Chapter 225: Hidden

Yun Shu tapped her chin thoughtfully, then crouched down beside the boy, shielding him from Bai Yunxian’s oppressive aura. “Come now, Palace Lord, don’t glare like that. You’ll give them wrinkles before their time.”

The boy peeked up at her, clutching her sleeve like she was a lifeline. Yun Shu patted his head, her lips curving into a gentle smile that made the older disciples exchange looks of gratitude.

Bai Yunxian’s sword aura dimmed, though his eyes darkened further.

As they continued together, the forest echoed with strange cries. The Azure Sect disciples stayed close to Yun Shu, constantly seeking her advice.

“Senior Sister Yun, is this herb poisonous or medicinal?”

“Senior Sister Yun, what formation should we use if a beast herd comes?”

“Senior Sister Yun—”

Yun Shu answered patiently, sometimes teasing them with deliberately silly explanations before correcting herself. The children laughed freely, their fear of the forest lessening in her presence.

Meanwhile, Bai Yunxian’s footsteps grew quieter, heavier, like a shadow following too closely. His gaze cut toward the disciples every so often, especially when Yun Shu laughed too brightly at their jokes.

The system tsked.

[Ding~ Jealousy detected. Host, your Palace Lord is brewing vinegar by the jar. At this rate, you’ll drown in it.]

It reached a breaking point when a low-ranked beast, a Steelback Boar, charged from the underbrush. The Azure Sect disciples shouted and leapt into formation, forming a rough triangular defense. Yun Shu stepped forward, intending to intervene, but Bai Yunxian moved faster.

His sword gleamed, and in a single stroke, the boar’s head fell, blood spraying the undergrowth.

Silence followed.

The Azure Sect disciples froze mid-movement, staring in awe. Bai Yunxian flicked his blade clean with a sharp snap, his eyes cold.

“You rely too much on others,” he said flatly, his voice like frost. “In a real battle, hesitation kills.”

The disciples flushed, bowing their heads.

Yun Shu arched a brow. “Palace Lord, they were handling it well enough. You didn’t have to snatch the kill from them.”

His gaze slid toward her, the faintest hint of mockery in his eyes. “I thought you liked them safe. Or is it that you prefer being surrounded by admirers, Lady Li?”

Yun Shu’s smile faltered for half a second. Then she burst into laughter, clutching her stomach as if his words were the funniest thing she’d ever heard.

“Palace Lord, jealous of children? How rare! If I had known, I would have introduced you to my little brother first, you’d glare at him until his hair turned white!”

The Azure Sect disciples blinked at each other, not understanding the undercurrent, but sensing the tension. The youngest boy whispered, “Senior Sister Li… is he angry because we’re bothering you?”

Yun Shu crouched to his level, flicking his forehead lightly. “Don’t worry. The Palace Lord just has a very serious face. He was born that way. Right, Palace Lord?”

Bai Yunxian’s lips pressed into a thin line. The fox on his shoulder squeaked softly, as though trying to hold back laughter of its own.

That night, as the group rested, the Azure Sect disciples clustered around Yun Shu like ducklings. She told them stories in a low voice, making them laugh until they nearly forgot the dangers of the forest.

Bai Yunxian sat apart, his eyes closed, but every so often they flicked open, dark and watchful.

’The more I see… the less she resembles an ordinary cultivator,’ he thought. ’And yet she weaves them around her finger so easily.’

The firelight danced across Yun Shu’s profile as she leaned forward, her smile playful, her eyes mysterious.

Just what are you hiding?

*

*

*

The sun filtered through the dense canopy of the Myriad Beast Forest, casting long, dappled shadows that danced across the forest floor.

It was the fifth day of their journey, and the atmosphere between the group was a strange cocktail of tension, admiration, and underlying mischief.

Yun Shu, currently disguised under the identity of “Senior Sister Li,” strolled through the underbrush with a grace that belied her supposedly “weak” cultivation.

In her wake followed the Azure Sect disciples, whom she had effectively adopted as her personal brood of ducklings. Behind them all, like a silent, glacial deity, walked Bai Yunxian.

The “Female Lead” of this world, who was, in reality, a man with enough peerless beauty and lethal power to overturn empires, remained a mystery that Yun Shu was still trying to solve, even as she flirted with the boundaries of his patience.

[Ding~ Host, the male lead’s annoyance level is at 65%. However, his curiosity level is at 89%. You are effectively a walking enigma wrapped in a riddle and smothered in pastry crumbs.]

’Oh, shut up,’ Yun Shu retorted mentally, popping a spirit fruit into her mouth. ’He’s just moody because I won’t let him kill everything in sight. The kids need the practice.’

She glanced back at the Azure Sect disciples. Under her “casual” tutelage over the last few days, their footwork had improved, and their coordination was no longer a mess of panicked flailing.

She had been secretly nudging their Qi flows and pointing out the weak spots of beasts with the kind of “accidental” insight that only a hidden expert, or a transmigrator with a system, could possess.

Furthermore, she wasn’t truly worried about their safety.

Hidden in the deep shadows of the ancient trees, her own secret guards, the shadows she had commanded since crossing into this world, followed silently.

They were like ghosts, unseen by the disciples and even masked from Bai Yunxian’s sharp senses by Yun Shu’s own high-level concealment arrays.

“Senior Sister Li,” the youngest disciple, little A-Zheng, whispered, “do you think we’ll find a Tier 4 Spirit Grass today? My Master needs it for his breakthrough.”

Yun Shu ruffled his hair, her eyes curving into crescents. “With your luck? Maybe. But remember, the forest doesn’t just give gifts. It demands a price in blood and sweat. Mostly yours, if you don’t keep your guard up.”

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