Chapter 37
Chapter 37: Lan E’s Request
Zhao Chun drew out one more item. Clear and glossy, it was the array’s eye of the Tu Family’s Heaven-Linked Lightning-Summoning Grand Array—a White Jade Talisman.
“The Tu Family’s Family Head asked Disciple to present this,” she said. “They wish to relocate to Secluded Valley and return under the sect’s protection.”
Li Shu took the talisman, his interest plainly thin. “Send a message,” he said. “Tell them to come on their own.”
“Reporting to Master,” Zhao Chun said, “the Tu Family has been devastated by internal turmoil. Only a second-layer Qi Refining Stage cultivator remains to manage affairs. The road is long, and relocating will be difficult. They hope the sect can send an escort to Song Mountain to guide them…”
Zhao Chun said what she could. After that, how the sect handled it was beyond her hands.
“Unacceptable!” Li Shu cut her off at once, displeased. “These are troubled times. We do not even know whether the Tu Family is clean, and the sect has no spare hands. With all these difficulties, how can we bend to accommodate others?”
He did not stop there. His gaze sharpened on Zhao Chun. “You are my registered disciple, and that means you are still under an elder. You should be cultivating with focus—strive to reach the Foundation Establishment Stage as soon as possible and be of use to the sect.”
“Worldly entanglements hinder cultivation. Rein in your heart and concentrate.”
Zhao Chun knew he was venting his irritation on her. She did not argue, only nodded obediently. Inside, she could only sigh for the Tu Family.
The benevolent Ling Zhen Sect Tu Cun Chan had spoken of—the sect that protected those beneath it with compassion—would likely never fulfill his last wish.
After leaving Su Hong Hall, Zhao Chun went to visit the women at Daylily Garden.
When she had lived there, she’d never thought much of it. Now that she belonged to the Inner Sect and had stepped into the mid-Qi Refining Stage, she finally understood what distance meant.
Among cultivators, even parents and children, even husbands and wives, could not remain together day after day. The path to longevity was walked alone. Talent differed; the heights people could reach differed. A Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator could live two hundred years—enough to watch two or three generations pass away.
And cultivators often entered seclusion. Sometimes for months, sometimes for decades, sometimes for a hundred years. Meeting at all could be difficult, let alone living together.
Zhao Chun was still only at the Qi Refining Stage, yet even she rarely found the chance to see the women from Daylily Garden now. If her cultivation advanced, they would only grow more distant.
Partings—living and dying—were things cultivators learned to accept. Zhao Chun treasured her bond with them and wanted to keep it as best she could. As for what came later… she would leave that to later.
She chose a late hour to visit. The senior sisters had returned from work, and the moment Zhao Chun stepped into the courtyard, they came to greet her with bright smiles.
Zhao Chun spoke only of the Four-Eyed Demon Moth, sharing the story in careful pieces. As for Ren Yang Sect—too dangerous, too secret—she kept it to herself.
Even so, worry settled over the room.
Lian Jing, though already at the fourth layer of the Qi Refining Stage, was a menial and therefore did not need to undergo assessments.
Cui Lan E sighed. “Fortune and disaster lean on each other. We menials only know our own hardship, but we never realized how strict the disciples’ trials are. One misstep, and you could lose your life.”
Lian Jing frowned. “The great path was never meant to be smooth. If I’d broken through a year earlier, I would’ve gone too. I’d like to know what demon-hunting feels like.”
Each had her own reasons. Zhao Chun smiled to ease the tension. “The sect won’t throw disciples into true danger. They’re all manageable demons—tests of skill, nothing more.”
Cui Lan E nodded, and the women drifted into everyday talk. Only when night had deepened did Cui Lan E hesitate, her voice quieter than before.
“A Chun,” she said, “Senior Sister has a favor to ask…”
Zhao Chun straightened. “Go ahead, Senior Sister.”
Cui Lan E held Hu Wan Zhi’s hand and let out a soft sigh. “This was settled once. I didn’t want to tell you.”
“But something changed recently, and I have no choice but to ask you now.”
She looked at Zhao Chun. “Do you remember Xu Kuang Rui?”
Zhao Chun froze, then recalled him at once. “I remember. I had a falling-out with him, and because of that fight I was confined for three months.”
Her expression hardened. “What did he do?”
“He holds a grudge,” Cui Lan E said. “But he doesn’t dare take it out on you. Ah Jing and Pian Ran work in the Reed River herb garden; he can’t reach them either. So he’s been harassing Wan Zhi instead.”
Zhao Chun’s anger flared. “When did this start? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“When he came out of confinement, you were away in Ji City,” Cui Lan E explained. “He bothered Wan Zhi for a few days. Then you became an Inner Sect disciple, and he stopped. After months with no trouble, we didn’t say anything—we didn’t want to distract you from cultivation.”
Zhao Chun’s chest tightened. “Senior Sister, your matters are never a distraction.”
“And this began because of me. I should be the one to end it.”
Then she asked, more sharply, “You said something changed. Did Xu Kuang Rui start again?”
Cui Lan E nodded, her expression grave. “Half a month ago, his father, Xu Feng, reached the Foundation Establishment Stage. In the grand exam, he earned an Upper B rating. Xu Kuang Rui has been swaggering ever since, and he’s started acting again.”
Zhao Chun let out a small, incredulous laugh. “If Xu Feng only broke through recently, then when Xu Kuang Rui was punished, Xu Feng must have already been at the ninth layer of the Qi Refining Stage, about to advance.”
“Back then I was barely a new disciple drawing in qi, and he didn’t step in for his son. Now that Xu Kuang Rui and I are both in the Inner Sect, he has even less reason to act. In my view, he doesn’t value Xu Kuang Rui.”
Cui Lan E blinked, as though something clicked into place. “Now that you say it… I remember hearing Xu Feng came from a Small World. When he was young, he was already betrothed. Later he was selected into the sect—it should’ve ended there. But his parents forced him into that marriage anyway. That’s how he ended up with such a grown son.”
Most cultivators did not linger in romance. In youth, they cultivated. Only in old age, when the road ahead looked hopeless, did some choose to leave descendants.
Yet the deeper one’s cultivation, the harder it was to have children. In cultivation clans, even the gifted could be pressured—forced early to leave a bloodline.
Xu Feng’s original Small World still held some spiritual qi, and from time to time cultivators there were chosen to enter the Upper Realm. After Xu Feng joined the sect, he became an official disciple in only two and a half years. His clan recognized his talent and, before he could truly rise, tricked him into returning home to marry. That was how Xu Kuang Rui was born.
“That’s why Xu Feng despises him,” Cui Lan E continued. “But Xu Kuang Rui has spiritual roots and entered the sect anyway. He just didn’t inherit his father’s talent. It’s been four years, and he’s still stuck at the first layer of the Qi Refining Stage.”
Zhao Chun lifted her gaze, steady and cold. “Others fear his father. I don’t.”
“And a person like Xu Feng shouldn’t be the type to let rot fester. If Xu Kuang Rui keeps acting without restraint, he’ll earn his own punishment.”
“Even so,” Cui Lan E said quietly, “we menials don’t dare march to his door. Wan Zhi is soft-hearted—I’m afraid she’ll be hurt again.”
She squeezed Hu Wan Zhi’s hand. “I thought… perhaps she could stay with you for a few days. Once this is settled, she can return.”
Zhao Chun had no reason to refuse. She nodded at once. “Of course. But what pretext should we use?”
Menials could not enter the Inner Sect freely. Zhao Chun could not openly bend rules for personal reasons.
“That’s simple,” Cui Lan E said with a small smile. “Say you’ve taken a menial servant. No one will look too closely.”
Zhao Chun’s brows drew together. “How can I have Senior Sister—”
Cui Lan E cut in gently. “Would you ever make Wan Zhi do a servant’s work?”
Zhao Chun shook her head. Never.
“Then that’s enough,” Cui Lan E said. “With Wan Zhi at your place, we’ll be at ease.”
“And don’t worry too much. In the Inner Sect, many ‘menial servants’ are actually menials with cultivation. Serving at a disciple’s side—being an attendant, being a maid—some people consider that better than ordinary menial work.”
Zhao Chun hadn’t known. Cui Lan E had been in the sect long enough to understand such small, practical things.