Spectating the Angsty Romance of the Master and Disciple from the Sect Next Door Chapter 7

The clear night was dustless, the moonlight like silver. The grown Sword Sovereign silently gazed at the moon.
Had this same moonlight once shone upon her when she was sixteen?
In this scene, it truly wouldn’t be appropriate not to express a cultured poetic verse, to display the Sword Sovereign’s inner melancholy and complexity, with profound and lasting meaning.
Li Jin’an suppressed it again and again, said nothing, and flipped the moon the middle finger.
It wasn’t that she had an issue with the moon, but rather because her emotions were in such disarray that everything in her sight seemed unpleasant. She couldn’t keep dreaming; it would be rude to continue. The reason was simple: not because there would be any inappropriate scenes for minors, but because Li Jin’an had been defeated a grand total of one hundred times, which was very “memorable.”
She scrambled up from the ground and immediately burst into angry tears, scuttling sideways like a little crab while wiping her eyes, fiercely forbidding anyone from laughing at her. The ceaseless running was her eagerness to scold Xie Huaixue, and her pounding heart was from being so upset. Of course she needed to be faster; if she was slow, she wouldn’t be able to scold Xie Huaixue! Although bursting into angry tears wasn’t a rare occurrence for her, she didn’t want to recall such embarrassing memories again. Xie Huaixue truly harms people deeply!
Li Jin’an sat blankly through the night, her middle finger steadfastly pointed at the dark sky, never lowering. This was her last act of stubbornness.
Just as dawn broke, crisp morning mist drifted through Jijin Peak’s mountains. A brand new day had begun. The overly early-rising master had already thoughtfully sent a thousand-mile voice transmission, shouting for her sleeping disciples to wake up.
Tan Yanyi emerged from her courtyard, eyes glazed and hair disheveled. She walked stiffly towards her senior and junior sisters, almost collapsing to her knees, fortunately, Qi Lingzi swiftly caught her.
“Didn’t she already scold us yesterday?” Ling Qiu’s small face was full of bewilderment. She yawned, tears welling in her eyes from sleepiness. “Isn’t it an unwritten rule of Jijin Peak not to scold us twice for the same thing? I miss my grandmaster!”
When did the rules change?! Oh, right, the Peak Master of Jijin Peak is the rule herself; what she says goes. If this is daily early rising, she truly would have to take senior sister and seek refuge with grandmaster, letting master bother grandmaster instead.
Tan Yanyi irritably pressed down her unruly hair, feeling an overwhelming sadness. “I’m just a small Foundation Establishment cultivator, I haven’t even achieved ‘grain abstinence’ yet; I need sleep to recover my energy.” Even a minute less of sleep is a huge loss!
At this point, the reliable eldest senior sister was already leading them up the mountain to pay respects to their master.
Soon, the moment they entered the study, the three became wide awake, and even consciously stood tall with chests out, ready for inspection. Seated at the head of the room, Li Jin’an’s gaze chillingly scrutinized them. After a while, not content with just sitting, she stood up and circled them, slowly stroking her chin. They could almost smell the fiery yet gentle aura emanating from their master. This posture really looked like she was evaluating which parts of them were good, to chop them up and sell them for a good price.
Qi Lingzi, as usual, maintained a docile and reliable appearance. Tan Yanyi’s mind raced, racking her brains to think if she had done anything else strange besides her passive resistance the day before that would make her master act so oddly. Had her stealing her master’s hidden wine with her junior sister and placing it in grandmaster’s cave dwelling been discovered? Or had someone reported her for colluding with enemies and pursuing pretty junior disciples from the Dao Sect? She had done too many bad things; for a moment, she couldn’t pick and choose which mistake to confess.
Ling Qiu sighed inwardly: Their master was indeed not inferior to the Qingxiao Immortal Venerable in any aspect, especially her outstanding beauty, which was rarely seen in the world. It was just her strange stubbornness and her tendency to turn hostile at any moment that was truly unbearable!
Just as Tan Yanyi was debating whether to grit her teeth and confess to a less serious mistake, Li Jin’an finally stopped pacing and spoke sternly, “From now on…”
The three disciples gazed at her intently.
“Jijin Peak forbids four-character idioms!” After saying this, Li Jin’an solemnly nodded, indicating they had not misheard; that was indeed what she meant.
“Huh?” Li Jin’an leaned against the bookshelf, facing three blank, bewildered faces. “It’s exactly what you’re thinking. You’re not allowed to use four-character idioms when you speak. Violators will have to swing their swords an extra thousand times each time. As for when it ends, it depends on when I’m in a good mood.”
Xianxia cultivation / Heavenly favored children / Forced possession / Proximate advantage / Abusive romance…
Li Jin’an found it hard to forget these five four-character idioms. Just thinking of them made her feel as if someone was eating excrement and enthusiastically inviting her to join them; that was how she felt about the Heavenly Book. Is she no longer bothering her disciples discreetly? This directness makes them speechless. When her mood will be good, isn’t that up to Master?! Has her old self become so ignorant that she’s jealous of people who can use four-character idioms?!
Li Jin’an chuckled, “You don’t understand, do you?”
The three ‘good kids’ nodded vigorously. In all their years of cultivating the sword under their master, they had never heard such an outrageous demand. This was even stranger than the neighboring peak not allowing disciples to sleep with others’ destiny swords! At this moment, the three disciples of Jijin Peak were all reflecting: Were they truly not ambitious enough, to the point of infuriating their master into madness?
Li Jin’an clapped her hands. “It’s good that you don’t understand. I am the Sword Sovereign of this age, your master. What’s wrong with me not liking four-character idioms?!”
The three’s faces instantly fell. They subtly glanced at Li Jin’an, their expressions outwardly obedient, but inwardly judging.
Nothing. She’s the boss, and what she says goes. So what if they become illiterate? So be it! If their sword cultivators are a bit rough, then let them be rough. At least Master isn’t asking them to speak coarsely, so what else is there to be dissatisfied with? Fighting with the Qingxiao lineage is fine, but cursing battles are really not. Even if they could win the verbal battle, it wouldn’t do!
Seeing their repressed silence, a thought flashed in Li Jin’an’s mind, and she spoke immediately, “Have you read a storybook called ‘Rebellious Disciple Transgresses, The Aloof Immortal Venerable Cannot Escape’? It’s about the Dao Sect next door…”
She stopped there, raising an eyebrow, not particularly shocked by everything before her.
The entire study seemed to fall into the void, forming an independent, enclosed space. Time here could not flow; the moment Li Jin’an spoke, time stopped, unable to move forward. Everything but Li Jin’an was paused. Her dear disciples still held their troubled expressions of unwilling but forced endurance.
As expected.
It seems I can’t tell others about the book’s contents; they’re guarding against me fiercely. Couldn’t they have told her such important information all at once last night? Why split it into two revelations, forcing her to get angry again?
However, Li Jin’an mentally grumbled, “Heavenly Dao, you really outdid yourself.” Was it her illusion? Why did the Heavenly Dao feel so sneaky? In just one night, Li Jin’an, a Sword Sovereign born and raised in Lancang Continent, lost all reverence for the Heavenly Dao. After all, any normal mind couldn’t devise such a plot, yet the Heavenly Dao managed it.
And ‘pulling the high-mountain flower off her pedestal’, asking Xie Huaixue who she was thinking of… Every time she thought of it, Li Jin’an had to roll her eyes in ‘tribute’. Xie Huaixue loves the loneliness at the top; just let her stay up there and drink the northwest wind. As a sword fanatic, what business is it of anyone’s if she fights and scolds her disciples? Why does she have to die? The Sword Sovereign had no interest in being Xie Huaixue’s old friend. If she could recommend someone, she would recommend the current Demon Lord to be Xie Huaixue’s friend. They were both ‘Venerable’ ranked; there wasn’t much difference, and it would count as contributing to the righteous path of humanity once more.
Were they diligently cultivating and fighting just to be targets for the Heavenly Dao’s beloved daughters?
Li Jin’an folded her arms and sulked. Perhaps seeing that she had calmed down and wasn’t making trouble, time unfroze and began to move forward. Qi Lingzi and the other two were still stuck in the phase where their master forbade four-character idioms. When they looked up, their master’s face was even more sour, and she was watching them with narrowed eyes, arms crossed.
She didn’t even blink, so how did Master change her posture?
It was likely because their master’s cultivation realm was far too high; their mortal eyes couldn’t discern her movements.
Normally, when Li Jin’an narrowed her eyes at someone, it meant she was on the verge of exploding in anger. But this wasn’t a normal situation; it was a highly unusual one. Unsure of the situation, no one dared to move rashly, fearing they might incur their master’s wrath.
Li Jin’an waved her hand helplessly, her tone softening, “Do whatever you were doing.”
She had discovered the adorable aspect of her disciples: they wouldn’t betray their master or ancestors, wouldn’t plot rebellion, wouldn’t try to pull a high-and-mighty figure off their pedestal. They simply did as they were told, at most grumbling a few words in their hearts that were detrimental to Jijin Peak’s unity. Compared to the three abominations next door, they were truly angelic. So what if they couldn’t win fights? At least their minds were sound, and that was rare indeed!
Tan Yanyi’s eyes darted around, pressing her advantage, “Master, we woke up early today, and our arms feel a bit weak. Can we perhaps swing our swords less?”
Li Jin’an immediately straightened her face, “Do I look like someone who’d let you swing your swords less?!”
She realized she couldn’t show these little rascals even a shred of leniency; no one was better at pushing their luck than them. Having a sound mind was good, but being too sly and lazy wouldn’t do either. Facing the treacherous and sinister abominations next door, they’d surely be utterly exploited.
So, Li Jin’an mercifully declared, “Today, I will personally supervise your sword practice.”
As expected, seeing two little faces sag once more, Qi Lingzi, as the senior disciple, had endured too much. She stepped forward, “This disciple is honored.”
Li Jin’an felt satisfied. Honest people still spoke the most pleasing words.
Following that, no one on Jijin Peak was spared. Tan Yanyi received the most scolding, Ling Qiu came second, and even Qi Lingzi wasn’t let off the hook.
Watching Qi Lingzi’s steady departure, and Tan Yanyi and Ling Qiu’s wobbly sword flight towards the Academy, Li Jin’an settled back into her chair. Her fair fingers tapped idly on the tabletop as she pondered the Heavenly Dao’s intentions.
There was one more thing she cared deeply about.