With no one to teach him, Jiang Jin had no choice. Ultimately, he could only return to Wangyun Peak, attending morning lessons, practicing swordplay, and listening to the elders' lectures with his former fellow disciples.
After mingling with them for so long, others no longer looked at him as a personal disciple.
Aside from having a different place to live, it was no different from not entering the main peak at all.
Perhaps the only benefit was that the spiritual energy here was abundant, which indeed accelerated his cultivation speed.
Occasionally, when he had nothing to do, he would wander over to the western courtyard to vent his frustrations to Song Yao.
Every time he pushed open the door, Song Yao was either lying down basking in the sun or holding her puppy, attempting to teach it how to speak.
She was like a salted fish.
“Seventh Junior Sister, you are a personal disciple of the main peak after all. How can you just idle away your days like this without anyone supervising you?”
Looking at this picture of quiet and peaceful life, Jiang Jin felt a surge of anger.
In the future, he was destined to travel far and wide, make a name for himself across the world, and even ascend to immortality.
If she continued like this, how would her medical skills ever keep up?
How would she treat his wounds and cure his illnesses?
“You don't even take a single step into the study room, yet you spend all day and night keeping company with a dog?”
Song Yao corrected him unhappily, “It's name is Song Shui—pah, Lin Shui. Stop calling it 'dog' this and 'dog' that.”
“...”
Dazed with anger, Jiang Jin rushed over to the stone table in a few strides and reached out to ruffle through the medical book spread across her knees. “Look at this book of yours. How many pages have you actually read? If Master suddenly emerges from seclusion to check on our progress, how are you going to account for yourself?”
Song Yao yawned, placed Lin Shui on the ground, and reached out to pour some tea. “Look at you, so impatient. Do you want some tea? I just brought it back from Baicao Peak.”
“...”
Jiang Jin felt the frustrating sensation of punching a ball of cotton.
Taking a deep breath, he sat down at the table, downed the tea in one gulp, and looked at her seriously. “If you don't practice properly and get kicked off the main peak, how will you stand by my side in the future?”
Song Yao found this utterly bizarre.
Stand by his side?
Who wanted to stand by his side?
As expected of a standard overpowered protagonist, always saying baffling and incredibly chuunibyou things.
She poured another cup of tea and waved her hand. “It's fine, it's fine. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. At worst, I'll just go back to Baicao Peak.”
Which was exactly what she wished for anyway.
Fuming, Jiang Jin whipped his sleeve around, turned, and left.
But Song Yao had still underestimated his determination.
From then on, Jiang Jin came to her courtyard almost every day to urge her to study, behaving as if he would not stop until he achieved his goal.
After being tormented for several days, Song Yao finally understood.
In the original novel, Jiang Jin had captured the hearts of several personal disciples precisely through this kind of persistent, caring spirit.
Now that those personal disciples weren't around, all his energy was directed at her.
To restore peace to her life, Song Yao ran over to Baicao Peak, lugged a cauldron back, and continued her research into crafting Qi-Replenishing Pills.
When she was carrying it away, Seventh Elder and He Yu looked utterly terrified, begging her to absolutely not blow up the main peak.
Song Yao told them they could rest easy.
She was now highly proficient in using Fire-Driving Talismans, so refining Qi-Replenishing Pills was a walk in the park.
Seeing her being so cooperative, Jiang Jin felt deeply gratified.
Occasionally, when he went down the mountain, he would even bring her some beautiful hairpins and jewelry.
Song Yao had no use for these. After her refusals failed several times, she returned the favor with the Qi-Replenishing Pills she had just refined.
Jiang Jin still harbored lingering fears and dared not accept her Qi-Replenishing Pills. He tactfully reminded her, “Why must you be so obsessed with refining Qi-Replenishing Pills? Why not try other elixirs?”
Song Yao replied righteously, “I can't learn them.”
For one, she couldn't bring herself to read other elixir recipes; for another, they easily blew up the cauldron.
The Qi-Replenishing Pill was much gentler.
Over the next few months, the Qi-Replenishing Pills Song Yao refined could have circled the main peak ten times.
Because they still had side effects, they couldn't be sold and were left to gather dust, much to her regret.
Jiang Jin wanted to advise her, but seeing how hard she worked on refining elixirs, he didn't know where to start, and ultimately gave up.
...
After spring arrived, Nine Saints Hall experienced many days of continuous, drizzling rain.
Once the plum blossoms fell, the foliage grew lush and dense. By early summer, cluster after cluster of flowers bloomed on the main peak.
In the side room of the main peak's western courtyard, Song Yao extinguished the fire of the elixir furnace, the residual warmth of the alchemical flame still lingering on her fingertips.
A freshly refined batch of Qi-Replenishing Pills, lustrous white and perfectly round, were all swept into a porcelain bottle by her.
After all her polishing during this period, the efficacy of the Qi-Replenishing Pills had doubled, and the side effects had been reduced to a mere seven and a half minutes.
She shook the porcelain bottle with satisfaction. Seeing that the night was late, she prepared to cook a bowl of wontons to eat before heading to sleep.
However, just as she stepped out of the courtyard gate—
Boom!!
A deafening explosion suddenly erupted from the dense forest of the back mountain.
Startled birds and beasts took flight, and even the courtyard shook in response.
Song Yao looked toward the source of the sound, instinctively raising her hand. The Bishui Sword flew straight into her palm.
Pausing for a brief moment as she came to her senses, she lowered the sword again and picked up the startled Lin Shui from the ground.
In the next second, Jiang Jin arrived riding his sword, his Qingfeng Sword slicing through the heavy night sky.
Sweat dripped from his forehead, and he was clearly panting, having rushed over midway through his sword practice. “Junior Sister! Something seems to have happened over there!”
Song Yao squatted on the ground, cradling Lin Shui while comforting her chicks, ducklings, and little fish. Without even raising her head, she murmured, “Mm, someone probably trespassed into the forbidden grounds.”
Jiang Jin's eyes suddenly went wide, his voice rising an octave. “The forbidden grounds?! Isn't Master in seclusion in there? Let's go take a look, quick!”
As he spoke, he reached out to grab her wrist.
With a flick of her wrist, Song Yao easily evaded his grasp. Cradling Lin Shui, she retreated into her room, her voice as flat and cool as spring rain. “Anyone who can infiltrate this far and enter the forbidden grounds of Nine Saints Hall is definitely not to be trifled with. I'm not going.”
Jiang Jin froze. With a loud clatter, his scabbard hit the water-logged flagstones, splashing water half a foot high. “How can you say something like that? That is the sect's forbidden grounds! The place where Master is in seclusion! We are personal disciples of the main peak, how can we just sit by and do nothing?!”
“Why can't we?”
Song Yao raised her eyes, her gaze completely calm.
She had already inexplicably become a personal disciple of Nine Saints Hall. If she wanted to live a peaceful life, she absolutely could not get involved in any more of these troublesome affairs.
The more she did, the deeper she would sink.
Jiang Jin felt a suffocating tightness in his chest, stifled by her stubborn, slacking attitude.
Seeing her about to lift the curtain to go inside, he anxiously grabbed her sleeve. “Junior Sister! We are fellow disciples under the same master. How can you just stand by and watch something happen to the sect?!”
Song Yao brushed his hand away. “I am a pill cultivator. What could I possibly do if I went?”
Jiang Jin urged, “What if someone gets hurt?! You can just watch from the side, you won't have to lift a finger!”
Song Yao refused, “No, I'm scared.”
“...”
Like hell she was scared.
Jiang Jin gritted his teeth. “If something really happens to Master, the sect will likely be handed over to Second Senior Sister. Once Second Senior Sister is in charge, you might never be able to leave Nine Saints Hall for the rest of your life.”
Song Yao: “...”
He had suddenly struck her vital point.
Given the way Zhu Zhao had cast a silencing spell on her during the annual banquet, she really might trap her in Nine Saints Hall forever.
Although Master was usually quite unconventional, he was actually very easy to talk to.
If she wanted to leave the sect, he was indeed her only path forward right now.
Besides...
When it came down to it, she also wanted to see what on earth had happened to the old man and why he was taking so long to emerge from seclusion.
She would just take a look and do nothing else.
Song Yao turned around, the Bishui Sword instantly unsheathing itself. “Let's go.”
Rate on N.U.
