an overwhelming wave of drowsiness washed over him, causing the meditating Ji Lan to plunge into a deep, unconscious sleep.
Creak. The door pushed open on its own.
The candle flames inside the room, which should have burned down to ashes, flickered back to life, casting a long, stretched shadow across the floor.
“Master,” Mo Chenxiao whispered, letting out a soft sigh tinged with quiet helplessness. “For all these days, why haven’t you noticed a single thing?”
No genuine cultivator required mandatory nightly sleep. At Ji Lan’s level of cultivation, entering deep meditation to steady the mind and condense spiritual energy served as ample rest. Yet night after night, Ji Lan invariably fell into a heavy slumber without ever questioning why he felt the need to do so.
“Were you never a practitioner of the Dao in your past life?” Mo Chenxiao’s index finger traced lightly across Ji Lan’s lips. “I’ve probed and searched for traces of soul-seizing for days now, yet found no evidence whatsoever. Master, care to guess when this disciple will finally lose interest in you?”
Should he ever lose interest in this person, Mo Chenxiao would simply grant him a clean, swift end.
After all, this world held nothing worth cherishing; when that time came, he would simply walk hand in hand with his master into oblivion, dragging the entire world down with them…
After kneading Ji Lan’s lips until they flushed a bright, bruised red, Mo Chenxiao prepared to crawl into his usual spot on the bed.
Instead, a sudden sound caught his attention.
Someone was coming!
In a flash, Mo Chenxiao pulled the door open. Standing outside in the corridor was a bewildered Wansong.
“M-Big Brother Mo,” Wansong stared at him in utter shock. “Why are you inside Elder Qinglian’s room at this hour?”
“Wansong, what are you doing wandering around so late?”
Wansong felt as though Big Brother Mo’s expression looked rather terrifying; the flickering candlelight painted Mo Chenxiao’s face with the terrifying aura of a rakshasa ghost.
“I… I woke up to use the latrine… and noticed a light shining from Elder Qinglian’s room,” Wansong stammered, taking a few involuntary steps backward. “So I came over to check.”
He had clearly set a protective barrier around the room that even masters couldn’t detect, so how on earth had Wansong managed to pierce through it?
“The candle in Master’s room simply hadn’t blown out,” Mo Chenxiao smoothly offered an explanation with a calm demeanor. “It was too bright, so I came in to extinguish it so as not to disturb him.”
“So that’s how it was. Big Brother Mo is truly so thoughtful toward Elder Qinglian.” Wansong’s doubts evaporated, deciding it must have been a trick of his imagination. Looking again, Big Brother Mo was once more the steady, reliable figure he always knew.
“It’s late, go back to sleep,” Mo Chenxiao closed the door shut, extinguishing the candle simultaneously. “You still have to cultivate tomorrow.”
With a look of pure adoration, Wansong bowed deeply toward Mo Chenxiao. “I will definitely work hard! You can count on me, Big Brother Mo!”
Without uttering another word, Mo Chenxiao simply flicked his hand, gesturing that Wansong was dismissed.
With a well-behaved smile, Wansong gave a heavy bow and scurried away without looking back.
Watching Wansong’s retreating figure, Mo Chenxiao’s brow furrowed tightly.
How on earth had this half-grown kid managed to break through his barrier? Perhaps it had something to do with those two strands of mysterious spiritual energy?
With a cold, frozen expression, Mo Chenxiao turned back toward the room. For the next few days, he probably wouldn’t be able to hold his master while sleeping.
A missing soul fragment left him perpetually restless. Whenever the full moon approached, the agony became excruciating, and only remaining close to his master could alleviate it.
The Extreme Yin Constitution fused with his heart’s blood created the ultimate furnace vessel—a furnace body uniquely responsive to him alone.
Mo Chenxiao took a slow, measured breath. He couldn’t deal with Wansong right now, but once he found the right opportunity, he would ensure this person vanished from the face of the earth permanently!
Seating himself on the edge of the cold wooden bed, Mo Chenxiao entered a state of deep concentration, through which he could still catch the faint, rhythmic breathing of his master nearby.
Gentling a shred of his divine consciousness to wrap softly around his master’s form, Mo Chenxiao drifted into a deep meditative slumber of his own…
When Ji Lan blinked his eyes open the next morning, he found two small radish-like figures squatting right beside his bed, leaving him thoroughly bewildered.
For a terrifying second, his mind flashed back to the nightmare where these two kids turned into Mo Chenxiao!
Viciously pinching his own thigh to snap fully awake, Ji Lan confirmed that the two children were entirely real.
“Elder Qinglian,” Wansong beamed happily, hoisting Ah Yue up a little higher in his arms. “Let me and Ah Yue take care of you today!”
Ah Yue tilted her head to study Ji Lan before flashing a sweet, dimpled smile. “Ah Yue… will take care… of Real Person!”
With one big radish carrying a smaller radish, Ji Lan felt instantly healed of all early-morning fatigue. His mood soared. “There’s no need for you two to wait on me, run along outside first.”
Wansong stubbornly shook his head, refusing to budge. “No! Taking care of the Elder is my proper duty as a disciple!”
Originally, Wansong had believed he was only summoned from the disciple quarters so he could serve around the house, but days had passed while he ate and slept for free without performing a single chore, leaving him consumed with guilt toward the elder.
“Very well, have it your way,” Ji Lan relented, realizing that if he refused, Wansong’s eyes would likely turn red with frustration. “Though what is Ah Yue doing here?”
A tiny milk-toddler like her could only serve as a mascot at best.
“Ah Yue is here to comb the Real Person’s hair!” Ah Yue announced, speaking a full sentence fluently for the first time, her cheeks turning bright red from the effort.
“Wonderful,” Ji Lan chuckled, unable to resist pinching Ah Yue’s plump cheek. “Go ahead and try your best, then.”
Catching sight of Ji Lan’s smile out of the corner of his eye, Wansong froze in place, a sudden wave of heat rushing straight from his face down to his neck.
Ji Lan remained entirely oblivious to Wansong’s inner turmoil, pinching Ah Yue’s cheek before reaching out to ruffle Wansong’s hair as well. Raising kids truly brought a unique form of happiness.
The only lingering regret was that the male lead was currently a full-grown adult. If the male lead could shrink down into a tiny bun, he would undoubtedly be ten times cuter than Ah Yue!
What a pity. Truly a pity.
After indulging in a brief moment of domestic bliss, Ji Lan looked up to see his disciple walking in with an expression of stern solemnity.
That posture, that stride—it looked precisely as though he had just returned from a murder spree!
Ji Lan’s expression instantly snapped into one of guarded caution. “Chenxiao, did something happen?”
“Master,” Mo Chenxiao said coldly, enunciating each word with chilling precision, “the Pavilion Master summons you to the mountain gate immediately.”
Why on earth would they need to go to the mountain gate out of nowhere?
Ji Lan figured the Sword Pavilion’s Pavilion Master shouldn’t be that ridiculously idle, and if an actual emergency had arisen, a simple voice transmission talisman would have sufficed. Why bother sending Mo Chenxiao to deliver the message in person?
That seemed awfully exhausting.
Or was this just another heavy-handed attempt by the author to squeeze in more screen time for the male lead?
While a storm of inner monologues raged in his head, Ji Lan maintained a serene exterior. “Let’s go take a look, then.”
The mountain gate directly faced the Azure Cloud Steps.
However, since the trials were still ongoing, ordinary disciples were strictly prohibited from descending the mountain during this period. From afar, Ji Lan spotted a dense cluster of over a dozen people gathered in a tight circle.
Were they watching the spectacle of the new disciples?
Ji Lan instantly quickened his pace.
“Conglian is here!”
“Elder Qinglian has arrived.”
“Greetings, Elder Qinglian.”
Among the crowd stood a mix of elders, inner-disciple seniors, and outer-disciple juniors. Spotting the only face he recognized, Ji Lan walked up to Tan Fengyu and asked, “Junior Brother Tan, what is happening here? Where is the Pavilion Master?”
Since the Pavilion Master was the one who had supposedly summoned him, why was he nowhere to be seen?
“A mere trivial matter, why trouble the Pavilion Master?” Tan Fengyu looked at Ji Lan with a bizarre expression. “Conglian, a new disciple has successfully cleared the trial.”
Oh!
Ji Lan’s eyes widened slightly. According to his knowledge, the Azure Cloud Steps trial wasn’t scheduled to end for another half a month.
Even with supreme innate talent, clearing it this quickly was unheard of!
The previous record set prior to this trial was seven days!
And this had only taken three days.
What manner of monstrous genius was this? If not for the fact that his own disciple—the protagonist Mo Chenxiao—was currently standing right behind him with a dark, brooding expression, Ji Lan would have suspected this new arrival was the male lead himself!
Was it really necessary to snatch the protagonist’s thunder away like this?
Noticing that Ji Lan’s astonishment lasted merely a few seconds before fading, Tan Fengyu grew somewhat displeased. “Conglian, do you even realize what this means? Many elders are already eyeing this new disciple, hoping to take her into their inner sects.”
Clearing the Azure Cloud Steps trial in such a record-breaking timeframe proved that this newcomer possessed unyielding tenacity—a natural-born practitioner of the Dao.
Even if she currently possessed only a mortal frame, such indomitable willpower practically guaranteed future greatness!
Who wouldn’t want such a promising sapling?
Unfortunately, Ji Lan had zero interest.
He already had the male lead as a disciple; standing someone like this next to the protagonist was practically writing a death sentence for a cannon fodder character!
Ah, what a bitter life.
“Junior Brother Tan, are you hoping to take her in as well?” Ji Lan offered an indifferent, polite smile. “May your wish be granted, then.”
Before he even finished speaking, the surrounding crowd fell into an abrupt, dead silence.
Ji Lan: “?!” What just happened?
“Conglian, you’re doing that on purpose, aren’t you?” Tan Fengyu wore an expression of profound exasperation. “Didn’t your disciple fill you in on what’s going on here?”
Huh?
Ji Lan slowly turned his head, casting a puzzled glance at Mo Chenxiao, only to find his disciple wearing a look of deep-seated grievance, looking precisely as though he had been deeply provoked by this prodigy.
“Never mind, never mind,” Tan Fengyu muttered, clearing his throat as he recalled something. “The reason you were called here today is because…”
“Because I wish to take Real Person Conglian as my master!”
A crisp, bright voice cut off Tan Fengyu mid-sentence. The crowd encircling Ji Lan parted like water, automatically clearing a pathway right down the middle.
Following the direction of the voice, Ji Lan lowered his gaze, his eyes landing on a young girl who barely reached his waist.
Why did this little doll look so vaguely familiar?
Wait a minute, wasn’t this the exact same little girl Ah Zhen had hacked the system to show him earlier?!
Could it be that the prodigious disciple Tan Fengyu had been talking about was actually this little kid?
“Real Person Conglian, for you!”
The little girl pulled a bouquet of pink and white wildflowers from behind her back and thrust them forward. “These are the prettiest flowers I could find, I’m giving them to you!”
The child’s eyes curved into crescent moons, her pink-and-white face illuminated by the blossoms, looking utterly charming and endearing. “Real Person Conglian, my name is Xu Xi! I want to take you as my master—even becoming an outer disciple is fine with me!”
Ji Lan stood frozen, completely failing to react before the bouquet of flowers was already thrust directly into his hands.
“Little girl,” Tan Fengyu said, his heart bleeding as he listened to Xu Xi express a willingness to settle for a mere outer-disciple position, “there are so many elders here in the Sword Pavilion, are you truly certain you don’t want to pick someone better suited for you?”
Tan Fengyu had already scanned her aura; Xu Xi possessed exceptional innate potential, but if she truly wanted to cultivate, the Lotus Rain Pavilion wasn’t necessarily the most ideal sect for her path.
“I made up my mind long ago,” Xu Xi declared, staring at Ji Lan with glittering, determined eyes. “When I was climbing the Azure Cloud Steps, I swore an oath that I would pick the absolute best-looking person to be my master!”
Tan Fengyu: “What?”
Without warning, Xu Xi lunged forward, wrapping both arms tightly around Ji Lan’s sleeve. “Real Person Conglian is the best-looking one here!”
Ji Lan: “…”
Standing behind him, Mo Chenxiao lowered his gaze, staring fixedly at the way the little girl was clinging to Ji Lan’s arm, his expression sinking into an abyss of darkness.
Why did everyone and their mother suddenly want to snatch his master away from him?