Jiang Yuejing finally mustered the courage to call out, "Senior Brother Yun." Hearing Jiang Yuejing speak, the disciples who were being punished by standing quietly softened their breathing, waiting nervously for what she would say next.
As it turned out, Jiang Yuejing had no idea what to say either. When her call met with no response, she gritted her teeth and added, "Aren't your legs tired from standing?" Upon hearing this, Xing Tiantian simply rolled her eyes internally, resigning herself to standing in place for the entire night.
After a moment, Yun Shuo said, "Sit." Following that, Jiang Yuejing went over to find a spot next to Xing Tiantian and sat down. Seeing that everyone else was still standing, Jiang Yuejing softly said, "Sit down, everyone." Xing Tiantian cast a cautious glance at Yun Shuo, and seeing no reaction from him, she tentatively sat down. Realizing that Yun Shuo still seemed to be meditating with his eyes closed and had no objections, the others quietly breathed sighs of relief and sat down one by one.
Xing Tiantian secretly gave Jiang Yuejing a thumbs-up, never imagining that such a tactic would work.
Jiang Yuejing placed all the items she had been carrying onto the table in front of her. The quiet atmosphere made her hesitant to speak too loudly, so she whispered to Xing Tiantian, "Senior Sister, Senior Brother Yun and I brought these for you all." Then, remembering that several items were still in Yun Shuo's hands, she softly called out, "Senior Brother Yun."
Yun Shuo slowly opened his eyes, used his spiritual power to levitate the items he was holding, and placed them neatly on the table in front of Xing Tiantian, before lowering his head to resume reading his book.
Seeing this, everyone knew the crisis had passed, marveling at how different a woman's touch made things. Without Jiang Yuejing's knowledge, she had already transformed in the rumors from Yun Shuo's fiancée into his pampered little wife—if she ever found out, she would probably spit blood on the spot. Gossip not only spread fast, but the content also became increasingly absurd.
Jiang Yuejing and Xing Tiantian divided the items and handed them out to everyone. Jiang Yuejing whispered to Xing Tiantian, "Are there none for Senior Brother Yun?"
Xing Tiantian murmured back, "Senior Brother Yun doesn't eat these sorts of things."
Jiang Yuejing said quietly, "But this morning, Senior Brother Yun even ate a string of..." She trailed off. Jiang Yuejing suddenly found herself unable to speak, able to emit only muffled "mm-mm" sounds. Xing Tiantian immediately realized a Silence Spell had been cast and cast a startled look at Yun Shuo.
Jiang Yuejing realized it too and glared angrily in Yun Shuo's direction, but Yun Shuo just kept his head down, reading his book. Jiang Yuejing looked at Xing Tiantian with a pitiful expression. Xing Tiantian tried to lift the spell for Jiang Yuejing, only to find she couldn't. She explained, "Senior Brother Yun's cultivation is higher than mine; I can't break his spell." Hearing this, Jiang Yuejing shot Yun Shuo another indignant glare, while Yun Shuo remained entirely unfazed, continuing to read.
Seeing paper and a brush under Xing Tiantian's table, Jiang Yuejing pulled them up and wrote the character for "bad." Seeing this, Xing Tiantian leaned in and whispered in comfort, "Mmm, yup, he's super bad."
Yun Shuo slowly turned a page of the book before him and said in a measured tone, "Xing Tiantian, do you want to be silenced as well?" Xing Tiantian wisely made a zipping motion across her lips.
A few pages later, Yun Shuo closed his book and left. Not long after he departed, the room returned to its lively, chattering state. Jiang Yuejing wrote on her paper: "Can anyone help me lift this spell?"
A male disciple looked apologetic. "Sorry, none of us have a higher cultivation level than Senior Brother Yun, so nobody can break it."
Seeing Jiang Yuejing's lower lip start to pout again, Xing Tiantian immediately distracted her by sharing a piece of juicy gossip. With everyone chiming in to add details, the little story quickly grew vivid and colorful. Jiang Yuejing couldn't help laughing—who would have thought that disciples of the number one sect loved gossip just as much as anyone else?
Jiang Yuejing wrote again: "I'm heading back to my room." Xing Tiantian stood up and said, "Alright then, you've had a long day, go get some rest. I'll walk you back."
Jiang Yuejing waved her hands to signal that wasn't necessary, insisting she could manage on her own, and then left. Once she was gone, Liang Zhi sighed, "Junior Sister is way too awesome. I am definitely riding on her coattails."
Xing Tiantian relaxed her posture, sitting cross-legged and propping herself up with her hands. "Just some cute couple banter, and it almost caught an innocent bystander like me in the crossfire. Hey, Liang Zhi, stop stealing my pastries!"
Liang Zhi broke off half a piece and handed it back. "You've already latched onto a powerful backer, what's wrong with me eating half your pastry? Heh, things brought back by Senior Brother really hit different."
Meanwhile, on her way back, Jiang Yuejing spotted Yun Shuo standing in the distance with his hands clasped behind his back, waiting for her. She immediately lowered her head, pretended not to see him, and kept walking. Just as she drew close to him, a hand holding a candied hawthorn stick appeared right before her eyes.
Yun Shuo: "I apologize, but you cannot speak of this matter to anyone else."
Jiang Yuejing: "You... Wait? I can speak again? Hmph. Eating too much candied hawthorn gives you cavities."
Yun Shuo: "What are cavities?"
Jiang Yuejing: "It means eating too much makes your teeth hurt."
Yun Shuo: "My apologies. I'll go buy something else instead." He made a motion as if to leave.
Jiang Yuejing immediately snatched the candied hawthorn stick from Yun Shuo's hand: "Forget it, I won't tell anyone. Don't go running off to buy other things."
Yun Shuo: "Mmm." Without another word, he escorted Jiang Yuejing all the way back to her room before leaving.
Two days later, the recruitment concluded. The disciples of Yun Shuo's team who had gone to recruit in other cities also returned. As everyone gathered together, Yun Shuo produced a large flying ship, instructed everyone to board, and used his arts to fly them back toward Taqing Sect.
Jiang Yuejing guessed that Yun Shuo must have taken it out of a storage tool similar to a storage bag. Once inside, she found the interior spacious; accommodating dozens of people didn't make it feel crowded at all. The flying ship traveled at an immense speed—far faster than Xing Tiantian's flying carriage. Since the Taqing Sect had an age limit of twenty for new recruits, most of the new disciples were very young. Many of them were fascinated by the ship, looking out in excitement at the empty air outside—at least, in Jiang Yuejing's eyes, they were just staring at empty air.
"We've arrived," someone called out. The young new disciples happily disembarked. Jiang Yuejing followed the crowd out, only to find several other unfamiliar, fresh-faced youths gathered outside as well.
Curious, Jiang Yuejing asked Xing Tiantian, "Senior Sister, who are these people?"
Xing Tiantian explained, "These are new disciples recruited by the other teams. Our team is the Yucheng team led by Senior Brother Yun. Junior Sister, please wait here patiently until everyone is gathered. The other senior brothers and I are heading ahead." Jiang Yuejing nodded to show she understood.
While waiting, the more outgoing new disciples had already started introducing themselves to one another. Jiang Yuejing stood quietly to the side, choosing not to join the commotion. Though she could be very cheerful at times, that was only around people she knew well; she remained quite reserved around strangers.
Before long, all the regional teams had arrived. A handsome man stepped forward, his voice ringing loud and clear: "Quiet down. Now that everyone has arrived, the mountain gate is just ahead. You must climb it yourselves. Food and water are on the tables to the right; help yourselves." With that, ignoring the wave of questions rising from the crowd, he mounted his sword and flew away.
Once Jiang Yuejing understood the instructions, she went to grab a portion of food and water. She looked at the steps leading up past the mountain gate; as far as she could see, the stairs went straight up rather than winding around the mountain, meaning they would be extremely steep, but at least the overall distance wouldn't require endless steps. Taking a deep breath, Jiang Yuejing tucked the food and water into her storage bag and began ascending the stone steps.
The higher she climbed, the steeper the steps became, and the more grueling the ascent grew. The newly arrived disciples spontaneously began holding hands, helping each other along the way. When they finally reached the top of the stairs, they found a vast expanse of flat ground, as if a giant sword had cleanly sliced the top off a mountain.
Not far away sat several figures radiating an aura of solemn dignity, with numerous disciples standing behind them. Once everyone had caught their breath, the man who had spoken earlier at the mountain gate reappeared, walking to the center of the plaza. "First of all, congratulations to everyone for successfully entering Taqing Sect. Next, you will be assigned to different peaks; some of you will become inner disciples, while others will become outer disciples."
Then, he began calling out names one by one based on the rosters submitted by the recruiting disciples. "Jiang Yuejing."
Hearing her name, Jiang Yuejing stepped forward. "Here."
"Test your Spiritual Root."
"Understood." Jiang Yuejing looked at the Spirit Stone before her. Compared to the palm-sized stone she had seen in Fang City, the one in front of her was like its great-grandfather. This Spirit Stone was taller than Jiang Yuejing herself. She placed her hand upon it and immediately felt as though the stone were drawing the spiritual power from within her body. Soon, a familiar spiritual glow surged upward. When the light finally stabilized and stopped moving, the man announced, "Upper-grade mutated Wind Spiritual Root, age 16, Second Layer of Qi Condensation."
The moment the words fell, a voice chimed in: "Dharma Peak is willing to accept Jiang Yuejing as an inner disciple." Following the voice, Jiang Yuejing looked over to see a seated man. Almost immediately, a seated woman spoke up as well: "My Medicine Peak is willing as well. Wood begets fire and transforms into wind; your Spiritual Root is exceptionally well-suited for alchemy."
Sword Peak and Formation Peak spoke at the exact same time: "Sword Peak and Formation Peak are also willing."
The Peak Master of Beast Taming Peak glanced around at the other peaks and swallowed his words. Looking at the two elders from Artifact Peak sitting nearby, he asked, "Don't you want her at Artifact Peak?" The Artifact Peak elder gave the Beast Taming Peak Peak Master a sideways glance. "Do you honestly think we could out-compete them?"
The representatives sent by Sword Peak this time were the Deputy Peak Master and an elder. The Deputy Peak Master whispered to the elder, "What should we do, Dachui? I want her so bad."
The elder addressed as Dachui snapped, "Don't call me Dachui! If you want her, figure it out yourself."
The Deputy Peak Master continued muttering to himself, "We barely have any female disciples on Sword Peak. If we can't recruit any more girls, Sword Peak is going to turn into a monastery. Dachui, think about how boring it must be for Tiantian, the only girl surrounded by a bunch of male disciples. We have to find her a companion, otherwise Tiantian's going to turn into a little hammer just like you, Dachui."
Dachui: "..."
The Deputy Peak Master looked over at Xing Tiantian standing behind Dachui. "Don't you agree, Tiantian?"
Dachui intervened, "Jing Yi, stop making trouble. If you keep blabbing on like this, she's going to get snatched up by Dharma Peak and Medicine Peak."
Jing Yi cleared his throat. "Ahem. Jiang Yuejing, look over here." Seeing Jiang Yuejing turn her gaze toward him, he gestured with his hands and continued, "Look at the senior brother standing behind me—dashing and heroic, graceful as jade, tall and upright, a warm and caring handsome guy." He then stood up and walked over to stand beside Yun Shuo. "Now look at this senior brother—swords for eyebrows, starry eyes, distinguished and impressive. Go on, give us a smile. Never mind, he's the cold and aloof type of handsome, so not smiling is fine too."
Seeing Yun Shuo cooperate with Jing Yi while maintaining a completely expressionless face, Jiang Yuejing couldn't help laughing out loud. Sensing an opening, Jing Yi added one final pitch: "We have plenty more handsome guys just like him on Sword Peak."