That night, at the hot spring ridge where the peach blossoms fell, Lingzhou Yue made a decision.
That night, while the moonlight painted the bathwater silver, a young girl accepted a man as her master.
That night, Xiao Ran slept soundly, immersed in the spiritual energy of herbs.
Nonetheless, Xiao Ran had underestimated the spiritual energy’s density, the water content, and the nutrients of the Sword-Wielding Mountain.
When he opened the door the next day, the emerald grain and paddy field were already half as tall as an adult and had begun to flower. The medicinal shrubs were budding, while the rapeseed plot was as yellow as spring.
In the east, the pine forest flourished in emerald, decorated with flaming red maples and cherry blossoms. Colorful fish swam in the water playfully as they chased after the fallen maple leaves.
The vegetable beds in the west were delightful. Chives shot out everywhere, the red chili was tiny and pointy, the cucumbers had crowns with tendrils, the amaranth was green and tinged with purple, the hyacinth beans were adorned with violet flowers, and the tomatoes hung like red little lanterns… Too much had been planted and everything had grown too fast. It would be troublesome to deal with it all.
The fruit trees took longer, as they were still growing and flowering.
Bamboo shoots were peeking from the soil, while flowers and plants created shade, attracting not only bees and butterflies but also squirrels and rabbits.
Xiao Ran took a look around. All the earthly plants without spiritual levels were either mature or on the way to maturing. A rare selection of spiritual-level herbs and grains had just germinated.
The concentration of spiritual energy was… He had really underestimated the Sword-Wielding Mountain!
In front of the door by the south cliff, Lingzhou Yue stood amidst the sea of rapeseed. Bright yellow reflected off her portrait-like face.
In thousands of years, this was actually her first time coming so close to a mortal plantation like this, and she thought that it was surprisingly beautiful.
In spite of this, there was a flash of rare sorrow in her clear amber eyes.
Chugging down a pot of wine, she muttered to herself, “No matter how beautiful earthly things are, there’s an end to them…”
Xiao Ran approached her from the back. As he looked at his master’s increasingly shapely figure, he was confused about what had happened last night when the peach blossoms had fallen.
“Master.”
Lingzhou Yue did not look at him, taking another swig of malt wine instead.
“There are just three people on the Sword-Wielding Mountain. Can you take care of everything when you planted so much?”
Xiao Ran answered with a grin, “Master’s drinking early in the morning. How can I not work harder and plant more grains to make wine?”
It was only then that Lingzhou Yue turned around. The melancholy was wiped off her face while an unnoticeable flush of red drifted onto her charming face, which had been hydrated by the hot spring, vanishing as soon as it appeared.
“Where’s your precious disciple?”
“Went back to her maternal home for the procedure,” Xiao Ran joked casually.
Maternal home… The memory was a blink across Lingzhou Yue’s face before she said meaningfully, “Although she’s come for me, consider letting her help you for me lest it’s too much work for you.”
‘Huh, you’re claiming merit to show how much you care about your disciple now?’
Xiao Ran looked respectful, but it was still sincere when he said, “This disciple is happy to be serving Master. It’s not hard work at all.”
Lingzhou Yue chortled in mirth, her brows a soft arch as her hair fluttered.
“Do you think people have a previous life?”
His master was not behaving quite right today. Could one be poisoned from drinking fermented grain wine?
The issue was that, as a transmigration traveler, Xiao Ran did have a previous life!
He frantically answered, “No, such a thing doesn’t exist. It’s just superstition.”
“Is it?”
Lingzhou Yue glanced at Xiao Ran. Her eyes were as bright as the glimmering sparkles reflected in the ripples of water, captivating one completely.
As Xiao Ran was lost in her eyes, he suddenly heard his master say, “I’m leaving for three days. Watch the mountain.”
Three days? How would he be earning DP during that long gap?
“I’d like to go with you, Master.”
Lingzhou Yue answered airily, “This is a dangerous trip. I may not be able to keep an eye out for you. When you’re able to take care of the Wraith on your own one day, I will take you along.”
How dangerous was it? Could his master not even protect herself?
Oh, and when had his master become so hardworking?
Was this something she had to do?
“Okay, Master.”
“Bye.”
In the blink of an eye, Lingzhou Yue vanished in the undulating clouds.
Somehow, Xiao Ran got a sense of melancholy and solemn resolution caused by a decision upon looking at his master’s back.
Was it incredibly perilous?
Xiao Ran thought that he should catch up on cultivation and become the right-hand man of his master as soon as he could. He had to be even stronger than his master to protect her!
After Lingzhou Yue left, Xiao Ran watered and fertilized the grain field, vegetable beds, and orchard.
After boiling some hot water to drink, he had some buns with tomatoes and cucumber. After another round of work, he rode the paper kite and off to the central mountain he went!
…
Zongzhi Mountain’s central mountain was an incredibly spacious place.
Just its Sword Plain alone was about double the size of the top of the Sword-Wielding Mountain.
The Sword Plain was in the middle of the east side. The semi-hovering circular platform was paved with intersecting green and white marble, and the gaps were filled with high-tier spiritual patterns.
A two-meter-tall and over 500-square-meter-wide square platform stood erect in the center of the Sword Plain. There was a huge sword stone plate, approximately hundreds of meters tall, standing in the middle of the platform.
Sword bamboos had been planted sparsely around the Sword Plain.
It was now seven in the morning.
A green-yellow flag had been raised beside the sword bamboo at the entrance—Direct Disciples of the Sword-Wielding Mountain: Free Challenge Match.
A Direct Disciple challenge was usually an unofficial match organized by the Inner Nucleus Disciples. It had a long history and mainly focused on exchanging techniques. There were no hard and fast rules for the match, as it was considered sparring and learning while challenging and assessing the ability of Direct Disciples.
The last Direct Disciple who had been challenged was Commandment Hall’s Direct Disciple, Luo Sheng. The challenge had lasted a year, and Luo Sheng had fought until becoming a changed man.
As for the Hundred Herb Hill’s Chunwa and Qiuchan, no one had challenged them to this day.
After all, this was only a freely-organized contest held by the Inner Disciples. No one would challenge two Qi Refining children. If they cried after a punch, all hell would break loose.
In fact, Direct Disciples could opt not to face this challenge.
Back then, Luo Sheng had participated only because his father, Huangfu Qun, had pinned him there.
This time, the disciple challenge had once again been approved and endorsed by the Commandment Elder, who had cited Xiao Ran’s obligation to take part.
Impartial as he was, he had not even let his own son get away with the challenge. Thus, Huangfu Qun’s endorsement was authoritative.
The Inner Disciples already had their own opinions about Xiao Ran. Now that the Commandment Elder acknowledged it, all of them were anticipating the challenge, eager to try.
Among them, Jiang Chuyan and Ye Fan were the only ones who actually wanted to go to the Sword-Wielding Mountain. The rest of them, who did not have any hopes, were not even intending to assess Xiao Ran’s ability… They just wanted to vent their resentment!
Xiao Ran had guessed as much. He just had not expected the Sword Plain to not give off the atmosphere of a match.
He had imagined it would be crowded, but that was not the sight that greeted him.
Looking down from the sky above the Sword Plain, most of the scattered groups were Inner Disciples who had woken up early to practice their swordsmanship. A few of them were looking about like they were just passersby.
Unlike what the challenge jade slips said, not even one person who really wanted to challenge him was here.
Xiao Ran was surprised, but upon mulling it over… he found it reasonable.
The duration of the disciple challenge this time had been set to one month. A lot of people would never think that a mortal like Xiao Ran would appear at the Sword Plain on the first day or even the first hour.
The dark yellow paper kite landed lightly on the square platform of the Sword Plain, revealing Xiao Ran in the center of the crowd of disciples.
The disciples snapped their heads toward him, shocked by his presence.
His robe of a disciple uniform garnered envy as it fluttered in the wind.
Identity confirmed. It was Xiao Ran!
The disciples were puzzled at first. Why was he here so early?
Then, hundreds of divine senses scanned Xiao Ran.
He was really a mortal!
Only a few female disciples could see the handful of good things on Xiao Ran. He was handsome, tall, and lean with a gentlemanly elegance… as well as some length.
All of a sudden, one of the disciples greeted him. “Good morning, Junior Uncle Xiao.”
The Sword Plain turned pin-drop silent. After a moment, everyone cupped their fists simultaneously.
“Good morning, Junior Uncle Xiao.”
“Good morning, Junior Uncle Xiao.”
“Good morning…”
Xiao Ran knew that they were not paying their respects genuinely, as most of them were skeptical. However, upon seeing everyone cup their fists together and hearing the uniform respectful greeting… he felt like he was floating.
The superior sense of being above everyone else felt gratifying!
Even though his talent and ability did not match his status, it was still exhilarating.
Since he had come early, Xiao Ran decided to show he had a cool personality.
Once he toughened up, some poser-like Inner Disciples would opt to watch, reassessing the Sword-Wielding Elder’s insight lest they challenged him recklessly and lost—it would not only embarrass them, but they would also find it hard to get along with him in the future.
With that thought in mind, Xiao Ran stood with his arms behind his back and scanned the crowd, looking disappointed as he simply tossed the challenge jade slips on the platform.
Pieces of jade slips that represented famous inner sect challengers were scattered on the floor messily.
“Didn’t you guys want to challenge me? Why is no one doing it? I see that Inner Disciples are declining generation by generation.”
Xiao Ran spoke with intention, like a stone making a splash.