Mo Cheng's estate was roughly ten times larger than Li Meirong's little wooden cabin and orchard combined. The main entrance was a well-planned-out garden, carefully constructed with the utmost detail. There were not many flowers or ornaments of decoration, but the rather simple layout possessed an air of luxury all the same. It was flanked by several small trails leading to adjoining courtyards, whilst in the central trail was a paved path extending to a training grounds circle, without a single person in sight.

A collection of expensive looking armaments were aligned on a polished rack, at the left side of the circle. Tossed nearby were a handful of practice swords and a few broadswords, stacked on top of each other in a rather careless, haphazard manner.

Li Meirong stepped into the training grounds with a faraway look on her face, while holding her unusually silent Fox Spirit in her arms. Feng Huang hovered not far behind, making little comments here and there as she looked around.

Briefly glancing at the weapons tossed at the side, Li Meirong noted that they appeared to have been recently used, and assumed that Mo Cheng was somewhere nearby. He was most likely taking a break after his morning practise.

As it turned out, her assumption was spot on. She soon heard a feminine giggle, followed by the bustling racket of unhurried footsteps and teasing murmurs coming over from one of the small trails on towards the main path.

Turning swiftly to face the approaching group, Li Meirong bent down and protectively placed Snowball behind her. As she straightened her back, the sparkle in her eyes dimmed as she saw that Mo Cheng was followed around by several giggling female disciples. Like a delicate white blossom in a sea of bland grassland, Shu Qianqian stood out among them, staying closest to Mo Cheng and possessively holding onto one of his arms.

Mo Cheng held a napkin to the side of his neck, wiping off a trail of sweat from his sun kissed skin. His warm brown eyes shone bright, and his wide smile made him look like the fresh young youth that he was: innocent and brave, gentle and kind. And as it seems, he was quite fond of being lavished with attention.

As soon as he turned to face Li Meirong, his smile widened, showing a perfect set of teeth. A pair of dimples formed near the corners of his lips.

"Sister Meirong, what a pleasant surprise!" Mo Cheng exclaimed, all but forgetting the entourage of ladies he came with. He tossed the napkin without any regard and thoughtlessly shook Shu Qianqian away from him, only to hurry along the path to Li Meirong's side.

The moment that his eyes set on hers, he acted as though he was simply discarding a few unimportant objects, and not actual human beings with feelings that could get hurt from his blatant disregard.

Behind him, Shu Qianqian ground her teeth and glared daggers at Li Meirong, large doe-like eyes burning with unconcealed hatred. The other forgotten fellow cultivators at her side stopped giggling at once and stared at each other in quiet dismay. They immediately bowed and bade their farewells before gracefully retreating.

Li Meirong ignored Mo Cheng and narrowed her eyes at Shu Qianqian. She knew that she must not have been able to veil her anger well enough, because she noticed that Shu Qianqian flinched as soon as they were locked in their short-lived staring contest.

The scornful glare Shu Qianqian sent her way was gradually replaced by eyebrows curving up at the corners in dread, and eyes that showed a little too much white for them to mask their owner's fear.

However, Mo Cheng noticed none of that. He eagerly came to stand in front of Li Meirong, his figure blocking Shu Qianqian from view and forcing Li Meirong's attention to him.

"Brother Cheng, I apologize for intruding so suddenly," said Li Meirong. She forced herself to smile politely and clenched her hands into fists, curbing the urge to beat Shu Qianqian to a pulp.

"Please don't!" said Mo Cheng and let out a burst of nervous laughter. "I wish you'd intrude on me every day."