The four stood outside all day.
Not until sunset when Headmaster Liu left could they listlessly enter Jiusi Garden.
Yan Ling was frozen into continuous sneezing. Lezheng Jiu grabbed him irritably to feed him a spirit pill, saying coldly: “What were you babbling nonsense about for no reason?”
Yan Ling said in a nasal voice: “How was I supposed to know saying one random sentence would get me punished?”
“To cure your habit of talking too much.” Lezheng Jiu frowned, wiping the tears frozen out of him. “Besides, is copying books really that hard? Ten times of the sword manual—you could easily finish in half a day. Yet you insisted on freezing outside.”
Yan Ling didn’t make a sound.
The others had also frozen for most of the day yet were completely fine. Lezheng Jiu glanced at Yan Ling, frozen like a pathetic grandson, with a look of disappointment. He stuffed another handful of spirit pills into his hands, making him squat there and munch on them.
The other young masters hadn’t left yet, gathering in small groups to discuss what to do about tomorrow’s practical training.
Feng Yu didn’t find it particularly difficult, saying smugly: “Those wandering souls are easy to catch. Just find the yin energy and yank them out. What’s there to be afraid of?”
“It’s not that simple.” Rang Chen said. “Shen Tianshe has been broken for months. No matter how many wandering souls there were, they should have been caught by now. What remains might be extremely high-cultivation fierce ghosts—very dangerous.”
Feng Yu shook his ice-cold paws disdainfully: “What kind of threat can fierce ghosts coming out of Shen Tianshe pose?”
Rang Chen’s brows were still tightly furrowed. He was about to say more.
Xi Jue propped his legs on the table with a “thud,” interrupting their conversation and incidentally drawing everyone’s attention to himself.
“What are you all clamoring about?” Xi Jue leaned back in his chair in a lazy posture. “If you don’t want to go, then go protest to Headmaster Liu. What’s the use of saying all this nonsense here?”
These words sounded extremely punchable, but though the words were crude, the reasoning wasn’t—everyone fell silent one after another.
Yan Ling sneezed, his brain shaking dizzy, asking bewildered: “We’re going for practical training tomorrow?”
Xi Jue’s lips curved. Just about to answer, Sheng Jiao spoke flatly first.
“Mm, seems like we’ll pair up in twos.”
Xi Jue’s face turned green. His eyes like knives shot toward Sheng Jiao, clearly saying “Do you have to open your mouth?!”
Sheng Jiao acted as if he didn’t see it.
Yan Ling asked curiously: “Pair up in twos? But we have nine people.”
As soon as these words came out, the others who’d originally been sitting in their own seats fell silent for a moment, then suddenly walked toward others in unison.
Rang Chen and Heng Yudu had known each other since childhood—naturally they chose to pair with each other.
Liu Changxing and Fu Man were both from the Southern Border—though finding Fu Man was somewhat difficult, the two still squeezed together.
Feng Yu was also a bit unlikable. Seeing everyone had almost finished choosing, he hurriedly sidled up to Lezheng Jiu, looking at him longingly: “Jiu gege.”
Lezheng Jiu was nearly nauseated enough to vomit, but still didn’t chase him away.
After all…
Eight people’s gazes all turned in unison toward Xi Jue, who was still crossing his legs with an insufferably arrogant appearance.
Xi Jue: “???”
No one wanted to be with the most annoying Xi Jue.
“What are you looking at me for?” Xi Jue hadn’t yet realized the severity of the problem. Beckoning to Yan Ling, he said: “Come here. Pair with me.”
Yan Ling hid behind Sheng Jiao, hugging his arm, pouting at Xi Jue to indicate: No way.
Xi Jue: “…”
Only now did Xi Jue realize he’d been “isolated.” Grinding his teeth sinisterly: “Yan Ling’er, I’ll give you one last chance. Otherwise… you don’t want to know how terrifying I am when angry.”
Yan Ling hugged Sheng Jiao’s arm even tighter.
Sheng Jiao extended his hand to shield Yan Ling, saying flatly: “The headmaster didn’t say we could forcibly compel others to pair up.”
The more Xi Jue looked at Sheng Jiao, the more displeasing he found him. He looked like he especially wanted to use ‘Wheresoever I Roam’ to transfer him a hundred thousand li away—in fact, he’d had this plan from the start and had even tried.
But ‘Fathom the Heavenly Dao’ was too keen and domineering. Once it detected ‘Wheresoever I Roam’s’ spiritual power approaching Sheng Jiao with intent, the Tianyan Pearl would immediately release crackling lightning patterns, forcing all of Xi Jue’s spiritual power back.
Spirit-grade xiangwen were just that heaven-defying.
The other six couldn’t wait to grab pine nuts and munch while watching the show.
Xi Jue looked coldly at Sheng Jiao: “The headmaster also didn’t say we could freely choose pairs.”
Sheng Jiao smiled: “Is that so? Then why don’t you go ask the headmaster?”
Yan Ling, seeing the two quarreling irreconcilably, hurried forward to stop them: “Don’t…”
Before he could finish, Feng Yu rushed over from behind, covering Yan Ling’s mouth. Holding his thin body around the waist, he carried him back to sit in his own seat, forcibly trapping him in his arms.
Yan Ling glared at him: “Mmph mmph mmph!”
What are you doing?!
“Don’t interfere.” Feng Yu held Yan Ling tight, holding back laughter as he whispered: “Watching them quarrel is really interesting. Don’t get in the way.”
Yan Ling: “…”
So boring.
However, with Sheng Jiao’s gentle-as-jade temperament, he couldn’t really quarrel with Xi Jue. It was just a few soft knives wrapped in gentle words that could clash with Xi Jue’s blades and swords for a bit.
In the end, the two parted on bad terms.
Only then did Feng Yu release Yan Ling.
Yan Ling turned to glare at him: “I didn’t want them to quarrel.”
Feng Yu said: “Who cares about you? As long as I want to watch.”
Yan Ling rolled his eyes, sneezing as he angrily went back.
After nightfall, Yan Ling was so sleepy his eyelids wouldn’t open. But every time he just fell into deep sleep, a feeling of terror would grip his heart, forcibly jolting him awake from dreams.
After going back and forth like this, Yan Ling was too afraid to sleep. He could only run to find Sheng Jiao with furrowed brows.
Sheng Jiao was extremely gentle in his dealings with people. He didn’t reject Yan Ling’s “sleep borrowing” in the slightest—he even thoughtfully prepared a new small pillow for him.
Yan Ling climbed onto the bed, skillfully praising Sheng Jiao again.
“Sheng Jiao, you’re really good.”
Sheng Jiao couldn’t help but smile.
Yan Ling slept another peaceful sleep at Sheng Jiao’s quarters. In his daze, he was even thinking about whether he should ask the headmaster to merge their two quarters together—this way he wouldn’t have to run back and forth.
After sleeping comfortably, early the next morning when he woke, just as Yan Ling’s consciousness returned, he suddenly keenly sensed something wrong.
The surrounding osmanthus fragrance seemed to have disappeared. Replacing it was a rich woody fragrance, seemingly called jiong-deep incense.
Yan Ling’s eyes snapped open as he sat up, his gaze sweeping hurriedly.
The surroundings were no longer Sheng Jiao’s extremely plain bed curtains. Instead, they were luxurious bedding with golden thread and spirit stones intertwined, dharma arrays covering everything.
Yan Ling thought of something, his lips trembling slightly.
This bed was too large—almost two or three times the size of Sheng Jiao’s bed. Yan Ling could even roll around and throw tantrums on it without falling off.
On the enormous bed, someone seemed to have turned over. Yan Ling’s face turned green as he looked over to see Xi Jue lazily lying in brocade quilts not far away, just waking up.
Yan Ling: “…”
Without even using his brain, Yan Ling knew Xi Jue had used ‘Wheresoever I Roam’ again. Angered half to death, he rushed over, yanking Xi Jue’s blanket away, furiously saying: “Xi Jue!”
Xi Jue slept with disheveled hair, blearily opening his eyes: “What? It’s still early. Keep sleeping.”
Yan Ling was about to die of anger: “Why am I here?!”
“Heh.” Xi Jue yawned, so sleepy his eyes wouldn’t open yet still talking nonsense. “Of course it’s because last night you couldn’t sleep alone, so you proactively came knocking on my door to borrow sleep.”
Question bubbles were about to pop out of Yan Ling’s head. With Xi Jue saying it so righteously, he actually started doubting whether his own memory was confused.
Xi Jue pulled the blanket and lay back on the pillow, terribly sleepy: “Think about it carefully yourself. Don’t bother me.”
Yan Ling: “…”
No matter how much Yan Ling thought about it, he still felt something was wrong. He woke him up again: “That’s not it. I clearly looked for you the day before yesterday and was refused entry. Last night I slept in Sheng Jiao’s bed. His bed isn’t this big.”
Xi Jue finally opened his eyes, saying eerily: “Then how did you sleep so soundly? Do you love sleeping in lousy beds that much? If I hadn’t magnanimously yanked you over, with your small frame lying on that hard plank bed all night, wouldn’t the pain make you cry for your parents? You should thank me. But since I’m your gege, I’ll exempt you from the courtesy of thanks.”
Yan Ling: “?”
How could someone turn the tables like this?!
Unable to reason with Xi Jue, Yan Ling could only get off the bed with a stern face, furiously returning to his own quarters.
Early in the morning, Sheng Jiao couldn’t find Yan Ling and specially came to look for him. Seeing him safe and sound, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Yan Ling hurried to dress properly, going with Sheng Jiao to Jiusi Garden to prepare for the academy’s first practical training.
Sheng Jiao, seeing him dressed all fluffy and adorable, held back for a long while but still couldn’t resist extending his hand to pat his head.
Yan Ling looked up puzzled: “Gege?”
“You don’t want to practice swords?” Sheng Jiao found a topic.
Yan Ling nodded: “Yeah. Practicing swords means fighting with people, maybe even killing people. I don’t want to practice swords.”
From their first meeting, Sheng Jiao knew Yan Ling’s gentle nature wasn’t suited for wielding a sword. Smiling, he asked: “Then what do you want to do?”
“I’ve already thought it through.” Yan Ling’s eyes sparkled brightly. “I don’t want to kill people. I want to be like Mother and Godmother, healing the wounded and saving the dying—be a medical cultivator!”
Yan Ling had followed Madam Zhao since childhood. His temperament was both soft and kind. He rejected wielding swords because he didn’t want to see blood, didn’t want vibrant lives to fade away by his hand.
Yan Hanque always had high hopes for him, wanting him to inherit his mantle and become a sword cultivator. Yan Ling didn’t want to disappoint his father either. After hesitating for a long time, he finally decided to follow his heart and become the medical cultivator he’d always aspired to be since childhood.
Sheng Jiao smiled.
Yan Ling felt embarrassed by his laughter, timidly wringing his fingers: “Am I too unambitious?”
“No.” Sheng Jiao said gently. “Being a medical cultivator is very good.”
Yan Ling smiled with pursed lips, saying quietly: “I… I just want stability and peace.”
Even after awakening a Spirit-grade xiangwen, to Yan Ling it wasn’t an opportunity to change his fate.
He looked lively and playful, but deep in his bones he was still subtly influenced by Yan Hanque and Madam Zhao—not seeking high position, power, or universal respect. As long as he had a disaster-free, stable life, that would be enough.
Sheng Jiao couldn’t hold back—he patted his head again, warmth filling his heart.
“You will.”
But half a quarter-hour later, Sheng Jiao’s “you will” was instantly overturned.
Yan Ling, who only pursued stability, stood there alone, pointing at himself with a bewildered face: “Me? What about me?”
Headmaster Liu didn’t even look up: “This practical training pairs by luck. Your luck is bad.”
Yan Ling: “…”
The other eight drew lots to form four two-person teams. Even Xi Jue was paired with Fu Man, currently with a sour face and crossed arms, wishing he could beat up Headmaster Liu.
Sheng Jiao looked at Yan Ling full of worry.
After all, only Yan Ling was alone.
With only Foundation Establishment cultivation and a chicken rib xiangwen, going alone to catch wandering souls taller than two of him stacked together.
…Not stable at all.
“Go on.” Headmaster Liu said. “Go play chase with ghosts.”
Yan Ling: “…”
Am I playing with ghosts? Or are ghosts playing with me?
**
(advanced chapters available on kofi)
Sam Williams On TYMIMA Chapter 152