In the side parlor, Lin Zhiyue dropped half of the melon seed in her hand.
The elders in the hall were also visibly stunned. Elder Wan's hand stopped stroking his beard. An elder beside him turned to look at Qi Yan, then at Xiao Sheng, before finally letting his gaze fall back onto Jiang Yuezhan.
Xiao Sheng, however, was not particularly surprised. He glanced at Qi Yan beside him, the smile on his lips deepening, as if he had anticipated this all along.
Sitting in his chair, Qi Yan looked at the youth before him. His gaze lingered on Jiang Yuezhan for a long moment, his brow furrowing ever so slightly before relaxing.
Five days ago at dusk, on the stone steps at the exit of the martial arts field, his youngest disciple, Lin Zhiyue, had chattered to him for a long time about how great this Jiang Yuezhan's swordplay was.
He did not understand.
As far as he could recall, this was the only time Lin Zhiyue had ever spoken up for someone in front of him.
His youngest disciple was usually lazy and flighty; she had never shown any special interest in any of her fellow disciples, let alone gone out of her way to recommend someone to him.
Yet that day in the twilight, her eyes had sparkled as she said, “Master, if you want to take on another disciple, you could consider that Jiang Yuezhan.” Her tone had not been a casual mention; she had put thought into it.
Qi Yan could not fathom what was so special about this youth that could make Lin Zhiyue sit through the entire afternoon watching the outer disciple minor competition.
He had made an unprecedented appearance in the inner hall today without even fully understanding his own reasons. He had simply come on a whim, driven by some inexplicable impulse, wanting to see for himself what the person his disciple kept bringing up was really like.
Now, as Jiang Yuezhan stood before him, standing tall and straight with an honest gaze, he indeed possessed excellent natural talent and a calm, steady bearing rare for a youth.
But as Qi Yan looked at him, the thought that popped into his head was: Just because this kid's swordplay is steady, Lin Zhiyue kept thinking about having him join our lineage?
He could not comprehend it.
When Qi Yan spoke, there was a rare hint of hesitation in his tone. “Why do you wish to take me as your master?”
Jiang Yuezhan raised his eyes and looked straight at Qi Yan, his honesty completely unshielded. “Venerable Yanchen reached the Soul Transformation Stage at fifty and is supreme in both blade and sword. No one in the Sanglan Realm can surpass you. I admire the strong, and I wish to become someone like Venerable Yanchen in the future.”
These words were so blunt that the hall fell dead silent for another couple of breaths.
In the side parlor, Lin Zhiyue froze, completely unaware that the other half of the melon seed in her hand had slipped onto the table.
She recalled when she was first taken in by Qi Yan. When he asked if she was willing, she had hesitated for a long time before finally nodding.
Yet Jiang Yuezhan stood in the center of the hall, openly declaring his “admiration for the strong” without a shred of embarrassment or any beating around the bush.
Qi Yan did not answer immediately.
He sat in his chair and remained silent for a moment, the atmosphere in the hall gradually freezing over. Xiao Sheng waited a few breaths, then cleared his throat lightly, preparing to smooth things over by saying something like, “Since Yanchen is indisposed today, you may join my lineage instead—”
“Granted.”
A single word. The voice was not loud, and the tone was not heavy, but it was as clear as a drop of water falling onto a bluestone slab.
Jiang Yuezhan abruptly raised his head, a look of stunned disbelief appearing on his normally placid face for the very first time.
He stood frozen for two breaths before finally reacting. Dropping to one knee, he performed a proper apprenticeship bow, his voice trembling slightly with suppressed emotion. “Disciple Jiang Yuezhan pays respects to Master.”
Qi Yan nodded and said nothing more. However, as he shifted his gaze away from Jiang Yuezhan, he cast a fleeting glance toward the side parlor.
It was a very brief glance, so fast that Lin Zhiyue almost missed it, but she definitely saw it—Qi Yan’s gaze swept past the half-eaten melon seed she had dropped on the table and her open-mouthed, dazed expression, lingering on her face for less than a split second before moving away.
In the side parlor, Cen Xi'er nudged Lin Zhiyue’s elbow. “Junior Sister, you dropped your snack.”
Lin Zhiyue looked down. The melon seed had rolled halfway across the table, resting next to the other half she had bitten. Without a word, she picked them up, popped them into her mouth to chew, while her gaze remained fixed on the youth who had already stood up in the center of the hall.
Jiang Yuezhan stood beside Qi Yan, hands respectfully at his sides, his expression returning to its usual calm. However, Lin Zhiyue noticed that the fingers hanging by his side curled slightly, as if he were still processing some incredible turn of events.
He probably hadn't expected Qi Yan to actually accept him either.
This person did not care about resources, status, or who offered the most benefits. He only cared about one thing—who was the strongest.
Qi Yan was one of the strongest blade cultivators in the entire Sanglan Realm. He had reached the Soul Transformation Stage at fifty, and his swordplay was also superb.
To Jiang Yuezhan, everything else was secondary; becoming stronger was his sole pursuit. Choosing Qi Yan was not the result of weighing pros and cons, but rather the shortest straight-line path.
Lin Zhiyue leaned back against her chair and slowly exhaled. After twirling the teacup in her hand and pondering for a moment, she lowered her head and let out a soft chuckle.
Fair enough. This new junior brother of hers was certainly no ordinary character.
By the time Lin Zhiyue had drawn almost the entire “Jinyao Fairy” set, leaving only the main dress, she slumped over her desk and fell silent for a long time.
Out of the twelve-piece set, she had drawn eleven parts: the crown, silk sash, armlets, waist chain, earrings, bracelets, necklace, anklets, outer veil, inner lining, and shoes—all of them.
Only that moon-white main dress embroidered with gold thread and phoenixes seemed to have a personal vendetta against her, refusing to drop no matter what. She had thrown in all the draw tickets she had saved, even using up several single draws exchanged with points. In the end, only the silhouette of the main dress remained hanging lonely in the center of the set preview on the light screen, with a line of small text next to it: “Current Progress: 11/12.”
“Are you doing this on purpose?” Lin Zhiyue gritted her teeth and asked.
The system obligingly popped up a line of text: [There are ten days remaining for the card pool. Host can slowly accumulate draw tickets. The koi-fish constitution unlocked after collecting the complete Jinyao Fairy set is truly a great bargain. It increases your luck within a five-mile radius, significantly boosting the probability of picking up spirit stones while walking—]
“Stop feeding me empty promises,” Lin Zhiyue closed the light screen and leaned back against her chair. “Ten days, right? Fine, I'll take my time saving up.”
Ten days later would be her coming-of-age ceremony.
She hadn't paid much attention to this matter originally. In her previous life, birthdays had always been plain and simple—just blowing out candles on a cake bought by her peers.
However, over the past few days, she could clearly sense a different atmosphere in Tiance Palace. Every time Chu Zhixun saw her, he would smile mysteriously; Cen Xi'er always looked at her as if she wanted to say something but stopped; and when Liu Fengyao bumped into her in the dining hall, she would ask, “Junior Sister, do you have any plans for that day?” Even Xiao Yuan, quite out of character, glanced at her courtyard a few extra times when passing by, as if trying to confirm whether she would be around.
She only managed to pry the truth out of Liu Fengyao later. It turned out Qi Yan had already told the Palace Master months ago that Lin Zhiyue’s apprenticeship ceremony would be postponed. Then, a month ago, he had spoken with the Palace Master again to arrange for the apprenticeship ceremony and the coming-of-age ceremony to be held together.
As for why the apprenticeship ceremony was postponed, the reason was that when he first took her in as a disciple, Lin Zhiyue had gifted him a Crimson Flame Hairpin capable of blocking a full-force strike from a Soul Transformation Stage expert. As her master, the apprenticeship gift he returned could not be inferior to that, so he needed some time to search for a suitable item.
The item had been obtained a month ago, and they were preparing to hold the make-up apprenticeship ceremony. It just so happened to coincide with Lin Zhiyue’s birthday, so they planned to hold them together.
“Uncle-Master Yanchen’s exact words were: ‘The item she gave me is too precious. It would be unjustifiable for me to return the gesture with an ordinary object.’” Liu Fengyao mimicked Qi Yan's tone flawlessly, keeping a cold face and lowering her voice, which made Lin Zhiyue burst out laughing.
On the day of the coming-of-age ceremony, a grand setup was prepared in the flower hall on the east side of the main hall.
Five of Tiance Palace's seven elders arrived, with Palace Master Xiao Sheng presiding in person. All four disciples of Qi Yan’s lineage were present.
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