Chapter 20: Cultivation (4) Part 3

The girl laughed even more happily. “No, Senior Sister. On the contrary, you’ve been grabbing the same person every single time!”

Yun Jinxue was startled. No way—could it be that the one with strange outfits every day was the same person?

Hearing this, Yun Jinxue suddenly felt this sobbing boy was somewhat familiar. She asked uncertainly, “Are you…”

“His name is Wang Kaiji!”

The girl said enthusiastically, “My name is Sui Xin! You don’t know, Senior Sister, but every time you stop him to ask questions, next time he changes his outfit, praying you won’t see him and will ask someone else. But you still grab him every time.”

“He’s afraid he won’t be able to answer, so he stays up late memorizing every night, soaking his pillow with tears. So pitiful, hahaha!”

Sui Xin said “pitiful” but held her stomach laughing without restraint, her two little braids bouncing behind her head, tied with a few butterfly ribbons that seemed ready to take flight.

Yun Jinxue was slightly dazed. Could there really be such a coincidence—grabbing the same person every time?

But young man, if you really didn’t want to be discovered, you should have minimized your presence and passed by silently and unobtrusively. I definitely wouldn’t see you.

Why make yourself so strange every time? What kind of logic is that?

Still, she couldn’t blame herself for not recognizing who this boy was at first glance. Kids this age practically changed day by day. The first time, he hadn’t even reached her waist. Now he was nearly at her chest.

Wang Kaiji wept harder and harder, looking truly wronged to the extreme. Reciting every night until late—no wonder his dark circles were so thick.

Yun Jinxue felt her sins were practically mountainous. She wanted to give him a piece of candy but only found a steamed bun when reaching into her robes.

“…Ah,” Yun Jinxue pressed her lips together, forcing out, “Stop crying. Senior Sister will give you something good.”

Wang Kaiji was still crying fiercely. Only when Sui Xin elbowed him did he slowly stop, his eyes red.

Yun Jinxue pulled out that steamed bun. “This thing—it’s really great.”

Sui Xin raised her hand. “Senior Sister! I know this. It’s called a steamed bun.”

Seeing the boy about to cry again, sweat beaded on Yun Jinxue’s forehead. She hastily added, “Correct, it’s a steamed bun. But not just any steamed bun. This one is different from all others.”

Wang Kaiji was a bit curious, sniffling. “What’s… different?”

Yun Jinxue said seriously, “It’s wild.”

Little villain, I’m borrowing your excuse.

Sui Xin was utterly astounded. “There’s such a thing! New knowledge! Noted.”

Saying this, she actually started writing it down on paper with a brush, sizing it up with a thumb measurement—looking like she was about to sketch the bun.

Yun Jinxue quickly stuffed the bun into Wang Kaiji’s arms. “Just like that. Wild steamed buns are even more formidable than regular cultivated buns. They can bring good luck and make your cultivation path smooth and unimpeded from now on.”

Wang Kaiji sniffed and looked up. “Senior Sister, really?”

This “Senior Sister” was called so pitiably, Yun Jinxue’s heart trembled. She could only steel herself. “Yes. Believe me. You’ll become a very powerful cultivator!”

Sui Xin squeezed over. “Senior Sister! What about me? What about me?”

Yun Jinxue patted her head, smiling. “You too.”

Now Wang Kaiji finally stopped crying. Holding the steamed bun, he smiled.

Silly children are so easy to coax!

Unable to bear this scene, Yun Jinxue made excuses that she was still busy and hurriedly left.

When she returned to the mountain top, Yun Jinxue was still marveling at the coincidence when she saw the little villain sprawled by the water vat, a lotus leaf on her head. “Where did Senior Sister go?”

The breath-holding practice Yun Jinxue had arranged for them was combined with environmental adaptation.

Cultivators often needed to go out to capture demons, and water areas were where demonic creatures frequently appeared. So they needed to adapt to staying in water for long periods. Breath-holding was the same principle.

Yun Jinxue’s training method was squatting in a water vat about a meter deep, wearing a lotus leaf on the head, disguised as a stationary aquatic plant.

Yan Guixing was still honestly squatting in her vat, blowing a string of bubbles as a greeting to her Senior Sister.

Yun Jinxue approached and tapped the little villain’s forehead. “Why are you out already?”

Jiang Yanyu bit on a shred of lotus leaf. “Soaking in water is boring.”

Yun Jinxue said, “Cultivation is dull and tedious to begin with. The key is perseverance. How can you be so negligent?”

Jiang Yanyu said, “I’m not being negligent. I’m just very focused on certain aspects. For example, I focus on training my hands and waist.”

Yun Jinxue asked, “Why train those specifically?”

Jiang Yanyu grinned, about to say something else, when her movements halted suddenly. She seemed to have spotted someone and sank back into the water with the lotus leaf on her head.

Puzzled, Yun Jinxue turned and saw an unexpected person beneath the tree in the courtyard.

White beard and hair, thin and gaunt, clad in a tattered gray robe, eyes yellow and cloudy—an old man like a handful of dried bones.

His gaze was clearly muddled, yet it pierced with the sharpness of a vulture, like a sharp thorn jabbing into one’s body, extremely discomforting.

Yun Jinxue’s heart raced. If not for the little villain’s reaction, she wouldn’t have noticed anyone approaching at all.

She was about to ask who it was when she realized: if this was someone the original host knew, opening her mouth would expose her.

She hurriedly sought help from the System. Who is this?

Mi Ba said: What who—holy crap, that scared me. Who’s this old thing?

Yun Jinxue: …Were you slacking off just now?

Nothing had happened for two years. Most of the time, the System also went off to play whenever it wanted, unable to detect visitors immediately.

Mi Ba said: I was not, ahem. Wait, let me look… Ah, found it. This person is your father.

Yun Jinxue: What??

Mi Ba said: Your father, Yun Ding.

Yun Jinxue looked at him again, somewhat shocked. Wasn’t Yun Ding the Sect Leader of the Divine Zenith Sect? Why did he look like this?

Sensing his daughter’s shock and uncertainty, Yun Ding gave no sign. He only spoke in a deep, heavy voice. “How has your cultivation been progressing lately?”

The voice was like a rough, clumsy saw cutting wood—dry and grating, as if he hadn’t spoken in a long time.

They probably hadn’t seen each other for a while. No basic pleasantries, straight to checking studies? Too impersonal.

But since he was her old father, Yun Jinxue felt a bit more at ease. At least it wasn’t someone dangerous.

“It has been progressing steadily.”

To be exact, she was merely slowly trying to master some skills the Senior Sister originally had, getting more accustomed to this body. There was some improvement, but probably not in Yun Ding’s eyes.

The person originally standing beneath the tree vanished instantly, leaving only an afterimage. The next time she saw him, he was already right in front of her.

Her wrist was seized by two clamp-like fingers. Yun Jinxue’s heart pounded fiercely.

He was very close. She could smell the suffocating, rusty stench of someone who’d soaked in the same place for too long.

After failing to subdue the War Devil [Yuetang], he’d been in closed-door cultivation most of the time. Many sect matters fell to the Vice Sect Leader and the Elders.

Unbearable pressure for so long, plus the torment of his heart’s troubles—suffering day and night without respite—he’d tortured himself into this state.

By age, he should still be quite young.

Yun Ding withdrew his hand, his gaze cold and severe. Though he said nothing, he’d already conveyed his meaning: disappointment with her current level of cultivation.

They stared at each other for a moment. It was only when Yun Jinxue couldn’t bear the pressure and lowered her gaze that Yun Ding said, “In your heart, do you regard the elimination of devils as the most important thing?”

Yun Jinxue thought: Of course not. The most important thing to me is going home.

But outwardly, she said, “Your daughter’s lifelong conviction is the elimination of devils.”

Two strings of gurgling bubbles rose from the vat. The little villain was laughing.

Yun Ding swept a glance over, shielding her. “Who’s there?”

Yun Jinxue said, “Two handyman disciples I took in. I’m training them.”

Yun Ding said discontentedly, “You have leisure time for this?”

The man was simply impossible to chat with. Was this even her real father? Yun Jinxue, raised in a harmonious family, found it unimaginable.

Taking a deep breath, Yun Jinxue said, “Your daughter realizes her mistake.”

Facing unreasonable parents, just admitting fault was the right way to go!

Yun Ding also seemed to realize it was inappropriate. Having not seen each other for so long, it shouldn’t be such an opening. But he’d secluded himself for so long that he’d long lost normal social interaction. His sluggish mind couldn’t conjure words to ease the atmosphere.

He could only rack his brain, fishing out a novel thing he’d heard on his way to the Sword Summit.

He was silent for a long while, then shifted gears and said, “I just heard some disciples discussing you.”

The Senior Sister was a hot topic—no surprise there. Probably the usual praise: peerless immortal grace, honorable and righteous character, etc.

Yun Jinxue said casually, “Discussing what?”

Yun Ding hesitated for a moment, as if he himself couldn’t quite believe the words he was about to utter. Still, he said, “Saying that the Senior Sister steals class schedules.”

Bubbles rose from both vats.

Yun Jinxue: “… Huh?”

Stealing class schedules? Since when did she steal class schedules? She’d only been grabbing someone once in a while to ask about class topics! Oh, and grabbing the same person every time. How had that evolved into stealing class schedules? So rumors truly were unreliable!

Yun Ding also thought it was impossible. “Perhaps there’s been a misunderstanding.”

Yun Jinxue wiped sweat from her brow. “Yes, a misunderstanding.”

The vats continued bubbling. Yun Jinxue thought: Laugh, keep laughing. I’ll settle with you two little rascals later.

They fell silent again. Yun Ding seemed to have nothing else to say. He pondered for a moment, then spoke with earnest gravity.

“You must focus single-mindedly on cultivation. The sect will be yours sooner or later. You must lead the Righteous Path and ultimately eliminate all the world’s devil beings.”

Yun Jinxue thought: Don’t you worry, old father. The sect belongs to the one in the right vat—the female lead. And I’m locked up in the little villain’s prison on the left. This world’s future is arranged inside those two vats already.

She still said respectfully, “Your daughter understands.”

Hearing this, Yun Ding turned to face the stone steps. A great wind blew, billowing his sleeves, snapping and rustling.

After a long moment, he said, “Take good care of that wound.”

Yun Jinxue was about to reply when the old man, who’d appeared like a specter, vanished just as abruptly.

Jiang Yanyu surfaced from the vat. “Was that the Sect Leader?”

“Yes.”

Having been reprimanded by her father in front of two vats and having her covert two-year operation exposed, Yun Jinxue’s face couldn’t help but lose a bit of its composure. She had to quickly find an excuse to reclaim her Senior Sister dignity.

Coincidentally, there was a score she’d been meaning to settle with them. Might as well lump it all together.

Yun Jinxue walked to a shrub in the corner of the courtyard, broke off a pliable branch, tested its sting against her palm, then walked back.

Jiang Yanyu watched her, puzzled. “What’s Senior Sister doing?”

Yun Jinxue said, “You two—get out of the vats right now. I have a matter to punish you for.”

Yan Guixing climbed out of the vat wearing her lotus leaf, dripping water everywhere. She looked pitifully adorable.

Jiang Yanyu also climbed out. “What did we do wrong?”

Two years had passed. The little ones had grown, becoming much prettier. The innately steady and noble little female lead, even in a sorry state, was now even more elegantly ethereal. Her face and figure, even in disarray, remained gracefully extraordinary.

And the little villain—still long-limbed and tall. It seemed she could already glimpse, in those features, the arrogant presence of the future Number One Deviant Cultivator Under Heaven.

Yun Jinxue bent the branch. “Didn’t I require you to kill two wild chickens every day?”

Jiang Yanyu said, “I’ve killed enough.”

Yun Jinxue said, “Indeed you have. But far too many. The chickens on this mountain are nearly extinct because of you.”

She turned to the other. “And Guixing, you actually haven’t been able to catch any chickens every day, right? But each time, you let them go. Yes or no?”

Yan Guixing lowered her head and said in a tiny voice, “I’m sorry, Immortal Lord.”

“Thus,” Yun Jinxue reclaimed her Senior Sister’s authority, “I’m punishing Guixing for refusing to kill chickens and Yanyu for killing too many.”

Jiang Yanyu eyed the thin branch, figuring hitting someone with it wouldn’t hurt much. “Fine, punish us then. Where will you hit?”

Yun Jinxue smiled. “Your bottoms.”