“Yes.”
“The trust between my senior sister and me has also been just about ground down to nothing.”
Her junior sister's expression was calm as she spoke, which was actually more jarring than when she had thrown the mask just now. Jinglian's heart sank. If she kept holding onto her dignity as a Sword Venerable, she would likely have to spend the rest of her days alone.
She curled her fingertips and tapped twice on the floor tiles.
Her sword intent moved first.
The hall doors shattered with a resounding crash, wood splinters exploding outward and raining down upon the stone steps.
Before Liu Ruyin could even react, Jinglian ripped off her outer robe and tossed it aside. With her inner robe's collar half-open, she leaned forward and firmly wrapped her arms around her junior sister's legs.
“A-Yin,” she called out, tilting her face up, her voice pitched just loud enough to drift outside the hall. “What exactly did your senior sister do wrong that you want to abandon me?”
Liu Ruyin froze completely.
When the sword intent of a Soul Transformation cultivator dispersed, the entire sect could sense it.
She instinctively swept her divine sense toward the terrace entrance. A fluctuation of spiritual energy, familiar to her very bones, was rushing toward the side hall.
This person was doing this on purpose!
She had detected Lanyi's return to the sect in advance, so she deliberately shattered the doors, tore open her robe, and put on this performance for her eldest disciple to see!!!
Ji Lanyi had just stepped onto the stone steps when she heard a muffled boom coming from the direction of the side hall.
She paused, sweeping her divine sense forward. The hall doors had already been reduced to splinters, wood dust still swirling in midair...
Rushing to the entrance in a few strides, she had just crossed the threshold with one foot when she saw Martial Aunt Liu pull a dharma robe from her storage ring and drape it over her master's head.
The dharma robe fell, concealing most of Jinglian's face.
Liu Ruyin tightly clutched the corner of the robe, her expression a complex mix of embarrassment and anger.
Right after, a muffled voice drifted out from beneath the fabric: “A-Yin, please don't leave me, all right?”
The foot Ji Lanyi had used to step inside froze right there on the threshold.
After emerging from the Desolate Ancient Secret Realm, the first thing she had heard about was the matter concerning A-Yuan and her little junior sister, which had taken her three whole days to process.
Upon returning to the mountain, she learned that Sect Master Martial Uncle had been killed and that her master was temporarily in charge of the sect. She had been hit with one shocking piece of news after another along the way.
But the scene before her eyes was harder to process than the previous two combined.
She even wondered if she had been afflicted by some illusion poison in the secret realm and still hadn't woken up.
Liu Ruyin's entire face burned fiercely.
Not a single drop of her previous resentment remained.
She now only wanted to cast an escape spell to flee back to Biluo Peak, close the restriction, and not see anyone for eight to ten years.
“Get up,” she hissed through gritted teeth. “Lanyi is back.”
Jinglian didn't budge, rubbing her face against her leg. “A-Yin, don't leave me.”
After saying that, she peeked out with half an eye through a gap in the robe's corner, casting a glance toward the doorway.
Ji Lanyi caught it clear as day.
Her master's eyes were perfectly clear, showing not the slightest sign of possession. Shattering the hall doors, tearing off her outer robe, clinging to Martial Aunt Liu's legs—every single action had been done in her right mind.
She fell silent for two seconds, then stepped forward, lifted her robe, knelt down, and gave three formal kowtows.
“Disciple Lanyi greets Master and Martial Mother.”
Silence filled the hall for a long moment.
The fingers Liu Ruyin used to grip the corner of the robe loosened one by one.
There was Ji Lanyi kneeling on the ground, and her senior sister clinging to her legs. Her senior sister was looking up, the bite mark on the side of her neck still seeping beads of blood, the dharma robe sliding down to her elbows, looking utterly disheveled.
To anyone who saw this, it would look as if she had just been severely bullied by her.
Even if she jumped into the Luo River, she would never be able to wash herself clean of this.
Ji Lanyi knelt upright, her body not shifting in the slightest.
Liu Ruyin completely deflated.
If she had known this person would behave so shamelessly, she would have preferred her old, cold-faced self!!!
“Get up,” she said, reaching out to tug at Jinglian's arm. “Your disciple is still kneeling. What are you doing!”
Jinglian stood up with her junior sister's assistance, adjusted her dharma robe, leisurely tied the sash, and raised a hand to tidy her disheveled hair.
Only then did she turn her head to look at her kneeling eldest disciple, her voice returning to its usual coldness. “Rise.”
Ji Lanyi stood up as instructed, standing to the side with her hands at her sides.
Her gaze swept over the deep purple bite mark on the side of her master's neck, but she retracted it without even raising her eyelids.
Standing in the middle of the hall, Liu Ruyin felt her ears burning so hot they might melt. Spotting Lanyi still standing there, she decided to change the subject to break the awkward silence. “Lanyi, how did things go in the Desolate Ancient Ruins?”
Hearing this, Ji Lanyi began to report in a meticulous, businesslike manner.
“During the first three months after entering, I killed thirty-seven peak Foundation Establishment demon beasts. Most were green-maned fangs and bone-rotting scorpions. They lived in packs, so it took some effort.”
“Over the next two years, I occasionally encountered early Golden Core iron-backed rhinos and killed eight of them. I also killed four mid Golden Core red-patterned pythons.”
“Two nests of late Golden Core thunder-beaked falcons, totaling six. During the final six months, I ran into a half-step Nascent Soul spiny-boned zheng. We fought for four days, and I finally found an opportunity to thrust my sword into its left eye socket, crushing its sea of consciousness.”
At this point, she analyzed the angle of that sword strike. “The spiny-boned zheng's hide was too thick to pierce from the front, so I could only target its eye socket.”
“However, it whipped its tail right before dying, shattering half of my shoulder blade and several of my ribs. It was my own negligence.”
Liu Ruyin's heart skipped a beat as she listened.
Even early Nascent Soul cultivators would take a detour if they encountered a half-step Nascent Soul spiny-boned zheng.
Lanyi was only at the peak of the Golden Core realm, yet she had actually slain it!
She sized Ji Lanyi up from head to toe. The girl didn't have a single scar left on her, and her tone when speaking of having half her shoulder blade shattered was as indifferent as if she were talking about snapping a few dry twigs.
Only after her shock passed did she think to ask about the injuries.
“How long did it take to heal those injuries?”
“Less than half a month,” Ji Lanyi replied. After a moment's thought, she felt she should explain the subsequent events to buy some time for her master.
“After the injuries healed, I searched the ruins again. The remaining demon beasts had either hidden themselves or fled. However, I did gather dozens of Mystic-grade High-rank spiritual plants. Their quality is decent, and I will deliver them to Danxia Peak later.”
She finished speaking, standing there with that same indifferent expression on her face.
When these battle achievements came from her mouth, they sounded no different from a routine report on peak administrative affairs.
For a moment, Liu Ruyin didn't know how to respond.
If she praised her, the girl clearly didn't think slaying a half-step Nascent Soul demon beast was anything worth boasting about.
But if she didn't, slaying a spiny-boned zheng while skipping a realm at peak Golden Core was a feat worthy of being boasted about for decades in any sect.
Ji Lanyi paused, then added, “I gained much from this trial. I am confident I can attempt to break through to the Nascent Soul realm within three years.”
Looking at the calm face before her, Liu Ruyin suddenly felt that the three disciples her senior sister had taken in were each more terrifying than the last.
She turned her head to glance at Jinglian beside her.
Her senior sister was standing sideways, deliberately thrusting that bleeding neck right in front of her eyes, her attention entirely focused on her while completely ignoring her eldest disciple's news.
She hadn't taken Lanyi's impending attempt at the Nascent Soul realm to heart at all.
But on second thought, it made sense.
Her senior sister's disciples possessed exceptional talent to begin with. No one who emerged from Wanjian Peak was ever mediocre.
She spoke up in annoyance, “Lanyi is determined to break through to the Nascent Soul realm, and you have absolutely nothing to say?”
Jinglian didn't answer. She only bared the still-bleeding bite mark even more clearly, silently playing the victim!!!
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