Another Failure
However, Xiao Yuan had no intention of exposing Xiao Ziyu. Besides, it was still early in the day, and gathering together to do some handicrafts was rather nice, as it could even help prevent senile dementia.
Otherwise, that truly would have been a case of not being able to see any future for the Sword Sect at all.
As for the Fifth Senior Brother, who had just loudly declared his intention to go to the Sixth Peak to hack off a branch of the Yixue plum blossom, he was now honestly hiding behind his biological twin brother, Shang Qi’an. The moment his gaze met Xiao Yuan’s, he muttered like an obedient child, “It’s not like I could actually shout him out.”
It wasn’t as if he could forcefully break through the Sixth Peak’s grand protective array and snatch the child out.
This timid display caused the other peak masters to burst out laughing.
It was Duan Wangyue’s first time seeing people who looked so identical, so he inevitably felt a bit curious and couldn’t help staring a few more times.
Qin Ke, nestled inside his arms, didn’t dare to move a muscle, terrified that these people might notice any flaws. He tried his absolute best to pretend to be nothing more than an ordinary, run-of-the-mill little bird.
Who could have told him that the legendary killing gods of the Sword Sect, as rumored in the demon and fiend realms, all looked like this behind closed doors?
Gathering together to do handicrafts?
Xiao Yuan fell silent for a brief moment. Meeting the identical gazes of Second Senior Brother Shang Qi’an and Shang Qijiu, he said, “If Senior Brother wants the Yixue plum blossoms, I will chop some down and bring them to you after the disciple-recruitment grand ceremony ends. Do not go there alone.”
Because the original body loved researching and tinkering with various arrays, almost everywhere on the Sixth Peak outside a hundred-li radius of the bamboo house was covered in minor arrays with every five steps, and major arrays with every ten steps.
Furthermore, these arrays were interlocked, with the gates of life and death tightly bound together. One careless step would trap someone inside to their death.
Yet the very Yixue plum blossoms Shang Qijiu had his eyes on happened to be located right in this area full of arrays. Coupled with the fact that he hadn’t explicitly stated he wanted them, the original body had kept a close watch out of the assumption that he was just being mischievous.
Shang Qijiu blinked. “Then many thanks to Little Junior Brother.”
Xiao Yuan gave a slight nod, offering no further explanation of the reasons behind it.
Once this digression was over, everyone’s attention shifted back to the exquisitely carved glutinous rice dumpling nestled in Xiao Yuan’s arms.
Being out and about was different from being on their own mountain peak. After the incident last night, Duan Wangyue had accepted showing his tail in front of Shizun, but today he had still put on clothes without an opening at the back.
He worried that he might sometimes fail to control his tail, bringing unnecessary trouble to himself and Shizun.
As for the dragon horns on his head, he had covered them up by wearing a fluffy tiger-head hat.
Anyway, it was currently winter, so a child dressing like this didn’t feel out of place at all.
“So this is the little martial nephew?” Yao Yu had virtually zero resistance against cute creatures, and thanks to her year-round dealings with spirit beasts, her surrounding aura was remarkably gentle and harmless.
Duan Wangyue held his Shizun’s hand, his gaze following the female cultivator who radiated such a gentle and harmless aura. Standing at eye level with her, he involuntarily tightened his grip on the hand supporting Qin Ke, applying enough force to make the bird let out a startled chirp.
“Senior Sister.”
Without batting an eye, Xiao Yuan subtly blocked their line of sight. His usually expressionless face rarely showed a hint of helplessness, resembling a snow-capped peak reluctant to reveal a trace of spring amidst perpetual frost, though it vanished just as quickly.
Yao Yu looked up and happened to catch this scene, murmuring a stammering agreement.
“You startled him.”
Among all the senior and junior brothers and sisters, Xiao Yuan’s Sixth Peak was the only one that hadn’t taken in a single disciple for all these years. Now that he finally had a lone seedling, the child naturally won the affection of all the martial uncles and aunts, who one after another presented welcome gifts.
Qin Ke squatted on Duan Wangyue’s shoulder, his beady eyes staring at the heavenly treasures in the young master’s embrace, thinking that the young master’s decision to take a master back then was truly an excellent choice.
Especially the bottle of Spirit-Nourishing Pills gifted by the Fourth Peak Master, Yao Yu, as the fragrance alone made his mouth water. It smelled so good.
Duan Wangyue wasn’t the helpless little pitiful child from the Duan residence whom anyone could bully anymore. During his days on the Sixth Peak, he had been well-nurtured and guided by Shizun, and he knew that the welcome gifts given by these martial uncles and aunts were by no means ordinary items.
Lifting his head, he called out somewhat flusteredly, “Shizun.”
Aside from Shizun, this was the first time he had ever received pure, unselfish kindness from strangers without any hidden motives.
Xiao Yuan gently rubbed the back of his head. “Just accept them.”
As elders giving a welcome gift to a martial nephew, accepting them was entirely appropriate. Besides, when his senior brothers and sisters had taken in disciples back then, he hadn’t fallen short on welcome gifts either.
It was merely courtesy calling for reciprocity.
Amidst their conversation, the time arrived, and the Ascension Ladder opened wide. Countless mortals carrying aspirations of stepping onto the path of immortality eagerly stepped onto the Ascension Ladder.
In the First Peak’s main hall, several peak masters sat upright in their seats. In the center of the hall floated several circular water mirrors, synchronizing in real time the actions of the mortals on the Ascension Ladder for the peak masters to evaluate their character and innate bone structure.
To Xiao Yuan, those circular water mirrors were essentially a cultivation-world version of a projector, so he didn’t find them particularly novel.
A disciple-recruitment grand ceremony held once every five years certainly wouldn’t last for just a single day, but none of that had anything to do with the master-disciple duo of Xiao Yuan and Duan Wangyue. They were merely there to make up the numbers.
Three days flashed by in the blink of an eye, marking the conclusion of the Sword Sect’s quinquennial disciple-recruitment grand ceremony.
Even though Duan Wangyue had simply been tagging along with his Shizun to make up numbers these past few days, those numbers weren’t made up in vain. If he hadn’t been lucky enough to be brought back to the sect by a Shizun out on experiential travel, trying to enter the Sword Sect purely through his own efforts would likely have cost him quite a bit of hardship.
Sitting in his chair with a piece of pastry still clutched in his hand, Duan Wangyue looked at the proud youths, looking somewhat disheveled yet holding their backs straight, being selected from the hundreds of stone steps below. Then, taking a glance at Shizun sitting beside him, he took a small bite of his pastry and decided that he was still very fortunate indeed.
Xiao Yuan had never had any intention of taking in another disciple from the start. Watching his senior brother and sister select the disciples of their choice and handing out welcome gifts as if following a standard procedure, he brought his little disciple and headed back to the Sixth Peak.
Staying with his senior brothers and sisters was pleasant enough, but he still preferred spending time with his little disciple on the Sixth Peak.
And besides.
As soon as they entered the Sixth Peak, Xiao Yuan cast a small local warming and cold-repelling array around them, took off the tiger-head hat covering the little dragon’s head, and only let out a sigh of relief after confirming that the tender, fluffy dragon horns were completely fine.
He wasn’t a dragon himself, nor had he ever raised one. On the first day of the recruitment ceremony after returning to the Sixth Peak, he had washed up and gone to sleep as usual, though with cultivation like his, sleep wasn’t strictly necessary, at most involving lying in bed with eyes closed to rest the mind.
It was precisely because of this that he had heard the little dragon’s suppressed gasps of pain.
Instantly teleporting to the little dragon’s bedside, he found the child curled up tightly under the covers, presumably in intense pain, shaking so hard that his body and the quilt trembled together.
That night, Xiao Yuan did not return to his own room. Instead, he gently patted his disciple’s back and used gentle spiritual energy to nourish his meridians.
Watching the little disciple who had finally fallen asleep while drenched in sweat and clutching his clothes tightly, Xiao Yuan let out a soft sigh and closed his eyes, unexpectedly drifting off to sleep to the sound of the child’s light, steady breathing.
Qin Ke stood perched on the small table at the head of the bed, breathing a sigh of relief upon seeing this, preening his feathers before sinking into dreamland as well.
The next day, after Xiao Yuan repeatedly questioned him about the cause, Duan Wangyue held the tiger-head hat in his hands and stammered, “The hat was a bit too tight.”
It had pinched his horns and hurt.
Xiao Yuan looked at the little disciple’s eager, round black eyes, and then at the mischievous, cute red tiger-head hat. Fortunately, after reading the original body’s manuscripts, he had developed a habit of tinkering with things whenever he had free time.
This tinkering habit meant he liked carrying around meteoric iron, files, and similar tools, always pulling them out to polish things when bored, and needles and thread happened to be among them.
Thus, Duan Wangyue’s subordinate, Qin Ke, who had heard plenty of rumors in the demon realm regarding Immortal Qingyuan’s reputation as a god of slaughter, watched in disbelief as Immortal Xiao, whose hands should rightfully be holding the Wuran sword to slaughter demons and vanquish fiends at a moment’s notice, picked up an embroidery needle instead.
And that embroidery needle was currently being used to alter the size of the tiger-head hat for his own young master.
Rumors could not be entirely trusted. Who would have guessed that Immortal Qingyuan was so remarkably domestic behind closed doors, even carrying embroidery needles with him wherever he went?
After the disciple-recruitment ceremony concluded, Duan Wangyue and Xiao Yuan completely secluded themselves on the Sixth Peak. During this period, Fifth Peak Master Shang Qijiu even came over to haul away the Yixue plum blossoms he had been longing for.
To express his gratitude, he also gifted martial nephew Duan Wangyue a white jade Xiao, which is a vertical bamboo flute.
In his words, “Little Junior Brother already has the artifact Wuran that can change forms and lacks no magical treasures. The martial nephew’s natal dharma weapon will have its own destiny in due time, so I’ll gift him a flute. He can play a tune or two when he has nothing better to do.”
Duan Wangyue held the white jade flute gifted by his martial uncle. He knew nothing of music theory and naturally couldn’t play the instrument, so he casually executed a few moves with the vertical flute, spun a sword flower with it, and gave a slight nod.
The grip felt good; it would work just fine as a weapon.
Xiao Yuan, who had witnessed the entire scene, thought to himself.
“Wangyue, spin the tail of the flute.”
If he wasn’t mistaken, there should be a hidden sword concealed within this flute.
This Fifth Senior Brother really had an extreme fondness for the Yixue plum blossoms, actually giving away the Raoxue Flute as a return gift.
Although the Raoxue Flute didn’t carry the terrifying renown of Wuran, it was still an item that ranked within the top hundred of the Dharma Weapon Rankings.
Following his Shizun’s instructions, Duan Wangyue twisted the tail of the flute, and sure enough, accompanied by a slight resistance, he drew out a gleaming sword hidden inside the flute.
Swish!
Duan Wangyue executed a few sideways flips into an open clearing. The sharp sword glare, accompanied by sword qi, startled the surrounding accumulated snow, sending fine snowflake powder flying and swirling around the blade.
Flipping his wrist, he executed an exceptionally exquisite sword flower, then trotted briskly over to stand before Xiao Yuan. Having studied under the master of the Wuran sword, Xiao Yuan, everything he learned came directly from his Shizun’s personal instruction. The moment he held this flute-sword in his hand, he knew it was a fine weapon.
With a pair of bright, sparkling eyes fixed on Xiao Yuan, his pitch-black gaze filled with excitement and joy, he was genuinely fond of the vertical flute gifted by his Fifth Martial Uncle.
Xiao Yuan rubbed his slightly damp fringe and said, “This flute is named Raoxue.”
“Raoxue! Raoxue! From now on, you are my weapon!”
On this day, Duan Wangyue once again pestered Xiao Yuan to teach him sword techniques.
Three years later.
Duan Wangyue sat cross-legged on a mountain cliff of the Sixth Peak. Three years of time had slipped away. The former little bean-sprout had now shot up in height, and the baby fat on his face had completely faded away, leaving behind only a pair of eyes as pitch-black as before.
“Another failure.”
Duan Wangyue fell backward onto the ground, looking at the round moon that felt as close as if it were right in front of him. He raised a hand and tried to grab at it, letting the moonlight filter through his fingers and fall upon his face.
Qin Ke still maintained the appearance of a little bird, though his feathers had grown a shade redder and considerably plumper.
“Reaching Foundation Establishment is not something to be rushed.”
His voice no longer carried the childish immaturity of three years ago, replaced instead by a crisp, clear adolescent voice.
“How can I not be anxious? If I still don’t reach Foundation Establishment, I won’t be able to participate in the sect grand tournament.”
The disciples who had entered the sect by watching the recruitment ceremony three years ago had all achieved Foundation Establishment by the middle of last month, while he alone remained stuck at the Qi Condensation stage.
Wouldn’t that give the other disciples in the sect room to mock the illustrious Immortal Qingyuan for actually taking in a good-for-nothing disciple?
Duan Wangyue sat up with a sudden jerk, closed his eyes slightly, and recited the mental cultivation formula internally to continue practicing diligently.
Xiao Yuan was concealed behind a tree nearby. Seeing this, he stepped onto the Wuran sword and quietly slipped out of the Sword Sect.
Since the little dragon was working this hard, he as a Shizun couldn’t afford to idle either.