The First Senior Sister Is Weak and Helpless - Chapter 15

“Later, that disciple perished together with the demonic clan to avenge her master.”

“That is it?” Mu Yao listened attentively to the story she was telling. To be honest, it was not a particularly thrilling story, but the little one’s vivid and expressive narration added plenty of charm to the tale itself.

“That is it, yes. Once revenge is taken, what else is there?” Ah Jiu looked up at Mu Yao in bewilderment. Although Mu Yao could not see, she still habitually lifted her head to look at her Senior Sister.

She reached out to lightly touch Mu Yao’s eyes, and Mu Yao caught her wrist. “What is the Junior Sister doing?”

“Senior Sister, may I look at your eyes?” Ah Jiu asked in a soft whisper.

Mu Yao remained silent for a long while before finally releasing her hand and removing the silk ribbon covering her eyes.

Seeing that ribbon, Ah Jiu looked down at the one tied around her own wrist. “They are the same.”

Mu Yao helplessly pinched the tip of her nose. “You snatched it away in the first place.”

“When? I do not remember.” Ah Jiu scratched her head, as she truly had no memory of it.

Mu Yao merely smiled without telling her when it happened, since the little creature had indeed been very young back then and could hardly have remembered.

She opened her eyes slightly, though she still could not see anything. Ah Jiu stared into her eyes; the Senior Sister’s eyes carried a slight brownish tint, which was different from her own.

“Senior Sister, they are so pretty.” Ah Jiu rubbed against Mu Yao’s hand and then leaned over to give her a light kiss. “Ah Jiu likes them.”

Hearing this, Mu Yao was momentarily stunned before she tied the silk ribbon back on.

“What is so pretty about blind eyes?” she said in a low voice.

Ah Jiu shook her head frantically. “That is not it. They really are very pretty, even prettier than Senior Sister Nan You’s and Senior Sister Yue Yue’s.”

Fearing that Mu Yao would not believe her, she added another sentence: “Truly, I am not lying.”

Mu Yao could not help curving the corners of her mouth slightly upward. “Alright, Senior Sister knows.”

Ah Jiu laughed happily and then plunged back into Mu Yao’s arms to hug her waist. “Ah Jiu has finished telling the story. Can Senior Sister play the zither now?”

Mu Yao unconsciously reached out to stroke her head, the curve of her lips never fading, carrying a trace of pampering she herself had not even noticed.

“Alright, what would you like to hear?” Mu Yao asked her.

Ah Jiu reached up to wrap her arms around Mu Yao’s neck, then smoothly seated herself on Mu Yao’s lap. “Whatever Senior Sister plays sounds nice, Ah Jiu likes all of it.”

“You certainly have a sweet mouth.” Mu Yao pinched her nose.

“But it is the truth.” Ah Jiu tilted her head, failing to see how she had said anything wrong; she genuinely thought everything her Senior Sister played sounded wonderful.

Mu Yao removed her hand from the child’s face. “How is Senior Sister supposed to play the zither if you sit like this?”

“Oh, right, I will get down.” Ah Jiu obediently got down from Mu Yao’s lap, then reached out to take Mu Yao’s hand. “Senior Sister, I will lead you to the zither.”

“Be careful now.”

A tiny hand held Mu Yao’s hand, gripping the fingertips of her left hand tightly, guiding her along step by step while telling her what was ahead.

Mu Yao had long since committed the layout of the objects here to heart, meaning she would not have taken a wrong turn even without Ah Jiu leading her. She remembered precisely where her zither was placed and which spot the cushion occupied.

Yet being led by the little creature gave Mu Yao an indescribable sense of security.

Clearly, the little thing holding her was only four years old.

Guided by Ah Jiu, Mu Yao sat down, her fingertips resting upon the strings. She plucked them lightly to test the pitch, and only after confirming the tuning was correct did she begin to play.

Ah Jiu rested her chin in her hands as she sat opposite her, watching Mu Yao play the zither with deep concentration. She seemed exceptionally fond of watching her Senior Sister do things with a serious expression.

She simply felt that her Senior Sister was the prettiest Senior Sister in the entire world.

As Mu Yao played, she suddenly heard the sound of a bell blending into the melody of her zither. It did not sound jarring at all; instead, it created a wondrous, harmonious blend that even added a touch of playfulness to the music.

Sitting on the stone stool, Ah Jiu listened to Mu Yao play while shaking her own bell. With her eyes closed as well, her two little feet swung back and forth continuously.

Up on the study, Feng Yang heard this duet of zither and bell. Pushing open the window to look at the two disciples below, she leaned against the frame, feeling her heart grow much more tranquil.

She had never expected that her two disciples would achieve such resonance entirely by accident.

Feng Yang quietly listened to the tune to its end, then raised her gaze toward the roof of the study. “Are you not coming down, Junior Sister?”

Wuyou dropped down from the roof and once again cast her gaze toward the two figures below.

“Senior Sister has great fortune, taking in two disciples with such high talent, and I am feeling rather envious.” Wuyou was not speaking falsely.

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Feng Yang shook her head. “Do you know that their talents are also the source of disaster? If Yaoyao did not possess that top-tier spiritual root, the demonic clan would not have set their sights on her, nor would they have tried to dig out her spiritual root, which ultimately led to the destruction of her entire village.”

“If Ah Jiu did not possess such talent, her parents would not have been driven to Beixuan Mountain just to protect her, ending up dead together.”

“In this world, fortune and misfortune are intertwined, beyond your control or mine, and Senior Sister still cannot see through it.” Wuyou said flatly.

Feng Yang let out a scoff. “See through it?”

She lifted her eyes toward the sky and sighed softly. “Very well.”

“That melody is quite interesting indeed, and listening to it suddenly gave me some insights.” Wuyou seated herself inside the study, picked up a brush, and began writing out a few talismans, which looked rather simple.

Feng Yang glanced over and immediately understood her intent. “Going into secluded cultivation again? Are these left behind for Ah Jiu to copy?”

“Once she manages to copy these few talismans well, it can be considered stepping across the threshold of the Dao of talismans.” Wuyou blew on the ink to dry it, then placed the paper on Feng Yang’s desk.

“The Supreme Mysterious Heaven Scripture?” Wuyou’s gaze landed on the cultivation manual Feng Yang had been writing out, and she looked rather shocked.

“You want to let Ah Jiu cultivate the Supreme Mysterious Heaven Scripture? This is a manual that even the Ancestral Master failed to master back then, and can Ah Jiu pull it off?” Wuyou asked with some concern.

Feng Yang glanced at the manual above. “The Ancestral Master did not fail back then; it was simply because she was wounded too deeply and bred inner demons that she failed, not because there was anything wrong with the manual itself.”

“The Ancestral Master died from a demonic deviation? Wasn’t she deceived by the former Demon Lord, resulting in heavy losses for the cultivation world, and thus perishing together with him?” Wuyou asked curiously.

“I am saying that her failure to bring the manual to complete mastery stemmed from having inner demons, and wasn’t the Ancestral Master’s inner demon none other than that former Demon Lord? Even though she suffered a demonic deviation, the Ancestral Master’s obsession remained fixed on the Demon Lord in a battle to the death, and the two things do not conflict at all.” Feng Yang explained speechlessly.

“Oh, is that so? I am not all that familiar with it, as I was still very young back then. Later on, the sect was exiled alongside all the other sects of the cultivation world to this place, and restrictive barriers were erected forbidding entry or exit. If not for your cultivation breaking through later on and finding a way out, the entire sect still would not be able to leave right now.” Wuyou spread her hands.

“The method was not entirely my doing. Before the Ancestral Master passed away, she had already researched those barriers quite thoroughly. It was simply that the Ancestral Master always harbored a sense of guilt, feeling that the sect truly could be considered a sinner against the cultivation world, though the Ancestral Master did not do it intentionally either, and the Ancestral Master herself was caught in immense inner conflict.”

“That is true as well. Although the Ancestral Master was deceived by the Demon Lord, the fact that countless cultivators died remains true. Following that battle, I imagine they still have not recovered to their peak combat strength even to this day, and to be honest, being exiled was not entirely undeserved.” Wuyou stretched lazily.

“I never said it was unmerited, but the current disciples are ultimately innocent. If we can make the cultivation world accept the Tianqing Sect once more, what would be wrong with that?” Feng Yang said softly.

Wuyou curiously leaned in closer to look at her. “Senior Sister, have you been running around various parts of the cultivation world all these years slaying countless demons precisely for this purpose?”

Feng Yang averted her gaze and neatly stowed away the talisman papers Wuyou had finished drawing. “Otherwise? The Ancestral Master’s dying wish before her death was precisely this, and as a disciple upholding her legacy, what is wrong with that?”

Wuyou shook her head. “I always feel like you are tricking me, because Senior Sister certainly was not like this in her youth.”

Feng Yang cast a calm glance at her. “You were not even a hundred years old when the sect was exiled, so what could you possibly remember?”

“My memory is exceptionally good, you know.” Wuyou retorted with dissatisfaction. “Look at Yaoyao, she is also under a hundred years old, barely in her early twenties, and is she lacking in understanding?”

Feng Yang could not refute this, nor did she know how to answer those questions of hers, so she began showing her out as a guest. “Alright, I still need to finish writing down this manual. The sect has no copies remaining anywhere; I only managed to catch a glimpse of it inside the secret realm formed from the physical body of the Ancestral Master after her death, and I thought I would never have the chance to write it down in this lifetime.”

“Very well then, do your best, and make sure you do not write anything wrong and ruin little Ah Jiu.”

“You take me for yourself?” Feng Yang gave her a look that clearly communicated she should leave now, whereupon Wuyou departed through the window once again.

Before leaving, she even left a voice message for Ah Jiu: “Little Ah Jiu, this Martial Aunt is going into secluded cultivation. I have left a few talisman papers for you; remember to copy them every day, and your Senior Sister will help supervise you, so no slacking off is allowed.”

Mu Yao:

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When on earth did she agree to help supervise?

Although the little creature was well-behaved and adorable right now, the moment she was asked to study, read, memorize manuals, or sit in meditation, she was utterly uncooperative, always looking for ways to slack off and coming up with endless excuses.

Teaching her was by no means a relaxing job. As long as she was not teaching her Junior Sister cultivation, reading, and such matters, Mu Yao felt that she was still adorable despite being noisy. But the moment those serious studies were involved, she lost every trace of cuteness.

Ah Jiu did not pay much attention to the second half of what Wuyou said, focusing entirely on the first half. “Martial Aunt is going into secluded cultivation? Is secluded cultivation like what Senior Sister did before, where she will not come out for a long time?”

“Yes.”

Ah Jiu thought about it for a moment, then scratched her head again. “Is Martial Aunt sick as well?”

“Martial Aunt is not sick. Secluded cultivation has nothing to do with being sick.”

Hearing Mu Yao’s explanation, the little one’s eyes instantly lit up. “Is that so? Then Martial Aunt should hurry and go! Ah Jiu will wait for Martial Aunt to come out of secluded cultivation.”

Listening to the undisguised joy in her tone, Mu Yao could tell she was practically praying that her Martial Aunt would hurry up and enter secluded cultivation so she would not have to see her for a long time.

She shook her head helplessly, wondering why this creature’s disposition was so lazy.

At such a tender age, she already had so many little schemes.

Feng Yang naturally heard it as well, and let out a similarly helpless sigh.

This little disciple of hers was indeed difficult to teach.