This scholar is a bit cruel

Chapter 297 The Kid Enters the Garden
The room was dimly lit, with the windows half-closed.

When Bai Qingtong entered the room, she found Liu Chujian sitting in a chair, head down, gently rubbing her feet.

"Why are you hiding in the house when we first meet, sister?"

Bai Qingtong looked suspiciously at the bed, then, seeing that there was no blanket, she looked around.

Liu Chujian looked up and said softly, "I twisted my ankle outside just now, but it's much better now. By the way, Qingtong, what brings you here?"

Bai Qingtong's gaze fell on her face. Seeing the lingering blush on her cheeks, the spring-like allure not yet completely faded from her brows, and her watery eyes brimming with spring-like passion, he immediately understood eight or nine parts of the situation. Just as he was about to speak, his nose suddenly twitched, and he asked in confusion, "What's that smell?"

Liu Chujian was taken aback, not understanding what he meant.

Bai Qingtong sniffed again, moved closer to her, and stared intently at her, saying, "It's like the aura that emanated from you when we first met, sister..."

"What……"

Liu Chujian was stunned for a moment, then lowered her head to sniff, but suddenly seemed to smell something. Her pretty face turned bright red, and she lowered her head, her beautiful legs pressed tightly together under her skirt, and said shyly, "No, nothing..."

Just as Bai Qingtong was about to speak, Luo Zijun suddenly entered and asked, "Qingtong, is your cultivation still at the fifth realm? Have you broken through yet?"

Bai Qingtong was taken aback upon hearing this, and turned to look at him, saying, "Still at the fifth realm? What's wrong?"

Why are we suddenly talking about cultivation levels?

Does this guy need something from her again?
Luo Zijun said, "Really? How come your cultivation is so slow? You've been stuck in the same place all this time? My cultivation level was even lower than yours back then, but now I'm about to break through to the seventh realm of martial arts. I came here this time to find a quiet place to prepare for my attempt to reach the seventh realm."

Bai Qingtong's eyes widened instantly, her face filled with disbelief: "Seventh Realm? Really?"

Luo Zijun clenched her fist, and the aura of a sixth-level martial artist at the peak of the martial arts realm suddenly burst forth. She said, "Of course it's true. Why would I lie to you about something like this?"

Bai Qingtong immediately sensed his powerful aura and was both shocked and envious: "Brother-in-law, how...how did you cultivate so quickly?"

"Come here, I'll tell you."

Luo Zijun beckoned with her finger.

Bai Qingtong immediately walked over and put her ear close to his face.

Luo Zijun looked at the person in the chair.

Liu Chujian quickly got up from the chair, her pretty face flushed, head down, and hurried out of the room.

Bai Qingtong suddenly looked at her and said, "It's our first time meeting, sister. Remember to change your dress. Your dress is all wet. I bet some naughty guy spilled tea on you."

When she said "bad guy," she looked at the person in front of her.

Liu Chujian lowered her head and quickly left.

Just as Luo Zijun was about to speak, Bai Qingtong suddenly tiptoed, sniffed at his mouth, and stared at him suspiciously.

Luo Zijun immediately felt guilty: "What's wrong?"

Bai Qingtong snorted and said, "It's nothing."

Her eyes were strange, and some bizarre things were probably swirling in her mind.

"Qingtong, it's just in time that you've arrived. You can stay here and help me protect the Dharma."

Luo Zijun went over and closed the window, then looked at her and said, "I'm about to go into seclusion to cultivate now, and I should be breaking through soon. I feel more at ease if you stay here."

Bai Qingtong said with dissatisfaction, "Why didn't my brother-in-law come to find me before? If I hadn't come along myself, who would he have sought as his protector? My sister, whom he just met?"

Luo Zijun said, "I mainly didn't want to trouble you."

Bai Qingtong was even more displeased upon hearing this: "Brother-in-law is not afraid of troubling my sister when we first met, but he is afraid of troubling me. Does he treat me like an outsider?"

"of course not."

"That's what I think!"

Luo Zijun shrugged, stopped arguing with her, sat down on the bed, and said, "Alright, I'm going to cultivate now."

"Humph!"

Bai Qingtong snorted coldly, stopped bothering him, went out the door, and stood guard in the small courtyard outside.

Luo Zijun sat cross-legged on the bed, closed her eyes, and began to calm her mind and examine the meridians and acupoints throughout her body in preparation for breaking through the barrier.

The sun outside the window is gradually setting.

Night quickly fell.

When it was pitch black outside the window, Luo Zijun took out the pill that his senior sister had given him, swallowed it, and began to circulate his cultivation technique to refine it.

A warm current immediately rose within his body.

The air currents quickly transformed into powerful energies, flowing into his dantian and merging with the internal energy within it.

This tiny elixir contains immense energy.

By midnight, only one-third of the energy in the elixir had been refined.

At the same time, the internal energy within Luo Zijun's dantian began to stir.

But Luo Zijun knew that at this moment, she had to endure it and refine all the energy in the pill completely before she could break through the barrier in one go.

That way, the chances of success are much higher.

After a short rest, he prepared to continue refining.

At that moment, he suddenly remembered his sister-in-law who was still waiting outside, and quickly got up and opened the window to check.

The weather outside is still bitterly cold.

At this moment, Bai Qingtong was holding her sword, leaning against a pillar in the corridor, lost in thought. Her clothes were thin, and her face was red from the cold.

Luo Zijun quickly said, "Qingtong, come in and sit down, it's cold outside."

Bai Qingtong turned her head and said seriously, "No, it's the middle of the night, a man and a woman alone, brother-in-law and sister-in-law, it's an awkward situation, how can they be in the same room?"

Luo Zijun: "..."

Seeing his expression, Bai Qingtong chuckled and said, "I'm fine, brother-in-law, just continue your cultivation. I'm a martial artist; if I can't withstand this bit of cold, wouldn't people laugh at me?"

Luo Zijun said, "You can go sit in the room next door."

Bai Qingtong said, "That won't do. The room next door is too far from my brother-in-law. There are so many fox spirits in this garden. What if one of them sneaks into my brother-in-law's room through this window in the middle of the night? So, I have to guard this window."

Luo Zijun was speechless and said, "Are you here to protect me, or to spy on me?"

Bai Qingtong said frankly, "Naturally, I'm here to keep an eye on my brother-in-law."

Luo Zijun: "..."

"Alright, alright, you can continue monitoring."

Luo Zijun ignored him, closed the window, and went back to bed.

After thinking about it, he decided to let his spirit leave his body and go out to take a look.

After what happened during the day, he felt uneasy.

"Shh!"

My soul left my body, passed through the roof, and flew into the night sky.

The divine soul's gaze was high above, looking down and taking in the entire Grand View Garden.

A few dim lights shone in the courtyards closest to the front; the rest of the place was pitch black.

With his divine vision, he could clearly see and sense the vital energy in a human body. Looking down, he saw that his sister-in-law's vital energy was quite vigorous, as if her whole body was wrapped in a ball of flames, impervious to the surrounding cold air and wind.

Bai Qingtong seemed to sense something as well, and looked up at the sky above the rooftop.

Luo Zijun withdrew her gaze and prepared to return to the house.

At that moment, he suddenly saw a dark shadow appear on the west wall of the Grand View Garden.

The dark figure stood on the courtyard wall, looked around for a while, and then floated up lightly, flying towards a courtyard not far away.

"Spirit?"

Luo Zijun's expression hardened, and she immediately flew over from high in the sky.

The spirit flew very low, cautiously observing its surroundings as it flew forward. Judging from its state, its cultivation level was not very high.

Luo Zijun felt relieved and quietly followed from a high place.

At this moment, the spirit arrived at a courtyard ahead, and after observing it carefully, it floated down.

Luo Zijun looked closely and realized it was Xiaoxiang Pavilion.

"As expected, they've come for Lin Daiyu. It seems they were sent by that young Marquis Wei during the day!"

"court death!"

At this moment, Yao San saw that the courtyard was empty and there was nothing unusual, so he floated down.

Although he didn't sense any martial artist's aura, he remained cautious and observed the corridor carefully for a while before floating towards a window with a faint light still on.

Inside the room, an oil lamp was lit.

Lin Daiyu had not yet gone to sleep and was sitting at the table, quietly reading a book.

The maid Zijuan sat not far away doing needlework.

Yao San gently peered through the window into the room, his gaze landing on Lin Daiyu's delicate, rosy face illuminated by the lamplight. He thought to himself, "What a lovely little beauty! No wonder the young marquis couldn't wait tonight..."

"call--"

He first blew a gust of cold wind over to test the waters.

A cold wind fell on Lin Daiyu, who visibly trembled and coughed a few times.

Zijuan quickly put down what she was holding, stood up and said, "Miss, it's getting chilly and late. Go to bed and rest. We can look at it again tomorrow."

Lin Daiyu nodded and slowly put away her book.

Zijuan called out to the outside, "Xueyan, Miss is going to sleep. Quickly bring her a basin of hot water."

"okay!"

Xueyan responded from outside.

Yao Sanpiao hovered by the window, his eyes filled with longing as he watched the beautiful figure rise from the table. He thought to himself, "This little beauty looks so delicate. Once she falls asleep, I'll blow a few eerie breezes into her ear. That'll surely give her nightmares, and then I'll frighten her so much that her soul will weaken. Then I can cast the Dream Illusion Technique. I probably won't even need to use any medicine..."

Just as he was smugly contemplating, he suddenly felt a dangerous aura approaching from behind.

"Whoosh!"

Before he could react, a hand suddenly reached in through the window, grabbed his neck, and dragged him out!

This was truly a terrifying experience; it almost made one's soul fly out of their body!

"Who?"

He screamed and tried to throw a punch.

But then, a huge fist slammed into his head.

"boom!"

Yao San's head was smashed open.

Of course, a broken head can be slowly repaired, unless the soul is directly shattered, or the opponent's technique contains soul-destroying lightning or other skills.

The headless Yao San screamed in pain and was thrown out.

Before he could regain his senses, a second fist came, striking him heavily in the chest with a loud "bang."

At that moment, his soul began to dissipate.

"Fellow Taoist, spare my life!"

In his terror, he didn't even see who it was before hurriedly begging for mercy.

Luo Zijun floated over, grabbed his already blurry figure, and asked, "Who sent you?"

Yao San answered almost without hesitation, "The young master of Marquis Weiyang sent me here."

"What are you doing here?"

Despite the excruciating pain, Yao San said in a trembling voice, "The young marquis has taken a fancy to a woman here and wants me to come... to cast a dream illusion spell on her, and then..."

He didn't dare to say any more.

Luo Zijun suddenly tightened her grip and said, "And then what? Tell me!"

Yao San screamed in pain and hurriedly said, "Then drug her, make her lose her mind, and when the young marquis comes in, she should offer herself to him..."

Luo Zijun's eyes flashed with a cold light: "Where is that young Marquis Wei now? Who is with him?"

Yao San immediately answered each question, not daring to conceal anything.

After answering, he immediately cried and begged for mercy: "Fellow Daoist, spare my life! I was forced into this. That young marquis is a lecherous man who often harms other women in the city. I always try to persuade him, but he..."

"Let's go, lead the way."

Luo Zijun let go of him.

Yao San quickly replied, "Okay, okay."

He endured the excruciating pain, slowly flew onto the roof, then suddenly turned around and spat out a large cloud of black, eerie wind. With a whoosh, he used all his strength to escape out of the garden.

But just as he had escaped four or five meters, his entire soul suddenly split in two.

Then it split into two into four, then into eight...

However, he seemed oblivious and continued to fly forward desperately. When he realized something was wrong, he looked back and saw his own shattered body all behind him.

"what--"

With a scream, his entire soul vanished completely.

"Shh!"

A cold glint reflected in the icy moonlight, flashing by in an instant, and a jet-black flying sword returned to Luo Zijun's sleeve.

“One martial artist at the fifth level, one martial artist at the sixth level, and two ordinary thugs…”

"They're really rich."

Luo Zijun's gaze was fixed on a certain direction outside the garden, her eyes flashing with a cold light.

Since they've already come knocking on his door, he naturally can't ignore them.

Coincidentally, his body was currently brimming with volatile energy, with nowhere to vent it.

(End of this chapter)