Chapter 152: Women

Initially, Little Dragon was coiled up inside Xiao Cheng's clothes taking a lazy nap. Feeling Shu Fu's hand reaching over, it immediately sensed the movement, stretched out its head, and took a bite at Shu Fu's hand.

Normally, Little Dragon was only half a meter long and two to three centimeters in diameter, but when it bit Shu Fu's hand, its head suddenly expanded several times, ballooning outward until it completely swallowed Shu Fu's hand in its mouth.

Shu Fu stared blankly at the small snake crawling out from inside Xiao Cheng's clothes, his forehead covered in cold sweat, utterly unable to comprehend how such a harmless little snake could "swallow" his hand in a single bite.

Little Dragon gave Xiao Cheng and Shu Fu a puzzled look, roughly gathering that the two were on good terms. A look of utter disgust, as if it had just swallowed a fly, crossed its face, and it opened its little mouth and began to retch violently.

"Damn it, where did you dig up this little thing? Good thing my nerves are tough enough, or I'd have been scared into a cerebral hemorrhage." Shu Fu looked at his hand, finding no wounds, and slowly recovered from the shock.

"Still, this little creature seems rather unusual, like it stepped right out of a cartoon!" Shu Fu scrutinized the little snake closely.

"Never mind that for now, let me treat your injury first!" Xiao Cheng did not satisfy Shu Fu's curiosity.

"Since when do you know how to heal injuries? Stop messing with me!" Shu Fu raised an eyebrow, disbelief written all over his face.

He had grown up with Xiao Cheng and knew that while Xiao Cheng was decent at fighting, he was a total layman when it came to healing. If anyone claimed Xiao Cheng could heal people, he would be the last to believe it.

"Why do you have so much nonsense to say!" Xiao Cheng was genuinely losing patience with Shu Fu's endless blthering. Without further ado, he kicked Shu Fu flat onto his back and channeled his True Qi into him to treat his injuries.

Though Shu Fu's injuries looked severe, they were actually just superficial flesh wounds. Chu Feiyu's fifth-tier condensed strength had evidently been reined in, showing some restraint toward Shu Fu.

In about ten minutes, the bruises on Shu Fu's body faded away almost entirely, leaving only faint marks, and the swelling on his face subsided significantly.

Shu Fu stood up and stretched his body, finding that not only was there no longer any pain, but he felt an ethereal sense of lightness. He touched his face, and the swelling had completely vanished.

"Damn, one truly must look at each other with new eyes after three days apart!"

Shu Fu's gaze toward Xiao Cheng completely changed at that moment, filled with astonishment and admiration. To be able to fully heal his injuries in ten minutes—what kind of ability was that?

If Xiao Cheng were to open a small clinic, the local hospitals could probably just shut down directly. Of course, that was just a fleeting thought; how could the young master of the Xiao family ever open a clinic?

He had been with Xiao Cheng since childhood and knew him inside out. He had no idea when Xiao Cheng had acquired such a skill, completely catching him unawares.

"Brother Cheng, teach me a move or two..."

"Are you willing to practice the Celibacy Technique?"

"Well, let's skip that one; I'll consider it when I turn forty! We'd better figure out how to deal with Chu Feiyu's situation instead."

"I'll go talk some sense into her!"

"Talk sense? Are you sure?"

…………

After sending away the long-winded and boisterous Shu Fu, Xiao Cheng felt a sudden sense of loss.

In the past, when he used to mess around with Shu Fu, it hadn't felt like much. But now, having been reborn and possessing a matured mindset, he found Shu Fu far too fickle and naive. They no longer shared that old kindred spirit, and a gap had formed between them.

He knew this wasn't Shu Fu's fault, but rather the result of his own weathered experiences and mature mentality, having shed the frivolous flamboyance of youth, which naturally created a sense of alienation.

Time was like a blade, always carving bizarre and distorted shapes out of the mortal world.

Xiao Cheng smiled, shook his head, and brushed aside these unrealistic sentiments. Shu Fu had his own future, so he would let him be; he would just look after him a bit more from now on.

Returning to the living room, Fang Yujia, Zhu Qinglian, and Liu Yiyi had already grown quite familiar with one another. They were deep in lively conversation with intimate expressions, and anyone unaware would have thought they were lifelong confidantes.

Fang Yujia's pure beauty, Zhu Qinglian's seductive charm, and Liu Yiyi's cuteness combined on the sofa to form a vibrant, youth-filled, and picturesque scene.

Looking at the three beautiful women, even with his steadfast Dao heart, Xiao Cheng could not help but freeze for a moment.

The speed at which the three had grown close exceeded his expectations, setting his mind slightly at ease. After all, Liu Yiyi had suddenly barged into his life and shared a very intimate relationship with him, making the attitudes of the other two women hard to predict.

Women were different from men; friendship among men relied primarily on rationality, while among women it was entirely emotional, based purely on preference and intuition. If they felt someone was nice, they would pinch, touch, and laugh together, quickly forming a tight-knit circle in no time.

Liu Yiyi was cute and innocent, which instantly won the deep affection of the two women who shared a somewhat similar plight.

The moment Xiao Cheng stepped into the living room, he felt two interrogative gazes lock onto him. Both Fang Yujia and Zhu Qinglian stared at him coldly, their underlying message unspoken yet crystal clear: *What on earth did you do to Yiyi?*

Biting the bullet, Xiao Cheng sat down on the adjacent sofa. This was something he would have to explain sooner or later, and there was no retreating.

"Here is what happened..."

Sitting down without any hesitation, Xiao Cheng briefly recounted the events of the past few days on Mount Shenfeng.

He explained that he had gone to Mount Huang to search for spiritual herbs and ended up on Mount Shenfeng, where he met Liu Yiyi. The next day, he was pursued by a demonic python. Afterward, Liu Yiyi fell into the lake while bringing him food and was nearly devoured by the python. He went into the water to save her, but was struck by the python's lethal poison, and it was Liu Yiyi who saved him using the Dual Cultivation Technique.

Most of the narrative Xiao Cheng provided was framed from Liu Yiyi's perspective. He wasn't deliberately trying to hide anything; his sister-in-law and Zhu Qinglian were the two people who cared about him the most, and there was no need for concealment.

He mentioned going to Mount Huang to look for spiritual herbs instead of directly saying he was searching for the Heavenly Origin Fruit because if he mentioned the latter, they would undoubtedly ask how he knew its exact location, something he found inconvenient to explain.

Besides, the Heavenly Origin Fruit would eventually be given to Sister-in-law Yu'er and Zhu Qinglian anyway, so there was nothing to mask.

That Liu Yiyi saved him using the Dual Cultivation Technique was also the truth. After consuming the Heavenly Origin Fruit at the time, his body had been thrown into complete chaos, and without Liu Yiyi, there was no telling how things would have turned out.

However, he didn't mention that the chaos was caused by consuming the Heavenly Origin Fruit, claiming instead that he was poisoned. The main reason for this fabrication was that even he didn't understand why his body had fallen into such turmoil after eating the fruit.

While the conflict between True Qi and Heavenly Origin Qi could be explained, where had that sudden, vast, fierce, and utterly pure Yang energy come from? He had never sensed the existence of that pure Yang energy before, and even now, he hadn't figured it out, making it even harder to explain.

As for his thrilling battle with the demonic python, Xiao Cheng glossed over it with just a few understatement-filled sentences. After all, that was all in the past; he didn't want his sister-in-law and Zhu Qinglian to worry about things that had already happened.

Yet, even though he brushed past it lightly, Liu Yiyi widened her bright, watery eyes and eagerly gestured alongside him, vividly describing to Fang Yujia and Zhu Qinglian just how massive, thick, and ferocious the demonic python had been.

Listening to the tale, Fang Yujia and Zhu Qinglian felt their hearts pound with terror. If Xiao Cheng hadn't told them personally, backed up by Liu Yiyi's confirmation, they probably would have thought it was just a fairy tale—how could such a colossal demonic python possibly exist?

When they finished listening, Fang Yujia and Zhu Qinglian both carefully looked Xiao Cheng over to check if he was missing any limbs, while simultaneously casting grateful glances toward Liu Yiyi.

Feeling somewhat embarrassed under their scrutiny, Liu Yiyi lowered her head, pulling her chest in, too shy to meet anyone's eyes as her face turned beet red.

Originally, the two women had already harbored certain guesses about the relationship between Xiao Cheng and Liu Yiyi. Now, learning that it had all originated from dual cultivation for healing, their lingering grievances vanished completely. They even felt a sense of admiration for Xiao Cheng's sense of responsibility in bringing Liu Yiyi back—it was undoubtedly a very manly thing to do.

Zhu Qinglian had initially held some resistance. Perhaps in the past she wouldn't have cared, but things were different lately; she had come to view Xiao Cheng as her emotional anchor, so how could she easily accept another woman sharing her man?

Yet, once she knew the truth, those thoughts dissolved.

Throughout this period, Xiao Cheng had been the one solving her problems and even saved her life. Compared to the meager favors she had shown Xiao Cheng from the past until now, Liu Yiyi had genuinely saved Xiao Cheng's life. If it came to competing for him, she likely lacked the qualification to contend with Liu Yiyi.

She was not a jealous woman and had long been mentally prepared that Xiao Cheng wouldn't have only her. Moreover, Liu Yiyi was so adorable, so she readily accepted her as a "younger sister."

Fang Yujia didn't have as many complex thoughts as Zhu Qinglian. While she initially felt it was improper for Xiao Cheng to entangle such a young girl, learning the true circumstances made her let go of her reservations.

After all, she was Xiao Cheng's sister-in-law, and a brother-in-law was at an age where he would naturally sow his wild oats; what was wrong with him taking a liking to a girl?

Of course, rationally speaking, she believed this deep down, yet a sudden emptiness gripped her heart. Her brother-in-law would sooner or later settle down, build a family, and have a household of his own. When that day came, what would she, as his sister-in-law, amount to?

"And then? Did you kill that giant python?" Zhu Qinglian asked out of curiosity.