Lovers eventually become Brothers

Belonging to someone else's heart?!! Cheng Nan's face turned pale in an instant as he looked at Li Shiyin. Didn't she always like him? How could her heart change after being away for just half a year?

He felt like the sky was falling. He murmured in disbelief: "No, no, absolutely impossible..."

Cheng Lixue's sophistication was deep enough, but seeing Cheng Nan's appearance, he still couldn't control his facial expressions. His old eyes gazed at the impulsive young girl.

But before he could speak, the cultivator beside him with an immortal air stood up first and sternly shouted at Li Shiyin: "Bear all the consequences? Can you bear them?"

"It was just a verbal marriage engagement that hasn't taken effect. What is there that I can't bear?" Facing this cultivator whose cultivation level fluctuated around the Golden Core Stage, Li Shiyin was also fearless and refuted clearly and logically.

"How will you bear the responsibility for ruining my disciple's Dao Heart and Dao Foundation?!" It turned out to be Cheng Nan's Master.

Li Shiyin's face was expressionless. She said, "If his Dao Heart is so easily ruined, something would have gone wrong sooner or later. I suggest..."

She looked at Cheng Nan, "I hope you don't continue cultivating."

Having been recently perplexed by the meaning of cultivation, her words came from the bottom of her heart.

"What an sharp-tongued girl!" Cheng Nan's Master was so angry that he nearly died. Pointing at Li Shiyin, he asked, "Which sect are you from?"

"Dao Sword Sect."

Cheng Nan's Master was taken aback. He had assumed Li Shiyin was a disciple of some minor sect. He didn't expect her to be from a major sect like the Dao Sword Sect.

He continued to ask, "Who is your Master?!"

"The Chief of Dan Feng Peak." Li Shiyin had learned to be smart. She knew that mentioning Qin Ran would mean nothing to them, but the identity of the Dao Sword Sect's chief would be impressive.

Sure enough, upon hearing the two words "Chief", Cheng Nan's Master was stunned for a moment. Then, still clinging to a thread of hope, he asked, "Chief? So are you a miscellaneous disciple or an outer disciple?"

"Personal disciple."

Cheng Nan's Master was completely dumbfounded, and it took him a good while to recover. He knew that he had completely lost face, and in front of his new disciple's parents too. He secretly glanced at the others in the room to gauge their reactions. Although no one made a sound, their expressions were quite colorful.

For a moment, his cheeks burned as resentment welled up in his heart. To think that a tiny Foundation Establishment cultivator could make him lose face like this!

"Personal disciple?" He looked incredulously at his own master. "So what if she's a personal disciple?!"

He secretly circulated the spiritual power in his body and raised his hand against Li Shiyin...

"Ignorant of the height of heaven and depth of earth. You are not suitable to continue cultivating! I will teach you a lesson on behalf of your Master..."

His mystic art took shape and was about to be unleashed...

But at that moment, he suddenly felt a prick on his old chest wound, seemingly out of nowhere. Looking up at Li Shiyin, he saw her eyes had narrowed slightly, with sharp sword qi brewing in them, aimed at his chest.

At that moment, a sense of life-and-death crisis emerged in his heart. He vaguely felt that if he made a move, he would die.

This feeling was so strong!

So the mystic art congealed in his hand without being unleashed.

Sword qi? He quickly realized something else — Li Shiyin possessed sword qi!

Therefore, he carefully and gently withdrew the mystic art that was about to take form, slowly appeasing the surging spiritual power in his body. The terrifying momentum that filled the room disappeared without a sound.

A smile reappeared on his face... In the world of cultivators, what is shameful is to cling on to life; when it's time to kneel, one must kneel promptly and beautifully.

Smiling, he asked Li Shiyin, "May I ask, what is your precise cultivation level?"

He could roughly guess Li Shiyin's cultivation level, but he needed a way to walk away from this without losing more face. If others don't give him a way out, he would make one himself. Such were the sly old eccentrics in the world of cultivators.

"Your Lordship?" Cheng Nan looked at his own master in disbelief. What kind of form of address was that?

"Mid Foundation Establishment Stage." Li Shiyin answered truthfully.

In fact, cultivation stages no longer held any significance to her. Given her master's lecherous personality, even at the Foundation Establishment Stage he could easily defeat Golden Core cultivators. As for Bai Ruoxi and Su Changqing, they were heavyweight experts — Su Changqing could fight the Golden Core Stage Liu Ji, the extreme demon, to a draw just with his Primordial Spirit.

Cultivation levels only served to restrict ordinary cultivators. She was gradually enlightened about this principle.

Standing opposite Cheng Nan's Master now, at such a distance, she was confident that Feixian Wen Dao could allow her to effortlessly pierce through this person's Dantian.

Upon hearing that Li Shiyin really was only at the mid Foundation Establishment Stage, Cheng Nan's Master was at a loss for words for some time.

Should he talk about reaching the mid Foundation Establishment Stage in just half a year? Or awakening sword qi in just half a year of cultivation? Or making him, a Golden Core cultivator, feel he was no match for her, with her mere mid Foundation Establishment cultivation?

After a long silence, he laughed. "A formidable junior indeed." Then he sat down.

Cheng Nan looked at his master, then back at Li Shiyin.

The sharp sword light in her bright eyes, the confidence on her exquisite face — he finally understood Li Shiyin's level. The prided geniuses of the sect, those personal disciples with their noses in the air, were probably like her.

But somehow, he felt it made perfect sense. This was consistent with his memories of Li Shiyin.

Seeing that Cheng Nan's Master had backed down and taken his seat, the sly old fox Cheng Lixue immediately deduced the situation from the drastic change in momentum within the room.

He deeply glanced at Li Shiyin, then quickly smiled.

"Indeed, it was just a verbal agreement between us old folks. Young people don't like it and aren't willing, so we won't force it. Besides, you two grew up together since you were little, so even without a marriage alliance, you will still be great friends. Although not siblings related by blood, still better than siblings by blood. Why don't you address each other as brother and sister from now on."

Cheng Nan naturally ten-thousand-fold did not wish for this, but he was powerless to change anything. He could only keep his head down in silence.

Li Shiyin looked at Chen Nan, then at his master. Her hand brushed past her Universe Pouch as she took out three bottles of pills and brought them over to Chen Nan. "I'm sorry for letting you down like this. These are three bottles of pills — top-grade Concentrating Spirit Pill, top-grade Dragon Elephant Pill, and a mid-grade Dust Lowering Pill. They will serve as a bit of compensation."

The first two types of pills were left with her for personal use by Qin Ran, and were extremely high in quality. The last type of pill was meant for forming her Core — Qin Ran had prepared it for her in case of accidents.

She continued, "I will also make you a promise that if you need help in the future, you can come find me at Dan Feng Peak in Dao Sword Sect."

This was pulling out all the stops in sincerity on her part. People like Cheng Nan's Master who knew better stared straight at the pills in Li Shiyin's hands, desperately signaling Cheng Nan to take them.

But Cheng Nan was still immersed in the worldview shattering pain of heartbreak and of his "wife's" change of heart. He completely ignored Li Shiyin.

In the end, it was his master who accepted the pills from Li Shiyin's hands on Chen Nan's behalf, laughing. "I am Liu Mo, the Executive Elder of Cloud Heaven Sect. My disciple lacks manners. I will accept these pills on his behalf. Let's bring this matter between you two to an end."

Li Shiyin gave him a look, then gazed at Cheng Nan again. After some hesitation, she still said, "The world of cultivation does not suit you. It would be best for you to descend the mountain early, given your temperament."

If not for the marriage engagement, her relationship with Cheng Nan would be that between a gang leader and her little follower, even though Cheng Nan was older than her. Still this did not prevent her from seeing Cheng Nan as a younger brother.

She passed her master's words on to Cheng Nan: "The world of cultivation is dark and dangerous. You must be more careful in the future."

In the end, Cheng Nan did not speak to Li Shiyin again. He left the Li residence with Cheng Lixue and his master.

Li Shiyin sent them all the way out until their group disappeared down the street. She sighed to herself, wondering if she would be able to see Cheng Nan again.

Not everyone was as lucky as her. Most cultivators who entered the world of cultivation had to pay a price. The cultivators who survived were those who did not pay with their lives.

As she thought about this, Li Shiyin's face suddenly flushed red as she came to a realization — it seemed she had not entered this world without paying any price either...