Translator: Subudai11 Editor: Chrissy

  In the blooming spring season, the Spirit Sword Sect was once again teeming with people like in the past—despite in the first place, this declining sect didn’t have much people.

  However, in the past one year of experiential learning, the place has been short of a few dozens alive and kicking Qi Cultivating Stage Disciples, so the mountain had indeed been deserted by many. Except for the Foundation Establishment and Xudan Stage Disciples, there were not a lot of people that remained at the Sect all year round. Let alone the few Elders who always wandered around as they please, even the Jindan Stage Disciple, all of them were restless, always running around. For the Spirit Sword Sect, this entire year of experiential learning was like a desolate house where the entire family had been murdered. Now that the newcomers returned to the mountain in cheers, the mountain became somewhat livelier.

  After returning from the experiential learning, the Sect was humane enough to put a few days off. On the one hand, it gave the disciples chance to change their frame of mind of the year long experiential learning in the mortal world so that they were ready to return to their Immortal Cultivation practice, and on the other hand, it also gave the Elders the time to review the reports and made the appropriate decision on the next step on how to help the disciples cultivate in accordance with their aptitude according to the report content.

  Reviewing these reports was a rather troublesome work. Despite the reviewers were full of Yuanying, and even one Deity Stage Elders—not only their mind could work as fast as lightning, they could even think nine different things at once, which was very extraordinary—they must read these dozens of reports carefully, used the words as the foundation, and in their mind, outlined the full year of experiential learning for each of these Disciples and looked at it from the “bird’s eye view” perspective. After which, they even need to carefully analyze the gains and losses, the success and failures, which was a very taxing work to their mind.

  These few days, the main Elders who went through and scrutinized the reports, Liu Xian and Fang He, were exhausted.

  Of course, just a few dozens of reports wouldn’t really make the two Yuanying Stage Elders exhausted to dead. Although it would make them a little bit busy, but not that tired. The real cause of their haggard looking was another reason entirely.

  “… Senior Brother, forgive my incompetence, but I can’t continue checking this report. Why don’t we hand it over to the Sect Leader to decide? If I continue to read it, I’m afraid I’m going into a depression.”


  “Hey, why the talk about incompetence, I also felt depressed when I read that report. It’s just that, it’s really a pity that child Zhu Qin has done a painstaking effort in writing this report, and the result could even be said as a very fine article, but eventually, it’s like giving your wedding dress to other people.”


  “After all, we just want them to progress fast in their cultivation, a fine quality report is just a fine quality report. We never expect these children to be able to write any profound truth. And for Zhu Qin to have this kind of insight, it must have been quite difficult for him, however, in the end…” Fang He paused, and then somewhat reluctantly said, “In the end, he can’t be compared to Wang Lu.”


  Speaking to this, Fang He didn’t want to continue talking about this anymore, so he quickly changed the topic. “Senior Brother, have you seen Liu Li’s report? I don’t seem to see it here…”


  Liu Xian shook his head. “Still in her Master’s hand. Even though he sent little Liu Li here to be under my care before descending the mountain and before Junior Brother Zhou went out wandering, after all, she’s the disciple of Brilliant Peak, and her Immortal Cultivation Core Method is Junior Brother Zhou’s Brilliant Sword Heart, so naturally, she must report to Junior Brother Zhou first.”


  Regarding this matter, it was actually a bit of a pity. A year ago, because his Junior Brother went out wandering, he became a substitute Master for little Liu Li for about a month. During which, he found out that he was very much fond of Liu Li’s childlike innocence and amazing aptitude and perception. Thus, he began to regard her as his Successor Disciple. He even began to plot to deceive his Junior Brother to wager little Liu Li on the Mahjong table sometimes in the future so that that child could inherit his mantle. Unfortunately, the Sect’s Successor Disciple was not a holiday gift box that could be exchanged at will. Liu Xian thus could only sigh at his own luck for not meeting this good timber, fine jade kind of material. Of course, as the Sect’s Reward-Giver Elder, it was actually very difficult for him to train a Successor Disciple because if in the future he wanted to pass on his mantle as the owner of the Misty Peak, he has to first retire from the Reward-Giver position.

  While Liu Xian and Fang He were talking, they saw ahead of them a flash of sword light. It was their Fourth Junior Brother on his flying sword coming to them. The Fourth Elder’s countenance contained three parts helpless and seven parts depressed. Seeing this, Liu Xian mused, “Did little Liu Li angered you?”


  Zhou Ming peevishly snorted.

  Fang He said, “Did Junior Brother get Liu Li’s report? Before we hand all the reports to the Sect Leader tomorrow, Second Brother and I have to go through it first.”


  As soon as he said that, Fang He immediately knew that something was not right because he saw his Fourth Junior Brother’s facial expression turning gloomy. After a long time, he finally heard him softly asked, “Senior Brother, do you really want to see it?”


  Regarding this part, Fang He, of course, didn’t really want to. However, Zhou Ming had already sighed in despair as he handed over the report to him. Fang He curiously opened it and took a look, and he was immediately speechless.

  No words could explain it except it was full of Liu Li’s style:

  “The first day of experiential learning: Today I ate barbecue. Delicious.”


  “The thirteenth day of experiential learning: Today I ate grilled fish. It’s so delicious.”


  “The seventy-second day of experiential learning: Today I ate crab spring roll. Delicious.”


  “Day seventy-third: I saw a beautiful skirt today, unfortunately, I have no money to buy it. The store owner also didn’t want to give it to me. What should I do?”


  Day seventy-fourth: I ate roasted corn today, and it’s quite delicious.”


  “Day one hundred and twenty-first: I didn’t eat today, so hungry.”


  “Day three hundred and sixth: Today I met twelve strange people. They said they wanted me to be their tripod furnace. I wanted to ask them if they had anything good for me to eat, but I recalled Master’s words about absolutely must not let myself become other people’s tripod furnace, so I had to refuse them. They wanted to catch me, so I hit them with the sword according to Master’s instruction; they were fierce, but I am fiercer. In the end, they couldn’t defeat me. Later, after being beaten, some of them vomited blood core. It looked quite delicious, but Master said I couldn’t randomly eat things that were unknown, so I had to give it up.”


  “Day three hundred and twelfth: Ate rice cakes today, really delicious.”


  ……


  It took a while for Fang He to finally fold the report again and another half a day before he said, “There’s no lack of childlike quality.”


  Zhou Ming forgot himself and angrily slapped the table. “She’s already seventeen going eighteen years old and has been on the mountain for almost ten years, yet still behave like a child!? Before she descended the mountain, I had repeatedly reminded her to carefully write the report no less than ten times. I even told her to read the report examples. Yet, on return, she gave me such a food diary!? This is so infuriating!”


  At this time, in order to comfort Zhou Ming, as well as spreading his grievance, Liu Xian, also sighing, passed over a report to Zhou Ming. “Junior Brother, you need to look at this report to alleviate some of your frustration.”


  Zhou Ming took the report and began to scrutinize it. However, after a long time, he still couldn’t open his mouth, apparently speechless.

  “This report… I really have no way to judge it, better to hand it over to Sect Leader.” With that, he couldn’t help but laugh. “Luckily, it’s Fifth Junior Sister who sheltered him; besides her, no one can teach such a disciple.”


  ——


  Three days later at the Stellar Peak, Sect Leader Daoist Master Feng Yin, holding a report, continued to bitterly smile.

  “Oh, these several Successor Disciples of Spirit Sword Sect, one is excellent, and the other one makes people worry; this Liu Li… No wonder it makes Junior Brother flustered in frustration. Even though the prerequisite to practice the Brilliant Sword Heart is to have a clear mind, at this point, how could she assume an important role in the future?”


  A dismissive voice came from the side.

  “Humph, why would a woman need to assume important role? She just needs to find a local boss to keep her as a mistress, and later on, she would enjoy endless glory, splendor, and wealth.”


  Feng Yin flicked his head to the side. “Why don’t you find one yourself?”


  The woman replied without skipping a beat, “Senior Brother, keep me.”


  “You need to first pay back the money that you owe me.” Feng Yin lightly brushed her off, and then he said, “Did you know that a few days ago, someone from the Shengjing Sect came to visit us?”


  “The guy who rode a donkey? He did have some skill; what did he want?”


  “What else? Naturally, it’s because the trouble stemming from your beloved Disciple.”


  The woman shrugged. “So what, the sect is already a member of Union of Ten Thousand Immortal, there’s nothing he can do about it.”


  “Nonsense, don’t you know how your disciple was able to let his sect be a member of the union? If not for the sake of Spirit Sword Sect’s face, he wouldn’t have been able to deliver that two million spirit stones! Now, people don’t find trouble because they know there’s Spirit Sword Sect behind it; they even turn a blind eye to the use of Heaven Burning Blood Technique. However, you also shouldn’t forget that more than a year ago, because of this Heaven Burning Blood Technique, you made the Shengjing Sect suffer such a huge loss of face. And now Spirit Sword Sect is basically repeating the same trick, guess what the Shenjing Sect would think about this?”


  The woman was naturally too lazy to guess. “In short, did he find any fault?”


  Feng Yin said, “No, he didn’t. After all, if our Spirit Sword Sect insists on suppressing this thing, there’s nothing he could say. In the Central Region, the conduct of Shengjing Sect is far more oppressive than your disciple’s Wisdom Sect; though without the method that breaks the harmony of heaven like the Heaven Burning Blood Technique, it’s a well-known fact that they amassed financial resources from millions upon millions of people, which enriched many Immortal Cultivators. And at least for now, there’s not much corruption in Wang Lu’s Wisdom Sect. It is an open secret that Immortal Cultivation World basically suppresses mortal world; nothing can be blamed on it. If he wants to insist on picking a quarrel over this matter, not only will it cast his Shengjing Sect in a bad light, the entire union members of the Union of Ten Thousand Immortals in the whole Blue River Region will be implicated; it would do more harm than good to him.”


  “Then, what’s the point in bringing it out?”


  Feng Yin said with a smile, “In this world, the truth is always like this: when there’s oppression, there’s resistance. The Immortal Cultivation World has always been squeezing the world of mortals, and the world of mortals would often revolt. However, for tens of thousands of years, this hierarchy is still unshakeable… After all, we, Immortal Cultivators, ultimately are better at killing people. However, the resistance of this suppression not just come from the mortal world itself; take a look at this report.”


  The woman took over the report and browsed through it. After some time, she laughed. “This is ghostwriting.”


  “…That child Zhu Qin is a crown prince of a country, so it’s not a surprise if he had help from his country’s scholars. The key here is the meaning of the content.”


  The woman put aside that report. “What do you mean? It’s basically just moaning while being raped, nothing more; it’s just a cliche.”


  Feng Yin said, “There’s nothing surprising about the report itself, but when you combine it with this?”


  With that, he passed over a letter to her. The woman was stunned when she read it. “Union of Ten Thousand Immortals’ General Assembly information? This… this is the mortal world’s representative from the State of Qin in the Central Region? They also request the Immortal Cultivation World to strengthen the control and guidance of the mortal world? Interesting, what a coincidence.”


  Feng Yin sneered. “What coincidence? This kind of proposal happens every time there’s a General Assembly. Every time, there’s also a written comment from the union leader, yet, in the end, it’s still bullsheet because nothing is ever implemented. They all ended up chanting out some slogan. With Shengjing Sect as a precedent, no one ever dared to propose a thorough investigation on the interference of the Immortal Cultivation World towards the mortal world in the union's general assembly. Even if they raise it, it’s still useless because only low-rank small sects that committed crimes would be put in order. However, the number of people who proposed this thing was getting increasingly larger. Now, even our Spirit Sword Sect has encountered this kind of thing. Although the Shengjing Sect is at the height of their power, the pressure on them is a hundred times more than us.”


  The woman blinked. “So, that donkey riding Daoist came here to commiserate together with us?”


  “Not just to commiserate together with us, Kong Zhang also came here in a personal capacity. Under the surface, he insinuated that he want to consult.”


  “Consult? About what?”


  “That guy was very secretive with his words, never said it outright. At first, I thought he’s just mentally ill, but a few days after he went away, I get this report. Finally, I understand the thing that he wanted to ask. Oh, the chosen one really lives up to his name.”


  Feng Yin sighed and then opened up the report that he has seen through the most.”


  “Serve the People!” [1]

  …


  Note:

  [1] It’s also the political slogan of CCP.