Chapter 21: Core Formation (Part 1) Part 1

◎The two kids are fighting?◎

Those words struck Jiang Yanyu like a hammer, stunning her into disbelief. “What?”

Yun Jinxue waved a branch. “A spanking. So lean over.”

Yan Guixing’s eyelashes fluttered. Head bowed, she chanced a tentative upward glance, studying her Senior Sister’s expression.

After confirming she didn’t seem to be joking, she lowered herself with an agonizing slowness, bracing her hands on the ground.

Jiang Yanyu could not accept this at all. She scrambled up the tree with a few nimble moves, standing on a branch and gripping the trunk. “No!”

Ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous!

Who was she?

She was the Master of Mad Red Hall, whose name alone was enough to make both the Immortal and Mortal realms tremble with fear!

While she might not hold that title yet, that was only because she was accommodating her current body and hadn’t had time to act!

A spanking? How could such a thing ever feature in her grand and turbulent life’s saga?

Yun Jinxue walked to the water vat, splashing water onto the branch as she smiled. “Hurry and come down. Or else I’ll come up and catch you, and if I do, your punishment doubles.”

Jiang Yanyu grabbed a branch, yanked off a handful of leaves, and threw them. “A warrior can be killed, not humiliated!”

Most of the leaves fluttered down onto Yan Guixing. Hands braced on the ground, the girl watched a small line of ants moving house right before her eyes.

She was clearly planning to spend this punishment in a spiritual trance, far away from the present.

Yun Jinxue carried the soaking wet branch under the tree and said, “You really won’t come down?”

Jiang Yanyu said, “Absolutely not!”

Yun Jinxue gave the branch a light flick. “Fine, then. This is a perfect chance to test how your movement techniques have advanced lately.”

An incense stick’s time later, Jiang Yanyu was sprawled over the table, grinding her teeth. “Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it…”

Yan Guixing stood at the table, both hands rubbing her backside. She blinked but said nothing.

Yun Jinxue put the branch away in a rather good mood. “Alright. Take a rest today, both of you. I’ll go get our food.”

Yan Guixing said, “Let me go with Senior Sister.”

Yun Jinxue smiled. “No need. Rest well.”

That child, the female lead, truly held no grudges. After being spanked just moments ago, she was offering to help in a flash.

It had been the same before. She would always rise early, waiting in the courtyard. Her first words upon seeing Yun Jinxue would always be to ask about her injury, only stopping after Yun Jinxue explicitly told her she was fully healed.

Speaking of that injury, a certain little villain currently draped over the table had also shown an exceptionally high level of concern.

But her way of showing it was… rather different.

The plan had been to find someone to add another bed in Yan Guixing’s room for the little villain to sleep in.

Initially, she had agreed readily. But after that night when the ointment was applied, she inexplicably changed her mind, claiming she wasn’t comfortable sharing a room with anyone. The matter was inexplicably shelved.

And so, for over two years, the little villain had slept with her every single night. It started with two separate blankets, and eventually, even the extra blanket was removed. They slept without any distance at all.

Through countless deep nights, Yun Jinxue would hold the girl in her arms, staring at the ceiling, marveling at how she ended up in the same bed with her.

It didn’t seem like the plot should have developed this way, but it had undeniably happened. The System was also speechless about it.

Just sleeping was nothing. But during the period when the wound hadn’t healed, Yun Jinxue had a rather trying time.

The little villain declared that since she was the one who caused Senior Sister’s injury, she should naturally take responsibility. Every night, she needed to observe the wound’s healing progress.

Yun Jinxue was always more susceptible to soft approaches than hard ones. This little thing, once she discovered Yun Jinxue had little resistance to coquettishness, started to press her advantage ever further.

At the slightest refusal, her brows and the corners of her eyes would droop downwards, a picture of pure grievance.

Even knowing that this little creature likely harbored no good intentions and was definitely not as innocent and harmless as she appeared on the surface, Yun Jinxue still couldn’t refuse her, indulging her time and again.

Ah, if only she could be as obedient and worry-free as the little female lead.

After this mental sigh, Yun Jinxue went down the mountain to the dining hall to get food.

Watching her retreating figure, Jiang Yanyu gritted her teeth. “Yun Jinxue, I’ve noted today’s incident. Just you wait.”

Standing on the highest stone step, Yan Guixing continued to track that silver-white silhouette until it was safe. Hearing this, she turned back and asked, “Why do you address Senior Sister by her given name alone?”

Jiang Yanyu said, “Why shouldn’t I?”

This behavior clearly didn’t align with her understanding, but Yan Guixing couldn’t articulate exactly what was wrong. She simply said, “Your words lack respect.”

Jiang Yanyu folded her arms, sitting backwards on a stone stool and leaning against the table edge. “Why should I respect her?”

Yan Guixing said, “Senior Sister has poured considerable effort into you these past two years. If you understood gratitude, you should respect her.”

Jiang Yanyu narrowed her eyes. “I think, rather, that she’s invested even deeper thought into you.”

Yan Guixing said, “What makes you say that?”

Jiang Yanyu didn’t answer. She turned her gaze to the drifting clouds beyond the cliff edge.

After a pause, she answered a question that wasn’t asked. “She treats me kindly now, holding me and praising me. But that doesn’t mean it will always be this way. Many cultivators are heartless and fickle. If one day she casually discards me, what then?”

Yan Guixing found these words completely unreasonable, and her tone became slightly sharper.

“How can you assume something that hasn’t happened? Senior Sister treats you so well. As long as you don’t do bad things, how could she possibly discard you?”

Jiang Yanyu naturally had the answer to this question in her heart. But saying it out loud now would probably seem absurd to everyone.

The admired sect heir of the cultivation world, the Senior Sister everyone had to address with respect, had actually once sold her one and only junior sister to a deviant cultivator for three copper coins.

Though times had changed, just remembering everything that had happened back then still made her heart burn with fury, wishing she could hack her to pieces all over again.

Yet in this life, faced with a completely different version of her, a faint curiosity stirred in Jiang Yanyu’s heart.

Would she still do that thing, just like in her previous life?

If she didn’t, Jiang Yanyu could choose to let her off, erase all past grudges, and earnestly call her Senior Sister.

But if she committed the same wrong…

Jiang Yanyu drummed her knuckles on the table.

Then she wouldn’t mind at all letting her dear Senior Sister experience the taste of a fate worse than death once more.

Having decided this, she felt inexplicably lighter.

Jiang Yanyu sat for a while, letting the wind blow on her. Noticing a gaze, she found that Yan Guixing person still staring at her.

Tsk, such a bother. This person didn’t know when a topic was over, insisting on waiting for an answer like a stubborn mule.

No longer in the mood to reply, Jiang Yanyu said carelessly, “Because I’m a peerless genius, I suppose. Senior Sister feels she can’t compare to me, envies me, so she wants to kill me. That’s it.”

Yan Guixing was completely stunned.

She couldn’t imagine that someone who trained, ate, and faced their Senior Sister with apparent respect every single day could casually spout such malicious speculation.

Her little notebook was practically full of Senior Sister’s titles. She reviewed them every night before sleep, the content so substantial it slightly raised the height of her pillow.

Blood relatives, bound by kinship, had made her sleep in the firewood shed for five years. An unrelated Senior Sister, just helping a friend look after her, could consider every fine detail of her life.

Thus, Yan Guixing had long ago resolved in her heart to be grateful, respectful, and protective of her for the rest of her life.

Yet now, she was hearing these slanderous words.

A monumental wave surged in her heart, along with an emotion that hadn’t surfaced in so long it felt almost foreign—anger.

Yan Guixing clenched her fists, her brows and eyes turning icy. “Aren’t you afraid Senior Sister will hear what you’re saying?”

Jiang Yanyu raised an eyebrow. “What, are you going to tattle?”

But Yan Guixing shook her head slowly. “What you’ve said today, I won’t tell Senior Sister. She treats you sincerely, and you slander her behind her back like this. If she knew, it would surely upset her. I don’t want to upset her.”

Jiang Yanyu gave an “Oh.”

Yan Guixing continued, “I won’t try to change you either. But remember this: if the day comes that you try to harm her, I will never let you rest.”

These words were resolute and cutting. For someone usually restrained and unexpressive, it was a rare sharpness and certainty.

Even in their past life, when the two had been at odds for years and Jiang Yanyu had thwarted her plans and sabotaged her so many times, all she received were more effective counterattacks from behind a stoic mask.

Such obvious anger had never appeared before.

Was it because she was still young, not yet having cultivated the composure to hide happiness and anger?

She’d seen her cold, emotionless face so often. But this vivid expression now—it was for that Senior Sister.

Interesting.

Jiang Yanyu lowered her gaze, her voice cold. “Is that so? If you want to not let me rest, you’d better cultivate diligently.”

Meanwhile, Yun Jinxue was in the dining hall, carefully selecting dishes, completely unaware of all that was happening in the small courtyard.

Children at this age were like bamboo shoots after a spring rain, rapidly shooting upwards. Coupled with the enormous daily training, their consumption was high, and they ate a lot.

To let those two focus on cultivation, Yun Jinxue diligently fetched meals every day, ensuring a balance of meat and vegetables, a proper nutritional mix.

Every time she considered these things, she felt as if she truly were a kindergarten teacher, not just teaching children but raising them too.

While picking dishes at a stall, she overheard a conversation between two passing disciples.

“Six disciples already missing? Just that one Yellow-Rank mission?”

“Yeah, everyone thought it was simple. Never expected one after another to be lost. Now the common folk in that area are even more panicked.”