Chapter 4

Yu Li was discussing some basic, and practical knowledge. As a newcomer to the path of cultivation, Yu Tao, who had little understanding of this field and no master to guide her, found herself deeply benefiting from his teachings.

After all, her master, Xuan Yuzi, was still in seclusion.

At first, Yu Tao was focused on watching Yu Li, but as she listened, she gradually became absorbed in his words. More often than not, she found herself looking down and taking notes.

She diligently made notes, no longer staring at him, the sound of her pen scratching the paper.

The morning sunlight was lively, and on the stage, Yu Li let his eyelids droop lazily, casting a casual glance at the girl who was engrossed in writing.

There was something hidden in his gaze, though it was hard to tell what.

Yu Tao continued to write, gripping her pen firmly.

Just as they reached an important point, the young man’s voice grew a little heavier, and his tone carried a faint chill.

The new disciples below responded in unison.

Yu Tao nodded vigorously like a chick pecking at rice, her pen never stopping as she hurried to write down the key points.

A good memory can’t compare to a good pen, and since her memory wasn’t the best, writing things down was the most effective method.

She thought to herself: Perhaps this class from Senior Brother Yu Li is the perfect lesson that Shishu Lin Lin has always dreamed of—a class where no disciple is sleeping, and no one is whispering or chatting.

Everyone is listening attentively, eagerly cooperating.

“Ugh…”

Yu Tao’s attention was drawn by a soft sobbing sound. Following the sound, she turned her head and saw Shishu Lin Lin at the windowsill, his eyes filled with tears, his eyelids red, quietly reaching up to wipe his tears.

“……”

Hmm… maybe it’s not just “maybe.”

Shishu Lin Lin was very serious about his teaching. If there was anything the students didn’t understand, he would patiently and thoroughly explain it, repeating what he had already taught as many times as necessary.

On many occasions, when Yu Tao arrived early, she would find him already waiting in the classroom, not knowing how long he had been there. His expression would be focused, mumbling to himself as he prepared for class.

He was passionate about teaching, but sadly, no one ever paid attention during his lessons. Some students were inattentive, while others had already fallen asleep.

Yu Tao hesitated for a moment, then sat up straight. Under the young man’s watchful gaze, she quickly folded a handkerchief and, using a spell, quietly passed it over.

“Junior Sister Yu.”

Yu Tao: !!

She immediately sat up straighter.

A cool, calm voice came from above: “You must focus during the lesson.”

Caught red-handed for not paying attention.

Yu Tao’s face flushed red with embarrassment. She obediently nodded: “I understand.”

“Mm.”

The young man responded indifferently, casually tossing the soft handkerchief he had intercepted halfway into his sleeve.

“Confiscated.”

Yu Tao naturally didn’t dare to object.

She didn’t look at Shishu Lin Lin again, not knowing how he was reacting. She simply kept her head down, focusing on taking notes.

This was just a minor incident, and the hundreds of disciples in the teaching hall hardly noticed.

Yu Tao’s voice was barely a whisper, even lighter than a mosquito’s buzz, and the new disciples in the back didn’t even know what had happened, thinking that Senior Brother Yu Li had just paused for a break after speaking for a while.

Only Yu Tao herself was unsettled throughout the entire class because of it.

He had called her by her surname right away, meaning he must have known her…

And he knew she was his junior sister.

It made sense. When she first joined the sect under Xuan Yuzi, it was quite a big deal, and the whole sect knew about it. He had no reason not to know.

But… to make such a bad impression on him the first time they met.

Her junior brother must now think she’s a bad student who’s always late and doesn’t pay attention in class.

Even after the class ended, Yu Tao couldn’t shake the gloomy expression on her face.

Shishu Lin Lin, who had already calmed down, entered the room, placed his storage bag on the desk, and cleared his throat. “Your Senior Brother Yu Li has prepared welcome gifts for the new disciples. Come up one by one from the back to collect them.”

The disciples erupted in excitement, nearly causing the roof to lift off.

“Eh? Did the previous batches get this kind of treatment?”

“The previous batches didn’t have Senior Brother Yu Li teaching either.”

“Wow, if that’s the case, we’re really lucky!”

Lin Lin snorted coldly. “There was no noise before.”

The teaching hall instantly fell silent, not a sound to be heard, the quiet so deep one could even hear their breathing.

The welcome gift prepared was a scale from a thousand-year-old black flood dragon, about the size of a palm. It had been refined with special techniques, and the spiritual power retained in each scale was now exceptionally pure, capable of being absorbed to enhance one’s cultivation.

The scale itself was incredibly hard, emitting a sharp, cold aura. As a water-type creature, the black flood dragon’s scales were rare and valuable materials for forging water-type items.

After giving a lecture, Yu Li showed no signs of wanting to speak or give a speech. He casually sat in the empty seat next to Yu Tao.

Since he didn’t move, the task of handing out the gifts naturally fell to Lin Lin.

Yu Tao watched as one disciple after another stood in an orderly line, passing by her, receiving their welcome gift from Lin Lin and leaving the teaching hall.

She carefully glanced at the young man sitting to her left.

The cool and distant young man had his long lashes lowered, his eyes closed in quiet repose, leaning slightly against the wall. Bathed in clear sunlight, his already pale skin almost seemed transparent, and Yu Tao could faintly make out the blue veins beneath it.

Had her little senior brother fallen asleep from exhaustion?

As she was thinking, the long lashes fluttered, and in the next second, Yu Tao was caught off guard, staring directly into a pair of light golden eyes.

His voice was husky from speaking for so long, and his throat rolled slightly as he lazily muttered, “Were you looking at me?”

“Ah…”

Yu Tao froze for a moment, then with a serious expression, she handed over her notebook, pointing to a spot and saying, “Ah, right, I didn’t quite understand this part earlier. Little Senior Brother, could you explain it again?”

She subtly adjusted her posture, adopting a look of seeking guidance, while actually using the movement to cover the warmth in her ears and the thumping of her heartbeat.

Just a moment ago, she had thought that Senior Brother Yu Li looked like a lazy, drowsy cat. Both his movements and voice had reminded her of that.

So cute… deadly cute.

Yu Li took the notebook she slid over from the desk, glanced at it with half-lidded eyes, and saw that it was filled with notes. He slowly tapped his fingers on the table.

He let out a soft laugh, his tone somewhat inexplicable. “Junior Sister is quite focused when she does things, one-track minded.”

Yu Tao blinked twice, confused, and said, “But I was just caught passing a handkerchief to Shishu Lin…”

As she spoke, she suddenly realized that his phrasing seemed more like a rhetorical “^[1]“Reverse implication” refers to a form of communication where the intended meaning is the opposite of what is explicitly stated. It’s often used to indirectly suggest something or … Continue readingreverse implication” used in communication skills.

In other words, he wasn’t complimenting her.

Yu Tao immediately felt ashamed and lowered her head. “I’m sorry, Junior Brother. I’ll make sure to listen attentively in class from now on.”

“Ah, Yu Li, why be so strict? It was just this once. Yu Tao was only being kind because she saw me upset for a moment. She’s usually very serious about attending classes,” Lin Lin said as he walked over.

At some point, only the three of them remained in the teaching hall. Lin Lin shook the empty storage bag in his hand. “Junior, your math isn’t very good. You’re missing one. Take out another one.”

He spun the pen between his long fingers, and the ink flowed steadily on the paper as the young man spoke in a light voice, “There are 398 spiritual scales from the black flood dragon.”

What a coincidence, there were exactly 399 new students.

Lin Lin smiled, “Well, everyone else has one. We can’t leave your junior sister out, can we? After all, this is the first time you’re meeting her, so it wouldn’t be right to not give her a gift.”

“The scales are gone, but there must be something else, like dragon horns or tendons. After all, I don’t believe you don’t have any valuable items on you,” Lin Lin said.

“…Troublesome.”

There was a brief silence in the air, and the notebook was closed. The young man stood up, casually placed something on the notebook, and pushed it back towards the girl, along with the pen.

His tone was calm. “Let’s go.”

The young man left as soon as he said it, and within moments, he had already left the teaching hall. Yu Tao withdrew her gaze and looked at the object he had left on the notebook.

…A pair of jade bells?

They were small, delicate white jade bells strung on simple red strings.

Yu Tao picked them up and shook them gently. The sound was somewhat muffled, like stone striking jade. It wasn’t as clear as typical jade bells, but it was very calming and different from ordinary bells.

Lin Lin clicked his tongue. “This kid is quite generous.”

Hearing this, Yu Tao looked up. “Shishu Lin, are these very valuable?”

Lin Lin smiled. “These two jade bells don’t sound the same as ordinary ones, right?”

Yu Tao nodded.

Lin Lin continued, “He just went to subdue a thousand-year-old black flood dragon. I can tell that one of the bell cores inside is the dragon’s core.”

“As for the other one, it seems to be the inner core of some aquatic beast. I’m not sure, though. I’m not that sharp-eyed yet. You can ask him about it later.”

The black flood dragon’s core sounded incredibly precious, and Yu Tao became anxious. “No, I can’t accept such a valuable thing.”

Lin Lin patted her shoulder. “He’s your senior brother. What’s wrong with giving a gift to mark your first meeting? Don’t feel too shy to accept it.”

“The black flood dragon is water-based, and its dragon pearl is good for calming the mind and helping with your cultivation. It’ll benefit you greatly right now. Just take it and don’t worry.”

“Besides, your senior brothers have seen all sorts of good things. They won’t care about this little thing.”

Having been tricked by a few of Xuan Yuzi’s disciples in the past, Lin Lin was more than happy to see them get nothing in return. As far as he was concerned, Yu Tao’s situation was far from a problem.

With Lin Lin’s repeated persuasion, Yu Tao finally accepted the jade bells. But in her heart, she was already thinking about how to repay the gift.

What could Senior Brother Yu be lacking?

…He seemed to lack nothing.

So, what would he like?

…Wait, she was practically penniless at home. No matter what he liked, it seemed she couldn’t afford to give him anything.

Lost in these thoughts, Yu Tao unknowingly found herself at the Training Platform in the heart of the forest.

A small black figure on the training platform caught her attention. The black cat was lazily nestled in a small nest made of plush cushions, its long black tail draped over the side.

Upon seeing her approach, the cat lifted its eyelids and glanced at her before looking away.

The black cat was here too!

Yu Tao sighed and took out the food box containing the five-spirit fish, placing it gently on the training platform.

After hearing Senior Brother Yu explain that she had made a mistake with the training platform, Yu Tao understood that the black cat occupying the center of the platform had actually been helping her.

But what she didn’t know was whether the cat understood or if it was accidental or intentional.

She smiled softly. “Were you curled up here to help me?”

The black cat remained as aloof as ever, tilting its head without responding, its ears twitching slightly.

Yu Tao wasn’t upset. She opened the food box.

Regardless of whether it was intentional or not, the cat had helped her.

A fragrant steam wafted up, and she waved her hand to cool it down, then, once it had cooled, she offered it to the cat, saying sincerely, “I’m sorry for hugging you yesterday without permission. I won’t do it again. Will you forgive me, little cat?”

The black cat lifted its eyelids and glanced at the fish in the dish.

It fell silent for a moment.

The black cat raised a paw and gently pressed down on its tail, which was swaying slightly.

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Word Count: 2,256