Chapter 16
Chapter 16: Fell Asleep
Yun Duan was stunned and confused, yet he still did exactly what Wei Qing Lan’s message token demanded. With an advance payment of seventy top-grade spirit stones, he bought everything Jiang Li Sheng wanted.
As he went from stall to stall, he couldn’t stop thinking: this was a first.
Among the Kun Lun Sect disciples, no one—man or woman—would dare trouble Wei Qing Lan like this, even over something so small.
Wei Qing Lan was the most gifted genius of the younger generation. Every disciple stood leagues beneath him, and all they could do was look up.
Even Yun Duan, an inner-sect senior brother, couldn’t catch up.
A message token like Wei Qing Lan’s was meant for urgent things: a terrifying demon beast discovered somewhere, a village tormented by devils and demon wraiths, a crisis that demanded an answer. Sect messages passed along that channel were never trivial.
Not like today—endless chatter, all for the tiniest, most mundane errand.
Yun Duan found it utterly unbelievable.
Jiang Li Sheng, meanwhile, had no idea how much confusion her “little matters” had caused Senior Brother Yun on the other end. She only felt embarrassed—and then relieved. A heavy knot in her chest finally loosened, and the moment she relaxed, sleep came for her.
She knew this wasn’t a place she could curl up and rest, so she forced her eyelids wide, fighting the drowsiness with sheer stubbornness.
Wei Qing Lan slid a scroll across the table. “Read this.”
Jiang Li Sheng took it, puzzled, and opened it.
A sword manual.
She looked up at him.
Wei Qing Lan said evenly, “If you want to handle Martial Uncle He’s examination, you have to learn this. Otherwise, you won’t leave the Discipline Hall. You came to Kun Lun Sect—do you plan to live in the Discipline Hall?”
Of course she didn’t. But she had come here to be “reformed.” If not the Discipline Hall, then where?
Would her master come for her?
Impossible. Without at least half a year—maybe longer—she doubted she’d be allowed back to Qing Xu Sect.
“Read it,” Wei Qing Lan added. “It’ll help you. And it’ll keep you awake.”
He turned away again.
Only then did Jiang Li Sheng notice he had a scroll of his own in hand. She couldn’t tell whether it was also a sword manual or something else. Either way, she didn’t dare argue. She lowered her head and began to read.
Her master cultivated sword and formations, but she’d never inherited his mantle. It wasn’t that she lacked interest—she had too much. Her mind ran in every direction at once, curious about everything, wanting to learn everything, and in the end mastering nothing.
Maybe what happened in the Discipline Hall was too messy. Ying Zong Yu still hadn’t returned. The sky dimmed, then deepened toward night, and there was no sign of him.
Jiang Li Sheng’s eyelids fluttered. She held out as long as she could, but in the end her head tilted, her arms tightened around the sword manual, and she fell asleep on the desk.
Wei Qing Lan sensed it. He turned and saw her sleeping there, cheek pressed to the wood, lashes resting like fallen feathers. The corner of his mouth tugged—briefly.
Then he remembered the soul-search technique from that day, the moment he’d looked into her spiritual palace and found only darkness.
His own spiritual palace was ruined by more than half, a ravine of shattered cliffs collapsing and crumbling without end. But hers wasn’t a ravine.
Hers was black and soundless—bottomless in a way that made the eye flinch.
His master had once scoffed while telling the story.
After Sect Master Yu emerged from seclusion with sudden insight, he traveled tens of thousands of li to the place where the Yellow Emperor once sought the Dao. In the Yan Bei Region, he climbed Ji Hill to look north, searched for the ancient Xuan Yuan Terrace, went up Kong Tong Mountain, and in the Cloud-Piercing Cave, found an abandoned infant.
The child had been left there for a long time, already barely clinging to life. Yet Sect Master Yu had rejoiced, brought her back to Qing Xu Sect, and took her as his only personal disciple.
Afterward, he even sought out Master and the Tai Yi Sect’s sect master to boast—declaring that the disciple he’d taken would surely become someone great.
And then, as the girl grew, she amounted to nothing at all. Sect Master Yu was slapped in the face. Whenever her name came up, he’d sigh and lament his own blindness.
Wei Qing Lan looked away. He returned to the scroll in his hands, but for a long time he didn’t absorb a single line.
An Ru Xu finished regulating his breath and woke to a quiet Medical Hall. Junior Brother Wei sat where he had been, still reading.
And Junior Sister Jiang… was asleep.
He kept his voice low. “Junior Brother Wei?”
Wei Qing Lan turned his head. “Senior Brother An.”
An Ru Xu rose carefully and stretched, then asked in the same whisper, “Hall Master Ying still hasn’t returned?”
“Mm.”
An Ru Xu glanced at the darkening sky. Why hadn’t Hall Master Ying come back after so long?
Were those junior brothers and junior sisters who’d fainted and vomited blood really that difficult to treat?
How long were they supposed to wait?
Wei Qing Lan rolled up his scroll and stood. “We’re not waiting. Senior Brother An—wake Junior Sister Jiang. You two go back.”
An Ru Xu scratched his head. “Junior Brother Wei, your injury—shouldn’t we wait a little longer?”
“No need.” Wei Qing Lan’s tone didn’t change. “Tomorrow.”
He shifted and tapped the tabletop lightly.
Jiang Li Sheng startled awake as if struck by lightning. She lifted her head—and her gaze landed on a sweep of crimson robes, then on a face so cleanly handsome it left her momentarily blank.
Wei Qing Lan looked at her. “We’re leaving. No need to wait.”
Jiang Li Sheng stared, slow to catch up.
Wei Qing Lan set his message token in front of her. “It’s late. After class tomorrow, send me a message.”
She froze for a few breaths, then turned her head toward the doorway. The sky outside was indeed dark. She nodded, awkward and quiet, and took out her own message token. When she touched it to his, a thread of golden light flashed—now the two of them could communicate directly.
Wei Qing Lan put his token away and left the Medical Hall.
Jiang Li Sheng followed a beat too late, still dazed. She hurriedly put away her message token, then looked down—oh. The sword manual was still here. Wei Qing Lan hadn’t taken it.
She grabbed it and rushed out, but the corridor was already empty.
An Ru Xu’s eyes widened. “Junior Sister Jiang—there’s still a person here. Do you only have Junior Brother Wei in your eyes?”
Jiang Li Sheng flushed and spun back. “No, Senior Brother An, I was—”
“Relax. I’m joking.” An Ru Xu waved it off with a grin, then pulled out his own message token, holding it up toward her. “We haven’t linked tokens yet.”
“Right—sorry.” Jiang Li Sheng quickly tapped her message token against his.
An Ru Xu looked satisfied and tucked it away. “Come on. Hall Master Ying still isn’t back. Let’s go to the Discipline Hall and check.”
Jiang Li Sheng nodded, gathered the sword manual, and the two of them flew back.
Inside the Discipline Hall, Ying Zong Yu had only just finished. He’d worked for most of the day, and now he stood before Zhou Zhen Yan, the Discipline Hall’s hall master, reporting He Zhen Tang with a face full of disbelief.
“Has He Zhen Tang lost his mind?” Ying Zong Yu snapped. “These are new disciples—how long has it been? Half a year at most. Even the most talented are only mid Qi Refining Stage. How could he show them Wei Qing Lan’s swordsmanship with glamour shadow added? What’s on that shadow-recording mirror—Foundation Establishment cultivators can barely endure it. And you let him?”
Zhou Zhen Yan looked wrong-footed. “I didn’t think it would be this severe. By rights, he shouldn’t… In previous years he always had measure. I don’t know what happened this year. He took out the shadow-recording mirror and caused a huge uproar. Now we’ve got so many injured.”
“He just went mad this year,” Ying Zong Yu said flatly.
Zhou Zhen Yan tried to placate him. “Senior Brother Ying, calm down. Tomorrow I’ll remind Senior Brother He—”
“Not remind,” Ying Zong Yu cut in. “Warn.”
“Yes, yes. Warn.” Zhou Zhen Yan nodded quickly. “You’ve worked hard, Senior Brother Ying.”
Ying Zong Yu gave a cold huff and turned to leave—then saw Jiang Li Sheng and An Ru Xu returning. His brows immediately knit.
“Didn’t I tell you to wait for me in the Medical Hall?” he demanded.
Jiang Li Sheng answered softly, “Senior Brother Wei left first and told me to come back too. He said we’d talk tomorrow.”
Ying Zong Yu’s expression soured. “Fine. Tomorrow, then.” He held out a hand. “Your message token. After class tomorrow, I’ll contact you.”
Jiang Li Sheng obediently took it out. Ying Zong Yu tapped it once, then, without another word, turned and left—clean and sharp as a blade.