Chapter 146: The Hidden Yandere Trait

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Hearing this, Xiao Jihan lowered his eyes and happened to see Liu Zhiqing’s clenched fist.

He acted as though he had not noticed. Reaching into his storage pouch, he took out a jade slip and held it out before Liu Zhiqing.

Liu Zhiqing frowned. “What is that?”

“The Medicine King’s Notes.”

Xiao Jihan’s tone was utterly calm, as though what he had handed over were merely an ordinary jade slip rather than the notes symbolizing the Medicine King’s inheritance.

“These notes contain not only the Medicine King’s alchemical techniques, but also methods for advancing one’s mastery. In addition, there are several lost formulas.”

“As long as you have sufficient medicinal materials and spiritual plants, following the methods in these notes, even without the Medicine King personally instructing you, advancing to become an eighth-rank alchemist will only be a matter of time.”

Liu Zhiqing’s eyes fixed instantly upon the jade slip. His clenched hand loosened, and his fingers began to twitch with barely restrained eagerness.

He fell into a fierce inner struggle.

Even a fool could tell that Xiao Jihan had brought out the Medicine King’s Notes at this moment because he wanted something in return.

But… these were the Medicine King’s Notes!

The dream of every alchemist!

And now that dream lay right before him. All he had to do was crook a finger, and it would be his!

Liu Zhiqing’s fingers trembled, and he could scarcely tear his eyes away. Summoning the last shred of his willpower, he stammered, “N-No, no, no…”

“Other than the Medicine King’s Cauldron, I am willing to share the Medicine King’s entire inheritance with you without reservation, Senior Brother. From now on, every pill I refine will be handed over to the Profound Heaven Sect. All I ask is that you agree to my relationship with Shu’er and persuade the other senior brothers as well.”

Xiao Jihan’s words were like a feather, lightly brushing against Liu Zhiqing’s already wavering resolve.

“Shu’er and I are already bound together. Her feelings for me are obvious, whether from our sharing a bed or from her willingness to accompany me to pay respects to my imperial mother. If the senior brothers refuse to agree, they will only cause Shu’er pain and place her in a difficult position.”

“Rather than that, Senior Brother, why not try to accept it—and help the others accept it as well? That way, you can help Shu’er while obtaining the Medicine King’s inheritance. From now on, you will even be able to devote yourself to cultivating alchemy without worry. What do you think?”

Liu Zhiqing swallowed. The corners of his eyes had reddened as he stared at the jade slip.

Xiao Jihan’s handsome face remained tranquil. He simply held out the jade slip in silence, waiting for his decision.

Suddenly, a hand shot forward with lightning speed and seized the jade slip.

Clutching it to his chest, Liu Zhiqing glared at him. “I’m not doing this for some pills, nor for the Medicine King’s inheritance. I simply can’t bear to see my junior sister suffer or be put in a difficult position, understand?!”

“In that case, I’ll be counting on you, Senior Brother!”

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Xiao Jihan cupped his hands and bowed to him. “As for Shu’er, I hope you will take care of the matter properly, Senior Brother.”

Thus came the secret arrangement between Liu Zhiqing and Xiao Jihan.

No, damn it! Their mutual understanding!

Naturally, none of this could be told to Yan Shu.

Liu Zhiqing coughed lightly. “What are you talking about, Junior Sister? What do you mean, selling you out? Do I look like that kind of person?”

Yan Shu nodded. “You do.”

Liu Zhiqing: “…”

The atmosphere instantly turned awkward.

Xiao Jihan, who had remained silent until then, suddenly spoke. “There was no transaction between my uncle-master and me. We merely became somewhat closer because we are both alchemists. Besides, someone had to deal with the aftermath of what happened in Profound Heaven City. Given our current identities, it would not have been appropriate for us to appear publicly.”

Although his explanation was perfectly reasonable, Yan Shu did not believe a word of it.

Ever since Xiao Jihan had supposedly lost the spirit stones, she had vaguely sensed that something was amiss. After Liu Zhiqing appeared, that suspicion had become certainty.

Yan Shu glanced at the two men, who were putting on an act of complete candor, and said mildly, “Even if you refuse to tell me, I can more or less guess. Xiao Jihan must have used the Medicine King’s inheritance to bribe Third Senior Brother, so that he would agree to our leaving the Profound Heaven Sect.”

“As for the missing spirit stones, Profound Heaven City lies right beneath the sect’s nose. The thefts have not been happening for just a day or two. The sect could not possibly be unaware of them. It was certainly Third Senior Brother who provided such an excuse, after which Eldest Senior Brother and the others agreed to let us go down the mountain.”

It had to be said that Yan Shu’s guess was almost entirely accurate.

Liu Zhiqing rubbed his nose guiltily. “Well, I have something else to attend to, so I’ll be leaving first. You two have fun.”

With that, he summoned his flying sword, picked up the unconscious shopkeeper, and vanished in the blink of an eye.

Yan Shu gave a soft snort at his fleeing back before turning to Xiao Jihan, puzzled. “What was there to hide from me? I was worried that secretly leaving might upset several of our senior brothers. Your arrangement has actually relieved me of that concern.”

Xiao Jihan lowered his eyes without speaking.

Yan Shu glanced at the forty-two points of affection above his head. After hesitating for a moment, she asked, “Didn’t you say that if I asked, you would answer me?”

At her words, Xiao Jihan’s long lashes trembled faintly. After a moment of silence, he said in a low voice, “I only wanted to see whether, in your heart, your senior brothers matter more—or I do.”

Hearing this, Yan Shu was slightly startled, her emotions complicated.

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She knew that Xiao Jihan possessed a childlike possessiveness toward her. After all, in all the years he had lived, she was probably the only person who had ever given him warmth and whom he had been able to acknowledge as a friend.

Just as he had said, he had only her.

In truth, he had acted so childishly, testing her in this way. Yet, in the end, he had still taken her feelings into consideration and removed the worries that had held her back.

But the problem was that his state of mind was unhealthy.

Whether between friends, lovers, or people in any other intimate relationship, no bond could withstand being tested over and over again.

If the heavenly thunder had not forced her hand, would she really have agreed so readily to follow him away from the Profound Heaven Sect, heedless of everything else?

She did not think so.

This was not the first time he had tested her. Today, he had used going away with him as the test. What if, in the future, he used something else to test her?

Could she evade it every time?

She had tried reasoning with him once in the secret realm, only to watch his affection rating plummet by more than ten points. Now that it had climbed back into the forties, Yan Shu decided that she would reason with him one more time.

If he did not cure this habit of seizing every opportunity to test her, sooner or later she would fall into a trap.

Even if she were lucky enough to avoid falling in, indulging him like this until the very end would be no good for her, even if she managed to fill the affection rating completely.

The male lead’s hidden yandere tendencies might not be severe, but they definitely existed!

She did not want to fill the affection rating only to discover that freedom was not waiting for her, but rather—

She fled, he pursued, and from then on she could never escape him, even if she grew wings!

Having learned from her first mistake, Yan Shu chose her words much more tactfully this time.

“In my heart, my senior brothers are naturally important. But in this world, no one could ever be more important than you!”

After all, he was the male lead of this world, and the lives of everyone in the Profound Heaven Sect rested upon his shoulders!

Yan Shu cautiously watched Xiao Jihan’s expression. Seeing no unusual reaction after he heard her words—only that he was gazing deeply at her—she continued.

“I thought that after everything we’ve been through, you would have understood my feelings long ago, and that our bond had already become firm enough that there would be no more tests like this.”

Yan Shu lowered her eyes, looking utterly dejected.

“But now I realize that you still don’t trust me.”