Collecting Disciples for a Hundred Years [Transmigration] - Chapter 9

Song Junyu stared at the tightly shut window, only belatedly realizing—

Was Ji Chan angry?

Yet before she could figure out what to do, the window suddenly opened again from the inside. Ji Chan, her face an expressionless mask, looked out at her.

Song Junyu blinked, finally snapping to her senses. She pulled the small boat she had made from her storage pouch and waved it at Ji Chan.

“Little Chan, I brought you a gift!”

“It’s been so long since I’ve seen my Little Chan! You’ve gotten so much prettier.”

By the time Ji Chan processed what was happening, a certain flighty woman had already leaped through the window. Her eyes held a joyous smile as she took Ji Chan’s hand and looked her over from head to toe.

“Lin Ying said you’ve been extremely diligent during this time. I just knew my Little Chan was a good, patient child.”

Ji Chan discovered what seemed to be another one of Song Junyu’s traits: whenever Song Junyu felt guilty, she became exceptionally talkative.

Song Junyu didn’t mention a word about calling her the wrong name, which only made it stranger. It meant that Song Ge held a very deep place in her heart.

And Ji Chan was truly sick of hearing the name Song Ge.

When she first saw Song Junyu go into seclusion, Ji Chan had actually breathed a secret sigh of relief.

Being around Song Junyu always gave her a sense of unreality, as if her heart were floating in mid-air, never able to find solid ground.

With Song Junyu in seclusion, she was free to do as she pleased.

Ji Chan just hadn’t expected that while Song Junyu was in seclusion, Lin Ying would show up.

Did Song Junyu ask Lin Ying to look after her?

But it didn’t quite seem that way.

When she practiced her sword, Lin Ying would also stay nearby. Whenever she made a misstep, Lin Ying would approach with a stern face to correct her posture and say some inexplicable things—

“If it were Senior Martial Niece, she wouldn’t make this kind of mistake.”

“Second Martial Niece began Foundation Establishment after only half a year.”

“Even though you can’t cultivate spiritual energy, you can’t be too terrible.”

At first, Ji Chan didn’t understand Lin Ying’s intentions. It took a few days for it to slowly dawn on her—did Lin Ying want her to be properly filial to Song Junyu?

Lin Ying wore a stern expression with everyone. Ji Chan had originally thought she and Song Junyu didn’t get along, but now it seemed Lin Ying actually cared for Song Junyu deeply in secret.

Ji Chan just hadn’t expected Lin Ying’s communication skills to be so abysmal. No wonder two of Song Junyu’s disciples were already dead, and Lin Ying had yet to take a disciple of her own. There was indeed a reason for it.

Lin Ying also seemed to realize she was unable to communicate with Ji Chan, so she summoned her friend, Bai Chi, from a mountain peak dozens of miles away.

Bai Chi had the handsome, scholarly appearance of a student, but he had a stutter and would blush after just a few words with a female cultivator.

Fortunately, however, Bai Chi could understand Lin Ying’s meaning.

As Bai Chi, his face beet red, explained in fits and starts, Ji Chan finally, with great difficulty, understood what Lin Ying was trying to express.

“S-Senior Martial Sister Song once took in two disciples. One… one was named Song Ge, the other was Du Shuang…”

Song Ge was a girl Elder Qian Ping had helped Song Junyu rescue from among refugees. After joining the sect, she trained diligently and showed astonishing talent. Everyone had extremely high expectations for her. Unexpectedly, one day, Song Ge inexplicably vanished from the Qing Ping Sect. After much inquiry, they learned she had entered the Demonic Domain.

Not long after, a new Demon Lord ascended, and the Demonic Realm began to undergo a dramatic upheaval. It was then that Song Ge’s life lamp abruptly went out.

More than a decade later, Elder Qian Ping and Song Junyu discovered a dying young girl among a pack of wolves. That was Du Shuang.

After Du Shuang was rescued, although she spoke little, she actually got along very well with Song Junyu. But for some reason, Du Shuang later began to constantly clash with Song Junyu, starting to compete with the deceased Song Ge: if Song Ge reached Foundation Establishment in seven months, she had to do it in six; if Song Ge reached the late stage of Foundation Establishment within ten years, she had to reach the Golden Core stage within ten years…

How could a cultivator be so eager for quick success?

During her Golden Core tribulation, Du Shuang failed to withstand the heavenly lightning and was annihilated into dust right before Song Junyu’s eyes.

After that, Song Junyu didn’t take another disciple for a very long time, until she met Ji Chan.

Lin Ying’s meaning was expressed very clearly: although Ji Chan couldn’t cultivate spiritual energy, there were advantages to not having it. Her ambition wouldn’t be so great.

This was also the reason Lin Ying had used to persuade Elder Wan Qing to allow Ji Chan to join the sect. The Qing Ping Sect was only so big. Even though Song Junyu tried her best to hide it, the fact that she was grieving over those two disciples was no secret to anyone.

“Y-you bear some resemblance to Song Ge and Du Shuang. If you have any enemies in the mortal world, you can tell us. W-we’ll help you take care of them. J-just as long as you don’t suddenly disappear and break your master’s heart…”

Bai Chi stammered out the words Lin Ying most wanted to say.

So, the reason Song Junyu took her in was because she resembled her two deceased disciples?

…

Ji Chan had thought she wouldn’t care. But for some reason, the thought of Song Junyu treating those two with the same devotion she showed her made her feel inexplicably unhappy. For a moment, she couldn’t quite put her finger on why. Facing the four eyes of Lin Ying and Bai Chi staring intently at her, she could only press her lips together and shake her head.

Her revenge on the Yihong Brothel was already complete. As for this body’s stepmother and biological father, she would have plenty of ways to deal with them in the future.

But when they saw her shake her head, Bai Chi and Lin Ying, who were staring at her, interpreted it in a completely different way and let out a collective sigh of relief.

“It’s good that you have no enemies!” Bai Chi felt a great weight lift from his shoulders, and his speech became more fluent. “Just stay here and behave from now on. Please your master, and leave the matter of revitalizing the sect to your Martial Aunt Lin Ying. If there’s anything you want, you can ask us for it…”

Afterward, to show her care for Ji Chan, Lin Ying even began to practice the sword with her.

She learned many useful sword techniques from Lin Ying. Compared to Song Junyu’s flighty demeanor, she had thought she would be more accustomed to Lin Ying’s silence. Yet, for some reason, in the breaks between her sword practice, she would glance up at the tips of the bamboo stalks from time to time, always feeling as if Song Junyu would appear there in the next instant…

Lin Ying rarely spoke when teaching her, and when she did, she would begin with, “My Senior Martial Sister.”

And whenever she was engrossed in a book at night, Song Junyu’s voice would sound from the rabbit lantern outside.

This rabbit lantern was as annoying as a certain flighty woman!

The woman was clearly already in seclusion. She was clearly the same with all her disciples. Clearly, so many people adored her. According to Lin Ying, after those two were gone, she had even secretly drowned her sorrows in wine, hugging a tree stump and crying her eyes out.

Yet, perhaps because Song Junyu was the first person in the world to show her kindness, Ji Chan found that she still cared about her a little.

Her strength was not yet sufficient. Ji Chan knew she should feign compliance and bide her time. Yet, listening to Song Junyu’s voice from the rabbit lantern, she couldn’t help but reach out and toss a paper ball into the rabbit lantern’s mouth.

________________________________________

Annoyed that Song Junyu had thrown her heart into turmoil, Ji Chan focused even more intently on learning all sorts of skills.

The days passed one by one, and Song Junyu had been in seclusion for over half a year.

Lin Ying had gone down the mountain again. Aside from the rabbit lantern that chimed in daily, Ji Chan felt she rarely thought about the woman who had told her she would only be in seclusion for three or four months but ended up being gone for more than half a year.

Yet on this day, that woman suddenly returned.

Undeniably, she was a little happy to see Song Junyu. But that woman had actually called her “Song Ge!”

Ji Chan didn’t know why, but her heart felt a little sour and a little bitter. By the time she reacted, she had already slammed the window shut with a stony face.

The loud bang of the window jolted her to her senses. Only then did she remember that she was far from having the power to challenge Song Junyu. So, she bit her lip and opened the window once more.

Song Junyu seemed to want to gloss over the incident…

Ji Chan knew in her heart that this was for the best. As long as she went along with Song Junyu this once, everything would pass.

But inexplicably, when Song Junyu questioned her, she just didn’t want to respond.

________________________________________

“I was indeed in seclusion for a bit long this time…”

After talking for a long while, Song Junyu noticed that Ji Chan kept her head down, looking sullen and unhappy. She sighed inwardly.

She didn’t think Ji Chan was angry at her for calling her the wrong name; after all, Ji Chan shouldn’t have any prejudice against Song Ge. She figured Ji Chan must be angry that she had been in seclusion for too long. She had been the same way as a child. Sometimes her adoptive mother would work late into the night to earn money, and she would get angry with her out of worry.

That made sense. The little girl had only been in the sect for a short time. It was a period when she lacked a sense of security and needed companionship. It was her own negligence.

Back then, how did her adoptive mother comfort her?

Song Junyu had no experience coaxing children.

She blinked, recalling her childhood memories, and an idea took shape in her mind.

“Good Little Chan, my most well-behaved Little Chan, it’s my fault. I shouldn’t have gone into seclusion for so long and made you worry about me.”

Song Junyu had originally intended to pat Ji Chan’s head, mimicking her adoptive mother from memory. But Ji Chan had shot up in height and now reached her ear, making a head pat rather inconvenient. So, Song Junyu switched to hugging her instead.

Ji Chan’s body stiffened, clearly not expecting such a move. She struggled instinctively, but Song Junyu, quick-witted and nimble, held her even tighter. She let out a yawn and pulled Ji Chan by the hand toward the bed.

“To make up for my mistake, Little Chan, I’ll sleep with you tonight. We can whisper secrets and make up for lost time, how about it?”

…

By expressing her apology and affection so directly, she should… be able to give Ji Chan enough of a sense of security, right?