In the end, Feng Yi had to step in, tossing the three of them back to their respective courtyards. He even ordered the two troublemakers to copy the Cleansing Heart Sutra before they finally quieted down.
Li Nanzhu stayed in her room obediently. Fortunately, as a journalist in her previous life, she had practiced calligraphy seriously, so copying it wasn't too difficult.
However, the very next day, a sneaky figure popped up over her courtyard wall.
"Little Junior Sister! Little Junior Sister, are you there?"
Li Nanzhu recognized the voice as Duan Xianxing immediately. But hadn't he been sentenced to copy the sutra as well? Did he finish it that fast?
Seeing no reaction from Li Nanzhu, the person on the other side simply vaulted over and knocked on her door.
"Little Junior Sister, do you want to head down the mountain to have some fun?"
"Did you finish copying the Cleansing Heart Sutra that Master assigned so quickly?"
"Not really. I just copied it once. Anyway, every time Master assigns copies, it's just a token gesture; he doesn't actually expect us to do it five hundred times. Plus, he never checks. Copying it once to show intent is enough."
She had thought he used some kind of magical artifact, but it turned out the Master simply didn't check? Didn't that make her look like a total sucker for copying it twenty times already?
Li Nanzhu's mouth twitched.
"Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
"You didn't ask!"
Duan Xianxing looked at Li Nanzhu innocently. He felt he was being considerate enough by not telling her when she was on her 499th copy. Back when he first joined the sect, the Fifth Senior Brother had done exactly that to him, and he still held a grudge over it in his courtyard.
"Fine."
Li Nanzhu reluctantly accepted his explanation, blaming her own naive honesty.
"But I haven't reached Foundation Establishment yet. Am I allowed to leave the mountain?"
"That's why we're going secretly. Besides, your senior brother is at the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment now, almost at the late-stage. The only people who reach the Golden Core stage are figures like city lords or head managers of auction houses. As long as we don't go looking for trouble, who else is there that I can't handle? Moreover, fighting is forbidden inside the cities. Relax!"
It seemed this Seventh Senior Brother of hers had frequently snuck down the mountain during his Qi Condensation days. She happened to want to look around as well; it had been over two months since she arrived in the cultivation world, and she hadn't seen much of it yet. So, she agreed.
Once they reached an agreement, they quickly packed the things they needed.
Li Nanzhu didn't have much to bring. It was mainly the spirit stones from her Eldest Senior Brother and the apprenticeship gift her Master had supplemented later—a full thousand top-grade spirit stones. Li Nanzhu once again marveled at the immense wealth of the Five Elements Dao Sect.
On the way, Li Nanzhu couldn't help but ask.
"Seventh Senior Brother, Master and Eldest Senior Brother must have given you meeting gifts when you joined, right? Why are you so poor?"
Duan Xianxing scratched his hair awkwardly. "You know I have a lightning spiritual root. Mutant spiritual roots are hard to cultivate. Also, when I got Wait a Moment, it didn't have any special attributes. Master said it was a good sword and told me to nurture it by feeding it lightning-attribute items. All my money went into buying heavenly treasures, so it's all gone."
Fine, she finally understood why he was so broke.
She wondered if her own purse would survive this trip down the mountain.
Just as the two left the sect and passed through the boundary, Feng Yi's eyelids fluttered briefly before he returned to his tranquil state.
Li Nanzhu swore she would never ride her Seventh Senior Brother's flying sword again.
He was truly a soldier trained by Feng Yi—he didn't bother setting up a spiritual shield when carrying a passenger on a flying sword.
The moment they took off, the hairstyle her Eldest Senior Brother had tied for her yesterday was blown into a mess, and her mouth was filled with a bellyful of wind.
Fortunately, she now had spiritual power protecting her body, so she didn't look too pathetic. Once Duan Xianxing noticed, he hurried to put up a shield.
Li Nanzhu just expressionlessly fixed her hair while Duan Xianxing felt a wave of guilt.
"Um, Little Junior Sister, it'll be better once you reach Foundation Establishment and have your own flying sword."
"But I plan to follow the path of a dharma cultivator, not a sword cultivator?"
In truth, Li Nanzhu simply felt that sword cultivation and wealth were incompatible, which was why she didn't want to learn it.
"It's a tradition of our Five Elements Dao Sect. You don't have to cultivate the Way of the Sword, but you must learn the basic sword sutras. You can't be completely unable to hold a sword. If you choose a support role and have no offensive power, you won't even have a chance to run for your life when you encounter danger. That's why, except for Eldest Senior Sister who is a body cultivator and doesn't need a sword, all the other senior brothers and sisters know how to fight with one."
Ah...
That actually made sense. If she had to learn it, she would. Learning more things was always good in this dangerous cultivation world.
It was like how you couldn't expect a support to fight a marksman—unless that support built full damage items. She guessed her senior brothers and sisters were following that kind of logic.
The two chatted like this the whole way. After flying for nearly an hour, the outline of Qingyun City finally appeared in the distance.
Li Nanzhu hadn't expected their sect to be so close to a major city, especially since the area of the cultivation world was more than ten times that of her original world.
"Don't be surprised, Little Junior Sister. The eight major sects actually all have a large city adjacent to them for the convenience of disciples buying supplies. Even though our Five Elements Dao Sect has fallen on hard times, we still have everything we're supposed to have."
Li Nanzhu silently complained in her heart, 'It seems the only one who has fallen on hard times is you, Seventh Senior Brother.'
Forget it, she shouldn't discourage him.
They landed near the city gate, where many people were already lining up to enter.
Li Nanzhu surveyed the surroundings. As expected of a city near a major sect, even the city walls emitted a faint glow of spiritual energy. It was likely made of some exceptional material. Li Nanzhu guessed there might be a protective grand array engraved inside, as that's how novels usually described it.
"Um, Little Junior Sister." Duan Xianxing approached with a beaming smile.
"Could you lend your senior brother some money? It costs ten low-grade spirit stones to enter the city. You know I'm a pauper right now."
Li Nanzhu was speechless. He had no money yet came out to play. It was lucky she was currently a rich woman, otherwise, she wondered what he would have done on his own.
Nevertheless, she lent Duan Xianxing ten top-grade spirit stones and pulled out some mid-grade and low-grade ones for him as well.
"Little Junior Sister, you're so generous! None of the other senior brothers or sisters will lend to me anymore. Only you! I declare, Little Junior Sister, from now on, we two are the best in the world!"
Li Nanzhu highly suspected he said this every time he got money from the others, but she had no evidence.
Just as she was about to ask why the others wouldn't lend him money, a commotion suddenly broke out ahead.
Duan Xianxing, being naturally social, immediately started chatting with an older man in front of them as if they were brothers. After a while, he finished the conversation and came back to find Li Nanzhu.
"It seems there are disciples from the Sword Heart Sect and the Sacred Wood Sect up ahead. Something's going on. Everyone who heard about it ran over to watch. Look at them, acting like they've never seen anything. Who isn't a disciple of a major sect here?"
Duan Xianxing muttered that and then looked dejected.
"Little Junior Sister, when do you think we'll get that kind of treatment? I want to be stared at too!"
"The ones who get stared at everywhere are monkeys performing in a circus, er, demonic beasts? Spirit beasts? Do you really want to be that?"
Although Duan Xianxing didn't understand what a "circus" was, he understood the bit about demonic beasts. Thinking about it that way, he cheered up.
"Little Junior Sister, you're right. As expected, a truly powerful expert should be like me, hidden within the crowd!"
Great, his chuunibyou was acting up again.
Taking advantage of the fact that everyone else had gone to watch the commotion, Li Nanzhu quickly pulled Duan Xianxing to pay the entry fee. However, unable to suppress her own curiosity, she pulled him behind the city gate to peek at the drama. Fortunately, with so many onlookers, the two of them didn't stand out.
Li Nanzhu didn't want to encounter the original heroine for the time being. Last time, her Master was there to protect her, but this time she only had her Seventh Senior Brother. If a real fight broke out, they probably wouldn't come out on top, so she naturally had to play it safe.
And Li Nanzhu had guessed correctly—Cang Dongqing was indeed among that group of people.
Rate on N.U.
