Chapter 4: Mortal Enemies, Deliberate Difficulties

Ye Qingning was stunned.

Could it be that the elder in charge of testing her spiritual root had a grudge against her?

To be exact, it was Jiang Shaoling who had a grudge against her.

The system wasn’t wrong; she and Jiang Shaoling did indeed have past grievances.

In her previous life, for the sake of finding the Yuluo Celestial Sprout for Xie Jibai, she had ventured alone into the Northern Continent’s Qiongshuang Ice Field, where she had encountered Jiang Shaoling. They fought over the Yuluo Celestial Sprout, and thus, a feud was formed.

And now, what a coincidence, Jiang Shaoling was in charge of managing the spiritual plant garden. Truly, enemies would always cross paths.

It was also fortunate that Jiang Shaoling didn’t recognize her in this life. Otherwise, with his temper, not only would he make things difficult for her, but he wouldn’t even give her a good look.

After a strenuous journey, Ye Qingning finally arrived at the entrance of the spiritual plant garden, clutching her chest and gasping for air.

The door to the garden was open, and inside was a sea of lush, strange flowers and plants, with thick spiritual energy filling the air.

Even though Ye Qingning had entered the core area of the inner sect of the Falling Cloud Sect in her previous life, she had never experienced such dense spiritual energy. It was clear that the Penglai Sect was in a league of its own.

Ye Qingning took a deep breath, feeling the spiritual energy nourish her body like sweet rain, making her feel refreshed and her chest less tight.

She felt so good that for a moment, she almost had the impulse to die right there—well, not die, but she thought that even without completing her heart pulse, she could probably live a few more years.

Thus, regardless of whether Jiang Shaoling was easy to get along with or whether he disliked her, she was determined to stay in the spiritual plant garden.

Ye Qingning knocked on the half-open door, but no one answered. Considering Jiang Shaoling’s bad temper, she decided to sit down on a nearby stone to rest.

She had walked quite a distance, and it was better to sit down and catch her breath.

Not long after she sat down, a youthful voice came from the garden: “Newbie?”

Ye Qingning froze. The voice, which seemed perfect for an online romance, was indeed Jiang Shaoling’s.

It seemed that when she knocked earlier, Jiang Shaoling had already heard it, but just chose to ignore it.

If she had gone in directly instead of sitting down to rest, she might have already been punished.

Suppressing her urge to roll her eyes, Ye Qingning stood up and said, “I’m the new servant disciple, Ye Qingning. May I enter the garden, Senior Brother?”

The atmosphere seemed to freeze for a moment, as if her words had displeased him. After a long pause, she finally heard, “Hm.”

Ye Qingning walked into the garden and immediately spotted a young man standing under a tree.

He had black hair tied up high and wore a pale blue robe, which complemented his youthful, handsome face. He exuded an air of heroic spirit, with a touch of arrogance and wildness, perfectly embodying the energy of youth.

No matter how handsome he was, he still had a bad temper.

No matter how good-looking, he was still a sickly person.

Jiang Shaoling’s gaze fixated on Ye Qingning as he thought to himself.

But he didn’t hide it and even said directly, “What does Elder Xu mean by sending you, a sickly person, to the spiritual plant garden? Does he think we don’t need to work?”

Ye Qingning restrained herself from rolling her eyes, instead giving a faint smile. “If you’re unhappy, Senior Brother, you could talk to Elder Xu and have me reassigned to another place.”

At those words, Jiang Shaoling’s expression immediately turned sour.

A mere servant disciple dared to be picky?

The spiritual plant garden wasn’t some place you could come and go from at will!

Looking at her delicate, sickly appearance, she still had the nerve to be so sharp-tongued. Truly annoying.

Also, she had already called him Senior Brother twice. Who taught her to address him this way? Didn’t anyone tell her that the spiritual plant garden was under his management and he was the disciple of the Elder?

“You called me wrong,” Jiang Shaoling interrupted. “I meant to remind you when you entered, but I didn’t. Now, change the way you address me, and repeat what you just said. If you don’t address me properly, you can keep calling me that.”

Ye Qingning wanted to say—he needed to get treated.

But the next moment, she realized something was off.

The system also reminded her from above: [Ningning, Ningning! Did you forget that Jiang Shaoling is not only an inner disciple but also the direct disciple of the Elder? You shouldn’t call him Senior Brother; you should address him as ‘Uncle Master!’]

Ye Qingning’s mind immediately went blank. She had realized this herself just a moment ago.

When she encountered Shen Xuanli earlier, because Shen Xuanli was the head disciple, all the disciples in the sect had to call him Senior Brother. She had forgotten about the Elder’s higher rank.

Now that she was a servant disciple, she not only had to call her former nemesis “Uncle Master” but also had to endure the annoyance in her heart.

She wasn’t happy, but she couldn’t avoid it. She forced a smile and repeated, “Disciple Ye Qingning greets Uncle Master Jiang. If Uncle Master dislikes me being a servant in the spiritual plant garden, I can talk to Elder Xu and ask to be reassigned elsewhere.”

Jiang Shaoling laughed lightly.

“Uncle Master” did sound quite nice.

It seemed she not only knew that the spiritual plant garden was managed by the Elder, but she also already knew his surname.

If that was the case, how could she not know the Elder’s stubborn nature? Once he made a decision, it was very hard to change.

For her to suggest he go and talk to Elder Xu, he really dared to say it.

“Since you’ve come to the spiritual plant garden, don’t think about leaving or picking and choosing,” Jiang Shaoling said. “But it’s not that easy to stay here and work. Before you tend to the plants, you’ll need to remember the appearance, names, growth habits, and medicinal effects of every single spiritual plant here.”

“Everything I just mentioned is recorded in these books. Take them and read them carefully. Tomorrow at this time, I’ll personally test you.”

“If you pass, you can stay in the spiritual plant garden. If you fail to answer any questions, don’t blame me for kicking you out of here!”

Seeing Jiang Shaoling take out a thick stack of books from his space ring, the system immediately exploded: [So many books, and you expect her to memorize them all in one night?! Jiang Shaoling is clearly doing this on purpose to make things hard for you! What a jerk!]

Ye Qingning didn’t complain. She accepted the books and hugged them close to her chest, saying, “Uncle Master Jiang, may I leave now to read these books?”

Jiang Shaoling nodded slightly, signaling for her to leave.

He hadn’t expected Ye Qingning to accept the books without any reaction, as if she was actually willing to memorize everything in one night.

How arrogant. That wasn’t a good thing.

Just as he was about to leave, he noticed something on her back—her bundle of belongings. His brows furrowed slightly as if he had remembered something. He called out to her, “Go to the back yard and get your badge and servant’s uniform from Elder Qi before you leave.”

Ye Qingning turned around and nodded. It wasn’t until an hour later that she finally returned to the initial academy.

The reason for the delay was that disciples in the Penglai Sect were assigned to different areas based on their rank.

The inner sect had the densest spiritual energy, while the outer sect had much thinner spiritual energy. Naturally, the accommodations were also ranked accordingly.

The further you were from the inner sect, the worse your living conditions were.

The Initial Academy was located on the outer edge of the outer sect, far from the inner sect and the spiritual plant garden. Although the sect had established energy ladders between peaks, Ye Qingning’s frail body and her pile of books made it hard for her to move quickly. She had to rest frequently along the way.

Finally, when she entered the academy, she saw a two-story building facing north with several single-story houses on each side. Each room had a name tag, marking which disciple lived there.

[By the way, Ningning, your room is on the second floor! And guess what, Su Ruoxi will be sharing the room with you!]

[At least it’s a four-person room. If it were just you and her, that would be bad luck.]

As a servant disciple, Ye Qingning didn’t expect to have a room to herself. Many sects made even outer disciples share rooms. Only inner disciples could have their own rooms.

Top disciples got not just rooms, but entire mountains for themselves.

Strength determined everything, including where you stayed. There was nothing to complain about.

Though Ye Qingning couldn’t help but miss her mountain from her past life.

“Ah, I thought someone else had returned. It’s our little Ye sister!”