Chapter 101
Chapter 101
Yun Lie never saw that peculiar ghost cultivator again.
Two days later, though, a few rumors reached him.
It turned out he wasn’t the only one she had approached. She had made the rounds of practically every gifted disciple in the Dao Sect’s new intake, including Xiao Daowei.
The woman was utterly lawless. She didn’t even seem to care that she was offending both the Dao Sect and the Xiao clan of the Eastern Continent.
For some reason, Yun Lie found himself extremely interested in anything to do with that ghost cultivator.
He had even felt a little disgruntled on discovering he wasn’t her only choice.
The realization left him numb. He slapped his own face hard. Yun Lie, what on earth are you thinking?
What did that wretched ghost cultivator have to do with him?
How could he indulge in such vanity? Was that any way to repay his master’s care?
.
Zhu Yin had fought the white-haired young man before leaving that day.
Her conduct was a grave affront to the Dao Sect. If they let her walk away without a struggle, once word got out, Dingtian Sword Sect would certainly mock them mercilessly, whatever the other sects might do.
After leaving the Dao Sect, she decided she had far exceeded her exercise quota lately. She found a secluded spot with beautiful surroundings and settled down.
The flattering term for it was going into seclusion. The less flattering term was giving up and lounging around.
Heipao and Heiwu diligently worked outside to earn money, bringing back regular news of their young master and mistress.
At Dingtian Sword Sect.
After reaching Foundation Establishment, Yun Xi successfully completed her very first trial alongside her fellow disciples.
For the first time in her life, she also drew her sword and killed a third-rank demonic beast.
Her sword hand was steady, without the slightest tremor.
The sword sect disciples watching her began howling again.
“Killing a peak third-rank demonic beast at early Foundation Establishment! Is this what innate sword bones can do?”
“Junior Sister, was that really your first time killing a demonic beast? How come you weren’t scared at all? The first time I drew blood on a trial, my hand went so weak I could barely hold my sword.”
“Weren’t you frightened, Junior Sister? A peak third-rank demonic beast should exert some pressure on you.”
Yun Xi carefully wiped the marks from her blade with a handkerchief and said casually, “No? This demonic beast looks familiar. I saw something like it when I was little.”
The demonic beast on the ground was called a flame bird. It stood about three meters tall and had magnificent scarlet plumage.
Flame birds were relatively valuable demonic beasts. Their feathers were beautiful, and many cultivators who cared about their appearance liked to have enchanted robes made from them.
“Something like it?” a senior sister asked curiously. “Are there flame birds around Nandu too?”
They all knew where Yun Xi came from. None of these cultivators had ever been to Nandu, and they were full of curiosity about their junior sister’s hometown.
Yun Xi thought for a moment. “It only looked similar. I don’t think it was a flame bird. I remember it being much, much bigger than this one. Its feathers were all different colors, and they glowed. Its tail was really, really long. It was beautiful.”
Remembering something, she added, “The meat smelled amazing!”
That came straight from the heart. After all, the whole family had eaten that meat for quite a while, and the two slightly picky children had never tired of it.
The trial was over, and the disciples had nothing else to do, so they simply gathered to chat.
“Multicolored feathers are pretty rare among bird-type demonic beasts…”
Never mind feathers that glowed.
After much thought, they laughed. “You probably hadn’t seen many demonic beasts as a child, Junior Sister. Perhaps you’re remembering it wrong, or making it prettier in your memory?”
“That’s right. A bird-type demonic beast with multicolored feathers that glow? Any I can think of would have to have phoenix blood.”
Phoenixes were divine beasts.
A demonic beast with even the faintest trace of divine beast blood would reach at least the seventh rank upon adulthood.
A third-rank demonic beast was equivalent to a cultivator at the Foundation Establishment stage.
A seventh-rank demonic beast was comparable to a human Spirit Transformation cultivator.
Their junior sister’s master was only a Foundation Establishment cultivator. How could Yun Xi ever have had the chance to see a seventh-rank demonic beast?
Besides, she had said its meat tasted delicious.
Seventh-rank demonic beast meat?
They’d like a taste of that too!
They all laughed and joked, but nobody mocked Yun Xi. They simply thought she had misremembered.
Yun Xi gently stroked the jade bracelet on her wrist and said nothing to contradict them.
She and her senior brother had been precocious from birth, with photographic memories and exceptional powers of recall.
Never mind a demonic beast that delicious. Even the most insignificant little events of the past fifteen years remained perfectly clear when she recalled them, as though they had happened yesterday.
In fact, while sorting through the contents of her jade bracelet earlier, she had found a chest containing quite a few of her childhood toys.
Among them was a shuttlecock made of brilliantly colored, radiant feathers. If she remembered correctly, her master had made it from that demonic beast’s plumage.
She resisted the urge to take it out. Instead, she thought that when she had a little free time, she would bring it to a shop and have someone examine it.
Unfortunately, Dingtian Sword Sect’s approach to training disciples was thoroughly brutal. Put simply, they tested your limits. If they couldn’t find them, the pressure obviously wasn’t high enough.
Upon learning how Yun Xi had performed in her first trial, the sect simply handed her over to senior brothers and sisters at higher cultivation levels. Whenever they went out, their little shadow went with them.
The elder dressed it up nicely. “Go out with your senior brothers and sisters. Broaden your horizons and get some practical combat experience.”
That experience went on for months.
The exhaustion was real.
So were the results.
As Yun Xi herself would put it, she could now easily take down three of her former selves from a few months ago with a single stroke.
She might seem easygoing, but raised by Zhu Yin, how could she possibly be a sweet little pushover?
Deep down, she and her senior brother were both fiercely proud.
The sect wanted to put her through her paces, and she accepted. For more than half a year, she accompanied higher-level disciples on nearly twenty trial missions without taking a single day off.
In the end, the sect gave in first. They granted her seven days’ leave of their own accord and told her to stop pushing herself so hard and properly relax.
Remembering her earlier thought, Yun Xi planned to disguise herself the next day and find someone to examine the shuttlecock.
There were actually plenty of other things in her storage bracelet, but the girl sensed keenly that they weren’t things she should casually show people. She kept them well hidden.
The next day, however, before she could leave, a senior sister who had always treated her kindly arrived in her courtyard with a grave expression.
This senior sister was one of the sword sect’s rare gentle souls. Round-faced and always smiling, she stood out among all the cool, aloof young men and women.
Today, though, she wasn’t smiling. There was an almost imperceptible trace of heartache and pity in her eyes as she looked at the younger girl.
Always sensitive to such things, Yun Xi felt unease rise inside her. “Senior Sister, has something happened?”
Her senior sister gently patted her shoulder and said quietly, “Go to Pojun Hall. Elder Long needs to see you.”
At the sight of her expression, Yun Xi pressed her lips together, nodded, then turned and headed straight for Pojun Hall.
Her heart was pounding so fast that, as she approached the magnificent hall, she actually felt afraid to step inside.