Chapter 89
Chapter 89
Zhu Yin did not lower her guard. She could tell that this person had not come simply to return the spirit stones.
Sure enough, once he returned them, the young man stated his purpose directly.
His gaze moved to the two children nestled beside Zhu Yin and staring curiously at him. “Are they your disciples?”
Zhu Yin slowly nodded.
The young man said with perfect naturalness, “Their aptitude is excellent. I envy you.”
Zhu Yin was silent for a moment before asking suspiciously, “Can you see through the concealment technique I placed on them?” That should not be possible.
The young man answered honestly, “No. Your technique is extremely sophisticated. I merely happened to witness them draw spiritual energy into their bodies last night.”
It had truly been a coincidence. His divine sense had swept across the whole city, and when he noticed someone breaking through, he casually looked over.
That single glance caught his interest.
Drawing spiritual energy into the body at five years old marked them as first-rate geniuses, not merely in Nandu but even among the immortal sects of the Eastern Continent.
And Nandu had produced not one such genius, but a pair.
The disturbance caused by their breakthrough lasted only a few breaths before being concealed.
He had left a thread of his attention here, so he witnessed the entire confrontation when the black-robed old man came to make trouble.
He also received half a pouch of spirit stones as “hush money.”
Once Zhu Yin heard that her concealment technique had not failed, she relaxed.
She could vaguely guess the young man’s origins. Zhu Yin merely wanted to live out the remaining ten years in Nandu as an ordinary cultivator and had no wish to invite trouble.
She nodded. “Oh.”
Neither of them had anything else to say.
Yun Lie and Yun Xi studied the young man curiously. They had lived here with Master for as long as they could remember.
They knew every neighbor on the street and were familiar with them all, yet almost no guests had visited their home in all these years.
Naturally, they did not know that Zhu Yin had used a small trick. Ordinary people received a subtle suggestion that kept them from approaching the residence.
Clearly, the suggestion had no effect on the cultivator before them.
The children were simply fascinated by the rare visitor.
Yun Xi stared without blinking at the longsword on his back.
The young man noticed her gaze and asked softly, “Do you like swords? Would you like to see it?”
Yun Xi’s eyes brightened, and she turned toward Zhu Yin.
Zhu Yin found a chair and sat down. She said lazily, “Do not look at me. If you want to see it, then look.”
Yun Xi immediately cried, “I want to see!”
The young man removed the longsword and placed it on the stone table.
The girl exclaimed and rushed over. The sword remained sheathed. Its scabbard was dark and made of a wood she did not recognize, with intricate patterns carved into its surface.
She touched it carefully, then found the hilt by instinct and tried to draw the blade.
The young man raised a hand and pulled it free with ease.
Swordlight poured forth like a stream of autumn water.
Not only Yun Xi, who had been staring eagerly, but even Yun Lie was captivated by its cold beauty and cried out in wonder.
At that moment, Heipao arrived in the front courtyard without a sound.
He said respectfully, “Master, dinner is ready.”
Zhu Yin turned toward the uninvited guest. “Would our guest like to stay for dinner?”
Though she asked, her tone was plainly unwelcoming.
The young man was silent for a moment. “No, thank you.”
He soon took his leave.
Zhu Yin frowned unhappily. She sensed that something had happened which should not have happened.
The girl was distracted throughout dinner.
The snow fell more heavily. They had agreed to build a snowman after eating, but Yun Xi showed little enthusiasm.
Still, she joined her senior brother. Together, they built an ugly thing slightly taller than either of them.
Then they dragged Zhu Yin over to see it and announced that they had made a statue of their master.
Zhu Yin, who could not see anything human in the object no matter how she looked at it: “…” As long as her disciples were happy.
Only after the children’s cheeks and hands had turned bright red from the cold and Zhu Yin ordered them to bed did Yun Xi finally shuffle over to her.
Her little face was flushed and her eyes shone. “Master, Xixi wants to learn the sword!”
That faint sense of foreboding had finally become reality.
Zhu Yin did not blame her young disciple. Stroking her little head, she said, “You are still too young. Only bigger children can learn.”
Her young disciple obediently went to sleep.
Left alone, Zhu Yin ground her teeth and redirected her irritation toward a certain unwelcome guest. Just as she thought! One look at the girl’s expression earlier had told her there would be trouble!
Drawing spiritual energy into their bodies ten years early had already triggered a warning from the plot.
If she also let a protagonist begin cultivating the sword ten years early, the mission system would probably come looking for trouble again.
She sat in the courtyard with her chin propped in one hand and began considering how to distance herself from the matter naturally, as if events had simply carried her along.
Was it her fault that a child wanted to learn something?
Of course not!
.
The household was very busy for the next stretch of time.
The New Year was coming.
Zhu Yin had never cared about it before.
But after several years in Nandu, with two children in the family and two increasingly capable black-robed housekeepers, a holiday when everyone gathered in lively reunion somehow began to feel important.
They thoroughly cleaned the residence inside and out, hung lanterns and couplets, and set out several strange plants and ornaments said to ward off evil.
The whole family dressed in festive red.
Heipao and Heiwu were no exception.
When they had been wrapped from head to toe in sinister black cloaks, they merely looked evil and disreputable.
But now, wrapped completely in bright red cloaks that concealed their heads and faces, with black mist occasionally seeping out, they looked inexplicably eerie and terrifying.
Fortunately, no one in the household possessed normal judgment, so nobody found anything wrong.
On New Year’s Eve, after a lively dinner, Nandu held a magnificent fireworks display.
Zhu Yin sat on the roof with the two children to watch.
Fireworks illuminated all three pairs of eyes. At the brightest moment in the night sky, two small hands appeared together before Zhu Yin.
Each hand held a brocade pouch.
Zhu Yin met two pairs of shining eyes, brighter than the fireworks behind them.
“Master–Happy New Year!”
“Ah Lie loves Master most!”
Another small head squeezed in. “Xixi loves Master even more!”
Inside the brocade pouches were gifts the two children had prepared at some unknown time.
Zhu Yin went still for a moment and slowly breathed out.
She accepted the pouches and carefully tied them at her waist.
“Master has received them.”
.
After the New Year, Nandu returned to its usual rhythm.
Zhu Yin found a private school for the senior brother and junior sister, now six years old.
Every morning, they went to study under the teacher and learn both letters and principles.
Half a month later, someone cornered her at home.
The young swordsman was dressed exactly as he had been when they first met. Only his expression showed faint pain and disapproval. “Your disciples possess such outstanding talent, yet you send them to school to read and write like ordinary mortals?”