Chapter 11

Hua Lian was skilled in alchemy. With the help of his medicinal pills, Zhu Mingyu fell into a deep sleep for a day and then woke up. Her wounds had healed and stopped bleeding, and by the second day, she could get out of bed and walk around gently.

However, for the past two days, she seemed lost in thought and stayed in her room.

Sometimes, Hua Lian would bring her food and water and see her sitting at the foot of the bed, hugging her knees and staring out of the window in a daze.

Hua Lian thought she might still be recovering from the shock and had not yet regained her composure. He didn’t want to disturb her too much and let her stay alone and quiet.

Shishu Gu Yu and his group had gone to track down the culprit, so Hua Lian went to ask Shishu Gu Feng to contact Zhu Mingyu’s family.

After all, as a stranger, he didn’t feel it was appropriate to comfort a young girl.

It was also at this time that he learned she came from one of the three major families of the cultivation world, a young lady from the Zhu family.

When people mentioned the Zhu family’s daughters, most would immediately think of the graceful and talented Zhu Qianying, but no one had any impression of Zhu Mingyu, nor did they even know of her existence.

If Shishu Gu Feng hadn’t mentioned it, Hua Lian wouldn’t have known she was from the Zhu family.

Hua Lian looked through the sect records with Gu Feng and found out that Zhu Mingyu was actually the top student among this year’s new disciples.

Upon further inspection, her talent was indeed impressive. When she joined the sect two months ago, she was only at the fourth level of Foundation Establishment, but now she had reached the seventh level. At this rate, it would only be a matter of time before she formed a Golden Core.

Hua Lian lazily leaned against the table and flipped through the records, casually sighing, “The younger generation, tsk tsk. Another 16 or 17-year-old forming a Golden Core. How am I, a two-hundred-year-old who still hasn’t formed a Golden Core, supposed to live on?”

Gu Feng, who was dealing with work, was irritated by Hua Lian’s lazy demeanor and rolled his eyes when he heard this: “As if you weren’t a Golden Core at a young age yourself.”

“You’re just lazy. For two hundred years, all you’ve done is tend to your little garden. Have you ever practiced swordsmanship? You should learn from your junior. He’s already in the Nascent Soul stage after coming back from Mohe.”

Hua Lian smiled and waved his finger. “My ambitions aren’t in that direction, Shishu Fengfeng.”

“Also, that’s not just a vegetable garden, it’s a rare and precious spiritual plant garden. Please show it some respect.”

Suddenly, Hua Lian remembered something and said, “Oh right, the radish sprouts you’ve been thinking about have come up this spring. They’re pretty fresh. I’ll dig up a few and bring them to you tomorrow.”

Gu Feng: “…”

Still calling it not a vegetable garden?

Unable to resist, Gu Feng muttered, “Fine, spiritual plant garden.”

“By the way, didn’t you go to the Water Mirror to rescue people with your Little Junior Disciple Yu Li? Where is he? Why hasn’t he come out yet?”

Gu Feng thought for a moment, “And that new girl, her name’s Yu Tao, right?”

The incident at the Void Sword Training Field had been suppressed and didn’t spread, but as Gu Yu’s brother, he knew about it.

Hua Lian casually said, “What else could they be doing? They’re probably on a date.”

Gu Feng was speechless. “Your habit of speaking without thinking hasn’t changed. You’re always spouting nonsense.”

Seeing that he didn’t believe him at all, Hua Lian closed the book and became more interested. “Don’t believe me?”

In the past, Gu Feng might have believed Hua Lian’s words, but after being tricked too many times, he no longer trusted a single word, let alone such a ridiculous story.

With Yu Li’s aloof personality, it was hard enough to have a conversation with him. Over the years, Gu Feng hadn’t seen him get close to anyone, let alone a girl.

With this in mind, Gu Feng naturally thought Hua Lian was just joking, snorting a couple of times. “I know better. Lin Lin told me. Yu Tao is the new disciple of Xuan Yuzi, so she’s your junior sister. You can’t fool me.”

Hua Lian clicked his tongue. “So what if she’s a junior sister? Haven’t you read any storybooks? Master-disciple, Shishu-disciple, ancestor-disciple relationships are all common themes. Brother and sister disciples are nothing new.”

He jumped off the table and knocked on Gu Feng’s oversized Liuli mirror. “What about that new disciple who fought Yu Li a few days ago? How’s he doing?”

“Busy. The challengers have all booked up until next month. It seems he’s ranked around two thousand now. Probably needs to fight a few dozen more before he’s done.”

Gu Feng still didn’t understand why Yu Li had agreed to the challenge from the new disciple Xu Jing, especially since he lost. He furrowed his brows and said, “I still don’t get it. Why did he suddenly want to fight a new disciple and lose to him?”

“Can’t figure it out, huh?”

Hua Lian smiled, stretched his hand out, and scrolled down the ranking list, drawing out his words. “Look at his ranking.”

Gu Feng focused and studied it carefully.

After thinking for a moment, he suddenly understood. “I get it! Yu Li must have entered a new state of understanding after returning from Mohe, going back to basics and starting to find his own feeling from the beginning.”

Hua Lian: ?

What nonsense was that?

He held back a sigh. “Take a better look. See who’s right below him.”

“…Yu Tao?”

Gu Feng was puzzled. “Is this related to Yu Tao?”

Hua Lian snorted through his nose. “Isn’t it obvious?”

“Otherwise, with his solitary nature, would he be willing to come to such a crowded sword training field?”

Hua Lian raised his chin and hummed softly. “He came for Yu Tao. Now do you get it?”

Although Yu Li had never mentioned anything about this, Hua Lian had already figured it out.

The reason he was certain was because, two months ago, when Yu Li had slain the black flood dragon in Mohe, he had received a message about it through the Liuli mirror.

At that time, Yu Tao had just joined the sect and became a disciple of his master Xuan Yuzi. Hua Lian had informed Yu Li about it while he was still in preparation for his journey.

Yu Li had only replied with a simple “Got it.”

At the time, Hua Lian didn’t pay much attention to it. He hadn’t been focusing on his new junior sister either. After putting away the Liuli mirror, he quickly pushed the matter to the back of his mind.

Until one day, the junior sister suddenly timidly came to ask him why her dantian hurt after cultivation.

Having hardly practiced in centuries and busy with farming, Hua Lian didn’t know the reason. He quickly responded with a calm face, saying he would go inside to look through some ancient texts, but in reality, he sought help outside and sent a message to Yu Li.

【Urgent!!】

【Junior sister came to ask me about this today. Can you explain why it’s happening, and if there’s a solution? She hasn’t caused any problems in her cultivation, has she?】

After about five or six seconds, a very short voice message came through. The sound of wind howling, water flowing, and the clang of a sword could be heard in the background, with the young man breathing heavily.

“Tell her to stop—”

The voice suddenly cut off, followed by a sharp, loud crashing sound.

The Liuli mirror had been shattered.

Hua Lian rubbed his sore ears, thinking to himself that wasn’t Yu Li still in the preparation stage? Why did he already start fighting?

However, based on those three words, Hua Lian more or less understood what he meant—tell her to stop and not continue with her cultivation.

So Hua Lian relayed this message to Yu Tao, telling her to rest well for the next few days.

Afterwards, he asked some senior teachers in the sect, only to find that they hadn’t encountered a similar situation before and were unaware of the cause. He then had to go to the library to search through various books to find the reasons for discomfort in the dantian after cultivation.

Before he could fully investigate, however, Yu Li returned.

Hua Lian asked the sect teachers who had gone to Mohe with Yu Li and learned that Yu Li had activated the formation a month earlier and started the extermination mission. When Hua Lian contacted him, he was wrapping things up, having just slain the black flood dragon, and was heading back immediately.

According to the original sect plan, it was supposed to take at least half a year to complete the mission.

The fact that the formation had been activated a month early struck Hua Lian as odd, and then he learned that Yu Li had gone to the lecture hall to teach new disciples about the precautions for cultivating during the Qi Refining stage, without even taking a day of rest after returning.

Yu Li was cold and aloof, usually indifferent when talking to others. Hua Lian had never imagined he would ever teach a class, so his first reaction upon hearing the news was that Yu Li had been possessed.

In any case, with all these coincidences piling up, even Hua Lian, who was usually oblivious, felt something was off and became curious about this junior sister.

After looking through her entry materials, he discovered that she was from Haicheng on the eastern border of the country.

And two years ago, his junior brother Yu Li visited Haicheng.

A few days after returning from that trip, Yu Li’s condition had seemed a bit strange—he appeared distracted while practicing swordplay, and several times, he had gazed absentmindedly at the moon during the night.

Hua Lian thought to himself, ‘This is it!’

He was convinced: ‘they must have known each other before, and maybe even had a brief romantic fling or something like that. Didn’t all the storybooks say it was like this?’

This time, the sword training field incident made Hua Lian even more certain.

When he found the two girls in the snow mountain cave, he specifically paid attention to Yu Li. His nervous gaze never left Yu Tao.

After thinking for a moment, Hua Lian decided to give the “long-lost couple” some space to be alone, so he picked up the seriously injured Zhu Mingyu and turned to leave.

Hua Lian couldn’t help but feel a bit emotional about it—he was truly too understanding.

“For Yu Tao, junior disciple…”

Gu Feng stroked his chin and, after careful consideration, his expression became serious.

“I get it now. Actually, there’s a grudge between Yu Li and Yu Tao, but because they are from the same sect and have a gap in strength, it wouldn’t look good on the surface. So, in this way, he probably wanted to teach her a lesson in the closed training field.”

“That explains it. How else could he, in the God Transformation stage, challenge Yu Tao, who’s only at the Qi Refining stage?”

The more he spoke, the more certain he became, as he frowned tightly. “So, they haven’t returned from the Void realm yet. It must be because they got into an old grudge.”

Hua Lian: ?

What kind of straight guy is this, only thinking about fighting and killing—can’t his brain think of anything else?

Hua Lian remained silent for a long time before speaking. “Isn’t there a possibility that he just wanted to find an opportunity to be alone with Yu Tao?”

Gu Feng became anxious. “Yes, didn’t he just find the opportunity?”

“No, I think I still need to go over and mediate between them. They’re fellow sect siblings after all…”

Hua Lian: …

Sure enough, some people remain single for hundreds of years because they’re quite capable.

They are single by choice.

After bidding farewell to the incomprehensible “romantic” Shishu Fengfeng, Hua Lian returned to his Huayue Peak. Before he could even settle into his chair, Yu Li and Yu Tao walked into the room.

“Second Senior Brother, I’m here to check on Zhu’s condition. Where is she?” Yu Tao asked.

“She’s in the third room on the right.”

Hua Lian noticed the damp ends of her hair and casually asked, “Little Junior sister, is it raining outside?”

Yu Tao touched her hair, which was indeed still dripping with water. “No. I just came back from the hot springs. Little Senior Brother helped dry my clothes, but my hair might not have been fully dried here.”

She smiled. “It doesn’t matter, I’ll let it air dry for a bit. I’m going to check on classmate Zhu now.”

The girl headed towards the right. When Hua Lian heard her mention the hot springs, he immediately understood what they had been doing.

The body in the Qi Refining stage really couldn’t withstand the cold penetrating through.

Hehe, hot springs, of course, it’s inevitable that feelings would warm up.

However… Hua Lian turned to look at the indifferent young man and asked with confusion, “Junior Brother, didn’t you bring clothes?”

“I did.”

Hua Lian was even more puzzled. “Then why didn’t you give your clothes to Junior Sister to wear?”

Obviously, borrowing clothes was a good idea—lend and return, next time Junior Sister would come back to return the clothes, and that way, the two of them would stay in contact.

Moreover, if the clothes were too big to walk in, wouldn’t that be the perfect excuse to carry her back?

The young man gave him a cold glance, as if doubting his intelligence, and replied flatly, “Of course, it wouldn’t fit her. She wouldn’t be able to move easily.”

Hua Lian: ?

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Word Count: 2,373