Spectating the Angsty Romance of the Master and Disciple from the Sect Next Door Chapter 135

Li Jin’an was momentarily distracted. Just as she was about to be moved, a flash of insight struck her. She suddenly widened her eyes, looking at Xie Huaixue in disbelief.
“You purposely wanted to see me drowning and struggling in a sea of books?!”
She finally realized; this person was doing it on purpose!
Saying “Where my heart finds peace, there is my home”—wasn’t that just an excuse to see her tormented to death by those books into a miserable state!
Xie Huaixue lowered her gaze and smiled faintly, holding a scroll. The gentle midday sun cast a layer of golden light over her. Her detached phoenix eyes curved into a beautiful arc, suffused with lingering ripples of light, like a layer of molten gold that wasn’t scorching.
Her magnificent and elegant beauty.
It was as if an immortal painting that had been put away on a high shelf had come to life.
Although she merely wore a plain and unassuming white robe, it was as if she donned extraordinary attire rarely seen in the world, her bones conforming to the ideal image.
Li Jin’an was captivated by her beauty, almost forgetting the current situation. Her anger had not even fully risen before it dissipated by more than half.
However, this was clearly not the time to dwell on her pathetic self, especially since she had already accepted this long ago.
Li Jin’an wasn’t sure whether to be angry or laugh. Wasn’t this exactly vibrant and fiery? She simply couldn’t stand those obscure and difficult texts; they tormented her so much she’d scream and yell, almost ready to fight Xie Huaixue’s books to the death. How could she possibly remain lifeless and dull?
The history of the Lancang Continent was too ancient. Written language had appeared even before the Human Realm was divided into its hundred domains, in the ancient, primordial, and archaic eras when the human race wasn’t yet the protagonist of the Lancang Continent.
As eras changed and shifted, written language also evolved, not to mention how vast the Lancang Continent was. Every domain had its own language and script, all of them strange and bizarre, too numerous to learn.
If one were to add the languages of the Demon and Yao races, they would be as vast as an ocean, countless. Even an ordinary cultivator who wished to diligently study them might find a hundred years insufficient.
And what Xie Huaixue showed Li Jin’an were precisely these things: miscellaneous talks and travelogues recorded in ancient texts, cultivation techniques and moves… a chaotic mess, everything imaginable.
Actually, Li Jin’an should have learned these things back at the Sword Sect Academy. Even Qi Lingzi, Tan Yanyi, and Ling Qiu were studying them now. After all, too many senior cultivators from various eras were buried throughout the Lancang Continent—above ground, below ground, and in the cracks of space-time. If one couldn’t understand their texts, how could one inherit their legacies and treasures? How could one deal with those unscrupulous remnant souls seeking to seize bodies?
It was just that Li Jin’an’s master loved skipping class, and her disciple was no different. Seeing how the three juniors were still lounging at the Dao Sect, unwilling to return, it was clear their studies weren’t going well either.
Li Jin’an, who considered herself mature, didn’t immediately lose her temper. She casually pulled over a chair, straddled it backwards, and stared intently at Xie Huaixue for a long time.
Xie Huaixue turned a page, letting Li Jin’an scrutinize her. She tilted her head slightly and asked leisurely, “Do you want to read?”
Li Jin’an puffed out her cheeks and said gruffly, “No!”
Don’t think she’s foolish; she can tell Xie Huaixue is teasing her.
If she truly loved reading these things, she wouldn’t have wasted a thousand years.
This was just like Li Jin’an’s talent in sword cultivation: what she had, she had; it couldn’t be hidden.
Xie Huaixue nodded, showing no disappointment. She didn’t keep her attention on the book either, her gaze slightly lowered, like a scholar constantly ready to answer students’ questions, quietly waiting for Li Jin’an’s next words.
“Are you punishing me?” Li Jin’an paused, then rephrased it in a simpler way, “Because of A-Huai, Huaihuai?”
“Not entirely,” Xie Huaixue answered honestly.
So, it was partly the reason.
Li Jin’an’s phoenix eyes widened instantly. “Didn’t we agree not to bring up old scores? You clearly promised me!”
How could she go back on her word?
Xie Huaixue calmly shook her head, her expression somewhat innocent, and said very reasonably, “I didn’t bring it up proactively.”
“…” Li Jin’an was momentarily speechless. She could only rest her head on the chair’s back, pressing a red mark onto her chin, and sink into deep thought and self-doubt.
At this moment, she was pondering a serious question—
Sword cultivators truly weren’t good at thinking and were easily tricked and deceived, but that wasn’t a reason to fool her like a true idiot, was it?
“You didn’t bring up old scores, but you retaliated against me!”
The former was merely talk, while the latter was actual action. It was even worse than bringing up old scores; at least then she could throw a tantrum, instead of unknowingly suffering through so many incomprehensible texts, only feeling pain and remembering nothing…
No, neither was good. Why should she choose one over the other?
If she had to choose, it should be between her kissing Xie Huaixue or Xie Huaixue kissing her.
“Mm.” Xie Huaixue reached out and lifted Li Jin’an’s confusion-filled head, smoothing out the red mark on her chin. She admitted the matter readily and simply.
Li Jin’an stared with dead-fish eyes, “Now you’re not brushing me off?”
When brushing someone off, can’t she just brush her off completely? Don’t be strict one moment and lenient the next. She’s not a donkey that needs a carrot dangling in front of its eyes to work, and then needs to be whipped.
She’d pretend she didn’t notice she was being brushed off, really, trust her!
With such a well-balanced cultivation partner, skilled at guiding others, even the fiery and rather ill-tempered Jijin Sword Sovereign completely lost her temper.
Xie Huaixue couldn’t help but laugh. Her fingertip traced upwards from Li Jin’an’s high nose bridge to her glabella, lightly tapping it. Her voice was clear and cool, “I was afraid you’d get angry, afraid you wouldn’t understand my meaning.”
This was her admonishing her, right?
Definitely, right?!
Li Jin’an bared her teeth, muttering under her breath, but she dared not speak out her anger.
She knew that it wasn’t easy for sword cultivators to find a cultivation partner these days. Outside, there were many hungry wolves waiting to snatch other people’s cultivation partners, like the main peak three doors down from Qingxiao Peak… Jingting Dao Lord, who was still losing composure because Yinyue Monarch hadn’t left her a single word.
It was still unknown who Jingting Dao Lord was truly interested in; both Yinyue Monarch and Chixin Sword Lord were possibilities. But it was always right to guard against such people like thieves. Sword cultivators were very pure and wouldn’t accept such obnoxious people’s covetousness.
Li Jin’an despised Jingting Dao Lord thoroughly in her heart, inadvertently adding many groundless romantic escapades to Jingting Dao Lord’s name.
Though she dared not speak, she dared to bite Xie Huaixue, treating Xie Huaixue’s finger as a teething stick, just like in An An’s timeline, where she’d nibble Huaihuai’s face and smear it with saliva.
Xie Huaixue calmly watched Li Jin’an sucking on her fingertip, her gaze deepening slightly.
Yet, Li Jin’an remained completely oblivious. She pondered with Xie Huaixue’s finger in her mouth, mumbling indistinctly, “So what if I don’t know the dialects of other domains? Cultivators can just communicate with spiritual sense. Even if I were extremely knowledgeable, I’d have no place to show off.”
In Jijin Sword Sovereign’s simple mindset, if she knew something, she absolutely had to display it ostentatiously. She had no good mentality of feigning weakness to hide her strength.
Returning home in wealth without showing off is like wearing brocade robes at night.
If she couldn’t show off in front of others, why bother learning?
Unfortunately, after Li Jin’an failed one after another in alchemy, formation inscription, and artifact refining, she decided to no longer adorn herself with external things and become a pure sword cultivator.
For cultivators at the Golden Core stage and above, they all had a spiritual sea, making communication very convenient. They didn’t even need to open their mouths; a single spiritual sense transmission sufficed.
This was also the reason why Chixin Sword Lord stopped forcing Li Jin’an to suffer and torment others at the academy—as long as she wasn’t illiterate and could understand others, what more could be asked of Li Jin’an? If she really encountered some ten thousand-year-old remnant soul, muttering in ancient languages and trying to seize a body, it would be that soul’s extreme bad luck to blindly choose Li Jin’an.
“It can cultivate one’s character,” Xie Huaixue smiled helplessly.
“Then forget it,” Li Jin’an sighed deeply. “I only know of two people who tried to cultivate their character but failed.”
As soon as these words were spoken, Xie Huaixue knew whom she was about to mention.
“My master, and those two old Dao Lords, I haven’t seen their character cultivation leading to anything proper. They’re still fighting each other without any semblance of elders. The day before yesterday, I even saw Dao Lord kick my master into a mud puddle. From this, it’s clear that this matter requires talent.” Li Jin’an said shamelessly, “I clearly have no talent in this area, so you can’t blame me. You have to blame those two old people.”
Upon seeing Chixin Sword Lord being kicked into a mud puddle by Jingting Dao Lord, Li Jin’an didn’t get angry; instead, she clapped her hands and laughed loudly from the side, infuriating Chixin Sword Lord to the point of wanting to expel her from the sect.
When she was young, Li Jin’an, in her desire to surpass Xie Huaixue, to compete for pride rather than steamed buns, had done many foolish things. Even if she lost, she would stomp her feet and clamor for a rematch. Now, however, she could admit her inferiority.
Indeed, people grow in an instant. Before seeing the Heavenly Tome, Li Jin’an would rather suffer in secret than give Xie Huaixue an opportunity to mock her.
Xie Huaixue used her saliva-covered fingertip to pinch Li Jin’an’s cheek, chiding softly, “So thick.”
Li Jin’an laughed heartily, almost shaking Xie Huaixue’s hand off her face. “There’s nothing to be done about it. The Heavenly Dao has witnessed it; no matter how thick-skinned I am, you’ll have to bear with it.”
“Fortunately, I find it sweet as sugar; it’s no trouble, so it’s not bearing with it,” Xie Huaixue said.
“…” Li Jin’an stared blankly, her ears beneath her hair so red they looked like they were bleeding.
Qingxiao Immortal Venerable’s knack for giving a stick and a sweet date had become increasingly masterful. It was always effective on Jijin Sword Sovereign; she never missed.
“So why exactly do you keep making me read these books?” After her embarrassment subsided, Li Jin’an sprawled ungracefully on the chair and asked curiously.
Xie Huaixue tilted her head. “I said before, I like to see your vibrant appearance.”
Li Jin’an repeated Xie Huaixue’s words according to her own understanding, “You deliberately watch me hopping around energetically, infuriated by these books?”
“Yes,” Xie Huaixue smiled faintly.
“Why!?” Li Jin’an was already grinding her teeth.
Xie Huaixue lowered her eyelids, pondered for a moment, and gave her answer, “Because it makes me feel that you are always by my side, and I don’t have to worry about arriving a step too late and not knowing what to do if I can’t find you.”
Li Jin’an was suddenly enlightened. She finally understood why she had to read those incomprehensible things.
Chixin Sword Lord, Jingting Dao Lord, Qi Lingzi… none of them were the ones directly involved. None of them could bear the cost of losing Li Jin’an, let alone Xie Huaixue.
“By the grace of heaven, I was not late.”
“How can it be by the grace of heaven? Don’t let the Heavenly Dao take undeserved credit,” Li Jin’an said sternly. “It was because you traversed the space-time turbulence ceaselessly that I could return safely. My cultivation partner saved me from peril; it is my fortune. You are not to belittle yourself.”
“Yes, I respectfully obey Jijin Sword Sovereign’s teachings.”