Chapter 23
Qiao Wan thought that while it may seem a bit disadvantageous to claim Gan Nan as her grandfather, she could still accept it.
According to their ages, Gan Nan
could be her great-great-grandfather.
Gan Nan suggested, "Then... how about becoming siblings?"
Qiao Wan shook her head, "Being 'brother' and 'sister' has a strange connotation."
Deciding to do it, Qiao Wan ran back inside and asked the scholars in the academy for a bottle of wine.
Although the disciples of Qingyang Academy were each doing their own things inside, curiosity got the better of them, and their gaze unintentionally drifted outside when they saw Qiao Wan running off with a bottle of wine.
What could she want with the wine?
Was she planning to drink it for fun under the moonlight?
Several disciples of Qingyang Academy curiously approached the door.
The problem was that they seemed to have a very pure relationship, and it didn't seem like there was any affair going on.
The following development completely surprised them.
They watched as Qiao Wan brought a jar of wine and opened the seal in front of them.
They became sworn siblings, not grandparents and grandchildren. Even though they said they were grandparents and grandchildren, in the end, they could only settle for being siblings.
Facing the moon, Qiao Wan and Gan Nan bowed several times to show their respect and shared a jar of wine.
They finally established their sibling relationship, no, their grandfather-granddaughter relationship.
Qiao Wan couldn't make a blood oath due to the cold poison in her body, so they had to give up on it with some regret.
They had seen couples going out to meet late at night, but they had never seen a couple coming over late at night to pay respects as siblings.
The Qingyang scholars: ...
What they didn't expect was that Qiao Wan raised her head and calmly called out, "Grandfather."
The Qingyang scholars: ... Did they miss something?
The young man covered his face and accepted his fate.
His father always urged him to marry a princess as soon as possible, so that he could have grandchildren as soon as possible.
Now... even though he didn't marry a princess, he should at least have a granddaughter.
After becoming sworn siblings, Qiao Wan didn’t forget about the dragon scale in the corner of her eye and asked, "Can it be removed?"
"Removed?" Gan Nan said, "Removing it might be troublesome."
"Very troublesome?"
The young man hesitated and covered his face, "That is the marriage contract of my Xuanhu Water Clan, which... requires quite a bit of effort. I need to go back to Yangxu Mountain to find some herbs to remove it."
When he tried to poke Qiao Wan's eye with his finger, he never expected that Qiao Wan would refuse so quickly.
Now, being questioned by Qiao Wan, Gan Nan was tormented in his heart, and the pride of a five-hundred-year-old virgin dragon was once again shattered.
Gan Nan: "Hm."
Qiao Wan fell silent for a moment, "Then what's the point of being sworn siblings?"
Being sworn siblings while holding a marriage contract, in the eyes of others, were they pretending to be siblings or engaging in incest?
Gan Nan said, "I... I will return to Yangxu Mountain as soon as possible to find the herbs."
Perhaps this was the only solution for now.
Qiao Wan didn't think too much about it. Since she couldn't remove it for the time being, she could only leave it as it is for now.
As soon as she entered the cave, the young man was immediately stopped by his elder martial sisters.
"What's going on?" The elder martial sister was frustrated, "You finally had a girl come to find you, why did you become sworn siblings with her?"
Gan Nan: "No, we're not becoming sworn siblings, we're doing it for the grandfather-granddaughter relationship."
*
When Qiao Wan returned to her residence from Changkong Cliff, it was almost dawn.
As soon as she stepped into her cave, Qiao Wan looked up.
There was a frail and withered man sitting by the stone table, in front of a lamp.
The man raised his head, his eyes reflecting the glow of the candlelight.
"You're back?"
Qiao Wan trembled for a moment: ... I'm sorry, I disturbed you.
She had completely forgotten about Elder Martial Brother.
Just as she took a step out of the cave, the man coughed and raised his sleeve, firmly restraining her like a ghost.
Qiao Wan twisted her body and silently used her agile footwork.
Even though Lu Pihan was sickly, with just a glimpse of her eye, he understood what she wanted to do.
"Run?" The man's icy fingertips fell on her collar, giving it a tug.
Lu Pihan coldly said, "Still running?"
Lu Pihan lifted Qiao Wan and pressed her back to the table.
"See for yourself."
Qiao Wan looked up.
The man furrowed his brow, freeing one hand and swiftly lifting his own clothes, starting to untie his belt...
Lu Pihan pressed Qiao Wan's hand on the table with one hand, and she quickly closed her eyes. "Elder Martial Brother, we can't do this! It's not right!"
The man rolled his eyes and untied the jade slip from his waist.
Snap—
It was thrown in front of her.
"See for yourself."
Qiao Wan leaned forward and looked.
The ink on the jade slip refreshed quickly.
"Shocking! Qiao Wan meeting with a naked disciple of Qingyang in the dead of night!"
The jade slip also had a "Souvenir Image" attached.
【Image (fragile and weak little white dragon)】【Image (blurry bird-walking picture)】
Qiao Wan continued to read, and the content of the headlines was basically no different, revolving around her and Gan Nan falling from the sky in disheveled clothing and engaging in fierce discussions.
It was said that Qiao Wan and Pei Chunzheng had a past relationship, but now that Martial Sister Mu had returned, was Qiao Wan searching for a new love? Although they were all cultivators and didn't pay much attention to worldly etiquette, this was still quite scandalous.
Her reputation was tarnished.
Lu Pihan said, "Finished reading?"
"I... finished."
Lu Pihan, like her father, asked coldly, "Don't you have any thoughts about this?"
Qiao Wan blurted out, "I never expected to be so popular within the sect."
If her magical girl career had started now, it might still work.
Lu Pihan glanced at her, his gaze fixed on the dragon scale at the corner of her eye, and asked in a deep voice, "Marriage contract."
"Elder Martial Brother," Qiao Wan struggled, "I can explain, please listen to me first."
Lu Pihan let go of her.
Under the resolute gaze of the man, Qiao Wan didn't dare to hide anything and honestly revealed everything.
"You also accepted being someone's grandchild?" Lu Pihan asked calmly.
Lu Pihan's eyes, like ghost eyes, looked deeply at her.
Qiao Wan frowned, "Not really, we became siblings through a ceremony."
Calling him grandfather was just her talking nonsense.
Lu Pihan didn't respond to her. He took out a jade ball and tossed it into the air.
Although Ma Huaizhen was older than him in terms of seniority, they had always been on equal terms.
This time, Lu Pihan was especially direct, asking him what was going on.
After he called someone over to push the wheelchair and came back, he was suddenly married and had accepted a grandfather.
Upon hearing Lu Pihan's words, the man in the jade ball laughed so hard that his half-bitten face looked even more distorted.
"That's not bad," Ma Huaizhen took a breath and pretended to be serious. "Accepted a grandchild for yourself."
"Even though I didn't marry." Ma Huaizhen touched his chin and smiled, "Having a grandchild isn't bad either. By seniority, can I also get some spirit stones?"
Lu Pihan's eyelid twitched as he took back the jade ball into his sleeve. He reached out, supporting her head, and rubbed her eye corner vigorously, frowning.
"We need to find some herbs in Yangxu Mountain to remove this marriage contract," Qiao Wan said, looking down.
"So, you're planning to bear with it?" Lu Pihan breathed heavily, his eyes sharp as a knife.
Qiao Wan touched the dragon scale on her eye corner and said, "It seems like there's no other option for now..."
Before she could finish her sentence, she suddenly noticed that Lu Pihan stood up.
"Elder Martial Brother?!," Qiao Wan also stood up. "Are you... leaving?"
Qiao Wan hesitated and asked, "Go... where?"
The man's eyes turned sinister. "To slay the dragon."
As long as one of them died, the dragon scale contract would naturally be lifted.
Although Qiao Wan knew that Elder Martial Brother was mostly just talk, she understood Lu Pihan's ruthless and dark side, comparable to that of the underworld. She couldn't afford to be careless, her eye twitching, she quickly grabbed his sleeve.
"I will handle this myself."
Lu Pihan looked at her coldly.
Qiao Wan's scalp tingled under his gaze, she became serious and promised earnestly, "Really."
"Elder Martial Brother, I will practice the 'Cloud-Stopping Tune' that you gave me diligently. I will also study the Daoist and Confucian texts you taught me, and I've already mastered the third form of the Tai Xu Sword Technique that you passed down to me. I will finish the rest as soon as possible."
As Qiao Wan earnestly made promises, like a diligent elementary school student, pledging to write more practice exercises and practice piano, Lu Pihan stopped arguing with her. Her relationship with Gan Nan had become widely known in Kunshan Sect, further pursuit of the matter was of little significance.
After Lu Pihan left, Qiao Wan looked at the dragon scale on her eye corner in the mirror.
At this point, she could only bear it.
Qiao Wan didn't think the dragon scale was a big deal.
Actually... it looked pretty nice.
It would look even better paired with her sky blue bow, just like the mermaid makeup in the past life created by the beauty blogger.
After playing around with the mirror for a while, Qiao Wan thought of the Daoist texts given by Ma Huaizhen and took them out to have another look.
She had spent most of the night studying the texts, but couldn't make sense of them.
At first, she suspected that there might be some restrictions or seals in the book, but after flipping through it repeatedly, she couldn't find any. Then, she wondered if it was made from some special material, but it didn't feel like it.
It was such an uncomfortable feeling.
It was like a donkey having a carrot right in front of its eyes but not being able to eat it.
Qiao Wan couldn't help but sigh, realizing that she couldn't rush it.
If she had the chance, she might as well ask the monk in her dreams.
She stuffed the Daoist texts into her storage bag and stood up, taking a glance outside the cave.
As she walked out of the cave, she saw the sun breaking through the clouds in the distance, casting a golden light.
Qiao Wan remembered that there would be a lecture at Changhong Cliff today.
In the Kunshan Sect, the inner disciples gather every five days for a small lesson. The lessons are divided based on their cultivation levels, like classes in school. Usually, the higher cultivation level elder martial sisters and brothers teach the lessons.
Qiao Wan, who is at this level, has just passed the foundation-building stage. Her classes are held at Changhong Cliff and taught by Martial Brother Wen Hui.
It's like having a professor personally teaching at home, but going to junior high school and sitting with junior high school students. Among the disciples of the twelve peak masters, only she stands out as unique and charming at Changhong Cliff.
But Qiao Wan is used to it. She has a lower talent, so there's nothing she can do.
Everyone else is also used to it.
In the past, when Yuqing Spiritual Master Zhou Yan brought her up the mountain, it wasn't because of her talent, but because of her appearance.
While she was getting ready to leave, her communication jade tablet at her waist suddenly rang.
Qiao Wan unfolded the jade tablet.
It was her master calling her to Yuqing Peak.
Qiao Wan felt uneasy.
Could it be because of what happened yesterday?
