82. Eh? Your disciple is missing too? Ah? They’re at the demonic beasts’ enclosures?!!

afflinghaze

By the edge of the pond was a mixed group of male inner and outer sect disciples.

“...What’s so good about this place?” an outer sect disciple was saying.

“If you don’t want to, then just sit quietly,” Wang Li Wei retorted. After long indecision, he had finally agreed to take his friends to where he had been ‘mysteriously disappearing’ too. The fact that they clearly didn’t appreciate it made his glare deepen. “Leave and let me cultivate in peace!”

Some of the friends who weren’t yet inner sect disciples all paled as they felt the heavy pressure on them. “Cultivate! We’ll cultivate too!”

Wang Li Wei snorted. He raised his chin pompously. “Then sit down.”

His friends grudgingly sat down.

Wang Li Wei stepped them through the process: from handing them food to entice the cats, to teaching them how to pet the cats, to the breathing method that reduced heart demons.

“Hey, this isn’t so bad!”

“I think some of my meridians are less sluggish,” another friend agreed.

Wang Li Wei’s chest puffed up proudly. “That’s right.”

Meanwhile, on the other side by a large cat playground, Zhang Wu was showing Hu Jingyan and Gao Ming, two of Liu Zhongmin’s disciples, the small cats.

“They’re so cute,” Hu Jingyan said, rubbing a furry face against her cheek.

“Meow meooowww~”

“I can see why Sun-shidi frequents this place,” Gao Ming agreed. He scratched the little chin of the little cat that had been coaxed into his arms.

“In fact, this garden is new,” Zhang Wu said knowledgeably. “Cultivator Huang’s transformation of this place is genius.”

Speak of the devil—the three of them turned their heads towards the approaching Huang Jialing and Qian Jiarui.

“Oh, good afternoon, Cultivator Huang, Cultivator Qian,” Zhang Wu greeted, a little embarrassed. “I was showing Cultivator Hu and Cultivator Gao…”

“Do as you wish,” Huang Jialing said carelessly.

“Be at ease,” Qian Jiarui added.

The two women strolled past them, hand-in-hand. Qian Jiarui swept her gaze around, taking in the fruits of her girlfriend’s labour.

“It looks very relaxing, to rival the other gardens in the Sect. Are you planning to change cultivation methods now that Disciple Wen has tamed all the demonic beasts?”

The last part was a tease, but both of them realised that it was...sort of true. Huang Jialing had been focusing more on healing cultivation and pill making lately, instead of training the demonic beasts.

They soon came by where Wen Zhihao and the others were sitting.

After a round of greetings, Qian Jiarui’s eyes narrowed in on the written talisman being ejected from a black box. “What is that?”

“Oh, this? Let me show you,” Wen Zhihao said, grinning. He liked the feeling of showing off this new ‘cultivatech’. (Magictech? Qitech?)

Wen Zhihao first used a special brush pen to write a talisman. The brush pen was then inserted into a slot in the black box, qi-infused ink into a compartment, and talisman paper was fed through the top. After pressing some buttons, cooking-fire-talismans emerged from the box, one by one, each of them looking very similar to the original talisman that Wen Zhihao had written.

Wen Zhihao handed out the original and printed talismans to Qian Jiarui. “Senior Qian, you can check for yourself the effectiveness of these talismans.”

Qian Jiarui reluctantly accepted the talismans and activated a freshly printed one. Fireless heat immediately issued from it, though it was not hot enough to burn her as a Nascent Soul cultivator.

It worked.

Like most of Wen Zhihao’s talismans, it was not as effective as any other talisman cultivator’s spell. However, if Wen Zhihao could easily produce twice as many, then it was only a matter of resources, however underutilised.

Qian Jiarui frowned. “Disciple Wen, if this device produces talismans, then you are not cultivating yourself.”

Wen Zhihao put on a chagrined smile. “Of course, I’ll still write all my quota talismans by hand,” he assured her, thinking, cultivating myself? When did I ever do that? He still didn’t understand how he had reached Late-Stage Golden Core.

Meanwhile, Sun Fuyu was confused. If this device could write talismans for Wen-ge, didn’t that mean Wen-ge would have more time to sleep and cultivate?

Qian Jiarui, who had seen Wen Zhihao’s momentary confusion about ‘cultivating himself’, was speechless.

How had she forgotten Wen Zhihao’s nature? She exhaled and echoed the words of her girlfriend earlier: “Do as you wish.”

Huang Jialing patted Qian Jiarui’s arm in comfort. “Have a good afternoon, Disciple Wen, Disciple Sun, children,” Huang Jialing farewelled.

“Good afternoon, Cultivator Huang,” the children chorused.

Huang Jialing skipped showing Qian Jiarui the pavilion where Zhou Sheng was coaxing Lin Yijun to try stinky tofu and took her girlfriend straight to the nearest courtyard garden instead.

The two of them sat down. Huang Jialing served them both spiritual tea, flavoured cubes of sweet yellow mango.

Qian Jiarui picked up her teacup, breathing in the rich qi and sweet fragrance. “That Disciple Wen...how exactly does he cultivate?”

Huang Jialing shrugged. “Only the Heavens know. As it is, he causes less trouble than some other junior cultivators.”

Qian Jiarui smiled wryly. “You sound like Elder Liu Ru.”

“If I could achieve a fraction of her wisdom, I would be happy,” Huang Jialing replied. “While she was gone, I recall that you had to take over some of her responsibilities.”

Qian Jiarui immediately made a face. “Aiya, don’t remind me. Some junior talisman cultivators decided it was a great idea to make sword summoning talismans and duel some sword cultivators…”

“Meanwhile, Disciple Wen doesn’t fight at all,” Huang Jialing said.

“...I understand.” As an administrator, wouldn’t it be great if the juniors quietly studied and fulfilled their quota requirements instead of trying to go around comparing sword sizes?

“Let us not speak of this matter further,” Qian Jiarui said. “Now that Elder Liu Ru is back, I have some more time…”

Huang Jialing’s eyes flashed. Her lips curled up suggestively. “Hmm….”

Elsewhere in the Golden Sun Sect, two annoyed Senior Cultivators met up with each other.

“Disciple Wang is not training with the others once again,” Senior Cultivator Zhao complained. “I accepted him because Elder Wang wanted me to, and yet he goes missing like this. No wonder…” He trailed off pointedly. Among their circle, everyone knew that Elder Wang’s grandson, Wang Li Wei, was far from the genius he should have been.

Senior Cultivator Yu narrowed his eyes. “Disciple Wang Li Wei is missing? His friend, my Disciple Luan Hengwei, is also missing. Your Disciple Wang must have led my disciple astray! Disciple Luan actually has potential”

“How dare you!” Violent qi erupted into the air.

“Senior Cultivators, please, what is the matter?” Elder Liu Ru walked up towards them.

Both Cultivator Zhao and Cultivator Yu shut up and didn’t say anything, but Elder Liu Ru had already heard their argument.

“Perhaps your two disciples are merely cultivating in a different location,” she suggested calmly. “Taking a rest is also an important part of the cultivation process.”

“Yes, Elder Liu,” Cultivator Zhao said unwillingly.

Elder Liu Ru inclined her head. “Next time, do remember to keep any duels to pre-designated areas.”

After Elder Liu Ru left, the two senior cultivators glared at each other and snorted.

“Your disciple would rather go and play,” they said simultaneously, then scowled again.

Cultivator Zhao lifted his chin. “I'm going to go find Disciple Wang.”

“I’m going to look for Disciple Luan,” Cultivator Yu retorted.

As neither of them paid that much attention to their new disciples and their qi, they had to search the entire Sect visually rather than sweeping out their qi awareness. Cultivator Zhao did so from the air, and he scowled when he saw Cultivator Yu do the same thing.

They both spotted their missing disciples at the same time: at what should have been the demonic beasts' enclosures.

Cultivator Yu frowned as he quickly flew to the area. “Isn’t that Disciple Huang in charge of that? Who let her take down the beasts’ cage?! And you!” He glared when Cultivator Zhao caught up to him. “Disciple Wang is down there, as I expected!”

“Tch, look at your Disciple Luan hugging a demonic beast!”

“Your Disciple Wang is doing the same thing!”

The two of them fought to descend first, so fast, that they didn’t realise who else was down there.

“Disciple Wang!—”

“Disciple Luan!—”

Their reprimands came to a choked stop.

“Cultivator Yu, Cultivator Zhao,” Lin Yijun greeted formally.

It wasn’t just Wang Li Wei and his friends: Wen Zhihao’s group, Zhang Wu and Hu Jingyan and Gao Ming, and Lin Yijun and Zhou Sheng had all gathered along with the demonic cats and demonic wolf. Cultivators, children, teenagers, and animals alike sat in various positions on laid out blankets, sampling various dishes from opened food boxes.

(Lin Yijun had desperately washed away the taste of stinky tofu with spiritual spring water and dumplings dipped in too much soy sauce and vinegar.)

Cultivator Zhao clasped his fists in apology. “Cultivator Lin, I am here for Disciple Wang. He is missing out on his cultivation practice. I will take him away and not interrupt your...time any further.”

“Disciple Luan, too,” Cultivator Yu added. “And you outer sect disciples should be in class.”

Wang Li Wei paled. His arms tightened around the soft dangerous cat, giving a pleading look towards Wen Zhihao. Wen Zhihao in turn gave Lin Yijun a pointed look.

Cultivator Zhao expected Lin Yijun to obey, but instead, Lin Yijun replied:

“Cultivator Zhao, Cultivator Yu, forgive me for being presumptuous for taking up your disciples’ time. I will personally ensure that Disciple Wang and Disciple Luan complete cultivation practice later today.”

Cultivator Yu’s gaze swept over the mixed group of mortals and cultivators. Those mortals must have been the slaves Elder Liu was going on about. He snorted. “If Cultivator Lin has offered, then I will accept. Disciple Luan, prepare for an examination of your skills tomorrow.” With that, he left first.

Cultivator Zhao felt pressured to agree. “Then I will leave Disciple Wang to your capable hands.” The unspoken implication was that if Elder Wang came to question him on Wang Li Wei’s cultivation, he would be throwing any faults to Lin Yijun.

Lin Yijun nodded.

With a toss of his hair, Cultivator Zhao flew away. When he looked back, he saw Lin Yijun speaking to a sloppily dressed talisman cultivator. Who was that? Clearly not someone from their circles.

Pei,1A spitting sound he wasn’t surprised that Elder Liu Ru would allow one of her disciples to be so slovenly. He wondered if Lin Yijun’s parents knew that their son was associating with Elder Liu’s faction…

Wen Zhihao: *sneeze*

Sun Fuyu: (╬ಠ益ಠ) who is insulting my ge this time?!!!

Huang Jialing: Meanwhile, Disciple Wen doesn’t fight at all.

Sun Fuyu: And don’t I know it...Wen-ge, can you make some more defensive talismans for me? And um, Wen-ge, can you keep them for now...And Wen-ge, can I borrow your sword again...

Wen Zhihao: *oblivious* Okay!

Hmm little promotion corner for novels I found recently?

One is World Symphony Mediator, which is a fantasy VRMMORPG where the main character is a mediator, aka someone who tries to reduce conflict between characters and NPCs. Almost like a more formal version of Wen Zhihao?

Another is How to Catch a Celestial Fox, which is an omegaverse xianxia with an omega/alpha pairing. While I’m picky with my omegaverse readings (Accidental Mark ????), I think the combination of omegaverse and xianxia is quite interesting.