Shen Ci was taken aback by these words and raised her hand to touch her own cheek. Just then, the woman magically produced an oil-paper package. “Peach blossom pastries! Little one, you need to eat more and gain some weight!”
As she spoke, she turned and pinched Bu Ranchen’s ear. “But the Concealment Talisman will still be deducted from your monthly allowance!”
Bu Ranchen muttered under his breath, “As if you actually pay monthly allowances.”
Holding the soundly sleeping speckled hen, Shen Ci watched her senior brother and sister bickering and suddenly thought…
This Sect isn’t so bad after all?
After the two had bantered for a while, Tao Yaoyao took out several talisman papers from her robe and handed them to Shen Ci, looking somewhat embarrassed. “Little junior sister, your senior sister only knows how to draw talismans, so I don’t have anything better to give you. Consider this your initiation gift.”
Bu Ranchen wailed, “Senior sister, you’re playing favorites! When I joined, you only gave me a package of peach blossom pastries!”
He took out a Spirit Crystal from his storage bag, then closed his eyes and steeled his heart. “Here! Your initiation gift.”
Bu Ranchen turned his face away, silently praying: Don’t take it, don’t take it, don’t take it, don’t take it…
When Shen Ci didn’t move for a long time, he turned back and saw that the little girl’s eyes had reddened without him noticing.
His heart panicked, and he quickly crouched down to comfort her. “Oh, little one, don’t cry! Your senior brother knows this gift is too shabby, but it’s the only one I have left, wuwu.”
Tao Yaoyao, who had never comforted a child before, was also at a loss. “Don’t worry, little junior sister. Senior sister will go out training tomorrow to earn more Spirit Crystals and Spirit Stones, and I’ll give them all to you.”
She suddenly felt guilty—tricking such a young girl into joining their rundown Sect was truly awful. “Little junior sister, don’t cry. We’re just too poor. Senior sister has a good friend in a major Sect—I’ll ask her to recommend you there.”
Shen Ci wiped her tears haphazardly with her sleeve, shaking her head like a rattle drum. “A-Ci isn’t complaining about the gifts being too little. It’s just… I’ve never received gifts before…”
“Senior brother, senior sister, A-Ci won’t leave! I can do lots of things—plant flowers, tend fields, pull weeds. A-Ci can also cook delicious food. Please don’t send me away!”
She anxiously counted on her fingers, afraid she wouldn’t be useful enough.
“Stop, stop, stop!” Tao Yaoyao hurriedly interrupted. “No matter how poor our Shang Yun Sect is, we won’t make a child as small as a bean do work!”
“Exactly!” Bu Ranchen patted his chest proudly. “The first rule of our Sect: hard labor must be done by the most handsome disciple—and that’s me, of course!”
After the two comforted her for a while, Shen Ci finally smiled through her tears. Tao Yaoyao patted her head. “Come, senior sister will take you to choose your room.”
Bu Ranchen danced around excitedly beside them. “Little junior sister, pick the east wing! After last time’s lightning strike, the roof has a skylight now. You can lie down and count stars at night!”
Shen Ci: “…”
In the end, she chose a room closest to the center of the Sect. The three pushed the door open to find the interior simple but adequately furnished.
Bu Ranchen chattered beside her ear, “A-Ci, your senior sister and I are going out to earn money tomorrow. You must guard our home well.”
Most of the several dozen disciples in the Shang Yun Sect were self-sufficient and often traveled abroad—no wonder the Sect appeared so desolate.
Shen Ci nodded vigorously like a pecking chick. “A-Ci will obediently watch the house.”
Tao Yaoyao couldn’t resist rubbing her head again and nuzzling her cheek. “Little junior sister is so adorable.”
Shen Ci’s cheek tickled from the nuzzling, and she giggled happily.
“Senior sister, that tickles, hahaha…”
Tao Yaoyao rubbed against her even more enthusiastically, when her hand suddenly brushed against the densely patched sleeve of Shen Ci’s robe. The stitches were crooked and uneven, clearly clumsily sewn by herself.
Tao Yaoyao touched her dress with heartache, “When senior sister saves enough Spirit Crystals, I’ll definitely buy you a pretty little dress.”
Shen Ci waved her hands in panic, “No, no need, senior sister. These are still wearable.”
She lowered her head to look at her own tattered clothes, unable to remember when she last had new ones made.
Back at Shangyun Sect, everyone was busy cultivating. Being timid and cowardly by nature, as long as she could get by in daily life, she would never trouble anyone if she could make do.
Let alone matters concerning a young girl’s desire to look beautiful.
Bu Ranchen crouched down and poked her dazed little face: “Little junior sister, remember to feed that speckled chicken.”
“The one with bald patches – it has quite the temper!”
“Oh, and the Sect’s Back Mountain is forbidden territory. You must never go there!”
…
Shen Ci was lost in memories of the past and didn’t hear what he specifically said.
“Little junior sister, little junior sister!”
She suddenly snapped back to reality, “Ah!”
Bu Ranchen laughed, “Did you hear what your senior brother said?”
Shen Ci felt somewhat guilty, but still nodded repeatedly, “I heard, I heard! Senior brother and senior sister, don’t worry!”
That night, Shen Ci slept exceptionally well.
When she woke up the next day, she found a letter by her pillow, with a Spirit Crystal weighing it down and a package of peach blossom pastries beside it.
She carefully picked up the letter, on which was written in crooked handwriting:
“A-Ci, your senior sister and I have left the Sect for training. Be good and watch the house, wait for senior brother to bring you delicious treats! ()”
At the end was drawn an adorably goofy smiling face.
Shen Ci’s fingertips gently traced the handwriting, her lips unconsciously curling upward. She carefully wrapped the letter, Spirit Crystal, and peach blossom pastries together, treasuring them as she stored them in the innermost part of her storage bag.
After washing up, Shen Ci stood outside her room and stretched with a big yawn. Although her senior brother and sister had repeatedly told her not to overwork herself, how could she really just eat and live here for free?
In the morning light, she began to carefully examine her new home. Although Shang Yun Sect was dilapidated, its scale was truly astonishing, though everything was now covered in a thick layer of dust.
“Dust Cleansing Technique!”
Shen Ci formed hand seals, faint light glowing at her fingertips. Her Spirit Energy was still shallow, so she could only clean slowly, one room at a time.
From the main hall to the side rooms, from the library to the training grounds, her small figure shuttled between the pillars.
Sweeping, dusting, clearing cobwebs – she didn’t even neglect the gaps in the carved railings. After working all morning, Shen Ci finally managed to clean most of the Sect.
When Shen Ci stood panting in the center of the courtyard, the scene before her made her exclaim “Wow!” in amazement:
Under the sunlight, the Sect looked completely renewed. She had even polished the plaque at the entrance until it shone brightly, the five characters of “Shang Yun Sect” glittering in the sunlight.
Shen Ci then trotted on her short legs, pattering all the way to the outside of the courtyard. But the scene before her dampened her joyful mood somewhat:
As far as the eye could see, there were withered yellow weeds everywhere, and a dried-up stream bed wound through the entire Sect like a scar.
She crouched down, her fingertips lightly touching the cracked riverbed. Back at Shangyun Sect, Spirit Veins were hidden beneath streams like this, but she couldn’t feel even a trace of Spiritual Qi from this one before her.
“This won’t do…” Shen Ci murmured with a furrowed brow. Without flowing water, spiritual qi, or any plants and animals, the lifeless environment reminded her of those cold, dreary days at the Shangyun Sect.