LGHTNOVELBOOK 19: Second Senior Brother and Third Senior Sister Have Returned
Cultivators’ oaths are supervised by the laws of the Heavenly Dao. Breaking them results in punishment and may affect one’s dao heart. Therefore, unless necessary, cultivators generally don’t make promises lightly.
Mu Chihuai’s seemingly casual remark had actually triggered the laws of heaven and earth.
And not just for himself, but for the entire Mu family.
Tantai Ming nudged his arm, “What are you boasting about? You’re talking as if you’ve already become the family head.”
“That position will be mine sooner or later.” He said without modesty. As the most talented disciple in the Mu family’s hundred-year history, he indeed had this confidence.
“If your elder brother heard you say that, he’d probably be furious.”
The four of them exited the secret realm just in time. After bidding farewell to Shen Rufei, they went their separate ways.
Upon returning to Lingqing Sect, Mu Chihuai immediately went into seclusion to refine pills. Chu Sang took Tantai Ming to diligently cultivate wasteland on the back mountain, planting the spiritual herbs they had procured from the secret realm.
To promote sustainable development, they were very careful when picking spiritual herbs. Some were used for pill refining, while the rest were dug up with their roots. After the bumpy journey, and with Chu Sang’s careful nurturing using the Wood Essence Spirit, the survival rate of the spiritual herbs reached over 70%. They planted a total of five mu of spiritual fields.
The spiritual energy concentration on the back mountain was far less than in the secret realm. Chu Sang had to use the Wood Essence Spirit daily to nurture these delicate spirit plants.
In the blink of an eye, half a month passed. Her Wood Essence Spirit had reached the second level, allowing her to accelerate the growth of spiritual herbs—turning newly sprouted herbs into ten-year-old ones, and ten-year-old herbs into hundred-year-old ones.
After the spiritual herbs matured, seeds could be obtained for planting.
Tantai Ming was responsible for digging soil, sowing seeds, watering, and harvesting. These tasks needed to be completed within a specific time frame, requiring essential movement techniques. During this period of training, his movement techniques became increasingly proficient, showing signs of advancement.
The harvested mature spiritual herbs were given to Mu Chihuai for pill refining, then sold by Chu Sang down the mountain, earning a considerable amount of spirit stones.
However, they were still far from affording a sect-protecting spirit vein.
⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱
At dusk, in the sky above, a patch of rosy clouds spread like wild fire across the horizon. As the sun set in the west, a massive beast shadow passed over the continuous mountain range, with two people sitting on its back.
The man wore a moon-white robe, his figure slim and tall, a cyan hair ribbon tying back his smooth, hanging hair.
He held a scroll map in one hand, his handsome and gentle face showing a puzzled expression, “Left… right… no, southwest?”
Beside him, a young woman sat cross-legged on the beast’s back. Her goose-yellow dress didn’t resemble the attire of the Central Continent. Bells were tied to her wrists and ankles, jingling crisp and melodious as she stood up.
She threw her long, thick centipede braid over her shoulder and snatched the scroll map, extremely displeased, “Second Senior Brother, are you lost again? Forget it, forget it, let me handle this!”
Wen Renyue’s mistake was placing hope in her Second Senior Brother, who had no sense of direction.
The two should have returned to the sect two months ago. However, Ling Yu had led them astray, deviating from their route by thousands of miles. They had accidentally stumbled into a secret realm in the Western Continent, taking a long time to finally get out, and then…
They got lost again.
Ling Yu said gently, “This time we definitely won’t go the wrong way.”
Wen Renyue rolled her eyes. She pointed at the lush mountain peak below, looking exasperated, “Second Senior Brother, look at how rich in spiritual energy this mountain is. You can even see spirit beasts in the forest, and there are several mu of thriving spiritual fields. How could this possibly be our sect’s desolate Ghost Sorrow Mountain?”
Ghost Sorrow was the nickname she had given to that spiritually barren back mountain. After all, that place couldn’t even sustain a blade of grass, truly a sight that would sadden even ghosts.
She examined the scroll carefully, then exclaimed in surprise, “…We’re not off course.”
Could the map be wrong?
As the two were hesitating, a voice came from afar, growing nearer, “Second Senior Brother, Third Senior Sister, you’re back!”
Tantai Ming had just finished watering the spirit plants when he saw a huge shadow flying overhead. Looking up, he recognized Third Senior Sister’s mount. He flew up on his sword and, sure enough, saw the two.
Lingqing Sect had a hands-off policy for disciples. The elders and sect leader had all run off, let alone the disciples.
In fact, the senior and junior disciples weren’t very close, merely acquainted.
This time, the two had heard that the sect, which hadn’t recruited new members for ten years, had a new little junior sister. They brought casual gifts, curious to see her.
Unfortunately, they had gotten lost on the way, wasting so much time before arriving. They wondered if the little junior sister would be upset.
“Little Junior Sister, come quick, Second Senior Brother and Third Senior Sister are back.”
Chu Sang heard the voice and stood up from the field ridge. In the distance, she saw two unfamiliar figures walking alongside Tantai Ming.
She put on a smile and politely said, “Greetings, Senior Brother and Senior Sister!”
A young woman with a long centipede braid ran over. She was tall and slender, with fine eyebrows and cherry lips, fair and beautiful, but seemed to have a cool personality.
Her gaze fell on Chu Sang, looking her up and down. She whistled, “Well, well, so this is the little junior sister who joined the sect. You’re quite a pretty little thing. Hello, I’m your Third Senior Sister, Wen Renyue!”
“Greetings, Third Senior Sister.”
The man beside Wen Renyue was about twenty, wearing a white robe with wide sleeves, his figure slim. His features were gentle and elegant like spring water, with a hint of a light smile. His long hair was simply tied low with a cyan ribbon, like a figure from an ancient painting, extremely elegant, with an otherworldly air of distant purity.
His appearance was extremely gentle and beautiful, but there was a hint of indescribable danger.
Chu Sang frowned slightly, puzzled by this thought that had arisen in her mind.
“This is Second Senior Brother, Ling Yu.” Tantai Ming, seeing her distracted, patted her shoulder, “What are you thinking about? Second Senior Brother was just speaking to you and you didn’t even hear.”
“Second Senior Brother… Ling Yu?”
Chu Sang drew in a sharp breath, doubting if she had heard correctly.
Ling Yu?
Was this the Ling Yu from the original story, the ghost infant who had cultivated into human form?
The one who had hidden his identity to infiltrate the cultivation world as a spy, ultimately destroying the entire sect, and even taking advantage of the war between the cultivation world and the demon realm to lead the ghost clan in invading the cultivation world? That great villain?
However, the man had no blackening value symbolic of villains, and his overall demeanor was gentle and amiable, without a trace of sinister ghost energy.
…Perhaps she was overthinking it. Maybe it was just someone with the same name?
She silently reassured herself, and a smile appeared on her face, “Greetings, Second Senior Brother. My name is Chu Sang.”
Ling Yu smiled gently at her and handed her a storage ring, “This is a gift from Senior Brother. Please accept it.”
His voice was also quite pleasant.
Even a casual storage ring was considered a spirit tool, with a storage space of a hundred cubic meters, much larger than ordinary qiankun bags. Moreover, it had special arrays inside that kept beast meat and spirit fruits fresh indefinitely, without rotting.
Only high-grade tool refiners could craft storage rings, and they were only auctioned in major trading houses, with starting prices of over a million spirit stones.
Chu Sang was flattered to receive it. The ring automatically adjusted to fit her index finger. When she opened it, she saw it was packed full of various spirit fruits and spirit stones piled into small mountains.
Wow!
Chu Sang’s goodwill towards this Second Senior Brother increased dramatically.
“Senior Sister also has a gift for you.”
Wen Renyue took out five eggs from her beast pouch, “These are spirit beast eggs that I obtained with great difficulty. Little Junior Sister, choose one that catches your eye. It can become your contracted spirit beast.”