“I’ve heard Brahma Sound Temple has sound attack methods too, so they often exchange pointers with Spirit Void Sect’s sound cultivators. It’s not strange for them to travel together.”
Li Yin thought, no kidding.
Her first capture target, Spirit Void Sect’s chief disciple, was probably now thriving at Brahma Sound Temple.
Then she remembered—he had shaved his head and become a monk. She recalculated the area of her psychological trauma.
As she pondered, Li Yin kept glancing at the trio.
She wanted to fish for news on her first capture target.
“It’s my first time seeing them,” the little junior sister said in a clear voice. “Senior Sister, if I go up and talk to them, will they pay attention to me?”
Cultivators had sharp ears. Her blunt words made the Buddhist cultivator pause his chanting. The sound cultivator and Confucian cultivator also looked over, seeing a curious young girl.
The Confucian cultivator smiled at her and said while wielding his brush, “Meeting a female cultivator on the road brings joy to my heart.”
Hearing this, Li Yin knew her ability had taken effect. She looked at him even more curiously.
“What does the young lady wish to discuss with us?” The Confucian cultivator took the initiative. Seeing her staring at the pages in his hand, he added, “This is my travel journal, for recording roadside sights. It’s also how we Confucian cultivators cultivate.”
Li Yin looked behind him. “Are they all books in your bamboo scroll case? Do Confucian cultivators use books and brushes as treasures?”
“You’re quite clever, young lady.” He smiled warmly, not dampening the little cultivator’s enthusiasm, and took out a book.
He flipped open the pages, and several ink-painted birds flew out, circling in front of Li Yin for her to see before returning to the book.
Li Yin praised sincerely, “So beautiful. They’re just like real ones.”
Now that she kept a little peacock, she couldn’t help associating. She thought of the young master’s sharp beak, willful and arrogant, always pecking at her.
The girl’s bright eyes suddenly asked, “Does it hurt when they peck people?”
The Confucian cultivator was stunned and pondered. “I’ve never tried that. I only use them as scouts for pathfinding, not for pecking enemies.”
He wore an expression of sudden realization, as if inspired.
Seeing this fellow daoist lost in contemplation, Li Yin turned to the zither-bearing female cultivator beside him.
The sound cultivator nodded slightly to her. “This is my natal treasure.”
She stroked the zither body, showing no intention of demonstrating a sound attack.
Li Yin’s gaze finally fell on the Buddhist cultivator. She pondered how to steer the conversation to the elders in his sect, probing if any was the Buddha Lotus Reincarnation.
The Buddhist cultivator fiddled with his Buddhist beads, chanted a Buddha’s name, then suddenly opened his eyes to look at her. “What does the benefactor wish to ask?”
He seemed to see through to her true question, beyond the superficial topics. He revealed pale brown pupils, waiting calmly without ripple.
Had the Buddha Lotus Reincarnation already switched from sound cultivation to Buddhism, returning to his rightful place?
Li Yin was stunned by his gaze. She opened her mouth, then saw his bald head and precept scars, and finally mumbled, “N-Nothing I want to ask.”
The compassionate high mountain flower was naturally a peerlessly ethereal beauty.
Though it was only one night of pleasure, his three thousand strands of black hair cascading over his shoulders like silk, spreading across the floor, was a rare sight in the player’s memories.
What a pity to shave his head and take vows.
Li Yin couldn’t imagine it.
The Buddhist cultivator saw her unresolved doubts but didn’t pry into her thoughts. He simply closed his eyes and chanted another Buddha’s name.
Li Yin glanced at him a few more times, imagining the high mountain flower bald and chanting scriptures…
She couldn’t picture it and immediately stopped. She thanked these seniors and left, buying a few sword qi gourds herself to join in the fun before heading back with her senior brother and senior sister.
Disciples from Joyous Union Sect were also here settling accounts. Leading them was a yellow-robed female cultivator, apparently the senior sister, pushing aside her hesitant fellow disciples.
She slapped down an abacus that had appeared from who-knows-where. “Don’t argue, don’t argue. I’ll do the math. She’ll keep two for herself, and you…”
She began arranging the junior sisters from their sect, allocating everything clearly one by one.
There weren’t many male cultivators in this group—female cultivators made up the majority.
Amid the chatter, Li Yin picked up bits and pieces of gossip.
Not all these Joyous Union Sect disciples were here just to earn spirit stones. Some planned to keep a few strands of sword qi for themselves, to use as gifts and favors later on.
Of course, those gifts would be for sword cultivators they had their eyes on.
Zheng Qian finished storing away the sword qi gourds he’d sold for profit. He noticed Little Junior Sister glancing around nonstop, and his lips twitched. “Joyous Union Sect brought quite a few disciples this time. Seems like an elder is leading the team.”
He added, “And it looks like it’s a male elder.”
Li Yin turned to him, her eyes asking: Why didn’t our Myriad Beasts Sect have an elder leading us?
Zheng Qian chuckled. “Our Myriad Beasts Sect disciples aren’t like those from Azure Profound—they’re not battle-hungry. Most of us aren’t interested in this kind of excitement either, so only a handful came. No need to trouble an elder to wave the flag for us.”
Li Yin glanced around. Her senior brother was right. There weren’t many beast-taming disciples in ink-green magic robes nearby.
Most of those present were Azure Profound disciples here for training, Joyous Union disciples, and a scattering from other sects.
Spirit Void Sect was far away. And in her memory, their disciples spent their days immersed in high mountains and flowing water, playing flutes and strumming zithers—leisurely types, much like Myriad Beasts Sect disciples.
“But if we’re talking excitement, the Pill Appreciation Conference is coming up soon. A lot more of our Myriad Beasts Sect disciples will head there. Who knows—maybe an elder will lead the team then.”
Li Yin latched onto the key point. “Pill Appreciation Conference?”
Zheng Qian nodded. “Yeah, the Pill Appreciation Conference. That’s where pill cultivators and medical cultivators gather to discuss pill formulas and healing arts. Our spirit beasts can tag along and sample the latest pills—for free.”
Little Junior Sister looked skeptical. “Isn’t that just being guinea pigs for drug testing?”
Fat Senior Brother shook his head and corrected her. “It’s taste-testing.”
Senior Sister Xia chimed in from the side. “Your senior brother just loves those little cheap thrills.”
Zhang Baille muttered under his breath, “Last time, he nearly got sick from it…”
Fat Senior Brother shot him a glare, and Zhang Baille shut his mouth, not airing any more dirty laundry.
Li Yin mulled it over. She had no idea whether it was the spirit beast or Fat Senior Brother himself who’d nearly gotten sick.
She headed back with her senior brothers and sisters, leaving the market behind. As they passed the Joyous Union Sect group, a figure in silver-red and light pink descended gracefully amid the crowd, scattering a rich, luxurious fragrance everywhere.
The newcomer wore a face veil that hid not just her face but most of her figure as well. Hazy layers of thin gauze draped down, revealing only the hems of her sleeves and the hem of her dress, which brushed the ground without picking up a speck of dust.
The fragrance lingered around her, refusing to dissipate. Li Yin twitched her nose and caught a faint, elusive aroma that perfectly matched her tastes.
Even though they’d already passed by, she couldn’t help herself. She turned back for a glance.
The face veil swayed lightly, the thin gauze hazy and indistinct, veiling the man’s silhouette—like a peony flower shrouded in misty rain and fog.
She didn’t catch a glimpse of his actual face and had no interest in prying. She turned back around.
Senior Sister Xia leaned in close. “That’s the elder leading the Joyous Union Sect team this time.”
Facing Little Junior Sister’s somewhat innocent gaze, she hesitated, unsure how to put it delicately. “The customs in Joyous Union Sect territory are different from the outside world. Men have to veil their faces when they go out… That kind of attire is what someone in mourning would wear—like they’re guarding chastity for the deceased.”
Li Yin nodded to show she understood.
That male elder from before was probably observing mourning for someone. It wouldn’t be right to stare.
She didn’t look back again. From behind them, the man’s clear, aloof, and cold voice drifted out from beneath the gauze as he lectured the Joyous Union Sect disciples.
“The mountain opens the day after tomorrow. If you don’t want to go in, stay at the inn and rest. Don’t go running around wild, and don’t disturb other people’s secluded cultivation.”
His tone was even and measured, without much emotional fluctuation—completely at odds with his deep and shallow shades of pink attire.
Yet his voice was genuinely clear and chillingly aloof, without a trace of softness. If you looked closely, his figure was actually tall and upright, brimming with vigor. And yet, he insisted on wearing such delicate, tender pink.
Once his words ended, the disciples around him responded to the lecture in unison, calling out, “Elder Xiao!”
All of a sudden, Elder Xiao seemed struck by a thought. He halted in his tracks and turned back, his gaze sweeping over from behind the face veil toward the cultivators they’d just passed by.
But the young girl among them had already turned away. She was walking farther and farther with her senior brothers and sisters.
The thin gauze swayed once more.
He turned back around and didn’t look again.
By the time Li Yin had walked far enough, thoughts of that Joyous Union Sect business flitted through her mind.
Back then, she’d accidentally saved a teenage boy and taken him as her disciple. He was strikingly handsome, with red lips and white teeth, so she’d added him to her list of capture targets.
That conquest target hadn’t been born in Joyous Union Sect territory. He was an outsider—a man who utterly rejected everything about Joyous Union Sect. It was only because his player master kept him under constant watch and restraint that he hadn’t fled the sect.
Li Yin figured that after the player fell, no one would be left to hold him back.
He’d probably leave the sect then.