Chapter 63

Chapter 63: For You

After resting for two days, Bai Meng Jin followed Ling Bu Fei to the academy for class.

Since Bai Meng Jin already had her own lineage and didn’t need initiation, Hua Wu Sheng had simply thrown her into the Dao-Seeking Palace with Ling Bu Fei. What she studied didn’t matter; what mattered was that she blended into the sect.

Before they left, Bai Li Xu asked, “Young Master, should I go with you?”

Ling Bu Fei waved him off. “Martial Uncle Song is giving a public lecture today. Don’t miss it.

“I’m not going alone. What’s there to worry about?”

The Martial Uncle Song he referred to was Dustless Sword Song Zhi Yi, one of Limitless Sect’s top swordsmen.

The Dao-Seeking Palace was usually taught by Nascent Soul Stage cultivators. Only rarely did a Divine Transformation elder come out to lecture.

Bai Li Xu cultivated the sword Dao. This chance was priceless.

His eyes brightened. “Yes. Thank you, Young Master.”

They rode a flying boat to a low peak where the slopes were gentle and the scenery quiet. After landing, Bai Li Xu saluted and hurried toward the sword lecture.

Bai Meng Jin followed Ling Bu Fei along winding mountain paths.

The Dao-Seeking Palace wasn’t a single grand building. Instead, it was a series of caves carved into the mountain, austere and old, with a return-to-simplicity calm.

“In the early years,” Ling Bu Fei said, leading the way, “when the founding patriarch established the sect, he found caves everywhere here. Dry, airy. So he used them as an academy…”

He stopped on a huge boulder. “We’re here.”

Bai Meng Jin looked up.

The cave was wider than she’d expected, with a carved skylight overhead that spilled bright daylight across the stone. The ground inside was flat, and more than half the disciples were already seated.

As soon as Ling Bu Fei appeared, nearly everyone looked over.

And then… nothing. No greetings beyond formal bows. No one approached. The space around him remained empty, like an invisible boundary.

Ling Bu Fei kept his eyes forward, chose a place near the back, and led Bai Meng Jin to sit beside him. As they passed, disciples bowed respectfully.

“Young Sect Master.”

Bai Meng Jin sat down and felt the oddness deepen.

It wasn’t disrespect. It was distance. As if he were a stranger they were required to honor—and required to keep out.

She turned her head slightly. “Are they always like this with you?”

Ling Bu Fei made a small sound, confused. “Like what?”

Bai Meng Jin gestured with her eyes. “They don’t talk to you.”

Ling Bu Fei gave a cold little laugh. “I’m just someone who sits in on lessons for free. Why would anyone associate with me?

“If they try to be close, people call it flattering. If they discuss lessons, I can’t practice anyway, so it’s wasted effort.”

He said it like it didn’t matter.

But Bai Meng Jin understood the logic. The Young Sect Master’s status was too high—yet he couldn’t cultivate. Treat him too lightly or too heavily, and someone got offended. So everyone chose the safest distance.

No wonder he had no friends. Even Bai Li Xu felt more like a guard than a companion.

Before long, the instructor arrived.

Master Sun, a talisman master, wore a wide Dao robe. His face was stiff and proper, the kind that made a room feel colder.

He glanced once at Ling Bu Fei, then began teaching as if nothing had changed.

What surprised Bai Meng Jin was how deep the lesson went. Master Sun wasn’t covering beginner talismans; he was teaching methods for high-level ones.

When the lecture paused and Master Sun struck a chime to signal practice time, disciples immediately began laying out talisman paper.

Bai Meng Jin didn’t move.

Ling Bu Fei, beside her, slowly unrolled his own paper and began copying strokes—careful, precise.

Bai Meng Jin leaned closer, speaking softly. “Do you understand it?”

“I memorize it,” Ling Bu Fei said without looking up. “Martial Ancestor requires that I don’t need to be able to draw talismans, but when I see any one of them, I must be able to name its origin and use.”

It was a brutal requirement. Drawing talismans meant communicating with the spiritual qi of heaven and earth; true understanding came from doing it.

For someone like him—who couldn’t try at all—memorizing a mountain of obscure theory was the only path left.

Bai Meng Jin was about to respond when Master Sun struck the chime again, harder.

His voice cut through the cave, sharp as a whip. “If you don’t want to attend class, stay away.

“But if you come here and waste time, what do you take Limitless Sect for?”

Bai Meng Jin didn’t react at first.

Then she noticed every eye turning toward her. For a beat, even her breath caught.

Master Sun’s gaze pinned her, unblinking. “Cultivation is a hard, bitter path. If you can’t stand the dull loneliness, go find an immortal city and enjoy its splendor.

“Some people didn’t enter the sect on their own talent in the first place. Once they’re in, they don’t treasure it.” His mouth twisted. “If that’s the case, why attend this class?

“You might as well stay home and be a young madam!”

The insult landed like a slap.

Ling Bu Fei’s expression darkened. He had rarely thrown his weight around as the Young Sect Master, but Master Sun was humiliating her openly, right in front of him.

Just as Ling Bu Fei’s mouth opened, a hand pressed down lightly on his wrist.

Bai Meng Jin stood.

Her voice was gentle. “Master, are you talking about me?”

Master Sun clearly hadn’t expected her to rise. His brows knit, then lifted in cold disbelief, as if reassessing her thick skin.

“What, do you want this old man to address you as ‘young madam’?” he snapped. “Or are you going to run to the Sect Master and complain that I bullied you?”

Bai Meng Jin lowered her head slightly, respectful. “I wouldn’t dare. This disciple respects Master deeply. I only stood because I was thinking of Master.”

Master Sun’s stare turned incredulous. “What twisted logic is that? Sit down. Stop making trouble.”

Bai Meng Jin didn’t budge. She kept a mild smile. “From how you act, Master must be someone who hates evil and values right and wrong.

“If I know you’ve misunderstood and still don’t step up to clarify, then one day, when you learn the truth and blame yourself… wouldn’t that be my fault?”

Master Sun laughed in anger. “You really do have a mouth on you.

“Fine. I’ll hear your reasons.” He stabbed a finger toward the empty space before her. “Why weren’t you focusing on class? Everyone else is practicing, yet you didn’t even take out talisman paper. Is that how a student should behave?”

Bai Meng Jin said softly, “Please forgive me, Master. It’s not that I refuse to practice. It’s that I can’t.”

Master Sun’s face hardened. “You can’t? What do you mean you can’t?

“Even if your foundation is weak, at worst you fail a talisman. Don’t make excuses.”

Bai Meng Jin sighed as if helpless. “Since Master says so… how about I draw a talisman in front of you?”

Master Sun narrowed his eyes. He didn’t understand what game she was playing, but he didn’t believe she could cause real trouble under his gaze. “Fine.”

Bai Meng Jin reached for her own paper—

“Wait.” Master Sun cut in. “Come here and do it. Use my talisman paper and my brush.”

He was taking every precaution, determined to leave her no room for tricks.

Bai Meng Jin glanced at Ling Bu Fei as if to soothe him, then walked to the instructor’s desk.

From there, she could see every face in the cave.

Some were gloating. Some indifferent. Some curious, surprised that she’d dared.

Bai Meng Jin knelt and sat properly. She picked up Master Sun’s brush, dipped it in cinnabar, and lowered the tip to the paper.

Her wrist turned.

The brush moved like a dragon and snake, swift and fluid. In a single breath, she completed the talisman.

The technique was skilled—too skilled for someone accused of slacking.

And yet… there was no ripple of spiritual qi at all.

That thought had barely crossed Master Sun’s mind when the talisman paper thundered.

With a violent boom, a ferocious black dragon burst from the page and swept toward the disciples.