Chapter 37#
Chapter Thirty-Seven#
After Wan Yurǎo finished speaking, she stepped aside. Xue Jingci followed her inside, opening a jade slip to check as he walked. He discovered that the task everyone was busy with was actually the upcoming Master-Disciple Ceremony.
Her body was as soft as a snake, leaning against the bamboo chair as if she had no bones. She casually tossed a precious green jade tobacco pipe onto the table and said, “The fields of Medicine Peak are infested with pests again, and everyone has been called away. I’ve just stayed up for several days and nights; I don’t have time to deal with you.”
Xue Jingci was about to check the registers himself when he heard Wan Yurǎo burst into curses.
“Damn it, these inner sect disciples do nothing but cultivate! They don’t do anything else!”
She spoke harshly, but the others were long used to it and ignored her. In fact, many felt the same way, only wishing they had such a sharp tongue themselves.
Wan Yurǎo cursed for a while before finally climbing out of her chair. Seeing Xue Jingci still standing there, she tossed him a pest control formula and told him to follow the jade slip to handle the matter.
After speaking, without caring if Xue Jingci knew what to do, she turned and left.
The Hall of All Affairs was the treasury of the entire sect. Daily needs and the expenses of each peak had to be calculated clearly. Even for a bottle of insect repellent, verification was required. The work was incredibly tedious.
Xue Jingci had just arrived and was busy for most of the day, only returning to his own courtyard at sunset.
From a distance, he saw Lin Heng huddled by the railing in a corner of the water pavilion, biting into a rice cake.
Crumbs of the rice cake fell into the lotus pond, instantly causing the fish to swarm and fight for the food.
Seeing Xue Jingci, Lin Heng showed a guilty expression.
Noticing his strange behavior, Xue Jingci walked over and asked, “What’s wrong?”
Lin Heng stammered, his gaze falling on Shu Mo not far away, and gave an awkward, fake smile.
Guanzi was nearby chopping meat. Seeing this, he slammed the kitchen knife onto the cutting board: “Can’t you tell? Those two have a grudge.”
Lin Heng looked horrified and asked him, “Did he tell you?”
Guanzi rolled his eyes: “Does he need to? Even a blind person can see it.”
Hearing it wasn’t Shu Mo who told him, Lin Heng breathed a sigh of relief and desperately winked at Guanzi: “It happened so long ago, don’t mention it again. Maybe he’s already forgotten…”
“I haven’t forgotten.”
A gloomy voice suddenly rang out. Shu Mo stood behind Lin Heng like a ghost, using a broom to sweep away the crumbs on the ground, muttering like a piece of wood.
“In the 981st year of the Heavenly Gate, on the 15th day of the 7th month, at the Hour of the Rabbit, Sword Peak disciple Lin Heng sent fifty-seven people to dump all the fallen leaves on the mountain onto the stone steps, ordered me to sweep them again, and threw stones at me.”
Though his tone was flat and emotionless, Lin Heng felt a chill.
There was actually someone in this world who could remember a grudge down to the exact hour!
He defended himself in a small voice, “I… I only told them to throw the leaves. I didn’t tell them to throw stones at you. They did that themselves!”
“Oh.”
Shu Mo didn’t even lift his eyelids. He lightly stepped around Lin Heng and accurately grabbed the system on the ground, saying expressionlessly, “It’s dirty.”
With that, he picked up the small cat, which hadn’t yet come to its senses, and headed to the pond to wash it.
The system had been playing all day and was covered in mud. Knowing it was about to be bathed, it desperately meowed to Xue Jingci for help.
Xue Jingci looked down at his own cloud-white sleeves, thought for a moment, and didn’t move, watching helplessly as Shu Mo carried the kitten away.
Thinking of the dirt all over the system, it really was a bit dirty.
Lin Heng stared at the tightly bound kitten being dipped into the water, feeling as if his own throat was being constricted.
He looked at Xue Jingci and said guiltily, “I just saw him acting like a stone and wanted to tease him. I didn’t mean to bully…”
Xue Jingci interrupted him: “You should say that to Shu Mo.”
Lin Heng began to regret his past actions. Thinking of the troublesome things he used to do, he squeezed his rice cake and whispered, “But I don’t think he’ll forgive me.”
Xue Jingci looked at him with some confusion: “Your apology is your business. Why must he forgive you?”
Lin Heng was momentarily speechless. After a moment, he said, “But if he doesn’t forgive me, what’s the point of my apology?”
Xue Jingci thought for a bit and said, “How should I know?”
Xiao Xun happened to come over at that moment, handing a piece of white paper to Xue Jingci: “I’ve checked the courtyard again. These are the missing items. Master, please see if they are complete.”
After speaking, he looked at Lin Heng and asked with a smile, “We still need to tidy up the courtyard today. Why not join us?”
Lin Heng, holding his half-eaten sugar cake, immediately felt deep regret.
If he had said two fewer words earlier, he would have finished eating and left by now, avoiding any work.
But seeing Xiao Xun staring at him, he felt too embarrassed to have eaten for free and reluctantly agreed.
Despite his thoughts, Lin Heng wasn’t lazy when he worked.
He had been in the inner sect for a long time and had been a leader since childhood, always surrounded by followers. Naturally, he rarely did chores like cleaning a courtyard.
Lin Heng had no choice but to follow Xue Jingci. Whenever he saw Xue Jingci do something, he immediately reached out to do it first.
Guanzi went to the kitchen early. Only Shu Mo followed Xiao Xun at a leisurely pace to the other side of the courtyard.
After nightfall, a strong wind suddenly rose, making the lotus leaves rustle loudly.
Soon, a torrential rain began, showing no sign of stopping. Xue Jingci looked at Lin Heng and signaled for him to follow him back to the central water pavilion to rest.
Lin Heng was so tired he was about to collapse, vowing never to come again. But when he smelled the aroma of food, his eyes instantly lit up.
The dishes were very exquisite, even more delicious than what he had seen in the Southern Province of the lower realm.
The most interesting dish was the “Lotus Seed Pod Tofu.” The tofu and minced meat were pressed into the shape of a lotus pod, with seven green beans evenly sprinkled on the surface, echoing the lotus pond outside the pavilion.
Lin Heng looked at Guanzi and remarked with emotion, “You must have been a great chef in the lower realm.”
Guanzi smiled, puffed out his chest, and began to boast: “Of course. My family has been imperial chefs for generations. For several generations of the royal family, no matter the princess or prince, they had to show some respect to my grandfather.”
Lin Heng’s eyes lit up: “So you’re that amazing!”
The more they talked, the hungrier Lin Heng felt. He was about to secretly pick up his chopsticks, but seeing that Xue Jingci hadn’t moved, he withdrew his hand and sat properly. After a moment, Shu Mo returned alone.
He asked, “Why isn’t Xiao Xun with you?”
Shu Mo glanced at him and said, “He’s busy.”
Lin Heng shook his head: “What could be more important than eating? Come, I’ll go find him with you.”
Shu Mo shook his head: “I’m not going.”
Xue Jingci glanced at the sky, stood up, and said, “I’ll go with you.”
The two of them walked along the wooden bridge to the back of a house and finally found Xiao Xun.
He was busy swinging his sword to cut wood, quickly building a wooden pavilion on the spot to protect the flowers and plants underneath.
The rain was heavy. Xue Jingci had only recently planted those flowers and plants; their roots weren’t stable and could easily be washed away by the rain.
Having followed Xue Jingci all afternoon, Lin Heng had already intuitively learned to look for work. He quickly drew his sword to help.
But before he could take a few steps, he heard a thunderous roar.
The rocks above Xiao Xun were washed by the rain, and several patches of soil suddenly collapsed.
In an instant, a large rock hit his shoulder.
Although he had activated his spiritual energy for protection in time, he was still recovering from a long illness, so his movements were a second too slow. His arm throbbed with pain from the jagged stone.
Xue Jingci leaped to his side. With a flash of sword light, all the falling boulders were split into fragments.
He pulled back Xiao Xun’s sleeve and saw his arm was red and swollen, and he couldn’t help but frown.
Lin Heng’s reaction was a bit slower, and only then did he catch up. He really couldn’t imagine such a thing happening within the sect.
The upper realm was mountainous, and arrays were set up around all the mountains. Such an incident would only occur if the spiritual energy of the array stones was exhausted, and Xiao Xun just happened to run into it.
This person was truly too unlucky.
Xue Jingci’s fair and slender fingers gripped Xiao Xun’s arm.
His fingers were extremely cold, and the cold jade-like sensation from the touch rushed to Xiao Xun’s brain through his fingertips.
Xiao Xun stared intently at Xue Jingci, only to see him press down hard on the swollen area.
Sharp pain surged, catching Xiao Xun off guard and nearly making him cry out.
But Xue Jingci held him firmly, his cold fingers quickly kneading a few times, and said calmly, “The bone isn’t damaged.”
Reasonably, Xue Jingci should have been relieved, but as he thought about it carefully, it seemed that from the beginning of their acquaintance, Xiao Xun had suffered constant minor injuries and frequent major ones, which truly worried him.
His task was to take in disciples and guide their cultivation. If Xiao Xun was always getting injured like this, it would inevitably damage his foundation.
Being so close, Xiao Xun naturally saw the worried expression on Xue Jingci’s face.
Seeing that Xue Jingci was genuinely worried about him, he felt a bit stifled in his heart. He coaxed him gently, “Don’t worry, it’s just a small injury. It’s nothing; I’m used to it.”
After speaking, seeing that Xue Jingci still frowned in silence, he joked again to cheer him up.
“I used to be even unluckier. I was sitting perfectly fine on a boat when suddenly a big hole appeared, and I fell into the water with a splash.”
Xiao Xun patted Xue Jingci’s arm and stood up. The group returned to the dining table and finally began to eat.
Lin Heng asked curiously, “You said you fell into the water. Is that true?”
Seeing that Xue Jingci was still frowning, Xiao Xun intentionally continued with playful words to amuse him.
“Of course it’s true. There was another time I went out to gather herbs. Everyone else was fine, but I was chased by hornets for miles. Finally, I jumped into the water and got poked in the butt by something.”
“When I pulled it out, it turned out to be a piece of wood. I don’t know who was so wicked as to throw a broken window frame into the river.”
Hearing this, Guanzi thought to himself that some people really were so unlucky they’d choke on water. He laughed loudly and said, “They say after suffering comes happiness. Someone like you is bound to have great fortune in the future.”
Xiao Xun nodded, and after a long while, he said softly, “Never mind the future, now is already very good.”
After speaking, he looked up at Xue Jingci, only to see that Xue Jingci was looking at him, seemingly lost in thought, and hadn’t heard his words. Thinking he was still unhappy, Xiao Xun comfortingly placed some food into his bowl.
He didn’t know that at this very moment, the world in Xue Jingci’s eyes was completely different from others'.
The entire world had turned grey and white; all colors had vanished.
Only on Xiao Xun’s body were two mists, one black and one red, intertwined and fighting each other, inseparable.