Xin Jiuxian was only scaring him; she was a woman of few words and couldn't be bothered with idle chatter.
“So, are you swapping me in or not?”
Like a frail, sickly girl, she single-handedly hefted the zither—which was five feet long and a foot and a half wide—and held it against Bai Songxu’s neck as if she were brandishing a cat-teaser toy.
“Whoa, whoa! Careful it doesn’t go off! I can swap you, but you have to tell me why. Jiang Nianyao is the Young Miss of the Beast Taming Sect. The Beast Taming Sect belongs to a Fourth-Grade Cultivation Kingdom, while Tingyin Pavilion is only Third-Grade. If something happens to her, Tingyin Pavilion is finished.”
Bai Songxu’s eyes nearly bulged out of his head. He desperately wedged his defensive shield between himself and the zither. The helmet on his head sat crookedly, covering one of his eyes in a rather comical fashion.
Xin Jiuxian thought for a long time, trying to figure out how to state her purpose in the simplest way possible.
“I’m going to give her medicine.”
Bai Songxu asked out of curiosity and a love for gossip, “What medicine?”
Xin Jiuxian didn’t feel like explaining. She simply pulled out the small bottle Wen Li had given her, uncorked it, and thrust it directly under Bai Songxu’s nose. He instinctively took a deep breath, thinking it was some kind of supreme spirit elixir worthy of being given to the Young Miss of the Beast Taming Sect.
Then, the pungent, stinging smell of chicken manure rushed into his nose, attacking his eyes and his brain.
“Hurk—!”
It stung his eyes! It pounded his skull!
Bai Songxu was almost brought to tears by the stench. Having anticipated this, Xin Jiuxian had already taken a step back with the bottle to avoid being splashed by anything he might cough up.
“You... you did that on purpose to mess with me, didn’t you? Who would want to eat that!” Bai Songxu’s finger trembled as he spoke in a maddened tone.
Xin Jiuxian responded with absolute, calm sincerity, “If you want to eat it, I can give you some.”
“...”
Bai Songxu shook with rage. “Go! Take this cursed bottle and get out of here!”
“No. You haven’t said whether you’ll swap me in yet.” Xin Jiuxian shook her head, as stubborn as a young mule.
“No, wait—you’re really planning to give this to Jiang Nianyao? You’re crazy!” Bai Songxu’s eyes widened in shock. He had assumed she was just using it to prank him.
“It’s not poisonous. Just a bit smelly.”
Xin Jiuxian felt like she had spoken too much today, and her throat was feeling dry. She pointed the zither at his head with an impatient tone. “Swap or not.”
Bai Songxu endured and endured, and finally, he closed his eyes.
“Fine, swap!”
God damn it. He was supposed to be the one in charge of Tingyin Pavilion now. Other people in his position got to throw their weight around and rule the sect, yet he was the one stuck cleaning up everyone’s messes. He might as well go back to being a soul-summoning master; at least then he was free.
It was one thing when Xin Jiuxian acted lawlessly because of the Second Elder, but now the Second Elder was gone, and the Grand and Third Elders were out. Yet, somehow, she had managed to take a master so powerful that even the ancestor didn't dare provoke her. Talk about being born under a lucky star!
Satisfied with the result, Xin Jiuxian stowed her zither and turned to leave with an indifferent air.
Bam!
“Kick the door softer! I’m not paying if you break it!” She was technically part of Tingyin Pavilion, so not only would she not pay, he’d probably have to file the reimbursement for it himself.
Bai Songxu felt a massive headache coming on. He wanted to run away. Anyone who wanted this mess could have it.
Xin Jiuxian prepared herself according to Jiang Nianyao’s usual treatment time. After disguising herself, she considered her eye-catching silver hair and decided to wrap it in a piece of cloth. She then changed into a set of light grey clothes.
Objective: Feed the medicine.
When she arrived at the entrance of Guest-Greeting Peak, she found four Golden Core cultivators on rotating guard duty, a direct result of Xie Tinglan’s “killing with a fart” incident.
Her identity had to be verified before she could enter.
“Halt.”
Xin Jiuxian calmly produced the token Bai Songxu had given her.
The guard carefully inspected the token before looking at the strangely styled girl with a cloth wrapped around her head. “The people who came before were all old men. Why was it changed to you?”
Xin Jiuxian thought of an excuse. “Oh. I’m just better.”
“...”
The guard watched her practiced movements as she hoisted the zither onto her shoulder, a question mark practically forming over his head. “You’re a music cultivator?”
“Obviously.” Xin Jiuxian patted the zither on her shoulder.
“Don't music cultivators usually treasure their instruments? What is... this?”
“Oh, I’ve forged a new path. I play music by bashing the zither.”
“?”
Though it was bizarre, the guard sensed her cultivation was at the Late-Stage Foundation Establishment. Seeing that the token was indeed authentic, he had no choice but to let her through.
It really was a wide world out there where anything could happen. No wonder she said she was better; he had never seen a music cultivator who played by bashing their zither instead of plucking it.
Xin Jiuxian marched inside with swagger.
On a tree opposite Guest-Greeting Peak, a figure in a gold-threaded purple robe sat calmly drinking tea. The Second disciple had failed, the Eldest had left this morning in a huff, and now the Sixth had entered.
As for the Fifth...
Zongzheng Huangyue placed the pills—which had been airing out for half a day to dissipate some of the smell—into a bottle.
...
Xin Jiuxian entered the Guest-Greeting Peak and arrived before Jiang Nianyao’s loft.
She instinctively went to kick the door open but stopped herself. That probably wasn’t polite. She knocked instead.
Knock, knock, knock.
“Come in,” a refined voice called from inside.
Xin Jiuxian opened the door and entered. She saw Jiang Nianyao, dressed in a fresh mint-colored gown, already waiting at her seat. When Jiang Nianyao looked up and saw her, her expression shifted to slight surprise.
She was surprised by the girl’s age, her appearance, and... the way she carried the zither.
“Please, have a seat, Daoist.”
Without a word, Xin Jiuxian walked over and placed her zither on the stand that had been prepared.
“Let’s begin,” Jiang Nianyao said with a soft, gentle smile.
Xin Jiuxian sat down and placed both hands over the strings. She hesitated for a moment before saying, “I might be different from any music cultivator you’ve ever seen, so don’t be surprised later.”
She didn't want to accidentally scare this girl, who looked even more frail than her own body, to death.
“Huh?”
Jiang Nianyao was confused, but she soon gave a light chuckle and nodded. She comforted Xin Jiuxian with extreme gentleness. “It’s quite alright. Please, play as you wish. No matter how you play, it is for the sake of my treatment. I can accept it. The paths of music cultivation under heaven are varied; I cannot demand that you follow a specific standard.”
Rate on N.U.
