Wu Bei had been blending into Disciplinary Hall Sword Sect for several days.
That girl named Yun Lingyue first arranged a place for her to stay. She said she would wait for Venerable Yi Qing to finish seclusion, then ask for instructions and give Wu Bei a reply, letting her settle in first.
As soon as she turned around, that person was gone, busy with who knows what.
But now, she spent every day getting cozy with the junior disciples, snuggling into their arms and acting spoiled. If she kept going like this, she’d almost forget her purpose for being here.
No, how could she indulge in such comfortable ease? Wu Bei shook her head. How embarrassing for Qingyuan Palace.
She immediately pulled herself together. She subtly inquired about the sect’s current state from the junior disciple who brought her food every day. Although she had known about Fu Lingyi from the beginning, hearing from others that she was consistently hardworking and dedicated, responsible for managing the entire Disciplinary Hall Sword Sect, made Wu Bei realize this person was remarkable.
Yue Jin really knows how to cause trouble.
She wondered how she was doing now.
Although everyone here said she was dead, Wu Bei was certain she was still alive.
“Xiao Bei, everyone’s going to Taste Fresh Restaurant for the new dishes at noon. Are you coming?” Feng Ruiyan, a junior disciple only fourteen years old, jumped onto Wu Bei’s back, asking playfully.
Wu Bei staggered from the push. She turned her head and pouted, “Ruiyan, you pushed me again! I can’t go, I don’t even have a copper coin.”
She had come in a hurry, leaving her storage pouch with the disciples who had relocated earlier. She couldn’t go to the dining hall with the other outer disciples, so Yun Lingyue had kindly sent people to bring her food these past few days.
Besides, her identity as Wu Bei was that of a homeless little girl; how could she possibly produce money?
Feng Ruiyan stretched out a finger and wiggled it in front of her eyes. “Naive, too naive! Do you think we can afford Taste Fresh Restaurant? It’s because Senior Sister Yun went down the mountain a few days ago to fetch Master’s sword, and she returned today. Senior Sister Yun’s family is a famous wealthy merchant family in our Lin’an City! Won’t it be great if she treats us? Come on, come on, don’t dawdle! If we’re too late, Senior Sister will be back on the mountain.”
Wu Bei was pushed again, shoved towards the group of junior disciples. After a quick head count, the noisy group headed down the mountain together.
Feng Ruiyan scanned the crowd and asked the person next to her curiously, “Where’s Yu Xia? Why isn’t she coming?”
“Who knows,” the disciple next to her shook her head. “Haven’t seen her for days. She doesn’t even go to cultivate. Doesn’t know what she’s doing all day. If this keeps up, she’s definitely going to get scolded by Senior Sister Yun.”
“Never mind her, let’s eat first! I heard Taste Fresh Restaurant got a huge basket of crabs, big and plump! Could the new dish be this?”
“Wonderful! My home is far from the sea. If it really is crab, nobody better try to snatch it from me today!”
Everyone chatted casually, quickly changing the subject and forgetting about the person they had just been discussing.
Only Wu Bei quietly noted down all the important information, agreeing on the surface while calculating inwardly.
Perhaps there were flaws or vulnerabilities of this sect within their conversations?
Yun Lingyue, her long sword wrapped in cloth slung across her back, hurried towards Lin’an City. Her steps were slow, and the closer she got to the foot of Disciplinary Hall Peak, the more resistance she felt.
She really didn’t want to go back, to face the fact that her Senior Sister had a Dao companion…
“Found her, found her! Senior Sister Yun!”
A group of junior disciples wearing light blue and white Disciplinary Hall outer disciple robes eagerly waved at her, rushing over excitedly and blocking her path.
“Senior Sister Yun, Senior Sister Yun!”
The group was incredibly lively, drawing frequent glances from passersby. Yun Lingyue was quite surprised to see them. “Why are you all here? Wu Bei, why did you come down the mountain too?”
“They dragged me here, Sister.” Wu Bei lowered her head, squeezed past the others and moved over. She wrapped her arms around Yun Lingyue’s waist, rubbing her head against her shoulder and neck, acting like a spoiled little sister from next door.
“That’s not fair! Why do you get to call Senior Sister Yun ‘Sister’!” Feng Ruiyan was the first to object, standing with her hands on her hips and yelling.
Yun Lingyue rubbed the head of the slightly shorter white-haired girl. She frowned and questioned, “I was only gone for a few days, and you’ve been bullying her?”
“That’s not true! She’s usually the one bullying us!” The other disciples shouted noisily, making continuous accusations.
“I didn’t…” Wu Bei’s voice was muffled in Yun Lingyue’s clothes, sounding pitiful.
Yun Lingyue said, “Xiao Bei is going to be your junior sister soon. All of you, pay attention. If I find out you’re harboring bad intentions, I’ll definitely tell Senior Sister Lingyi and have her punish you by making you take care of Master’s spiritual beasts.”
Thinking of how fierce Master’s spiritual beasts looked, the disciples couldn’t stop trembling and repeatedly promised they wouldn’t.
“So, why did you come down the mountain?”
“Senior Sister Yun…” Feng Ruiyan pulled back the corners of her mouth and gave a wry smile. “We’ve been cultivating on the mountain for too long, always having plain tea and simple meals. Recently, we heard that Taste Fresh Restaurant has new dishes…”
“And they got crabs!” Someone chimed in from the side.
“Ah, so that’s why you all ran down the mountain,” Yun Lingyue understood. She looked at Wu Bei, who was still clinging to her, and asked softly, “Xiao Bei wants to eat too?”
Wu Bei desperately wanted to shout: Yes, I want to eat! What kind of food do these righteous sect people eat every day? There’s no grease at all!
Our demonic sect, even if we didn’t require food, were still very particular about what we ate!
But she didn’t show it. She just tilted her head slightly and blinked her eyes. “I don’t want to cause Sister trouble…”
“No trouble at all. Taste Fresh Restaurant is owned by my family. Let’s go.” Seeing such a sensible Wu Bei, Yun Lingyue gently squeezed her cheek, smiled, and took her hand, walking towards Taste Fresh Restaurant.
The disciples behind them cheered and followed excitedly.
Bringing Wu Bei along was definitely the right decision!
Senior Sister Yun dotes on her so much!
Taste Fresh Restaurant’s new dishes were indeed related to crab. There was stuffed crab with local fresh oranges. Besides this dish, they also ordered many other popular dishes.
Yun Lingyue called a waiter and asked for a private room. Conveniently, she didn’t particularly want to go back either. Spending time chatting with her junior sisters here would help clear her mood.
Wu Bei, with the intention of gathering information, insisted on sitting next to Yun Lingyue. While eating and acting, she completely disguised herself as a girl who had just come of age.
“Senior Sister Yun, when can Xiao Bei come be our junior sister?” Feng Ruiyan asked indistinctly, biting on her chopsticks.
“Soon, Master will come out of seclusion in about ten days,” Yun Lingyue lightly tasted a dish. She had long since reached the stage where she didn’t require food and didn’t have a great desire for it. “At that time, after testing her spiritual roots, she can first become an outer disciple.”
Spiritual roots…
Wu Bei ate with her head down, her mind deep in thought. She wondered what testing spiritual roots was like here, and if it could detect her hidden cultivation.
If she was exposed then, with so many people, it would be hard to escape.
“Oh right, Senior Sister Yun, last time Feng Ruiyan and Yu Xia went to see Senior Sister Fu’s Dao companion!” a junior disciple called out. “They said she was beautiful, like someone stepped out of a painting.”
“Really? Why didn’t you say so sooner? We haven’t seen her!”
Yun Lingyue let out a cold scoff, her expression very displeased. “Hmph, beautiful? That woman looks exactly like that demon lord, and her temper is more or less the same.”
“A demon lord?”
The group gasped in surprise. Yun Lingyue instantly realized she had said the wrong thing and quickly tried to salvage it. “However, she just looks like her. I heard she’s known Senior Sister Lingyi for several years.”
“Oh, I see… well…” Everyone exchanged glances, hesitant about whether they should continue praising.
If they kept praising, wouldn’t that be equivalent to praising the appearance of a demon lord?
Moreover, there was someone here who had experienced a demonic sect massacre and was deeply wounded…
The several disciples all focused their attention on Wu Bei.
“It’s just a resemblance, she definitely wouldn’t be that demon lord,” Wu Bei spoke quietly. Her reaction was calm, without hatred. She just turned to look into Yun Lingyue’s eyes. “Because Sister told me everyone from the demonic sect is dead, and I’ll never have to be afraid again, right?”
The white-haired girl’s eyes were sincere and pure, her light eyelashes casting faint shadows on her skin.
The softest spot in Yun Lingyue’s heart was fiercely struck. She deeply wanted to care for this poor girl in front of her.
She gently hugged Wu Bei and patted her back. “Yes, Xiao Bei. With me here, with Disciplinary Hall Sword Sect here, you’ll never have to be afraid again.”
Wu Bei lifted her face and gave her a brilliant smile.
This person is extremely easy to trick.
But, after they got back, she was going to go see Senior Sister Fu Lingyi’s Dao companion.
Wu Bei had a premonition that it was Yue Jin.
Dusk approached. They had dragged Yun Lingyue around the streets and played for a while longer, buying quite a few strange little trinkets before finally returning to the mountain.
Wu Bei sat in her room, looking impatiently at the candied gourd, sugar figure, and even a rattle drum Yun Lingyue had bought for her.
What kind of image do they have of me, anyway?
Pushing those things haphazardly aside, she took advantage of her roommate Feng Ruiyan’s absence and tiptoed out, heading towards Fu Lingyi’s separate courtyard.
At this time, Fu Lingyi was usually still busy with sect matters on the main peak, only returning after dark.
It was the perfect chance to sneak in.
The courtyard where Fu Lingyi resided was spacious, planted with many spiritual plants. Various disciples had eagerly volunteered to help with them, but Fu Lingyi herself hadn’t paid them much attention.
Nearby, there was a small separate courtyard.
Outside, weeds grew everywhere, but the ground was clean, clearly swept. There was even a broom placed by the entrance.
Strange, does the owner of this place not use a cleaning spell, but sweep with a broom instead?
Wu Bei was full of suspicion. She slowly walked in, softening her footsteps to prevent anyone inside from discovering her.
A small bamboo house stood quietly in the center. Outside, there were many weathered marks, as if it had been neglected before.
The window paper was slightly torn. The weather was getting colder, and in a while, it would be deep winter. Why hadn’t someone repaired it?
Seeing this made Wu Bei’s heart clench.
Inside the bamboo house, there was a dim candlelight. A figure was meditating on the bed, partially obscured by bed curtains.
Her long hair was let down. Her eyes were closed, and her brows were tightly furrowed, as if she was deep in meditation.
That face, there was no mistaking it.
It was Yue Jin, the one she had watched step by step rise to the position of Demon Lord.
To think she was living like this now, so utterly miserable…
Those righteous cultivators, they were truly too much!
Wu Bei was furious. Without fear of whatever warnings about heavenly opportunities she had received, she threw them to the back of her mind. She directly pushed open the door and rushed into the room, shouting, “Yue Jin! Come with me, let’s go down the mountain!”
Yep easy to trick but big backlash
Nice work 👏