Ruan Mingzhu silently walked out of Qin Xi's Cave Abode. She then silently flew back to Shangqing Palace, not saying a single word.
Having said what needed to be said, there was no meaning in saying anything more.
The moment she left the Cave Abode, Ye Zhenji couldn't wait to rush into the cultivation chamber: "Master!"
Qin Xi sat cross-legged, maintaining his cultivation posture, not even opening his eyes: "Heard enough?"
Ye Zhenji scratched his head, grinning: "I wasn't eavesdropping, I just happened to be watching Xiaohuo..."
"I didn't say you were eavesdropping." Qin Xi opened his eyes and gave him a faint look before lowering his gaze again. "Why are you feeling guilty?"
"I..." Ye Zhenji had no retort, so he simply moved closer. "Master, who was that? Why did she call you Senior Brother? Didn't Grandmaster only take Auntie as a disciple after you?"
Qin Xi said, "She is the daughter of your Uncle-Master Qingyuan, named Ruan Mingzhu. By convention, you should call her Senior Sister." After finishing, he looked up at Ye Zhenji. "If there's anything else you want to know, just say it directly. No need to beat around the bush."
"Uh... I also want to know what's the story with this Senior Sister? Does she like you, Master? And what did she do? Why won't Grandmaster let her return?"
This barrage of questions made Qin Xi fall silent for a long while.
Ye Zhenji waited, but hearing no answer, called out again: "Master?"
Qin Xi snapped out of his reverie and slowly said, "Mingzhu... was my childhood playmate. When Grandmaster brought me to Taikang Mountain, I was only eight years old. Mingzhu was only five or six at the time. Her father, your Uncle-Master Qingyuan, had perished before that. Grandmaster took pity on her and kept her by his side. Back then, Mingzhu was actually a very lovely little girl. I had a solitary nature and didn't like dealing with people. Mingzhu, afraid I'd be lonely, would always drag me to play. I always regarded her as a younger sister..."
"Because of Senior Brother Qingyuan, Master was even better to Mingzhu than to me. Master had high demands for me, but for Mingzhu, he granted her every wish. Whatever she wanted, Master would deliver it to her hands. Later, I don't know when it started, Mingzhu slowly changed. We grew up, established our Foundations. Mingzhu began to become unreasonable, domineering, and suspicious. After Foundation Establishment, I often went out on journeys. When I returned to the mountain, I would seclude myself for cultivation and had little contact with her. I didn't know her personality would become so... terrible."
"Later, I formed my Core. Master bestowed another Cave Abode, and I moved out of Shangqing Palace. I was still too young then, single-mindedly burying myself in arduous cultivation, with no desire to take disciples at all. If there were any miscellaneous tasks, I would pick a few disciples from among the disciples of my various senior brothers and sisters. Mingzhu, for some reason, would always make things difficult for these disciples. Occasionally, when I happened upon it, I admonished her a few times. She would agree to my face, but next time, she would intensify her behavior. After this happened repeatedly, I gradually grew to dislike her..."
Hearing this, Ye Zhenji couldn't help but interject: "Master, did you know back then that Senior Sister Ruan liked you?"
Such a blunt question. Qin Xi looked up and shot him a glare: "Do you still remember I'm your master?"
Ye Zhenji chuckled: "Master, I'm just telling the truth. Anyone with eyes can see that Senior Sister Ruan likes you. You don't need to feel embarrassed."
Qin Xi frowned: "Where did you learn to be so talkative, kid? I remember your aunt isn't much of a talker."
Ye Zhenji said, "Precisely because Auntie and you, Master, don't like to talk, I have to talk more, otherwise wouldn't it be boring?" He steered the topic back. "Master, did you know or not?"
Pestered beyond recourse, Qin Xi had no choice but to say, "I didn't know originally. Later, I overheard her talking to someone else and found out."
"And what was your reaction at the time, Master?"
"What reaction was needed?" Qin Xi said indifferently. "Since I had no intention of reciprocating, naturally I acted as if I didn't know."
"..." Ye Zhenji studied Qin Xi's face for a good while before saying, "Master, people who like you are really unlucky."
Qin Xi remained expressionlessly cold: "Even if they are unlucky, it's none of my concern—are you done asking?"
"No!" Ye Zhenji immediately cried out. "Master, then why has Senior Sister Ruan been absent for these sixty years? What did she do to hurt others?"
Faced with these endless questions, Qin Xi sighed. If it were anyone else, he simply wouldn't answer and would have kicked them out. But this one happened to be his disciple, his only disciple at that. He pondered internally: had he been too good to Zhenji, so much so that this kid had no sense of hierarchy in his eyes?
Though he thought this, he still answered the question: "At that time, there was a female disciple under Grandmaster Xuanyin working in my Cave Abode. Mingzhu grew jealous and, taking advantage of my absence, attacked that disciple, severely injuring her. Fellow disciples harming each other is strictly forbidden by sect rules to begin with, and the reason was such a trivial matter. So, Grandmaster was furious and personally punished Mingzhu. But Mingzhu remained unrepentant. Grandmaster then ordered her to leave Taikang Mountain and go to a remote branch courtyard. Unless summoned, she was not allowed to return." After finishing the account, Qin Xi shot him another glare. "Take these words as you've heard them. You are not to spread them."
Ye Zhenji wisely promised immediately: "Of course, of course. I always do exactly as Master says." As he spoke, a spirit beast covered in fiery red fur walked in with silent steps.
"Ah, Xiaohuo!" Ye Zhenji picked it up. "Weren't you undergoing Advancement? Why are you still Third-Rank?"
Xiaohuo chirped twice. Qin Xi looked at it and said, "Its Advancement failed." Advancement was never an easy matter, even though Xiaohuo had consumed many pills over the years.
Ye Zhenji's eyes shifted. "Master, since Xiaohuo's Advancement is over, shall I take it back?"
"Mm." Qin Xi closed his eyes, assuming the posture of continuing cultivation. "If you're going, go quickly."
Without another word, Ye Zhenji, holding Xiaohuo, slipped out of the Cave Abode and flew towards Shangqing Palace, muttering to himself: "Such an interesting story. I must tell Auntie!"
Unfortunately, when he delivered Xiaohuo back and eagerly brought up the topic, Mo Tiange only replied with one sentence: "I already know."
Ye Zhenji widened his eyes: "Huh? Auntie, how did you find out?"
Mo Tiange looked at him with amusement: "Have you forgotten? This Shangqing Palace has sixteen busybodies."
"Oh..." Ye Zhenji rubbed his head. "Right, Xiu Qin and the others are so bored every day, they must have found out long ago."
Mo Tiange lowered her head and looked at Xiaohuo in her arms, somewhat surprised: "This is Xiaohuo? It became like this after Advancement?" The original Xiaohuo didn't have such beautiful fur. Looking like this now, how could it still resemble the common Blazing Fire Beast found everywhere in Kunwu?
Ye Zhenji said, "I don't know how it became like this either. When Xiaohuo Advanced to Third-Rank, it was like it became a different spirit beast. Master said it might have undergone a mutation."
"Mutation?"
"Mm." Ye Zhenji also didn't seem to understand much. "Master said Xiaohuo must have eaten something, its physique long since different from ordinary Blazing Fire Beasts. The rest, I'm not very clear about either."
Mo Tiange became thoughtful. In its early stages, she had always tossed Xiaohuo into the Void Heaven Realm. It must have eaten some random spirit medicine inside, causing the mutation.
"Squeak squeak!" A ball of golden fur appeared at the entrance of Mingxin Abode. Seeing the red fur in Mo Tiange's hands, it immediately took two steps in one, ran over, leaped up, trying to reclaim its spot.
Mo Tiange reached out and scooped Feifei into her other hand to avoid it trampling Xiaohuo.
Xiaohuo, seeing this golden glowing ball, immediately stood up in Mo Tiange's embrace, its eyes wide.
Seeing this, Ye Zhenji exclaimed: "Auntie, what's this?"
"This is Feifei." Mo Tiange watched as the two spirit beasts first looked at each other curiously. Then Xiaohuo took a step forward with its front leg, trying to occupy more space. Seeing this, Feifei, unwilling to be outdone, also stood up.
The two spirit beasts, one gold, one red, glared at each other with not a hint of friendliness.
"Eh? Are they going to fight?"
Ye Zhenji, thrilled at the prospect of watching the two spirit beasts fight each other, was glared at by Mo Tiange.
Xiaohuo glared at Feifei for a while. Perhaps feeling its cultivation was higher than the other's and it shouldn't lose its composure so easily, it raised its head, jumped down from Mo Tiange's embrace, and growled "grr grr" twice at Feifei.
Seeing it jump down on its own, Feifei was first overjoyed. But seeing Xiaohuo's provocative demeanor, it understood and glared back at Xiaohuo.
Xiaohuo extended its claws and swiped at the air, seemingly as a threat.
Feifei glared for a moment, then also jumped down from Mo Tiange's embrace, confronting Xiaohuo.
The two spirit beasts glared at each other, starting to circle one another, as if choosing where to bite.
Ye Zhenji watched excitedly and asked, "Auntie, is this also your spirit beast? What abilities does it have? Can it beat Xiaohuo?"
Mo Tiange was hesitating whether she, as their master, should go break up the fight. Hearing Ye Zhenji's question, she thought for a moment: "Feifei has special abilities. I haven't seen it fight..." At Bixuan Pavilion, she had heard that Feifei generally had little offensive power, but possessed exotic Exotic's abilities. All kinds of demon beasts would not actively attack them.
But what she saw before her eyes was clearly Xiaohuo provoking Feifei. So how would Feifei respond? And Xiaohuo, having Advanced to Third-Rank and mutated, should have special abilities too, right?
The two spirit beasts, unaware that their unscrupulous master intended to watch them fight, circled for a while. Xiaohuo moved first. It spat True Solar Fire from its mouth, aiming to singe Feifei's golden fur.
One could imagine if this fire hit squarely, Feifei's golden fur would turn to charcoal. After all, this was True Solar Fire, used to smelt various spirit medicines and materials; few things couldn't be melted by it.
But Feifei nimbly leaped up, avoiding the True Solar Fire. It cried out, raised a paw, and from its palm released a hazy beam of light that shone on Xiaohuo's head.
Then, Xiaohuo stopped casting its technique. Its head slowly drooped, its eyes beginning to glaze over...
Ye Zhenji said curiously: "A soul-confusing technique?"
Hearing the sound, Xiaohuo instantly snapped out of its daze. It glared at Feifei and let out an angry low roar. With a swipe of its paw, carrying True Solar Fire, it pounced again.
Feifei, startled, glanced up at Ye Zhenji, then turned and ran.
The two spirit beasts, one chasing, one fleeing, began racing around the courtyard. From the front of the house to the back, water splashed up, splattering everywhere. The herb garden was trampled into a chaotic mess.
"Auntie!" Seeing this situation, Ye Zhenji cried out in alarm. "The spirit herbs! The spirit herbs are being trampled!"
But Mo Tiange watched with great interest: "If they're ruined, they're ruined."
Xiaohuo was clearly much fiercer than before. Although Feifei's cultivation was inferior, that soul-confusing-like technique was quite special.