“Mm. No need to open this. Take it straight to Zongzheng Yingchu. Once he reads it, he'll find a way to help you secretly leave Houchi Kingdom.”
Wen Li shook out her arms to relax her muscles, tossed an embroidered pouch to Zongzheng Huangyue, and slumped lazily into a chair beside the table.
Seeing that she looked tired, Gu Linshu hurried to pour a cup of tea and offered it to her.
“Master.”
“Look at you improving.”
Wen Li raised a brow and took the cup. Not bad. This disciple had already learned how to read the room and attend to an elder like her. In the past, that had always been Yao Dai’s job. To tell the truth, she actually missed those two little rascals a bit. She wondered if anyone had been bullying them.
Pleased by the praise, Gu Linshu’s eyes curved into a faint smile as he quietly stepped aside.
Catching the pouch, Zongzheng Huangyue found her mind in too much disarray to settle, so she simply nodded obediently. “Yes, Master.”
After a moment’s thought, Wen Li added, “If Zongzheng Yingchu wants to see me, just tell him I’ve already left Houchi Kingdom. If he dares chase after me to take my life, then no one gets to live.”
“Master, are you planning to leave Houchi Kingdom early?” Zongzheng Huangyue cast aside her earlier speculations, quickly setting them aside to focus on the arrangements before her.
“In a bit, Gu Linshu and I will head to the Teleportation Pavilion and leave ahead of you. You can catch up with us later.”
Zongzheng Huangyue wondered if Master was afraid the Imperial Preceptor would hunt them down.
Yet, if Master possessed a way to coerce the Imperial Preceptor into providing cover for her, why leave in advance just in case? Could there be something inside that pouch that would send the Imperial Preceptor into a towering rage?
Taking a light sip of tea, Wen Li met her startled, suspicious gaze and gave a faint nod.
“It’s just as you think. He’s going to be furious, which is why I said there’s an element of gambling involved—I was worried he might turn on you, too. But since you said his hands are tied by the purity of your bloodline, we might as well give it a shot.”
Zongzheng Huangyue: “...” Can I take that back?
She understood Zongzheng Yingchu’s personality well enough, but she knew nothing about this newly acknowledged master of hers!
While Master’s ability to divine fate was impressive to a certain extent, she exuded an unnerving aura of unreliability. Zongzheng Huangyue genuinely felt like she had climbed aboard a pirate ship.
Even when soaking in a pool of blood after slaughtering ten thousand clansmen, she had never felt such anxious uncertainty.
In the end, however, Zongzheng Huangyue left with the embroidered pouch in hand. Despite the uneasiness in her chest, she relished the thrill of an unknown venture—for adventure meant opportunity.
Even if those sect rules corresponded to each disciple’s fate, so what? Beyond the feeling that her destiny was held in someone else’s grasp, the boundlessly formidable power she looked up to gave her a greater sense of security.
Hadn’t she apprenticed herself precisely to alter her fate? If the other disciples were all individuals who needed to change their destinies just like her, and the mastermind orchestrating the reversal of so many lives was her master, then this was both her blessing and her greatest lifeline.
After Zongzheng Huangyue departed, Wen Li personally pinned the brush back into Gu Linshu’s hair crown.
“Let’s go. We need to leave as soon as possible, too.”
“Where are we headed?”
“Beiqiong Kingdom.”
Gu Linshu froze. Wasn't that where they had just come from? Was Master taking them back to the Northern Province, or somewhere else?
Wen Li glanced at the sheet of sect rules resting on the table.
Zongzheng Huangyue was not only the first person who hadn't asked any strange questions about the third rule, but she was also the only disciple who had read through them all in silence without displaying any outward change in expression.
The former was likely because the third rule was tied to her fate, so she understood the reason behind it.
As for the latter—her silence after reading it—she had likely formed some daring conjectures she didn't dare voice. She had realized that these weren't merely sect rules.
A faint, meaningful curve touched Wen Li’s lips. Tossing the paper to Gu Linshu, she chuckled. “Keep it safe. That's your grand survival guide right there.”
She said this every time she took in a disciple, yet Zongzheng Huangyue was the only one who had truly taken it to heart. As the saying went, ignore your elders' advice and suffer the consequences. Those disciples treated her warnings like wind passing through their ears; when they eventually ran into a Chosen of the Heavenly Dao without remembering the sect rules, just wait until she dealt with them.
Just as the System had warned, this disciple Zongzheng Huangyue was shrewd and calculating—she might well sell out her own master if given the chance.
Clever indeed. Wen Li enjoyed dealing with smart people.
Gu Linshu simply gave an obedient nod and stowed the paper into his storage bag.
“Oh.”
The two flew off on their swords.
Inside her mind, Wen Li woke up the System, which had been slacking off and sleeping.
“What is Zongzheng Huangyue’s progress bar at now?” Ever since meeting her, the notifications had been chiming non-stop, so Wen Li had simply muted them. Now, she just wanted to see the final tally.
The System yawned. 【Ah, let me check.】
【Ding! Progress bar for saving the villain Zongzheng Huangyue: 45%.】
Wen Li raised an eyebrow in surprise. “That high? It hasn't even been half a month.”
Presently, Yao Dai was at 41%, Xie Tinglan was at 37%, and Gu Linshu was at 25%.
Right out of the gate, Zongzheng Huangyue had surpassed Yao Dai, who had been with her for an entire year.
The System explained, 【Because you directly reversed Wangquan Sheng’s initial hatred toward Zongzheng Huangyue and even fostered goodwill in him toward her. This drastically reduced the root cause of Wangquan Sheng turning against her in the future, directly altering the original plotline.】
Among the four disciples so far, Zongzheng Huangyue was the earliest to face her pivotal plot turning point, so it was only natural for her progress to advance faster.
Wen Li inquired, “Check where that Demon Race villain is, and that zither, too. I forgot which provinces they're in.”
After a moment, the System replied, 【Xin Jiuxian, that zither spirit, is in the Southern Province. As for the Demon Race villain, he’s in... Huh! How did he end up in the Eastern Province? I remember checking last time and he was in the Central Province!】
Wen Li curled her lip. “They’re from the Demon Race. The Central Province is their home base, but that doesn't mean other provinces don't have demons. There are teleportation arrays connecting the Central Province to every other province, too. Maybe this demon has formidable cultivation and rushed from the Central Province to the Eastern Province looking for something.”
The System closely inspected the villain’s data and smugly retorted, 【Host, don't go dreaming of recruiting a powerhouse disciple to do hard labor for you like Xie Tinglan. That demon is a half-human, half-demon hybrid—eight years old with zero cultivation.】
It was likely that the villain had inadvertently stumbled into an interprovincial teleportation array laid down by some almighty expert. Not only did this spare the Host a long trek to the Central Province, but it also eliminated a great deal of danger.
Tsk tsk. Was this disciple here to repay a debt of gratitude?
Eight years old. That was basically a second-grader—so young.
Unlike Xie Tinglan’s four years of age—Xie Tinglan was a demon who had lived for a hundred and ninety years, which only translated to four years old in human terms—this demon was a genuine, bona fide eight-year-old.
“System, can you make this villain grow up a bit? Or can I just skip ahead and meet him when he's twelve?” Hearing this, Wen Li felt a massive headache coming on. She didn't want to babysit, especially little kids. Couldn't he be at least ten?
The System coldly refused. 【Dearest host, that’s a no-can-do~ You need to rely on your own strength and not depend on external aids, okay~?】
Catching its sarcastic, cloying tone, Wen Li laughed out of sheer annoyance. “System, when you had fevers as a kid, did you just tough it out at home all by yourself?”
【Huh?】 The smug System blinked in confusion. 【I’m made of data. I don’t get fevers, and I don’t have a home.】
“Oh,” Wen Li said with sudden enlightenment. “I forgot you’re a fatherless, motherless orphan.”
【...】 The System froze. She’s insulting me, isn't she?!
【Host, you’re too—Beep!】
Wen Li cut the connection unilaterally before it could finish.
Peace returned to the world. She led Gu Linshu to the largest Teleportation Pavilion in the imperial capital. As per usual, they were using Gu Linshu’s money.
No, now that it was in her hands, it was her money.
Here it came again.
“One, two, three... three thousand two hundred eighty-four, three thousand two hundred eighty-five...”
Looking half-dead, Wen Li sprawled across the counter, counting spirit stones over and over again.
No matter how well Gu Linshu practiced the scholar’s virtue of remaining unswayed by worldly gain or personal loss, facing the bizarre stares directed at them from the surrounding cultivators proved too much. Though disguised, he couldn't resist taking out a veiled hat and putting it on, shielding himself from all the gazes that made him squirm.
It’s fine. Sooner or later, I’ll get used to these occasional bouts of embarrassment when traveling with Master.
Even though he had never met Eldest Senior Sister or Second Senior Brother, this was the five hundred and twenty-eighth time he found himself missing them.
...
Rate on N.U.
