Chapter 7: Having You Is Trouble Enough

Xue Fuyi was speaking in a low voice to Xue Mengying, "She is different now than before; we cannot treat her with our previous attitude."

Xue Mengying grunted reluctantly, "Sister, why is she wearing the Dao Robe of an inner sect disciple?"

"Ask her later," Xue Fuyi replied.

"Is Xue Fuyi here—" the young Daoist responsible for assisting with the spiritual root testing shouted.

Xue Fuyi stepped forward and placed her hand on the spirit-testing stone.

The originally colorless spirit-testing stone remained colorless, but it was merely colorless, not empty; water light rippled, and spiritual energy surged out through the spirit-testing stone!

Every cultivator with a water spiritual root felt their own spiritual roots within their bodies begin to tremble slightly.

"Heavenly Grade Water Spiritual Root!" Hua Qing stood up abruptly.

Zhong Yi also wore a look of shock, "Elder, are you certain it is a Heavenly Grade spiritual root?"

"Yes, there is absolutely no mistake; only the Heavenly Grade can cause spiritual energy to overflow." Hua Qing walked toward Xue Fuyi.

"I wonder, old man, if I may take you as my closing disciple?" Hua Qing looked at Xue Fuyi with a smile and full of hope.

Su Xi also hurriedly stood up, "That's great, Sister Fuyi, hurry and agree."

In this way, Xue Fuyi and Rong Shou would no longer have the fate of master and disciple.

Xue Fuyi stood stunned on the spot, looking at a loss. But inwardly, she was in a bit of a dilemma, because her goal was not Hua Qing, but that Sect Master who rarely appeared in public.

"Elder, the spiritual root test has just finished; there are still two trials left. It won't be too late to decide after all the assessments are complete." Zhong Yi helped Xue Fuyi out of the situation.

Hua Qing looked at Xue Fuyi, then at Zhong Yi, and flicked his sleeve, saying, "Are you trying to keep her under your sect because you see her talent is good and you have a family connection? That won't do. This is aptitude for entering the inner sect; even if she isn't under my tutelage, she cannot be given to you."

"Yes, Elder," Zhong Yi replied.

Hua Qing looked at Su Xi; it was a pity the Sect Master was not here, otherwise, he could have taken Xue Fuyi as well. It would be quite wonderful for sisters of the same clan to be fellow disciples, looking after one another and cultivating together.

Thinking of this, he said, "Hmm, then let us continue the assessment first."

Seeing Hua Qing looking at her, Su Xi felt inexplicably uneasy... could he be plotting against her Master?

"Senior Brother, I am going out for a moment," Su Xi said to Hua Qing.

Hua Qing nodded, "Very well."

Seeing Su Xi leave, Xue Fuyi also wanted to follow her out to ask what had happened. But the next person to test their spiritual root was Xue Mengying, so she could only wait a while longer.

Su Xi exited the Xian Dao Tang; there were still dozens of pre-selected disciples in the outer training grounds waiting for assessment.

Under the Fu Sang Shu she had leaned against last time, a young boy was standing and reading a book. He had a thin, tall build and wore a coarse gray cloth garment. His ebony-colored short hair moved slightly with the gentle mountain breeze, and his slender, fair hands held a book two inches thick.

Suddenly, his gaze shifted from the book and looked toward Su Xi.

Meeting his clear and refined face, Su Xi was stunned for a moment and blurted out, "It's you."

She and the Xue sisters had come to the South Dao Sect by boat. On the way, a young child had been running around mischievously on the boat and accidentally fell into the water. Just as everyone was panicking, a young boy jumped into the water and saved the child.

The boy recalled for a moment, then put away his book and bowed to Su Xi, "A pleasure to meet you, I am Xie Guanyu."

"Su Xi, I wish you good luck," Su Xi smiled.

"Many thanks," Xie Guanyu looked at Su Xi, his gaze gradually deepening.

Su Xi left the training grounds and walked down the mountain path.

From time to time, she encountered outer sect disciples who bowed respectfully to her.

At first, she was quite unaccustomed to it, but later, as it happened more often, she adapted and simply nodded slightly.

Not until she reached the edge of a stone forest where few people walked did she stop, then hid behind a giant rock and took out the sound-transmission Talisman that Rong Shou had given her.

Looking at the mysterious runes on it, she hesitated again.

What if she was just overthinking it?

Perhaps it was just that Senior Brother wanted to take Xue Fuyi as a disciple.

But Mother had said that when out and about, one should often think things through and not be negligent, especially when it concerned one's own vital interests; one must not yield even a fraction. Otherwise, if others know they can take advantage of you once, the next step will be to swallow you whole.

Right, listening to Mother is never wrong.

She bit her finger and dripped several drops of blood onto the sound-transmission Talisman... in the end, the entire Talisman was stained with blood, looking somewhat shocking.

Soon, the sound-transmission Talisman emitted a spiritual glow.

She said to the Talisman, "Master, I like being the only one; could you just take me as your only disciple? I will provide for you in your old age, cultivate diligently, and bring glory to the sect."

The sound-transmission Talisman flew away.

【Is the Host worried that Xue Fuyi will become Master's disciple?】

Su Xi squatted on the ground, pressing her bleeding finger, 【Eh! Er Miao, do you think Master will think I am selfish and overbearing?】

Before Er Miao could answer, a figure appeared before her.

Rong Shou looked at Su Xi, who was hanging her head, and asked in a low voice, "What is the matter?"

"Master! You, how did you come here?" Su Xi asked with a slightly nervous, ingratiating smile.

Rong Shou pulled her up, looked at the wound on her left index finger that was still seeping blood, frowned slightly, took a small emerald-green bottle from his Storage Ring, uncorked it, poured out a drop of transparent liquid, and let it fall onto the wound.

She watched as the wound healed and returned to its original state.

"What kind of spirit medicine is this?" Su Xi peered at the small bottle.

"Dew of the Sweet Tree," Rong Shou gave her the small bottle, "Master also finds it troublesome; having you is enough, there will be no others."

"Really?" Su Xi directly ignored the word 'troublesome', "Even if there is someone with better cultivation aptitude than me, you won't take them?"

"Yes," Rong Shou nodded, "No matter how good they are, I will not take them."

If she were not in his karmic cause, he would not have taken her as a disciple either.

"Thank you, Master," Su Xi threw herself into Rong Shou's arms and rubbed against him, "I will be very filial to you."

"..." Rong Shou looked up toward the direction of the Xian Dao Tang.

Within Hua Qing's divine sense, a voice suddenly rang out, 【Elder, how is the selection going?】

Hearing Rong Shou's telepathic message, Hua Qing immediately sat up straight and replied with his divine sense: 【Everything is going smoothly. By the way, there is a pre-selected disciple with a Heavenly Grade Water Spiritual Root who is of the same clan as the Junior Sister; would the Sect Master like to take a look?】

Rong Shou looked down at Su Xi in his arms; so that was it.

"No need. Just choose an elder with a Water Spiritual Root in the Inner Sect and make the arrangements."

"Yes, Sect Master." Hua Qing replied; it seemed the Junior Martial Sister's aptitude was even above a Heavenly Grade Water Spiritual Root!

"Ah~" Su Xi let out a soft cry, "I forgot Master is in seclusion; did my voice transmission disturb his cultivation?"

"It is not a closed-door seclusion, it is fine." Rong Shou rubbed her head, then gave her a stack of voice transmission talismans, "You don't need so much blood to activate a voice transmission talisman; breathing on it twice works too, as long as it can distinguish your aura."

"Got it, Master." Su Xi put away the voice transmission talismans and ran toward the mountain path, "I'm heading back to Xian Dao Tang to continue watching the ceremony with Senior Brother."

Rong Shou smiled.

Just as he was about to return to the back mountain, a huge crack suddenly appeared in the sky! Clusters of fireballs emitting black Qi squeezed out from the crack and plummeted onto the defensive array of the South Dao Sect!

Black-red sparks flared up and spread everywhere... In an instant, the sky over the South Dao Sect turned into a blood-colored twilight!

?? Sending hearts to you babies. Mwah~