Noticing Su Bei keeping his gaze fixed in this direction, Shān Wúlán's icy eyes abruptly shifted away from the book before her.
Her three thousand strands of white hair were casually tied with a tasselled hair ribbon, a hibiscus warm-jade hairpin slanted diagonally across her hairline. Her lightly brushed moth-eyebrows held the hint of spring, and though half of her face was obscured by the book, it remained aloof, cold, and striking. In a faint voice, she asked:
"Why are you looking at me?"
"......"
Her voice was bone-chillingly cold, and with those words, the entire ground floor of the Sword Hidden Pavilion seemed to be coated in a layer of frost and snow.
The temperature plummeted by an unknown number of degrees!
Her gaze carried a trace of haughtiness, giving the impression of someone unreachable.
That parting glance possessed the unyielding, cold-defying pride of a plum blossom.
Su Bei subconsciously shivered, muttering to himself inwardly:
"It really couldn't be her. Has this junior sister suffered some kind of trauma?"
Then, putting on a gentle smile, he looked at Shān Wúlán and said softly:
"It's nothing. What book is the Ninth Elder reading?"
"......"
Shān Wúlán gave Su Bei a faint glance without a word, and her eyes turned back to the book.
A silence fell.
Su Bei smiled rather awkwardly.
He had already guessed it would be like this. Normal, perfectly normal!
He casually picked up a book and pretended to read it, while actually quietly taking out the Protagonist Must-Cultivate Formula, hiding it behind the casually picked-up book, and turning to the second page:
"This formula can only be viewed once by a cultivator!"
"Are you certain you are the Child of Fortune?"
"If you view the subsequent contents of this book, and your fortune is not strong enough, the book may even be destroyed due to certain uncertain external forces!"
"Even so, do you still decide to continue reading?"
"......"
Seeing this, Su Bei's gaze hesitated slightly.
Ever since he had taken Xiao Ruoqing as his disciple yesterday, the system had bestowed upon him the title of Son of Destiny.
It claimed to have maxed out his fortune value!
Yet Su Bei had never tested it personally, and besides, this book was meant to be chosen for Xiao Ruoqing.
What if his low fortune caused the book to be destroyed by some indescribable external force? What would he do then?
—As for whether this book was completely made up?
That had nothing to do with him.
Su Bei firmly believed that even if he merely drew a sword scar on the ground and told his Child of Fortune disciple that it contained boundless Daoist intent, his disciple would probably still be able to comprehend one, two, three, or four things from it.
The affairs of geniuses were simply this unreasonable.
At this thought, Su Bei's eyes suddenly lit up!
Right!
Why hadn't he thought of this?
He should have just drawn a circle on the ground with his sword back then before coming to the Sword Hidden Pavilion.
Who knows, by the time he returned, his disciple might already have sensed the Dao of his sword scar!
Still, it wasn't too late now.
Su Bei glanced around at his surroundings, then put down the book that had been sandwiching the Protagonist Must-Cultivate Formula.
Clutching the Protagonist Must-Cultivate Formula, he hurried out of the Sword Hidden Pavilion.
"My good disciple! Master is going to show you a great treasure..."
"......"
......
Not long after Su Bei left, Shān Wúlán slowly lowered the book in her hands from her corner.
A beauty as exquisite as jade, free of powder and paint!
Suddenly, an untimely voice shattered the poetry-like, picturesque tranquility:
"Ninth Elder, um... cough, it seems you're holding your book upside down."
A female disciple of the Sword Sect blinked her big, innocent eyes, looking with suspicion at the copy of *Please Make Senior Brother Fall in Love with Me* that Shān Wúlán had placed upside down on the table.
Then, sticking out her tongue, she carefully and tentatively added:
"Ninth Elder... just now, it seemed like you were staring at the Fifth Elder the whole time..."
"......"
Shān Wúlán gazed apathetically at the female disciple, and the ringing sound of a sword instantly echoed through the first floor of the Sword Hidden Pavilion.
A terrifying aura instantly permeated the entire hall.
Deep within her eyes, a hint of starlight seemed to burst forth from a sky full of stars.
The next instant, that long sword was already resting against the female disciple's neck:
"You. Forget it."
The female disciple trembled all over, swallowed hard as she looked at the frost-like woman before her, and stammered:
"I... I didn't see anything!"
Shān Wúlán let out a cold snort, withdrew her sword, clasped her hands behind her back, narrowed her eyes, and said darkly:
"What book is this Elder reading?"
"It's... it's the Sword Sect's River of Stars Sword Canon!"
"Did this Elder display anything unusual today?"
"N—no abnormalities. Just reading the whole time."
Shān Wúlán looked the female disciple up and down, then nodded with satisfaction:
"Good, you may leave."
"......"
The female disciple hurriedly nodded, patted her wildly pounding heart, and turned toward the exit of the Sword Hidden Pavilion.
That terrifying pressure was simply going to swallow her whole.
The Ninth Elder was just too terrifying!
What kind of woman was she?
Why must women make things difficult for women?
If you want to be ridden by the Fifth Elder, just say so! Why act like you're destined to grow old in solitude here?
If you act like this, the Fifth Elder will definitely not like you!
Unexpectedly, before she had even walked far, she heard Shān Wúlán's faint voice once again:
"You, what's that little notebook in your hand?"
"Bring it over here for me to see!"
"......"
The female disciple holding the notebook wore an expression of extreme reluctance. She then turned around and slowly handed the small notebook over.
Shān Wúlán frowned as she took the little notebook.
She looked up and down at the contents written inside.
The next moment, her eyes seemed to suddenly light up, and the corners of her lips curved upward into an exceedingly elegant and pleasing arc.
A crystal-clear droplet, trailing a thin, unbroken thread of saliva, slowly flowed down from the corner of her lips.
Realizing this the very next second, she hastily straightened her expression, wiped the corner of her mouth, gathered her words, and rebuked sternly:
"Whose authority gave you the right to investigate the privacy of the sect's elders?"
"This notebook is confiscated by this Elder!"
"There will not be a next time! Do you hear me?"
"......"
The female disciple's mouth twitched slightly.
If the Ninth Elder would just pull back the corner of your mouth and stop dripping drool onto my notebook, I might actually believe you.
Such a righteous and solemn tone!
Who would have ever thought the Ninth Elder had such a side to her in private?
With no other choice, one has to bow one's head when under someone else's roof.
Who told her to be an elder?
......
Shān Wúlán watched the female disciple's figure recede into the distance, then carefully looked around in all directions. Confirming that no one was paying attention to her, she tiptoed over to the spot where Su Bei had just been reading.
Gently sniffing the scent left behind by that person, she let out a sigh of satisfied contentment:
"Mmm~"
Her brows instantly unfurled, and a intoxicating blush crept up her jade-white neck.
After pondering for a moment, she gave a wave of her jade hand and pulled out the book Su Bei had just been reading.
Upon seeing the title of the book, a cloud of red suddenly surged upward, dyeing Shān Wúlán's breathtakingly beautiful face an intense crimson.
At that moment, she only felt her cheeks burning:
"How to Make a Aloof Junior Sister Fall in Love with Me?"
"Senior Brother actually likes books like this!"
"He likes aloof ones? ... Likes junior sisters? ... Likes me! ? ?"
"Mmm... Senior Brother is so bad!!"
"......"
Thump-thump — thump-thump —
Shān Wúlán covered her small face, her heartbeat sounding like a beating drum, her lips stammering and her gaze flustered.
Her delicate hand remained tucked inside her sleeve, stroking the snatched little notebook, her thoughts drifting off to goodness knows where......