Lifen understood her 'words' and was inwardly fuming, but then she pouted to herself, 'I don't care. I didn't even want to make a good impression. This is all Yulan. Me… I don't care. I really don't care,' she murmured to herself, her eyes becoming somewhat watery.
Yulan continued the presentation. "This is Bai Qiang, my cousin and a brute obsessed by martial arts, and this is Bai Wenjie, my cousin and a reputed scholar…"
Bai Qiang and Bai Wenjie's eyelids twitched at Yulan's introduction, but they gave Mikael a small bow. "Greetings, Fellow Daoist Mikael."
Mikael moved slowly, clearly leisurely after all he wasn't like he was too injured to move faster, no that would have been totally ridiculous. It was obvious that he simply wasn't pressed for time.
He even took a brief pause before placing his sole hand in the fist salute used by cultivators to greet one another. "Greeting," he simply said, not continuing, simply observing the group with mild interest.
With the presentation now done, Yulan opened her pink lips to speak again, but then she caught Bai Lifen's visage from the corner of her eye. The beauty's expression was red, and she was looking toward the ground. Her eyes were redder than they should've been, with water gathering at their corners.
Bai Yulan's expression changed in an instant—from her previous somewhat playful demeanor to a guilty and regretful one, as if her heart was being crushed.
Her breath itched in her chest, and for a moment she froze. Then she realized what was happening: her sister was crying.
Without hesitation, she moved.
With a burst of her Spiritual Foundation Realm speed, she moved numerous times faster than sound. In an instant, she appeared just beside her twin and took her into her arms, tightly hugging her as she began to profusely excuse herself.
"Lifen, I'm so, so sorry… You know I'd never want to hurt you, right? It was just a joke—a stupid, playful jab, nothing more. Just me being me… You know that. Please… don't cry. I didn't mean it. I'm really sorry, okay?"
Lifen's muffled voice came through, trembling and uneven. "I'm not… sniff… crying, so stop… sniff… acting like I am, okay? It's just you being stupid again, and I'm used to it, so… so sniff just stop acting like I'm crying!"
"Of course you aren't crying, it's just me imagining things. But even then, I still want to excuse myself for my words. You know no man will ever come close to your importance in my eyes. You are a million times more important, so…"
She leaned closer, her lips brushing near Lifen's ear, and murmured extremely softly—so low that even nearby Spiritual Foundation Realm cultivators wouldn't have been able to hear. "I won't try to compete with you for Fellow Daoist Mikael's attention. I'll even help you. Your sister is and will always be on your side."
For a moment, Lifen said nothing, her head still lowered in what appeared to be clear sadness… before she slowly raised her head, revealing an expression that, contrary to Yulan's expectations, wasn't tear-filled.
In truth, it was entirely empty of tears. On her visage was a slick, mocking smirk that said, Got you!
Yulan took a step backward. "Y-you, you—" Her eyes wandered to Lifen's black irises, and she sensed it. "You used Water Qi to make yourself cry???"
Seeing Lifen giving her a victorious smile as an answer she exploded, "You little minx give me back my feelings!" she screamed before launching herself atop her sister as she began to playfully hammer her with her fist.
"Damn you, you vixen you're just too thirsty and you play dirty at that, Lifen you changed before you weren't like that…all that because you saw how handsome Fellow Daoist Mikael is you betrayed your sister..I-i am really dissapointed…sniff…"
And the Yulan began to also cry like Lifen was doing seconds ago, her head also failing to look toward the ground but when seconds later she sneakily raised her head to look at her twin she caught Lifen giving her a deadpan stare, "You don't really think I would be dumb enough to fall for it right? I executed this same trick moments ago so getting caught by it…"
Following that, the twin sisters began to bicker playfully, completely unfazed by the horrified, shame-filled expressions of Bai Qiang and Bai Wenjie, who looked like they wanted to dig into the ground and disappear.
The two cousins exchanged a long glance, finding in each other's eyes the same mortification—the same bitter regret that maybe, just maybe, they should've tried harder to convince the girls not to meet Fellow Daoist Mikael.
As for Mikael…
He was observing the chaos with a calm expression, but if you looked closely, you could see his lips twitching almost imperceptibly. 'Lunatics. These girls are total lunatics! For real, who approaches a stranger and then proceeds to completely ignore him just to start bantering with their "sister"?'
His gaze moved from Bai Yulan and Bai Lifen, who were still bickering, to the two men who looked like they wanted to die. Mikael felt a flicker of sympathy for them—but it was overshadowed by a much larger flicker of amusement.
Imperceptibly, he relaxed. He had expected to need mind games to push back these approaching cultivators, but reality… was far from his imagination. 'Really far from my imagination,' he murmured inwardly as his gaze returned to the twins.
"AHH, Yulan, stop this!" exclaimed Lifen, just as she squirmed her way out of Yulan's grasp and began to 'run away.'
Yulan 'pursued' her while screaming, "What? You think you can fool your sister and get away with it? I don't think so. Come here and let your sweet sister spank you into obedience! By the time I'm done, you'll never try that again—I can assure you!"
It was obvious the chase was mostly playful, as neither girl moved much faster than a normal human, not using even a fraction of their real speed.
This chase seemed destined to last for a while, but then—
COUGH.
A coughing sound echoed in the clearing and spread quickly. Both Bai Yulan and Bai Lifen snapped back to reality and turned toward the source.
There stood Mikael, raising an eyebrow, a small teasing smirk tugging at his lips. "Having fun?"
The moment those words landed, both girls froze mid-step. Their cheeks turned a deep shade of red—clearly mortified. Especially Lifen, who threw a fiery glance full of reproach at her sister.
"Hehe…" Yulan laughed awkwardly before turning to Mikael. With steam practically rising from her head, she bowed. "I am deeply sorry for this shameful display, Fellow Daoist. It was ungrateful, but…"
Mikael raised an eyebrow inwardly. 'Oh? So now she acts like a proper dignified fairy?' He gave her a look-over. 'Could've fooled me if I hadn't seen how she acted five seconds ago,' he thought as he eyed her.
"…I can assure you that this is in no way representative of the Stillwater Palace—and even less so of my sister, Bai Lifen. Lifen is a marvelous woman, a fairy like no other, with numerous qualities. Her beauty and grace can light up a darkened room. Her youthful attitude is different from all others, truly refreshing."
"Didn't you call her bratty earlier?" he asked, amusement dripping from his voice.
Bai Yulan froze for a second, then recovered. "That was a misspoke of my tongue, and I apologize. What I meant to say is that Bai Lifen is brilliant, heroic, brave, courageous, strong, intelligent…"
Yulan looked like she was ready to go on forever, but Lifen's scream cut through the air. "Stop, stop, stop, Yulan! Stop embarrassing me!!!!"
That was Lifen's heartfelt cry as she caught sight of Fellow Daoist Mikael—who she wasn't attracted to at all… not at all—smiling wider and wider with every single compliment her so awesome sister rained down on her.
"Huh?" Yulan turned toward Lifen with a look that said, I'm helping you, why are you stopping me? At that instant, Lifen truly wanted to strangle her sister. At the same time, she was absolutely mortified. Now she understood how Qiang and Wenjie had felt not long ago.
"Stop. Just… please stop," declared a Lifen who wished the ground would swallow her whole.
"Okays."
Bai Lifen sighed, then offered a deep bow to Mikael. "Please forgive our repeated impudence. It wasn't with bad intentions, we just got caught in our world. I hope you won't take offense."
Mikael slowly, leisurely waved his right hand before him. "None taken. It's not every day I get the chance to watch two beautiful fairies give me a… spectacle… this lively. It was certainly an interessing experience..."
A pink hue appeared on both sisters' cheeks, though their reactions were completely different. Lifen looked toward the ground and began playing with her fingers, while Yulan proudly puffed her chest outward—until she suddenly remembered something.
"It was all because of my sister. The credit should go to her."
Lifen raised her head faster than she believed possible.
"Oh, I don't doubt so…" Mikael remarked with amusement, and that was the final straw.
No longer able to endure her sister's 'help,' she loudly exclaimed, "Yulan!"
The twin-tailed, black-haired beauty turned toward her sister with an inquisitive look. Lifen then silently communicated, 'Yulan, you can stop trying to put me in Fellow Daoist Mikael's good graces. I really don't need it. I'm not even interessed… anyway, stop doing it. For real… please stop.'
Yulan mouthed back, 'Are you sure? This is to excuse myself from earlier. You need to think this through, because with my help as a femme fatale, you could totally get this handsome cultivator to fall for you!'
Lifen's lips twitched. 'What kind of "femme fatale" is a virgin?' she inwardly grumbled, but didn't dwell on it. Her sister could be an… airhead sometimes. 'I'm 100% sure you can stop "helping me." Hell, you can even try to seduce him. I don't care anymore. Just please, please stop with your help.'
Yulan's expression grew puzzled. 'Okay… if you say so. I don't know why you're so insistent, but if you want…'
'YES. I meant yes.'
And just like that, the silent conversation between sisters ended, Yulan turning to look at Mikael, her lips curling in a seductive smirk worthy of a "femme fatale."
She let her twin-tails flutter with a deliberate toss of her head—well, deliberate in theory. One strand stuck to her lip, making her fumble for half a second. Undeterred, she stepped forward with what she clearly believed to be sultry elegance, her voice dropping half an octave as she spoke.
"Fellow Daoist Mikael," she purred, "I've heard it's dangerous to stare at a beautiful fairy for too long… she might steal your heart without warning."
She finished the line with a slow, exaggerated wink—one she clearly thought was irresistible.
Mikael's gaze lingered on her a beat longer than usual. Then, a faint, amused smile curved his lips.
"Steal my heart?" he echoed, his voice warm with dry amusement. "I'd be more worried about being seduced if the 'seductive fairy' charming me didn't have strands of hair stuck to her mouth."
Yulan blinked, then hastily wiped the strand away. "T-that was part of the charm!" she declared, puffing her cheeks, even as her ears turned pink.
Mikael gave a light chuckle, something uncharacteristic of him, especially in a situation that, while outwardly amusing, was actually pretty dangerous for him. "Then I suppose you're even more dangerous than I thought. What should I do to save myself from this temptress?" he asked with mock fear.
Meanwhile, as Lifen watched Yulan acting like a seductive fairy and femme fatale, with Mikael seemingly playing along—Lifen lost it. She looked skyward with the air of someone waiting for the heavens to smite her, and with the darkened sky and the electric tension in the air… maybe her wish would be realized.
'Unfortunately,' even after waiting a few seconds, no divine punishment fell, and she could only resign herself to watching her sister's actions…
Author Note:
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This chapter was pretty fun to write, especially the dynamic between both sister which was pretty heartwarming, Yulan who was acting a little egoist and carelessly in the earlier chapter is actually a big softie who is an airhead, a femme fatale as she said…
As for Lifen she is currently questioning all of her life choices and in mild depression but this will pass don't worry!
Writing dynamic like that was fun except when it was time for the flirt… Ugh for real this was too fucking hard, I stayed stuck there for a while without knowing how to write it and even when I had a final result I wasn't truly satisfied with it.
Contrary to the sisters dynamics that I found pretty amusing, the flirt was pretty bad and that's with being carried by Yulan airheadness so yeah sorry for the somewhat bad flirt but I was at my wit end and didn't know how to write it better so yeah…
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