Returning to Xiaoyao Peak, Mu Yao reached out and touched Ah Jiu’s back. It was slightly damp with sweat and not yet dry, and she felt a trace of remorse for completely forgetting about this earlier.
Mu Yao’s cool fingers touched Ah Jiu’s back, making Ah Jiu feel a bit ticklish. She could not help laughing and said, “Senior Sister, it tickles!”
As she spoke, she leaned into Mu Yao’s embrace while laughing.
Mu Yao withdrew her hand and pinched the tip of her nose. “Go wash up. What would you like to eat today?”
Ah Jiu’s eyes rolled. “Whatever Senior Sister makes is delicious.”
Mu Yao flicked her forehead. “Tell me what you want to eat, or else you can make it yourself.”
Ah Jiu smiled, named two dishes, and then ran off to wash up and freshen herself.
After washing up and changing into a fresh set of clothes, Mu Yao had already finished cooking by the time she returned. Following the scent, Ah Jiu ran over, her stomach growling the moment she caught the aroma.
She very consciously scooped out two bowls of rice, giving one to Mu Yao and keeping the other for herself.
Mu Yao shook her head. “How can a cultivator be so attached to culinary desires?”
Ah Jiu took a bite of meat. “Bigu pills just do not taste good! Besides, eating does not hinder cultivation.”
Hearing her twisted logic, Mu Yao flicked her forehead. “Although Bigu pills do not taste good, once refined into pills, the impurities are thoroughly removed, which is naturally more beneficial for cultivation. If you need to enter closed-door cultivation in the future, will you also need to cook yourself a delicious meal every single day first?”
“Senior Sister,” Ah Jiu coaxed softly, “we can talk about future matters in the future.”
Hearing her coquettish tone, Mu Yao simply shook her head slightly and stopped lecturing her.
Ah Jiu stuck her tongue out at the nearby spiritual beast, knowing that Senior Sister certainly wouldn’t continue to scold her.
After finishing the meal, Ah Jiu conscientiously cleaned up the bowls and chopsticks.
Afterward, she was called into the library pavilion by Mu Yao. Yesterday’s check on how well she had memorized the Taixuan Scripture had been skipped, but today Ah Jiu could not escape this ordeal.
Although she stumbled through it, she had managed to memorize most of it in the end. Mu Yao did not scold her much and simply told her to continue memorizing.
“Senior Sister, haven’t we already memorized the earlier parts? Why do we still have to memorize them?”
“Supreme platform star, response without ceasing; what comes next?” Mu Yao unrolled a scroll. Now that she could use her spiritual sense, reading had become much easier.
Ah Jiu opened her mouth, unable to answer.
“If you can memorize it but cannot recite the continuation, it means you have not truly remembered it or mastered it.” Whenever this happened, Ah Jiu felt that Senior Sister was truly ruthless and completely uncompromising.
Yet she had no way to refute it and could only honestly continue memorizing.
“And this book of spell arts; memorize it for half an hour every day.” Mu Yao picked through the bookshelf and handed Ah Jiu another book.
“Why do we have to memorize all of it? We will not even use it.” Ah Jiu did not want to memorize it and could not help finding an excuse to slack off and refute.
“If you do not want to practice the sword dao, these are the foundations. If you do not understand the Taixuan Scripture, you cannot even enter the Daoist gate. This book, Basics of Spiritual Spells, is the foundation of all spells in the world. Even the strongest techniques in the world evolve from the spell arts in this book. If you still feel that you do not need to memorize it, then do not study it.” Mu Yao did not force her either; she simply placed the book in front of Ah Jiu, began reading her own book, and paid her no more attention.
Ah Jiu flipped back and forth through Basics of Spiritual Spells several times. Seeing that Mu Yao genuinely had no intention of managing her further, she scratched her head, ultimately chose to turn back to the very beginning, and began memorizing it earnestly.
Half an hour later, Mu Yao, who had remained completely motionless and silent the entire time, suddenly spoke in a calm voice: “Rest for a quarter of an hour.”
Hearing Mu Yao’s words, Ah Jiu looked as though she had suddenly escaped a sea of bitterness; her furrowed brows instantly smoothed out.
“Senior Sister is the best!” Hearing her upbeat and cheerful tone, Mu Yao could not help chuckling softly. This little fellow seemed to have forgotten that the one who made her memorize books in the first place was also herself.
After uttering that Senior Sister was the best, Ah Jiu bolted outside, as lingering in that place for even a moment longer would be a torment.
Hearing the sound of her running footsteps outside, Mu Yao brushed her fingertips across the page of her book and asked with a puzzled, low voice: “Is it really that much of a torment?”
A quarter of an hour passed, and Ah Jiu was still playing with the spiritual beasts downstairs. Mu Yao used spiritual power to transmit her voice to Ah Jiu: “Time is up.”
Hearing Mu Yao’s voice unexpectedly gave Ah Jiu a start, but then she remembered the spiritual voice transmission Yue Yue had told her about and quickly understood.
Dropping the spiritual beast she was holding, Ah Jiu obediently returned to the library pavilion. To be honest, she was still somewhat afraid of Mu Yao, not because she was afraid of being punished by Mu Yao, but because she was afraid Mu Yao would ignore her.
When Ah Jiu re-entered the library pavilion, she found that her desk had already been tidied up. However, sitting in front of the neat desk, Ah Jiu felt completely uncomfortable. It was far too clean and tidy, making her very unaccustomed to it; she still preferred a bit of mess.
The Basics of Spiritual Spells she had just been memorizing had also been put away by Mu Yao and neatly placed to the side.
Ah Jiu scratched her head, then flipped open the Taixuan Scripture anyway.
Although Mu Yao could not see, she could sense her restlessness and agitation.
“Since your heart is not at peace, go outside.” Mu Yao felt that forcefully suppressing her like this was inappropriate.
Hearing her words, Ah Jiu thought she had made Senior Sister angry. “Senior Sister, Ah Jiu is not. Ah Jiu will memorize properly.”
Mu Yao frowned slightly, feeling that the junior sister seemed far too nervous in front of her. Perhaps sitting opposite her was making it impossible for her to concentrate on memorizing.
She stood up and took the books she needed to read with her. “Mm.”
Seeing her stand up, Ah Jiu misunderstood again and hastily stood up. “Senior Sister!”
Ah Jiu’s tone was somewhat hurried, causing Mu Yao’s hand to pause. She felt that she had once again caused her junior sister to misunderstand.
“I am going to practice the sword. Junior Sister can just memorize by yourself. If you are not used to staying in the library pavilion, you may go elsewhere. From now on, I will only check your progress every day and will not watch you memorize; there is no need to be nervous.” Mu Yao’s red lips parted slightly, her gentle tone carrying no intention of scolding Ah Jiu whatsoever.
Hearing this, Ah Jiu tugged on the hem of her clothes, still half-in-doubt. “Senior Sister is not lying to me? You are truly not angry with Ah Jiu?”
Hearing her cautious tone, Mu Yao’s fingertips landed on her face, and she chuckled, lightly poking her little cheek with a fingertip. “Senior Sister is only responsible for helping Master and Uncle-Master supervise your studies, not acting as your Master; you do not need to be so nervous. The path of cultivation is already defying the heavens, so it is even less suitable to push yourself too hard. However, what Senior Sister asks you to learn is also the foundation of cultivation; if you do not learn it well, how can you continue forward on the path of cultivation in the future? You can go slowly, but you cannot skip learning. Senior Sister is not angry, only feeling that watching you like this makes our little Ah Jiu far too nervous.”
Hearing Mu Yao say this, Ah Jiu reached out and hugged her neck, rubbing against her. “Senior Sister is the best.”
“You said it wasn’t good earlier, and now it’s good again?” Mu Yao asked half-jokingly.
Ah Jiu’s cheeks flushed red. “I never said that. Senior Sister is the number one best in the world.”
Hearing the little junior sister’s perfunctory compliments in her arms, Mu Yao simply patted her back gently. “Keep it up.”
“Okay.”
After Mu Yao left the library pavilion, Ah Jiu leaned against the railing of the pavilion and watched Mu Yao walk toward the direction of Jieyue Pavilion. She was still holding those scrolls in her arms, and her hair ribbon along with a few strands of light green hair were blown up by the wind.
Ah Jiu dangled her feet as she watched Mu Yao, then rested her head on her arms and thought about Mu Yao’s words just now: “With what Senior Sister said, does that mean I can go memorize books somewhere else?”
With that thought, she ran back into her room, tucked the Taixuan Scripture into her embrace, and let out a whistle. The spiritual crane immediately flew over. Ah Jiu leaped directly from the loft onto the back of the spiritual crane and rode the crane away from Xiaoyao Peak.
Mu Yao turned her head slightly toward the direction where she left. At this moment, she was standing in the bamboo grove leading from Fengsheng Pavilion to Jieyue Pavilion, and a bamboo leaf drifted down, landing right upon her hair.
Reaching out to catch the bamboo leaf, Mu Yao chuckled softly. She understood now: trapping the junior sister within that confined space was counterproductive. Since she could not calm down, she might as well let her go outside, where she would be much more at ease.
Mu Yao returned to the peach grove of Jieyue Pavilion. At this time, the peaches had already fallen, leaving very little behind. Mu Yao sat down in the peach grove, finished reading the scrolls in her hand, and then deeply savored the insights for a long time until she felt a flash of comprehension.
Frost left its scabbard. Her slender fingers gripped the hilt of Frost as her graceful posture moved, and the peach blossoms that had already fallen began to dance along with her.
Sword qi merged into the peach blossoms, and then clusters of icy blue ice flowers intertwined with the red peach blossoms, forming a unique and picturesque scene.
Yet upon closer inspection, one would find that not a single peach blossom still attached to the branches had fallen.
When Ah Jiu ran into the peach grove from outside, what she saw was the Eldest Senior Sister’s posture as she practiced her sword.
For many years afterward, even after leaving the Tianqing Sect and Xiaoyao Peak, and encountering countless cultivators and all kinds of cultivation techniques out in the world, Ah Jiu always felt that the moment her Eldest Senior Sister swung her sword was the most beautiful thing in existence, and no one could ever surpass her.
When Mu Yao sheathed her sword and turned to face Ah Jiu, she asked, “You’re back?”
“Mm, Senior Sister’s sword move just now, Ah Jiu has not seen it before. It’s so pretty.” Ah Jiu ran up to her and applauded without reservation.
“I gained some insight earlier and just perfected it today upon a sudden thought.”
Ah Jiu thought about it earnestly. “So that means it’s a sword move created by Senior Sister herself, right?”
Mu Yao nodded slightly. “You could say that.”
“Books say peach and plum spring breeze a cup of wine, jianghu night rain ten years of lamps. It feels a bit like Senior Sister’s sword.” Ah Jiu searched her mind for a long time before finding the line of poetry she wanted to say.
Mu Yao chuckled softly. “Senior Sister’s sword bears no resemblance to that line of poetry.”
Ah Jiu quickly shook her head. “Mm, but Ah Jiu thinks it’s similar. There are peach blossoms and a spring breeze, just without the wine.”
After saying this, she ran over and poked Mu Yao’s Frost sword. “But Senior Sister has Ah Jiu.”
Mu Yao bent down slightly and gently tapped her cheek with the sword hilt. “You truly think it’s similar?”
“Similar. Ah Jiu likes it.”
“Then how about naming this move Peach and Plum Spring Breeze?”
“Exquisite! Ah Jiu likes it.” As she spoke, she looked curiously at Frost and poked it with her fingertip. “Senior Sister, may I look at your sword?”
Mu Yao handed Frost to her. “Can you lift it?”
“It doesn’t look heavy.” Ah Jiu noticed that Senior Sister held it with great lightness.
Mu Yao offered no explanation and simply handed Frost over. Ah Jiu initially reached out with one hand to take it, only to find she couldn’t lift it at all. Then she hurriedly used both hands, and while she barely managed to hug it, the weight left her gasping for breath and crushed under the pressure.
Fortunately, before she had barely grasped it firmly, Mu Yao took it back.
“Talk about it again when you’re actually strong enough to lift it.”
Ah Jiu’s face flushed red, completely unexpected that Senior Sister’s sword was so heavy.
Mu Yao had actually done it on purpose. Allowing Ah Jiu to hold Frost for a moment was just to make the little one understand that she was not as frail as the little fellow imagined.
Mu Yao withdrew Frost and asked Ah Jiu, “Have you finished today’s lessons?”
Ah Jiu nodded. “Mm, finished! Does Senior Sister want to check?”
Mu Yao walked slowly over and sat down beneath the pavilion gazebo in the peach grove. “Mm, recite.”
Ah Jiu stood before her with her hands behind her back and began reciting the Taixuan Scripture. Closing her eyes, she slowly began to recite. Mu Yao did not interrupt and simply listened quietly, clearly sensing that Ah Jiu was much more fluent than before.
Then she spot-checked a few other sections, and Ah Jiu was able to answer most of them correctly.
Mu Yao nodded slightly. “Mm, very good.”
Only then did Ah Jiu unclench her fists from behind her back, feeling much less nervous.
“Is it really that hard to study in the library pavilion?” Mu Yao asked with a smile.
Ah Jiu’s little face turned slightly red before she nodded. “It seems so. I don’t know why.”
Mu Yao did not probe further. However she liked to study was fine by her, and Mu Yao couldn’t be bothered to manage it too strictly.
Afterward, Ah Jiu showed her the talisman paper she had copied. When Mu Yao took it and gently pinched it with her fingertips, she sensed a very faint spiritual energy on it. Releasing her spiritual sense to inspect it, she found that the brushwork and flow of the talisman-making were far more fluid than before her closed-door cultivation.
“Senior Sister…” Seeing that she remained silent, Ah Jiu became nervous. “Is it bad?”
Mu Yao looked at the talisman paper in her hand; it was a water talisman. Channeling her fingertips into the spiritual energy on the talisman paper, Ah Jiu watched as the talisman sprang forward upon activation, emitting a light blue glow and showering roughly a pot of water onto a peach tree.
“Mm, very good. How did Ah Jiu learn to infuse spiritual energy into the talisman paper?” Mu Yao checked and saw that seemingly only that single water talisman carried spiritual energy.
Ah Jiu scratched her head and answered honestly, “I don’t know.”
“You drew this today?” Mu Yao asked again.
“Yes. I just found a spot by the river in the sect and drew it. This one seemed to be drawn while looking at the river water, and suddenly I just knew how to draw it. Ah Jiu doesn’t know how to explain it,” Ah Jiu answered obediently.
“No need to explain. As long as you know it yourself, Ah Jiu is amazing.” Mu Yao ruffled her hair.
With this, Mu Yao confirmed that her previous approach had not been wrong: letting Ah Jiu go out on her own to experience the heaven and earth and nature worked far better than keeping her locked inside the library pavilion.
After all, the little fellow seemed born with a different kind of affinity toward nature and the heavens.
Mu Yao put down the rest of the talisman papers without looking further and simply told Ah Jiu, “As long as you can recapture the feeling you had when drawing this talisman today, learning the rest will be very easy.”
“Does Senior Sister mean I have already learned how to draw a water talisman?” Ah Jiu asked happily.
“Consider it so.” Mu Yao nodded.
Ah Jiu jumped up with joy. “I am so amazing.”
Mu Yao let out a low laugh. Who on earth praised themselves like that? Still, being able to draw talisman papers at such a young age was indeed quite good.
Then Ah Jiu quieted down. She took an item out of her storage pouch, hid it behind her back, and walked lightfootedly over to Mu Yao’s side.
Although the little one was already being very careful, Mu Yao still heard her footsteps and turned her head slightly toward Ah Jiu. “What is the matter?”
Ah Jiu looked at Mu Yao a bit nervously. “Can Senior Sister lower her head?”
Given that question, Mu Yao was quite curious about what she wanted to do, but out of respect, she refrained from directly using her spiritual sense to check.
Yielding to the little junior sister’s wishes, she lowered her head slightly, and then Mu Yao felt something being placed upon her head. Ah Jiu took a step back. “Done.”
Mu Yao reached up and lightly touched the object on her head, freezing the moment her fingertips made contact.
If she wasn’t mistaken, it should be a flower crown.
“I saw it today and thought the flowers suited Senior Sister very well.” Ah Jiu kept her hands behind her back, twisting them together nervously.
She looked up at Mu Yao before her. The flower crown, which matched the color of her clothing, rested upon Mu Yao’s head and indeed looked exceptionally fitting.
Ah Jiu tilted her head slightly. “Senior Sister looks so pretty.”
Mu Yao lowered her hand, letting it rest on Frost by her side, unconsciously gripping the sword tightly before slightly curving the corners of her mouth. “Thank you, Junior Sister.”
Ah Jiu walked over again to hug Mu Yao and kissed her cheek. Mu Yao instinctively rested her arm around her, loosely embracing the little junior sister in her arms.
“It suits Senior Sister very well.” She rubbed against the crook of Mu Yao’s shoulder.
Mu Yao’s heart instantly softened.
“But Ah Jiu still isn’t very good at drawing, so I couldn’t draw it for Senior Sister,” Ah Jiu whispered.
Mu Yao released her spiritual sense and saw what she looked like at this moment, truly feeling that the flower crown was very pretty.
Mu Yao said softly, “Senior Sister sees it.”
Ah Jiu looked up and smiled at her. “Really? Does Senior Sister like it?”
“I like it.” The corners of Mu Yao’s mouth curved up gently as she pinched the tip of Ah Jiu’s nose.
Afterward, she raised her hand and used spiritual power to gather the fallen blossoms in the peach grove, enveloping those fine fallen petals in cold ice.
Frost left its scabbard, carving into the freezing ice, and Ah Jiu watched as a tiny ice pendant gradually took shape.
Mu Yao took out an icy blue cord from her storage ring, threaded it through the pendant, and then withdrew her hand as the pendant settled into her palm.
A peach blossom was embedded within the translucent icy blue ice, and the touch upon taking it was not bone-chilling, but rather possessed a gentle, comfortable coolness.
“Senior Sister, is this ice?” Ah Jiu reached out and touched it with curiosity.
“It is cold jade, jade produced beneath the cold spring, not ordinary ice.” Mu Yao bent down and fastened the pendant around Ah Jiu’s neck.
“Do you like it?” Mu Yao asked softly.
Ah Jiu reached out to touch the pendant on her neck, joy filling her brows and eyes. “I like it!”
Mu Yao curved her lips once more. “As long as you like it; Senior Sister likes it too.”
Then Mu Yao stood up and said softly to Ah Jiu, “Just do not go picking these flowers again in the future. They were planted by Senior Sister Nan You. If you get caught by her, she will likely beat you.”