The Cloud-Piercing Boat sailed steadily above the sea of clouds.
Lu Fengmian stood by the side of the boat, blankly gazing at the increasingly near gate of the Lingyun Sect when the familiar notification sound arrived in his sea of consciousness as expected.
【Side quest “Attend the Beast Taming Sect Exchange Conference with Elder Sun” completed】
【Overall evaluation: Perfect. The expected objective was exceeded; a spirit beast with an ancient bloodline was successfully contracted, greatly enhancing the Lingyun Sect’s prestige in the field of beast taming.】
【Rewards issued: Cultivation advanced to the Third layer of the Golden Core stage; Spirit Beast Rearing (proficiency); Profound-rank low-grade magical artifact “Cloud Fan.”】
Lu Fengmian felt his spiritual power strengthen by another thirty percent, and his mood relaxed quite a bit.
What satisfied him even more was the spirit beast rearing skill.
He lowered his head and looked at his sleeve.
A tiny Ink Jade Swallowtail Dragon was poking out half its head. He had originally still been worrying about how to raise this little ancestor, but now the system had practically hand-fed him the answer.
After a brief mont of thought, just as he was about to inspect the newly obtained magical item, he suddenly felt a weight settle into his palm.
A folding fan dropped into his hand out of thin air.
The fan ribs were as white as jade, warm and smooth to the touch. Upon closer inspection, one could see misty cloud patterns seeming to drift between the ribs. The fan surface was not made of paper or silk, but woven from an extrely thin yet tough spiritual silk, flashing with a faint silver glow.
With a snap, Lu Fengmian opened the fan.
On the Cloud-Piercing Boat cutting through the clouds, that crisp sound was especially striking.
Holding the fan, he gave it a light wave.
A mountain breeze swept past, and the fan trembled slightly. The hidden clouds shifted with the light, making him appear even more elegant and ethereal.
Lu Fengmian narrowed his eyes, and the corners of his mouth unconsciously lifted into a satisfied curve.
Ah, wonderful.
No wonder those noble young masters and romantic scholars in storybooks all liked to carry fans with them.
The atmosphere ca into being instantly.
He nodded, flicked his wrist, and closed the fan with a snap, then opened it again with a snap, closed it, and opened it one more ti.
【The magical artifact “Cloud Fan” has been bound to the host. It cos with a basic defensive formation; after spiritual power is infused into it, it can be ntally controlled.】 the system added.
Lu Fengmian: “……It can even fly?”
He lowered his head and looked at the exquisitely crafted folding fan in his hand, then fell silent.
Exquisite, multifunctional.
He was even more satisfied.
He decided to make this fan a permanent part of his equipnt.
【Ding! A core mber approval change has been detected.】
【Approval obtained from Elder Sun of the Spirit Beast Garden (core mber).】
【Approval obtained from Jin Le, direct disciple of the Spirit Beast Garden (core mber).】
【Current progress: 18%. Confird units: 39.】
Lu Fengmian glanced at it and understood his situation.
Three more and it would reach 20%.
He turned his face away, calm at heart.
Three years of experience had long since made him accustod to this kind of gradual progress—neither sothing to rush, nor sothing to avoid.
However, seeing the way Elder Sun looked at him, as though he wanted to place him upon an altar, left him feeling sowhat helpless.
This approval was a little too much.
Just as Lu Fengmian was planning what sort of nest he should build for the little flood dragon after returning to Luo Xia Peak, his gaze drifted unintentionally over the side of the boat.
Below, a gap had opened in the sea of clouds.
At the foot of the Lingyun Sect’s mountain, the affiliated town built along the slope slowly unfolded beneath the afternoon sunlight.
Blue tiles and white walls, crisscrossing streets and alleys; one could faintly make out bustling crowds and fluttering banners.
Lu Fengmian froze for a mont.
He had already been in the Lingyun Sect for three years.
Three years, more than a thousand days and nights. His footsteps had spread across the main peaks, side peaks, the great halls, the Spirit Beast Garden, the dining hall, the scripture pavilion…
But he had never once set foot here.
He suddenly thought of Saintess Jiang Fuxue.
He rembered the jade bracelet on her wrist, the silver bells at her ankles, and the hairpin in her coiffure shaped like a bluebird carrying a pearl. As she walked, those delicate ornants had also swayed lightly with her steps.
Then he thought of Junior Sister Yun Heng.
Junior Sister Yun Heng was about the sa age as her.
But his second junior sister always wore plain robes, with her black hair tied high.
How could a young girl possibly have no ornants at all?
Lu Fengmian fell silent for a while.
A faint sense of guilt, the sort an elder brother would feel, rose in his heart.
He turned to look at Elder Sun, who was holding a teacup and happily reminiscing about the wonderful ti they had just had.
“Martial Uncle Sun,” he said, “could the boat stop for a while at the foot of the mountain?”
Elder Sun raised his head. “Hm? What for?”
“This disciple wanted to go to the market to buy a few things,” Lu Fengmian said.
Elder Sun’s eyes lit up instantly.
It was a loving sort of light, as though saying, “I will give my precious son anything he wants.”
“Go, go! Of course you should go!” He waved his hand exaggeratedly, so enthusiastic it was as if Lu Fengmian were about to save the world. “Nephew, it is rare for you to be this free. Have a proper stroll, take your ti, do not rush! Jin Le, you go too and help Junior Brother Lu carry things!”
Jin Le: “……Yes.”
Elder Sun leaned closer eagerly. “Right, do you have enough money? I have so high-grade spirit stones here. Co, co, do not be shy.”
Lu Fengmian waved his hands repeatedly. “Many thanks, Martial Uncle, but this disciple has so of his own.”
Seeing Lu Fengmian refuse financial assistance, Elder Sun did not give up and imdiately shot Jin Le a look.
Jin Le understood and stepped forward. “Senior Brother Lu, let accompany you. I ca to this market a few tis before with Master, so I am fairly familiar with it.”
Her attitude was very proper, looking entirely like she was carrying out official business.
But Lu Fengmian shook his head and politely declined. “Many thanks for Junior Sister Jin’s kindness. However, the Spirit Beast Garden has been very busy lately. During Martial Uncle Sun’s absence these past few days, I imagine quite a few matters have piled up and need to be dealt with, so you should return with Martial Uncle as soon as possible.”
He spoke very politely, and his reasoning was perfectly sound.
Elder Sun opened his mouth to say sothing, only to realize that he had nothing to say.
The Spirit Beast Garden was indeed bustling. He had no idea how the guardian spirit beasts had been doing recently, and there were still cubs waiting to be cared for; the entire garden was waiting for him and Jin Le to return and put out the fires.
But he also could not bear to let Lu Fengmian stay by himself.
What if his nephew got tired from shopping? What if he got bumped into by so blind itinerant cultivator? What if he got lost? What if…
He glanced at Lu Fengmian.
He was dressed in moon-white brocade robes, with a jade crown on his head, a folding fan in hand, and an utterly composed bearing. At his waist hung the identity jade token of the Lingyun Sect’s chief first disciple.
All right, the chance of getting lost was small.
As for getting bumped into by a blind man? It looked more as though the truly worried party ought to be the blind man himself.
Elder Sun helplessly swallowed the worry in his heart.
“Then you be careful by yourself too, and co back early!” he said seriously while gripping the side of the boat. “Buy whatever you want, and if you do not have enough money, put it on my tab!”
Lu Fengmian smiled. “Many thanks, Martial Uncle. This disciple will rember it.”
The Cloud-Piercing Boat slowly rose into the sky.
Elder Sun bent over against the shield, his face nearly pressed to it, staring distantly at the figure at the entrance of the bluestone street. His gaze was so full of affection it seed almost able to drip tears.
That gaze was so sharp it sent a chill down Lu Fengmian’s back.
He quickened his pace and almost fled in a panic.
Standing behind her master, Jin Le remained expressionless and unmoved.
She was already used to it.
The cloud-boat headed toward the Lingyun Sect’s Spirit Beast Garden.
Only then did Elder Sun reluctantly lean his head back and sink into his chair. After a mont of silence, he suddenly let out a long sigh tinged with lancholy.
“Le’er.”
“This disciple is here.”
Elder Sun looked toward the sect shrouded in mist, his tone low and sorrowful:
“Tell , if I took out the spiritual marrow jade dew the Ink Jade Flood Dragon loved most, and then occupied Luo Xia Peak…”
He paused.
“Could I lure Little Disciple Lu back together with that centipede dragon?”
Jin Le stayed silent for the span of three breaths.
“Master, Senior Brother Lu is the Sect Master’s first disciple.”
“I know.”
“The Lingyun Sect’s Sect Master is Venerable Lingxuan.”
“I also know.”
You could not beat him.
Elder Sun did not answer.
He rely stared at the sea of clouds streaking past outside the window and let out the longest, most agonized sigh of his life.
*
The mont Lu Fengmian stepped onto the bluestone pavent, he felt as though he had walked into a long-lost dream.
The market was even livelier than he had imagined.
The blue stone road stretched away on both sides, lined with shops. All kinds of banners hung from the eaves overhead.
At the doors stood baskets filled with spirit herbs and spirit fruits; exquisite protective magical artifacts were displayed in the windows; racks were piled with brightly colored clothing and silks; and so stalls sold spirit beast feed, talismans, formation discs, and candied spirit fruit skewers…
The cries of hawkers, the sounds of bargaining, the laughter of children chasing and playing, together with the fragrance of food, all rged into a vivid and bustling picture of daily life.
Lu Fengmian stared blankly at everything before him, and a faint smile slowly appeared on his lips.
This was exactly the sa as what had been written in novels.
In his previous life, when he worked late into the night and curled up in his rented room reading novels, he had imagined scenes like this countless tis in his mind.
A bustling cultivation market, stalls filled with all kinds of magical artifacts, rogue cultivators and wandering heroes coming and going shoulder to shoulder.
He had thought those stories ca from another world.
He had never imagined that one day, he himself would stand here.
His sleeve twitched slightly.
The Ink Jade Flood Dragon poked out its little head and widened its round eyes, curiously observing the lights and sounds of the street.
The little centipede dragon’s tail tip swayed lightly.
Lu Fengmian lowered his head and t those curious eyes.
A smile curved at the corner of his mouth. With a snap, he closed the cloud-bearing fan, then lightly tapped the head of the eager little centipede dragon on his wrist with it.
“Let’s go,” he said. “I’ll take you around for a look.”
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