With her new light-element method in hand.
Ning Ruan threw herself into training at once.
Worthy of a method personally recommended by the Scripture Pavilion's hidden titan —
within a mere hour, she had grasped its fundamentals.
Three more days of cultivation.
And she successfully... crashed again.
Ning "Reverse Healing Arts" Ruan had injured herself.
It began as one small cut on her hand.
One application of the healing art later —
she sprayed a full mouthful of blood.
Ning Ruan: "..."
At that exact moment.
A voice-transmission paper crane fluttered into her hand.
Out of it came the Eldest Senior Brother's gentle, heartwarming voice:
"Little Sister, during your three days in seclusion, rumors detrimental to you have spread outside. If you have no objection, your senior brothers can handle the matter on your behalf.
Also: in four hours, an elder of profound light-element cultivation lectures at the Lecture Hall. If convenient, you would do well to leave seclusion today. Do not miss it."
Ning Ruan held the paper crane.
And blinked.
Rumors detrimental to her?
Interesting.
At that same moment.
The sword casket behind her gave a distinct tremble.
She had to reach back and give it a firm pat:
"Quiet, you!"
...
Pei Jingyu, banned from competition, had reverted to full corpse mode and resolutely refused to leave the peak.
Nostrils-to-the-sky Seventh Senior Brother Yan Liang, confirmed Grind King, had been training every waking moment since his recovery.
So when Ning Ruan emerged, she found only the Eldest Senior Brother.
Plus the King of Lying Low himself, Third Senior Brother Qi Mo, whom she'd met exactly once.
And socially anxious Fifth Senior Brother Liang Xiuxiu.
"Little Sister. You came out after all." Luo Yue showed not a trace of surprise at this.
He continued, smiling warmly:
"There's still some time before the lecture begins at the Lecture Hall.
As for the rumors — part of them spread from Suiyun Peak.
The rest came from outside the sect.
At present, the whole of Shengjing, the Dayan Imperial Dynasty's capital, is repeating the story."
Ning Ruan raised her eyes. "What rumor?"
Before Luo Yue could answer, the perpetually silent Third Senior Brother spoke first, tone perfectly even:
"Attempted patricide. And the ruin of your own father's cultivation."
Ning Ruan very nearly laughed. "That's not a rumor, though."
Attempted patricide was precisely what it had been.
If her dear "father" hadn't proven so magnificently subhuman as to snatch Li Yu's mother's defensive artifact at the final moment —
the two of them would currently be a pair of lovebirds six feet under.
At her answer.
Third Senior Brother's lips curved upward; a smile bloomed across his whole face. "I understand now."
Ning Ruan: ...
No — understand WHAT, exactly?
Understand patricide?
Understand the rumor?
And why, in the middle of broad daylight, was that smile so deeply unsettling?
The identical smile, worn on the Eldest Senior Brother's face, radiated warmth and comfort:
"In truth, within the sect the rumor hasn't traveled far.
After all, Little Sister did produce the image-recording stones that day.
A fair number of disciples saw the evidence themselves, and most of them care for little besides their training anyway.
Outside, however, it has spread rather badly.
The Li Clan's hand is in it — and someone in the Dayan imperial house appears to have moved as well."
"Oh." Ning Ruan nodded.
Luo Yue continued, smiling lightly: "Our Invincible Peak may not care what outsiders say of us — but we don't absorb slander for free, either.
Your senior brothers are happy to take the field on this."
Had they not worried that meddling uninvited in Little Sister's private affairs would be improper, they'd have moved days ago.
Ning Ruan gave it a moment of genuine thought, then nodded. "Eldest Senior Brother, could you arrange for me to leave the sect for a trip?"
If the front gate wasn't an option, she'd have to burn a trump card and sneak out.
"Of course. But are you certain you don't need us to do anything more?" Toward his one and only Little Sister, Luo Yue was more than willing to lend a hand.
Ning Ruan looked genuinely puzzled. "This is an easy matter to settle."
She was, in fact, planning to settle it early and be back in time for the lecture.
...
As a peak's eldest direct disciple and Invincible Peak's year-round keeper,
Luo Yue had always held several sect-exit tokens bestowed by Liu Yun.
Handing one over, he asked once more, unable to help himself: "Little Sister, you're truly certain you don't need help?"
"A small errand like this is no trouble at all." Ning Ruan's answer remained brief.
At the end.
The taciturn Third Senior Brother, Qi Mo, presented her with a boxed array:
"This array grants defense and invisibility, and screens one's aura to the greatest possible degree. It should be of use to you."
Ning Ruan didn't refuse.
Not that she'd necessarily need it — but the thing was interesting.
Nor did she take it for free.
She casually pulled out a lump of stone black as charcoal and dropped it into Qi Mo's hands:
"My thanks, Third Senior Brother. This can be used in array refining. It should be of use to you too."
Of use? OF USE?... Even someone as unflappable as Qi Mo could not fully mask his agitation; the hands cradling the black lump trembled faintly:
"This... this is Mystic Iron Charcoal. It serves both artifact forging and array refining. You're truly giving this to me?"
Ning Ruan stowed her array banners and answered without looking up. "Third Senior Brother gave me a gift too, didn't he?"
Qi Mo: ...
He had. But an array made by his own hands, weighed against Mystic Iron Charcoal, did not belong in the same conceptual universe.
Ning Ruan displayed not one flicker of reluctance.
Gift delivered, she spared it not a second glance, summoned the Scarlet Feather Kite, and zipped away.
Qi Mo remained where he stood, palms hot around the Mystic Iron Charcoal.
Luo Yue patted his shoulder and was just opening his mouth —
when an invisible force surged off Qi Mo's clothing and flung Luo Yue's right hand bodily aside.
The defensive spell-robe. Auto-guarding its master.
Luo Yue: ...
No wonder Little Sister called Third Junior Brother the Dog King.
The dog was genuine. Certified.
What normal person defended himself to THIS degree?
Luo Yue's mouth twitched, but he grimly maintained the smile:
"Little Sister is... always like that. You'll get used to it.
More to the point... Third Junior Brother, when did you change defensive spell-robes AGAIN?"
Qi Mo had already recovered his equilibrium, mild and harmless as ever:
"I had idle time, so I added a few more small arrays. Besides, my cultivation is the lowest here — a mere First Realm. Naturally I must find ways to protect myself."
Luo Yue: ...
He drew a deep breath.
Then turned to the socially anxious Fifth Junior Brother, quietly crouching off to the side:
"Xiuxiu. Little Sister may have declined our help, but she IS a light-element spirit master, when all's said.
What if someone bullies her out there?
You're the best fighter our Invincible Peak has left at the moment. Why don't you go and guard Little Sister from the shadows?"
The abruptly-named Liang Xiuxiu looked up in undisguised terror: "...I—I mean, I could... no, wait — Eldest Senior Brother, it's just, I keep feeling like our peak has someone far better suited to guarding people from the shadows."
Luo Yue sank into thought. "Now that you mention it... I have the same feeling. But... who was it, again?"
Qi Mo wore an equally pensive face: ...
Odd. Now that it had been raised, he too sensed that such a person existed.
But... who was it, again?
...