"Junior Sister, your Third Junior Brother has real gifts in the way of arrays — and very much his own ideas about them.
The arrays he builds aren't limited to concealment and entrapment. That Speed-Boost Array in your hands is one of his new creations.
He has many others besides. Quite fascinating, some of them."
Having evidently noticed his Little Sister's bewilderment, Luo Yue kindly supplied the explanation.
Understanding finally flickered through Ning Ruan's eyes.
And for the first time, something from outside the village had genuinely caught her interest.
Array masters — Longevity Village had those too.
Her Sixth Dad, that self-proclaimed grandmaster of arrays, owned any number of formations of terrifying power... but an array that granted buffs? That, he did not have.
While Ning Ruan studied the little green banner in her hands, Luo Yue moved straight to business:
"Third Junior Brother, I've come for two reasons. The first was to introduce your Little Sister. The second is Master's orders.
You may not have heard — Master has returned.
This time, I'm afraid there's no dodging it. If we don't take the field now, our Invincible Peak is finished.
You understand, Third Junior Brother?"
"I understand. But I'm only a First Realm summoner. I fear I won't be of much use." The gentle smile never left Third Senior Brother's face.
It was, objectively, a rather fine face.
And yet, somehow, it radiated an aura of utter, forgettable ordinariness.
The same warm smile on Eldest Senior Brother's face drew people in.
On Third Senior Brother's face... Ning Ruan found it simply unsettling.
She even had the inexplicable sense that the smile carried a faint, indefinable chill.
Luo Yue massaged his forehead, pained. "Qi Mo. You tested at First Realm on the day you entered the sect."
Third Senior Brother lowered his gaze mournfully. "My aptitude is lacking. My cultivation hasn't advanced an inch..."
Luo Yue drew a deep breath and, with heroic effort, forced back down the sentence that had nearly escaped him — if your cultivation is below the Fifth Realm, I will kowtow to you right here:
"Third Junior Brother. If our Invincible Peak is disbanded, these quiet days of ours are over.
Without the status of a peak's direct disciples, who knows what dangers may come for us — with nowhere left to hide."
Truly, Eldest Senior Brother was Eldest Senior Brother.
The moment the words left his mouth —
Ning Ruan clearly watched deep contemplation surface on Third Senior Brother's face.
That one had cracked his defenses.
The same man who a moment ago had radiated I'm-weak-please-don't-involve-me energy transformed the instant the word "danger" landed:
"Eldest Senior Brother speaks sense. I accept. But my cultivation truly is meager — allow me a few days to prepare."
With that.
He nodded to Luo Yue and Ning Ruan and hurried back inside his courtyard.
Watching the fog roll back in and swallow the courtyard whole... Luo Yue coughed lightly and smiled without much conviction:
"Your Third Junior Brother... has always been prudent, that's all."
Ning Ruan felt that Eldest Senior Brother's assessment erred rather far on the side of tact, but nodded along earnestly all the same:
"I understand completely. He's the King of Lying Low. Naturally he needs extra time to 'prepare.'"
"The King of... Lying... Low?" A trace of puzzlement drifted across Luo Yue's warm, refined face.
Ning Ruan tightened the sword casket on her back, expression grave: "Mightiest of all who lie low. Sovereign of the art of keeping one's head down."
Luo Yue: ...
It sounded terribly impressive. But wasn't this just calling Third Junior Brother a dog?
Well... fine. Truth be told, there were moments he also thought Old Third was a bit of a dog.
As the saying went: the dog that bites doesn't bark... and he had always privately felt that Third Junior Brother was precisely that kind of dog...
Luo Yue drew a deep breath and returned to the matter at hand:
"Little Sister, next we should settle your lodgings.
All of Invincible Peak's residences sit above the mountain's waist. You may choose any open courtyard you like.
Of course, our Invincible Peak differs from the other peaks — we don't actually have many residences. Only five courtyards currently stand empty.
Four of which are damaged, owing to various forces beyond our control."
Ning Ruan: ...So exactly one was habitable — and she'd been graciously invited to "choose."
Thanks. Thanks so much.
Fortunately, Ning Ruan was not picky about housing.
Especially when there was nothing to be picky about. She swiftly located her new residence and collected her courtyard gate talisman.
Outside the courtyard gate.
Luo Yue smiled. "That settles everything for now. But Little Sister, if anything comes up, you need only come find me."
Ning Ruan nodded, then asked with some hesitation, "Shouldn't I meet my other senior brothers?"
Seven senior brothers.
So far she'd met three.
Mm... three senior brothers, two of whom were the Crouching Dragon and the Fledgling Phoenix of weirdness.
Only Eldest Senior Brother looked anywhere near normal.
Luo Yue blinked, then smiled helplessly:
"Second Junior Brother is still abroad, training.
Fifth Junior Brother and Seventh Junior Brother wounded each other sparring and are both in seclusion. It will likely be some days before they emerge."
Ning Ruan nodded again, her conviction that Invincible Peak bred nothing but Crouching Dragons and Fledgling Phoenixes hardening by the minute.
Still... why did she keep feeling like she was forgetting something?
His duties discharged, Luo Yue finally made to take his leave.
But before the words could leave his mouth, his master's familiar voice rang inside his skull.
A moment later, Luo Yue turned to Ning Ruan with a very strange look on his face:
"Little Sister... you wouldn't happen to have not walked the Thousand-Step Stairs yet?"
...
Back on the Crimson Heaven Sect's still-bustling testing plaza.
A Scarlet Feather Kite — the flying spirit artifact reserved for inner and direct disciples — glided smoothly down beside the receiving platform of the Thousand-Step Stairs.
The instant Ning Ruan's feet touched the ground.
The outer-sect elders running the tests, along with the entire queue of waiting candidates, turned to stare as one.
"What is it with today? A pack of direct disciples earlier, and now more?"
"Wait. That face... isn't she the one who got taken as a disciple by a Peak Lord on the spot this morning?"
"It really is her. What's she doing back? And that senior brother in white with her — another Peak Lord's direct disciple, you think?"
"Surely not. Peak Lords' direct disciples all wear white robes with a red sash, don't they? That senior brother is in white, but the sash is wrong."
The white robe and red sash of a Crimson Heaven Sect direct disciple — painstakingly crafted by master artificers — was the sect's single most iconic garment.
Thanks to certain proprietary patterns woven into it, imitation was flatly impossible, no matter who tried.
That much, everyone in the Eastern Continent knew.
Meanwhile.
Elder Gao — the most senior cultivator among the test officials — was already striding over.
His gaze landed on Luo Yue, surprised and more than a little odd.
Before he could ask a thing, the latter was already smiling:
"Luo Yue of Invincible Peak, escorting my Little Sister to the Thousand-Step Stairs test."
At the words "Invincible Peak," Elder Gao froze for a moment — then the corner of his mouth gave the faintest twitch:
"The Sect Master has decreed: anyone from Xueyang Peak may proceed directly to testing."
He leaned on the words "Xueyang Peak" with remarkable weight.
Luo Yue kept his gentle smile and declined to argue, simply nodding to Ning Ruan:
"Nothing to worry about, Little Sister. Just think of it as climbing stairs."
Elder Gao: ...
Climbing stairs? You certainly know how to talk.
Elder Gao rolled his eyes with feeling and shot Luo Yue another look.
Deep down, he was nowhere near as calm as he appeared.
Especially that self-introduction — "Invincible Peak." He could hardly imagine it: those freaks of Xueyang Peak, who so rarely came down the mountain, were finally leaving the house?
Ning Ruan took her test token and stepped onto the receiving platform.
Just then, a figure came streaking in on a flying sword and halted in midair, arms folded around the blade at his chest, gazing coldly down at the receiving platform.
Luo Yue had been a stranger to the crowd.
This one was not. The instant he appeared, cries of recognition swept half the testing plaza.
"Red hair, scarlet sword — it's the Blazing Sword, Shi Xunyang! One of the Crimson Heaven Sect's Ten Great Prodigies! What's he doing at the testing plaza?"
"Shi Xunyang? Isn't he a Suiyun Peak direct disciple?"
"Heavens — you don't think he's here for revenge too? Those direct disciples who got hurt earlier were all from Suiyun Peak."
"Then isn't there about to be another brawl?"
"..."
As if to confirm the crowd's speculation —
the moment Ning Ruan's figure vanished into the receiving platform, his frigid gaze swung to Luo Yue, white-robed and mild and harmless:
"I remember you. Xueyang Peak's eldest disciple. Luo Yue."
Luo Yue smiled pleasantly. "You hold killing intent toward my Little Sister."
Not a question. Flatly certain.
Shi Xunyang, red hair loose down his back, sneered:
"And what is she, exactly? She dared injure my Little Sister!
A feral stray that crawled out of nowhere to torment my Little Sister — if I kill her, then she dies. That's all."
Luo Yue, still smiling: "Oh."
Shi Xunyang's voice — disdain shot through with mockery — carried across the vast testing plaza:
"What, you mean to stand up for her?
Don't tell me you still believe you're the sword-dao genius Luo Yue that every peak once fought to recruit?
Sword-dao genius... ha!
A 'sword genius' who can't even use a sword. I'd wager you don't even remember how to draw one."
Luo Yue's expression didn't flicker; his voice stayed mellow as ever:
"Oh."
"Care to find out?"
TL Notes:
TL Note: "King of Lying Low" translates gou wang (苟王) — internet slang crowning someone the supreme master of playing it safe and staying hidden. It's pronounced exactly like "dog king" (狗王), which is why Luo Yue mishears it as an insult.