Chapter 73: Physical Training (Part 4): A Knife to the Heart

Xie Mei never expected her to say that. She fell silent for a moment before replying, “The sect master’s order is not easy to refuse.”

That meant it could be refused. Mu Qian Tan pushed the girl a little closer, like offering a treasure to a greedy person, dazzling her eyes.

“The sect master saw that I was weak after my injury and hadn’t recovered yet, so he asked you all to help out. But he only mentioned supervision—he didn’t force you to arrange things for me personally. I know my own constitution best, so it would be more suitable for me to explore and develop my exercise methods myself.

Knowing how much she valued rules, Mu Qian Tan emphasized, “This will be the best method after the two of us discuss it. The purpose is the same as the original one, so you wouldn’t be disobeying any orders.”

Xie Mei’s expression remained unchanged, her eyes narrowing slightly as if she wavered. Mu Qian Tan pressed her advantage. “Moreover, I’m not boasting, but my disciple’s talent is no less than that child Qin He’s. Don’t you really want to give it a try? If you miss this village, there won’t be this shop.”

Finally, she landed a heavy blow. “After all, it’s well known that the Immortal’s luck with disciples has never been great.”

She had finally gotten a little revenge for yesterday’s cold glare.

Xie Mei: “…..”

Her gaze shifted downward to the girl, who looked utterly bewildered, and she gripped her whisk a little tighter.

Ever since the Civil and Martial Trials, Xie Mei had taken a great liking to this disciple. She believed the girl had good character and was highly malleable—a true talent worth guiding. But after learning her name and background, Xie Mei recognized her as someone else’s disciple and couldn’t interfere with her upbringing. She could only hold back, enduring it to the point of internal injury, even cursing Yao’e for being inhuman in the dead of night.

Heaven knew how itchy and stifled she felt, watching this radiant jade treasure shine brightly yet unable to carve it herself—especially seeing it squandered and wasted by others!

Now, the opportunity had presented itself right in front of her. Though it was only for a month, it was impossible to refuse.

Besides, that woman Yao’e was right—this didn’t violate the sect master’s intentions at all.

Since both sides were willing, there was no need to make things difficult for each other. Xie Mei relented. “Since it doesn’t violate any orders, then we’ll do as you say.”

She mounted her immortal crane and returned to the mountaintop. Shang Shan was still dazed and fuzzy-headed, on the verge of saying something when Mu Qian Tan shot her a warning look and earnestly advised, “Practice well with the Jade-Selecting Immortal. That’s the whole reason I brought you up the mountain.”

Shang Shan raised her voice. “Is that how it is?”

Mu Qian Tan lied through her teeth with a straight face. “Yes, so don’t disappoint my expectations.”

With that, she left dashingly and floated back to her bedroom for a good nap.

She had gotten up too early that morning, and her eyelids kept fighting. She had wanted to catch a quick nap on that Brain-Damaged Dragon’s back, but then she ran into Xie Mei losing her mind. Still, it worked out—sleeping in bed now was even steadier.

Though that Brain-Damaged Dragon’s back had been pretty steady too.

After her nap, Mu Qian Tan rubbed her legs for a bit and went out to the courtyard to check.

Winter bleakness filled the courtyard, blanketed in silver frost. Amid the vast whiteness, two figures stood facing each other. Shang Shan was holding a horse stance with an Ice Apple balanced on her head. Another Ice Apple sat on a tree trunk ten steps ahead. She tensed her fingers and gripped hard, as if trying to condense a ball of spiritual power in her palm. But she lacked the proper technique, and the golden spiritual energy scattered the moment it left her hand.

The whisk seemed to have grown a size larger as it floated beside Xie Mei. With a light slide of two fingers, a strand of white whisk hair shot out suddenly and whipped the girl’s thigh—not hard, just a reminder. “Standardize your posture. Condense your qi and gather your power.”

Shang Shan puffed out her chest, drawing cold air in through her lips and teeth and holding it in her chest. Her stance grew steadier, and she hooked her fingertips with force, but her attempt to condense spiritual power failed once more.

Seeing this, Xie Mei extended her right hand. Her knuckles were long and pale, slightly emaciated like winter twigs. Her five fingers bulged faintly as a white whirlwind swirled out from her palm. It condensed into a white shortsword that suddenly shattered, then reformed into a knife, then scattered into spikes.

It was clearly formed from seemingly soft spiritual power, yet the sharp edges gleamed with reflected light, making it clear just how razor-sharp it was.

“Among cultivators, very few obtain a handy tool or weapon right at the start of their practice. Therefore, the most reliable thing is this palm-held weapon—spiritual power forming. This should be the entry-level technique for everyone who possesses spiritual power.”

With a light wave of her hand, the sharp construct shot out and shattered the Ice Apple on the tree into fragments. “You’ve been in the sect for half a year, leaping from a mere mortal to a cultivator with all five qi apertures open. Your talent truly doesn’t fall short of Qin He’s, just as your master said.”

Shang Shan’s smile hadn’t even fully formed when she heard Xie Mei continue, “She went out of her way to take you for qi aperture opening repeatedly, which shows how much she cares about you. Yet she never taught you even this move—Yao’e’s way of doing things has always been so incomprehensible.”

Shang Shan shook out her hand. “My master is still very impressive. Let me try again. I can definitely do it.”

Xie Mei said, “No need to rush. With your talent, mastering this technique is only a matter of time.”

Over there, she continued explaining the key points of gathering power. Mu Qian Tan overheard a few snippets before leaving expressionlessly. She sat cross-legged on the edge of her bed, raised her palm, recalled what Xie Mei had said, and tried to condense spiritual power in her palm. Like Shang Shan, she failed spectacularly.

As she kept practicing, she lost track of time. Shang Shan came to call her for a meal—it was already noon.

They went to the dining hall together for lunch. Instead of napping, they headed back to the courtyard to practice. Mu Qian Tan took a short nap before going out to exercise. Compared to the first day, the intensity wasn’t high. She stopped right at her physical limits and returned to her room to rest.

During her break, she tried the palm-held weapon again. She followed every step exactly as Xie Mei had described, yet she still couldn’t get the hang of it. She couldn’t even condense her spiritual power into anything substantial.

It was like fiddling with a high-order Rubik’s Cube. It looked like a simple game of matching colors, but only once you tried it yourself did you realize the difficulty.

It wasn’t until dusk crept in that Mu Qian Tan managed to align just the bottom layer’s edges. She still couldn’t condense her spiritual power.

She normally used it so smoothly that she thought she was pretty good at it. She had assumed cultivation had no barriers. What she hadn’t realized was that she had lucked into a body already brimming with abundant spiritual power the moment she arrived—that was an enormous advantage.

It was like a weak child wielding a sword that could kill. The true power came not from the child, but from the sword itself. If a swordmaster held it, no amount of power in the child’s sword would matter.

Upon entering this xianxia world, she had skipped the most grueling foundational phase. She was born with considerable ability, so she had never delved deeply into it.

Only now did she realize how much she didn’t know. Cultivation was far more complex than she had imagined. No wonder those hall masters were stronger than her—many of the issues stemmed from right here.

Arrogance could destroy a person. She couldn’t get complacent just because she had killed a few demons. She had already suffered the consequences; from now on, she needed to settle down and study basic techniques.

She closed her eyes, then opened them. She got out of bed, ran a few laps, came back, and performed a set of Eight Brocades. After practicing a few moves, a thin layer of sweat covered her body, and dusk had fallen. She ate dinner, practiced a bit more until her muscles ached unbearably, then bathed and went to rest.

As she lay in bed, she wanted to fall asleep early, but she felt no drowsiness at all. She sat up and tried condensing spiritual power again. The room was unlit, and blue light flickered across her face, but it never took shape.

She had practiced all day without grasping even the basics. Mu Qian Tan felt a little discouraged, but she was good at comforting herself and quickly perked up. This wasn’t supposed to be easy in the first place—who succeeded on the first try? She just needed to keep trying a few more times.

She threw back the covers, about to lie down again, when knocking footsteps sounded outside the door. Shang Shan burst in energetically, holding something that gave off a thick, savory aroma. “Master! Master!”

She was probably too excited and forgot that her master might be sleeping. She only remembered to lower her voice after entering the room. Seeing the cold-faced woman still awake in the night, she rushed over happily. “Master, quick, look! Lotus Leaf Chicken—the Immortal rewarded it to me. I brought it to share with you!”

She sat on the floor by the bed and offered up what she held. It was a deep green lotus leaf peeled open, revealing a glistening, honey-gold roast chicken inside. The fragrance assaulted the senses—like an aroma bomb exploding like thunder in the quiet, serene night.

After two days of vegetarian food, Mu Qian Tan naturally couldn’t refuse the roast chicken, though she maintained a bit of poise and gave her a glance first.

For training, the girl had tied up her wide robe’s sleeves with straps for a light Dawn Robe that fit close and conveniently. Her long, curly hair was tied back with Red Satin. From nonstop practice, her cheeks were flushed red, making her pale skin look even more translucent. Her eyes sparkled bright as if freshly washed, full of vibrant energy.

Mu Qian Tan couldn’t find any flaws, so she said, “You just finished training—didn’t you go bathe? You’re all sweaty.”

Shang Shan let out an “oh,” looked down at herself, and said, “Jade-Selecting Immortal just gave me this one, but she told me not to eat it in the temple or dining hall—anywhere else is fine. So I came to find you. I figured we both haven’t had meat in forever. You must want some too.”

Xie Mei really doted on her. Mu Qian Tan herself couldn’t stand rich foods, yet Xie Mei was willing to buy this roast chicken for her. People called her rigid and pedantic, but when it came to rewards, she didn’t cling to rules.

Mu Qian Tan lowered her gaze and pursed her lips slightly before turning her head to look out the window. “Where’s ‘forever’? Do you remember we’ve only been here two days?”

Shang Shan said, “Only two days? Now that you mention it, I feel it. When I was hungry, I thought I’d already lived here a whole month…. I nearly gnawed all the trees in this temple bald. Jade-Selecting Immortal won’t blame me, right?”

“She will blame you. She’ll even punish you.” Mu Qian Tan deliberately scared her, her faint gaze settling back on the girl’s face. “This Lotus Leaf Chicken is your reward?”

Shang Shan grinned from ear to ear and nodded wildly, cradling the chicken in her left hand. “Yeah!”

Mu Qian Tan could guess it came from admiration, so she casually asked, “What did you do to earn a reward?”

Shang Shan raised her right hand. Golden spiritual energy surged at her fingertips and condensed into a gleaming golden spiritual power dagger. “Because I learned the palm-held weapon today! Jade-Selecting Immortal was so surprised. She said I was great, and when she heard my stomach growling, she went and bought this for me. She said I need balanced nutrition. Oh, and today she used Ice Apples to teach me…”

The girl happily shared her achievements of the day, completely oblivious to the mood of the person on the bed.

The dagger’s tip pierced the roast chicken, slicing through the crispy skin and letting out a flow of liquid—whether blood or oil, who could say.

Mu Qian Tan wasn’t sure if it was her imagination, but suddenly that Lotus Leaf Chicken smelled utterly revolting, impossible to look at directly.

To avoid it, she fixed her gaze on the slender spiritual power dagger slicing into the chicken meat. Her robe hem draped down from the bed’s edge like a frozen river.