Spectating the Angsty Romance of the Master and Disciple from the Sect Next Door Chapter 146

Although the final outcome wasn’t perfectly satisfactory, Li Jin’an was still very happy. Upon returning to Fufeng Domain, she took Qi Lingzi, Tan Yanyi, and Ling Qiu, the three young ones, from Sword Lord Xiaoxiang and Sword Lord Junxing. She excitedly clapped her hands, “Now, the whole family is complete!”
Tan Yanyi understood her master’s intentions perfectly. Raising her hands, she cheered excitedly while circling around Li Jin’an and Xie Huaixue, “It’s like a spring outing! A spring trip!”
Ling Qiu immediately followed suit, pulling Qi Lingzi’s hand, and together they spun in circles around their Master and Mistress.
From Jingting Dao Lord and Chixin Sword Lord, to Li Jin’an and Xie Huaixue, and then to Qi Lingzi, Tan Yanyi, and Ling Qiu—from the oldest to the youngest, it could truly be said that the entire family, without a single one missing, came to the demon realm to play.
Sword Lord Xiaoxiang and Sword Lord Junxing, along with elders and cultivators from other sects standing nearby, silently and speechlessly looked at the demon realm, where the smoke of war had not yet dissipated, and fell into a deep silence.
What a truly ‘friendly and benevolent’ family!
The entire Lancang Continent couldn’t find a second family like them.
The cultivation world likely wouldn’t find another family with such astonishing destructive power. They had nearly flattened the demon realm’s land, causing hundreds of thousands of demon casualties, and even forced the long-slumbering demon ancestors from the Demon Land to step out and deter Jingting Dao Lord… Such a grand spectacle was rarely seen in a thousand years, yet in their mouths, it had simply become a spring outing.
It truly gave one the feeling that while they couldn’t be defeated, they also couldn’t be outdone in sheer audacity.
Jingting Dao Lord glanced sideways at Chixin Sword Lord, as if to say, ‘When the family goes out to play, only the one with the least contribution knows.’
Chixin Sword Lord pursed her lips in utter disdain. She rolled her eyes ungracefully, too lazy to even get angry. “Who’s family with you?”
She was Li Jin’an and Xie Huaixue’s Master, and Qi Lingzi, Tan Yanyi, and Ling Qiu’s Grand-Master. She was an undeniable elder family member; no one could deny it.
If another family member were to be added, it could only be the rightful Yinyue Monarch.
And Jingting Dao Lord? Just a nobody without status, a fellow who couldn’t recognize her own place. There was no spot for her on either Qingxiao Peak or Jijin Peak.
If she were to make a fuss and argue with Jingting, Chixin Sword Lord felt it would be giving Jingting face, unnecessarily elevating Jingting’s standing. So she was utterly disdainful.
The phrase ‘when benevolence and righteousness are not practiced, the balance of offense and defense shifts’ perfectly summarized the dynamic between Jingting Dao Lord and Chixin Sword Lord.
A single glance from Chixin Sword Lord was enough to make Jingting Dao Lord, who moments ago had been ruthlessly slaughtering demons and confronting the Demon Land ancestors, lose her composure. She wanted to wrap that infuriatingly shameless sword cultivator up like a silkworm cocoon and beat her to death.
Li Jin’an had seen the tense atmosphere between the two elders too many times to bother using it to attack the childish and shameless Jingting Dao Lord and Chixin Sword Lord. That was all they amounted to; even Ling Qiu, who was always clinging to Qi Lingzi, was more mature than the two of them.
“You two can continue to stare blankly at each other; we’re leaving.”
Li Jin’an smiled, waved her hand at Sword Lord Xiaoxiang and Sword Lord Junxing, and picked up the three little ones who still didn’t want to go back.
Xie Huaixue also gently nodded in greeting.
Jingting Dao Lord and Chixin Sword Lord didn’t bother to greet them, simply tacitly followed the main group.
Sword Lord Xiaoxiang and Sword Lord Junxing, while flattered and surprised, also had a bad premonition.
“You don’t think that from now on, whenever something comes up, we’ll be responsible for babysitting, do you?” Sword Lord Junxing uncertainly asked.
Just the thought that Jingting Dao Lord and Chixin Sword Lord had witnessed them babysitting, and that Li Jin’an would now send the children to them with even greater peace of mind, made her vision go black. She felt a deep sense of unease.
She couldn’t defeat Li Jin’an even when she was a little sword cultivator, and now that she was a Sword Master, she still had to help Li Jin’an raise her children. What earthly suffering is this…?
In the dead silence, Sword Lord Xiaoxiang whispered, “Let’s drag Xuanyu True Master from the Dao Sect into this.”
“Sorry, Daoist Friend Jiang. Better a dead fellow Daoist than a dead me!”
Presumably, Daoist Friend Jiang would understand them.
They were all cultivators of the same generation, having participated in many grand competitions and secret realms together in their youth. They had considerable interactions, and even more so, because Li Jin’an and Xie Huaixue were firmly suppressing them from above, they developed a sense of mutual appreciation born from shared misfortune. Their relationship was quite good; on the battlefield, they could directly entrust their backs to each other and fight enemies together.
But this superficial courtesy was not enough to shake such great pain. Before the three noisy children of Jijin’s family, everything had to take a backseat.
Forget Jiang Fengmian; even if their own Masters came, they would still sell them without hesitation!
If it weren’t too troublesome, they even wanted to assign the Sword Sect Master to Jijin Peak specifically to look after children. As a sect master, shouldn’t one protect the Sword Sect’s young sword cultivators?!
Sword Lord Junxing’s lips curled up forcefully on one side. She gave Sword Lord Xiaoxiang a thumbs-up and praised her loudly, “You’re still the most cunning; you don’t even seem like a sword cultivator anymore!”
This remark was practically the highest form of praise for a sword cultivator. Sword Lord Junxing praised her with utmost sincerity.
After Sword Lord Xiaoxiang punched her, she also couldn’t help but laugh.
Li Jin’an, who hadn’t gone far, was left speechless. Bearing the simultaneous mocking gazes of Jingting Dao Lord and Chixin Sword Lord, she casually rubbed a nearby fuzzy head and profoundly said, “If I become the public enemy of the cultivation world, it will definitely be thanks to the three of you.”
Ling Qiu, whose head was rubbed, looked at her with an innocent expression. “Master, what are you talking about?”
She didn’t understand anything.
Qi Lingzi and Tan Yanyi also immediately widened their eyes in alert.
Chixin Sword Lord snorted at the sight, saying nothing.
Ling Qiu once again innocently looked at her Grand-Master, who said nothing but was already doing enough to fan the flames.
At this moment, Jingting Dao Lord temporarily put aside her animosity with Chixin Sword Lord and began to unite against an outsider.
That venerable elder also said nothing, merely shaking her head and sighing as she looked at Li Jin’an. Her mouth still made ‘tsk tsk tsk’ sounds, a look of being unable to bear the sight.
If there were anything that could make Jingting Dao Lord and Chixin Sword Lord break away from that atmosphere of wanting to strangle each other, it was only two things: one was Yinyue Monarch, and the other was Li Jin’an.
The former, merely hearing her name, could make them both fall silent, transforming from tit-for-tat fighters into two miserable, drenched chickens. If someone were to cause trouble at that moment, they would immediately erupt and kill without a second thought.
The latter was the same; she could make them both instantly calm down, and instead, mock Li Jin’an together.
Their meaning was simple: like master, like disciple. Ling Qiu’s guilty expression—from having done countless bad things and not knowing which one had been discovered—had truly grasped the essence of it, and was practically carved from the same mold as Li Jin’an.
Even though it was clearly Chixin Sword Lord who had been looking after the three young ones for longer—Li Jin’an would throw her three disciples onto Chixin Peak whenever she had nothing to do—Qi Lingzi, Tan Yanyi, and Ling Qiu simply didn’t resemble their Grand-Master; they were just like their Master.
Especially in certain small habits, one could tell at a glance they were children from Jijin’s family, highly recognizable.
Did the three young ones truly not know what they were doing?
Forget Tan Yanyi and Ling Qiu; even Qi Lingzi knew perfectly well, but refused to change. They simply enjoyed provoking everyone like that.
Xie Huaixue also calmly and unhurriedly looked at Li Jin’an. Her clear and elegant eyes held a faint smile, and she was not rushing to rescue her cultivation partner.
Li Jin’an narrowed her eyes and gave Ling Qiu a knowing look.
Reluctantly but still innocently, Ling Qiu looked at Chixin Sword Lord, “Grand-Master, what’s wrong? Are you thirsty? Ling Qiu has thirst-quenching spiritual fruits here; would you like some?”
A three-question combo designed to leave her Grand-Master speechless.
This clever trickster didn’t provoke Jingting Dao Lord, not because they weren’t familiar, but purely because Jingting Dao Lord would bully those younger with her seniority, unlike her Grand-Master, who was easier to deal with.
The short-lived alliance immediately disintegrated. Jingting Dao Lord said nothing, merely kept laughing heartily, the meaning conveyed through her laughter.
Chixin Sword Lord didn’t argue with her grand-disciple, but exasperatedly poked Li Jin’an’s lower back with her sword hilt. “Teach them something good!”
Every wrong had its source, every debt its owner. The three young ones caused trouble, so punishing their Master was definitely the right thing to do.
Li Jin’an looked at them innocently.
Beside her were three identical small faces, all looking at Chixin Sword Lord.
The four of them tacitly turned their heads, looking at Chixin Sword Lord, then Jingting Dao Lord, and finally Xie Huaixue, only stopping after their gazes had swept over everyone.
Chixin Sword Lord couldn’t keep a straight face. She tried hard to suppress the corners of her mouth and maintain a stern expression, then poked Li Jin’an’s lower back again.
Li Jin’an was really about to get angry this time. Had she even said anything?
“Why did she have to take a beating without saying a word?!”
Chixin Sword Lord wouldn’t humor her. “What? Are you going to betray your sect?”
Li Jin’an shook her head and swayed her body, silently mouthing the words, mimicking Chixin Sword Lord’s words again with considerable sarcasm.
Before Chixin Sword Lord could speak, she pulled Xie Huaixue in front of her, peeking her head out. “Cultivation partners are one. If you have any complaints, direct them at Xie Huaixue.”
Xie Huaixue delicately pursed her lips and smiled apologetically at Chixin Sword Lord.
Chixin Sword Lord doted on Yinyue Monarch’s disciple too much; how could she possibly implicate Xie Huaixue because of that rascal Li Jin’an? She could only tiredly point at Li Jin’an, who was hiding behind her cultivation partner, and say, “Stop bullying Huaixue!”
Li Jin’an retorted confidently, “She’s willing!”
Xie Huaixue responded with another smile.
The meaning was self-evident: she was indeed very willing to be made a scapegoat by Li Jin’an.
Chixin Sword Lord truly couldn’t bear to watch.
What a scene of internal strife after a group brawl; its intensity was far greater than the grand battle moments ago.
Jingting Dao Lord’s loud laughter carried far. It even startled truly innocent passing birds.
The black light from the Demon Land still stood tall within the demon realm, darkly watching the departing figures of these few who had arrived brazenly and left in a flourish.
The people from Lingjing Sect had already surveyed the scene. They familiarly approached Sword Lord Xiaoxiang and Sword Lord Junxing, and without caring whether others wanted to bother with them, began to chatter on their own:
“I dare say, Jijin Sword Sovereign, Chixin Sword Lord, and Jingting Dao Lord killing so many demons was nothing compared to how infuriating this scene is.”
“Too arrogant!”
No matter how many times the Three Realms War was fought, a true world-ending crisis never occurred. This was precisely because those Tribulation Transcendence stage old ancestors were watching from behind. Small skirmishes were fine, but if a side was truly beaten to the point of being unable to breathe, they would immediately intervene.
Lacking martial ethics, but everyone did it.
“What good is Tribulation Transcendence if they’re still cowards, not daring to expose themselves under the gaze of the Heavenly Dao?” The people from Lingjing Sect blurted out.
Sword Lord Xiaoxiang and Sword Lord Junxing, bringing the Sword Sect disciples, silently moved away from these troublemakers, fearing that a Tribulation Transcendence stage mighty figure might strike with a bolt of lightning and implicate them.
As fellow sword cultivators of the Sword Sect, suffering a little hardship was fine. But to suffer hardship because of these idle people from Lingjing Sect would truly be an injustice like snow in June.
…
Just as Li Jin’an’s family returned to the Dao Sect, the demon army crossed over Three Realms Mountain.