Chapter 96
Chapter 96
Zhu Yin had not sat in the teahouse for long before her two young disciples came to find her.
The testing was not yet over, but the two little ones could no longer contain themselves.
They knew Master had been sitting upstairs and had seen everything clearly, but they still wanted to tell her all about it themselves!
After asking the immortals for permission and explaining that their family was in the teahouse next door, they waited while the immortal-sect disciples conferred. To their surprise, one disciple was assigned to accompany them.
The senior brother and junior sister had already attracted enough attention. Now, with an immortal personally following them, they drew every eye the moment they entered the teahouse.
Zhu Yin did not mind being watched, but she had no desire to exchange secrets with her disciples before an audience.
She smiled at the immortal-sect disciple. “I am taking my young disciples home. Esteemed Immortal, do you…?”
The disciple recognized at once that Zhu Yin was also a cultivator. After a moment of surprise, it seemed perfectly reasonable.
Yun Lie and Yun Xi were now precious treasures in their eyes. His senior brother had ordered that, until the two boarded the cloudship for the Eastern Continent the next day, they must never be allowed out of sight in case anything happened.
He immediately offered to go with them.
Yun Xi secretly pouted. Zhu Yin patted her head.
The immortal-sect disciple soon witnessed how deeply the two future prodigies respected and depended on Zhu Yin as their master.
Envy welled up in him. He had noticed earlier that this cultivator named Zhu Yin was merely an unremarkable female cultivator at the Foundation Establishment stage.
Cultivators at that stage were everywhere in the Eastern Continent.
Yet she had somehow been fortunate enough to take in two extraordinarily gifted disciples.
The two prodigies were destined to enter major sects in the Eastern Continent and shine. Powerful cultivators would surely recognize their aptitude and accept them as disciples.
With their talent, reaching the Foundation Establishment stage was only a matter of time.
The master they had acknowledged in Nandu would then be rather unsuitable.
Still, the debt of gratitude for raising them would be more than enough to ensure this female cultivator lived without worry for the rest of her life.
Countless thoughts passed through the disciple’s mind in a short span. Deciding to do her a favor, he said, “The major sects of the Eastern Continent are recruiting disciples this time. Why not take the test yourself?”
Zhu Yin did not look very old. Reaching Foundation Establishment in a place as deficient in spiritual energy as Nandu proved that she possessed some talent.
Given how attached the two prospective junior disciples were to her, bringing her along would also earn their goodwill.
Yun Lie and Yun Xi both looked at Zhu Yin expectantly.
Zhu Yin smiled. If I leave with you, she thought, what will become of the plot meant for the male and female leads?
She shook her head. “Thank you for the kind offer. I have lived in Nandu for many years and consider it my home. I truly have no wish to travel roughly five thousand kilometers and leave my homeland behind.”
Her words were so sincere that the disciple could only let the matter drop.
Privately, however, he looked down on her choice. A cultivator ought to strive constantly toward greater heights. How could she crave comfort and refuse to advance?
The senior brother and junior sister had already tried to persuade her once. Though they could not help feeling disappointed at hearing the same answer again, it was exactly what they had expected.
Yun Xi looked up. “Xixi and Senior Brother will definitely come back to visit Master!”
.
The next day, Zhu Yin stood in the crowd with the cat in her arms. From afar, she watched the selected disciples follow the immortals aboard the magnificent cloudship.
Her eyesight was excellent. She saw Yun Lie and Yun Xi standing near the front, waving at her without pause.
Voices rose all around her.
“I hear cultivation in an immortal sect takes decades at a time. I must take good care of myself and try to keep these old bones alive until my little darling returns.”
“What a pity the Eastern Continent is so far away and the immortals refuse to take us. Otherwise, I would like to see it too.”
“…”
On the cloudship.
Yun Lie and Yun Xi did what all the other selected disciples did. They leaned over its side, watching their fingertips pass through banks of cloud and everything below shrink farther and farther away. Their excitement took a long time to subside.
Yun Lie suddenly said, “If only Master could see this too.”
Yun Xi thought her senior brother was silly.
Master was so powerful that she could surely fly. She could see such scenery whenever she pleased, could she not?
The Eastern Continent lay extremely far from Nandu. Even a cloudship, an immortal treasure, needed several months to reach it.
Once the initial excitement passed, longing and reluctance took its place.
Some passengers who already had families even began regretting their decision to leave their loved ones alone in pursuit of an elusive chance at immortality.
“I wonder what Master is doing now.” Yun Lie sat cross-legged on the carpet, troubled.
Yun Xi said, “Master must be missing us too.”
.
What was Master doing?
Master was waiting for unwelcome guests.
Judging by the plot’s timeline, Zhu Yin had ample reason to suspect that the pursuing cultivators found their way to her because of this immortal-sect test.
Nandu had unexpectedly produced two exceptionally gifted disciples: one with a supreme-grade mutated single spiritual root, and another with the exceedingly rare innate sword bones.
Before the cloudship had even departed, news had spread throughout Nandu. Traveling merchants and lone cultivators carried it to still more distant places.
Anyone who heard such news would be interested enough to ask a few questions.
Two children of similar age, a boy and a girl, both sixteen. A young woman had brought them from a distant place fifteen years ago and settled in Nandu.
Anyone deliberately searching for them could not possibly overlook so many coincidences.
About a month and a half later, a band of traveling merchants in ordinary clothes arrived in Nandu.
Countless such merchants entered Nandu every day. No one paid them any attention.
Sitting at home, Zhu Yin packed the household’s regularly used belongings and everything belonging to her two young disciples into a storage artifact.
Late that night.
Several shadows slipped into the estate.
The frail female cultivator at Foundation Establishment was no match for them. They restrained her and cast a soul-searching spell.
“Did you find those two disciples fifteen years ago?”
“Where did you find them?”
“Were there any objects beside them when you found them?”
“Why did you travel roughly five thousand kilometers to Nandu?”
“…”
Zhu Yin pretended that she had merely been a kindhearted passing cultivator who knew nothing. With a vacant expression, she answered their questions.
They clearly had absolute faith in their spell–or perhaps they simply considered a Foundation Establishment cultivator beneath notice.
One of them said coldly, “It truly was a coincidence. Some meddlesome woman ruined everything!”
Another asked, “Could their luck truly be that strong?”
“Hmph. What does good luck matter? We nearly killed them fifteen years ago. We can do it again fifteen years later.”
“But they have gone to the Eastern Continent now. They may be difficult to reach…”
“It is all this woman’s fault!”
The meddlesome Foundation Establishment cultivator, Zhu Yin, became the target of their anger.
They decided to punish her.
They immobilized her with magic, erected a barrier, and set the house on fire.
They intended to burn her alive!
Because of the barrier, even the neighbors next door failed to notice the blaze.
By the time the barrier vanished, nothing remained of the once splendid and lively estate but ashes.