Over the next few days, Gu Yanqing took another medicinal bath.
The medicinal potency of the sixth round of body tempering was fiercer than the previous five. When the searing pain surged up his spine, he couldn't hold back a muffled groan.
Carried across the courtyard, the sound happened to reach the ears of Xiaohe, who was learning how to loosen soil beside the herb plot from Lin Zhixue.
Startled, she nearly dropped her trowel and hurriedly looked up in the direction of the noise. “What was that sound? Did something happen?”
Lin Zhixue squatted on the ridge, her hands never stopping their work.
“He's cultivating.”
Xiaohe stared blankly for a good while before regaining a steady grip on her trowel.
That cultivation could produce such a commotion was something she, as a mortal, truly could not comprehend.
Still, she didn't ask further, lowering her head to continue wrestling with the weeds in front of her.
Pulling weeds with her head still bowed, Lin Zhixue asked, “Are you getting used to living at the Gu manor?”
“Very used to it!” Xiaohe nodded vigorously.
“The head maid arranged a private servant's room for me. The window faces south so the morning sun shines right in, and it's even more spacious than my room back at the Lin family's residence.
“The other maids around here are also very nice to me. None of them ostracized me just because I'm new. You don't need to worry, Miss, everything is great here.”
Lin Zhixue nodded after listening to her, looking down to keep weeding, her movements a bit brisker than before.
Squatting beside her, Xiaohe stayed quiet for a moment before suddenly leaning closer and lowering her voice.
“Miss, I think Young Master Gu is quite different from what the rumors say.”
“Different in what way?”
During her days at the Gu manor, she had seen Gu Yanqing practicing his swordsmanship at the break of dawn.
She had seen him drenched in cold sweat from agonizing pain after finishing his medicinal bath, yet still forcing himself to study cultivation manuals.
She had also seen him casually toss a “Take it” and walk away after giving extra monthly allowances to the servants.
He wasn't the tyrannical, profligate playboy she had imagined—not in the slightest.
“Actually, I feel he's kind of...”
“Kind of gentle,” Xiaohe said earnestly. “And he puts on no airs when doing things.”
Lin Zhixue’s weeding paused for a brief moment.
Gentle. She turned the word over in her mind, feeling it wasn't quite fitting.
Still, calling him a good person was likely accurate.
He no longer committed any of the evil deeds from the rumors, and up in the mountains, she had seen with her own eyes how he used his tempered body to withstand the attacks of demon beasts.
Even so, calling him gentle was a stretch.
“He's turned over a new leaf, that much is true,” she said.
Watching her thoughtful profile, Xiaohe's lips curved upward slightly, but she didn't reply.
Whatever Miss said was fine by her.
...
On the other side of the residence, Gu Yanqing climbed out of the medicinal bath tub, dried himself off, slipped into an outer robe, and inspected his reflection before a bronze mirror.
The lines across the back and shoulders of the figure in the mirror were considerably thicker and broader than when he had first transmigrated. The muscle definition on his arms was distinct—not exaggerated, but solid.
After six rounds of body tempering, the transformation of his physique was even more noticeable than the improvement in his swordsmanship.
Gazing at his face in the mirror, he took a deep breath, turned around, and walked toward the main hall.
Since he intended to leave, he had to inform his parents.
Gu Yuanshan and Liu Ruolan were both in the main hall. Gu Yanqing walked in and didn't beat around the bush.
“Father, Mother, I want to go to the Yunxiao Sect.”
Gu Yuanshan set down the account ledger in his hands and glanced at him.
“Yunxiao Sect? Why the sudden desire to join a sect?”
“Jiang Yinglan stayed at our manor a few days ago, as you both know.
“She mentioned that with my current cultivation, I can enter the inner sect directly. I'd like to give it a try.”
Gu Yuanshan pondered for a moment, not hesitating for long.
“You may. Seeing the outside world is good—certainly better than holing up at home.”
Liu Ruolan’s reaction was far more vehement.
She rose from her chair, a barrage of questions coming down like a torrent.
“You've never traveled far from home in your entire life; how will you take care of yourself?
“What if you run into danger on the road?
“You won't know anyone or anything in the sect; who will stand up for you if you're bullied?”
The more she spoke, the more agitated she became, her eyes reddening.
“Mother,” Gu Yanqing softened his voice, “your son is grown. Going to a sect is for cultivation, not going to war. I know what I'm doing.”
Gu Yuanshan chimed in from the side as well, offering a few words of persuasion.
He said that once a child grows up, he has to venture out into the world; they couldn't keep him tied to their apron strings forever.
Liu Ruolan finally stopped arguing, though her eyes remained red.
After a long silence, she suddenly began calculating what he needed to bring for the journey.
Bring more spirit stones, pack a few more bottles of wound medicine, prepare at least three changes of clothes, and take thick bedding—winter over at the sect was bound to be colder than Canglan City.
“Alright, alright,” Gu Yuanshan stopped her, shooting a glance at Gu Yanqing. “Let him prepare on his own.”
Gu Yanqing slipped away without delay.
As he reached the doorway, he could still hear Liu Ruolan behind him saying, “Well, he still has to bring plenty of spirit stones, at least!”
...
After returning to the Lin family over the past few days, Lin Zhixue discovered something.
Madam Zhou hadn't come to persuade her again.
She didn't show her face at all.
Whenever Lin Zhixue had gone out in the past, Madam Zhou would always be standing in the courtyard, either offering cold sneers and biting sarcasm or feigning concern.
These past few days, the courtyard was extraordinarily quiet, which Lin Zhixue actually found a bit unaccustomed.
Still, it was for the best; it was much more peaceful this way.
Pushing the thought aside, she returned to her room and sat cross-legged.
With the day of the Yunxiao Sect's recruitment drawing nearer, she had to seize every day to solidify the foundation of her newly broken-through seventh level of Qi Refining.
Xiaoyu floated out of the jade pendant and dutifully drifted over to the Spirit Gathering Formation's position.
As the surrounding spiritual energy gradually gathered toward her, she closed her eyes and immersed herself in cultivation.
...
When Jiang Yinglan returned to the Yunxiao Sect, the ginkgo leaves before the mountain gate were just beginning to turn yellow.
She handed the jade slip concerning the spirit spring investigation over to the Hall of Deacons, formally concluding the mission.
The two junior martial brothers who had accompanied her were so exhausted they only wanted to collapse into bed at their quarters, yet she stood at the entrance of the Hall of Deacons for a brief moment before turning and heading toward the Elders' Hall.
Elder Liu, who was in charge of recruitment affairs, was organizing the registration roster. Seeing her push the door open and enter, he was somewhat surprised.
He knew this disciple well.
She had great talent and her cultivation was top-notch among her peers, but she had a lazy streak. On ordinary days, she wouldn't touch any superfluous tasks beyond mandatory missions and cultivation. Coming to the Elders' Hall on her own initiative was rarer still.
“Something the matter?”
Jiang Yinglan sat down across from him and stated her purpose directly.
For this year's recruitment assessment, she wanted to serve as an examiner.
Elder Liu looked up from the roster, giving her a second glance.
Serving as a recruitment examiner was hardly an easy assignment. One had to keep an eye on every single bout between dozens of new disciples, determine winners and losers, rule on rule violations, and assess combat potential. Standing from morning to night, it was vastly more exhausting than regular sect missions.
In previous years, this duty was assigned to newly promoted inner disciples for experience; senior inner disciples of Jiang Yinglan’s standing would generally avoid it if they could.
“A rare sight,” he said, setting the roster aside. “Fine. As it happens, more applicants registered this year than in previous years, and we're short-handed.
“When the time comes, go oversee the outer sect assessment.”
Jiang Yinglan acknowledged the order, rose, and walked outside.
Watching her retreating figure, Elder Liu felt something wasn't quite right.
The girl's steps were much brisker than usual today, and when she closed the door, she even had a smile playing on her lips.
He shook his head and picked up the roster again; either way, someone willing to do the work was a good thing.
Stepping out of the Elders' Hall, Jiang Yinglan was met by a mountain breeze carrying early autumn chill and the crisp fragrance of pine needles.
She walked along the stone-paved path toward her quarters, her mood genuinely bright.
She wondered whether they had prepared properly after receiving the jade slips.
Resting her hands behind her head, she let out a whistle and vanished around the bend of the mountain path with brisk steps.
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