"I haven't seen you around for three to five years, but you've been something else these past few days—visiting even more often than my old man. Especially today, right after I saw you off and barely had time to sit down and catch my breath, here you are again."
The elegant woman teased with a light laugh, her bright eyes shifting to Lu Bei and instantly lighting up. "If I'm not mistaken, this must be Junior Brother Lu?"
"Lu Bei pays his respects to Senior Sister Zhu," Lu Bei said politely.
As for the background of this elegant woman, Bai Jin had already explained it to Lu Bei on their walk from where they landed. Her name was Zhu Yan, and she was the wife of Wei Mao, the magistrate of Dasheng Pass. She had previously studied the arts at the Lingxiao Sword Sect and shared the same master with Bai Jin—they were both disciples of the sect master's wife.
The difference was that Bai Jin was an inner disciple who had learned the true legacy of the Lingxiao Sword Sect, while Zhu Yan was an outer disciple who had returned home to get married as soon as her ten years of apprenticeship ended.
The "Zhu" in Zhu Yan's name was the same Zhu as the imperial Zhu Clan of Wu Zhou—a standard descendant of the imperial family. It had been the wish of her elders that she not cultivate in the Huangji Sect, but instead choose the Lingxiao Sword Sect to practice casually.
In the eight hundred years since the founding of Wu Zhou, there were simply far too many princes and imperial grandchildren.
When the forest is large, it hosts all sorts of birds;
When there are too many people, the forest vanishes, and so do the birds.
Among the imperial princes and descendants of the Zhu Clan, there was no shortage of ambitious individuals plotting to inherit the throne. Some were merely dreaming, while others truly possessed the capital to make a play for it.
Those who lacked the capital and dared not dream, fearing the surging undercurrents, voluntarily withdrew from the center of the power struggle.
Over time, an unwritten convention formed within the Zhu Clan: any future descendants who abandoned the generational characters in the clan registry were regarded as forfeiting the ancestral grace. From that generation onward, they would no longer be recorded in the Zhu Clan genealogy.
*Accepting and sustaining eternal harmony, upholding justice and brightness, fostering scholarly clans, and letting cultural persistence flourish.*
*Establishing firm aspirations, nurturing the brilliant and guiding the future, remembering diligence and filial piety, and letting glorious honors endure far into the future.*
*Accomplishing pure virtues through service, valuing kindness like the pine, practicing the teachings with reverence, and bringing prosperity and peace to the realm.*
*Cherishing poetry and propriety with utmost devotion, cultivating glorious and radiant jade, letting the Way lead and virtue flourish grandly.*
The generational characters of the Zhu Clan's genealogy were as listed above. Zhu Yan's situation was visible at a glance: not only did she not use a single one of those characters, but her name completely lacked a generational character altogether. The fact that she apprenticed at the Lingxiao Sword Sect rather than the Huangji Sect explained everything.
Of course, abandonment was abandonment, but the bloodline of the Zhu Clan could not be washed away. Despite having married and not originating from the Huangji Sect, Zhu Yan still relied on her surname to secure a position in the Huangji Sect at Dasheng Pass.
In her own words, since idling anywhere meant just idling, she might as well find an idle position that paid a monthly salary so she could buy cosmetics for herself and her daughter during festivals.
As a side note, her daughter had apprenticed at the Lingxiao Sword Sect, and her master was none other than Bai Jin.
Zhu Yan and Bai Jin shared many years of deep friendship, entirely free of any impurities. Whenever Bai Jin ran errands for Lu Bei's sake, she always asked Zhu Yan for help here in Dasheng Pass.
"Greetings, Junior Brother Lu. What a handsome face you have, tsk tsk... Junior Brother, have a seat, don't stand on ceremony, just make yourself at home."
Zhu Yan circled around Lu Bei twice, clicking her tongue in admiration before grabbing Bai Jin's wrist and pulling her aside to whisper closely.
The two women murmured to each other. Curious, Lu Bei strained to listen and caught three keywords:
Uncle Mo, Sect Master, Master.
Seeing how absorbed Bai Jin became in the chat, occasionally stealing a giggle, Lu Bei felt a sharp contrast. He had originally thought she was an immortal floating above the mortal world, yet unexpectedly, she was inexplicably down-to-earth in certain aspects.
*Who would have thought you were this kind of senior sister?*
*Please keep it up!*
Having hobbies was a good thing, and there was nothing wrong with liking gossip. Compared to a senior sister untainted by worldly affairs, Lu Bei found the current one much more approachable.
Gossip not only brought joy, but it also enhanced interpersonal relationships. It was the foundation of trust between people, and moreover, the ladder of human civilization's progress...
As Zhu Yan gossiped more and more fervently, exchanging self-fabricated storylines with Bai Jin, she felt she hadn't had enough and decided to book a private room to chat through the entire night with her good senior sister.
Lu Bei was led to the guest room by a servant. After thinking for a moment, Bai Jin figured that staying for one more night and rushing on an expedited journey the next morning wouldn't delay things by much, so she gladly accepted Zhu Yan's invitation and stayed at the Wei Estate.
As for the male master of the house, Wei Mao, he was busy with official duties and did not return for the night, so Lu Bei only met him at noon the next day.
...
The next day, Bai Jin broke her word. Instead of embarking on an expedited journey early in the morning, she decided to stay for yet another day.
Her very last day.
Lu Bei had little interest in the two senior sisters' gossip and contemplated heading out to see if there were any quests he could pick up. He made the excuse of wandering around to broaden his horizons, but Bai Jin decisively vetoed it and confined him to the study.
The outside world was dangerous. What if he bumped himself and damaged his top-tier cultivation brain?
The study was much safer by far; reading more books could only do good and never harm!
Realizing that a junior brother's little arms couldn't twist a senior sister's long legs, Lu Bei resigned himself to flipping through the books in the study. Both Wei Mao and Zhu Yan possessed cultivation, which meant the probability of the household housing peerless secret manuals was quite high. Given his luck, he might just pick one up right off the bookshelf.
He failed to pick up any peerless secret manuals, but a manual on elixirs caught Lu Bei's interest. The book contained formulas and refining processes for a dozen different elixirs, along with annotations in two different handwritings.
This time, Lu Bei learned his lesson and didn't try to test his own aptitude; he directly opened his personal status interface to check for new messages.
[You have come into contact with the formula for the Enlightenment Pill. Would you like to spend 10 skill points to learn it?]
[You have come into contact with the formula for the Blood-Replenishing Pill. Would you like to spend 20 skill points to learn it?]
[You have come into contact with the Qi-Nurturing Pill formula. Would you like to spend 20 skill points to learn it?]
[You have come into contact with the Hemostatic Pill formula. Would you like to...]
[...]
"This elixir formula..."
Lu Bei raised an eyebrow, vaguely thinking of a certain possibility. "If I remember correctly, Senior Sister Zhu's position at Dasheng Pass is specifically managing the ledgers of the Elixir Room. The position might not be huge, but the perks are substantial... Bah, I mean she has plenty of personal connections on hand."
Footsteps approached. Lu Bei turned around to look and saw a middle-aged man clad in light armor entering the study.
His skin was bronze, his waist and back straight, and his facial features still retained traces of the handsomeness of his youth.
Wei Mao.
Wei Mao was the magistrate of Dasheng Pass, a military officer in charge of the defense of Dasheng Pass.
Due to its geographical location and historical uniqueness, Dasheng Pass stationed a massive number of troops. One could easily imagine that serving as a magistrate in such a place meant a meteoric rise to success was just around the corner.
"Junior Brother Lu?"
"I am indeed Lu Bei. Are you the senior sister's husband?"
"Greetings, Junior Brother. You can just call me Senior Brother."
"Senior Brother."
"Good."
Conversations between men were concise and to the point. Seeing Lu Bei holding an elixir manual, Wei Mao waved a hand for him to make himself at home and turned to leave without disturbing him further.
He hadn't come to the study for any particular reason; Zhu Yan had mentioned that there was a guest in the study, and as the head of the household, he wanted to fulfill his duties as a host by coming over specifically to put a face to the name.
Since it was just to recognize a face, once that was done, there was nothing more to it.
"No wonder Senior Sister Zhu passes up a life of luxury and is bored enough to insist on finding a job outside—Senior Brother is this dull and utterly uninteresting..."
Lu Bei muttered softly to himself. That was just because he was upright by nature; if it were a lecherous boss in his shoes, he would have already devised several schemes to poach another man's wife.
Whether the wall could be successfully broken down didn't matter as long as one got a taste of the sweetness.
After all, that was a noble imperial bloodline—rounded up, it was practically a princess. She was gorgeous, possessed a graceful figure, had a husband, and even had a daughter. Just thinking about it was thrilling.
Lu Bei wasn't thinking about it, though. Firstly, because he was upright by nature, and secondly, because his strength forced him to be upright, leaving all his focus on the elixir formulas.
Continuing his previous train of thought: Zhu Yan was in charge of the ledgers for the Dasheng Pass Elixir Room. With her help, sneaking into the Elixir Room to work as an intern alchemist wouldn't be difficult at all.
"If that works out, even if I can't accept quests like a player, my leveling speed can still accelerate quite a bit." Lu Bei narrowed his eyes, vaguely seeing massive amounts of experience rushing toward him.
Before that, however, he still needed to cozy up to Zhu Yan so she would be willing to help.
Lu Bei wasn't close with Zhu Yan, so suddenly sucking up to her wouldn't be appropriate. To prevent Wei Mao from forming any wrong misunderstandings, he decided to go find Bai Jin.
It wasn't bragging, but he had already grown quite familiar with those two pairs of long legs; the other party wouldn't reject his flirting.