The New Taoist Robe

Immediately, Xuan Ya looked down at Lu Qiancha, who was gradually settling down in her arms. Her tone softened inadvertently.

“While in the Northern Region, did you neglect your cultivation?”

“Mmh…”

Lu Qiancha tilted her small head, subconsciously putting her index finger in her mouth to think.

A moment later, her eyes lit up. She raised a small hand and answered earnestly: “I cultivated properly, oh!”

“Mn.”

Xuan Ya’s expression cleared slightly, indicating approval.

Immediately after, she gently tapped away the finger Lu Qiancha had in her mouth, her tone carrying an unquestionable instructional note.

“In the future, you are not allowed to gnaw on your fingers again. If Master sees it again…”

She paused, her gaze condensing slightly. “I will definitely not spare you lightly. Remembered?”

“Oh…” Lu Qiancha nodded her small head, seemingly understanding yet not, her big eyes blinking; it was unknown just how much she had actually taken in.

Seeing Lu Qiancha agree, Xuan Ya did not delve deeper into the matter.

Her gaze fell upon the equally quiet, grey-white furred little wolf, Ling Wanbai, beside Xun Xue.

Her brows furrowed imperceptibly, and she muttered to herself in a low voice, “Why brought another one back?”

She felt that Tianquan Peak was fast becoming a Wolf Clan shelter. One comes today, another tomorrow; in a few more years, Tianquan Peak would have to be renamed Sirius Peak.

Subsequently, Xuan Ya raised a hand to point distantly at Ling Wanbai, lowering her head to ask Lu Qiancha in her arms: “Who is this little fellow?”

Lu Qiancha followed her master’s finger and answered without hesitation: “It’s Mother!”

Lu Qiancha thought Xuan Ya was referring to Xun Xue.

Xuan Ya: “…”

She fell silent for a while, her heart full of speechlessness. Then she patiently corrected: “Master is asking about that small one.”

As she spoke, Xuan Ya’s finger continued to point at Ling Wanbai beside Xun Xue.

“Oh…” Lu Qiancha suddenly realized.

Immediately, her small mouth twitched, spitting out an evaluation: “It’s the Small Fry Shrine Official.”

“…Not allowed to curse at people.”

Xuan Ya extended two fingers and pinched Lu Qiancha’s tender pink mouth, neither lightly nor heavily, as a punishment.

Then she asked seriously, “Speak properly. What is her name, and what is her identity?”

“Mmh…” Lu Qiancha’s voice was a bit muffled from having her mouth pinched, but she answered fairly obediently. “She is called Ling Wanbai… a Shrine Official of the Northern Region Wolf Clan.”

“Shrine Official…”

Xuan Ya repeated in a low voice, pausing thoughtfully for a moment, but ultimately just shook her head lightly.

Forget it, just one more mouth to feed. In any case, my eldest disciple brought her back; all who come are guests.

Subsequently, Xun Xue took the newly arrived little Shrine Official, Ling Wanbai, to her room to settle in first.

Xuan Ya, holding Lu Qiancha, stood in the courtyard, supervising Gan Tang as she completed the remaining two thousand sword moves.

“Huu—Haa—”

Gan Tang, finally finishing her practice, had fine sweat on her forehead, gasping for breath as she regulated her Qi.

Her gaze turned, landing on that soft, cute, and obedient little wolf cub in Xuan Ya’s arms, and her eyes instantly lit up.

“Master!”

She spoke with joyful anticipation. “Senior Brother is back! Can you let me hug her? I haven’t seen Senior Brother for several months; I missed her so much!”

Before Xuan Ya could speak—

“Hmph!”

Lu Qiancha revealed a small face full of disdain. She unceremoniously lifted her small foot—Smack—and kicked the hem of Gan Tang’s robe at the knee, leaving a small grey footprint.

Immediately after, she turned her head, burying her entire small head into Xuan Ya’s embrace, her muffled voice drifting out: “Won’t let you hug!”

Gan Tang: “?”

She looked at Lu Qiancha blankly, completely unable to make heads or tails of it, only feeling that the Little Senior Brother at this moment seemed full of inexplicable hostility toward her.

“Senior Brother…” Gan Tang took a careful step closer, carrying a bit of grievance, and asked softly, “Did… did I provoke you and make you unhappy somewhere?”

“No.” Lu Qiancha answered crisply and neatly, not even lifting her head.

“Eh? Then… then why won’t you let me hug?”

Gan Tang didn’t give up, staring at Lu Qiancha with big, watery eyes, attempting to soften the other party with a pitiful gaze.

The result—

Lu Qiancha slid down abruptly from Xuan Ya’s arms. After landing, she said not a second word, accurately stomping—Pajji—another symmetrical small shoe print on Gan Tang’s other clean shoe.

Then she whooshed back behind Xuan Ya, only poking out half a small head and one blue eye, glaring at Gan Tang full of vigilance, as if the other party were some scourge or wild beast.

“???”

The expression on Gan Tang’s face froze completely. Now she was one hundred percent sure Senior Brother was unhappy.

But she racked her brains and couldn’t figure out what she had done wrong. A huge wave of grievance and confusion welled up in her heart.

Finally, Gan Tang could only silently pat the hem of her robe and the two glaring small footprints on her shoes.

She bowed to Xuan Ya, and with a body full of dusty loneliness and an incomparably gloomy back, she left the small courtyard dejectedly.

Xuan Ya, watching this scene, also felt extremely puzzled.

She remembered that although her two disciples used to have petty squabbles, they generally got along well. Why now…

She pondered for a moment, but could only attribute it to her quirky little disciple having somehow ruffled the fur of this eldest disciple behind her, whose mind was becoming increasingly childish.

Thus, Xuan Ya glanced thoughtfully in the direction Gan Tang had disappeared, lowered her hand, and gently patted the little wolf cub hiding behind her leg, her tone carrying a sense of protectiveness.

“Qiancha, if Gan Tang bullied you, remember to tell Master. Master will teach her a lesson for you.”

“Okay, oh~”

Lu Qiancha responded in a daze. Actually, she was a little confused inside. I am the Eldest Senior Brother, very formidable; how could I be bullied by Junior Sister? Master really worries too much.

“Right,” Xuan Ya remembered the main business. She took Lu Qiancha’s small hand and walked toward the North Wing where she lived. “The Daoist robe I commissioned for you some days ago has been delivered. Come with Master to fetch it.”

“Thank you, Master!”

Hearing the robe was ready, Lu Qiancha immediately perked up. She nodded happily and thanked her immediately, then skipped and hopped as she followed Xuan Ya into the room.

Xuan Ya’s room was just like her person, extremely simple and cool.

Aside from the basic furniture uniformly allocated by Tiangong Peak initially, there was only an extra set of simple and elegant tea ware and a prayer mat for meditation; there were no other superfluous decorations.

However, this room, simple to the point of near emptiness, seemed full of novelty in the eyes of the little wolf cub whose curiosity was exploding at this moment.

Lu Qiancha opened those bright blue eyes wide. Like a tourist entering a scenic spot, she touched the table corner here and knocked on the cabinet there, her eyes full of the interest of exploration.

“Qiancha,” Xuan Ya guided her to a chair, her voice gentle but carrying an unquestionable command. “Sit here properly, do not move about. Master will go to the back to fetch your things; I will return very quickly.”

“Okay, oh!”

Lu Qiancha responded obediently. Bracing herself with her small hands, she sat agilely onto the chair.

Her two calves, clad in white silk stockings, dangled in mid-air, swinging back and forth leisurely one by one. Her small shoe tips drew carefree arcs in the air as she awaited her master’s return.