Yun Xiange walked with a graceful posture and light steps, a flawless, gentle smile playing on her face.
Seeing Wen Jingshu there, she showed a hint of surprise.
“I thought Master had already finished instructing Junior Sister. Had I known, I would have come a bit later.”
Seeing Yun Xiange's slightly annoyed expression, Beili's displeasure faded a little, replaced by a trace of guilt.
They were all his disciples, and it was bad to favor one over another.
Yet human hearts were made of flesh; it was impossible to treat everyone with absolute equality.
Wen Jingshu was young, highly talented, well-behaved, and sensible. She was the perfect successor to his legacy in his heart, so it was only natural for him to favor her slightly.
Seeing Yun Xiange arrive, Wen Jingshu tactfully cupped her hands to Beili and said, “Your disciple shall take her leave first.”
Beili had already guided her through the basics; she could comprehend the rest on her own.
Walking past Yun Xiange, Wen Jingshu paused and bowed to her as well. “Third Senior Sister.”
Yun Xiange looked at the polite and extraordinary Wen Jingshu before her, her emotions highly complex.
Wen Jingshu truly lived up to her role as the female lead of the book; she couldn't find a single flaw in her.
Yet as a cannon fodder female supporting character, she was destined to stand on the opposite side of the female lead.
“Fourth Junior Sister.”
Wen Jingshu returned the smile and strode away. Just as she stepped out of the door, she saw Fu Sinian waiting outside.
Wen Jingshu didn't for a second think Fu Sinian was waiting for her. She offered a bow as well. “Second Senior Brother.”
With that, she turned and left.
Fu Sinian stared blankly at Wen Jingshu's cold attitude.
Was this how she was supposed to behave upon seeing her own senior brother?
The way she looked at him was no different from how she would look at any other fellow disciple.
“Wen Jingshu!”
Hearing Fu Sinian's teeth-gritting call, Wen Jingshu stopped and turned back to look at him in confusion.
“I am your Second Senior Brother!”
“I know.”
“Is this how you treat your senior brother?”
Looking at his exasperated expression, Wen Jingshu was a bit baffled.
What was wrong with her attitude?
When she first met him yesterday, he had been cold and indifferent to her. Why should she waste her breath trying to cozy up to him?
Wen Jingshu said, “You didn't come to find me anyway, Senior Brother. I wouldn't want to waste your time.”
This wasn't her first time joining a sect, so she didn't harbor any naive longings for the affection of senior brothers and sisters.
In her memories as a talisman cultivator, there were far too many instances of fellow disciples harboring daggers behind smiles and slaughtering one another.
Thinking of this, a trace of disdain unconsciously surfaced on Wen Jingshu's face. Seeing that Fu Sinian remained silent, she said:
“If you have nothing else, Senior Brother, your junior sister will take her leave. I still have to swing my sword ten thousand times today.”
《Abyssal Lightning Decree》 needs to be comprehended, her sword needed to be swung, lightning-attribute techniques had to be studied, spiritual herbs had to be planted, and she still had to secretly refine pills at night.
Oh, and talismans too. If she had time, she wanted to try making them again.
The more she thought about it, the more she felt that she was running out of time. She left in a great hurry, as if some terrifying monster were chasing her.
Watching Wen Jingshu flee as if he were a plague, Fu Sinian's face darkened.
She was indeed as annoying as he had imagined. Third Junior Sister was still the best.
Wen Jingshu's courtyard was very large and featured a specially cleared sword-practice field. After returning, she divided her attention, pondering the mental mantra Beili had just instructed her on while swinging her heavy sword, stroke by stroke.
Every time her spiritual energy was depleted, she would swallow a pill.
From only being able to swing a thousand times a day at the beginning, she could now grit her teeth and barely manage ten thousand swings.
After finishing her swings, Wen Jingshu sat in meditation to rest for a while. Once she had recovered her energy, she went to the herb garden she had cleared out in the back.
Xu Zhizhi had already prepared the hoe, spiritual water, and seeds, and was waiting to the side.
Wen Jingshu rolled up her sleeves, picked up the tools, and walked straight into the spiritual field.
Just as she dug a small hole, Wen Jingshu seemed to suddenly remember something and asked her, “Do you know how to grow spiritual herbs?”
Hearing Wen Jingshu's question, Xu Zhizhi looked troubled.
With her poor aptitude, she was disliked wherever she went. How could she have ever had the chance to cultivate spiritual herbs?
Hearing Wen Jingshu ask this now, if she said she didn't know how, would she be dismissed?
But she had risked her life to snatch this job. She couldn't bear to be dismissed just like that!
Receiving no answer from Xu Zhizhi, Wen Jingshu looked at her in confusion.
After hesitating for a long time, Xu Zhizhi answered honestly, “This disciple does not know how.”
Wen Jingshu said, “If you don't know, then learn.”
If she went into closed-door cultivation or went out in the future, the spiritual herbs in the field couldn't be left unattended.
Although she was the only one on this small spiritual peak, she didn't like having too many people around either.
She found Xu Zhizhi pleasing to the eye and only planned to let her handle these miscellaneous tasks for now.
Hearing Wen Jingshu's words, Xu Zhizhi looked at her in surprise, followed by a wave of sheer ecstasy.
Cultivating spiritual herbs! If she could learn this, she would be able to take on missions to tend to spiritual herbs in the outer sect in the future.
“Thank you, Senior Sister!”
Xu Zhizhi's deafening shout startled Wen Jingshu. Turning to look at Xu Zhizhi's excited face, she didn't say much.
Back when she was a talisman cultivator, what she had desired most was for high-level cultivators to guide and patronize her.
Now that their roles were reversed, Xu Zhizhi's feelings must be exactly the same as her own back then.
Xu Zhizhi learned very diligently. As a five-element spiritual root possessor, with the assistance of her wood and water spiritual roots, she quickly got the hang of it.
Once Wen Jingshu finished planting all the seeds, she threw in a small Spirit-Gathering Formation and sprinkled some spiritual water. Before long, the seeds began to sprout one after another.
After that, it was just a matter of careful tending and watching the spiritual herbs grow.
Wen Jingshu said, “Check on the spiritual field once a day. Handle what you can yourself, and if there's anything you can't resolve, come find me.”
“This is an extra reward.”
Wen Jingshu tossed her another storage bag. Excitedly, Xu Zhizhi bowed to Wen Jingshu and said, “Thank you, Senior Sister! I will definitely take good care of the spiritual field!”
Many cultivators grew spiritual herbs on their own to earn extra income, so Wen Jingshu growing spiritual herbs despite having a lightning spiritual root wouldn't raise any suspicions.
Besides, she also had a “Second-Grade Alchemist” “brother.” It was perfectly reasonable for her to know how to grow spiritual herbs.
Even though Wen Jingshu's current backing was only a Second-Grade Alchemist, in this cultivation world where low-level cultivators made up eighty percent of the population, the pills refined by a Second-Grade Alchemist were more than enough to meet their needs.
Those who truly needed high-grade pills were only the tiny fraction of people standing at the top of the pyramid.
Moreover, the threshold for alchemists was extremely high, and the resources required to train one were far greater than those for talisman masters, artifact refiners, or formation masters. Thus, while Wen Jingshu's current backing might seem minor on paper, it was actually far from low.
At least in the eyes of people like Xu Zhizhi, “Wen Jingshu” was an existence far beyond their reach.
Having made arrangements for Xu Zhizhi, Wen Jingshu went to the spring to take a bath. She closed her eyes for a brief nap, reviewing her gains of the day in her mind.
An hour later, Wen Jingshu finished her review.
She returned to her room and sat cross-legged, holding a jade slip in her hand, ready to begin her busy night life.
Under Beili's protection, she had already grasped the basics of 《Abyssal Lightning Decree》. Now, she was looking at the lightning-attribute cultivation technique Beili had given her, 《Thunder Brake Sword Art》, which was also Beili's famous sword art.
He had derived this sword art from an Earth-grade sword art. After fusing it with the lightning attribute, its destructive power doubled.
Although Beili had not yet perfected this technique—only reaching the level of a half-step Heaven-grade technique—it was more than enough for Wen Jingshu to study and comprehend.
Within her divine sense, a black-clothed figure with an obscured face held a sword, performing the first stance of 《Thunder Brake Sword Art》: Cloud-Falling Thunder Strike.
The first stance integrated the ethereal and swift nature of lightning, emphasizing speed above all else.
Though the moves seemed dazzling, they were actually entirely composed of the foundational swordplay of sword cultivators.
With Beili's pointers, Wen Jingshu easily grasped the core essence—honing the basic fundamentals through countless repetitions.
This happened to be a perfect fit; her daily heavy sword swings were exactly what she used to train her basic fundamentals.
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