Leng Jin Yu coughed, stepped into the study first and picked up the painting. He took a regretful glance at it, rolled it up and placed it into the shelf where the other paintings were lying. Then he turned to make some tea only to realize that the teapot was still standing next to Jinde’s bed.

Ah, this seemed to be one of those days where everything that could go wrong would go wrong. It could have been so nice to wake up with his lover and snuggle in bed for a while before they got up together. They could have talked and gotten to know each other better. If his Master didn’t have anything to do for him, they even could have spent the rest of the day with each other.

But here he was entertaining his Master and the Grandmaster while Jinde was sleeping alone. Leng Jin Yu sighed and pulled another teapot and two cups out of his spatial ring. Thankfully, he had been gifted this set back when he hadn’t ascended yet or this whole situation might have become even more awkward. Offering tea and then being unable to serve it … If things like this continued to pile up, his Master might reconsider letting him become the Sect Master.

Leng Jin Yu busied himself with making the tea and finally put two steaming cups onto the table. "Please." He motioned to the table and stepped back.

Zhangsun Xun Yi went over and sat down while Yuchi Bing Xia shot Leng Jin Yu another reproachful gaze. He would never be able to serve him enough tea to make him forget about everything that had happened today.

Ah, he had just started to forgive Yu Jin a little and then he actually had to see that kind of painting! Don’t kid him! Even if the face hadn’t been depicted, it was obvious from the way the hair was scattered that this was obviously the beautiful god! Argh, and he had actually believed that Yu Jin was a good disciple, a refined gentleman that would never give in to carnal desires. At least not this easily …

Yuchi Bing Xia grimaced. "I brought you over yesterday."

"Yes, Master." Leng Jin Yu knelt down beside the table like a good disciple and lowered his gaze.

"Hmph. So you still remember. How come I found you together in bed with him today then? Even if the two of you somehow felt drawn to each other, isn’t that too fast?!"

Leng Jin Yu tightened his lips. That was exactly what he thought but, well, he certainly couldn’t blame Jinde for wanting to spend time with him. No, he needed a better excuse.

"Master, it’s not like that. I just brought tea over and wanted to wake him up."

"Like that?"

Leng Jin Yu’s lips twitched but he forced himself to thicken his face. "He … was deeply asleep and didn’t hear when I called from outside. He didn’t even notice when I put down the tea so I … well, I probably didn’t really think it through."

Yuchi Bing Xia stared at his disciple’s face and tried to find out if he was pretending. It didn’t seem like it but he wasn’t too sure. Maybe he thought too well of him?

Leng Jin Yu also noticed that his Master wasn’t completely satisfied with this explanation. Well, it figured. It was only an excuse, after all.

"Then … why did he ask you to come back to bed? And what did he mean when he said you used him?"

"He …" Leng Jin Yu’s gaze flitted to Grandmaster Zhangsun but the man seemed more interested in the painting on his cup than in the content of the conversation. "Well, Master might not know yet but yesterday I got into a … dispute with Grandmaster Zhangsun’s disciple."

This time the Grandmaster actually looked up. His disciple had gotten into a fight? Why didn’t he know about this? Had that been before he ran to him to let his ex-fiance become an inner sect disciple or afterward?

Yuchi Bing Xia wasn’t surprised though. He had already long known about that. That was the reason why he knew that his disciple was the reason for the break-up of those two. He was curious just how his disciple thought of using this to make his lousy excuse of waking up the beautiful god work.

Leng Jin Yu didn’t need him to ask anything else. He motioned at his shoulder. "Senior martial brother Qiu accidentally injured my shoulder. Since it’s a spot that isn’t that easily taken care of by oneself Jinde offered his help."

Yuchi Bing Xia tightened his lips. Ah, just hearing his disciple refer to that person so informally made him furious. "Don’t you think you’re being disrespectful? You should at least call him Elder."

"Elder?" Leng Jin Yu blankly stared at his Master. He tried very hard to imagine how he called Jinde 'Elder' but … He could only shudder. This was so wrong! Jinde was a lot but there was no way he could bring himself to call him Elder. He just didn’t look the part.

Sure, most cultivators stopped aging early on if their aptitude was high so there were quite a few young-looking cultivators that should be addressed as such. But even if you took someone like Grandmaster Zhangsun as an example it wasn’t as ridiculous as it was with Jinde.

Jinde was … Well, looking at his face very closely he might indeed be somewhere between thirty or thirty-five but the truth was that nobody would ever think he was that old when they didn’t search for clues of his age. His skin was soft and elastic just like that of a young person. The usual paleness served more as a sign of nobility than anything else and if Jinde had any wrinkles, then they were so small and so well-placed that he had never noticed them. Maybe they even added to his charm.

Leng Jin Yu felt a little guilty thinking like that but if the Yun Zou Sect had even a single Elder like Jinde, then they wouldn’t need to worry about their rank anymore. Countless young geniuses would travel to their gates and beg them to be taken in. They might even offer presents to maximize their chances. Jinde just had that kind of appeal.