Upon hearing this, their savior was first puzzled, then quickly regained his calm.
"Oh, did I use it wrong again? Close enough is good enough, don’t you think?"
Jiang Qingyu caught the subtext and realized she might have overthought things. She looked up at the man who had just entered carrying a bowl.
Jiang Qingyu was filled with emotion.
Truly, the Cultivation World is different; people raised on Spiritual Qi are just not the same as those raised on grains. That smooth, delicate skin alone was enough to incite jealousy.
Jiang Qingyu had never imagined that a man could be both so alluring and so pure, set apart by his long chestnut hair and a tiny red mole at the corner of his eye.
He looked like a high monk, yet also like a demonic one.
His eyes, framed by a faint mist and a subtle hint of blue, curved into crescent moons.
"My name is Baixin, and this is my master, Lord Wuling. You’ve been asleep for so long; you must be starving, right? Master had me buy these from outside the sect. Try them; if they aren't to your taste, we can get something else."
"Get something else?"
Baixin smiled gently, like ice and snow melting away. "I wasn't sure what you preferred, so I bought a little bit of everything."
He handed the bowl to Jiang Qingyu. It was lotus seed and longan porridge, its fragrance filling the air.
Jiang Qingyu took it and began to drink quickly, taking small sips. It wasn't too hot; it was warm and comforting.
"No need, I’m not a picky eater. I’ll eat whatever is available—I’m easy to keep alive!"
Jiang Qingyu replied in a tone that even surprised herself.
She had no idea how long this body had been starving. Back in the modern world, she had nearly starved to death when she first met the old man, and it seemed that even after arriving in the Cultivation World, she could not escape the fate of being near starvation.
The room was quiet, save for the crisp sound of a spoon tapping against the side of the bowl.
Soon, the porridge was finished.Jiang Qingyu licked the corner of her mouth, feeling unsatisfied and still a bit hungry.
The next moment, a hand reached out, took the empty bowl from her hand, and handed her another bowl of porridge. This time it was osmanthus and purple sweet potato porridge, and Jiang Qingyu's eyes lit up instantly.
Realizing this was her second bowl, her cheeks felt a little warm. She took the bowl, murmured a word of thanks, and continued her personal eating broadcast.
This time she ate more slowly, and her table manners were much more elegant than before.
The two grown men stayed in the room without speaking, quietly watching the little one drink her porridge down to the very last bite.
Jiang Qingyu set the bowl in her hand down, and someone immediately handed a handkerchief to her side. Jiang Qingyu took it.
At this, even the floating dust in the air seemed to grow still.
Baixin had spent years in closed-door seclusion and had not entered the mortal world for a long time. He remembered when their master first brought Jiang Qingyu back: she was like a young beast that had lost its protection, small and thin, curled up motionless in their arms as if she might stop breathing the next second.
Towards youngsters, he had always shown great care and affection.
"You have just woken up, so you must not overeat. Do you still feel any other discomfort in your body?"
Jiang Qingyu shook her head. "No, thank you, two seniors."
"We don't know your name yet."
"Oh, this junior's surname is Jiang, given name Qingyu—the 'qing' of qingyue, and the 'yu' of the beauty poppy."
"A lovely name." Lord Wuling nodded.
"This junior thinks so too."
Lord Wuling looked at the little one who so generously accepted his compliment, and Jiang Qingyu let him look her over, figuring she wouldn't lose any flesh from it anyway.He let out a soft chuckle, his smile deepening. "You certainly don't stand on ceremony."
Jiang Qingyu smiled back. Having lived for hundreds of years, the only thing that seemed to grow thicker was her skin. Besides, as the saying went, "A thick-skinned face gets to eat its fill."
Anyway, in front of these bigshots, no matter how many twists and turns she took, she wouldn't be able to outmaneuver them. She might as well just reveal her most authentic nature.
"What did Senior actually mean by 'devoting yourself to me' just now?" She brought the conversation back to the topic of repaying the favor.
Thinking of how she had misunderstood earlier, even someone as thick-skinned as her felt a bit embarrassed—especially since she had a baby face while her mind was full of modern, dirty thoughts.
How could these two cunning foxes fail to notice the little one's awkwardness? They simply chose not to point it out.
Baixin couldn't help finding it amusing, though the realization that followed quickly turned to annoyance: Which bastard had been filling the mind of a little cub with such filthy ideas?!
After a long silence.
"Baixin, how about I take in a little junior sister for you? What do you think?" Lord Wuling asked.
Only then did Jiang Qingyu vaguely understand what that earlier remark about "devoting yourself to me" meant.
"Song Wu has been sick of us martial brothers for decades anyway." Baixin had no objections to this. "Everything is up to Master's decision."
Having received his eldest disciple's consent, Lord Wuling turned back to ask the prospective little disciple for her stance. "Qingyu, would you be willing to enter the gates of my Wuya Sword Sect?"
Hearing the key term, Jiang Qingyu's eyes seemed to flash with stars. "You're a sword cultivator?!"
"Mhm."
Baixin chimed in from the side, "Master is not only proficient in the Dao of the Sword, but he also knows just a wee bit about arrays, alchemy, artifact forging, and divination~!"
Jiang Qingyu admitted that her heart was profoundly tempted.
Only a fool passes up free benefits!
She was just about to agree when she suddenly remembered an old man smiling warmly as he took out a piece of malt candy: "Xiaoyu, come, have some candy!"
Back then, candy was precious. Outside of royalty and nobility, only wealthy families could afford it. She didn't know where he had managed to get it, but in any case, it was very sweet.
She opened her mouth, not knowing where to begin. Fortunately, Baixin noticed her hesitation from the side.
"Take your time, there's no rush."
Baixin took out a new teacup, filled it with warm water, and placed it within Jiang Qingyu's reach; injured little ones shouldn't be drinking tea.
Jiang Qingyu licked her dry lips, took a small sip of water, smiled at Baixin, and gathered her thoughts. "In my childhood, this junior once took a senior as my master. Although my late master has already passed away, in this junior's heart, a teacher for a day is a father for life. Senior, I..."
"Pfft!"
"Pfft—hahaha!"
Huh?
Huh-huh?
Jiang Qingyu was completely baffled. She was right in the middle of being serious and emotional, yet the two of them were grinning from ear to ear, smiling like a pair of blooming flowers, completely interrupting her flow. What on earth was going on here?
"Could it be that Xiaoyu thinks a cultivator can only ever take one master in their lifetime?" Lord Wuling asked with a smile, the corners of his mouth curving into a handsome arc.
Jiang Qingyu froze, the words "naive innocent fool" practically stamped across her forehead. "Isn't that the case?"Baixin took a deep breath, composed himself for a long moment, but still failed to suppress his smile. "Those are just outdated rules from a thousand years ago in the Cultivation World. Nowadays, disciples are free to study under whoever they choose. As long as you have the talent and the desire to learn skills, what harm is there in having multiple masters?"
"A master's duty is to impart the Dao, teach techniques, and dispel doubts. Most senior masters simply cannot bear the thought of taking a lifetime's worth of experience and burying it in the dust. They are already overjoyed just to encounter a student who suits their heart, so how could they possibly care how many other masters their favored disciple might have?"
Lord Wuling spoke with earnest patience, delivering the longest speech of his day until his mouth was bone-dry. Yet, at the thought of guiding his future little disciple, he found joy in the process.
"Xiaoyu, you might not know this, but your master actually has two masters himself!"
Lord Wuling cast a sideways glance at his eldest disciple, Baixin. "Although your second grand-master only crossed paths with me once, his teachings benefited me for a lifetime. Xiaoyu, do you understand what Master is saying?"
Jiang Qingyu nodded solemnly, took the master-initiation tea that Baixin had just prepared, and presented it to Lord Wuling. "Thank you, Master, for resolving my doubts. Master is here, please accept your disciple's bow!"
The man above his head uttered an "en," smiled as he took the tea, and took a sip, bringing the brief initiation ceremony to an end.
With a new junior sister, Baixin quickly settled into his role as the eldest martial brother, beginning to introduce Jiang Qingyu to the sect's personnel and general affairs.
"Xiaoyu, you are the youngest disciple in the sect. You have three senior martial brothers and one senior martial sister: myself as your eldest martial brother, Yayin as your second martial brother, Song Wu as your third martial sister, and Tang Yuan as your fourth martial brother. Once they finish their experiential trials, I will introduce them to you properly."
"There are only six of us in the entire Wuya Sword Sect, so our resources are abundant and there's no need to fight for them like in other large sects. Everyone manages their own food, clothing, housing, and transportation. As for cleaning and such chores, a single spell is enough to sort it out—nothing too troublesome."
"Once our little junior sister turns sixteen, you will be able to go down the mountain for experiential trials. Whether accompanied by your martial brothers or traveling alone, safety always comes first. The Cultivation World is full of both dangers and opportunities, and a little cub like you is the easiest target to be tricked into doing forced labor. Remember never to trust others lightly!"
"Our sect places the utmost importance on unity and camaraderie; our entire sect is of one heart. If you are ever bullied outside, feel free to come back and tell your master and martial brothers—we will all go together to restore your dignity."
"The Wuya Sword Sect always favors our own people over abstract principles. You must keep this firmly in mind. Never swallow your grievances outside and huddle alone in a corner crying; your master and martial brothers would only blame themselves."
"These are all the things your martial brother can think of for now; we can add more in the future. For now, let's test your spiritual root!" With that, he drew a translucent stone from his wide sleeve and placed it in the middle of the low table.
Lord Wuling, who had previously been lounging lazily on the soft couch, rose with elegance upon hearing that the spiritual root was about to be tested, looking very curious about his new disciple's root.
Spiritual roots are divided into eight major categories: the five elemental roots of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, along with the mutated natural roots of wind, thunder, and ice.
Under their guidance, Jiang Qingyu raised her palm-sized little hand and placed it on the testing stone. All three pairs of eyes focused on the stone, and the wait proved rather long.
In her past life, Jiang Qingyu's spiritual root had been poor—the worst kind of five-element root, also known as a miscellaneous root. It lacked affinity for Spiritual Qi, making her cultivation agonizingly slow. It took her a full nine hundred years to achieve even modest success, and naturally, that was only with the assistance of the sword path.
One breath, two breaths...
The testing stone finally began to emit a glowing white light. That white light did not belong to any of the eight major attributes; it was as cool as water and as gentle as the wind.
Baixin frowned. This result exceeded the scope of his understanding.
In the more than three hundred years he had lived, this was only the second time he had seen a spiritual root outside the eight major categories. The first time had been his second martial brother Yayin's chaotic spiritual root, during which the testing stone had emitted a dazzling, multicolored pitch-black light.
"Master, Xiaoyu's spiritual root is...?"
Harboring the same question, Jiang Qingyu mentally flipped through every ancient text left behind by the old man, confirming that none of them contained any introduction to this kind of spiritual root. With no other choice, she too cast her gaze toward her master, who was read in the lore of past and present.
Under the watchful eyes of his two disciples, Lord Wuling pondered in silence.
After a long while, he slowly said, "Truly, Heaven is about to place a great responsibility upon this person; even such rare spiritual roots in this world have ended up at my doorstep."
With a flick from his sleeve-universe, he pulled out a yellowed, antiquated book with two crookedly written characters on the cover: "Guiyue".
"Master, this is?" Jiang Qingyu reached out with her little claw, gently stroking the corner of the book, feeling an indescribable sense of intimacy in her heart.
"Your master once thought that, unless it was an absolute last resort, this Guiyue manual was meant to be passed down to Little Four. Never would I have imagined that someone would forcibly send you over in this manner just to receive the legacy. Well played indeed." Holding the book, Lord Wuling chuckled mockingly toward the sky outside.
In an instant, day turned to dusk.
"No wonder the hexangular rhombohedral ice flowers in the Ice Abyss Valley grew all clustered together. So it was a setup to catch fish..."
Ignoring the strange celestial phenomenon, the moment he realized he was that very fish, Lord Wuling remained unconcerned and muttered to himself, "Tsk tsk, you did it, yet you won't even let people talk about it. Flying into a rage out of humiliation, being so petty—makes a man want to drop his burdens and walk away right now..."
The sky grew noticeably darker, and muffled rumbles of thunder could faintly be heard rolling through the clouds.
A wild, impossible thought flashed through Jiang Qingyu's mind—one that could nonetheless explain this phenomenon. A sudden chill crept down her spine, and she shivered.
For that single second, it felt as though a pair of invisible eyes, like a deep abyss, were staring right at her. They peered through her flesh and blood to probe her thoughts, making her feel as though needles were pricking her back. She lowered her gaze to hide the strange look in her eyes and shuffled a little closer to Baixin's side.
Seeing this, Baixin gently patted her shoulder in comfort. "Don't be afraid. You'll get used to it."
Mini-Theater:
Lord Wuling: "Stop hiding; I've already guessed your little schemes."
Heavenly Dao Consciousness: "..."
A loud crash of thunder boomed.
Lord Wuling nimbly sidestepped to dodge the heavenly lightning attack, his nagging attribute fully activated: "If you won't answer, fine! Playing dead and launching sneak attacks? Where's your martial honor! Blah blah blah..."
Heavenly Dao Consciousness: *So annoying, my ears are growing calluses—wait, where would it even get ears?*