It’s Time for the Apprenticeship Meeting?

“Have you heard? This year, an outer disciple of our sect has tested positive for a wind spiritual root and will attend the apprenticeship meeting in October.”

“… Would you rather believe that there is a disciple with a wind spiritual root in our sect, or believe that I am Qin Shi Huang?”

It was just time for the end of school in Yunxi Sect. The two elders had just finished instructing their disciples and went to the newly opened restaurant exhausted. They decided to have a big meal to make up for the heartbreak caused by their smart disciples.

Sect Master Lu who had gone to the southwest a few days ago suddenly sent a message back, saying that this year, an outer disciple of Yunxi Sect with a wind spiritual root wanted to become an apprentice.

As soon as the news spread, the elders in charge of each peak became active.

 Some people sighed: “It’s so hard to get a disciple with a single spiritual root, but why is it the rare wind spiritual root?! How can I accept a disciple when I have dual spiritual roots of gold and earth and have nothing to do with the wind attribute?!”

Some people shouted that the ancestors of the sect had appeared: “Ancestor! Did you see it?! Our Yunxi Sect has another disciple with a single spiritual root since Sect Master Lu! Yunxi Sect will become bigger and stronger in no time!!!”

Some people were eager to fight: “This disciple  will definitely like me. Oh, if he insists on worshipping me as his master, should I be reserved? What gift should I give him? Or just give him a few holy-level exercises and instruments to choose from?”

There are also some who are deeply poisoned by Sect Master Lu, half-believing and half-doubting: “Is it fake? If there really is such a disciple, Sect Master Lu would have snatched him away long ago, how could it be our turn? Sect Master Lu, this… this good thing, is he just joking with us when he has nothing to do?”

Several elders met in the private room of Yunxi Restaurant.

They nodded and greeted each other with a smile.

 “Long time no see, Elder Xuanji. Weren’t you in retreat because your cultivation was greatly damaged last time you deduced the secrets of heaven? Why are you out again?”

“Hahaha, thank you Elder Songzhu for your concern. I heard that the food in this restaurant is good, so I came to try it.”

“Elder Xuanji, didn’t you hear that there is a disciple with a wind spirit root who wants to become a disciple, so…”

“How could that be? I am not interested in a disciples with a wind spirit root at all! I definitely didn’t come out of retreat because I wanted to accept a disciple! Elder Songzhu took the initiative to mention the disciple with the wind spirit root, could it be that you——”

“D-Don’t talk nonsense! I don’t want to accept this disciple at all!”

“I heard that this disciple wants to find a master who is proficient in wind attribute magic.”

“I will definitely not switch to wind-based skills.”

“Neither can I. I don’t even know what wind-based skills there are.”

Several elders ordered hot pot soup bases. With smiles on their faces, but complaining in their hearts.

Fuck! I am a fool if I believe your nonsense!!!

You old guys all want to snatch the disciple with wind spirit root from me!!!

You have evil intentions and ulterior motives. How can this be possible!!!

Watch me switch to practicing wind-based skills today and kill you all!!!

At that time, the sky was clear and the air was fresh in Mingchan Pavilion. The exotic flowers and plants were in full bloom in the most prosperous time of the year.

This was the first time Shen Leyan set foot here.

Although Mingchan Pavilion was on the highest peak of Yunxi Sect, the terrain was not steep in the pavilion. The huge courtyard was more like a herbal medicine farm and a zoo. Some exotic flowers were half a person tall and exuded a strong fragrance. Several cranes strolled leisurely by the stream, flapping their wings from time to time.

Shen Leyan followed Lu Yuanyi through a long corridor. When turning a corner, he didn’t pay attention. His hand hanging by his side accidentally hit a flower as big as a bronze mirror.

 Before he could pull his hand away, the flower, which seemed to be swaying gracefully and looked fragile, suddenly opened its bud, revealing dense, pearly white teeth, and swallowed his hand in one gulp.

[◝₍ᴑ̑ДO͝₎◞]

Before he could react, the flower spit out his hand again with a “poof”.

It spoke in human language: “It tastes bad, so bad, urggghh——”

Shen Leyan looked at the faint tooth marks on the back of his hand.

“?”

“This is a carnivorous plant that has cultivated for nearly five hundred years and has developed intelligence.”

“…Carnivorous plant? Then its usual nutrients are…”

“Although it is a carnivorous plant, it likes to eat vegetarian food.”

Shen Leyan watched the carnivorous plant turn its head in disdain, bite a piece of willow branch beside it, and chew it “crunch crunch” while shaking its head. 

[This scene… compared to the man-eating plant, I don’t know which one is more terrifying. ]

The young man carefully put his hands into his sleeves and laughed dryly: “The flowers and plants raised by Sect Master Lu are indeed the same as Sect Master Lu…”

[Abnormal. ]

“Fresh and refined.”

Lu Yuanyi, who was walking half a step ahead of him, stopped and waited for him for a while. His phoenix eyes raised, and he was a little mischievous.

“I have no interest in flowers and plants. These exotic flowers and plants, birds and beasts are all raised by your Senior Brother Zheng.”

Zheng Ziheng has dual spiritual roots of water and wood, and mainly practices water-attributed magic. His spiritual power should be of great benefit to the growth of these plants. Practicing in the herbal medicine farm for many years should also be beneficial to Senior Brother Zheng’s cultivation, which can be regarded as complementary.

 “Brother Zheng hasn’t returned to the sect yet?”

“Yes. He took the Blood-Snake Grass to the capital and hasn’t returned yet. Maybe there’s something else that needs to be arranged at home.”

Shen Leyan nodded.

He remembered that it was mentioned in the original book that Zheng Ziheng was the prince of Yongping Marquis’s Mansion in the Great Xia Dynasty. He should have followed the path of the sons of nobles and entered the palace to accompany the prince, or went to the Imperial Academy to study. When he reached a certain age, he would serve as a guard to gain a gilded position, and then he could get a military position in the army.

But Zheng Ziheng loved reading since he was a child, and unlike ordinary generals who loved fighting and killing, he had a gentle and humble temperament. He was also tested to have both water and wood spiritual roots at a very young age, so he was sent to Yunxi Sect by his family to study when he was ten years old.

Twelve years passed in a flash, and the other party had only returned home a few times.

This time, he finally got the elixir to cure his mentally retarded brother, so it was natural for him to stay in the capital for a while longer.

 It’s just that… he seemed to remember that in the original book, Senior Brother Zheng later fell into disgrace, which was not unrelated to the Yongping Marquis Mansion.

But that was a very late plot in the book, and it would take another year or two. He couldn’t go to the capital now, so he should wait until Senior Brother Zheng came back.

Shen Leyan didn’t think about it anymore. After walking for about a quarter of an hour, they stopped in front of a bamboo building.

There was a plaque on the bamboo building with flowing ink, and it read “Baicao Pavilion”.

There were still ten steps away from the main entrance of the bamboo building, and the faint bitter smell of herbs could be smelled.

“The Fire Sun God Tree that can repair Chen Jing’s meridians is inside. Chen Jing needs to stay here for some time. If you need to find him, you can come to Mingchan Pavilion.”

As Lu Yuanyi finished speaking, an ancient bronze medal fell into his hands.

Shen Leyan picked up the token and looked at it carefully for a while.

 The material of the token should be common copper and iron, with a few strokes engraved on it. It was an ancient tree and a cicada, which is quite artistic.

When you inject spiritual power, you can feel the slight coolness of the copper plate, which has a mysterious function of calming the mind.

“This is…”

“This is the token for entering and leaving Mingchan Pavilion. With it, the formation of Mingchan Pavilion will not stop you. Those exotic flowers and plants planted in the yard, whether they bite or not, will give you some courtesy for the sake of this token.”

The copper plate is tied with a chain, which can be hung around the waist, just like a jade pendant.

Shen Leyan hung it carefully and bowed to Lu Yuanyi.

He said seriously: “Thank you, Sect Master Lu.”

It is to thank him for saving Brother Chen Jing, and also to thank him for this token.

A token that can calm the mind must be beneficial to the way of cultivation. It is definitely not an ordinary pass token.

 [Unconsciously… the favors I owe to Sect Master Lu, Senior Brother Zheng, and Yunxi Sect seem to be increasing. ]

[Apart from staying in the sect to cultivate immortality and working hard to make Yunxi Sect bigger and stronger, it seems that there is no other way to repay these favors…]

Lu Yuanyi took out a piece of dead wood from the “Herb Pavilion”. Unlike ordinary dead wood, the wood was covered with red veins.

Shen Leyan curiously poked it with his fingertips, and a few sparks popped out of the wood in an instant.

[ (⊙o⊙)]

[Isn’t it hot? Sect Master Lu, the ruthless iron hand…]

Lu Yuanyi explained lightly: “You forgot that my spiritual power is of ice attribute, it can’t burn me.”

As he spoke, the piece of Fire Sun God Wood was frozen into a lump of ice.

 [The Ice Spiritual Root is really useful. I can make ice-cooked mutton anytime and anywhere. If I buy something very hot and can’t eat it, I can use my spiritual power to cool it down. Also, there is no refrigerator at this time, and it is not easy to store ice in summer. With the Ice Spiritual Root, I can make iced drinks and iced fruits anytime and anywhere…]

“Hungry?”

Shen Leyan came back from his reverie and shook his head subconsciously.

He hesitated for a moment and nodded again.

He was afraid that it would be bad for Senior Brother Chen Jing to stay in the ice coffin for too long, so he tried to restrain himself along the way and rushed back to Yunxi Sect almost without stopping.

It was already dusk, and he hadn’t eaten lunch yet, let alone dinner. He was already hungry.

“I will stay here to repair Chen Jing’s meridians. Let the Jiang Xue Sword take you to Yunxi Restaurant… Go to bed early today.”

“Thank you, Sect Master Lu!”

He and the Jiang Xue Sword have become very familiar with each other these days. He stood on the Jiang Xue Sword neatly, and the Jiang Xue Sword took him down the mountain without complaint.

Along the way, looking down from the Jiang Xue Sword, the houses were lit up and the streets were bustling with people.

The disciples were in groups of three or five, chatting and laughing.

 Some were talking about how the new teacher in today’s class was too strict and they were punished to copy the classics again.

Some were talking about how they met a beautiful senior sister today and fell in love at first sight. How should they express their feelings?

Some were exchanging the new skills they had learned. After chatting, they went to the martial arts training ground to practice…

Shen Leyan raised the corners of his lips unconsciously, and his dark eyes were stained with a layer of bright glaze by the warm fireworks.

He had always lived in Yunxi Sect and didn’t think it was that good. This time he went on a long journey, and felt homesick.

There seemed to be a disciple behind the Jiang Xue Sword, who was also heading towards the restaurant.

Shen Leyan’s heart was filled with warmth, and he turned his head to greet him enthusiastically.

“You are going to the restaurant to eat too–“

He stared at the little girl with pigtails who was chasing the Jiang Xue Sword for a while.

 “Qingli?!” “Shen Leyan?!”

Shen Leyan signaled the Jiang Xue Sword to fly slower, and waited for Qingli to catch up: “Why are you here?”

“I’m going from Lingxi Pavilion to the restaurant, so of course I have to fly this route – but you, you’ve been away for such a long time since you left Yunxi Sect. If you hadn’t used the shadow transmission technique to contact me last time to ask about Chen Jing’s news, I would have thought you died outside and couldn’t come back!”

Shen Leyan: “…”

“…If it weren’t for Senior Brother Chen Jing, I might have almost never come back.”

Qingli was surprised: “What happened? Didn’t you go with that bad guy Lu Yuanyi?”

Qingli was silent for a while, and tried to ask.

“You met someone that Lu Yuanyi couldn’t beat? Who was it? Can I get to know him…”

“…That’s not the case.”

He briefly told what happened along the way to the southwest border, and the news that Lu Yuanyi was a road idiot.

 “Brother Chen Jing is still sleeping in the ice coffin. Sect Master Lu is repairing his meridians. I’m afraid it will take a few days for him to wake up. I just left Mingchan Pavilion and wanted to go to the restaurant to have a look and eat something.

Qingli was half relieved and half regretful: “Fortunately, you are all fine… So unfortunate, I thought that bad guy Lu Yuanyi was beaten up outside.”

They stopped outside the back door of the restaurant.

The back door of the restaurant is backed by a small hill, and generally not many people will go through here.

The restaurant’s business is really very good. During the days when Qingli was in charge of the store, she asked the chef to learn the snow meringue and taro milk tea he had made before. Now people who come to the restaurant to eat hot pot like to pack a dessert before leaving.

The front door is full of disciples queuing up to get numbers. There are so many people, they should not squeeze in.

“There must be no empty tables in the restaurant. Although you are the boss, you can’t cut in line, right? But you can be self-reliant in the back kitchen, and let me have a bite.”

Shen Leyan laughed: “Okay, I’ll be self-reliant.”

He set up a pot in the back kitchen, cut a few plates of meat rolls, and waited for the water to boil.

There was a curtain between the back kitchen and the front hall. While he was waiting for the ingredients to be cooked, he glanced at the front hall through the gap in the curtain.

The disciples of Yunxi Sect have uniform clothing. The outer disciples are navy blue and the inner disciples are dark ochre-red cloud-patterned robes.

Disciples need to wear uniform clothing in class to prevent the trend of flashy and competitive clothing in the sect.

Only the disciples of the elders who are taught by their own can not wear these clothes because they basically do not go to classes.

But in the front hall of the restaurant today, there are several tables of people wearing various clothes, all of them are new faces.

“… Yunxi Sect has many guests recently?  “

Qingli crossed her legs and ate the meat rolls skillfully.

“Yes, isn’t it almost the five-yearly disciple-recruiting conference? All the people from the nine realms of the Great Xia Dynasty who wanted to come to Yunxi Sect to cultivate have come… Some people arrived early and stayed in the outer gate earlier. Of course, before officially becoming a disciple of Yunxi Sect, food and accommodation must be paid for by themselves.”

“So all these people outside are here for the disciple-recruiting conference?”

“Yes! I heard that even the crown prince of the Great Xia Dynasty and several sons and daughters of big families have come this time… This year’s disciple-recruiting conference is bound to be very lively!”