August 2, 2017
In the morning, Wang Jiu, basking in the beautiful sunlight, began his daily hustle. Typically, a wonderful morning should be spent like this: picking up a bronze basin from the bedroom, fetching a whole basin of water from the sweet well outside, and splashing it on the face of a lazy mount that refuses to get out of bed.
Lately, the mount’s reluctance to get up has beco more severe, almost needing a cold splash every day to get them up, otherwise, they’d still be mumbling in their sleep even with the sun high in the sky. The reasons are probably twofold: one, Shen Qingming’s cultivation has been breaking through repeatedly recently, entering the middle stage of the Wind-Rising Realm on the 29th, and smoothly breaking through to the Second Heaven of the Immovable Tyrant Body on the 31st, causing her body to undergo intense changes that require long periods of rest. On the other hand, she’s been arguing with Lu Xin through the Communication Spirit Jade late into the night, and only falls asleep, tossing and turning with anger just before dawn.
This self-destructive spirit indeed aligns well with her intelligence settings, but as her master, strict requirents are a must.
However, just as he got the water ready, the Spirit Jade at his waist suddenly started beeping, indicating soone was sending a communication request.
"Lu Xin?"
The woman projected from the Spirit Jade was indeed Lu Xin, who also appeared exhausted, her almond-shaped eyes bloodshot, and even her youthful skin seed a bit dried out.
"Mr. Wang Jiu, sorry to bother you at this ti, but I’m really at my wit’s end and can only turn to you for help."
Looking at Lu Xin’s haggard face, Wang Jiu suggested, "Using White Orchid Spirit Grass with Five Elents Water would be more effective, just apply a hot towel for lasting moisture."
Lu Xin looked surprised, "Really?"
"Yes, Yuming and Shang Lanfei used to do that, and if there’s no White Orchid Spirit Grass, you can use the Five Elents Technique of ’Spring Wind Blows Again’ as a substitute."
"Wait a mont while I take notes." Lu Xin said, taking out a delicate little notebook from her sleeve and ticulously recording the skincare formula Wang Jiu provided.
"Thank you, Mr. Wang Jiu, for your advice. By the way, if my hair ends split..."
"In your case, I guess your Spiritual Sense Cultivation can’t keep up with your True Essence Realm, causing an excess of Golden Crow Fla inside, leading to dry hair ends. If you can’t strengthen your spiritual sense to refine your Primordial Spirit, you’ll have to wear sothing like the essence of millennium Profound Ice to balance the yin and yang."
"I see, thank you for the lesson." Lu Xin nodded gratefully, about to end the conversation, when she rembered the main issue hadn’t even been discussed yet!
"I’m here to ask about Qingming."
"Oh, then hold on a mont." Wang Jiu said, using the Shape Manipulation Array to lift the basin, preparing to wake her up.
Lu Xin hurriedly stopped him, "No, don’t wake her, I wish to consult you privately."
"Hmm, alright."
After a while, Lu Xin drank a cup of refreshing Immortal Tea, reducing the redness in her eyes a bit, and then began, "I never imagined Qingming could be such an unreasonable child."
Wang Jiu said, "That’s because you didn’t conduct an IQ test on her early. If you knew her intelligence level, you’d never say you never imagined; she’s always been unreasonable."
Lu Xin looked like she’d been choked on food and finally spoke after a while, "...I admit I haven’t paid enough attention to her in the past years. But now the problem is, I already don’t know how to communicate with her. No matter how I express goodwill, she misunderstands or maliciously twists it..."
Wang Jiu clapped, "Exactly, she’s just like that, clearly ordinary in talent and low in IQ, yet exceptionally talented at trampling on others’ goodwill. Once, when she wasn’t feeling well and was in a bad mood, I poured her so hot water, and she mocked for not having a girlfriend."
Lu Xin angrily said, "This child is so mischievous!? Does she know how big an honor it is to have the Celestial Divine Sword as her personal Sword Spirit!?"
Wang Jiu agreed, "Indeed, on Jiuzhou Continent, all cultivators respected — except for Yuming, who occasionally enjoyed being cheeky. Of course, I don’t care for the mount’s etiquette and wouldn’t bother with soone dim-witted, just agreeing with your viewpoint."
Lu Xin sighed, "You are indeed broad-minded and kind; it’s truly that brat’s fortune. As her elder, I should be more understanding of her childish temper, but sotis what she says is truly infuriating. Yesterday, I asked if she faced any issues in cultivation recently and if she needed family support, she replied she’d rather die than use my money."
Wang Jiu empathized, "The other day, I kindly cooked a ’Gazing at the Stars’ al for her; not only did she not appreciate it, she said she’d rather starve than eat what I made."
Lu Xin, enraged, said, "This child is utterly out of control! Sigh, I used to think no matter how unconventional she might be, she’s still that person’s child, she would have so discernnt in her actions. I never expected her to be this disappointing."
Wang Jiu said, "If you had conducted an IQ test on her when she was young, you wouldn’t have harbored unrealistic expectations, and hence wouldn’t be disappointed."
Lu Xin said, "In retrospect, it’s partly my fault. I used to think that before reaching the Wind-Rising Realm, a cultivator’s subjective efforts are much more important than external aids, so I intentionally isolated and strict-treated her. However, unexpectedly... though her cultivation kept up, her personality also beca extre."
Wang Jiu said, "If it were during the Jiuzhou Era, your educational philosophy wouldn’t be considered wrong. Compared to social adaptability, a Cultivator’s foundational stability still lies in their own cultivation. And relatively speaking, indeed many people with solitary personalities achieve higher accomplishnts. At least the strongest Cultivator on the continent at that ti grew up being abandoned by their parents and later ostracized by fellow disciples."
Lu Xin felt comforted and much better at heart: "Really, thank you, senior, for being willing to talk to so much. There are so things I don’t even know who to consult with. Fengyun is an idiot, Jinglun knows nothing but writing books, Sister Yan is probably going to try and push her daughter onto again, it’s just..."
After a round of complaints, Lu Xin suddenly realized it was getting late: "Ah, I need to make breakfast for Fengyun, let’s chat next ti."
Having said this, the Spirit Jade dimd. Wang Jiu was silent for a while, muttering to himself, "Yet she seems to not have gotten to the point at all. Won chatting really do lack efficiency."
A mont later, Shen Qingming yawned and walked out of the room, seeing the fierce sunlight outside. She couldn’t help but wonder, "Huh, the Whiteboard Sword didn’t splash with cold water after all, could it be that it also got up late? Tsk, even a Sword Spirit sleeps in?"
The next mont, a curtain of water ca splashing towards her...
——
"I was just joking! Even though I’m up already, splashing with cold water is really too much!"
At breakfast, Shen Qingming angrily vented about her unfair treatnt, even her action of mixing dishes with chopsticks carried a nacing aura.
But when she started eating, her anger quickly shifted to another target.
"Speaking of which, that woman Lu Xin is really too much. Last night she talked about cultivation problems, and without distinguishing right from wrong, she concluded that with my aptitude I’d surely hit a bottleneck and difficulties, and even said my cultivation was too poor bringing sha to the family, so she’d help because of family ties. Seriously, who needs that! Every ti I talk to her, I feel my Qi Blood boiling and my head pounding."
"Boiling Qi Blood? Well, if you said earlier, I could have drawn a bit more Qi Blood..."
"No drawing!" Shen Qingming insisted, then explained, "At least not these two days... I am going to a club for a ranking test, my state must be very well maintained these days."
"Ranking test, what is that about?"
Shen Qingming briefly explained.
Now that she’s left the family, her cultivation resources are severely lacking, especially the lack of sparring partners. At this ti, so Sword Dao clubs in QingCyan Cloud City beca a necessary supplent.
Shen Qingming joined the Mountain Shifting Sword Dao Club, considered top-notch in QingCyan Cloud City, with three branches just in the central area, and the one Shen Qingming frequents is a secondary club in the east of the city, regularly sparring with fellow Wind-Rising Realm Sword Cultivators like Instructor He. However, the club has strict rules, different rank Sword Cultivators can only spar with Sword Cultivators and Instructors of the corresponding rank. Although Shen Qingming is often mocked for lacking talent, that’s based on Li Family Mansion’s standards. When placed in the club, she’s considered an exceptional elite, especially having repeatedly advanced her Realm recently, she really wants to re-rank, to spar with higher-level people.
"My opponents are basically set, I need to successively battle 3 high Wind-Rising Realm opponents, if I win, I can rank up to 3 level, enjoying many VIP benefits, and also spar with Cloud Surge Realm opponents, which is just right for my current needs."
Wang Jiu had never inquired about the Sword Dao clubs before, hearing Shen Qingming’s explanation now, he couldn’t help but be very intrigued.
In his youth, as soon as he mastered the basics of Sword Dao, he traveled across Jiuzhou, testing his sword across the world, sharpening his unparalleled sword edge through hundreds of battles. However, looking back afterward, that ti wasn’t actually very efficient, had he stayed at the mountain gate closed up cultivating peacefully, with his aptitude and comprehension, the efficiency of doing counter-training might have been even higher.
The main problem was, during the sword testing across the world, most of the ti was spent finding people and communicating — many widely reputed masters turned out to be re nas when actually fighting. So obscure folks, however, had astonishing killer moves hidden within.
And then, for the remaining ti, two-thirds was spent on aftermath: if he won in sparring, so would see it as a monuntal disgrace, trying in every way to seek revenge. Occasionally, when sparring with so senior experts, even though losing in a few moves, he often forced the senior into an embarrassing situation. Of course, seniors were not inclined to bicker with a young Sword Cultivator, but many of their disciples would act righteously indignant, entangled with Wang Jiu endlessly.
At that ti, Wang Jiu traveled outside for five years, actual ti used to sharpen himself and improve in actual combat probably didn’t even make up for three months, such efficiency indeed greatly slowed down his advancent to Peak.
And now hearing Shen Qingming talk about the current Sword Dao clubs in Xiangzhou, it perfectly matched his ideal.
"Alright, take to have a look."
Shen Qingming looked at Wang Jiu in surprise, not even realizing the tea egg slipped from her chopsticks to the table.
"You want to go too?"
"What’s wrong?"
"Oh, nothing, just didn’t expect a hobody like you to have an interest in going out."
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