The streets of Angcheng were exceptionally bustling today. People vied with one another to celebrate the slaying of the Monster Beast, and joyful laughter filled every lane and alley.
Whenever Lin Shanlai instructed Taowen to post protective talismans by the eastern and western city gates, they were surrounded by long throngs of townsfolk.
The people were genuinely enthusiastic, trying to shove everything from chickens and ducks to geese into their arms, startling the two so badly that they hurried away.
Having recuperated for three days, Lin Shanlai felt he could finally move about. Yet he simply couldn't set his mind at ease, and today he insisted on returning to the Yunxiao Sect to tidy things up.
The shattered trees on site needed to be dealt with, the collapsed walls had to be rebuilt, and the bloodstains in particular required a thorough cleaning. Fortunately, it had been snowing for the past few days, so the stench shouldn't have spread too far.
There truly was far too much to be done. Luckily, the Master of the City Mansion had sent some people to help, and a large group of them, carrying tools, rushed off to the Yunxiao Sect.
Meanwhile, in the guest courtyard of the Li Mansion, Yan Jiuzhi was reclining against the soft couch by the window. Outside, the world was a vast expanse of white. Snow had been falling for several days and now formed a thick layer, weighing down even the branches of the trees.
He seemed completely impervious to the chill, his eyes fixed either on the wax plum blossoms blooming outside the window or upon some nameless distant horizon, a faint smile lingering at the corners of his mouth.
How wonderful. This was not an illusion.
Xia Mengxue's scheming and terror were entirely clear to him now, and he fully understood what she meant by "returning it to you."
He had truly and properly been reborn into his sixteenth year, back before his sect was destroyed.
This woman bizarrely possessed an endless array of good things; she had even managed to pull out a divine artifact capable of reversing time...
In his past life, he had hunted her across three hundred years, and he had witnessed more than enough bizarre and peculiar things.
Those extraordinary magical treasures, those unfathomable secret arts, and those Cultivators who threw themselves into the fray one after another, willing to sacrifice their lives for her.
How on earth did she manage to pull all of this off?
Regardless of her background, now that she had paid the ransom for her life, he would no longer hunt her down using his previous reasons.
However, if an opportunity arose in the future, it wouldn't hurt to dispatch her along the way.
He believed Xia Mengxue felt the exact same way—given the chance, they both wanted each other dead.
"Third Senior Brother, what are you doing? Sitting by the window catching the cold?!" Lixi pushed the door open carrying a bowl of ginseng porridge, glaring disapprovingly at Yan Jiuzhi.
She set the bowl down on the table, walked over, and shut the window tightly, then turned around to help him sit up.
"Do you not want your body anymore? You've only just woken up after being unconscious for three days, and a patient ought to be resting properly." Lixi was thoroughly displeased, nagging him nonstop: "Hurry back to bed and lie down."
Master was completely right to leave her behind to take care of Third Senior Brother.
Look at this man—injured so heavily that neither his Spiritual Power nor his Divine Sense could be used, yet he still dared to toss his own body around like this.
Yan Jiuzhi was scolded by his Junior Sister without a trace of annoyance, obediently leaning back against the bed.
Seeing his Junior Sister pick up a cushion to prop up his back, then scoop up a spoonful of porridge with a ladle and prepare to feed him, he quickly reached out to take the bowl.
"I can eat myself." He wasn't crippled; he didn't need anyone to feed him. It was just a bit of pain, something he was long used to.
Lixi raised the bowl high, dodging his reach.
The man's face was white as translucent jade—clearly a severely wounded patient—yet he was still trying to be brave.
"Let me feed you." With that, she glared at him again. "Master is right. You're just stubbornly headstrong, always liking to carry everything on your own. A patient should look like a patient and simply accept care from others in peace."
The temperature of the porridge was just right. Lixi scooped up a spoonful and fed it directly to Yan Jiuzhi's lips.
Unable to resist, Yan Jiuzhi could only blankly open his mouth and swallow the porridge. It had a savory, salty flavor with a faint hint of ginseng.
For the first time across two lifetimes, he was being fed by someone else, and it felt thoroughly awkward in every possible way.
As soon as he finished the porridge, Lixi picked up a handkerchief to wipe the corner of Yan Jiuzhi's mouth, but he snatched it away and wiped it himself.
Yan Jiuzhi said helplessly, "Junior Sister, I'm really fine." He felt as though his Junior Sister was treating him like someone who couldn't take care of basic daily living.
"Master, Senior Brothers, and Senior Sisters all went back to the sect to tidy up. They said a section of the perimeter wall collapsed, and those bloodstains need to be completely cleared away, too, for fear they might attract other Monster Beasts."
After saying this, Lixi let out a sigh. "Master is also stubbornly headstrong. He only recuperated for three days before insisting on going back to tidy up. He can't even stay put to heal his injuries." Her tone held a distinct touch of annoyance.
"Fortunately, Elder Gao and Eldest Sister aren't like him; they're still resting and recovering."
"Master simply has too heavy a sense of responsibility." Yan Jiuzhi understood his own Master quite well.
He knew that unless Master dealt with those miscellaneous matters, he would never be able to rest and recover in peace.
Luckily, his Second Senior Brother was there; Master would at most stand off to the side to watch and give directions, as they wouldn't let him do any physical work.
Lixi tilted her head and thought for a moment. "Senior Brother, do you read storybooks? Recuperating from an illness is awfully boring, you know."
She was judging others by her own standards—recovering from an injury without reading something to pass the time simply wouldn't do, especially since she couldn't cultivate right now.
"No need." Yan Jiuzhi felt a vein twitch. "Junior Sister, you'd be better off telling me about the problems you've encountered in your cultivation, and I'll explain them to you."
Reading storybooks simply did not exist as an option in his world.
As the two were talking, the door was pushed open gently with a soft creak.
Lin Zewu peeked his head in, and seeing that his Senior Brother had woken up, he scampered inside with pattering footsteps.
"Senior Brother, are you better?"
That day, the child had seen them all being carried back on people's backs, with his Third Senior Brother even unconscious, and the little fellow had been so frightened that he wept bitterly.
After everyone repeatedly assured him that his Third Senior Brother was fine, he finally stopped his tears, and now he came by several times a day to see if his Senior Brother had woken up.
Yan Jiuzhi looked at him with a somewhat complex expression. After a brief pause, he said, "I'm fine. Once the New Year is over, you should also begin formal cultivation. I'll explain things to Junior Sister, and you can listen in beside us."
And so, Lixi and Lin Zewu spent these past few days under the guidance of their Third Senior Brother.
Along the way, the two of them even competed to pour tea and fetch water, terrified that they might wear their Third Senior Brother out.
The hospitality shown by the Li Mansion toward the members of the Yunxiao Sect could be described as exceedingly attentive.
First, it was because Lixi had joined the Yunxiao Sect.
Second, the commotion caused by the Monster Beast that day had been so massive that everyone in the city had heard it.
By now, quite a few people had run out to look at the traces of that battle. That crater was enormous, and there were numerous fissures left on the ground; people simply couldn't get too close, because the closer they got, the more terror and dread they felt.
Now that protective talismans had been posted high up on the city walls of the eastern and western gates, ordinary folks like them would be able to live in peace from now on.
Therefore, everyone was immensely grateful to the various Immortal Masters of the Yunxiao Sect, truly making them feel at home.
Master Li was immensely proud of himself nowadays, walking with a spring in his step.
The Immortal Masters were all staying right at the Li Mansion, and even the City Master treated him with three parts courtesy, to say nothing of anyone else.
He even quietly asked Lixi which sect was the best.
Too lazy to bother with him, Lixi perfunctorily rattled off the names of the top ten sects and left it at that.
Two days later, the snow finally stopped, and the treetops were hung with crystal-clear ice crystals.
Everyone packed their luggage and bade farewell to the Li family, planning to return to the Yunxiao Sect.
Upon hearing the news, the Angcheng City Master hurriedly rushed over with his people to see them off, bowing deeply to the group.
"On behalf of the people of Angcheng, I thank the Immortals of the Yunxiao Sect for your great righteousness in saving our people from dire straits and sparing them from the scourge of the Monster Beast! We hereby wish all the Immortals smooth progress on your immortal paths and boundless longevity and blessings."
The other prominent figures of Angcheng who had accompanied him all bowed to thank the members of the Yunxiao Sect, shouting in unison:
"May the Immortals enjoy smooth paths on your immortal journey and boundless longevity and blessings!"
Lin Shanlai hurriedly used his Spiritual Power to gently lift everyone up, waving his hands repeatedly.
"This is uncalled for, truly uncalled for! Protecting the people is simply the duty of us cultivators of the Dao; how could we dare accept such a grand bow?"
After a long and warm round of pleasantries, Lin Shanlai found himself unable to decline and had no choice but to accept the heap of farewell gifts.
As a result, on their way back, they were met with townsfolk lining the streets to see them off.
People eagerly offered their heartfelt tokens, shoving all sorts of vegetables and meat into their hands, making the chickens already held by the Yunxiao Sect members look entirely unremarkable.
After all, their other hands were still gripping ducks or geese, all given by the townsfolk.
If it weren't winter, they probably would have received plenty of melons and fruits as well.
Lixi's image as a young lady of noble birth finally shattered completely, because she was now holding a chicken in her left hand and a duck in her right.
Her chubby younger brother was still desperately hanging strips of cured meat all over her body.
If she hadn't been completely out of free hands, she would have given him a thorough beating right then and there.
The members of the Yunxiao Sect could only conclude that the bond between this brother and sister was truly deep.
Li Nan stuffed another handful of roasted peanuts into his sister's pocket before waving and shouting loudly, "Elder Sister, cultivate well!" And please, make sure not to come back.
Lixi, draped in cured meat from head to toe and hauling chickens and ducks, glared at him with deadpan eyes. The little brat had better wait for her!
The news of the Yunxiao Sect successfully slaying the Monster Beast and saving the city of people spread like wildfire, rapidly sweeping through the area.
Storytellers in the teahouses even turned the matter into a tale, incorporating the detail that all the disciples of the sect were orphans adopted during wartime.
Naturally, Lixi was the single exception.
Granny Wu even managed to secure a small part in the story, as she had stepped forward to share her own account.
She recounted how she, an orphaned and widowed elderly woman during wartime, had been taken in and cared for by the Yunxiao Sect, and so on.
In an instant, the Yunxiao Sect became famous throughout Angcheng and its surrounding towns, with everyone praising them for their benevolence and righteousness.
So much so that the arrival of spring ushered in a wave of people seeking to apprentice themselves.
However, the vast majority of these applicants were discouraged and turned away by the dilapidated gates of the Yunxiao Sect.
While the sect was benevolent and righteous, it was also genuinely, utterly poor!
Yet this only made everyone all the more steadfast in their belief in the noble character of the Yunxiao Sect.
Why were they so poor?
Because all their resources had been spent on doing good deeds!
As for those who weren't discouraged and stayed, not a single one possessed spiritual roots.
And so, the Yunxiao Sect finally welcomed back its former tranquility.
Everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief.