Spectating the Angsty Romance of the Master and Disciple from the Sect Next Door Chapter 58

Li Jin’an, who was currently feigning the air of a strategist as cunning as a demon, with deep machinations, noticed the gaze of the person beside her. She lowered her head, thought for a moment, and assuming the other person was curious, handed her the paper crane.
“Jie Yunjin.”
Xie Huaixue’s face brightened. “It’s her.”
Both simultaneously recalled how they had first met Jie Yunjin.
…
This individual, this snake, was a mutual friend of Li Jin’an and Xie Huaixue, whom they had known for just as long as Jiang Fengmian. They had met when they were still young and inexperienced cultivators, though this particular snake only saw them when absolutely necessary.
It was well-known that the Sword Sect’s tasks for its disciples were mostly about fighting and killing, while some Dao Sect tasks required intellect. At that time, Li Jin’an wasn’t yet the ‘Millennium Second,’ merely at the Nascent Soul stage of cultivation. To closely observe the secrets of Xie Huaixue’s practice, she would trail Xie Huaixue whenever the latter went out for training.
Even when Xie Huaixue met her gaze, she could still nonchalantly pretend to be merely passing by.
Sometimes one had to admit, those with overly firm wills could also be overly shameless.
While Xie Huaixue investigated strange occurrences in the city, destroyed sacrificial arrays, and pursued evil cultivators, Li Jin’an would wander around nearby, touching this and that, following her every step. An uninformed observer might have thought she was a guard Xie Huaixue had hired to oversee the situation.
While Xie Huaixue diligently carried out her duties, Li Jin’an grew bored. She busied herself with amusing distractions, having a grand time, and thus met Jie Yunjin, who was equally adept at having fun.
Cockfighting, cuju, drinking games, arrow-throwing, backgammon, lantern riddles… she was even dragged to a bridal ball-tossing event. Seeing the embroidered ball flying directly towards her, Li Jin’an paled in fright, directly ascending into the air, causing the ball to miss. She then paid the fine with a resentful expression, as there was a city-wide prohibition against cultivators flying through the air.
Jie Yunjin cackled from the side, only conceding when Li Jin’an threatened to take her to eat snake soup, for Jie Yunjin was terrified of snakes, screaming wildly even at the sight of snake-themed paintings.
Li Jin’an was also invited to Jie Yunjin’s home as a guest. She enjoyed tea, admired the scenery, and tended to birds and cats, enjoying herself so much she forgot the way home. Initially, she hadn’t noticed anything unusual about the Jie family, but then the unusual presented itself to her.
Li Jin’an, passing through the garden, inadvertently overheard a conversation.
Under a tree, Mother Jie, frustrated by Jie Yunjin’s perceived shortcomings, lectured her, “How many times have I told you not to associate with cultivators? Why won’t you listen! You even brought a cultivator into our home, are you trying to get us killed!”
“I didn’t know Jin’an was a cultivator beforehand!” Jie Yunjin’s eyes glazed over as she listened to her mother’s repetitive words. She herself was puzzled. “Before the ball-tossing, she clearly couldn’t fly, couldn’t use magic, couldn’t breathe fire, and was overly delicate; she’d complain even if the carriage jolted. How could she be a cultivator?”
Jie Yunjin was equally helpless. Not associating with cultivators, avoiding them upon sight, not going into the inner city where cultivators lived, and so on—in short, treating cultivators like a plague, avoiding them whenever possible. These rules had been instilled in her by her mother repeatedly since she could remember, but when she asked why, her mother never uttered a single word.
Just remember it, don’t ask why, just remember it and that’s it.
When she grew up, Jie Yunjin had wanted to rebel and vent the control her mother had exerted over her since childhood, to throw a minor tantrum and find a Qi Refinement stage cultivator to casually date. However, she succumbed to her mother’s tears, and from then on, obediently lingered in the outer city, never even bothering to watch the excitement involving cultivators.
It was hard enough to find a friend she could have fun with in the outer city. She excitedly invited Li Jin’an to her home, only for Li Jin’an to fly up a quarter of an hour after accepting, just as the embroidered ball was tossed.
She flew! She flew!
Given the situation, Jie Yunjin thought that with Li Jin’an’s inability to endure hardship, she couldn’t be a powerful cultivator. Since nothing had happened despite their long association, surely it would be fine. Thus, she comfortably mocked Li Jin’an for paying the fine.
Who knew her mother would make such a fuss, constantly urging her to send Li Jin’an away immediately.
Jie Yunjin: “Mother, if you don’t tell me why, I won’t send Jin’an away. We’re birds of a feather… no, we have similar interests! She’s not one of those cultivators who disregard mortal lives! Please don’t view my friend with such prejudice!”
Mother Jie looked at her in anguish, yet still did not reveal the truth.
The two parted unhappily. The third person in the garden blinked, utterly puzzled. So, spending Jie Yunjin’s money meant you were her friend? And also, why couldn’t she see anything wrong with Jie Yunjin?
Due to Jie Yunjin’s unusual persistence, Mother Jie could only hope for the best, praying in the ancestral hall for nothing untoward to happen.
The two ‘birds of a feather’ spent their days eating, drinking, and playing, returning to the Jie residence at night to sleep. All was peaceful until Xie Huaixue’s pursuit of evil cultivators led her to the Jie residence.
As soon as Li Jin’an and Jie Yunjin emerged, they heard a tremendous sound and quickly rushed over.
When Li Jin’an saw Xie Huaixue fighting an evil cultivator in the Jie residence’s ancestral hall to rescue the kidnapped Mother Jie, she was so startled that she popped a candied hawthorn into her mouth, chewed vigorously, then kicked Jie Yunjin, who was about to pounce on the unconscious Mother Jie, far away, before drawing her sword and swiftly killing the evil cultivator for Xie Huaixue.
“What’s going on?” Li Jin’an continued eating her candied hawthorn, looking curiously at Xie Huaixue.
“A group of evil cultivators in the city targeted her. I tracked them here, and this person is merely a pawn.”
Li Jin’an followed Xie Huaixue’s gaze to Jie Yunjin, who was covered in dust and still flailing on the ground. She sincerely wondered, “Evil cultivators targeted her? Is their taste that bad? What’s in it for them?”
Jie Yunjin, faced with a triple inquiry, remained speechless. “…?”
In truth, Jie Yunjin had harbored a faint interest in Li Jin’an, but due to the triple inquiry, that interest immediately vanished into thin air, leaving not a trace. She looked at Li Jin’an with dead fish eyes, grumbling about her.
Li Jin’an hadn’t finished speaking. “Are they interested in her because she’s good at eating, drinking, and having fun?”
Xie Huaixue didn’t answer, instead asking, “Are you very close to her?”
“Why do you ask that?” Li Jin’an crossed her arms and glared sideways at Xie Huaixue, a look on her face that said, Don’t even think about prying into my secrets. Then she honestly replied, “Quite close. I’ve been spending time with her these past few days.”
“Then do you know about the anomaly within her? The evil cultivators covet her greatly.”
Li Jin’an first froze, then erupted in fury. “Wasn’t I just asking you what the evil cultivators were after?! How would I know about the anomaly within her?! That’s why I asked you what exactly the evil cultivators saw in her!”
Jie Yunjin: “…You two, there’s no need to repeat yourselves so many times. I can hear you perfectly.”
“Mm.”
It was unclear whom Xie Huaixue’s ‘mm’ was directed at.
Li Jin’an’s temper flared, her expression utterly ferocious. She deeply felt that she and Xie Huaixue were simply incompatible!
Their official meeting was thoroughly unpleasant.
Ultimately, it was the now-conscious Mother Jie who salvaged the awkward situation. Upon waking, she was helped by Jie Yunjin to retrieve a wooden box from behind the ancestral tablet.
“Please, Immortal, help this old woman open this box.”
Li Jin’an didn’t believe Mother Jie would dare to trick her. She gave Xie Huaixue a look, then, with a bold heart, used her spiritual energy to remove the restrictions on the box. Upon opening it and clearly seeing its contents, she let out an astonished “Oh!”
“What a large demon core.”
As soon as the box opened, demonic aura rushed forth. The demon core was as large as an egg.
For some reason, Jie Yunjin’s heart began to thump wildly. She then heard her mother say, “Jin’er, eat it.”
Jie Yunjin was unwilling, shaking her head in resistance and backing away repeatedly.
Mother Jie steeled her heart, held her down, and force-fed her the demon core.
Li Jin’an, watching from the side, hissed, “Isn’t that choking?”
Jie Yunjin, forced to swallow such a large demon core that she couldn’t even bite, looked at them tearfully. Choking? Of course, it’s choking. I’m practically choking to death.
And who knows how long this thing has been sitting there? What if it gives me an upset stomach?
Before Jie Yunjin could say anything, her eyes rolled back, and she collapsed, unconscious. Mother Jie quickly scooped her up.
“Just drops right to sleep, huh?” Li Jin’an raised another candied hawthorn, remarking with a sigh, then looked at Xie Huaixue. “Why are you still here? Aren’t you going to catch those evil cultivators causing trouble?”
“I’m curious too.”
Li Jin’an: “…”
She said this with an utterly indifferent face, her expression unchanged. How could she believe it?
Fortunately, Jie Yunjin didn’t keep Xie Huaixue curious for long. A quarter of an hour later, she transformed from a human into a slender white snake.
Not long after, Jie Yunjin opened her eyes, felt her perspective was off, glanced down at her body, then opened her snake mouth and flicked her tongue out. “A snake! There’s a snake! Ah!”
She fainted again.
Li Jin’an, standing by, uttered a completely emotionless exclamation, “Wow.”
Xie Huaixue was still standing beside her.
The truth was simple, summarized by a single remark from Jie Yunjin: “Ancestors, next time you decide to pursue human-snake romance, could you please consider your snake-fearing descendants!”
There were no melodramatic incidents like marriage fraud or disembowelment for demon cores. The Jie family ancestors had truly been in love, and the snake demon had even left her demon core for their descendants. Originally, the Jie family’s bloodline had been very thin, until Jie Yunjin, the unlucky one whose bloodline reverted to an older form, appeared.
With Li Jin’an and Xie Huaixue intervening, the evil cultivators were naturally easily captured and wiped out in one fell swoop.
However, Jie Yunjin’s feelings towards them were complicated. It was said that she regretted two things most in her life: not listening to her mother properly, and meeting Li Jin’an, then Xie Huaixue.
First human, then snake, Jie Yunjin didn’t know which way of life she should adopt. Later, she took her mother and went into seclusion in an unknown small domain.
“Goodbye! And never again!” Jie Yunjin bade farewell to Li Jin’an and Xie Huaixue before leaving.
Now, Jie Yunjin had still come, threatened by Li Jin’an—that if she didn’t come, then thousands upon thousands of snakes would be sent her way.
From atop the high platform, Xie Huaixue seemed to recall old memories as well. Her deep gaze swept over Li Jin’an. “Long time no see, Sword Sovereign. Is your way of entertaining friends still indulging in food, drink, and entertainment?”
Li Jin’an, enlightened but not fully, did not notice the fleeting danger. She casually replied, “Of course. But Immortal Venerable, you’ll also have to contribute. After all, now that we are one, we must advance and retreat together in all matters.”
Xie Huaixue lowered her gaze and smiled, gently saying, “Qingxiao has been enlightened.”
Li Jin’an coughed, waving her hand casually. “As long as you know.”
Spare her. She’s a fire spiritual root cultivator, not magma. It’s not good to be flushing red all day like a bubbling hot spring!
“I’ve discovered something.” Li Jin’an quickly changed the subject.
“Oh?”
A spark of insight flashed through Li Jin’an’s mind, and she truly thought of something. Sitting up straight, she said, “I realized that Jiang Fengmian, Jie Yunjin, Shang Dangge, and these others—I met them all first. How did they later become mutual friends of both you and I?”
Why did Xie Huaixue not know them before I met them, but after I met them, they became considered friends of Xie Huaixue as well?
She eyed Xie Huaixue suspiciously, feeling that something was very wrong.
Indeed, Li Jin’an had met Jiang Fengmian first, too, though their acquaintance process was also quite unpleasant. Because Li Jin’an had heard that aside from Xie Huaixue, the Dao Sect had another outstanding young cultivator, one who possessed her master’s gentle and refined demeanor, dubbed the second strongest of the Dao Sect’s younger generation. Li Jin’an felt this young cultivator was trying to ‘piggyback’ on Xie Huaixue’s and her own fame, so she stormed their doors with a sword.
Later, Jiang Fengmian asked her why she thought she was trying to ‘piggyback’ on her fame.
Li Jin’an said as a matter of course, “The world speaks of Xie Huaixue and me in the same breath. What’s the meaning of you squeezing in between us?”
Jingting Dao Lord, who had been eavesdropping the entire time, widened her eyes in astonishment. Being with your arch-nemesis, can your brain actually get smarter?
That’s a good question.
Xie Huaixue’s expression remained calm as she placidly replied, “You were the one who introduced them to me.”
Li Jin’an pondered whether badmouthing Jiang Fengmian and Shang Dangge in front of Xie Huaixue truly counted as an introduction.
Before she could ponder further, she heard Xie Huaixue say, “The match has begun.”