Am I the old man who's always by my apprentices' side?

Chapter 138 The Senior Brother's Teachings (Part 2)

"Senior Sister Zhong, don't worry, I'm coming to help you!"

Although Ye Hanxing told Zhong Hui not to worry, she herself was almost frantic with anxiety.

As the two were filled with anxiety and fear, Chang Ping'an, who had also witnessed this scene, quickly rose from the lakeside and threw the Night Talk Sword at Zhong Hui's feet.

The broad sword, Night Talk, grazed Zhong Hui's shoe and embedded itself in a crack in the rock. Chang Ping'an shouted, "Junior Sister! Don't panic! Step on the sword I threw!"

Zhong Hui carefully stepped onto the Night Talk Sword, but because she couldn't see her surroundings clearly, she was still hesitant to let go. Blood flowed down her arm and onto her clothes, a truly shocking sight.

Just then, Ye Shuyun, who was in the distance, also arrived.

He keenly sensed something amiss—Zhong Hui's eyes looked unfocused, as if he were blind. So he quickly took out a few chess pieces from his pocket, then used his spiritual power to attach fireballs to the pieces. With a few whooshing sounds, the pieces flew one after another to the boulder next to Zhong Hui and embedded themselves deeply.

The faint flames brought some light, allowing Zhong Hui to finally see her surroundings. She quickly stepped on the broadsword beneath her feet and moved a few steps.

Night blindness doesn't actually mean you can't see anything at all. It's just that Zhong Hui always sees double images of people, and combined with night blindness, he can't see very well at night—unless there's a light source, in which case it's not so bad.

Unfortunately, the moon was covered by dark clouds today, rendering Zhong Hui completely blind!

The moment Zhong Hui stepped firmly onto the mountain path, his legs went weak, and he collapsed to the ground, sweating profusely. His heart was pounding in his chest, and he was filled with lingering fear.

In the past, with her seventh-grade martial arts cultivation, she would never have been afraid of such a thing! But these past two days, she had just been drawing qi into her body, and all her true qi had dissipated. She hadn't forgotten some of the sword techniques she had learned when she was practicing martial arts, but they were of no use at this time!
Such a high mountain, if you fall off... even if you don't die, you'll be badly injured!

"Hey...it hurts!"

Having escaped danger, Zhong Hui shook his hands, only then belatedly noticing the pain in his chafed palms. He couldn't hold back his tears, which streamed down his face.

"Senior Sister Zhong! Are you alright!?"

Ye Hanxing quickly ran over, squatted down, and took Zhong Hui's hand to look at it.

Blood was seeping from the wound, but it only looked scary; it wasn't actually that serious.

"Let's go back first and apply some medicine to your wound!" Ye Hanxing said urgently. "Can you still stand up? Or should I carry you back?"

Zhong Hui endured the pain and waved his hand, saying, "No need, no need, I just need to catch my breath!"

"Junior sister, you still need to be careful. The terrain of Baishi Mountain is treacherous. Before you can cultivate your inner energy, you should be cautious when traveling."

Chang Ping'an, who arrived first, also saw Zhong Hui's injury. He put away the Night Talk Sword and took out a bottle of [Die Da San] from his Qiankun bag and handed it to her, saying, "This is [Die Da San]. It is a spiritual medicine made by Master... Sect Leader. It works very well. Junior Sister, please use it first."

"Thank you, senior brother!"

Ye Hanxing gratefully accepted the [Trauma Powder] and immediately applied the medicine to Zhong Huishi.

"Thank you, Senior Brother..."

Zhong Hui sniffed, thanked him in a muffled voice, but still argued rather unwillingly, "I've already guided my Qi into my body! And I was one of the first to do so! Just now... um, it was too dark to see..."

"Has the Qi already been drawn into the body?"

Chang Ping'an looked at Zhong Hui with great surprise, and then he remembered her—this round-faced junior sister seemed to have been the first to induce Qi into her body, and seemed to have good aptitude...

After recalling a few things, he pressed on, "Since you've already drawn qi into your body, why haven't you yet mastered any magical abilities?"

Before he could even finish asking, he frowned again, adopting the air of a "senior brother" and lecturing, "Junior sister, you can't slack off in your cultivation. Introducing Qi into your body is just the beginning of touching the threshold of the immortal path. The path to immortality is long and arduous. In your spare time, junior sister should still go to the library to learn some magical techniques and supernatural abilities..."

After a long lecture, which made Zhong Hui's cheeks puff up with grievance, Ye Shuyun arrived.

Seeing this scene, Ye Shuyun quickly stopped Chang Ping'an's lecture: "Senior Brother, these new disciples have only been here for a few days. It is already a sign of their diligence that they can draw qi into their bodies. How can we expect them to learn any magic or supernatural powers immediately?"

Ye Shuyun reminded him, and Chang Ping'an thought it made sense. He then looked ashamed and comforted Zhong Hui, saying, "Junior Brother Ye is right. I was wrong. You were able to draw Qi into your body in just one day, which is indeed a great talent. You are only a little bit less talented than Junior Sister Biyan... But you still can't slack off. You need to cultivate more. Once you reach the Foundation Establishment stage and can fly on the wind, you won't be afraid of these dangerous terrains."

Upon hearing this, Ye Shuyun coughed lightly and couldn't help but try to smooth things over again, saying, "Ahem, Senior Brother, I'll take care of things here, so you can rest assured. I think Master also saw what happened here just now, so you should go and report to him so that he won't worry."

Chang Ping'an, without suspecting anything, quickly nodded and replied, "Junior Brother Ye is so thoughtful. I'll go right away!"

After Chang Ping'an left, Ye Hanxing finally breathed a sigh of relief and greeted Ye Shuyun in a low voice, "Seventh Brother..."

Ye Shuyun smiled and nodded at Ye Hanxing, greeting her, "Greetings, Sixteenth Sister. How have you been lately?"

Zhong Hui, standing to the side, widened his eyes: "Huh? You two know each other!?"

“I come from the Ye family of Jiangnan. Senior Brother Ye is the seventh young master of the Ye family. Of course we know each other!”

Ye Hanxing explained helplessly, "I am just a maid adopted by the Ye family, not a real member of the Ye family."

"Sixteenth Sister, please don't say that. After you were adopted by Second Aunt as her goddaughter, you were already a member of the Ye family!"

As Ye Shuyun spoke, he took out a Qiankun bag from his bosom and handed it to Ye Hanxing, saying, "You can't spend copper coins in the sect, do you have enough spirit stones? Seventh Brother has quite a few here. If you're short, just tell Seventh Brother. You two can use these spirit stones first!"

Ye Hanxing quickly refused, "How can this be!"

Ye Hanxing was indeed born into the Ye family of Jiangnan, and she showed martial arts talent at a very young age, which led to her being adopted as a goddaughter by the second wife of the Ye family. However, she was sensitive by nature and did not consider herself a member of the Ye family, and she was always cautious in her actions.

More importantly, although she had met Ye Shuyun a few times before, they were only nodding acquaintances, and she would call him Seventh Brother when they met. There was no interaction between them. Unlike the other sisters in the Ye family, she did not think that Ye Shuyun cared about them because he always sent them new clothes, jewelry and novel trinkets. That was just Ye Shuyun taking care of them as the "elder brother".

Therefore, Ye Hanxing felt that the spirit stones sent by Ye Shuyun were too hot to handle and did not want to accept them.

"Oh, why can't it be used!"

Unexpectedly, Ye Hanxing refused to accept it. Zhong Hui, whose paws had been treated with medicine and recovered completely in just a short while, grabbed the Qiankun bag and said shamelessly, "Thank you, Third Senior Brother! Hehe, if you ever need to collect a debt in the future, just go to the Jade Void Sect!"

Ye Shuyun didn't seem to mind Zhong Hui's somewhat impolite behavior. He smiled slightly and said, "Well, if you need anything, just come and find me..."

As he spoke, he glanced at the sky and advised, "Although Senior Brother is straightforward and speaks bluntly, what he said during the afternoon cultivation class was right. The path of immortality is a long-term cultivation, not something that can be achieved overnight. Junior Sisters, you don't need to put yourselves in danger for the sake of cultivation." Ye Hanxing immediately assured him, "Don't worry, Seventh Brother, I will keep an eye on Senior Sister Dianzhong."

Zhong Hui retorted angrily, "It was just an accident! It was nothing more than an accident!"

Seeing that Zhong Hui was not one to listen to advice, Ye Shuyun had no choice but to say, "In that case, I will send you back first."

Zhong Hui was taken aback upon hearing this, then waved his hand and said, "No, no need, right? Senior Brother Ye, you're so busy, and you still have to cultivate. I, we can go back by ourselves!"

Ye Shuyun shook her head: "It's alright. My senior brother, second senior sister, and I don't cultivate every night. Today, it's because the sect leader created this large lake, and the spiritual energy is much more abundant than before, so everyone wanted to come and try it out... Even if we don't cultivate, it's fine. The safety of my two junior sisters is the most important thing."

At Ye Shuyun's insistence, Ye Hanxing and Zhong Hui were forced to return to their "dormitory"—Courtyard No. 0205.

The two chose this place because it was relatively far inside and exceptionally quiet, but now, the journey Ye Shuyun took them back felt unusually long.

After escorting Ye Hanxing and Zhong Hui back to their courtyard, Ye Shuyun bid them farewell, saying, "I won't be going to the Great Lake tonight either. My two junior sisters should get some rest. If you need anything, you can find me at Courtyard No. 0101."

Ye Hanxing respectfully clasped his hands in thanks: "Thank you so much for tonight, Senior Brother. Please get some rest as well."

Zhong Hui pouted and reluctantly replied, "Thank you, Senior Brother. Get some rest, Senior Brother!"

Seeing Zhong Hui's obvious desire to sneak away but forced to behave because of her, Ye Shuyun couldn't help but chuckle, shook her head, and left.

Unexpectedly, as Ye Shuyun's figure gradually disappeared into the distance, Zhong Hui suddenly perked up, no longer looking dejected as before. He grabbed Ye Hanxing and ran to the field behind the house, then picked up a small twig and began writing words in the soil—

'Don't speak, come with me!'

Ye Hanxing's eyes widened in shock as she asked, "You're going to the Great Lake again?!"

"No, no! I'm not going! That fall hurt so much!"

Although Zhong Hui said this, he lightly slapped Ye Hanxing with anger, then continued writing in the soil:

"I told you not to talk, just come with me, we're going to Spirit Medicine Peak!"

Ye Hanxing thought for a moment. There was a Spirit Pivot Pool on Spirit Medicine Peak, and the spiritual energy was abundant. Moreover, judging from Zhong Hui's appearance, he would definitely not behave tonight. It would be better to grant her wish and go to the Spirit Pivot Pool with her to cultivate. At least the road to Spirit Medicine Peak was lit up and not dangerous.

So Ye Hanxing followed Zhong Hui, and the two of them sneaked over the wall of the inner courtyard like thieves, tiptoeing towards Lingyao Peak.

Ye Shuyun was well aware of their little scheme. He lagged far behind and, seeing that they were heading towards Spirit Medicine Peak, sighed and stopped interfering, returning to his residence.

The next day, Zhong Hui, who had been cultivating all night, rushed to the library without even having breakfast.

The library is also called the library building; there is little difference between the two names.

The building has two floors. The first floor contains ordinary cultivation techniques and magical arts manuals, while the second floor contains more precious manuals, which are said to be only available to those who have reached the Core Formation stage.

"The Core Formation stage... that must take a long time. It seems that even Senior Brother is only at the Foundation Establishment stage!"

Zhong Hui sighed and then buried himself in searching through the first floor of the library.

There are very few "books" in the library.

Or rather, there are only about ten books made of ordinary paper here, all of which explain knowledge about the Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment stages.

All cultivation techniques and magical arts manuals are in the form of "jade slips".

The concept of "jade slips" was introduced by Chang Ping'an during a class.

Besides being smaller and more portable than ordinary paper books, the biggest advantage of "jade slips" is that they eliminate the hassle of memorizing texts.

In other words, once you draw Qi into your body, by using spiritual power on the "jade slip," the contents of the "jade slip" will enter your mind like a ray of light. With a little effort, you can naturally obtain all the contents of the "jade slip."

When Zhong Hui was practicing martial arts, the most painful thing was memorizing books, especially those mysterious and profound manuals. He couldn't even understand them, let alone memorize them!
She had wondered more than once, in a petty way, whether the Jade Void Sect's patriarch had written the cultivation manual in such a complicated and obscure way just to prevent his disciples from understanding it!

Of course, this method of "enlightenment" through the "jade slip" cannot be used as many times as one wishes.

In addition to being limited by spiritual power, it is also affected by "energy".

Zhong Hui didn't really understand what "energy" meant, but according to his senior brother Chang Ping'an's explanation in class, most cultivators who had just begun to cultivate Qi could use at most one jade slip within three to five days. Using too much would cause confusion, slowed reactions, and even an inability to think calmly.

Although this condition usually heals in a few months, it is clearly not worth wasting several months of effort just to learn another magic or supernatural power.

Therefore, Zhong Hui listened to the advice and decided to choose only one kind of magical technique for the time being.

We absolutely cannot let our senior brother look down on us!

Golden Light Sword Intent, Wind-Riding Sword Intent, Thunderous Sword Intent, Long Flame Sword Intent...

Unfortunately, the more Zhong Hui looked, the more discouraged he became.

These are all things that can only be cultivated by those in the Foundation Establishment stage!

She wandered around the library, and finally found a jade slip that really appealed to her in a corner.

Next to each jade slip are several pages of paper, which record the corresponding cultivation method or magical technique.

The move that Zhong Hui had his eye on was a set of moves called "Tai Xu Fist".

The word "Xu" also appears in "Tai Xu Quan" (太虚拳), which sounds just like the strength of my original Jade Void Sect!

Zhong Hui carefully studied the introduction to "Tai Xu Quan" for a while, and finally made up his mind—

You're the one! The Great Void Fist!
……

(End of this chapter)