The small room Ling Xia was currently staying in was a temporary residence used to help settle in the sect master’s new disciples, and the others had, one after another, already gone to where they were assigned. In other words, being able to wholly recuperate here was him basking in the reflected glory of Song XiaoHu and Yu ZhiJue.
Ling Xia was still concerned about the people from YunXiao City, but not wanting to stir up Yu ZhiJue’s bleak memories, he surreptitiously asked Song XiaoHu instead. Song XiaoHu immediately replied, “I heard from Feng Luo that those people didn’t leave, saying that…their youngest junior brother disappeared nearby, and they’ll stay until they find him.”
Of course, Ling Xia didn’t know that Cui Yu also had a hand in this decision. After the exam ended, Mo Dai had to coax her for quite a while, explaining that right now, Yu ZhiJue had just entered ShaoYang Sect so requesting Feng ShuMing to hand him over wasn’t appropriate, etc. At long last, Cui Yu compromised and asserted that they’ll talk again after she goes back and pleads with her daddy. Even though she was unruly, Cui Yu wasn’t stupid and also knew that this matter wasn’t so simple. She couldn’t have hoped more for Shang Yan’s timely disappearance, as it just so happened to give them a reason to stay.
Ling Xia felt a violent shiver. Perhaps it would have been better if he had hardened his heart to completely destroy the body and all other traces at that time, but it was too late for regrets now. What’s more, even if he was given another chance, he still wouldn’t have be able to do so… …He can only pray that Shang Yan’s corpse won’t be discovered. Then, he carefully warned Song XiaoHu again, stressing that he must not ever let anything slip and such, and the other boy expressed his compliance.
Feng Luo and Song XiaoHu had already become very familiar, and in seeing Ling Xia, she also politely nodded in greeting, albeit faintly maintaining a sense of distance. Ling Xia knew that this world’s ranking of seniority wasn’t based on age, but rather on one’s strength and when one joined a sect, not to mention, the status of being the sect master’s direct disciple was even more distinguishing. According to the rules here, it seems that he actually needed to deferentially call Feng Luo as ‘Senior sister’, and Yu ZhiJue and Song XiaoHu as ‘Senior brother’… …
Ling Xia felt his balls ache with grief.
Moreover, during his rest here, it was clear to see that one can accurately determine another’s rank solely by looking at their apparel, truly the epitome in ‘judging people by their appearance’. Within this batch of disciples of the Pin[1]generation, the sect master’s disciples wore black with a gold trim, the personal disciples of the other ShaoYang Sect elders wore black with a silver trim, the slightly inferior third rank disciples wore long, grey robes, and finally, the outer disciples like Ling Xia could only wear dark blue servant-like clothes.
Although he didn’t have many expectations for this world, Ling Xia was still shaken by this kind of status-separated feudalistic system. Recuperating in this place, no matter how one looked at it, wasn’t very appropriate. Furthermore, his wounds were no longer much of a hindrance, so he decided then and there to report earlier to Immortal Welcoming Pavilion.
After he said this, Song XiaoHu disn't express any unwillingness or reluctance, only pulling back his lips and grinning, ''Then i'll come find you when i'm free. Elder brother Ling, you also have to come see us often.''
When all was said and done, Song XiaoHu was already the direct disciple of an entire sect's master, so in front of Feng Luo, Ling Xia didn't rub his hedgehog-like head as usual, and just nodded with a smile as he assured, ''Mmhn, i'll come visit you both when i have time.''
Yu ZhiJue's reaction was all the more indifferent, glancing at Ling Xia before swiftly turning away as he threw out, ''Then you also need to properly cultivate. Don' get beaten up like a pig's head next time.''
''...Ok.'' Ling Xia was so speechless; was this kid supposed to have a poisonous tongue?
There were many trifling matters to settle when one first entered a sect, like the allocation of rooms, learning the fundamental rules, etc. The things that needed to be done were truly no less than what’s required of a young employee who just got hired, so Ling Xia didn’t let the two kids accompany him. However, after walking quite a distance, he turned around and discovered that those two kids were still looking in his direction, and suddenly felt a gush of warmth in his heart.
Despite being part of the same sect, the distance between Stonewood Mountain, where those direct disciples of the sect master cultivated, and Immortal Welcoming Pavilion generally took two full hours to travel. The other four disciples who were assigned along with Ling Xia to Immortal Welcoming Pavilion had already followed the administrative disciple and departed after the exam ended. Ling Xia asked for directions the entire way there while hurrying onwards, sometimes fast, sometimes slow.
His foot was injured by Xu Yan in their match, so walking slowly was fine, but moving more briskly would disturb the wound and bring about unbearable pain. Therefore, it was four hours later before he reached Immortal Welcoming Pavilion, and the sky was already dark.
Immortal Welcoming Pavilion was located at the foot of a small mountain within the ChongMing Mountain Range. Even if the name sounded nice, its actual position in ShaoYang Sect wasn’t high, and it was mostly in charge of the sect’s medicinal fields, firewood, rice paddies, and other such secondary matters. The disciples here do the heaviest labor, but can only receive the most basic cultivation pointers. Compared to being called a disciple of ShaoYang Sect, they’re closer to part-time workers in charge of the miscellaneous tasks at ShaoYang Sect, and their monthly pay was the lowest as well.
In the past, Ling Xia had basically skipped and skimmed over this part of the story when he read it. After all, this was supposed to be a feel-good novel, and he had zero interest in the descriptions of the protagonist repeatedly being oppressed. Right now, Ling Xia regretted that a lot, because the misfortunes of the protagonist had turned into what he would have to face.
The two disciples guarding the gate were both thirty some years old, and with one look, you could tell taht they're long abandoned cultivating. Ling Xia quickly handed over the tablet at his waist carved with his name, exposing an amiable and friendly smile.''Hello to both senior brothers. Due to my leg injury, i had traveled slowly, and am hoping for senior brothes' pardon and understanding!''
Except, the bruises on his face had yet to fade and his eyes were still swollen, so the result of this expression of goodwill was inevitably not very effective.
Those two disciples carefully sized up Ling Xia and surmised that he didn't have anyone backing him. They also didn't see him bring out gifts curry favor like the other disciples had, and immediately felt a bit unhappy.
The fatter gatekeeper disciple waved his hand some what impatiently and barked, ''The others all arrived yesterday, why are you the only one late? Martial uncle Guang XuZi is in the main hall, hurry up and go in!''
Without further delay, Ling Xia gave a salute and limped away following along the flight of stairs, and going from the front gate to the top of the small mountain took him another hour.
Inside the hall, as expected, the other new disciples had naturally already gone to their assigned rooms to tidy up. The ‘Martial uncle Guang XuZi’ the two disciples at the gate spoke of was this Immortal Welcoming Pavilion’s overseeing manager. He looked about thirty years old, and with a slim build, gloomy eyes, and a slight hook nose, he gave off an impression of someone that’s hard to get along with.
In seeing Ling Xia bow in greeting, he did not immediately tell Ling Xia to get up and instead, lazily lifted his teacup and took two sips, drinking leisurely while he regarded the other from top to bottom. Ling Xia lowered his head and cursed silently; it couldn’t be that he met a douchebag this quickly?
After a long time, only until Guang XuZi had finished his cup of tea, did he tell Ling Xia to get up while absentmindedly asking, “Since you’ve entered my ShaoYang Sect, you must have some ability, yes?”
Ling Xia promptly and cautiously replied with respect, “This disciple’s body contains Herculean Strength.”
Guang XuZi suddenly let out a chuckle. “Not bad, not bad, they finally sent a useful one. For the time being, you’ll follow Yuan Hui to water that patch of Evening Mist Herbs. Yuan Hui, take your Junior brother Ling to go rest.”
Ling Xia didn’t know what kind of herb this was or the size of a ‘patch’, but he could only withdraw for now. He was also afraid of being taken advantage of by Guang XuZi, so he purposefully exaggerated his leg injury. Plus, he was genuinely in pain from exhaustion, so the way he staggered and hobbled was reminiscent of Iron Crutch Li, though he wasn’t sure if Guang XuZi saw or not.
Yuan Hui was a young man who looked honest and considerate, and Ling Xia’s impression towards him was actually a bit favorable. While the other led the way, he took the opportunity and asked, “Senior brother Yuan, where is everyone’s sleeping quarters located?”
Yuan Hui glanced at him, then answered very slowly, “There aren’t any more empty rooms, so we can only impose upon Junior brother Ling to temporarily live in the firewood shed first. The housing in Immortal Welcoming Pavilion has always been in short supply, and after these busy days have passed, Martial uncle will find people to build another residence.”
Ling Xia blinked, having no choice but to resign himself to his terrible luck, not suspecting these words in the least. In his panic to arrive here, he had ignored his hunger, so he continued to ask, “Senior brother Yuan, sorry for the inconvenience, but where are evening meals usually served?”
Yuan Hui turned around, pointed to a building not far away, and replied, “In there. Every day, three meals are announced by the sound of a bell. The time for today’s evening meal has already passed… …Hmm, I’ll go ask around in the sleeping quarters and see if any junior brothers still have a steamed bun left.”
“... ...No need to trouble Senior brother, I’m not really that hungry.” No matter how dense Ling Xia was, at this moment, even he became aware of Yuan Hui‘s half-hearted and vague attitude towards himself. He was honestly heavily worn out by these past few days, yet only had a bit of medicine bestowed by Feng Luo on him. In any case, he’s already fully experienced such feelings like starvation by now, and actually, once you endure past a certain point, the hunger ceases to be a bother.
Sure enough, after Ling Xia’s response, Yuan Hui also no longer payed this any mind.
Ling Xia followed the other to the warehouse and received a simple, flimsy mattress. As a cultivator, this kind of thing doesn’t really matter, and together with those two kids, he’d already passed many days sleeping on tree leaves and coarse straw.
Immortal Welcoming Pavilion’s firewood shed was considered quite spacious and had plenty of open space. Ling Xia placed the mattress down and thanked Yuan Hui. Yuan Hui carelessly gave him a look, and without saying another word, turned around and left. Ling Xia sighed; thankfully, the firewood shed also had an oil lamp.
Ling Xia shook out the mattress and spread it out, then after applying a layer of medicine to the wounds on his body and face, blew out the lamp and lethargically lied down.
Even though this place was pitch black and quite chilly, at least it was safe and devoid of both dangerous magical beasts and violent combat… …That said, how were those two kids doing right now? … …He tossed and turned for a long time before falling asleep, and yet for all that, he was jerked awake twice in the middle of the night by bug bites.
The next day, the bell outside woke Ling Xia up very early, and without bothering to wash up, he hastily rushed outside as the the first rays of sunlight barely stretched across the sky. He wasn’t familiar with the way, so by the time he found the right place, he was late again, and the other disciples were already standing neatly in rows.
Guang XuZi gave him an extremely harsh glare and yelled, “Ling Xia! Come here!”
Ling Xia inwardly bemoaned a not good. This was practically the same as an elementary stundent arriving late and running into the principal... ...
He quickly walked over and bowed with the utmost respect. ''This disciple is slow witted and got lost on the way, thus arriving late, and humbly request Martial uncle to issue a punishment.''
Seeing that his etiquette was meticulous, Guang XuZi's expression cleared up a bit as he nodded and intoned, ''Hmm, considering that this is your first day, i won't punish you too severely, but in my ShaoYang Sect, everyone must kepp the sect rules in mind! If there is a violator, they must be strictle disciplined! Since i told you yesterday to follow Yuan Hui in taking care of that patch of Evening Mist Herbs, then your penalty will be to water it all by yourself today. Eating is forbidden until you finish.''
Noticing the complicated and somewhat sympathetic gazes a few older disciples cast towards himself, Ling Xia felt a bad premonition.
Ling Xia didn’t know exactly how large a ‘patch’ really was, but once he was led there by another disciple, he almost fainted from anger. What bullshit is this! He originally thought that a patch would be, at most, as big as a basketball court, but the reality was that it’s as large as a soccer field, you know? Looks like this Guang XuZi was enacting a show of power in front of the new disciples, and he happened to be the hapless whipping boy… …
When he saw the two buckets hanging from a pole that he had to use for hauling water, he nearly started to hop up and down in rage. Fuck! Screw you! How many trips would he have to make to finish watering all this?
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[1]: in ancient Chinese culture, different generations are assigned certain a word as their generation name
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