CH 17

Time flew by, and soon, eight years had passed.

Yunhua Realm, Tianxuan Sect.

On this day, the morning breeze blew through the verdant mountains and forests. The sun that rose from the east shone brightly.

The soft light of dawn fell gently on the arena in the square on Zizai Peak, outlining two competing figures.

The movements of the two of them changed quickly, leaving afterimages, and sword light appeared suddenly. In just a moment, dozens of moves were exchanged between them.

Ding—!

A sudden, metallic collision was heard, and in the lingering final note, the outcome of the spar was decided.

A young man dressed in rustling black clothes stood still in the center of the arena. With a flourish, the spiritual sword in his hand was returned to its scabbard neatly.

In front of him, another sword cultivator dressed in similar attire also stood firm. Seeing that he was defeated, the expression on his face changed from stunned to amazed. He couldn’t help but sigh with emotion.

“Yan-shidi, no, I really should call you Yan-shixiong now. Your swordsmanship is getting better and better. I’ve lost.”

The person who said this was Liu Weiming, the direct disciple of the Tianxuan Sect Head, and the former head disciple of Tianxuan Sect.

The winner was Yan Jiuge, a genius sword cultivator who entered Tianxuan Sect during the last round of the immortal sect selection.

“Liu-shidi, I accept your loss.”

Yan Jiuge raised his eyebrows, and responded to Liu Weiming’s call of shixiong in a good mood.

The Grand Competition of Tianxuan Sect was held once a year, and the sword cultivator disciples who entered the sect in the past hundred years had to participate. According to the rankings, the new head disciple would be chosen.

A shidi who had just started eight years ago had now become everyone’s shixiong. Yan Jiuge’s reputation had long spread throughout Yunhua Realm, and everyone knew that their Tianxuan Sect had a sword cultivator that was the pride of the Heavens.

But few knew that Tianxuan Sect had another proud son of Heaven besides Yan Jiuge.

A young man wearing the robes of a Tianxuan Sect medical cultivator stood at the edge of the arena. The sunlight fell over his handsome and gentle expression. His face was like fine jade, and his posture was as straight as bamboo. His whole aura was so gentle that people often couldn’t look away.

The medical cultivators in Tianxuan Sect lived secluded from the rest of the sect, and rarely came down from Zhongling Peak. It wasn’t until this Chu-shidi entered that the situation changed.

In the past few years, because of Chu-shidi’s talent in medical skills, Zhongling Peak had cultivated so many medicinal fields that they had to allocate an entire small mountain to him.

Every three months, sword cultivator disciples would have to don talismans that blocked their qi to go and help the medical cultivator disciples harvest the spiritual plants. This had become one of the regular tasks assigned in Tianxuan Sect, and they would be rewarded by medicinal pills refined by the medical cultivators.

After that, these Tianxuan Sect sword cultivators no longer needed to buy medicine from Fuyao Palace or Qingling Sect! The spiritual stones they saved could be used to nourish their spiritual swords and practice! Life was so much better!!

Medical cultivators like Chu-shidi could be described as a gift from the Heavens.

The crowd quieted down.

Once the competition in the arena was over, Yan Jiuge turned around and jumped down from the stage, walking straight in the direction of Chu Qi. The two stood side by side, one lowered his eyes, while the other raised them. When talking, there was always an atmosphere that made others feel like they could not interfere.

All the sword cultivator disciples in Tianxuan Sect knew that the relationship between the two of them was the best in the entire sect.

Since they were young, they had been inseparable. Even now, no one could get as close as the two of them were.

—

“Ah-Qi.”

A familiar voice fell into Chu Qi’s ears. He stood still and watched Yan Jiuge approach.

The tall and straight-backed young man in black blocked the sunlight in front of Chu Qi, unscrupulously shrouding him in his shadow.

Chu Qi raised his head slightly and responded as always, “En.”

Looking at the messy hair on Yan Jiuge’s forehead, he thought quietly to himself.

Over these past eight years, there were many things that had changed a lot, but there were still things that had remained the same.

From the time they were kids until they reach young adulthood, they had advanced from Foundation Establishment stage to Golden Core stage, and both had made their own achievements in cultivation.

—But Yan Jiuge was still half a head taller than him.

What made Chu Qi even more depressed was that when a cultivator became an adult, his body and appearance would basically never change. When they were still young, it wasn’t set in stone, but now there was no hope for him.

“What are you thinking about?” Yan Jiuge saw that Chu Qi was a little distracted.

Chu Qi snapped back to reality and answered him, “I was just thinking about how much I’ve changed since we first entered Tianxuan Sect.”

“Really?” Yan Jiuge narrowed his eyes, as if he was thinking about something, and fixed his gaze on Chu Qi.

“…” With Yan Jiuge looking at him like this, Chu Qi began to have a bad premonition. He subconsciously asked, “Yes, don’t you think so too?”

Yan Jiuge couldn’t be as obsessed with their heights as he was, could he?

“Ah-Qi hasn’t changed.” Yan Jiuge said seriously.

“What do you mean by that?” Chu Qi was puzzled.

Even if he was half a head shorter than Yan Jiuge, he still had grown taller.

“Call me shixiong without your ears turning red.”

A gleam of light flashed across Yan Jiuge’s eyes as he brought up old matters again. In addition, after the sect competition today, Yan Jiuge became Tianxuan Sect’s head disciple, so Chu Qi was running out of excuses.

“Speaking of which, now that I’ve become the head disciple, I still haven’t heard you call me that yet.”

“…”

Chu Qi was shocked.

He had already noticed that Yan Jiuge was playing one of his tricks, but he didn’t expect that after so many years, Yan Jiuge was still thinking about getting him to say ‘shixiong’.

How childish.

Chu Qi stared at Yan Jiuge, and his usual calm and peaceful expression gained a bit of liveliness. The tips of his ears under the silver leaf hair ornaments were quickly suffused with crimson in the shadow of Yan Jiuge.

“I won’t.” Chu Qi refused, “I’m a medical cultivation disciple. You’re just the head disciple of the sword cultivators.”

After coming up with an excuse, Chu Qi didn’t forget to add, “It’s been so many years, why are you still thinking about this. Childish.”

Yan Jiuge just smiled without saying anything, his eyes filled with the appearance of Chu Qi struggling to find a reason.

He knew that Chu Qi’s face was thin as a child, and it hadn’t changed much over the years.

But he couldn’t say this, otherwise he’d turn embarrassment into anger.

Yan Jiuge said regretfully, “Then don’t.”

—

While the two were talking, Liu Weiming’s voice came from a little way away.

“Yan-shidi… No, Yan-shixiong, Chu-shidi, the Sect Head is calling you two to the main hall to discuss some things.”

Liu Weiming still wasn’t used to the change of address.

Although interrupting the two shidi… two fellow disciples’ chat wasn’t good, the Sect Head and the Elders were waiting for them in the main hall.

Liu Weiming had no choice but to butt in and urge them from a distance.

“We’ll head over there now.” Chu Qi responded and walked towards the main hall of Zizai Peak together with Yan Jiuge.

Coincidentally, Tianxuan Sect’s competition ended at the same time that a big secret realm was opened in Yunhua Realm.

The Sect Head intended to let the top twenty disciples in the sect’s Grand Competition go to gain experience. The head disciple would be the one to lead them.

In his last life, Chu Qi’s talent in swordsmanship wasn’t very good, and he only ranked fiftieth in the competition, so he didn’t get the chance to go to this secret realm.

But Chu Qi heard that shortly after the secret realm was opened, Yun Jiangmiao of the Yushou Sect had made a contract with a nine-tailed spiritual fox while inside.

Thinking about it this way, there should be a lot of treasures and opportunities in this secret realm. After all, it even had the rumored nine-tailed fox.

Stepping into the hall, Chu Qi found that there were more Elders present than he expected.

There were a total of six Elders in Tianxuan Sect, and all of them were here today. Even Elder Qingyue, Chu Qi’s shifu was among them.

This surprised Chu Qi from the bottom of his heart.

You should know that, if it wasn’t completely necessary, his shifu wouldn’t leave Zhongling Peak.

“I summoned the two of you here today because I have something important to discuss with you.” The Tianxuan Sect Head spoke first, “Presumably, you have also heard the news that the Yunxi Secret Realm is going to be opened soon and that it just so happens to be scheduled for half a month after our sect’s Grand Competition.”

“Yes, this disciple has heard about it.”

Chu Qi and Yan Jiuge nodded.

“Now that Yan Jiuge has officially been awarded the title of head disciple among the sword cultivators, you will be responsible for leading your fellow disciples to experience this Yunxi Secret Realm. Great strength bears great responsibility1. I hope that you can bring them all back safely. If fate makes this difficult, protect as many as you can.”

The Tianxuan Sect Head urged Yan Jiuge earnestly.

“This disciple understands. I will follow the Sect Head’s instructions.” Yan Jiuge responded.

“After careful discussion between all of us, we decided to allow the medical disciple, Chu Qi, to go with you.”

The Sect Head’s tone was serious.

When the two of them heard his words, they raised their heads one after another in surprise.

Ever since Chu Qi joined Tianxuan Sect as a medical practitioner, he was protected under the careful watch of Elder Qingyue.

Don’t even mention traveling far away to gain experience, even if he just went near the mountain gate, he needed to report to him in advance. He would only be allowed to leave after receiving a bunch of defensive spiritual tools.

Apparently, Elder Qinyue was terrified by that time that Chu Qi went out to the stone forest on his own eight years ago.

There were only three medical cultivators in the entire Tianxuan Sect, and Chu Qi was extremely talented amongst them. If anything happened to him, he would have been heartbroken.

But now, Elder Qingyue actually agreed to Chu Qi going out to gain experience.

“Yan Jiuge, you and Chu Qi have always had a great relationship, so you should continue to take care of him when you go outside. Don’t let others bully him.”

Elder Qingyue couldn’t help but follow up.

“This disciple will definitely protect him well and bring him back unharmed.” Yan Jiuge’s tone was dead serious.

“Medical cultivators are weak and not as good at fighting as sword cultivators. When you go out, don’t try to be brave. If you encounter danger, hide behind the sword cultivators, understand?” Elder Qingyue addressed Chu Qi this time.

He was clear about his little apprentice’s temper. He didn’t like to trouble others, and occasionally he would rush forward as if he was a swordsman himself. It was fine if it was just in the sect, but if he went outside, it wasn’t good.

“I understand.” Chu Qi obediently responded.

The Sect Head followed Elder Qingyue’s words and continued, “Yes, the outside world is no better than the sect. If you remain in Tianxuan Sect all your life, we Elders can protect you, but your talent is extraordinary. You are very likely to achieve the Great Dao. A swan shouldn’t be stuck in the mud, so we’ve agreed to let you go out and gain experience.”

The Heavens were beyond the sky, and even if he was a medical cultivator, Tianxuan Sect couldn’t trap him here in the name of protecting him.

“You take all of these defensive spiritual tools and these spiritual medicines refined by this teacher.” Elder Qingyue took out a qiankun bag and handed it to Chu Qi.

“We don’t have many defensive tools, but you can take these talismans that have sealed sword energy.” Sword cultivators like Elder Ming and Elder Chang didn’t have the habit of hoarding defensive tools, but they were able to seal their respective sword qi inside a talisman. After activating them, the sword qi would be released and could be used to attack an enemy.

“This disciple thanks shifu, thanks Sect Head, and thanks all the Elders.”

Chu Qi did not reject the Elder’s kindness, taking their gifts one by one, and placed them all into his qiankun bag. It was dangerous to go outside, and a healer wasn’t strong in combat situations.

After all, people needed to protect themselves in order to have the spare energy to heal others.

Several Tianxuan Sect Elders reminded the two of them of some precautions for the secret realm before allowing them to leave.

In the past, although the disciples of Tianxuan Sect often went out to gain experience, they weren’t worried. After all, everyone in the sect was a sword cultivator who could beat two people with one hand. Even with the same level of cultivation, a Tianxuan Sect sword cultivator was stronger and wouldn’t suffer a big loss. Experience was also exercise.

But now it was different. Their Tianxuan Sect medical disciple had also reached the age of going out to gain experience!

The last time they sent medical cultivators out was when Bai Xuan was younger. At that time, they also all pitched in and prepared a lot of self-defense items.

In the end, Bai Xuan didn’t use any of them, opting to take out her spiritual sword instead to clean up several of the sword cultivators from other sects that spoke badly.

As such, tales of the swordsmanship practiced by their Tianxuan Sect medical cultivators had been spread far and wide throughout Yunhua Realm.

No matter what, you still needed to be prepared for everything. You had to learn swordsmanship and you had to bring along defensive spiritual tools.

Those who dared to bully their Tianxuan Sect medical practitioners wouldn’t have a way out.

[1] Uncle Ben?!?