Lady Cultivator

“Grandmaster!” Ruan Mingzhu ran into the main hall of Shangqing Palace, weeping all the while.

Lord Daoist Jinghe was animatedly telling some jokes at first, but upon seeing her coming in, his expression faded. With a faint tone, he said, “What happened?”

Ruan Mingzhu, whose eyes were brimming with tears, said, “Grandmaster, I wasn’t acting deliberately. I just saw that Martial Uncle Mo’s spiritual beast seemed to be very amusing, so I asked her for it—I wasn’t trying to make her angry.”

Lord Daoist Jinghe slowly wrinkled his brows. “And then?”

Ruan Mingzhu hung her head down, hiding the hatred in her eyes. “Martial Uncle Mo seemed to be very angry.”

Because a long while had passed without receiving any response, Ruan Mingzhu finally raised her head again. However, she saw Lord Daoist Jinghe sitting on his dragon couch, unhurriedly picking up his teacup. “Mingzhu.”

“En?” She was a bit bewildered about her grandmaster’s attitude.

Lord Daoist Jinghe stared at her. His expression remained faint. “Tiange always cherishes everything around her. Although it’s a spiritual beast to you, to her, it’s a companion. That was why she wasn’t willing to give it to you.”

Ruan Mingzhu was stunned. She never expected that grandmaster would react this way.

Lord Daoist Jinghe continued on: “If you have nothing to do, go back and cultivate properly. You’re no longer young, but you still have several dozen years ahead of you. If you can’t form your Gold Core soon, it’ll be even harder in the future.”

Now that the topic of core-formation was suddenly mentioned, Ruan Mingzhu was completely stumped for words. “Grandmaster…”

“Could it be that you don’t want to form your Gold Core?” Lord Daoist Jinghe stared at her with a piercing gaze. “With a lot of things on your mind, how can you form your Gold Core? Tiange’s a lot younger than you, and she also had a rough life when she was young, but she’s already in the late stage of the Foundation Building realm now—soon, she’s going to reach the peak stage of the Foundation Building realm then she’ll try to form her Gold Core. You? You’ve been personally taught by me ever since you were a child and you succeeded in forming your foundation at twenty one years old. According to reason, you ought to be the pride of the heavens—why are you still only in the middle stage of the Foundation Building realm although you’re already more than a hundred and seventy years old? What have you been doing these past sixty years? Why have you not made the slightest progress at all?!”

Lord Daoist Jinghe’s expression became stern, causing Ruan Mingzhu’s heart to tremble. She stuttered: “Grandmaster… T-that… The spirit veins on Mount Yungang were abysmal. While I was there, my cultivation simply couldn’t progress…”

“Is that so?” The way Lord Daoist Jinghe was staring at her didn’t change. “Then what about the medicinal pills I sent you all these years? Although I didn’t call you back, I never deducted your rations. Even if you just relied on medicinal pills, sixty years should’ve been enough for you to advance to peak of the middle stage, right?”

Ruan Mingzhu lowered her head and said nothing.

Lord Daoist Jinghe’s expression softened. He said softly, “That’ll do. Stop thinking about unrelated matters; go and cultivate properly. This time, the school summoned the disciples back because there’s an important matter. You’ll benefit if you can perform well.”

“…” Ruan Mingzhu was silent for a long time before she finally answered obediently, “I understand, Grandmaster.”

By the time she rushed out of Shangqing Palace, Ruan Mingzhu’s face was completely red. When she saw the gate-keeping disciple looking at her with a prying expression and a gaze that contained hidden hostility, she said furiously, “What do you think you’re looking at?!”

The gate-keeping disciple withdrew his gaze upon being berated by her. He didn’t scold her back, but his expression was suffused with disdain.

“You—” Just as she was about to blow her lid, Ruan Mingzhu suddenly remembered this was Shangqing Palace, so she eventually clenched her teeth and held back. With a wave, she tossed out her flying magic tool then flew into the air.

After seeing her leaving, that gate-keeping disciple finally let out a light “hmph” and muttered, “She really thinks highly of herself…”

Ruan Mingzhu flew to a deserted mountain top and examined the scenery for quite a while. It was only after she was sure this place was her intended destination that she finally landed then proceeded towards a very well-hidden Immortal’s Cave.

“Senior Martial Brother, Senior Martial Brother? Are you inside? It’s Mingzhu!” she shouted. A long time passed, but she still heard no response, so she continued on shouting: “Senior Martial Brother! Come out and see me—It’s Mingzhu!”

After another while, the door of the cave was finally opened. Ruan Mingzhu was overjoyed, but just as she was about to rush forward, she froze in her tracks, and her expression darkened. “Who are you?!”

The one who opened the door and came out was precisely Ye Zhenji. He was also baffled to see Ruan Mingzhu. “Who are you ?”

Ruan Mingzhu’s expression eased up. She then directed her gaze towards the inside of the cave. “What about my senior martial brother?”

Ye Zhenji scratched his head and asked in bewilderment, “Are you a newcomer? You must’ve come to the wrong place, right?”

“This is my senior martial brother’s Immortal’s Cave!” Ruan Mingzhu glared at him. “Young man, who are you? Why are you in my senior martial brother’s Immortal’s Cave?”

“You’re not my aunt, and there’s no so-called senior martial brother of yours here.” Although Ye Zhenji had a good temper, he didn’t want to be polite since she used such an overbearing tone. “You better leave now. Although my master’s amiable, he’ll also get angry upon seeing such a rude person.”

“Master?” Ruan Mingzhu looked at him; a hint of a smile finally appeared on her face. “You’re my senior martial brother’s disciple, right? Go tell him it’s Mingzhu—he’ll know.”

Seeing as Ye Zhenji didn’t move, Ruan Mingzhu once again shouted: “Quickly go!”

She indeed had no qualms about bossing others around. However, Ye Zhenji was a simpleminded person; instead of getting angry, he just frowned and said, “Who’s your senior martial brother? My master’s cultivating. He’ll get angry if he’s disturbed for no reason.”

“You—”

Just as Ruan Mingzhu was about to blow up, they heard a familiar voice ringing out from inside: “Zhenji, let her in.”

Ruan Mingzhu was ecstatic. “Senior Martial Brother!” she shouted then rushed into the cave.

“Ay—” Her current looks made Ye Zhenji even more bewildered. Who was this? After his master, didn’t grandmaster only have his aunt as his last disciple? Where did this person pop up from to call his master “senior martial brother”?

But… since his master already gave the order, it wouldn’t be appropriate for him to comment on it, so he just closed the door to the Immortal’s Cave then made his way back into the hall at an exasperatingly slow speed. Upon contemplating the matter, he didn’t immediately return to his cultivating room. Rather, he sat next to Xiaohuo, who happened to be curling into a ball as it cultivated, pretending as if he was looking after the spiritual beast.

In fact, Xiaohuo was already a third rank spiritual beast, so its cultivation level was still higher than his, and it basically didn’t need him to look after it. During this period of time, Xiaohuo had been immersing itself in cultivating again. Master said it was going to advance rank soon, so he hadn’t taken Xiaohuo back to his aunt.

The door to his master’s cultivating room wasn’t closed. Ye Zhenji perked up his ears, trying to listen to what was happening inside.

“Senior Martial Brother!” Ruan Mingzhu became extremely emotional upon seeing Qin Xi. She took several steps, rushing towards him. Her eyes were gleaming with tears. “Senior Martial Brother, I finally get to see you again!”

Qin Xi, who maintained his cultivating position, opened his eyes and faintly glanced at her. “Mingzhu, whether it’s according to cultivation level or seniority, you ought to call me martial uncle, not senior martial brother.”

Ruan Mingzhu was stunned. A split second later, an aggrieved expression emerged on her face. “Why? It wasn’t easy for me to come back—why are you and grandmaster treating me so coldly? It’s been sixty years already; are you two still unable to forgive me?”

“These are two different matters.” Qin Xi’s tone remained faint and hardly contained any emotion. “Back then, we never viewed the casual way you addressed me as a problem because we were young. But it isn’t the same anymore. The two of us aren’t children anymore; we ought to understand how to behave.”

“But you’ll always be my senior martial brother in my heart!” Ruan Mingzhu blurted out, “If it wasn’t because my father was grandmaster’s disciple, thus making it inappropriate for grandmaster to accept me as his disciple, we’d have been martial siblings!”

“But the reality’s like this-” Qin Xi said, “It’s been sixty years, but you still don’t understand things—it’s no wonder master’s treating you coldly.”

His tone was gentle, but his words were blunt. Ruan Mingzhu stared at him blankly but immediately after, she hung her head and wailed bitterly.

After weeping for a while, she said between her sobs: “I really don’t understand… I really don’t understand what I did wrong. Why are you and grandmaster treating me like this? Didn’t I just injure a disciple? We weren’t the only ones to engage in a private fight in the school, and that person was also fine in the end. You and grandmaster… made me stay by myself in Yungang’s branch courtyard. That place was so remote, and others also ignored me. I… My life’s there was really bitter…”

If she wept and said all this in front of Lord Daoist Jinghe, she might get comforting words in response. Unfortunately, the one listening to her now was Qin Xi. He still had a wooden expression on his face; it was as if the one weeping in front of him was just a wooden person, and so was he.

Halfway through, Ruan Mingzhu couldn’t keep crying, so she could only wipe off her tears. She then stared at him with her red eyes, pleading softy: “Senior Martial Brother, it hasn’t been easy for me to come back; tell grandmaster not to chase me away, okay? I won’t cause trouble anymore. I’ll listen to the two of you in the future, okay?”

Qin Xi didn’t answer. It was as if he hadn’t heard anything.

Ruan Mingzhu waited for a while but then, she could no longer hold back. “Senior Martial Brother, Senior Martial Brother, have you forgotten? When you just came, you always kept to yourself in the back mountain. Every time, it was always me who looked for you before you finally agreed to come back…”

Now that she mentioned these old times, Qin Xi’s gaze finally wavered. Ruan Mingzhu initially thought his heart would soften, but she still heard his cold voice. “What’s the use of saying this? If you’re still the Mingzhu of that time, how could master have made you go to a branch courtyard alone and not let you return for sixty years?”

Ruan Mingzhu was dumbfounded. She then said anxiously, “Senior Martial Brother, don’t tell me you don’t have even the least bit of feeling towards me now? We… we grew up together for almost a hundred years—don’t tell me you don’t have even the slightest bit of affection towards me?”

Qin Xi stared at her then said calmly, “I told you long ago; I only see the Great Dao. As for everything else, I think they’re all trifles. I don’t have what you want—why do you have to insist on it?”

“Senior Martial Brother!” Ruan Mingzhu called out, staring foolishly at his wooden expression. Tears started to fall from her eyes. “I… I’m not asking you to reciprocate. I only hope you can be the same as before, calling me warmly, giving me cultivation pointers, chatting with me when you’re free… Is my request excessive?”

When she said that, Ruan Mingzhu looked completely aggrieved. There was no arrogance or tyrannicalness on her face. There was only overwhelming sorrow from the inability to achieve her wish.

Qin Xi suddenly felt an ache. It was as if a certain part inside him was moved. Nevertheless, he soon calmed down his mind then said serenely, “Mingzhu, did you never think you were wrong?”

Ruan Mingzhu lowered her head then shook it sulkily. “Didn’t I only injure a disciple? For us cultivators, what does injuring one or two people count for? Haven’t you and grandmasters killed a lot of people? I haven’t—”

“It wasn’t because you injured someone,” Qin Xi cut her short. “To obtain something, one must strive for it; if something can’t be obtained, one should be open-minded and give up. But you… when you thought you couldn’t get something, you took your anger out on other people, and you even went as far as to attack a fellow disciple. Do you still not feel your mental state’s distorted? Master indulged you too much… indulged you to the point where you wanted to get everything. However, how can everything be within your reach in this world? If you had no master, what could you obtain?”

Although his tone was very flat, the meaning behind his words was extremely severe. His gaze at Ruan Mingzhu was also devoid of any emotion. “Mingzhu, I’m not master—I won’t teach you what’s wrong and what’s right. But I know this; we were initially two strangers, and even if we grew up together, we won’t be able to walk together in the end. You shouldn’t adhere stubbornly to this matter anymore.”