Chapter 101: World Three [15]

Seeing Yin Honglian and Ye Wenxin continuously raising the stakes, Jing Ke became even more certain of her earlier guess.

It seemed Lin Yuxiu had spilled his entire life story. The two before her likely already knew she was the sole successor of the Heavenly Derivation Sect.

Jing Ke didn’t intervene in the argument between the two, but pondered how she could buy her little disciple more time to grow.

Choose the Devil Sect?

Not very suitable. Unless the enemy was personally dealt with first, living in the Devil Sect would definitely make her little disciple uncomfortable.

Choose the Martial Arts Alliance?

That didn’t seem like a great choice either. When Yu Buduo first brought people over, their attitude had been far too aggressive. Not to mention the many so-called friends and fellow disciples of Lin Yuxiu there.

It seemed the best choice was neither, to strive to become an existence that both sides simultaneously coveted and feared.

Thinking this, Jing Ke couldn’t help but glance at the two who were still at odds. A slightly crazed idea flashed through her mind.

What if she took them both as hostages and kept them by her side? Could that solve two problems at once?

Jing Ke had no intention of hiding her thoughts, so the more perceptive Yin Honglian and Ye Wenxin both sensed danger approaching them and stopped their bickering in tacit understanding.

“Must I definitely choose one of the two?” Jing Ke crossed her hands on the table, seizing the initiative and welding it firmly into her own hands with a single sentence.

“We absolutely have no intention of coercing you, Jing Ke. The Devil Sect’s doors are always open to you. You are most welcome any time you come,” Yin Honglian immediately stated her position.

“The Martial Arts Alliance is the same; we will absolutely not restrict Heroine Jing’s freedom. Whenever Heroine Jing wishes to join, we are willing to welcome you with the position of Elder,” Ye Wenxin followed up.

“I have one small request now. I wonder if you two can agree to it,” Jing Ke said.

“Please speak,” Yin Honglian and Ye Wenxin said in unison.

“I wish to make my choice after my little disciple reaches her coming-of-age. Before that, I do not wish to be disturbed by anyone. Do you two understand my meaning?” Jing Ke said.

“Whether the Devil Sect or the Martial Arts Alliance, currently, neither is an existence I want to choose.” Jing Ke paused. “I have no intention of coercing you, but if I find any of your tails following me, I might consider cooperating with the Imperial Court.”

Jing Ke spoke just three sentences and smoothly made both Yin Honglian and Ye Wenxin change their expressions.

Indeed, the options before Jing Ke were never just two. If she cooperated with the Imperial Court, it would be extremely unwelcome news for both the Devil Sect and the Martial Arts Alliance.

“Please rest assured, my people will absolutely not spy on your whereabouts, Jing Ke. If anyone does, they can only be someone with ulterior motives disguised as us,” Yin Honglian said, not forgetting to sling a bucket of mud at the other side.

Ye Wenxin gave Yin Honglian a deep look, then clasped her fist towards Jing Ke and gave her own promise. “I agree on behalf of my Master. The Martial Arts Alliance will absolutely not stoop to petty tricks.”

“Then it’s settled. You two may leave now.” Having achieved her objective, Jing Ke began shooing them away.

Neither Yin Honglian nor Ye Wenxin managed to gain an advantage, but the current outcome wasn’t unacceptable. At the very least, it was much better than Jing Ke leaning towards the other side.

–

The Devil Sect’s Left Protector, the Martial Arts Alliance’s Hall Master of Vermilion Bird Hall. Both were individuals of some standing and status.

After the tripartite meeting in the tea house ended, Jing Ke clearly felt that the unfamiliar faces in Peace Offering City lessened, and the cultivation levels of the martial artists returned to their previous state.

Having smoothly resolved two major problems, Jing Ke continued raising her little disciple.

After a slightly melancholic Mid-Autumn Festival, it was almost time for the death anniversary of Squire Luo and his party.

One year’s time had allowed Luo Yuezhu significant growth. Her physique had changed, and her mind was firmer and more mature.

After paying respects to her family members one by one, Luo Yuezhu decisively handed the account books to Little Mu, who had always been by her side, making her the current head of the Luo family.

Little Mu naturally couldn’t bear to part with Luo Yuezhu, but unfortunately, she hadn’t unlocked any talent for martial arts. Even the cultivation method Jing Ke had specially selected for her only made Little Mu slightly stronger, just a tiny bit.

“Alright, I’m not leaving forever. I’m just going out with my Master to travel for a few years. During these few years I’m away, I’m leaving the home in your care.” Luo Yuezhu smiled, patting Little Mu, who was now about the same height as her.

“Young Mistress, when will you come back then?” Little Mu asked, weeping, hugging her mistress and unwilling to let go.

“That…” Luo Yuezhu couldn’t give a specific time and could only look to her Master for help.

“We’ll come back at least once a year. As for when we’ll return to settle down, I can’t say for sure either,” Jing Ke said truthfully.

According to Jing Ke’s plan, she would take her little disciple on a journey to the sect’s main grounds, stay there for about half a year, then leave when it was time for Squire Luo’s death anniversary and return for a visit.

They would continue this way until her little disciple came of age, her martial arts cultivation roughly matching Yin Honglian and Ye Wenxin. Then, she’d take her to seek revenge, letting her little disciple deal with her enemies personally, so that hatred would no longer haunt her.

–

There was no major problem with this plan. Neither Jing Ke nor Luo Yuezhu were pampered young ladies who insisted on having servants while traveling.

Luo Yuezhu, who had learned to ride in the spring, no longer shared a horse with her Master. She chose a white horse like her Master’s and officially began roaming the Jianghu.

Under Jing Ke’s repeated, firm warnings, the Devil Sect and Martial Arts Alliance dared not track their movements. But after they left, discreetly inquiring about their general direction was unavoidable.

However, this way, the information they could obtain was very limited. Once Jing Ke and Luo Yuezhu went into less populated areas, they could only run around like headless flies.

The Heavenly Derivation Sect, when it decided to go into seclusion, had actually removed everyone from the sect except the core disciples. Those who remained in the end were essentially all related by blood.

The reason the sect’s members dwindled generation by generation was simple: their desire to continue the bloodline grew fainter and fainter. Even if a newborn arrived, they wouldn’t actively teach them martial arts. Usually, they only passed down the Internal Cultivation Method when the descendants actively expressed a desire to learn.

The Sect Grounds of the Heavenly Derivation Sect were initially very large, but under the layering of one formation after another and the continuously decreasing number of disciples, by the time it was passed down to Jing Ke, it was probably only the size of an ordinary mountain.

The Sect Armory was very hidden, built into the mountainside. If one hadn’t cultivated the sect’s Internal Cultivation Method to the 6th Floor or above, then one couldn’t even open the main door of the Armory.

This was essentially a form of screening. Only disciples who could cultivate the method to the 6th Floor or higher were qualified to enter the Armory and obtain the sect’s most precious cultivation resources.

Of course, that was the earliest rule.

Ever since the Heavenly Derivation Sect began living in seclusion, those so-called unspoken rules and sect regulations were gradually forgotten. After it became a single-line succession, it went without saying—not a single rule remained.

After briefly explaining the sect’s situation to her little disciple, Jing Ke led her to the Armory, letting her see the stone door supposedly weighing one hundred thousand catties.

“Master, the pattern on this stone door… it seems similar to the one on the token,” Luo Yuezhu said, quickly unwrapping the pouch covering the jade token to reveal the Devil Sect Left Protector Token.

“It does look a bit alike.” Jing Ke looked at the token, then at the pattern on the stone door, finally realizing where that earlier sense of familiarity came from.

But so what? The decision was made when the Heavenly Derivation Sect chose to live in seclusion.

Everything in the current world has nothing to do with the Heavenly Derivation Sect. You walk your narrow log bridge; I cross my open sunlit road. Everyone just live and let live.

Seeing her Master say no more, Luo Yuezhu sensibly put the token back into the pouch, watching as her Master used Inner Energy to lift the hundred-thousand-catty stone door, revealing the Treasure Vault within.

“Ma-Master! This, this is our sect’s Armory?” Looking at the pile of gold almost stacked into a small mountain, Luo Yuezhu couldn’t help but widen her eyes.

Luo Yuezhu felt she wasn’t someone without experience. She had truly possessed one hundred thousand taels of silver before, which was equivalent to ten thousand taels of gold.

But judging by the volume of this small mountain, it didn’t seem like something just ten thousand taels of gold could cover. This had to be several hundred thousand, or even millions of taels of gold, right?

Not to mention the many antiques, calligraphy, and paintings arranged on the surrounding shelves. One look told you they were priceless. If they were all converted to gold and silver, it might be another small gold mountain.

No wonder her Master, when giving her New Year’s money, casually handed over a silver note for one thousand taels. Turns out her own sect was so incredibly wealthy!

“Yes, what’s piled on the outside is merely common wealth. The good stuff is further back.” Jing Ke led her little disciple past the gold mountain and the cultural relics, opening another hidden door with a mechanism, revealing the true sect legacy.

Inside were many cultivation secrets and manuals engraved on iron scrolls. Besides that, over a hundred divine weapons were neatly arranged on weapon racks, waiting for their next owners to claim them.

“You can change the sword you’re using too. Go pick two that you like and bring them,” Jing Ke said.

While her little disciple was choosing weapons, Jing Ke quickly rummaged through the boxes, searching for pills handcrafted by predecessors that could enhance Internal Energy Cultivation.

There it was. One bottle, three pills. Each could increase Internal Energy Cultivation by about ten years.

Her little disciple’s meridians were many times wider than an average person’s. Ten years’ worth of inner strength would probably just barely fill the meridians.

“Yuezhu, store this well.” Jing Ke stuffed the Jade Bottle into her little disciple’s hands.

“Master, what is this?” Luo Yuezhu asked what she didn’t understand.

“Something good that can improve your strength.” Jing Ke gave a simple, easy-to-understand example. “It’s the kind you’ve seen in storybooks, the kind you eat to instantly boost your cultivation.”

“Ah?” Luo Yuezhu was stunned for a moment, then asked cautiously, “Then Master, will I be able to withstand the medicinal potency? I won’t explode and die, right?”

“Hm? Do you think your Master would harm you?” Jing Ke raised an eyebrow.

“This disciple absolutely means no such thing!” Luo Yuezhu straightened her back and replied, immediately tucking the Jade Bottle into her clothes. “Master, I’ve put it away properly.”

“Good. After we eat later, you take it. I, your Master, will help you refine the inner energy,” Jing Ke said, continuing to search for other precious pills.

Universal Antidote Pill? Bring it!

Colorless, odorless Bone Softening Powder? I have a feeling there’ll be a time when it’s useful. Bring it too.

Oh ho, poison that causes guts to rot? Bring it as well.

Wandering the Jianghu, one inevitably runs into a few villains. When that happens, she’d just feed the poison to them.

Adhering to the idea that leaving things to gather dust was worse than putting them to use, Jing Ke took all the pills she found useful. She stuffed the safe, harmless medicines to her disciple and kept the poisonous ones on her own person.

After waiting for her little disciple to pick out two relatively suitable swords, Jing Ke closed the second door and studied the antiques, calligraphy, and paintings.

Using gold directly for expenses wasn’t impossible, but gold was too heavy. It was better to trade a relatively inferior calligraphy or painting for a few thousand taels of silver, and then live comfortably on that for a while.

–

Thus, with a single calligraphy painting that finally sold for four thousand five hundred sixty taels of silver, Jing Ke began a semi-reclusive life with her little disciple.

Luo Yuezhu also had the fortune to taste her Master’s astonishingly divine cooking. Every day, aside from the necessary eating, washing, and sleeping, she was either training in martial arts or training in martial arts.

Autumn passed, winter came, and years slipped by one after another.

Excluding the time taken to return home to pay respects to her family, Luo Yuezhu spent her time equally between cultivating at the Sect Grounds and traveling outside to fight opponents, each about five months.

On her little disciple’s twelfth birthday, Jing Ke personally painted a snowscape picture to gift her.

Her little disciple was overjoyed, directly hanging the painting in her own room and looking at it countless times every day.

At thirteen, Jing Ke researched for over half a month and finally hand-sewn an outer robe that was passable to give her little disciple.

Her little disciple was even happier. At first, she hugged it and refused to wear it. Only after her Master said that clothes are made to be worn did she carefully put on the outer robe.

Once wearing it, she couldn’t help wanting to show off. She specifically accompanied her Master on a trip to a nearby County Town to buy supplies. Whenever someone praised the clothes on her body for looking beautiful, the corners of her little disciple’s mouth couldn’t help but curl high.

When her little disciple turned fourteen, Jing Ke, as her Master, didn’t know what to give anymore. In the end, she rolled up her sleeves and forged a set of Hidden Weapons to gift her.

Along with teaching her little disciple how to coat the hidden weapons with poison. This way, even if the hidden weapon didn’t hit the enemy’s vital point, it could still make them drop dead within moments.

Her little disciple listened in a daze, feeling that such methods were slightly dishonorable, but then she thought again and felt her Master’s words were particularly reasonable.

Mercy to an enemy is cruelty to your own people. If the other side already wants to kill you, why can’t you use a few reliable little tricks?

In the blink of an eye, it was time for her little disciple’s fifteenth birthday, her coming-of-age.

Although in Jing Ke’s eyes, her little disciple, even at fifteen, was still just a little kid, a whole three years away from eighteen and adulthood.

But in this current era and society, a girl at fifteen was already at the age to marry and bear children. Once she came of age, she was considered an adult capable of taking on responsibilities.

Jing Ke also knew this, so she pondered the idea of returning to Peace Offering City to hold a coming-of-age ceremony for her little disciple.

But in the end, her little disciple refused, making only one request: that her Master help her comb her hair and change it to a hairstyle representing an adult.

This kind of request, Jing Ke naturally wouldn’t refuse. After simply practicing a few times in her room using her own head, she smoothly combed her little disciple’s hair on the day of her fifteenth birthday.

As for the gift for the fifteenth birthday, Jing Ke felt her little disciple seemed to lack nothing now.

Paintings, clothes, weapons—she had already gifted all these to her little disciple. And her little disciple’s height had gone from just reaching her shoulder to reaching the bridge of her nose. She should probably not need childish little gifts anymore, right?

After thinking seriously for a while, Jing Ke finally thought of what to gift.

For her little disciple’s fifteenth birthday, she would gift her fifteen years’ worth of her own Inner Strength!

What a perfect number and symbolism. Simply perfect!