Chapter 94
Chapter 94
Zhu Yin deliberately laughed. “Spare your master. I am already old enough to take disciples. Am I supposed to enter someone else’s sect as a disciple myself?”
Yun Xi pouted. “Master, you know that is not what we meant.”
Yun Lie’s eyes sparkled. “I heard the Eastern Continent is huge and prosperous, much more interesting than Nandu! Master, come with us?”
“Greedy little creatures.” Zhu Yin tapped his head and said lazily, “Master is accustomed to living in Nandu and cannot be bothered to go anywhere else.”
The children frowned in conflict.
They wanted to stay with Master. They did not want to leave her.
But they truly wanted to see the Eastern Continent!
Young people in their teens always dreamed of distant places.
Zhu Yin shook her head. “What are you hesitating over? The immortal sects of the Eastern Continent have come to recruit disciples in Nandu. Such good fortune may not occur once in more than a decade. If you miss this chance, another may never come.”
The scales tilted a little further in that direction.
Zhu Yin gave them another dose of reassurance. “You are only going to join an immortal sect, not disappearing forever. Would it not be wonderful to return and show Master what you have accomplished once your cultivation succeeds?”
That was right!
Going to an immortal sect did not mean they could never return!
Yun Xi quietly edged closer and pressed for more. “Even if Master does not want to live in the Eastern Continent, you could come visit us.”
Zhu Yin pondered briefly, then declared decisively, “I will not. At long last, you two little pests are leaving. Master intends to enjoy some leisurely, peaceful time alone.”
“Master–”
Early the next morning, Zhu Yin personally accompanied the children to the center of Nandu.
They had not risen late, yet a long queue had already formed by the time they arrived. The city lord’s manor had dispatched city guards to maintain order.
Those guards all wore dark uniforms and carried swords. Their attire looked very familiar.
Each child carried a water flask and obediently joined the queue.
Zhu Yin took her cat into the teahouse beside them.
She had reserved a seat long ago. The queue looked likely to last at least several hours, and she had no intention of waiting there foolishly with them.
People stood before, behind, and on both sides of the pair. The youngest were still ignorant children, while the oldest already had great bushy beards.
Every one of them was accompanied by a large group of family members.
When they saw Zhu Yin leave the children there and stroll away by herself, some began to comment.
“Is she their mother or their older sister? She is far too careless, leaving two children to wait alone at a time like this.”
“Exactly. If they pass the examination and go to the Eastern Continent, who knows how many times they will meet again in this lifetime?”
“How heartless.”
The senior brother and junior sister: “…”
“Uncle,” Yun Xi said, turning to stare at the grown man who kept repeating the word “heartless.” She smiled sweetly. “Are the auntie and younger children beside you your wife and children?”
The man did not understand. “They are. Why?”
Yun Xi asked, “Since your whole family came, do all of you plan to take the examination and join an immortal sect?”
The middle-aged woman beside him hurriedly waved her hands. “No, no. The children’s father and our two children are going to try. I must remain home to care for his parents.”
Yun Xi gave a soft laugh.
Yun Lie took over. “Uncle does not look young, yet he is abandoning his elderly parents to seek immortality and leaving his wife alone to fulfill his filial duties. How filial of him. Not heartless in the slightest.”
The onlookers burst into laughter.
The grown man’s face turned scarlet.
He had not expected the two youths to possess such sharp tongues. With immortals and city guards watching, he dared not act and could only glare fiercely at them.
“Tch.” Yun Xi rolled her eyes. With wit like that, he dared slander her master?
Seated beside a window, Zhu Yin saw the little clash clearly.
“Very good.” She was deeply satisfied. “My disciples should be exactly like that. They can stomach anything except being taken advantage of.”
The immortals in white crane-feather cloaks upon the platform also noticed the commotion.
Naturally, they would not involve themselves in a minor dispute among mortals.
To put it harshly, fewer than one in a thousand among the dense mass of people below would possess the aptitude for immortality.
And among that fortunate minority with spiritual roots, most would become no more than ordinary menial disciples after reaching the Eastern Continent.
The immortals looked a few extra times only because the two youths on one side of the dispute were exceptionally striking.
They were plainly still mortals, yet possessed pure, elegant features and an extraordinary spiritual air. Standing among a crowd of ordinary people, they were like cranes among chickens, impossible to overlook.
One immortal could not resist looking again and said with a smile, “Look at those two children. They are remarkably handsome. If their talent is decent, I would be tempted to accept them as disciples myself.”
The other immortal looked over and laughed. “If they truly possess spiritual roots, would the people from Illusory Sound Sect and Fragrance-Seeking Sect not fight to steal them?”
Those sects were all particularly fond of recruiting beautiful disciples.
The two immortals were only joking. They never expected an enormous surprise.
Though the queue was extremely long, the testing proceeded quickly.
A formation had been laid upon the platform. Mortals awaiting the aptitude test needed only step onto it to enter the array automatically.
If the formation showed no response, they possessed no immortal destiny.
If they had spiritual roots, the formation would react.
Yun Lie and Yun Xi watched the platform curiously. They had already queued for over an hour. Countless people had gone up, but only a dozen or so seemed to have triggered the formation.
The most impressive was a little girl of eight or nine. The moment she entered the array, blue-green and brown spiritual light rose like two swimming dragons, converging overhead and illuminating each other.
Even the immortals who had maintained indifferent expressions upon the platform showed rare smiles.
The children heard one of them say something about “dual earth-and-wood spiritual roots, both high grade.”
They did not understand much, but guessed that the little girl’s aptitude must be excellent. An immortal in white personally led her away.
After nearly another two hours, their turn finally came.
“I will go first,” Yun Lie told his junior sister. “I will demonstrate for you!”
Yun Xi laughed. “You only have to walk across the platform. What is there to demonstrate?”
Though she said that, she knew her senior brother was worried she might be nervous or afraid. She gave him a gentle push. “Go on. You had better not fail.”
Yun Lie raised his chin. “How could I?”
Before his junior sister, Yun Lie was naturally brimming with confidence. Only he knew that when he stepped onto the platform, his heart nearly leaped into his throat.
Before taking the final step onto the martial platform, he turned toward the teahouse on the left.
The black-clad woman holding a cat was also watching him. When their eyes met, she gave a faint smile and silently formed the words:
“Finish quickly. We will go home and have Uncle Heiwu roast meat to celebrate.”
Though they were far apart, the words sounded beside Yun Lie’s ear, perfectly clear.
Master’s casual manner strangely soothed every trace of his anxiety.
Yun Lie’s taut heart abruptly relaxed. A smile appeared on his lips as he stepped into the formation.
The placid array suddenly began to quake.