Cangshu Linfeng cleared his throat uncomfortably. He vaguely felt that Cangshu Bai was truly an annoying person, but his daughter was rather cute. He cast another glance at the innocent little girl.
"Since that is the case, what is the meaning of adding 'Eldest' before my title?"
Cangshu Jiao revealed a sweet smile. "Because you are older than my dad, I call you Eldest Great-Uncle. This way, I've taken into account both my mother's side of the family hierarchy and my father's side!"
Cangshu Linfeng hugged his sword and kept a straight face as he said, "Who needs you to curry favor like this? Family hierarchies aren't just assigned at random."
Cangshu Jiao blinked her big, watery eyes. "Eldest Great-Uncle, this month is my birthday. Great-Aunt even gave me a birthday present. It's a very beautiful jade pendant. Great-Aunt likes me a lot. No matter what I say, Great-Aunt always agrees!"
Cangshu Bai, on the other hand, remained silent, allowing Cangshu Jiao to perform freely.
Cangshu Linfeng couldn't quite maintain his stern expression anymore. He simply took off the sword tassel from his sword. "I left in a hurry and didn't have time to prepare a gift, so I'll just give you this."
Cangshu Bai was rather surprised and slightly twitched his brows.
Cangshu Jiao accepted the red sword tassel with a radiant smile. "Thank you, Eldest Great-Uncle!"
Cangshu Linfeng was now a well-deserved Sword Immortal. The sword tassel on his saber had been steeped in his sword intent all year round, so it was naturally extraordinary.
Although it looked like an ordinary ornament, it could actually ward off evil, block disasters, and stabilize the mind. Even the elders of the top sects in the cultivation world would desperately desire it.
Cangshu Jiao held the sword tassel in her hands and said, "Eldest Great-Uncle, you are such a good person. When I see Great-Aunt, I will definitely tell her that you are beautiful on the outside and kind on the inside!"
She had learned the phrase "beautiful on the outside and kind on the inside" from her mother.
Cangshu Linfeng cleared his throat unnaturally. "I don't need a little girl like you to talk too much. Hey, Cangshu Bai, the maze array here is intricate and complex, how do we..."
Before he could finish his sentence, he saw that Cangshu Bai had already disappeared with Cangshu Jiao in his arms.
Cangshu Linfeng gnashed his teeth. "Bastard."
As they neared the top of the mountain, they saw a fiery red figure slash through the attacking vines. The entire path was covered in traces of battle.
This was Cangshu Qihua's style of doing things. Since he couldn't find a way out of the maze array for a long time, he might as well force his way through.
Just as he cleared the obstacles in front of him, he suddenly heard a crisp voice.
"Little Great-Uncle!"
Cangshu Qihua sheathed his sword and turned around, only to see a little girl in a moon-white dress running happily toward him.
A man in green clothes with white hair followed unhurriedly behind her. Compared to Cangshu Qihua's current sorry state, he looked more like he was taking a leisurely stroll to admire the scenery.
The ornaments on Cangshu Jiao jingled constantly. She looked up with her smiling, baby-fat face, looking sweet and adorable. "Little Great-Uncle, did you also come up the mountain because you were worried about my Great-Aunt breaking through her cultivation realm?"
Cangshu Qihua sneered. "What nonsense are you spouting, little girl? I just had nothing better to do, so I came to climb mountains and look at the scenery."
"Oh," Cangshu Jiao said. "I thought Little Great-Uncle was worried about Great-Aunt, so I was thinking of letting my dad go with you. Since that's not the case, forget it."
Cangshu Qihua felt as if a fishbone was stuck in his throat.
Cangshu Jiao giggled again. "Little Great-Uncle, this month is my birthday. Great-Aunt gave me a very beautiful jade pendant as a birthday present. Great-Aunt likes me best. Every year, she gives me lots of delicious food and fun toys. Last time I said the hibiscus flowers were pretty, Great-Aunt specifically replaced the roses planted in the courtyard with hibiscus."
The tips of Cangshu Qihua's ears twitched imperceptibly. His face remained cold and aloof, as if he didn't take her words to heart at all, but the fingers gripping the hilt of his sword quietly loosened.
He gave a soft snort, and his hand casually tossed something over. His movements were so crisp it seemed as if he were throwing away something insignificant.
"Take it." He turned his head away, avoiding her sparkling eyes, and spoke in a stiff voice. "Since we happened to meet, I'll give this to you as a birthday present. It wasn't specially prepared for you."
How could this be an ordinary object?
It was a jade slip that he had nourished with his own sword intent for a hundred years in his early days. It would chime when encountering danger and block when encountering evil. It could even forcefully withstand the full-powered strike of a Nascent Soul cultivator.
Cangshu Jiao held the jade slip and said happily, "Thank you, Little Great-Uncle!"
Cangshu Qihua felt something was wrong. "Great-Uncle is Great-Uncle, what's the meaning of adding a 'Little' in front of it?"
Cangshu Jiao blinked innocently. "Because you are younger than my dad, and the Great-Uncle title belongs to my mother's side of the family hierarchy, so I can only call you Little Great-Uncle."
Han Yu popped out at some unknown time, hovering in mid-air, watching in amazement. It then turned back to look at its master.
Cangshu Bai was leaning against a tree with his arms crossed, a faint smile appearing in his dark eyes.
These two truly lived up to being father and daughter.
Cangshu Qihua stared at Cangshu Jiao's pure and innocent face, thinking to himself, what bad intentions could a child possibly have?
He cleared his throat and said, "I don't need to travel with you to get up the mountain, but since you want to travel with me..."
"Goodbye, Little Great-Uncle!"
Holding Cangshu Jiao in one arm, Cangshu Bai disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Cangshu Qihua: "...Dammit!"
In the courtyard filled with the fragrance of flowers, the wind curled up the petals and let them drift gently onto Mu Shuqing's shoulders.
She merely sat on the stone chair sipping tea, not even twitching an eyebrow.
The flourishing and withering of the surrounding vegetation, the partings and reunions of the mortal world—to her, they were all nothing but fleeting clouds. It was as if even the passage of time could not stir the slightest bit of emotion within her.
The clamor of all things had nothing to do with her.
Mu Ran sat opposite her. Every time she saw Mu Shuqing, she couldn't help but sigh in admiration; this was truly a good seedling for cultivating the Dao of Ruthlessness.
"Auntie, how have you been feeling these past few days?"
Mu Shuqing said, "Not bad. Breaking through my realm ahead of time was simpler than I imagined."
The more profound a cultivator's cultivation base was, the more perilous it was when breaking through a realm. The slightest carelessness could easily breed inner demons and cause one to fall into the demonic path. However, for Mu Shuqing, there was no need to worry about these things.
She had no distracting thoughts and focused solely on cultivating the Dao. The love, hate, anger, and obsession of the world could not enter the lake of her heart in the slightest.
They originally thought her breakthrough would take a bit longer, but unexpectedly, it happened a few days early. Fortunately, she was safe and sound.
Mu Shuqing added, "You should head back too."
Just as Mu Ran was about to reply, she sensed something and looked not far away.
"Mother!"
The little girl skipped over with open arms and threw herself into Mu Ran's embrace.
Mu Ran was truly surprised. She rubbed the top of her daughter's head, then looked up at the young man walking slowly toward them, a look of helplessness appearing in her eyes.
Cangshu Bai coughed lightly.
Cangshu Jiao immediately looked up and said, "Mother, I missed you so much! Dad couldn't handle my pestering anymore, so he had no choice but to bring me to find you."
Mu Ran asked, "Really?"
Cangshu Jiao nodded. "Really! I'm a good child, I never lie!"
Cangshu Bai also reached out and patted his daughter's head. "Ranran, Jiaojiao is still young. Don't blame her."
Mu Shuqing looked at the young couple and reached out her hand to Cangshu Jiao. "There is some delicious food in the kitchen, Jiaojiao. Let me take you there."
Cangshu Jiao held Mu Shuqing's hand, then turned back and gave herself away entirely by saying, "Mother, it really was me who missed you. My father absolutely did not miss you, so please do not be mad at him!"
Mu Ran gave a dry chuckle.
Cangshu Bai tensed up and secretly shot a glance at his daughter.
She would have been better off not adding that last part.
Snickering, Cangshu Jiao happily followed Mu Shuqing into the house. Han Yu, acting as her natural little shadow, swam inside right after her.
There was no one else left in the area.
Mu Ran's lips curled into a smile as she asked meaningfully, "Was it really Jiaojiao who missed me?"
Cangshu Bai relaxed his body and leaned down. Cupping her cheek with one hand, he pressed a gentle kiss to the corner of her lips. His white hair cascaded down, brushing against the side of her neck and tickling her slightly.
His dark eyes were brimming with tender warmth as he gazed at her with deep affection, his voice turning husky.
"It was me. I missed you so much."
