The Romantic Cultivator

For the very first time, Shui Xisi appeared to be lost as she stared at the mirror. She had always thought that she was one of the most peerless maidens in the Celestial Realm as she had inherited the great peerless beauty of the Great Goddess Celestial Alice.

But when she saw that Ji Yuan had turned his back on her, her confidence in herself had completely shattered. She just did not understand why he would give her the cold shoulders.

Aren't all men lecherous?

Or is it because she is really unworthy of his attention?

Is her Sister Feifei really way better than her?

Her eyes were bleary and she had not cried for centuries. Even when her Sister Feifei had beaten her up, she had not cried.

She had always thought that she was beyond any emotional distress.

Her fingers were trembling as she touched her face, "I am not beautiful enough? He is definitely not a monk or a priest. Why didn't he want me to serve him? Is it because I didn't have any make-up on?"

Her original plan was simple enough; she would find Ji Yuan and try to seduce him with her feminine charms. Then once she had conquered his heart, she would start to take possession of him and she would start to beat him up in her whims.

But before she could even execute her plan, Ji Yuan had walked away from her.

When she had thought that she could no longer scratch his face and kicked him to observe his funny reactions, there was a heartbreaking reaction in her inner soul.

She was now muttering with a lost look, "Why did he not hesitate at all when he turned away…"

"Maybe he is too shy?..."

All of a sudden there was a call from beyond the closed doors of her inner sanctuary, "Venerable Palace Mistress, there is something important to report to you by Palace Mistress Qingqing. The Empyrean Warrior Labyrinth is now descending and she wants to discuss this with you."

There was a flash of light in Shui Xisi's eyes and she was suddenly smiling. "Good! I have something important to discuss with everyone as well. Assemble all the elders to the waiting hall first."

"All the elders?" the female messenger behind the closed door asked curiously. The reason why she had asked again was because there were several groups of elders. The elders that usually needed to be presented were the elders that were serving Palace Mistress Qingqing now. They were the newly appointed elders and the younger generation.

"Yes, all. Go!" Shui Xisi commanded her.

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Palace Mistress Shui Qingqing and dozens of elders had now arrived at the waiting hall. Because their Venerable Palace Mistress had called for all the elders, it took them some time to gather and everyone was now busy greeting one another.

"I understand that the Empyrean Warrior Labyrinth is now descending but it will be months before it will fully descend…"

"Did Venerable Palace Mistress states the reasons why she has called for us all to gather?"

"Palace Mistress Qingqing, do you know?"

Palace Mistress Shui Qingqing shook her head, "I don't know." Then with a soft giggle. "Maybe Venerable Palace Mistress wants to remove me from the leadership position."

"Don't say something like this…"

"Surely not! Venerable Palace Mistress dotes on you…"

"She didn't even punish you when you sneak out…"

Shui Qingqing was actually too glad to be removed from the leadership position so that she could sneak away to the Spirit Blue Moon Sect to correct Ji Yuan and to set him upon the righteous path. If she could do that then this would be better than any power and position.

Naturally, it was also because Ji Yuan was the hero of her heart and that was why. Or else she would not have bothered with him.

She was already thinking of looking of Ji Yuan once more. But somehow she had found herself thinking of Li Yuan more. As a matter of fact, she could not resist praising Li Yuan in front of her Venerable Palace Mistress.

"But Li Yuan is only a beardless cultivator while Ji Yuan is a beautiful beard cultivator…"

Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the announcement of the arrival of the Venerable Palace Mistress Shui Xisi.

Shui Xisi was accompanied by her four protectors as she assumed the throne seat of the waiting hall with Shui Qingqing occupying a lower throne seat next to her.

"Venerable Palace Mistress." Shui Qingqing smiled as she greeted her.

Shui Xisi smiled, "My good Qingqing. You must be curious why I have summoned all the elders?"

Shui Qingqing nodded with a smile, "I am not the only ones. The elders are too."

Shui Xisi has always like Shui Qingqing because she has never hidden any of her thoughts from her.

She laughed softly as she looked at the dozens of elders that were presented. There were many elders that she had not seen for years and these elders were with her since the founding days of the Water Melody Palace.

Shui Xisi was actually the first founder of the Water Melody Palace and she was their living founding matriarch.

Some of the older elders were even chuckling, "Does Venerable Mistress Palace wishes to lead the Water Melody Palace again?"

"If Venerable Palace Mistress wishes to return from her seclusion, I guess that we have to return from seclusion too."

Usually when an older elder said something like this, the current leadership would not be pleased. But in the Water Melody Palace, the new and old elders were all laughing together because many of the current elders were the core protégés of the senior elders.

Even Shui Qingqing was joking. "If Venerable Palace Mistress is thinking of leading us into the Empyrean Warrior Labyrinth, Qingqing is only too glad to delegate my position."

Shui Xisi chuckled, "Are you thinking of going to the Empyrean Warrior Labyrinth to play? Unfortunately for you, it is still too early for you."

Shui Qingqing protested immediately, "I'm already a saint cultivator…"

"Your responsibilities lie in the sect." Shui Xisi interrupted her casually.

Shui Qingqing quickly made a face that caused all the elders to chuckle jovially. It was because they all know that Shui Qingqing was permanently confined in the Water Melody Palace.

But this was actually for her own good as she was too trusting and lacked worldly experiences. Her earlier encounter with a certain 'Li Yuan' had caused her protectors plenty of distress as they had thought that an incident had happened to her.

Shui Xisi coughed weakly to get everyone attention back to herself. "Ahem! I've got something important to announce. I know that many of you have been with me for a long time but none of you truly know who I am."

There were bewildered looks from everyone. Of course they know who their Venerable Palace Mistress was.

Shui Qingqing asked curiously, "You mean you have another name before your current one?"

Shui Xisi chuckled softly before she peeled off her wrinkled old skin and fake wig. Immediately a most peerless maiden with long golden hair began to appear in the eyes of everyone.

Even her four protectors were all stunned and staggered weakly. "This is…"

Shui Qingqing was gasping too as she stood up in shock, unsure how to react to this. "Venerable Palace Mistress…are you real or fake?"

All the other elders were shocked beyond words. They had always thought that their Venerable Palace Mistress was an old woman who had a high celestial attainment. But they had never dreamt that their Venerable Palace Mistress was actually so young looking.

Although cultivators ceased to age after reaching the fourth realm immortal celestial level but if they lived long enough, exceeding the life span that is brought by their lightning tribulation, they will begin to age once more as this is a sign that they must quickly advance for their ascension.

Since their Venerable Palace Mistress is a peaked great saintess, they had all thought that she must be an old woman that is almost ready for her ascension soon.

She was not an old woman but a most beautiful maiden…

This caused everyone to be stunned, not knowing how to react, including her four protectors...

As a matter of fact, many of the elders were even questioning if the Venerable Palace Mistress that was in front of them was really the real Venerable Palace Mistress.

"Of course I am the real one." Shui Xisi chuckled. "From today onward, I will be assuming back my original appearance. I have gathered all of you here to show you my real appearance. After all, many of you have been with me for many years and you have the right to know who I really am."

Shui Qingqing stammered, "Venerable Palace Mistress, how old are you really?"

Shui Xisi laughed. She was actually quite young but she did not want to answer it. After all, she had an abnormal rate of cultivation and was already a saintess by the time she was twenty-five. At the same time she was also a born Xiantian and since birth, she was already a third realm enlighten celestial level. By the time she was thirteen, she was already a fifth realm golden celestial.

Her Sister Saintess Feifei (Fang Zhenfei) also had a similar rate of cultivation. Also she too, had overcome the Purple Lightning Tribulation.

Those that can overcome the Purple Lightning Tribulation can be youthful for as long as ten thousand years and will slowly age after that.

Except that this rule does not apply to her because she is a half-immortal. Moreover she is only a few centuries old.

"You must all be wondering why I am revealing my appearance to all of you today?" Shui Xisi was suddenly sighing. "It is because I have enough of the celestial fraternity looking down on our Water Melody Palace."

Everyone: ???

"The celestials have only known of the two Goddess Maidens and the Four Celestial Beauties but do they know that we have plenty of beauties from the Water Melody Palace too?" Shui Xisi raised her fist angrily.

All the elders were startled by this reasoning. It was because they did not know that their Venerable Palace Mistress would be bothered by this lame reason since she had always been an old woman in front of them for the last couple of centuries.

They were all thinking with almost the same thing; did someone hurt the feelings of their Venerable Palace Mistress?

"Therefore it is now time for the great beauties of the Water Melody Palace to rise from the ashes!" Shui Xisi shook her fists in the air. She was actually referring to herself of course.

Shui Qingqing and all the elders were speechless and they did not know how to react.

"Therefore from this day onward, everyone must know the art of charms and learn how to apply cosmetics." Shui Xisi proclaimed firmly.

This time everyone was gasping and there were smiles on their faces; it was because the Water Melody Palace had forbidden its protégés from using any form of cosmetics. Many of the elders, including Shui Qingqing had some cosmetics which they had stashed in secret.

When Shui Qingqing had slipped away from the Water Melody Palace, she had applied a light makeup and had even applied a rosy lip stick.

Without waiting for Shui Xisi to change her mind, Shui Qingqing and many of the elders were happily answering. "We shall abide by Venerable Palace Mistress' decree!"

Shui Xisi was a little startled at their delightful expressions. She had laid down a golden rule that no one should use cosmetic in the sect. Therefore she had expected that the elders were be urguing against a sudden change. But to her surprise, they were all too ready to accept her sudden decision.

This is a little too unexpected? Or are they faking? Because they are shocked to see my sudden appearance?

But she had quickly cast her thoughts away. For the next three months, she was going to practice the wiles of a charming maiden and the arts of cosmetics to seduce Ji Yuan!

"Ji Yuan, so you like famous maidens, am I right? In three months' time, I will be shocking the entire fraternity with my peerless allure. Then you shall be down at my feet, begging me to be your consort!"

Elsewhere, Ji Yuan was suddenly sneezing as he rubbed his nose. He was cultivating to form the Soul Core now when he had suddenly sneezed.

"Dang! Who is silently plotting against me?"