Chapter 9#
Chapter 9#
The commotion between the two attracted almost everyone’s attention, and they swarmed over to watch.
Seeing Xue Jingci silent, they secretly wondered if this person was truly as He Jiang said—a fool attempting to cling to Xie Zheng?
The whispers from the outside did not interrupt Xue Jingci’s thoughts. He remembered what Xu Wang had said about Xie Zheng’s new master being domineering; perhaps Xie Zheng’s days in the sect were not easy either.
Xue Jingci looked at He Jiang and asked calmly, “Did he say those words personally?”
“You wish.”
He Jiang spat and curled his lip. “Senior Brother Xie is currently preparing for secluded cultivation; how could he have time to deal with a scoundrel like you?”
Having said that, he swaggered away.
The System arched its back, baring its teeth and growling at He Jiang with a series of meows.
Xue Jingci listened to it cursing. When it eventually started cursing Xie Zheng, he helplessly rubbed its head and motioned for it to follow him away.
Once the two left the martial arts arena, the System finally realized that no matter how much it cursed, the person high up in the inner sect couldn’t hear a bit of it, so it slumped its head in discouragement.
“Host, are you very sad right now?”
Xue Jingci shook his head and said beyond doubt, “Many people in this world flatter the high and mighty, but I believe Xie Zheng is not that kind of person.”
The System didn’t know what to say for a moment. It jumped to the host’s feet and reached out a paw to give a comforting pat.
Two dark paw prints were instantly left on the snow-white Dharma robe.
The System retracted its paw awkwardly. Xue Jingci, however, was pensive and pulled a slip of paper from his robes.
Having been busy without a moment’s rest these past few days, he had nearly forgotten that today was the day to pick up his disciple uniform from the Heavenly Garments Pavilion.
It happened that this Dharma robe was a bit worn from the sun. The disciple uniform had a beautiful style and many engraved arrays, which suited him well.
Xue Jingci walked quickly toward the Heavenly Garments Pavilion. After handing over the slip of paper, he soon received the disciple uniform and a class schedule.
He looked down and immediately noticed signs of repair at the sleeves. He pushed the clothes back and asked, “Why has this been worn by someone else?”
The garment-making disciple rolled his eyes and said, “This is the only one. Take it or leave it.”
Xue Jingci frowned slightly and pointed at the slip of paper. “But that day you clearly said that disciple uniforms need to be cut and made to order and can be picked up in ten days.”
The disciple turned his back and gave a perfunctory explanation: “That was then, this is now. Who would have thought so many new disciples would come recently? We don’t have enough hands, so just make do. Anyway, in two months, the sect will make new ones.”
Xue Jingci looked up coldly. The disciple thought he would surely argue and had already prepared his excuses, intending to take the initiative. But then he saw Xue Jingci reach out and take the clothes.
He gave a cold snort and said, “At least you know what’s good for you.”
Early the next morning, people were coming and going on the quiet mountain cliff, heading toward the Discourse Platform.
When they arrived, they saw a person standing out from the crowd—he wasn’t wearing the disciple uniform and his hands were empty.
Seeing he had nothing with him, one person whispered, “Look, isn’t that the newcomer? He came to the array class but didn’t even bring an array disk?”
The person sitting beside him also looked over and said in surprise, “Elder Zhou Zimo has a bad temper. He’s actually so audacious.”
“Shh, be quiet! Elder Zhou is here!”
The two looked at each other, posing as if watching a good show.
Sure enough, after Zhou Zimo arrived, her eyes swept around and found Xue Jingci. She immediately called on him to answer questions.
“Are you the new loose cultivator?”
Xue Jingci replied respectfully in the affirmative.
Seeing him polite, Zhou Zimo softened her tone slightly and asked, “Since it’s your first class today, it’s fine that you didn’t bring an array disk. But why aren’t you wearing the disciple uniform while walking in the sect?”
Xue Jingci said, “The one the sect gave me yesterday was old clothes, and I never wear old clothes.”
Zhou Zimo suppressed her anger: “Fine, sit down and listen. Next time, remember to bring your class tools and wear the disciple uniform.”
To her surprise, when it was her turn to teach the next day, Xue Jingci was still empty-handed and wearing his own old clothes.
She was suddenly furious. Thinking this person was too arrogant, she pointed toward the back mountain and said, “Since you’re covered in thorns, go kneel at the back mountain for three days to properly grind down your bones.”
Xue Jingci’s expression didn’t change as he performed a bow and said, “This disciple accepts the punishment.”
It was only a fifteen-minute walk from the Discourse Platform to the back mountain, but the temperature was worlds apart.
Xue Jingci had passed the cliff edge while on duty and knew the back mountain was a place used for punishing disciples. He had looked at it from a distance before, but today was his first time going down.
At the bottom of the cliff, he saw a cold pool not far away. Although the sun was rising, this place remained bone-chillingly cold.
The System couldn’t help but shiver. Its paws touched the bare ground, and it felt the rock was hard; after kneeling for three days, his knees would likely be ruined.
It looked at the host in worry, but saw that the host had already knelt facing the cold pool, his expression cool and solemn. He whispered, “There are actually… in the cold pool.”
The System’s scalp tingled, feeling this place was increasingly eerie and dangerous. It asked with a trembling voice, “There are… what?”
Xue Jingci: “Fish.”
The System was speechless.
It was a false alarm. Before it could recover, it was assigned by the host to catch fish, but it was unpracticed and came up empty.
Seeing no one around, Xue Jingci simply stood up and slapped a fish unconscious, then had the System find wood nearby to start a fire.
With the materials ready, Xue Jingci was about to roast the fish when he heard footsteps from above the cliff. He quickly had the System hide everything and knelt back down.
On the cliff edge, several disciples were peeking down. Seeing that the person being punished was actually Xue Jingci, they hurried to pull Chen Zhao over to look.
“Senior Brother Chen, look, isn’t the one kneeling there Xue…”
Before he could say the name, he was silenced by the person beside him.
“Lower your voice! Don’t let him hear. But why would this person be punished by kneeling here?”
“You don’t understand! I heard he caused trouble in Elder Zhou Zimo’s class and was immediately kicked out to kneel for three days.”
Hearing this, the disciple who spoke first gave a cold snort and deliberately raised his voice.
“If you ask me, he deserves it! Thinking he’s something special just because he ascended to the Upper Realm. Who knows what kind of filt— things he did in the lower realm…”
Chen Zhao’s expression was originally indifferent, but hearing this, he immediately shouted, “Be quiet! He made a mistake and deserves punishment. Since he is being punished, he should be given a chance to repent. Don’t let me hear you gossiping behind people’s backs again.”
Seeing Chen Zhao show an unprecedentedly serious expression, seemingly truly angry, the group quickly went silent and fled the scene.
Once they were gone, the System pulled out the wood hidden behind the rock and brought it to Xue Jingci.
“These people are so annoying!”
It meowed with its claws out, but Xue Jingci didn’t care. He skillfully set up the fish, and soon the aroma was mouth-watering.
After finishing the fish, Xue Jingci took out his class schedule, broke off a piece of burnt charcoal as a pencil, and lightly crossed out Zhou Zimo’s class.
“My attainment in arrays is above hers. There’s no need to listen to this class.”
When the three days of kneeling ended, Xue Jingci immediately led the System to the building in the sect where missions were issued.
As soon as he appeared, the originally bustling building fell into an eerie silence.
Xue Jingci walked straight in and was surprised to find a familiar person standing behind the counter.
It was the inner sect disciple who had presided over the Heart-Asking Steps, Qian Zhen.
Qian Zhen was young and couldn’t hide his feelings; if he disliked someone, it was plain on his face.
Xue Jingci acted as if he didn’t see it and said naturally, “I want to take a sect mission.”
Qian Zhen was about to refuse but remembered that Xue Jingci was, after all, a sect disciple and naturally had the right to take missions.
He could only nod, bend over, and pull out from the counter the mission with the least reward and most tedious labor—insect catching.
Qian Zhen tossed the tablet to Xue Jingci and carefully observed his expression, but saw Xue Jingci take the tablet and give a light smile.
After Xue Jingci left, voices gradually returned to the building.
“Senior Brother Qian, why did you give him that mission? Wanxiang insects are skilled at hiding; their forms can merge with the environment, making them extremely hard to catch. And they have no attack power, so they aren’t dangerous, and the reward the sect gives is small.”
“You still haven’t heard about this person? Rumors have been flying these past few days.”
Qian Zhen listened for a while, remembering that he had once been impressed by this person’s extraordinary aura. He couldn’t help but feel a sense of disgust at being tricked by appearances.
Fortunately, this mission was extremely taxing on the mind; he wouldn’t have to see that person for at least half a month.
But Qian Zhen didn’t expect to see Xue Jingci again so soon.
Before half a night had passed, Xue Jingci was back.
Qian Zhen was originally slumped on the table sleeping and only woke up groggily when he heard movement.
Seeing the object in Xue Jingci’s hand, he woke up instantly: “How did you catch them so fast!”
This sounded like praise. Qian Zhen pursed his lips, carefully took the bottle, and began to inspect it seriously.
Inside were indeed “Wanxiang insects.”
“How did you do it?”
Qian Zhen recorded the merit points on Xue Jingci’s jade tablet and couldn’t help but ask.
Xue Jingci said, “When I was in the mortal realm, I lived with farmers who caught insects for a while. They have many folk recipes that can actively attract insects. It’s just that there are few people in the sect who understand agriculture, so they find them hard to catch.”
Qian Zhen didn’t believe it. Over the following time, he assigned countless tricky missions to Xue Jingci.
Xue Jingci was also a remarkable person; things that others would struggle with for a long time seemed as natural as drinking tea to him.
At some point, the two gradually became familiar, and Qian Zhen stopped making things difficult for Xue Jingci.
Sensing that he was in a hurry to get the tablet that allowed free entry and exit, Qian Zhen would occasionally remind him of his merit point count. Xue Jingci always chose the dangerous but high-scoring missions.
In this way, three years passed.
On this day, Xue Jingci returned to hand in a mission as usual.
Knowing his merit points were almost enough, he took a food box from his storage bag in a good mood and handed it to Qian Zhen.
Qian Zhen opened it and found it was peach shortbread, which he liked. The style was exquisite, completely different from the ones in the sect eatery.
Xue Jingci must have spent a lot of money to find someone to buy it.
Qian Zhen hesitated for a moment, tossed a mission tablet to Xue Jingci, and asked, “Once this mission is finished, you can exchange for the free entry and exit tablet. I’m still curious—are you really going to find Senior Brother Xie?”
Xue Jingci lowered his eyes and said nothing.
Just as Qian Zhen thought he wouldn’t answer, he said softly, “Not for now.”
After saying that, he turned and left.
Qian Zhen’s heart was momentarily complicated. He suddenly remembered that in these past three years, he hadn’t heard Xue Jingci mention Xie Zheng again.
He opened the food box, picked up a piece of peach shortbread, and his heart gradually settled in the sweet aroma.
A disciple who had joined the sect a month ago asked, “That senior brother looks extraordinary; which elder’s disciple is he?”
Hearing this, someone immediately warned, “His reputation is very bad; he has poor character. He always keeps to himself and is quite gloomy. You’d better stay far away.”
The young disciple became curious.
That person, acting like a good Samaritan, told him about the scandal when Xue Jingci first joined the sect.
The young disciple lamented that it was a pity for such a beautiful appearance; who would have thought he was “jade on the outside, but rotted on the inside.”
Qian Zhen looked over.
He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but in the end he made no sound. Instead, he quietly hid the food box.
Because the System had been eavesdropping on the crowd’s discussion, it was a step slower than Xue Jingci. While muttering about how these people couldn’t recognize greatness, it sped up, running forward anxiously with its four short legs.
When it caught up, it saw Xue Jingci with a deeply furrowed brow and couldn’t help but be curious.
“Host, is this mission very difficult?”
Xue Jingci nodded, also feeling quite a headache right now.
Because this time, the mission was to descend to the mortal realm with four other disciples to eliminate demons, and the person leading the mission was Elder Zhou Zimo, whose classes he had skipped every day for three years.