beside him.

In the original novel, Rong Zhenlü had also entered alone at dusk, so the timing should now be approximately the same.

Bai Yi had already prepared himself to remain awake all night.

He walked forward while recalling the original plot.

Just as he raised one trembling foot to step inside, the thread attached to his bracelet suddenly pulled taut.

Bai Yi turned around.

Rong Zhenlü remained standing in place, his tall figure sharp and imposing within the mist.

“It’s already late. Let’s enter tomorrow instead.”

Bai Yi was both surprised and delighted.

“All right.”