Chapter 11

Liuli cried, “I leveled up!!!”

Liang Tiantian was speechless. After a long while, she patted her back, wriggled out of her Senior Sister’s soft embrace, and said helplessly, “Isn’t this a good thing?”

Liuli slumped to the ground, muttering like a broken record. “I’ve been diligently cultivating, for what? Isn’t it to get first place at the Grand Sect Tournament? I… I! How can I be so diligent!”

Liang Tiantian: “Senior Sister clearly sleeps until the sun is high every day…”

“That’s meditative cultivation!”

Liang Tiantian: →_→ I don’t believe it.

Liuli snorted. She wouldn’t argue with a child. She really was meditating. Although she’d drift off to sleep while thinking, the True Qi still circulated. That was practically the same as cultivation!

Although occasionally something would go wrong, and the True Qi would run to the wrong place, causing her to spurt blood… but after spurting enough, she got used to it. After becoming proficient, she rarely slept… meant, circulated Qi incorrectly.

Who under heaven is more diligent than me!

Liuli wept toward the sky. “I want to go find Feng Xiwu!”

Liang Tiantian helplessly dragged Liuli back, scolding her as they walked.

“Senior Sister, a month ago, you went to Parasol Tree Mountain, but Perfected One Feng was out traveling and you didn’t see her. Half a month ago, you went to Parasol Tree Mountain and were thrown into the Meditation Room and locked up for three days. You personally told me you only touched a single one of her hairs… ahem, a strand of hair, you picked up from the Meditation Room floor. Ten days ago, you went to Parasol Tree Mountain, got a sudden whim to stand under the Bright Moon Pond waterfall for a shower, ended up knocked unconscious, and was carried back without even seeing Perfected One Feng. Five days ago, you went to Parasol Tree Mountain, insisted you wanted to pick honey for Perfected One Feng to eat, ended up stung all over your head, were too embarrassed to let Perfected One Feng see you, and ran back yourself.”

After listing everything, Liang Tiantian sighed deeply. “Senior Sister, you just recovered from your injuries. Can you stop tormenting yourself so much?”

Liuli twisted her fingers and said weakly, “No pain, no gain.”

Liang Tiantian knew she couldn’t dissuade her. Standing under the peach blossom tree, watching her Senior Sister’s figure fly away on a Flying Sword, she muttered, “She learns so fast.”

Over at Parasol Tree Mountain.

After going up the mountain, Liuli habitually went to say hello to Junior Sisters Big Feng and Little Feng and casually ask if Feng Xiwu was in today.

Ever since she learned to use her Storage Ring, she had rummaged through her inventory and given the two Junior Sisters a welcome gift. It wasn’t anything particularly valuable, but it was a gesture of goodwill.

Probably because of this goodwill, Junior Sister Little Feng had never been impatient with this Senior Sister who came looking around so often.

Junior Sister Big Feng was more composed, not talkative, and hadn’t said much. Liuli wasn’t very familiar with her… it wasn’t entirely her fault. Every time Liuli called out “Junior Sister Big Feng,” she felt incredibly awkward. The person was old enough to be her grandmother but ranked lower than her in seniority. Who wouldn’t feel awkward?

Today, Liuli came again and didn’t even need to ask. Junior Sister Little Feng smiled and said, “When I went to clean this morning, I saw the Perfected One in the courtyard. If you want to find her, go yourself.”

Feng Xiwu disliked bustling activity and didn’t put on airs. Usually, she lived alone in a small courtyard and didn’t feel lonely.

Liuli had long memorized the path. At this moment, she nodded and didn’t waste a moment, climbing up the mountain path.

She arrived at a small courtyard. From afar, through the fence, she spotted Feng Xiwu standing in the yard.

Today, she wore a long, straight-sleeved robe in apricot, softening her cold and aloof aura. She held a small Jade Pot, like a wine flask, watering the flowers. From a distance, she looked like a gentle elder sister next door.

So the lush flowers and plants in this courtyard were all raised by her own hand. Liuli briskly pushed open the fence gate and entered the yard.

Before she could speak, Feng Xiwu said without raising her head, “You’ve come.”

It was a statement, not a question, as if she had long predicted Liuli would come.

There was a pavilion in the courtyard, built right in that small garden. Liuli hugged a pillar, hooked one leg over the low railing of the pavilion, half-sitting, half-leaning, with no proper posture, and smiled at Feng Xiwu.

“Perfected One, you care about me so much. I hadn’t even said anything, and you knew I would come.”

Feng Xiwu finished watering a patch of lily of the valley and moved on to water the hydrangeas on the other side. Such a small Jade Pot, yet the water inside never seemed to run out. She said calmly, “Last time I saw you, it looked like you were about to break through. It happened faster than I guessed.”

Liuli swung her little legs, and her smiling face suddenly fell, turning into a frown. “It’s exactly about this that I came to find you!”

“How do you feel?” Feng Xiwu asked.

Liuli pressed her chest and abdomen, recalling. “Not much.”

She had felt premonitions before the breakthrough and thought she could control it, not to go too fast. But heaven didn’t grant her wish. She woke up from sleep and had muddle-headedly broken through.

Liuli pouted, trying to bargain. “Perfected One, times have changed. I think our agreement should be a little more… humane?”

Feng Xiwu stopped her hand watering the flowers and looked at her with a faint, amused smile. “What do you want?”

“Loosen the conditions a little?” Liuli watched her expression shift, asking tentatively.

But Feng Xiwu wasn’t so easily persuaded. She shook her head and refused. “A vow has already been made. How can there be a principle of easily changing it?”

“But it’s not fair.”

“Then cultivate diligently.”

“Fine.”

Liuli was more optimistic than she had imagined. She didn’t pester her any further, but agreed readily, no longer bringing up changing the conditions.

Such decisiveness surprised Feng Xiwu. But soon, she understood what trick this little fox was playing.

Liuli hugged the pillar and leaned her upper body out. Her long ponytail, tied with a hairband embroidered with peach blossom petals, swayed back and forth. Her sly, bright eyes curved. “Perfected One Feng—”

Feng Xiwu’s hand holding the Jade Pot trembled, and a fine stream of water splashed onto the bluebells.

Liuli pinched her voice, speaking in a coquettish tone as if she’d eaten a pound of honey. “This disciple doesn’t have a Meditation Room like the one in your courtyard. I want to cultivate diligently, but I wonder… could I borrow the Perfected One’s Meditation Room?”

“Speak properly.” Feng Xiwu helplessly tapped her lightly on the forehead with a bent finger.

Liuli then shifted to hug the other side of the pillar, laughing merrily. “So, can I? Can I?”

“Lending it to you isn’t difficult.” Feng Xiwu was still very accommodating. “But once inside, focus entirely on your cultivation. No distractions allowed.”

She was referring to the time Liuli had been in the Meditation Room for three days. This child simply couldn’t sit still. After quietly cultivating for a short while, she’d begin sighing and come out for a stroll.

How could a cultivator succeed if they couldn’t calm their mind? Not to mention other great cultivators, even Feng Xiwu herself would go into closed-door cultivation for three to five years when breaking through a major realm.

Liuli couldn’t even sit still for a day. What would she do when the time came?

Seeing she had no self-control, Feng Xiwu ignored Liuli’s pleas and threw her into the Meditation Room, locking her in for three days.

As a result, she braided her entire head into tiny braids. When Feng Xiwu opened the door for Liuli, she even asked, “Perfected One, Perfected One, do you think my hairstyle looks good? Want me to braid one for you too?”

Truly a handful.

If she really took her as a disciple… the master would surely be angered to death.

Now, hearing Feng Xiwu agree, Liuli’s face lit up with a smile, and she agreed crisply. “I promise! By the way, these next few days, will the Perfected One not go on a long trip? This disciple still has some questions to consult the Perfected One about regarding cultivation.”

“Feel free to ask.”

“Great!”

Doing things as soon as she thought of them was one of Liuli’s consistent good traditions. She jumped down from the low railing of the pavilion, but as her feet landed, she staggered and her face turned pale. Staring at the pavilion’s edge, she almost let out a shriek.

Feng Xiwu noticed her abnormality and followed her gaze. It turned out there was a multi-legged centipede crawling at the edge of the pavilion.

“What’s wrong?”

“…” Liuli gave a difficult smile, quickly retreating two large steps. When she spoke, her voice was still trembling slightly. “Why are there bugs here?”

So she was afraid of bugs.

That was somewhat surprising to Feng Xiwu.

Feng Xiwu gently waved her hand, sending the centipede to the soil. The centipede’s rows of legs wriggled as it turned in a circle and burrowed into the dirt. Feng Xiwu said, “Isn’t it normal for there to be bugs here?”

“But I haven’t really seen them anywhere else.”

Liuli felt a little aggrieved. She had always been afraid of nothing—not rats, not snakes, not perverts, not ghosts—only bugs! Only bugs!

This was related to her childhood experiences. When she was little, she lived in the countryside. There wasn’t much there except many trees, much grass, and many bugs.

It was an old house. When she was young, with her delicate skin, not a single day in summer went by without being bitten by bugs. Even in winter, sometimes when she flipped the bedding, she’d find a curled-up, still-wriggling centipede under the mattress.

Even walking on the road, when the wind blew, caterpillars from the jujube trees on both sides of the path would fall onto her arms, leaving a patch of red welts!

This trauma would never leave her for the rest of her life.

Feng Xiwu had long known she’d forgotten all her common sense and wasn’t surprised. She explained, “Places people often go to usually have Insect Repelling Arrays set up so that eating and sleeping aren’t disturbed by them. But this is a garden. Bugs coexist with plants and trees. Naturally, no Insect Repelling Array is set up here.”

Liuli expressed understanding but still couldn’t accept it.

Pale-faced, she fled into the Meditation Room. Ah, this place was much better—clean, simple, not a bug in sight, not even a strand of hair to be found… except maybe one.

After thinking for a moment, Liuli stuck half her body back out and emphasized, “Perfected One, you said you wouldn’t leave and would answer my questions anytime, right?”

Feng Xiwu put away the Jade Pot. Though she had watered the flowers for half the day under the scorching sun, she hadn’t sweated a drop. Instead, the places she passed became somewhat cooler. This was the wondrous effect of the Ice Spirit Root.

Feng Xiwu thought to herself, When did I ever say anytime? But she didn’t want to bicker with her and just nodded warmly. “I know.”

Finally satisfied, Liuli pulled back inside, sat down in the very center of the Meditation Room—the center of the Spirit Gathering Array—and began to meditate.

Originally, I thought Liuli wouldn’t be able to sit still this time either. But one day passed, then two days passed, and Liuli was still meditating and cultivating. And she wasn’t sleeping—and nothing had gone wrong yet.

Feng Xiwu was about to change her opinion of her.

Just then, the Meditation Room exploded.

No, wait…

It wasn’t the Meditation Room that exploded.

It was Liuli.