Tomorrow was the ten-day break.
The students of Wendao Academy were cheering loudly. Yuan Qian’s tail tip was swishing back and forth under Su Hansheng’s desk as he smiled: “Young Lord, are you going to the autumn market tomorrow?”
Su Hansheng, chewing on his pen, lifted the snake tail from under the desk and placed it on his lap, stroking it contentedly as he said lazily: “I have plans with someone.”
Yuan Qian leaned in curiously: “Who? A female cultivator from another academy?”
With Xu Nan and the others away, Su Hansheng had few companions at Wendao Academy. If he were going with Qifu Zhao, he definitely wouldn’t use the word “plans.”
Su Hansheng was about to answer, but worried someone might interfere, so he just pinched Yuan Qian’s tail instead.
“None of your business.”
Yuan Qian thought he’d guessed correctly and leaned back against Wu Baili’s desk: “Young Lord seems to have a secret rendezvous with some female cultivator…”
Wu Baili interrupted: “Tomorrow I need to go home and re-engrave the talismans on my bow. I don’t have time.”
Yuan Qian whispered: “The Young Lord seems to have plans with a female cultivator.”
Wu Baili said seriously: “Going—the talismans can wait until the next break to engrave.”
Yuan Qian laughed heartily.
Su Hansheng had no idea these two were planning to watch his drama unfold. He happily stroked the snake tail while doing his lesson work.
Today’s six classes went by quickly. In the afternoon, everyone was released for break. They chattered excitedly as they rushed outside.
Su Hansheng had agreed with Yuan Qian, Wu Baili, and Qifu Zhao to grab dinner together first, then return to the courtyard outside Falling Parasol Lodge to do homework collectively. As they packed up to leave, Yuan Qian ahead made an “ah” sound, holding up a disciple token.
“Young Lord, the Discipline Hall’s chief enforcer just announced on the communication mirror that you should go to the Discipline Hall for a moment.”
Su Hansheng was taken aback, his mind rapidly flipping through what he’d done recently.
Wu Baili and Yuan Qian crowded close from both sides: “So, what trouble did you cause this time? For the chief enforcer to look for you directly on the communication mirror.”
Su Hansheng was utterly confused: “Could it be that talisman I carved in class the other day—you know, the one where I deliberately added two strokes and almost blew that annoying academy director’s face full of ash?!”
Wu Baili and Yuan Qian: “…”
Su Hansheng frowned thoughtfully: “Or is it about secretly placing that obnoxious door guard grass outside Qifu Zhao’s room in that Xiao-surnamed cultivator’s storage ring, and when he asked me if I’d heard strange noises, I said no, scaring him half to death thinking he was cursed?”
Wu Baili wanted to say something but hesitated.
Yuan Qian elbowed him, planning to hear what other mischievous deeds this young lord had committed.
Su Hansheng rattled off a whole pile more and, looking troubled, shoved his books into Wu Baili’s arms: “It shouldn’t be possible. I covered my tracks so well nobody could have discovered anything.”
Yuan Qian laughed so hard he nearly doubled over, finding Su Hansheng to be a wonderfully mischievous character.
Our mischievous young lord went to the Discipline Hall with worried heart.
The deputy enforcer had been absent recently, so the number of students awaiting punishment at the Discipline Hall had decreased by ninety percent.
It wasn’t that the academy’s students had become well-behaved—the other enforcers simply weren’t doing their jobs, and the chief enforcer had a softhearted, easygoing temperament. The students had thus let loose completely. After all, no one was going to whip them, so they enjoyed their freedom.
Su Hansheng entered the empty main hall of the Discipline Hall with a guilty expression, preparing to make excuses.
At a glance, he saw Ying Zhijin sitting in a chair lighting incense.
IfOx onfDfO kgTdgrrj gkvOMbrwtxwt bfPn gO “JJ” gOt xwTPdCwt bfPn nwC ngOt: “RMJw nwCw.”
Ud ygOTnwOx gWWCMgknwt, gTTdJfOx Pnw knfwp wOpMCkwC ngt kMJWrgfOwt PM UwOfMC UfTPwC. yfT nwgt tCMMWwt fO g kMbwCfOx JgOOwC gT nw ngTPwOwt PM gWMrMxfcw YwpMCw Tnw kMdrt TWwgv.
“ZIwQJb ZQtEIb, z LGt LbJwV.”
IfOx onfDfO wmngrwt TJMvw gOt xrgOkwt gP nfJ kMrtrj: “ECMOx gYMdP bngP?”
Ud ygOTnwOx ndOx nfT nwgt twDwkPwtrj, CgPPrfOx Mpp grr PnMTw WwPPj JfTtwwtT nw’t DdTP JwOPfMOwt, TgjfOx WrwgtfOxrj: “V Cwgrrj vOMb V bgT bCMOx.”
DQwV WaQjQw tIIhIH EJ thQSI GwH wJE thQSI: “oa hN, MkQEI EaI EbJkiSIhGBIb. dJ LJwHIb NJkb ZIwQJb xbJEaIb tGNt NJk’bI hQtvaQIAJkt GwH QbbItrJwtQiSI.”
Su Hansheng crouched on the ground, clutching the armrest of Ying Zhijin’s chair, looking genuinely remorseful.
“I’ll change from now on, Senior Sister. Please don’t tell my Senior Brother—he’ll string me up and beat me.”
The usually cold and aloof Ying Zhijin suddenly laughed out loud: “Pfft.”
Ying Zhijin extended her lacquer-painted hand and gently touched Su Hansheng’s head, raising her brow: “I returned to Yingxu Sect a few years ago to see you.”
Su Hansheng looked confused.
Why didn’t he know about that?
Back then, Su Hansheng had sat by the frozen pond with a deathly pale face, wearing loose, hanging clothes on his skeletal frame. He stared blankly at the water before him, looking like he could leap in at any moment.
Like a beautiful bird with broken wings, exquisite yet imprisoned in a golden cage.
Ying Zhijin hadn’t entered. Instead, she’d found Ying Jianhua and had a fierce argument with him, wanting to take Su Hansheng elsewhere.
But that very night, Su Hansheng’s Phoenix Bone flared up, nearly burning him to a pile of ash. Fortunately, the thousand-year-old frozen pond water saved his life.
Ying Zhijin had stared at the skeletal youth on the bed for a long while, pain overwhelming her—the helplessness of wanting to save someone but being unable. She’d left without a word, pulling her sleeves decisively.
After that, she never returned to visit Su Hansheng.
The bird had escaped its cage, soaring through the vast world with wings spread wide, vibrant and full of life.
“These are only minor troubles. Just don’t do them again, and you won’t get beaten.” Ying Zhijin patted Su Hansheng’s cheek, smiling: “If your Senior Brother beats you over such small matters in the future, come find me.”
Su Hansheng nodded eagerly like a pecking chick.
Ying Zhijin patted his cheek twice more, then handed him a storage ring with Yingxu Sect’s pattern.
Su Hansheng swept it with his spiritual sense and nearly got blinded by the spiritual stones inside.
Ying Zhijin said: “Spending money. When it runs out, come find me again.”
Though Su Hansheng had no real concept of spiritual stones’ worth, one glance told him there must be about half a spiritual stone mine inside. His eyes widened as he carefully asked: “Is this a year’s allowance?”
Su Hansheng thought he’d said too much and was about to correct himself to “two years,” when he heard Ying Zhijin say coldly: “How exactly has Ying Jianhua been raising you? Has he been starving you like this?”
“This is for one ten-day cycle.” Ying Zhijin’s frown still hadn’t eased as she said: “Wendao Academy has a ten-day break every ten days. Every break, I’ll have someone deliver it to you.”
Su Hansheng remained silent for a long while, then immediately sided with Ying Zhijin: “How exactly has my Senior Brother been raising me?!”
Ying Zhijin couldn’t help but laugh again.
Su Hansheng tucked the storage ring away and asked: “Senior Sister, is there something urgent you needed me for today?”
“Mm.” Ying Zhijin said: “My beloved is still upset and has gone into seclusion without seeing me. I wanted to find you but was too lazy to send someone, so I used his disciple token on the communication mirror instead.”
Su Hansheng looked at her with newfound respect.
Ying Zhijin asked: “Do you know any medical cultivators at the Medical Pavilion?”
Su Hansheng thought for a moment: “The Little Medical Immortal Zhou Gusha. She once cured me of a bone-rotting poison.”
Ying Zhijin: “Is she reliable?”
Su Hansheng hesitated: “In terms of medical skill, Senior Sister?”
Ying Zhijin took a drag from her smoke, exhaling slowly as she mused: “She cured you of bone-rotting poison, yet there’s been no rumor outside that you bear Fuli clan bloodline. I’d say she’s trustworthy.”
Su Hansheng stared at her in shock.
Come to think of it, though Ying Zhijin and Ying Jianhua differed by several hundred years in age, she must have met his mother in their younger days and thus naturally knew he carried Fuli clan blood.
Ying Zhijin didn’t elaborate further: “Go fetch her to the Discipline Hall. I want her to treat someone for me.”
A moment later, Su Hansheng looked at Gong Handan lying on a bed in the Discipline Hall’s side chamber in shock. He quickly rushed forward: “Sister?”
Gong Handan’s eyes were tightly shut, her Wendao Academy robes now bearing charred black burns as if scorched by candlelight, emanating the strange smell of burning lamp oil.
“I saw her sleeping against the camphor tree outside the Medical Pavilion earlier,” Ying Zhijin said. “So I brought her here to rest. But something’s wrong—she seems to be carrying injuries. I’ve called her many times, but she won’t wake.”
Yesterday’s battle between Zhuang Lingge and Gong Handan had been nearly fatal. It was impossible she’d come away unharmed.
Yet Gong Handan had never mentioned it, her complexion appearing normal. Everyone had assumed the sacred object was fine, never imagining her condition was so serious.
Su Hansheng quickly extended his paw to retrieve his disciple token to contact Zhou Gusha, but his hand froze midway. He looked uncertainly at Ying Zhijin.
Once a pulse diagnosis was conducted, Gong Handan’s identity couldn’t be hidden.
“What are you afraid of? No one dares take anyone from my hands.” Ying Zhijin tapped his head, saying lazily: “This lamp of hers is so beautiful—it must be worth a fortune. Why would I let go?”
Su Hansheng was extremely surprised.
So the “other person” Gong Handan had mentioned who treated her well was Ying Zhijin.
Ying Zhijin looked down at the person on the bed, her tone cold yet carrying subtle compassion: “Foolish creature deceived for so many years, cooking others’ accounts. Rather than being tormented and controlled by those greedy scoundrels, she might as well be in my hands.”
Su Hansheng saw no malice in Ying Zhijin’s words, so he obediently went to find the Little Medical Immortal.
Zhou Gusha returned quickly, still as blunt as ever.
Su Hansheng, knowing Zhou Gusha’s temperament, quickly nodded: “Yes, hanging by a thread!”
Zhou Gusha immediately said: “I’m coming right now.”
At the Medical Pavilion, Zhou Gusha burst from her room with her medicine box, moving with such urgency she seemed to be floating.
Before she could exit, “Sword Cultivator’s Light” Gong Fuqu returned from the martial arts training ground. She casually tossed her long sword onto a nearby stone table and poured herself a cup of water, drinking it in one gulp.
Catching sight of Zhou Gusha, she raised her brow: “Gusha, where are you off to?”
“The Discipline Hall.”
Gong Fuqu said coolly: “Are you randomly diagnosing and treating people again?”
Zhou Gusha felt deeply wronged, her face stiffening: “I haven’t.”
Gong Fuqu didn’t believe her, casually wiping away her sweat as she quickened her pace to follow. “I’m coming with you.”
Zhou Gusha frowned: “I’m really not treating someone randomly. It’s Su Xiaoxiao who asked me to come.”
“Ha.” Gong Fuqu pounced on her words like catching prey: “I just heard from that little snake in the Virtue Academy that Young Lord Su was called to the Discipline Hall by the chief enforcer for mocking the academy director and deceiving his classmates. He must be going to be punished.”
In the Buddhist hall at the back mountain.
The young novice monk was frantically arranging hundreds of sets of plain white robes in the wardrobe, pairing each with jade ornaments.
Chongjue had stopped meditating for some reason and was instead holding Buddhist scriptures, reading with lowered eyes. His wide sleeves of plain robes moved gently, creating an appearance far from a Buddha statue on high—instead carrying rare traces of the mundane world.
The young novice monk scurried over and knelt respectfully, brewing tea for the World-Honored One while murmuring quietly:
“I just provided you with two months’ worth of clothing last month, and now there’s none left… When I arrived, World-Honored One, you yourself had no fresh robes to wear. Yet that little young lord is fine—wearing your robes and showing off in town.”
Chongjue rarely experienced the sensation of being in the wrong. He gave a light cough and said indifferently: “Don’t speak of him that way. He’s a well-behaved child.”
The young novice monk pouted but, being obedient, didn’t say more about Su Hansheng: “I’ve placed new plain robes and cassocks in the cabinet, and some ornamental pendants—oh, right, World-Honored One, where have you put your dozen or so prayer beads? Should I check them for damage?”
No need to check. They’re all damaged beyond recovery.
Chongjue coughed again: “Never mind. You should return to Mount Sumeru first.”
The young novice monk, having served the World-Honored One since childhood, knew well the Buddha’s compassionate heart. Seeing him speak coldly yet act softly, he sometimes dared to mutter complaints. He looked forward to staying a few extra days each visit, and the World-Honored One indulged him running about the temple to serve.
This was the first time the World-Honored One had “sent” him back to Mount Sumeru.
The young novice monk responded dejectedly with an “Oh,” but didn’t dare say more. He rose to leave.
Seeing Chongjue, who hadn’t turned a page of the Buddhist scripture in half a day, seemingly remember something, he called him back: “Wait. Among the clothing you’ve arranged…”
The young novice monk turned back confused.
Chongjue gripped the scripture with increased force, his neatly trimmed fingernails turning pale at the tips. He said quietly:
“…Do you have any ordinary garments suitable for going out?”