Spectating the Angsty Romance of the Master and Disciple from the Sect Next Door Chapter 4

Speaking of Immortal Venerable Qingxiao, Xie Huaixue, many people would likely have something to say.
Detailing her past experiences and achievements: both her parents were powerful cultivators from the Dao Sect. They were close friends with Yinyue Monarch. While the three traveled and passed by Three Realms Mountain, they encountered a rampaging demonic army. The Demon Lord of that time, accompanied by two Demon Monarchs, besieged the trio. Her father was the first to die in battle. Her mother, already in labor, managed to give birth to the child and entrusted her to Yinyue Monarch, who had the highest chance of survival, before resolutely facing death to hold back the Demon Lord.
Later, Yinyue Monarch passed away with a smile upon seeing Xie Huaixue establish her own peak and become its master. That battle had indeed injured her foundation, and she failed to break through to the next realm before her lifespan reached its limit. Fortunately, she had no regrets, seeing her friend’s daughter capable of standing on her own.
For quite some time, Li Jin’an was restricted by Chixin Sword Lord from going to the Dao Sect. Was that when she was fighting like mad? Xie Huaixue’s grief wouldn’t have been any less than hers.
At first, some even said Xie Huaixue was fated with misfortune, claiming her birth directly led to the deaths of two Integration stage and one Void Refinement stage mighty cultivators. Xie Huaixue didn’t refute them; she went straight into seclusion. This angered Li Jin’an so much that she went knocking on doors—the doors of the gossips, specifically seeking out the younger generation in their families to beat up.
Damn it, she only had one sparring partner! If they talked her into retreating into seclusion for private cultivation, what would she do when her hands itched for a fight?
Then came the battle where Xie Huaixue earned her Dao title of Immortal Venerable Qingxiao. While the Nine Great Immortal Sects, the Five Sects and Four Clans, along with dozens of smaller sects and noble families, fought the enemy on the front lines of Three Realms Mountain, Xie Huaixue infiltrated the Demonic Realm alone. She slew several Void Refinement stage demon generals, Integration stage demon commanders, and the former Demon Lord who had fled back to the Demonic Realm wounded.
At this point, self-proclaimed knowledgeable cultivators would surely spout nonsense, saying that Immortal Venerable Qingxiao was only able to slay the Demon Lord because he had already suffered severe injuries at Three Realms Mountain, and she merely took advantage of a weakened foe.
Then someone would set them straight, asking if they could kill a wounded enemy by crossing one major realm and six minor realms.
The difference between Qi Condensation first level and Qi Condensation sixth level might not be obvious, but the gap between Integration stage early-stage and Mahayana stage mid-stage was greater than that between humans and demons. Each minor realm was a hurdle, and even injuries couldn’t bridge such gaps.
At least demons could transform into human form; if a realm couldn’t be broken through, it simply couldn’t.
Yet Xie Huaixue did it. She even conveniently broke through the demonic palace’s grand formation and tore off its roof, achieving the feat of “Immortal Venerable Qingxiao Was Here.”
Xie Huaixue did not come away without paying a price; her white robes were stained with blood, and she suffered severe injuries, recuperating for a long time afterward.
For a long time afterward, any demon that fought its way to the demonic palace in the internally chaotic Demonic Realm could enjoy the privilege of sunbathing and moonbathing without leaving the building—right, the Demonic Realm had no sun or moon, just a dark curtain silently watching the demons, practically drying out their silence.
The price of Immortal Venerable Qingxiao’s fame throughout the world was that a certain red-robed sword cultivator from the Sword Sect began entering secret realms more frequently, giving her all as if ready to shed blood and sacrifice her head. She hurriedly kept pace so as not to fall too far behind, and then politely issued her first battle invitation.
On it were only four characters in flowing and vigorous calligraphy.
—”Hello, Let’s Fight.”
One couldn’t help but praise Li Jin’an for her unique brand of politeness.
…
Looking at it this way, it was no wonder that when people spoke of Immortal Venerable Qingxiao, they couldn’t help but mention Jijin Sword Sovereign alongside her. Her presence was truly too strong; every time Xie Huaixue advanced, there was a Li Jin’an flailing about vigorously and creating all sorts of dramatic disturbances right behind her.
People’s impressions of Immortal Venerable Qingxiao were even more varied, with everyone holding different views: a pillar of humanity, selfless, pure and aloof, cold and solitary, unparalleled in the world, unapproachable, strictly adhering to rules…
Shining without being ostentatious, still waters run deep.
These eight characters perhaps perfectly described Immortal Venerable Qingxiao.
However, this was merely for the world at large. Li Jin’an, who was overly involved in Xie Huaixue’s life, had much more to say.
Xie Huaixue was universally outrageous!
Deep-minded and profoundly calculating, she used her as a stepping stone to gain fame.
After all, the stronger Li Jin’an was, the more formidable Xie Huaixue appeared for defeating her. The world would all say that Jijin Sword Sovereign reigned supreme in the sword dao, but Immortal Venerable Qingxiao still had the upper hand.
Her cultivation motives were impure. The cultivation world hadn’t produced a practitioner of the Emotionless Dao in years, and most failed halfway. Yet she went and cultivated it, truly cold-hearted and aloof, and she actually succeeded, shedding all worldly thoughts, her realm advancing by leaps and bounds.
Originally, everyone was on the same starting line, and Li Jin’an still had high hopes of drawing with or even defeating Xie Huaixue. Now look what happened: every time she felt a glimmer of hope, Xie Huaixue would teach this illiterate person how to write the word ‘despair’.
Hard to please, heart cold as iron, even harder than ten-thousand-year-old meteor iron.
What’s wrong with fixing a match?! Everyone would be happy, wouldn’t they? She rejected her so decisively, it made her lose a lot of face!
“…”
To be continued.
When it came to slandering Xie Huaixue, Li Jin’an was absolutely unrivaled, leading by a mile.
But!
All of this was the accumulated resentment Li Jin’an had gathered over her 1,235 years of life. These profound ‘affections’ formed her ultimate impression of Xie Huaixue.
However, upon seeing this book, everything was overturned.
When Li Jin’an was startled to realize that Xie Huaixue had secretly taken on a third disciple behind her back, she thought with her usual mindset: Could it be that Xie Huaixue was preparing to secretly take on a disciple, then gloriously defeat her three little fools at home, thereby proving that Xie Huaixue was even better at teaching disciples than she was?
Without rhyme or reason, she’d curse her as a villain first!
By her logic, everything could be twisted to be Xie Huaixue’s fault.
Li Jin’an was silent for a moment, then simply sat on the ground, propping her chin in her hand and pondering life, her gaze blank. For a long while, she was in a state of being completely dumbfounded, but not entirely senseless, not knowing what she was pondering.
Finally, she resignedly picked up the book beside her, intending to seriously peruse this ‘masterpiece.’
To go through such a roundabout way just to make her read a storybook about Xie Huaixue’s entanglement with her disciples… she’d just have to see what it wrote, and then…
Hehehehe, she’d laugh Xie Huaixue to death!
Make her utterly mortified with shame and indignation!
She absolutely had to record herself laughing loudly with an image-recording stone and play it back and forth right in front of Xie Huaixue’s face!
She’d been too narrow-minded just now, focusing only on being shocked that Xie Huaixue was acting inhuman—cultivating in secret was one thing, but finding romantic partners and getting three at once? Her cultivation style had many flaws.
But on second thought, no matter what it wrote, true or false, she could always find an angle to ridicule Xie Huaixue.
Li Jin’an’s eyes sparkled. To show respect and sincerity, she held this ‘heavenly book,’ 《Rebellious Disciple Transgresses, The Aloof Immortal Venerable Cannot Escape》, with both hands, piously turned the page, and read it very slowly, word by word.
After reading on, Li Jin’an had to admit, it truly was worthy of being a book that could be so convoluted in its path to reach her. It indeed had its unique merits; the writing style was good, captivatingly written, and it wouldn’t make her, someone who struggled with reading, doze off while looking at it. It was simply the peerless treasure of the storybook world!
…If only it didn’t contain some names that looked familiar to her. That experience was quite bad.
The story opened with a rainy night, briefly describing the ferocity of the rain in the small city and the tense atmosphere of an approaching storm. Then, the narrative shifted, detailing a very happy family in the small city who had moved there generations ago. The grandparents’ only son married a local woman and had a daughter, whose name was Lan Ci.
The Lan family was a branch of a branch… of a branch of the Wen Nanlan Clan, one of humanity’s Five Sects and Four Clans. While other distant relatives could be found within a thousand li, this family couldn’t even be located within three thousand li; they weren’t even in the Wen Nan Region, the main branch’s stronghold, but in a nameless small region.
Locally, the Lan family, with three Foundation Establishment cultivators and one Core Formation early-stage cultivator among its five members, was already considered a prominent family, the kind even the city lord would treat with respect.
In the eyes of the then-young Lan Ci, the city lord frequently sought her parents’ help to handle various matters. If her parents were powerless, they would ask her grandfather to intervene, as he was the only Core Formation cultivator in the city, capable of solving any issue involving demons or evil cultivators. Thus, Lan Ci’s wish was to become a cultivator revered by all, like her grandfather. No, she wanted to be even more powerful than her grandfather.
“…”
Reading this, Li Jin’an struggled to recall the appearance of Xie Huaixue’s eldest disciple. It was a blur; she only remembered her chilling sword aura, how she had repeatedly set traps for her own little fools, and how she slowly tortured them like a cat playing with a mouse, never giving them a quick end, all under the guise of training her junior sisters. She was even more annoying than her master.
Li Jin’an nodded, casually finding an angle to comment, “So that’s how it is. Scheming since childhood. Wanting to become a more powerful cultivator than one’s grandfather isn’t shameful. Hiding it away and only daring to fantasize in her heart, fearing others would laugh at her, is quite petty.”
While describing her grand vow, the text also interspersed various warm daily scenes of the Lan family.
Skip, skip.
Because she frequently caused trouble for Xie Huaixue, in many people’s eyes, she was a vicious Sword Sovereign. She couldn’t bear to see such things.
Abruptly, the happiness ended.
From Lan Ci’s perspective, it was a turbulent, rainy night when a group of black-clad figures infiltrated the nameless small city, slaughtering the entire Lan family. Only Lan Ci lay in a pool of blood; the black-clad figures had uniquely spared her. Her memories of the intervening time were completely forgotten. All she remembered were the clear eyes gazing at her as an immortal descended from the sky, and the fluttering robes. She reached out a bloody hand and grasped a wisp of the robe.
And she also grasped her only salvation in this life.
Ignoring the several hundred words passionately describing the immortal’s appearance, Li Jin’an pressed down on the corner of the book with her hand, her expression peculiar. It couldn’t be called hideous, but it wasn’t good either.
Was this chunk of ice described in the book truly the Xie Huaixue she knew? There’s still a difference between ‘aloof’ and a complete block of ice, right?
Did the author have some misunderstanding about the Emotionless Dao?
Leaving aside whether “emotionless” or “emotional” was what the author understood, the convenience Li Jin’an referred to from Xie Huaixue’s Emotionless Dao meant that Xie Huaixue’s mind was calm and firm, unmoved by external things, untroubled by worldly matters. Few people or events could move her, leaving her with no unnecessary distractions. She wouldn’t develop obsessive inner demons, nor be swayed by desires or emotions, making it easier to achieve full immersion in meditation, unify her mind and spirit, and comprehend the heavens and earth, thus coming closest to the fundamental of the cultivation world—the “Dao.” Naturally, her progress was much faster than ordinary people.
…Thinking of all those benefits, she felt Xie Huaixue had taken a huge advantage of her!
But that didn’t mean Xie Huaixue couldn’t even blink, acting coldly like a dummy!
As Xie Huaixue’s sworn enemy, who frequently went to the Dao Sect to provoke and cause trouble, Li Jin’an had a lot of say on this matter. She had seen Xie Huaixue in more ways than anyone else.
Even when badmouthing Xie Huaixue, only she could do it properly; no one else could do it as well as her.
Li Jin’an tried to imagine Xie Huaixue covered in ice and motionless. First, she chuckled, then she began counting on her fingers, calculating the timeline described in the text: what she herself was doing, and whether Xie Huaixue had actually been to this place.