Chapter 548 – Distancing Relationships

　　Many years ago, Yan Huanyu’s body also smelled of an unusual, hard-to-find woody fragrance all the year round. Shen Qinghe once knew the name of the spice because at that time, he personally found it and took it back. It required laborious work and much effort and pain, all to seek one person’s favor.

　　However, after so many years passed, he had forgotten his own mood back then and what was the name of the woody fragrance. As if it had happened in a previous life. Nowadays, Yan Huanyu has never used that kind of wood fragrance again.

　　There was some obvious doubt in Shen Qinghe’s eyes, but he soon put it away.

　　Yan Huanyu put down the burning materials in his hand, looked at Shen Qinghe from a distance, and said, “I gave my younger brother to you, but with your advice he has taken on this condescending and unable to differentiate good from bad appearance. Shen Qinghe, was all your skills used on seducing your master?”

　　Shen Qinghe had a faint, dull pain in his heart, then he smiled and said, “Why does Your Highness say that? My ability to seduce my master is probably the worst of all my abilities. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have fallen to this point.”

　　Yan Huanyu screwed up his brow and seemed to be dissatisfied with Shen Qinghe’s words.

　　Yan Huanyu said coldly, “It seems that one hundred whips can’t make you reflect. In this case, you can get another one hundred whips.”

　　Shen Qinghe’s body trembled slightly: With that kind of rich pain, his whole body was still shaking right now, even if he closed his eyes.

　　Since Shen Qinghe was young, he was afraid of pain. He didn’t want to practice the sword because he didn’t want to suffer or get hurt. However, his weakness had now become the reason why others bullied him.

　　Shen Qinghe sighed lightly and said, “If you are willing to completely let go, then I naturally have the confidence to turn the little prince into what you want to see, but in fact, you can’t completely trust me. You are always biased against me. When I have too much contact with the little prince, you will send someone to stop and take me away from the little prince for the time being. With this kind of on and off, far and near tutoring, it is no longer up to me to decide how the little prince will grow up.”

　　Yan Huanyu smiled softly and sat in that chair with an elegant and loose posture. He looked at Shen Qinghe’s face, which can only be called comfortable, and said, “You are talking about my mistakes – why don’t I let you get too close to him? Could it be you don’t know it in your heart?”

　　Shen Qinghe shook his head and said, “I really don’t know it in my heart. Your Highness, please give advice.”

　　Yan Huanyu only thought that there was no one in the world who was more shameless and evil than Shen Qinghe. Every time he saw Shen Qinghe, he couldn’t help but want to hit him, but he felt that it was too embarrassing to hit him.

　　This man was not worth it.

　　Yan Huanyu didn’t entangle the conversation. He directly said, “Today, when he met Yan Tianhen outside, it was a completely one-sided crush. I have no other requirements for you. I can only hope in the future when Yan Chenxiao encounters Yan Tianhen again, it will be enough for him to hold back and not let him talk indiscriminately.”

　　Yan Chenxiao wasn’t Yan Tianhen’s match, yet he still insisted on jumping around and making a fool of himself. Yan Huanyu, as a brother, couldn’t stand it anymore.

　　Shen Qinghe had a faint smile on his face; he seemed to be calm. “In the future, As long as His Royal Highness can watch the little prince and not let him go to the East Courtyard at will, basically, there will be no chance of meeting King Ye’s Heir. But if Prince Ye takes the initiative to come to the North Courtyard, then it is beyond my ability to help.”

　　Yan Huanyu’s eyes were slightly distressed; His line of sight wandered to Shen Qinghe’s face for a moment and said, “Shen Qinghe, do you really think that this one can’t do anything to you?”

　　Yan Huanyu said, “You have grievances in your heart, so naturally I can’t keep you by my side.”

　　Shen Qinghe said, “Even if there is no resentment in my heart, you know how I feel about you, and something that can only be called humiliating to you happened. Naturally, you cannot possibly leave me by your side.”

　　After a moment, he chuckled and said, “Your Highness, we are not children anymore. It is better to talk about some things. My heart can bear it, and so can you.”

　　A murderous look flashed in Yan Huanyu’s eyes and he said, “What happened to you today?”

　　Normally Shen Qinghe wouldn’t mention these matters at all, only right now ….

　　Yan Saiyu had the feeling that he could not control the scene. He felt exceedingly fed up.

　　Shen Qinghe said, “Your Highness, us being like this has no meaning. At the beginning you said that if I climbed into your bed, I won’t ever be qualified to be your subordinate anymore. If I wanted to be your subordinate, then I shouldn’t harbor those kinds of thoughts about you. Because my heart can’t let you go, for ten years I could not enter your eyes. But now you don’t have to worry about this matter.”

　　Shen Qinghe’s eyes had some softness and tenderness, which made Yan Huanyu feel that he was strange but also familiar.

　　He said, “I cultivated the Dao of Indifference — seven years of time, it’s enough to make me easily unable to get emotional. You don’t have to worry about this thing anymore.”

　　Yan Huanyu paused. With his steady mind, he rarely showed his emotions clearly. At this time, however, his brain blanked for a moment. Yan Huanyu even stood up from his chair. He stared at Shen Qinghe, and was speechless for a long time.

　　The Dao of Indifference was the easiest to cultivate among all the Daos. It was also the hardest to cultivate.

　　Because the tribulation that one who cultivated the Dao of Indifference would experience was 100% a love tribulation, and Shen Qinghe’s original intention of cultivating this Dao was to forget feelings — such deliberate behavior, how can he fool the Dao of Heaven when his tribulation comes?

　　He suddenly felt very angry, but where this anger came from, he understood it in his own heart, but he couldn’t say it out loud and let Shen Qinghe misunderstand — he hated Shen Qinghe’s lack of self love and not cherishing himself!

　　Yan Huanyu took a deep breath and said, “I didn’t wish for you to cut off your love and emotions in this way. I just wanted you to let go of the distractions in your heart — me and you, you know it’s impossible, but I don’t want my subordinates to be heartless people, and I do not dare use such people.”

　　Heartless and desire-less, meant no weakness. If a person had no weakness, how could his loyalty be guaranteed? Shen Qinghe was still laughing. He seemed to always be laughing.

　　“If Your Highness is worried that I will betray you, it is better to make a master-servant contract with me.” Shen Qinghe stepped forward a few steps forward and stood at a close distance, three steps away. “After entering the master-servant contract, if one day I betray my owner, I will die from the pain of ten thousand arrows piercing my heart. What do you say?”

　　Yan Huanyu and Shen Qinghe looked at each other for a long time, then stepped back half a step and said, “Get lost.”

　　Shen Qinghe’s smile froze on his face.

　　Yan Huanyu said, “You are a madman. Compared with a killing machine, what I don’t want to use more are people like you.”

　　Shen Qinghe said, “In the future I don’t have to do stuff for you anymore?”

　　Yan Huanyu clenched his fist and said, “Suit yourself.”

　　Shen Qinghe cocked his head and looked at him, saying, “In fact, when you drove me to the East Courtyard, you had the meaning that you just didn’t want to see me anymore. Slowly banishing, slowly alienating, and then abandoning completely.”

　　Yan Huanyu took a deep breath and his expression returned to normal. He said, “I needed a person to watch Yan Tianhen’s every move in the East Courtyard. You are very suitable, very, but now I have no choice but to consider other people.”

　　“You really should consider other people. Yan Tianhen knows that I am your person, and he will be more guarded against me, so he won’t give me the chance to truly get in touch with him.”

　　Yan Huanyu asked, “Therefore, you have decided you are going to leave me?”

　　Shen Qinghe smiled and said, “Your Highness, I don’t want to die yet.”

　　There was only one dead end for a servant who broke away from their master.

　　Yan Huanyu looked out of the window, his hands behind his back, and said, “I won’t kill you. You can go.”

　　Shen Qinghe said, “After leaving, I will never come back.”

　　Yan Huanyu said, “Good.”

　　Ever since that day, Shen Qinghe never met with Yan Huanyu in private again. Even Yan Chenxiao, who occasionally saw him on the road, only acted as if he met a stranger, and did not even say hello to him.

　　However, Shen Qinghe was labeled as belonging to King Zhang’s Palace alone, and that mark could never be washed away.

　　………

　　Two days later, Yan Tianhen’s spy reported that after Shen Qinghe came out from Yan Huanyu’s place, his injuries did not increase, and he could not see anything from his face

　　After listening, Yan Tianhen urged, “Continue to observe Shen Qinghe, if you have the opportunity be kind to him. Although this person is extremely loyal and devoted to Yan Huanyu, it’s not like there are no cracks between them. If we want to win him over, we must use every chance we have to sow discord.”

　　The spy was also an academy student. After listening to him, he couldn’t stop laughing and said, “Your Highness, is there anyone in the world who would describe himself like this?”

　　Yan Tianhen frowned, he asked, “What’s wrong with sowing discord? Flies don’t bite seamless eggs. If disharmony can be instigated, it can only show that his determination is not firm and his master does not treat him well enough.”

　　The informant smiled, said a few words of compliment, and left.

　　After being the second heir for so many years, how could Yan Tianhen continue to be naive?

　　Even if he was not at Myriad Dao Academy during these years, he still had arranged spies and informants inside no less than he should have. All of the Nine Lands’ Divine Clans would decorate Myriad Dao Academy with spies, generation after generation. Just that the numbers would be smaller than the Yan family’s.

　　The official opening day was coming soon. Yan Tianhen hadn’t seen his Alchemist Division master since the assessment.

　　Although they were divided into the Dao Division, Alchemy Division, and the Craftsman Division, in fact, every disciple had to study the basic theoretical knowledge of each of these three divisions. In the words of the former sect master, that is, master one and you will master a hundred; if you know yourself and your enemy, you will never lose a battle.

　　Classes were easy for Yan Tianhen. After all, he already knew the content the teachers taught.However, many other disciples listened with relish, and from time to time they would ask some questions.

　　The curriculum gradually increased in difficulty, but Yan Tianhen found that in terms of practical work, these teachers really weren’t soft, and did not consider going step by step at all.

　　Near the end of class, Mr. Li used his pointer to knock on the table, saying, “Disciples who can enter the Alchemy Division of Myriad Dao Academy are not new at alchemy, however, I don’t know how good you are. After going back today, your homework is to refine one hundred Replenishing Qi Pills. Low-grade ones will be directly judged to be unqualified, and mid-grade pills are barely passable. I will only look at how many high-grade and top-grade pills you have refined next class. Okay, today’s class is over, you’re dismissed.”

　　Before the disciples could react, Mr. Li had disappeared.

　　Who knew who let out a cry and said, “Replenishing Qi Pills? I only know what the pill formula is, and I’ve never tried to refine it before!”

　　“The next class is in three days? God, three days to let me refine one hundred pills, and there can’t be any low-grade ones, it’s even harder than killing me!”

　　“And, although I brought my own pill furnace, those pill furnaces are not comparable to the pill furnaces of the school, but the academy’s pill furnaces need contribution points. By the way, spiritual plants also require contribution points.”

　　“One hundred pills… before, I couldn’t even refine that much in a month. How much will it cost?”

　　Within the cries, Yan Tianhen packed up his textbooks and stood up, preparing to leave.

　　The Alchemy Division of the East Courtyard was the worst among the Alchemy Divisions of the Four Courtyards, and it was also the least valued. Therefore, except for Yan Tianhen, all the other talented alchemists who were good had chosen the West Courtyard or the South Courtyard.

　　After Yan Tianhen got up, the other disciples in the room uniformly laid their eyes on Yan Tianhen. They seemed to really want to talk to Yan Tianhen, but they didn’t dare.