Another year, another sect-wide examination—and once again, the top two spots belonged to the same pair.
The Sect Master had a splitting headache.
The two most promising candidates for ascension refused to ascend and spent every day clinging to each other instead.
The Tianjue Sect’s ascension rate had fallen to an utterly appalling level in recent years!
The Sect Master furrowed his brows. Perhaps they ought to put more thought into their recruitment strategy.
“Would it help if we recruited disciples who had been wounded by love?” the Sect Master said blandly.
After being hurt badly enough, surely they would settle down, right?
The Second Elder paused with his food halfway to his mouth, then gave a dry chuckle. “Sect Master, isn’t that exactly what I’m like?”
Before joining the Tianjue Sect, he had suffered through several heartbreaks. People had even called him Fatso. And yet he still hadn’t ascended.
The Sect Master fell completely silent.
The Second Elder cast him a sideways glance and continued shoveling food into his mouth.
“The Tianjue Sect was supposed to produce more ascended disciples than any other sect.” The Sect Master’s voice carried a hint of melancholy.
Back in the day, no sect in the world could stand against the Tianjue Sect. But now, the Tianjue Sect had fallen to this sorry state.
The neighboring Hehuan Sect had so many disciples ascending it was practically ridiculous…
The Second Elder, for his part, took it all in stride. As long as he had a place to live and plenty of delicious food, he was perfectly content.
He was past the age of agonizing over whether to ascend or not.
The heavens might be vast and the earth mighty, but food came first.
Once he finished eating, he still had to continue reading the books Liuli had written.
Liuli had already published several biographies of Ji Zhaoxi.
They covered Ji Zhaoxi’s childhood, youth, and present day—but they were all Ji Zhaoxi as seen through Liuli’s eyes, with the rose-colored filter turned up to the extreme.
Ji Zhaoxi had even gained a great many followers. Whenever someone spoke ill of her, those followers would leap out to argue their case. Liuli was extremely pleased.
Her writing was so good that people had even approached Liuli, asking her to write biographies for them. After all, no one but Liuli could produce prose so thoroughly capable of stirring people’s hearts.
If someone read Liuli’s biographies and still failed to fall in love with Ji Zhaoxi, it practically seemed like a crime.
Liuli had refused without hesitation. “In this life, I will write a biography for only one person—and that is the Tianjue Sect’s foremost immortal, Immortal Ji!”
Liu Fuyin had read all those biographies, but they had failed to influence her in the slightest.
She knew Ji Zhaoxi and Liuli far too well…
When she reached the section about herself, Liu Fuyin fell completely silent.
She suddenly remembered the letter her father had sent her a few days earlier.
“Sweetheart! Are you cultivating the Unfeeling Dao for the sake of the Liu family, or for someone in particular…? Your father isn’t interrogating you. I’m simply asking, that’s all. Don’t overthink it!”
“Your father isn’t the sort of person who refuses to be open-minded. I’ve heard plenty of things from storytellers, too. But I remember that young couple seemed to have a pretty good relationship… Could there perhaps be a little bit of… that?”
“Your father absolutely doesn’t mean anything else by this. I’m only asking. Don’t overthink it, sweetheart!”
At the time, Liu Fuyin had thought her father was rambling nonsense again, so she hadn’t considered replying.
Now, the corner of her mouth twitched. She really ought to send a reply soon. Who knew what sort of wild scenario her father had imagined by now?
Deep in the forest outside Yun’an Town, a thick demonic aura permeated the trees.
A spider demon with a human face scurried across the canopy, rapidly spinning webs and waiting for the next unlucky victim to blunder into them. The air reeked of blood and rotting earth.
The spider demon keenly sensed someone approaching. Just as it was about to make its move, an icy-blue sword aura tore through the webs strung between the treetops.
The spider demon froze for a moment, then flew into a rage. It let out a shriek in midair and charged at the intruder.
“I’ll kill you all!”
The instant Ji Zhaoxi landed, her sword aura erupted. The spider demon rushing toward her was torn into pieces before it even had time to scream.
The remaining demons did not attack Ji Zhaoxi after witnessing their companion’s death. On the contrary, the moment they caught her scent, they fled as fast as they could.
To them, her presence was more terrifying than poison.
Several leaves, shaken loose from the trees by the sword aura, froze solid before they could even reach the ground.
“Senior Brother, I was faster than you!” Ji Zhaoxi was practically glowing with excitement.
Looking into her bright eyes, Wen Shubai gave a soft laugh. “Naturally, I could never beat you, Junior Sister.”
The corners of Ji Zhaoxi’s lips kept curling upward. She gave a small cough, then consoled him, “It’s all right, Senior Brother. I’ll protect you from now on.”
After all, she was the more talented one.
Wen Shubai gently wiped the fine sweat from her forehead, a smile in his voice. “Thank you, Junior Sister.”
His junior sister had an especially strong desire to protect him. At first, he had found it a little strange—not because he disliked it, but because ever since childhood, he had always been the one protecting others.
So when his junior sister had first said she wanted to protect him, he had found it novel. Later, whenever she said such things, he found himself pleased.
After all, the more one loved someone, the more one wanted to protect them, didn’t one?
It was just that his junior sister wanted to protect too many people. If she could narrow that number down a little, he would be even happier.
The two did not fly on their swords. Instead, they walked across the fallen leaves hand in hand, their figures gradually receding into the distance.
“Senior Brother, the Second Elder made fun of me because I said I wanted to protect you…”
“But I like you protecting me, Xixi.”
“The Second Elder’s just bitter because no one protects him.”
A soft laugh drifted through the forest.
The afternoon sun was scorching. One makeshift stall after another had been set up along the street to provide shade. Several children ran past clutching malt candy, occasionally bumping into someone and drawing a laughing scold.
Ji Yingjin sat outside the door on a low stool, fanning herself.
“It’s so hot. You two shouldn’t keep coming back to visit us all the time.”
Ji Yingjin was unbearably hot, and she squinted as she cursed the wretched weather.
In this heat, pork went bad if it was left out for even a little while.
Ji Zhaoxi and Wen Shubai sat beneath a tree, enjoying the breeze. Ji Zhaoxi munched on a slice of melon and gave a huff. “You used to complain that I never came home to see you.”
And now she was being accused of bothering them.
Wen Shubai couldn’t help letting out a quiet laugh. He reached over and tucked the loose strands of hair that had fallen against her face behind her ear.
Ji Yingjin clicked her tongue and smacked Ji Zhaoxi lightly on the knee with her fan.
“You ungrateful brat.”
She was only worried that Ji Zhaoxi was too tired.
No matter how fast a sword could fly, the wind up in the sky was still hot.
The laughter of children continued outside the door. Then a middle-aged woman suddenly called Ji Yingjin’s name, and Ji Yingjin answered as she rose and fanned herself on the way out.
“Madam Ji, is Master Liu around? The people in the western part of the village want you to help slaughter a pig. Several men still can’t hold it down.”
“He went to the restaurant to listen to some ghost stories. I’ll ask him to help when he comes back.”
The last time Ji Zhaoxi had returned, Liu Dazhuang had huffed and puffed all the way back from the restaurant. His daughter mattered more than any story.
But now that Ji Zhaoxi came home more often, Liu Dazhuang had started taking it easy.
The summer heat clung heavily to the air, leaving everyone limp and languid. Ji Zhaoxi ate her melon, looking somewhat listless.
Wen Shubai took the rind from her hand. With a cool handkerchief, he gently wiped her palm.
“Sleepy?” Wen Shubai asked with a smile.
Ji Zhaoxi said nothing, merely answering with a sullen hum.
Wen Shubai naturally slipped his left arm around her, letting her rest against him.
Leaning against the tree, he held a folding fan in his right hand and waved it lazily. The breeze carried the sweetness of melons and fruit and the fresh fragrance of the trees as it brushed across her flushed face.
His other hand rested on her shoulder, patting her gently. Ji Zhaoxi’s originally hurried breathing gradually evened out.
Looking down at the sleeping Ji Zhaoxi, Wen Shubai felt a wave of tenderness rise in his heart. He lightly kissed her on the forehead.
Meeting his junior apprentice sister had been the greatest blessing of his life.
Amid the rhythmic flutter of the fan, Wen Shubai rested the back of his head against the tree trunk and slowly closed his eyes.
The cicadas chirped without pause. A gentle breeze passed through the locust tree’s leaves, making them rustle softly. Sunlight filtered through the layers of leaves, scattering a patchwork of golden light across the ground.
Outside the wooden door some distance away came several faint scraping sounds.
Two little girls with their hair tied into topknots poked their heads through the crack in the door. They secretly watched the pair beneath the tree and whispered to each other.
“I really want to be as amazing as Immortal Ji…”
“But you don’t even like eating. When Immortal Ji was little, she could eat an entire pig all by herself!”
“Oh! Then from now on, I’ll work hard to eat an entire pig too…”
