The communication device was on speaker, so Nangong Yu also heard Elder Ling Heng’s voice.
She no longer tried to hide it. Two little dimples appeared in her cheeks as she smiled at Xu Wanzhong and said, “Senior Brother, I have earth, water, and wood spiritual roots.”
“What?!” Xu Wanzhong exclaimed in surprise. “You have three spiritual roots?”
Almost immediately, his brows drew tightly together. “What are your spiritual root aptitude scores?”
Nangong Yu nodded shyly. “Nine, seven, and six, respectively.”
Xu Wanzhong could hardly believe his ears. “You’re not joking?”
What kind of trash spiritual roots were these? They were so rare that one might not see them in a hundred years—no, he had never even heard of anything like this before!
“No.” Nangong Yu shook her head. “Are they really that useless? Senior Brother, what are your spiritual root aptitude scores?”
Xu Wanzhong had a metal spiritual root, with an aptitude score of ninety-four.
He was too embarrassed to tell her. He was afraid it would damage her confidence in the Dao.
His master had rarely taken on a disciple, and no one knew what his intentions were. So Xu Wanzhong smiled and said, “They’re about the same as yours.”
“That’s wonderful!” Nangong Yu exclaimed in delight. “Then can I also form my core when I’m in my twenties?”
The smile on Xu Wanzhong’s face was about to collapse. He patted her head sympathetically. “Yes. You will.”
“All right, I’ll help you arrange your cave abode.” Cutting off her questions in a hurry, Xu Wanzhong busied himself, so occupied that he did not even have time to look back.
Because of that, he missed the curious, sparkling eyes behind him.
To Nangong Yu, this senior-brother NPC was remarkably friendly.
She had already encountered a friendly sect leader NPC, master NPC, and senior-brother NPC.
Wasn’t that a little too many?
“Could the Ziyang Sect be about to be destroyed?” she wondered.
Generally speaking, players never ended up in overly favorable circumstances. If they did, the good times were always brief, followed by some devastating setback that left them unable to escape.
“What kind of disaster could it be?” Her curiosity was piqued. She recalled that Chen Zhi and the others had originally been recruiting disciples in Luoxia City, only to be suddenly summoned back to the sect.
She would find a chance to ask around.
“Little Junior Sister? Little Junior Sister?” A voice called out to her from ahead.
Nangong Yu came back to herself and discovered that the cave abode had already been arranged.
The frost on the walls had receded, replaced by clusters of flowers formed from crystallized ice.
There was a table and chairs, lamps, spirit plants and exotic herbs, a meditation cushion for cultivation, and even a Spirit Gathering Formation.
Xu Wanzhong himself was not a particularly fussy person. Coming up with a few flowers and plants for his junior sister had already exhausted his imagination.
“You can choose between these two beds.” He pointed at the beds on the floor.
Everything else had been arranged. Even the sect robes, spirit stones, cultivation manuals, and other items brought back from Wanshi Peak had been placed on the table.
Only the two beds remained. Xu Wanzhong had not made the decision for her.
Nangong Yu asked, “Senior Brother, which of these two beds is more suitable for me?”
Xu Wanzhong had already given the matter considerable thought. He replied, “If you had an ice spiritual root, then the bed your senior sister left behind would suit you better.”
It still carried the aura of an ice-spiritual-root cultivator, and the ice spiritual energy surrounding it had already been tamed, making cultivation smoother.
That did not mean it was unsuitable for cultivators with other spiritual roots. It was just that the sect leader’s bed was of a slightly higher quality.
Xu Wanzhong could not understand why the sect leader had been so generous.
“All right.” Nangong Yu smiled sweetly. “Then I’ll put away the bed Senior Sister gave me.”
Cultivators did not have to make do with only one bed. They could simply rotate between them. Xu Wanzhong did not think much of it, but then he remembered the question he had wanted to ask earlier.
“You have a mustard-seed space?”
Nangong Yu looked a little embarrassed. “It was an opportunity I obtained before becoming your disciple.”
“I see.” Xu Wanzhong nodded and did not ask further.
One should not pry into another person’s opportunities.
Just as no one—not even his master—would ever be told about Xu Wanzhong’s own opportunity.
“By the way, although Second Senior Brother is in seclusion, his disciple isn’t. I’ll notify him later and have your nephew come pay his respects to you,” Xu Wanzhong said.
Nangong Yu was startled. “Th-that doesn’t seem right, does it?”
“What’s wrong with it?” Xu Wanzhong said with a smile, ruffling her hair. “You’re our little junior sister.”
Unless something unexpected happened, she most likely would not live past a hundred. What was the harm in indulging her a little?
“You must be tired today. Get some proper rest first. I’ll take you to class in a couple of days.” After saying that, Xu Wanzhong placed some food on the table and prepared to leave.
Before he went, he glanced at the table. “If you’re interested, you can look through this breathing cultivation technique first. It’s fine if you can’t understand it. Your master can teach you later.”
She was first and foremost Elder Ling Heng’s disciple. Only after Elder Ling Heng gave clear instructions could anyone else teach her.
“I understand. Thank you, Third Senior Brother.”
“I’m leaving.” Xu Wanzhong was already at the entrance of the cave abode. “I live nearby. If you need anything, just stand at the entrance and shout, ‘Third Senior Brother!’ I’ll hear you.”
With that, he leaped into the air and soon disappeared from sight.
“Goodbye, Third Senior Brother.” Nangong Yu stood at the entrance of the cave abode and watched him leave.
Only after his figure was swallowed by the mist curling around the mountaintop did she hum a tune and bounce back inside.
This was an NPC-arranged cave abode, so Nangong Yu naturally had to inspect it carefully.
There were no conspicuous eyeballs, black stones, little spiders, mirrors, or anything else suspicious.
It was spotless.
She sat down on the cold jade bed and fell backward onto it.
“Hiss.”
The bed really was chilly. The moment she lay down, her mind became clear and alert. There was no way she could fall asleep.
Her stomach was a little empty, so Nangong Yu climbed back up and sat at the table, sweeping all the food Xu Wanzhong had left into her belly.
It tasted pretty good, and it seemed to have some special effects. A warm sensation spread through her body.
That warmth stirred up her drowsiness. Nangong Yu’s mind began to grow hazy with sleep. She placed two defensive talismans on herself, then took out a massage chair.
She switched it to sleep mode and lay down. Rocked gently by the chair’s cradle function, she soon sank into a deep sleep.
She had climbed the Heavenly Ladder, gone through an interview, and racked her brains to coax the sect leader NPC into breaking through. Nangong Yu had been thoroughly exhausted by the day’s events.
Once asleep, she did not wake until the next morning.
The food Xu Wanzhong had left her had already been devoured the night before, so she could only eat her own provisions for breakfast.
She gnawed on a roast chicken, polished off two steamed buns, and drank a bowl of millet porridge. Every trace of fatigue remaining in her body vanished.
Nangong Yu took out a handful of spirit fruits and ate them as she headed outside.
The moment she stepped out of the cave abode, a voice came from the sky.
“Little Junior Sister, you’re awake.”
What was going on? Was there surveillance here?
She swept a glance toward the entrance from the corner of her eye, then looked up at the sky.
“Third Senior Brother.” She put on an obedient expression.
“How did you sleep?” Xu Wanzhong landed and asked with concern.
Nangong Yu replied, “I couldn’t sleep on the bed the sect leader gave me, so I slept on the floor.”
Xu Wanzhong was stunned for a moment before laughing. “Right. That bed is meant for cultivation. You’re still in a mortal body.”
After looking her over twice, he asked, “Why aren’t you wearing your sect robe?”
Nangong Yu looked a little embarrassed and said softly, “It’s too expensive. If I damage it, I can’t afford to compensate the sect.”
Xu Wanzhong let out a long sigh and slapped his forehead. “That’s my fault.”
Yesterday, he had told her that the disciple’s robe was extremely valuable, that she would have to repair it herself if it was damaged, and that there was no second one available.
He must have frightened his little junior sister.
“It’s not that easy to damage. Besides, it has a self-cleaning formation. It won’t get dirty easily.”
Nangong Yu was somewhat tempted when she heard that. “All right. I’ll go change into it now.”
She turned around, went back into the cave abode, and changed into her disciple’s robe.
When you enter an instance, you have to do as the locals do. For example, if an NPC tells you to eat eyeballs, and eyeballs are the only edible thing in the entire instance, then you have to eat them.
But if you eat too many, you’ll become contaminated. And if the contamination runs too deep, the instance will lock onto you. From then on, you’ll be unable to leave and will become a product of the instance entirely.
At first, Nangong Yu hadn’t wanted to go in, lest she be assimilated by the Ziyang Sect’s little instance. But according to the senior-brother NPC, she had no choice.
“Come on. I’ll show you around.”
Xu Wanzhong summoned a spirit crane. The two of them stood atop it as it carried them into the air on the wind.
“That’s the plaza,” Xu Wanzhong introduced. “Anyone entering or leaving the sect has to pass through here. On the first and fifteenth of every month, there’s also a night market. Everyone brings out things they no longer need to sell or trade.”
“That’s the Scripture Repository. From now on, whenever you need secret manuals or cultivation techniques, you can choose some from inside. Of course, they require contribution points.”
“Contribution points are earned by every disciple through making contributions to the sect. You can go to Myriad Affairs Peak to accept missions.”
“Take out your disciple token.” Xu Wanzhong smiled.
Nangong Yu removed the token and placed it in her palm.
Xu Wanzhong took out his own token and swiped two fingers across its surface. “I’ll give you a hundred.”
Afterward, he said solemnly, “Don’t think it’s too little. These hundred contribution points are enough to exchange for several basic cultivation techniques. As for advanced mental cultivation methods, Master will prepare them for you. You won’t need to exchange for those at the Scripture Repository.”
That was the benefit of being an inner sect disciple: your master provided everything.
Your master was your father. Your master was your mother.
That was also why Nangong Yu had managed to make Elder Xuanqing lose his composure on the Azure Cloud Ladder, prompting the Nascent Soul cultivator to strike at her despite her being only a mortal.
“Senior Brother, if I want to find someone, how should I go about it?” Nangong Yu asked, suddenly remembering something.
“Who are you looking for?”
“Chen Zhi,” Nangong Yu replied. “I’ve forgotten which peak he belongs to, but he was the one who went to Luoxia City to recruit disciples.”
Xu Wanzhong was familiar with Luoxia City. After all, something major had happened there, and there had even been rumors that a mirage bird had appeared.
“Chen Zhi? The name sounds somewhat familiar.” He thought for a moment, then swept his palm through the air. Spiritual power transformed into a water mirror, and a figure appeared within it. “Is this him?”
Nangong Yu said in surprise, “Yes. Senior Brother, you know him?”
“He’s the eldest disciple of your Eldest Senior Sister’s second disciple.” Xu Wanzhong smiled and dismissed the water mirror. “Why are you looking for him?”
!!!
Nangong Yu was too stunned to recover. “He—he’s Eldest Senior Sister’s grand-disciple?! Then I…”
Xu Wanzhong laughed. “That’s right. You’re senior to him by two generations. He should address you as Grand Martial Uncle.”
That was the benefit of taking the right master: you suddenly had an entire horde of disciples and grand-disciples.
Nangong Yu’s expression turned solemn. “Then when I meet him, I don’t need to give him a meeting gift, do I?”
Xu Wanzhong paused, then burst into hearty laughter. “Of course not. You’ve only just joined the sect and haven’t even begun cultivating. What meeting gift could you possibly give? If anything, he should be giving one to you.”
He then asked, “Why are you looking for him?”
“He…” Nangong Yu hesitated before continuing, “I helped him with something before. He said he would give me two hundred contribution points as thanks.”
The smile at the corners of Xu Wanzhong’s mouth nearly collapsed. “Two hundred contribution points?! What did you do for him?”
“He was investigating a case. I happened to know a few clues and helped him eliminate one of the suspects.” Nangong Yu pressed her lips together, smiling.
“What kind of case was it worth so many contribution points?” Xu Wanzhong couldn’t understand. He felt that paying out of pocket to investigate a case was an exceptionally foolish thing to do.
He took out his token and sent a voice transmission into it.
