After Redeeming The Beautiful and Tragic Heroine [Transmigration] - Chapter 5

“Have you memorized the Scripture of Clarity and Stillness?”

Xue Qingzhu sat on the prayer cushion, holding an incense tool and stirring the ashes in the incense burner before her.

Yu Yuan knelt beside her, a thin layer of cold sweat soaking through her clothes.

She hadn’t expected to run into her villainous Master on the immortal vessel, and she certainly hadn’t expected her villainous Master to quiz her on a text.

“I think I have it memorized,” Yu Yuan replied vaguely.

“‘Think’?” Xue Qingzhu paused her hand with the incense tool and turned to look at Yu Yuan. “Recite it for me.”

Yu Yuan: …

She wanted to ask Xue Qingzhu if she could skip the recitation and do a written transcription instead.

But when her eyes met the face that currently belonged to Immortal Lord Wen Ti, she didn’t dare ask, so she resigned herself to reciting the text.

From “The Great Dao is formless” all the way to the final phrase “the body ascends on purple clouds,” Yu Yuan stumbled over every single word. There were a few sentences she even went back and recited again after finishing them.

By the time Yu Yuan was done, Xue Qingzhu had finished lighting the incense.

She placed the lid on the burner, stood up, and sat down opposite Yu Yuan. With a wave of her hand, a writing desk materialized between them.

On the desk were brushes, ink, paper, and a brand-new copy of the Scripture of Clarity and Stillness.

“If you don’t know it by heart, then copy it a few times. Copying it often will naturally lead to memorization.”

Xue Qingzhu spoke slowly and calmly. Before her, Yu Yuan looked at the thick stack of paper on the desk and desperately wanted to cry out, Woe is me!

In the end, Yu Yuan still had to start copying the Scripture of Clarity and Stillness.

Her beautiful, delicate small script bloomed across the paper.

Xue Qingzhu watched Yu Yuan’s handwriting for a while in silence, then asked the girl, “Aren’t you curious why I went to the Sleepless City?”

Yu Yuan’s brush paused, causing a drop of ink to bloom and bleed through the white paper.

She quickly pulled back the brush, placed it on the rack, and shook her head. “This disciple shouldn’t pry into Master’s affairs.”

Xue Qingzhu propped her elbow on the desk, rested her chin in her hand, leaned three inches closer to Yu Yuan, and stated plainly, “You can pry into my affairs.”

Yu Yuan: …

Pry? What did she mean by my affairs?

Yu Yuan suspected her villainous Master had lost her mind, otherwise why would she say something so outrageous?

Fortunately, she had read the original novel and knew what kind of character Immortal Lord Wen Ti was. So, a quick turn of her thoughts gave her the answer: Immortal Lord Wen Ti was 100% testing her.

But what was she testing? Or rather, what was there to test?

For all these years, although Yu Yuan knew Immortal Lord Wen Ti was black-hearted, she hadn’t given away any hint that she was guarding against her.

Yu Yuan’s mind was racing with anxious thoughts, but she finally just said, “That wouldn’t be appropriate.”

Xue Qingzhu countered, “What’s inappropriate about it? Is it wrong for a disciple to be concerned about her Master?”

Yu Yuan raised an eyebrow: Concerned?

She did a quick calculation. Her villainous Master was about three hundred years old this year.

Hearing what Yu Qinzhong said, Immortal Lord Wen Ti was in the Soul Transformation stage and could live for over two thousand years.

Comparing three hundred to two thousand, Immortal Lord Wen Ti should be in her prime—no, she should be in her adolescence.

Therefore, her villainous Master shouldn’t, by all accounts, be an ’empty-nest’ senior.

If that was the case, how could one explain Immortal Lord Wen Ti’s sudden demand for ‘concern’?

Yu Yuan recalled her own teenage years and mused, “Could she be going through a love-starved, rebellious phase?”

Absolutely not!

Yu Yuan quickly dismissed the idea.

She would sooner believe the sun would rise in the west than believe Immortal Lord Wen Ti was going through adolescence.

Ugh, this is infuriating!

Her villainous Master’s mind was truly impossible to guess!

Yu Yuan felt frantic, yet her expression remained calm. “Master, this disciple is concerned for you, but it’s truly not my place to inquire too much about your private matters.”

Then, she remembered her father and brought Yu Qinzhong into it for extra explanation: “If I pry into your private affairs, my father will scold me for being ill-mannered.”

Father? Xue Qingzhu recalled the old stick-in-the-mud who liked to scowl and puff out his beard, and inwardly agreed with Yu Yuan.

“I went to the Sleepless City because I actually wanted to catch up with an old friend of mine.”

Xue Qingzhu straightened up, moved the ink-stained paper away, and replaced it with a fresh sheet for Yu Yuan.

“It just so happened that these outer sect disciples were also going to the Sleepless City, so I hitched a ride.”

“So that’s it…” Yu Yuan looked glumly at the blank paper, suddenly curious. “Master, you have a friend in the Sleepless City?”

She remembered her Master wasn’t the type who liked to make friends.

Xue Qingzhu nodded and smiled. “The Lord of Sleepless City.”

Yu Yuan: ?!

She desperately wanted to ask, “Does the Lord of Sleepless City know he has a friend in you?”

But she didn’t dare.

However, Xue Qingzhu seemed to sense her confusion and explained with a warm smile, “Though we’ve never met face-to-face or exchanged a single word, we’ve heard each other’s names for over a hundred years. That certainly qualifies us as old friends.”

Yu Yuan: !

Is this a new definition of ‘old friend’?!

This is even more ridiculous than treating a random online acquaintance like your own father!

However, considering Immortal Lord Wen Ti’s status in the cultivation world, Yu Yuan thought that the Lord of Sleepess City might genuinely be willing to add a name to his family tree and acknowledge a ‘god-parent,’.

No, a ‘god-mother.’

Xue Qingzhu wanted to talk to Yu Yuan about a few other things, but just as she was about to speak, a knock sounded on the door.

“Tuk-tuk-tuk.”

Xue Qingzhu frowned in displeasure, her voice cooling by a degree. “Who is it? Come in.”

“It’s me, Immortal Lord,” Wei Haoran pushed the door open. His gaze lingered on Yu Yuan for a moment, and the dark envy hidden in his eyes flashed and disappeared.

If Yu Yuan hadn’t been so lucky as to hold the title of Young Sect Master, he would certainly be favored by the Immortal Lord more than she was.

After a brief moment of internal resentment, Wei Haoran stood outside the door and bowed deeply to Xue Qingzhu, keeping his posture extremely humble. “Immortal Lord, this disciple and a few of my fellow brothers have encountered some difficulties regarding music theory. We humbly request the Immortal Lord for guidance.”

Music theory problems? Xue Qingzhu was not proficient in that.

But if the original Immortal Lord Wen Ti were here, she would have been delighted to help Wei Haoran and the others, earning a good reputation to prepare for her eventual takeover of the Sect Master position.

However, she wasn’t Immortal Lord Wen Ti.

Xue Qingzhu deliberated, planning to send Wei Haoran away, but her eyes fell on Yu Yuan, who was clearly hoping she would leave immediately. Her brow twitched.

She almost forgot that Yu Yuan disliked Immortal Lord Wen Ti the most.

If she stayed here, Yu Yuan probably wouldn’t be able to settle down and copy the scripture.

Therefore, after a brief internal struggle, Xue Qingzhu stood up and said to Wei Haoran, “Lead the way.”

Wei Haoran hadn’t expected Xue Qingzhu to agree so readily. He swallowed the barrelful of words he was about to say and smiled broadly. “Immortal Lord, please.”

Xue Qingzhu acknowledged him, then looked back at Yu Yuan, who was trying to hide a smile. She shook her head helplessly, then spoke to her seriously. “A’Yuan, remember to copy the Scripture of Clarity and Stillness. I will check it when I return.”

Yu Yuan, who thought Xue Qingzhu had forgotten about her, said, “Huh?”

She was miserable and didn’t want to copy the text.

But Xue Qingzhu wouldn’t tolerate it, leaving her with the parting instruction: “Ten times.”

And then she left with Wei Haoran.

Yu Yuan: …

Help! I wish I were an octopus!

She thought miserably, collapsing onto the prayer cushion, her eyes wandering.

Then, she suddenly noticed something: her villainous Master hadn’t brought her precious destiny instrument with her today!

Something was wrong. Terribly wrong.

For a Sword Cultivator, their sword was like their wife.

Similarly, for a Sound Cultivator, their destiny instrument was their most prized treasure.

Therefore, Yu Yuan was certain: something must have gone wrong with her villainous Master…

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