Chapter 84
Chapter 84: Qin Yuan Comes to Question Lin Dao
Spirit Nurturing Peak.
Cultivation room.
Rong Shu packed up her sleeping bag, then walked out of the cultivation room.
Passing a senior brother she thought looked familiar, she remembered he was the one who had registered a room for her on her first visit to the cultivation rooms, so she greeted him: “Good morning, senior brother.”
The senior brother turned his head, saw Rong Shu, and immediately smiled: “Good morning, junior sister. Back to the cultivation rooms again? You didn’t open the highest-tier room again, did you?”
Rong Shu scratched her head a little sheepishly and said: “No, no, this time I didn’t open the highest-tier room.”
She added, cheeks faintly flushing as embarrassment rose: “Last time I didn’t understand how things worked and just picked one at random; I definitely won’t do that again this time.”
The senior brother offered comfort with a laugh: “It’s fine. Lots of disciples coming for the first time pay that small tuition and go straight for the priciest room.”
Rong Shu brightened: “Really? I suddenly feel much better.”
They both laughed.
After chatting a bit more, Rong Shu took her leave.
The moment she stepped outside, she saw Lin Dao waiting by the door; her eyes lit up and she jogged over, calling out: “Senior brother.”
Last night, after eating dinner at Lin Dao’s place, Rong Shu hadn’t wanted to go back to Limitless Peak. The back-mountain task had ended and she hadn’t taken a new one yet, so Lin Dao had brought her here. This time she had opened only a cultivation room rated to block the prying of Golden Core Stage cultivators and spent the night there.
Coming up beside Lin Dao, Rong Shu asked: “Senior brother, what brings you here? I was about to head to the Task Pavilion to look for a new task.”
Lin Dao shook his head: “No need to look for another task. You can stop that back-mountain job. You’re not short of Spirit Stones anymore, and at night you can stay in the cultivation rooms and focus on cultivating.”
Rong Shu nodded obediently: “Oh, oh.”
Lin Dao said as they started walking: “Heaven’s Evolution Sect is holding the selection tournament right now. The elite disciples of both the inner sect and the outer sect are participating. You can’t compete, but you can watch.”
He added: “Some disciples might not have high cultivation, but you can still learn from their combat methods and techniques.”
Rong Shu agreed: “Mm, all right.”
She had the same idea, except that: “I also want to take the task over at the restricted area, but if I take a full-day shift, I won’t be able to watch the tournament.” She voiced her hesitation to Lin Dao.
Lin Dao said: “The outer sect Qi Refining Stage selection is in the morning, and the inner sect Foundation Establishment Stage and Golden Core Stage selections are in the afternoon. You can do the task in the morning, then come to Spirit Nurturing Peak in the afternoon to watch the matches, and in the evening open a cultivation room to cultivate.”
Rong Shu still hesitated: “It’s just, if I come to Spirit Nurturing Peak in the afternoon, I don’t think the restricted-area task can be done in half-day shifts.”
Lin Dao replied: “I’ll take the afternoon shift. We can team up; it should be fine.”
Rong Shu looked surprised: “Senior brother, you’re going to take the restricted-area task too?”
“Yes. Didn’t I say yesterday? I’ll go pay that person a visit,” said Lin Dao with a nod.
He mainly wanted to confirm that person’s identity and their purpose in teaching the little girl a blade technique.
Rong Shu thought it over and found it feasible: “But senior brother, that task has to be done for a full half month. If you stop halfway, they deduct Spirit Stones. They deduct a lot of Spirit Stones.”
Even if her little stash was healthier now, Rong Shu still didn’t want a sudden, painful deduction.
Lin Dao asked: “How many Spirit Stones?”
Rong Shu quoted a number.
Lin Dao’s expression didn’t change at all; he only answered lightly: “Got it.”
Rong Shu froze for a moment, then thought of something and quietly shut her mouth. [Maybe, perhaps, likely… senior brother is actually very rich? Not as poor as I am? So a poor person like me worrying about whether a suspected rich guy’s Storage Pouch has money to spend is just pointless.]
“Lin Dao!”
A voice sounded behind them.
Someone was calling Lin Dao.
They stopped and turned to see Qin Yuan walking toward them with a cold face, Yu Ruan Ruan at his side.
“Senior Brother Lin, Junior Sister Rong,” Yu Ruan Ruan greeted them, then let an indescribable look circle over the two of them again and again, as if she wanted to speak yet was hesitant.
Rong Shu blinked. [Uh… did Senior Sister Yu’s eyes go lame? Or are they twitching? Why does her gaze look so weird?] With Qin Yuan present, she couldn’t say it outright.
But when Qin Yuan saw the look on Rong Shu’s face, as if she wanted to hide something, his anger burned hotter. If not for rationality restraining him, he would have already swung a fist at Lin Dao’s face.
Qin Yuan spoke coldly: “Lin Dao, what do you mean by getting close to Junior Sister Rong?”
At that demand, Lin Dao arched a brow. [What is this idiot babbling about?]
He said calmly: “I believe I made it very clear last night. Do you want me to say it again?”
“Hmph. Last night? Last night I failed to think it through and was deceived by you,” Qin Yuan snapped, shooting Lin Dao a furious glare before looking away with distaste toward Rong Shu: “Junior Sister Rong, come back to Limitless Peak with me, and from now on stop associating with Lin Dao.”
He wanted to expose all of Lin Dao’s grubby intentions right here and now, but this was Spirit Nurturing Peak where people came and went. He couldn’t speak carelessly, lest he damage Rong Shu’s reputation by accident.
“Senior brother Qin Yuan…” Rong Shu was a little confused. It felt like he misunderstood something, but she couldn’t put her finger on it.
“Third senior brother, say no more. Junior sister is thin-skinned and might not be able to handle that kind of thing right away…” Yu Ruan Ruan, dissatisfied with Qin Yuan’s approach, spoke softly.
In her opinion, their affair should be spread far and wide. The more who knew, the better. Best to shame Rong Shu to death, which would save her the trouble of acting.
Rong Shu was stunned: “What did I do?”
Qin Yuan ground down his anger and looked at her with exasperation: “Then why didn’t you come back last night? Last night… what were you doing? Were you with Lin Dao…”
“I was in a cultivation room,” said Rong Shu, scratching her head. “It got too late, so I didn’t go back. I opened a cultivation room instead.” She pointed at the Cultivation Pavilion not far behind them and added: “I just came out.”
Qin Yuan’s voice cut off.
A cultivation room?
“You weren’t with—”
Lin Dao let out a short laugh, neatly interrupting him: “Qin Yuan, caring about junior sister is a good thing, but kindly don’t presume to make wild guesses. Don’t come over and interrogate people before you have any actual evidence.”
He went on, voice level: “My cultivation isn’t high and my talent isn’t high, but I don’t have the leisure, nor the need, to keep explaining away these baseless smears just to pay for someone’s foolishness.”
Rong Shu edged a little closer to Lin Dao. [Thanks. That kind of concern is unnecessary.] But when she heard senior brother say he had low cultivation and low talent, her face almost cracked into a grin.
Qin Yuan’s face froze under the sting of Lin Dao’s counter and he didn’t know what to say.
Seeing this, Yu Ruan Ruan couldn’t help speaking: “Since junior sister is fine, we’re relieved. We were only too worried about her.”
She breathed soft complaint: “Junior sister, you really should have come back a bit earlier. If you had, we wouldn’t have been so anxious.”
Her tone grew deliberately gentle; even the unconscious scolding made it hard to feel displeasure. “Junior sister, working hard at cultivation is good; it can make up somewhat for low aptitude. But sometimes you should also rest a little and take some time to relax.”
Rong Shu peeked out from behind Lin Dao: “Thank you for the concern, Senior Sister Yu, but as cultivators, it’s better to relax less.”
Finishing her righteous line, she turned to Qin Yuan: “Senior brother Qin Yuan, let me make this clear here. Because Limitless Peak is too far from Spirit Nurturing Peak and running back and forth is troublesome, I’ll probably live in the cultivation rooms from now on.”
Before Qin Yuan could respond, Yu Ruan Ruan cut in: “Junior sister, where do you have that many Spirit Stones to keep opening cultivation rooms? If I’m not mistaken, one night costs at least fifty Spirit Stones.”
Rong Shu explained: “I recently took a task, so I can afford the fifty Spirit Stones.”
She added: “Besides, everyone knows that cultivating inside the cultivation rooms is more efficient than outside.”
The reason a single night in a cultivation room cost fifty Spirit Stones was that the rooms housed a Spirit Gathering Formation. The spiritual energy inside could be up to twenty times denser at the highest tier, and even the most ordinary rooms had roughly twice the density of the outside.
Lin Dao swept a cold glance over Qin Yuan and Yu Ruan Ruan: “If there’s nothing else, we’ll be going.”
Qin Yuan’s face felt burning hot and miserable, but he could only step aside and let Lin Dao and Rong Shu pass.
As they walked by, an icy voice slid into Qin Yuan’s ear alone, making his body go rigid: “You call yourself Rong Shu’s senior brother?”
The voice went on: “Without distinguishing right from wrong, without checking the facts, you come smear your own junior sister based on a few offhand words and your own filthy conjectures? Do you deserve the title?”
It ended, cutting like ice: “How old is Rong Shu? She is a little girl who knows nothing and thinks only of cultivation. What face do you have to force your filthy thoughts onto her? Utterly shameless.”
It was a voice transmission, a technique only Foundation Establishment cultivators could use. Neither Rong Shu nor Yu Ruan Ruan heard it; only Qin Yuan did. Even so, he couldn’t stop the shame from flooding his face, as if he had been stripped bare and thrown onto the street. The feeling grew worse and worse.
Unaware, Rong Shu left with Lin Dao.
Looking at the little girl beside him, Lin Dao felt that her sect life was more than a little vexing. With senior brothers and senior sisters like that around, even cultivating in peace would not be easy.
If Rong Shu were his junior sister…
Once that thought arose, Lin Dao couldn’t suppress it. He was startled by it, but thinking carefully, it wasn’t impossible. The little girl had only just entered the sect and didn’t feel much belonging to Heaven’s Evolution Sect; with meddlesome seniors and a somewhat distant master, why couldn’t she switch sects? His masters would likely like this diligent, well-behaved little girl too.
Only… thinking of his current mission, Lin Dao frowned slightly.
Rong Shu turned her head and happened to see his troubled expression, so she asked: “Senior brother, what’s wrong? Is it because of senior brother Qin Yuan and them…”
“No,” Lin Dao shook his head.
Looking at the little radish-head in front of him, he set aside those tangled thoughts. The little girl was still too young and not very decisive. When she grew a bit more and could think independently, she could decide for herself whether to switch sects.
And since his current mission meant he couldn’t go back for a while, it wouldn’t be a bad thing to remain in Heaven’s Evolution Sect and look after this little girl.
As for Heaven’s Evolution Sect and Jun Xiu Ran’s opinions… those were not within Lin Dao’s considerations.
He said: “Come on, to the Task Pavilion.”
“Mm-hmm,” said Rong Shu.
A short while later, Rong Shu and Lin Dao teamed up and accepted the task for the restricted valley.
Holding her identity waist token, Rong Shu looked at Lin Dao: “Senior brother, I’ll go do the task first then.”
To her surprise, Lin Dao suddenly changed his mind: “Let me go this morning. You go in the afternoon.”
He added: “Tomorrow, you take the morning shift.”
Rong Shu asked, puzzled: “Huh? Why?”
Lin Dao raised a hand and ruffled her hair: “I’m going to see that senior.”
At that, Rong Shu understood: “All right, then I’ll go watch the selection over at the outer peaks first.”
Handing the task token to Lin Dao, she added: “Senior brother, please pass my regards to Senior for me. And tell him I went into seclusion the previous month; I didn’t skip on purpose.”
“Got it,” said Lin Dao.
Seeing how seriously Rong Shu viewed this, a thought surfaced in Lin Dao’s mind. The person in the valley who taught her the blade was, strictly speaking, half a master to the little girl. He wondered if she had formally taken him as her master. If she had, it would be harder to bring her to his own master.
Yesterday Lin Dao had seen Rong Shu display a blade technique unlike anything he had ever witnessed. It was anything but shallow. Even as an outsider peeking through a narrow crack, he could see its profound subtleties.
He had met many renowned blade cultivators and seen some great-clan inheritances, but none of them resembled the technique Rong Shu had used. If the man in the valley was an unsung nobody, it would be easier to handle. But if he was a powerful, celebrated blade cultivator, how could such a figure pass on his signature blade arts casually?