Xu Yanxue: “?”
Xu Yanxue was so exasperated he laughed.
Meanwhile, Shen Jianghuai was still pleading his case with all his might. His clumsy performance was bad enough that even a dog would have turned tail and walked off.
“Master, I really am a little sister. Look at me! Hurry up and say I can have some of these too.”
“Enough, you and your pathetic ambitions.” Xu Yanxue gave him an irritated kick, then fished two burlap sacks of low-grade spirit stones out of his mustard-seed bag to fob the child off. “All right, all right, get up. Your master has things to do. You two take your junior sister around for a look first.”
He kept looking back as he left, and finally, still uneasy, came back to add a warning: “If your junior sister loses so much as a single hair, you’ll see what I do to the two of you.”
Then he turned and, with a complete change of expression, instructed Yu Wanxi, his tone impossibly gentle. “Little Six, go look around with your Fourth Senior Brother and Fifth Senior Brother first. If they bully you, tell your master, and I’ll deal with them for you.”
“Oh, Master, set your mind completely at ease. We’ll take good care of our junior sister.” The two senior brothers, now in possession of spirit stones, were all smiles as they pledged in unison to Xu Yanxue.
Once Xu Yanxue was far away, Shen Jianghuai tucked the spirit stones away and walked up to Yu Wanxi, studying his new junior sister carefully.
The girl wore silver-white robes, and her long hair was pure silver-white too, falling smoothly over her shoulders and giving off a faint, cool luster in the light. Her brows and eyes were like a painting, her skin like congealed cream, and she was hard to look away from.
After studying her for a while, Shen Jianghuai started giggling foolishly again, startling Nian Jingyu into reaching out to feel his forehead. “Junior Brother, are you possessed too?”
“Oh, no, no. I’m a man with a junior sister now. Let’s see if the Sword Dao Sect still says our Moonbright Sect is nothing but an all-male boy band.”
“One of these days we’ll show them. Our junior sister is way prettier. They keep showing off in front of me, so I’ll go too.”
Yu Wanxi listened with the air of a leader inspecting the countryside, nodding from time to time. “Fifth Senior Brother, I think you’re absolutely right. Your junior sister is the prettiest.”
Then she let out a sinister “heh heh heh.”
Now it was Nian Jingyu’s turn to worry. It was over. His cute junior sister had been led astray by their fifth junior brother. The Moonbright Sect had gained another girl with eighth-grader syndrome.
The moment Shen Jianghuai heard his words endorsed, his “heh heh heh” came out even louder than Yu Wanxi’s.
“Exactly, exactly. Come on, junior sister, your senior brother will take you around for a look.”
“I’ve learned sword flight. Come on, get on the sword. Your senior brother will fly you there. Can’t have you getting tired.” With that, he summoned the life-bound sword he had just put away, tossed it into the air, and the long sword suddenly grew larger, landing in front of the girl, docile as could be.
Yu Wanxi perked up at that. She had only ever seen this on TV before, never imagined she would one day experience it herself.
Thrilled beyond measure, she reached out to touch it here and there.
“Fifth Senior Brother, what’s your sword called?”
Yu Wanxi couldn’t put it down. Once she had the strength, she was determined to find a peerless sword for herself.
“Phoenix Cry Sword. It’s ranked first in the Sword Tomb.”
“Wow, so cool!”
“Fifth Senior Brother, hurry and take me for a try.”
Yu Wanxi was already dying to find out what sword flight was like. The moment she said it, she stepped right onto the sword.
“Right away.”
Nian Jingyu, who hadn’t had the heart to interrupt Yu Wanxi’s joy in touching the sword and hadn’t wanted to discourage Shen Jianghuai, finally couldn’t hold back and tried to speak, but it was too late.
Shen Jianghuai had already whisked Yu Wanxi away with a whoosh.
Yu Wanxi only saw Fourth Senior Brother stretching out an arm in a dramatic plea, saying something, but the wind up there was too strong for her to hear clearly. She turned to Shen Jianghuai. “Fifth Senior Brother, what did Fourth Senior Brother just say? I didn’t catch it.”
Shen Jianghuai, ever honest, said: “Oh, oh, Fourth Senior Brother said don’t ride my sword.”
Yu Wanxi: “?”
Was there still time for her to get off now?
What did that mean? Had she taken Fourth Senior Brother’s seat?
But she soon found out.
“Ahhh! Fifth Senior Brother, stop wobbling! Fly slower!”
“Let me off! I want to get off! I’m going to throw up, Fifth Senior Brother.”
Yu Wanxi had gone pale from all the shaking, both hands gripping Shen Jianghuai’s shoulder tightly.
Shen Jianghuai answered with his usual honesty: “Don’t be scared, junior sister. I can’t control my center of gravity either.”
Yu Wanxi: “?”
“Hold on tight, junior sister. We’re going to crash.”
Shen Jianghuai was still rather excited.
“Ahhh!”
This time it was Shen Jianghuai screaming, and his shrieks nearly deafened Yu Wanxi.
Yu Wanxi had already composed her last words.
Nian Jingyu, who had finally caught up, grabbed Yu Wanxi and pulled her over, flying on a while before landing steadily.
Seeing Yu Wanxi’s pale face, he asked with concern, “Junior sister, are you all right? Fifth Junior Brother only just learned. I meant to warn you, but I didn’t get the chance.”
“Fourth Senior Brother, I’m fine. Just a little bit dead.”
Xu Yanxue, having just finished discussing matters with the elders, came out of the council hall and saw something in the sky heading straight for him.
Bold demon, daring to try to murder him in broad daylight.
Luckily he dodged fast.
The thing smashed a huge crater right in front of him.
Just before landing, Shen Jianghuai instantly adjusted his posture, arms spread wide in a grand flourish, and made a handsome landing.
He looked into the crater and saw it was his fifth disciple. Nothing to worry about, then.
He turned to leave.
Then he heard his fifth disciple’s voice. “Junior sister, are you okay? Check out my landing, wasn’t it cool?”
Shen Jianghuai was so thrilled by his own handsome landing that he didn’t notice Yu Wanxi was no longer beside him.
When Xu Yanxue heard that the young disciple he had just taken in was there too, he spun back around with a flashy sidestep.
And saw Nian Jingyu and a rather pale Yu Wanxi walking toward him from a distance.
Spiritual power rippled in his palm, and he fished Shen Jianghuai out of the huge crater.
“Little Five, come and tell me what this is all about.”
“Oh, Master, you’re here too! Hurry up and praise me. Was my landing just now cool or what? I give myself full marks.”
Sometimes Nian Jingyu actually rather envied his fifth junior brother’s temperament.
Even Yu Wanxi couldn’t help giving two thumbs up.
Shen Jianghuai was still basking in how explosively cool his landing had been, so in the end it was Nian Jingyu who explained the whole story.
Xu Yanxue’s anger flared.
“You brat, I think you’ve gotten too big for your boots. Didn’t I tell you to take good care of your junior sister? This is how you take care of her? And you’re paying for the repairs.”
In the end, Shen Jianghuai watched tearfully as the spirit stones he had only just gotten flew away, and he even had to throw in two months of allowance.
The reasons: compensation to his junior sister, plus damages for nearly crushing an elder and giving that elder a fright.
Shen Jianghuai slumped to the ground as if struck by lightning, like a discarded young wife.
Good heavens, he wanted to protest. He wanted to appeal to the highest authority. Their master had no respect for his own age. What storms and waves had the old man not seen? As if he’d be scared. He just wanted to extort money out of him. Right now he was going to stir up his senior brothers and his junior sister to defect from the sect.