This was the two hundred and sixth time Ling Wu had been caught sneaking into the mortal realm.
And the person who caught her was, as always, her most annoying Sixth Senior Brother.
If it had been any of her other senior brothers, she could have whined, acted cute, and wriggled out of trouble.
Unfortunately, Sixth Senior Brother cultivated the Path of Heartlessness. Acting cute in front of him would only earn her a thorough humiliation.
Running was equally suicidal. His pockets held more spiritual artifacts than she could count, and she had no hope of defeating him.
Who was she kidding? Even without the artifacts, she could not beat him.
With that in mind, Ling Wu raised a polite smile.
“Sixth—”
“Silencing Spell.”
Three words, and Ling Wu became mute.
“Let me guess Little Junior Sister's excuse this time,” Songhe said. “Running low on storybooks? Eldest Senior Brother asked you to come catch demons with him? You left a spiritual artifact behind on your last trip? Or did Immortal Lord Chi Yan, the man of your dreams, descend for his mortal love trial, and you wanted to make a legendary romance of it?”
When he finished, Songhe pointed to his ear as though a callus were about to form there.
“Save it for Master. Your senior brother is tired of hearing them.”
That bastard!
Ling Wu cursed him inwardly. If she could have broken the spell, she would have shown Sixth Senior Brother exactly what she thought of him.
Songhe sneered, apparently reading her mind.
“Little Junior Sister's cultivation remains far beneath mine. Devote another few tens of thousands of years to training before entertaining such thoughts.”
Ignoring the look on her face that promised to kick him to death, he took her straight back toward Kunlun.
The moment Ling Wu saw Master, she dropped to her knees with a thud. She had decided that the best defense was an immediate accusation—and only then realized Sixth Senior Brother had already removed the silencing spell.
That plague of a man had better never fall into her hands.
“Master, you must uphold justice for me!” Ling Wu sobbed with tears and a running nose. “I know descending without permission was a grave mistake, but Sixth Senior Brother had no right to smash the fortune-telling stall I spent three whole days building! That was everything I owned. Without money, how am I supposed to survive in the mortal realm?”
Qingchen watched her at leisure and asked with a smile, “Does Ah-Wu mean she intends to sneak down again?”
“Master!”
Ling Wu let out a squeal like a slaughtered pig.
“How can you slander your disciple that way?”
“Ahem.”
Songhe coughed beside her, reminding her to mind her tone.
Ling Wu immediately wilted and said no more.
This was bad. In the past, Master had always let the matter go once she returned. Today, he had begun picking apart the details in her own words.
“I was the one who sent Songhe,” Qingchen said.
Ling Wu looked up and discovered that the place where Songhe had stood was empty.
The scoundrel had fled quickly. He knew Master was about to assign blame and had not stayed long enough to plead even one sentence for her.
“Does Ah-Wu intend to continue like this forever? Did your promise to cultivate properly mean nothing?”
Did your promise to remain with me mean nothing too?
They were ordinary enough words, yet Ling Wu somehow heard a trace of grievance in them.
Oh no. Had Master finally decided she was so hopeless that he needed to expel her to preserve Kunlun's reputation in the Six Realms?
It made sense.
Her senior brothers possessed extraordinary talent and worked relentlessly. They had ascended early and received missions from the Celestial Realm, beginning their heroic journeys of defeating monsters and growing stronger across the Six Realms.
To outsiders, Kunlun was “the birthplace of immortal lords, a sanctuary that accepts no one without genius.” They had praised it into an untouchable realm beyond the world.
None of them could possibly imagine that Kunlun also housed someone like her.
She loved food, hated work, and lived to play. Though she supposedly cultivated talismans, she had learned little more than the surface.
The only techniques she could show off were the few immortal arts Master had personally taught her years ago.
The important part was personally taught by Master.
In short, ascension remained unimaginably far away.
Every one of her senior brothers lamented that Kunlun had such a hopeless last-place disciple. What if news spread and ruined Master's name?
But she genuinely had little talent. She had not even come to ask for discipleship herself. Master had found her and brought her home.
How could an untalented mortal become a peerless cultivator in so short a time?
Yet under Master's earnest gaze, she could not bring herself to declare that she had given up. Actually working hard was equally impossible.
So she remained silent.
“Does Ah-Wu feel unhappy at Kunlun?” Qingchen asked.
“Of course not!”
“Then why are you so determined to visit the mortal realm?”
Ling Wu blinked and answered with half-genuine hurt.
“Because the mortal realm is lively. I have lived at Kunlun since birth. In earlier years, the senior brothers kept me company, so it was never lonely here. Now most of them are hunting demons or cultivating, and Master is always traveling between realms to settle important affairs. I'm left alone. The days are unbearable.”
Before Eldest Senior Brother ascended, she had enjoyed endless roast chicken, sweets, and storybooks. Those had been excellent days.
After he ascended, however, he rarely returned. Even then, it was usually because he had encountered some impossible problem and needed Master's help.
His little junior sister was probably optional in his heart.
She glanced at Qingchen. Seeing him lost in thought, she pressed her advantage.
“Master, I truly repent. Perhaps loneliness is good—it will help me focus on drawing talismans. Rest assured, this time I will cultivate with all my heart. No matter what happens, I will not descend again until I have ascended. Then I will follow my senior brothers in slaying demons and protecting the innocent, and I will return with a glorious reputation for Master!”
Nothing was more admirable than recognizing one's mistakes and correcting them.
Surely Master would not make things difficult after witnessing such sincere remorse.
“Ah-Wu's intentions are commendable,” Qingchen said. “As long as you do not mention Kunlun when you go out, my reputation will remain unharmed.”
Ling Wu's eyes widened. Forgetting that she was supposed to be begging forgiveness, she sprang to her feet and jabbed a finger into the air.
“The waves behind drive forward the waves before them! How does Master know I won't become that mighty new wave one day?”
Qingchen laughed softly. Amusement filled his painted brows and eyes. He was already devastatingly beautiful; when he smiled, he seemed almost otherworldly.
Ling Wu stared.
When she recovered, she hurriedly lowered her head and repeated inside herself: Beauty is emptiness, emptiness is beauty.
No matter how bold she was, she would never dare harbor improper thoughts about Master.
“Then I will wait for that day,” Qingchen said. “I will congratulate Ah-Wu personally.”
He stood and reached out, intending to pat her head. Footsteps suddenly sounded outside.
Ling Wu looked toward the door and saw the very Eldest Senior Brother she had been missing.
Before she could reminisce with him, Master waved for her to leave.
She knew an opportunity to escape today's punishment when she saw one. Her feet might as well have been oiled as she fled.
Qingchen watched her back and smiled helplessly.
“Master, the Ghost Domain has been restless,” Ji Xunzhi reported. “The Western Mountain Sect and the Xuanyuan clan both sent disciples there. Not one returned alive. Their immortal lords have asked us to send support.”
“Someone deliberately removed the talismans that once suppressed the ghosts. The formation has been damaged and can no longer hold them,” Qingchen said with a sigh.
“What does Master wish us to do?”
“Songhe is still on the mountain; he returned several days ago. You will need to summon the others. The journey will be dangerous. Do not lower your guard.”
Ji Xunzhi accepted the order and was about to cast a message spell to recall his junior brothers when Qingchen stopped him.
“Tomorrow is soon enough. Go keep your little junior sister company first. She misses you.”
“I've already heard what happened. Little Junior Sister grows more unruly by the day, repeatedly sneaking into the mortal realm. If Master refuses to discipline her, she may fail to ascend even after her next reincarnation.”
Whenever Ji Xunzhi thought of his junior sister, frustration blocked his chest.
When Qingchen first brought her home, he had assumed she was a brilliant and gifted child. Why else would Master carry her back personally?
He and the other disciples had fought bitterly for the chance to enter Kunlun. Only after surpassing thousands of candidates had they earned places beneath their master, followed by endless cultivation.
They assumed their example would inspire Little Junior Sister.
Years had passed, and apart from growing more beautiful, she had not acquired a single redeeming skill.
Ji Xunzhi despaired at her refusal to improve. Yet Master spoiled her relentlessly. They could neither strike nor scold her. At his harshest, Qingchen ordered her to clean the rear mountain.
Two days later, a little coaxing would win her freedom.
“Does Xunzhi also believe I indulge Ah-Wu too much?” Qingchen asked.
Before Ji Xunzhi could answer, Qingchen murmured to himself, “But this is what I promised her.”
And what he owed her.
Ji Xunzhi wanted to say something, but ultimately held his tongue.
After he left, another soft sigh sounded inside the room.
As his footsteps faded, it disappeared into the noise of the mountain.
Back in her room, Ling Wu immediately opened a book and adopted the appearance of someone striving for greatness.
She swore she would keep her word this time. If she said she would cultivate diligently, then slacking for a day, an incense stick, or even one hour did not count as diligence.
To make certain, she cast a spell modeled on the mortal practice of tying one's hair to a ceiling beam while studying. She hung both of her round hair buns from ropes.
From a distance, it looked like she was trying to hang herself.
“Little Junior Sister! What despair drove you to this?”
Ji Xunzhi arrived at precisely that moment. Terrified, he sliced the ropes above her with a spell.
Momentum did the rest.
Ling Wu's face became intimately acquainted with the table.
“Ji Xunzhi!”
Her roar sent every bird roosting in the nearby trees fleeing for its life.
“Now, now, Little Junior Sister. Look what I brought you.”
Realizing his mistake, Ji Xunzhi rushed to make amends.
Fortunately, Ling Wu was not especially difficult to distract. Her eyes and thoughts were immediately captured by the things in his hands, and she forgot the pain.
No one understood Ling Wu better than Ji Xunzhi.
Her fury transformed into a flattering smile.
“Eldest Senior Brother, really. Visiting is enough. Why bring gifts?”
Her mouth remained polite while her hands missed nothing.
Storybooks, roast chicken, peach-blossom wine, sweets—she accepted them all and tucked them into her storage bracelet.
Ji Xunzhi was accustomed to her greed. His expression did not change.
Ling Wu poured him tea.
“Have you encountered another troublesome matter?” she asked.
“Nothing serious enough to require Master.” Ji Xunzhi took a sip. “The spell suppressing the ghosts in the Ghost Domain was broken. Some escaped and gathered together. Their concentrated aura has begun nourishing other things. The other sects have few ascended cultivators, and the disciples they sent suffered terrible losses. They need our help.”
“When do you leave?”
“Tomorrow morning. I sent secret messages to the others on my way here.”
Ji Xunzhi never concealed much from her.
All six senior brothers were going. The situation must be serious.
Usually, an assignment required no more than two. Even the hardest had never needed more than three.
“Does Master truly not need to go?” Ling Wu blinked, hope written plainly across her face.
At some point, Ji Xunzhi had produced a folding fan. He snapped it shut and tapped her head.
“Didn't Sixth Junior Brother just catch you? Are you already trying to descend again? What will you do when Master finally loses his temper and confines you for a month?”
At the mention of Songhe, Ling Wu's recently extinguished anger blazed anew.
“That bastard disguised himself as a mortal and asked me to tell his fortune. I made up only a few things, and he destroyed my stall!”
“What did you tell him?”
“That he had shallow ties with his family, would fail at everything, and die young. He held a grudge over that and used an immortal technique to tear my sign to pieces.”
The more she spoke, the more her heart ached. She had paid handsomely to set up that stall, hoping to make a fortune. Thanks to Songhe, she would need to choose an entirely different town next time.
Ji Xunzhi broke into a cold sweat.
That was practically a perfect summary of Sixth Junior Brother's mortal love trial.
He could not tell whether Little Junior Sister had truly made it up or somehow glimpsed the truth.
Shaking his head, he advised earnestly, “Concentrate on your talisman arts. At least then, when this happens again, you'll be able to escape sooner.”
“Songhe has a good temper. He only smashed the stall. Someone else would have beaten every tooth out of your mouth.”
Another bastard!
Ling Wu knew it. On all of Kunlun, Master was the only person capable of saying anything pleasant.