Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Third Senior Brother Qin Yuan

After choosing her tasks, Rong Shu took her identity token to the service counter to register and said softly: “Senior Brother, I’d like to take these two tasks.”

The counter disciple accepted the token, glanced at it, and faltered for a moment. A personal disciple? Why was she wearing an Outer Sect robe?

Full of questions, he didn’t voice them. Instead, he took the roundabout approach of holding the token halfway back to her and said: “Junior Sister, please activate your identity token.”

Rong Shu touched the token and sent a wisp of her spiritual energy into it.

The token lit up; along the top of its front face, six characters gleamed: “Personal Disciple Rong Shu.”

Once her identity was verified, the counter disciple relaxed, returned the token, and began to register the details.

He recited as he wrote: “Rong Shu, personal disciple of Limitless Peak, joined the sect two months ago, first layer of Qi Refining.”

He looked up to confirm: “Are you sure you want the routine month-long tasks in the back mountain’s Hundred Herb Garden and Spirit Beast Garden? The daily task time is two hours of daylight for each, duration one month.”

Rong Shu nodded: “I’m sure.”

The counter disciple finished the entry and handed her two task waist tokens: “Take these. With them, you may freely enter and exit the Hundred Herb Garden and Spirit Beast Garden. When the tasks end, return the tokens, and we’ll tally and distribute your rewards.”

“Thank you, Senior Brother.” Rong Shu accepted the two task waist tokens with both hands and put them away together with her identity token in her Storage Pouch.

Both tasks were in the back mountain; together they required four hours. Rong Shu could easily finish before afternoon, and then cultivate as usual in the afternoon and evening.

Since some people planned to block her at Spirit Gathering Peak, Rong Shu would simply avoid going there for now. [Fewer entanglements are better. Cultivation matters most; I don’t have time to play house with a few brats.]

Conveniently, ordinary disciples were not allowed to enter the back mountain’s Hundred Herb Garden and Spirit Beast Garden at will, so Rong Shu could hide out there.

In a few months, the rumors about her in the Outer Sect would probably die down by seven or eight parts.

Rong Shu was about to leave the Task Pavilion when she suddenly remembered something, turned on her heel, and went back to the same counter disciple.

Hooking her fingers on the edge of the desk, she rose a little on her toes and showed a slightly impish smile to the counter disciple inside as she said: “Senior Brother, please have a Fasting Pill.”

As the counter disciple stared in surprise, Rong Shu took out two Spirit Stones from her Storage Pouch and set them on the counter.

He was stunned for two seconds, then quickly recalled the recent rumors about this “Junior Sister Rong Shu.” He immediately understood that she was offering hush money and couldn’t help but chuckle: “Junior Sister, I’ve been in the sect for ten years; I can’t control the Outer Sect’s little squabbles.”

He spoke as he pushed the Spirit Stones back to her.

What a joke. If he dared take a bribe, his job at the counter would be gone the next day.

And the Task Pavilion counter job—how sweet was that? He wasn’t about to throw it away for pocket change.

Besides, not everyone lacked sense. Whatever Rong Shu’s talent, as long as she remained Immortal Venerable Ze Yu’s personal disciple, she was not someone the Outer Sect could compare to.

Seeing that he truly wouldn’t accept the two Spirit Stones, Rong Shu put them away: “It was this junior sister who overthought things; I ask Senior Brother’s pardon. Senior Brother is really—”

She lifted her right thumb in a vigorous thumbs-up, her impish, admiring look making the counter disciple laugh again.

He said with a grin: “Go on, Junior Sister. The back mountain is a fine place.”

“Goodbye, Senior Brother.” Rong Shu gave him an extra glance or two, then turned and left the Task Pavilion.

When Rong Shu returned to Limitless Peak, she ran into Yu Ruan Ruan again.

This time, Yu Ruan Ruan stood beside a handsome young man in white, a white folding fan in hand. His manner was cultured and elegant; when he looked at the girl at his side, a trace of doting affection warmed his eyes.

Yu Ruan Ruan spotted Rong Shu at once and waved: “Junior Sister, you’re just in time!”

Yu Ruan Ruan’s call also drew the young man’s gaze.

His eyes fell on Rong Shu—gentle and courteous—yet Rong Shu faintly sensed a trace of critical appraisal in the way he looked her over.

Clinging to the man’s left arm, Yu Ruan Ruan introduced her with affectionate closeness: “Third Senior Brother, this is our new junior sister, Rong Shu.”

She then smiled at Rong Shu: “Junior Sister, this is Third Senior Brother Qin Yuan.”

Rong Shu offered a proper salute: “Greetings, Third Senior Brother.”

Qin Yuan’s lips held a slight smile: “I returned in a bit of a rush and didn’t bring a gift. Junior Sister Rong, please don’t mind.”

“Of course not,” Rong Shu said with a slight shake of her head.

She had not expected a gift at all.

She was just about to take her leave when Qin Yuan spoke again: “How about this: I came back precisely to take Ruan Ruan down the mountain to Peace Martial City to purchase a spirit beast youngling. Come along with us, Junior Sister Rong. If you see anything you like, just tell your Senior Brother.”

Rong Shu was taken aback. [Uh… I was planning to go back and cultivate.]

Yu Ruan Ruan chimed in at just the right moment: “Junior Sister, you’ve been in Heaven’s Evolution Sect for quite a while now and haven’t gone out yet, have you? Treat this trip as a little relaxation, all right?”

“Yes, Junior Sister Rong,” Qin Yuan said with a smile, echoing her.

Seeing this, Rong Shu swallowed the refusal that had risen to her lips and nodded: “All right.”

[Going out of the sect? I’ll treat it as taking a break.]

She snuck a look at Qin Yuan as he summoned his Contract Beast, the Azure Sky Falcon. [Hmm… with a mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator along, and it’s just a city trip, going down the mountain should be safe, right?]

At Qin Yuan’s signal, the Azure Sky Falcon winged toward the mountain gate, bearing the three of them away from Limitless Peak.

At the foot of Heaven’s Evolution Sect lay Peace Martial City.

“Wow, there are so many people in the city!” Yu Ruan Ruan grew excited the instant they entered, almost impatient to dive in.

Qin Yuan stayed close at her side; anything Yu Ruan Ruan fancied, he unhesitatingly spent Spirit Stones to buy and then presented to her.

Rong Shu trailed behind the pair, her gaze occasionally taking in the surroundings.

After a short while, Qin Yuan had already bought a dozen or so items for Yu Ruan Ruan.

Only then did he seem to remember Rong Shu’s existence; with a hint of apology, he said: “If anything catches your eye, Junior Sister Rong, just say the word. Your Senior Brother will buy it for you.”

The smile at Qin Yuan’s lips suggested that so long as Rong Shu opened her mouth, he would spend lavishly in her favor.

But Rong Shu felt her relationship with Third Senior Brother was still shallow, and it wouldn’t do to trouble him too much, so she said casually: “I’d like a Storage Pouch with a larger space, if Senior Brother would oblige.”

Qin Yuan paused, faintly surprised: “Are you sure, Junior Sister Rong? Just a Storage Pouch?”

Rong Shu nodded: “Yes.”

The pouch the sect had issued was a bit small—fine for now while she had few things, but once she accumulated more, she would have to replace it with a larger Storage Pouch.

For a personal disciple like Qin Yuan who had been in the sect for years, a Storage Pouch was nothing rare.

“Very well. A Storage Pouch it is; your Senior Brother will buy you one.”

As they happened upon a shop selling Storage Pouches, Qin Yuan bought one for Rong Shu on the spot.

“Many thanks, Senior Brother.” Rong Shu accepted the Storage Pouch and thanked him with sincere gratitude.

She had gotten one for free, and its capacity was more than ten times that of her original pouch—by the look of it, about the size of a small room—so Rong Shu felt she had made a killing.

[Senior Brother Qin really is such a good person~]