Spectating the Angsty Romance of the Master and Disciple from the Sect Next Door Chapter 52

Everyone flying on their swords towards the Dao Sect was silent, only their eyes darted around, engaging in extremely frequent unspoken exchanges. Fortunately, no one dared to transmit messages under Jijin Sword Sovereign’s watchful eye. Otherwise, it would be quite terrifying if Jijin Sword Sovereign’s voice suddenly popped up in their ears while they were talking.
The only three people completely at ease were Qi Lingzi, Tan Yanyi, and Ling Qiu. They weren’t worried about whether their master would fight with Immortal Venerable Qingxiao, nor were they concerned about their rankings in the Grand Competition, feeling utterly unburdened.
Qi Lingzi and Ling Qiu were happy about everything because their master had approved of their matters.
Tan Yanyi was simply broad-minded, not even remembering that the Dao Sect had quite a few beautiful young disciples she had previously pursued.
Meanwhile, their master, Li Jin’an, was flying emotionlessly at the very front on her sword. Her crimson robes fluttered ostentatiously, her aura at its peak, making her look like she was going to the Dao Sect to cause trouble and disrupt things. In reality, her hands hidden in her sleeves were clenching, loosening, and clenching again out of nervousness…
Li Jin’an didn’t know why she was so nervous. She had walked the path from the Sword Sect to the Dao Sect over a thousand times. Yet, the closer she got to the Dao Sect, the more her heart fluttered. Her heart and her person felt like they were floating in the air, unable to land firmly on the ground.
She thought carefully for a moment, then immediately placed the blame squarely on Chixin Sword Lord.
If it weren’t for these disrespectful seniors who only enjoyed teasing juniors, would she have needed to find out, over a thousand years later, that her foolish actions back then had been fully witnessed?!
They truly knew how to hide things. For over a thousand years, they didn’t show the slightest hint. Yinyue Monarch was the same; long after the Three Realms Mountain incident, she even sent a message via carrier pigeon, inviting Li Jin’an—who was still playing the turtle—to the Dao Sect to play, without revealing any cracks in her words.
Seriously, they had hidden it for so long, couldn’t they have kept hiding it?
She didn’t really want to know so badly. Wouldn’t it have been better to let her remain ignorant? Did they have to expose the truth and then stab her heart at the same time?
The more Li Jin’an thought about it, the angrier she became. Her nervousness vanished, replaced by sheer mortification and rage. Her expression grew even fouler, and it seemed she exerted an extra third of her strength while flying on her sword.
Sword Lords Xiaoxiang and Junxing wisely and silently widened their distance from her. They exchanged glances, seeing the words “ill-fated” in each other’s eyes.
Upon arrival, the familiar Elder Zhang was about to step forward to greet them, but Li Jin’an made no stop, slipping inside in a flash. There was no need for anyone from the Dao Sect to receive her.
Qi Lingzi and her two companions hastily bowed to the three elders, then quickly sped up to catch their master.
Although this was only the second time this procedure had occurred, both Sword Lords Xiaoxiang and Junxing, and Elder Zhang of the Dao Sect, were already accustomed to it. They pretended not to see, immediately launching into polite pleasantries.
At the crossroads, Li Jin’an saw Jiang Fengmian, who had been waiting for a long time. After a thought, she paused there, waiting for her three slower disciples.
Jiang Fengmian’s right eyelid twitched, and she felt a bad premonition in her heart. She couldn’t help but look at Li Jin’an, who stood there with crossed arms.
They were both great cultivators at the perfected stage of the Void Refinement realm, and it was indeed bad to still be superstitious about a left eyelid twitching for fortune and a right eyelid for disaster. But as soon as Jiang Fengmian thought about the person opposite her being Li Jin’an, she no longer felt she was being superstitious.
Qi Lingzi, Tan Yanyi, and Ling Qiu finally caught up with their master. Before they could even catch their breath, Li Jin’an casually pulled them over and presented them to the equally bewildered Jiang Fengmian.
“Didn’t you used to say you had no direct disciples, and thus no common topics with Qingxiao and me? I’ll lend you my disciples for a few days, so you can experience what it feels like to be a master with direct disciples.”
Li Jin’an patted Tan Yanyi’s head nearby. “Xuanyu True Master isn’t like your master, who has to feed three hungry disciples. Her private treasury is extremely abundant; never mind you three, even thirty more would be more than enough. She can absolutely afford to support you all, understand?”
Tan Yanyi nodded vigorously, loudly replying, “Understood!”
A destitute little sword cultivator going to a rich relative’s house to scrounge for favors and eat them into poverty!
“…”
These days, are people plotting for others’ assets without even hiding it from the owners anymore?
“Wait!” Jiang Fengmian had something to say about this.
Li Jin’an smiled faintly. “No waiting.”
Jiang Fengmian took deep breaths, then more deep breaths. Even a good-natured person like her was panting from anger.
Qi Lingzi, Tan Yanyi, and Ling Qiu stood in a row, looking sympathetically at their temporary master for the next few days, truly worried that Xuanyu True Master would be so angered she’d faint.
“No need to thank me, this is just what I should do.” Li Jin’an, who had just thrown two big problems together, was very pleased. She preemptively stated, “None of you are allowed to follow me anymore. Yes, I’m talking about all four of you.”
How could one discuss love and romance while bringing disciples and friends along? They weren’t needed to instruct her and Xie Huaixue on how to drink joined-cup wine; following her everywhere would only be a nuisance.
Having said that, Li Jin’an flew straight towards Qingxiao Peak without looking back, leaving one adult and three youngsters exchanging bewildered, speechless glances.
Jiang Fengmian also wanted to turn and leave, but three pairs of bright, wide eyes were staring intently at her. She fell silent for a moment, then sighed, “Come with me.”
She couldn’t possibly speak harshly to the younger generation, could she? Grudges between seniors shouldn’t involve the next generation.
For the first time, she began to resent her good temper. She finally realized that the cultivation world had no need for good-natured people; good-natured people would only be repeatedly bullied by malicious individuals like Li Jin’an. She had to change!
Qi Lingzi and her two companions silently followed behind her, not pressing their luck. Primarily, their own master had been too outrageous, so they felt it improper to add insult to injury.
The Grand Competition wouldn’t start until tomorrow, so there was no choice. Jiang Fengmian had to take the three of them back to Xuanyu Peak.
Meanwhile, Li Jin’an, having happily shaken off her troubles, had already arrived at the entrance of the cave dwelling on Qingxiao Peak’s summit. Just as she lifted her foot to enter, she saw Lan Ci, who had returned from her training, emerging dejectedly with Zhong Feining and Zhu Feng.
Li Jin’an raised an eyebrow, her phoenix eyes casually sweeping over them.
Without needing a reminder, the fear of being beaten and dominated immediately surged in their hearts. Even if unwilling, the three reflexively bowed in greeting, their backs bent. “This junior greets Jijin Sword Sovereign. May Sword Sovereign be well.”
Li Jin’an ignored them, not even sparing them another glance, and strode briskly into the main hall.
The gust of wind she brought with her swept over the three, and expressions of resentment couldn’t help but appear on their lowered faces. A thought simultaneously surfaced in their minds: Jijin Sword Sovereign is bullying us too much!
Yet, even so, the three still felt a tiny bit of relief, fortunate that Jijin Sword Sovereign had no pleasure in tormenting them today. Otherwise, they would be utterly defenseless before Jijin Sword Sovereign, and tomorrow was the Grand Competition between the two sects. They couldn’t possibly compete with pig-like faces.
If that were truly the case, they would likely suffer immense humiliation in front of the entire cultivation world.
Upon realizing this slight fortune, the three’s expressions changed simultaneously. They looked at each other and instantly understood one thing: if Jijin Sword Sovereign was not removed, this enormous shadow might forever loom over them.
In the face of an insurmountable external enemy, even the selfish and chaotic three scoundrels could unite.
Li Jin’an seemed to realize something, subtly raising her eyelids. She scoffed disdainfully, the contempt in her eyes completely unconcealed. She turned to look at Xie Huaixue, who was quietly seated in the main seat, and found that she too was watching the three scoundrels as they left.
“What are you looking at?” Li Jin’an asked, unceremoniously taking a seat in the other empty main chair and tilting her head.
Xie Huaixue retracted her gaze, shaking her head. “Nothing much. I just think they’ve become qualified cultivators.”
Li Jin’an frowned deeply. “When did you become so emotional?”
After being “baptized” by Chixin Sword Lord, she was now extremely wary of emotional people, feeling that they might, at any moment, emotionally blurt out the foolish things she had done in the past.
Especially since Xie Huaixue’s emotional targets were the three scoundrels, an alarm blared in her heart. She feared that the Heavenly Tome was exerting its power, influencing Xie Huaixue through her spiritual sea.
Li Jin’an even took a moment to glance into her spiritual sea, then wrathfully threw the golden-glowing Heavenly Tome, which was about to approach, into a far corner of the spiritual sea.
Xie Huaixue glanced at her, saying faintly, “Becoming qualified cultivators is enough for them to face the trials and tribulations of the cultivation world. They don’t need me, their master, to support or shelter them.”
“I think your idea is excellent. It should be like this. If everyone lived under the wings of their masters, how would they ever experience trials and grow? We didn’t have such good conditions back then; our masters directly threw us onto the demon battlefields. If they’re still not satisfied now, it would be quite rude.”
Li Jin’an’s eyes lit up, showing how much she agreed with Xie Huaixue’s educational philosophy. She wished she could agree with both hands and feet.
If it were in the past, she would have certainly, without thinking, called Xie Huaixue heartless. But the past was the past, and now was now. Being as ruthless as an autumn wind sweeping fallen leaves towards the three scoundrels was the correct approach. She only regretted that Xie Huaixue wasn’t cruel enough; it would be perfect if she directly expelled the three scoundrels from the sect!
Xie Huaixue’s gaze lightly swept over her. “Did you used to particularly like cultivators who were sheltered by their elders and piled up their cultivation realms with elixirs? Why are your preferences now the opposite?”
“Fighting and extortion can’t be the same as educating the next generation!”
Li Jin’an reasonably stated, “When you encounter someone with shallow cultivation and a lot of money, you can defeat them effortlessly. Even if you swindle a large sum from such people, their elders won’t say anything. We can’t let our disciples become like that, can we? As their seniors, that would truly be an endless circle of losing face for us.”
She wore a righteous expression, as if she were deeply concerned about the next generation of Qingxiao Peak, acting as if she wasn’t the one who had been beating and tormenting the three scoundrels.
Xie Huaixue let out an ambiguous “Hm,” her tone carrying a hint of amusement. She turned her head to look at her. “Sword Sovereign possesses great foresight. I will keep that in mind.”
Her voice was very soft, yet it was very close, resounding by her ear.
Li Jin’an’s ears twitched. She puffed out her cheeks, stared straight ahead, and with a smirk, said nonchalantly, “Heh, what can I say, I’m just naturally kind-hearted.”
“Oh, right, what did those three want from you? They looked down in the dumps and their expressions weren’t too good. You didn’t refuse them something, did you, and now they resent you?”
Why secretly sow discord? One should openly stir up trouble!
Never badmouthing behind people’s backs—that was Jijin Sword Sovereign’s philosophy.
Xie Huaixue rested her hand on the armrest, her fair fingers tapping lightly downwards. “No. They said they would bring glory to me in the Grand Competition between the two sects.”
Li Jin’an’s gaze followed the jade-like hand so close by, and she said absently, “Well, their expressions didn’t look very happy. They only knew to greet me after I glanced at them.”
“I understand. In the future, I won’t allow them to disrespect Sword Sovereign again,” Xie Huaixue said pointedly. “As for why they were unhappy, I wouldn’t know.”
Li Jin’an watched Xie Huaixue raise and lower her hand, her dark eyes following its movement.
She wasn’t surprised by Xie Huaixue’s statement. This person had always been like this—not truly arrogant, but simply that ordinary people couldn’t even enter her sight.
“How did you answer them?”
“I told them my glory did not need to be bestowed by anyone; they should simply strive for themselves,” Xie Huaixue said with an ethereal calm.
If anyone else had said that, Li Jin’an would have scoffed, but Immortal Venerable Qingxiao’s words were unassailable, both then and now.
Before, it was easy to say. If she refuted Immortal Venerable Qingxiao, wouldn’t that mean Jijin Sword Sovereign, who was inferior to Immortal Venerable Qingxiao, also had no glory?
Now that Li Jin’an knew this person suffered from a cold poison, she was even less able to retort.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk.”
Xie Huaixue let out a short, soft scoff. “I’m not taking disciples now, so what are you scoffing at?”
Li Jin’an was momentarily stunned, then remembered the time she scoffed Xie Huaixue away when she took her third disciple. She couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “I’m scoffing because Immortal Venerable’s words naturally carry a sense of oppression, with her style at its peak. I need to properly learn from Immortal Venerable how to speak in a way that utterly crushes people.”
“Also, you left so easily during the disciple-acceptance ceremony, but everyone from your Dao Sect looked like they wanted to devour me!”
“What should I do then?” Xie Huaixue raised her eyes, her gaze shifting, and let out a soft chuckle. “Then I beg you, Sword Sovereign, please forgive me.”