What Should I Do If My Junior Sister Is the Future Demon Emperor? - Chapter 1

The tea house held only a sparse scattering of guests. Behind the counter, the shopkeeper sat clicking away at an abacus and sighing, for this year’s harvest had been difficult.

“Shopkeeper, do you still have any Cloud Spring tea in stock?”

A cool, gentle voice drifted through the air like a refreshing draught of tea, dispelling some of the gloom in the shopkeeper’s heart. She looked up to find a woman dressed in cyan, whose lips curled into a faint smile. Although she appeared quite mild, her eyes remained strangely void of emotion.

Years of experience told the shopkeeper that this woman was not as soft as her surface suggested, but that hardly mattered, as a guest was still a guest. Furthermore, the stranger’s attire indicated she was either immensely wealthy or held high status. While it was a mystery why such a person would visit this small establishment, she was here to buy tea, and that was enough.

The shopkeeper hurried to her feet, her eyes curving into crescent moons of delight. “You are looking for Cloud Spring tea, miss? What a coincidence. A single pound of fresh leaves arrived just this morning. The harvest was poor this year, and if I didn’t have my own connections, I wouldn’t have even this small amount.” She asked enthusiastically, “How much would you like?”

“I will take all of it,” Lin Xi replied. She felt a wave of relief, knowing her journey across the entire city had not been in vain.

“All… all of it?” The shopkeeper stood agape. This tea was known as “liquid gold” due to its exorbitant price, yet this woman had not even blinked before claiming the whole lot. “Perhaps you could leave a little for me?” the shopkeeper asked sheepishly. “With the harvest so thin, I rely on this premium tea to keep my regular patrons coming back.”

“Then I shall take six ounces,” Lin Xi said, proving to be quite reasonable.

“Right away! Please, follow me this way.”

As they walked, Lin Xi asked, “Why is the harvest so meager this year?”

Cloud Spring was her master’s favorite tea, and her little junior sister enjoyed using it to brew milk tea. The supplies back at Fengming Mountain were running low, which was why Lin Xi had traveled here. She had spent the day scouring the city, only to find that every other shop was either sold out or had failed to secure any stock at all.

“Demonic beasts have attacked several times recently. They destroyed hundreds of old tea trees in the vicinity, which caused production to plummet. We still have a bit left this year, but if those beasts return a few more times, this ‘Tea City’ will have to change its name.”

“Does the Sword Resonance Sect not intervene?” Lin Xi asked. The cultivation world was home to many mortals, and this region fell under that sect’s jurisdiction. By the established rules, they were expected to provide aid when demonic beasts attacked.

“The Sword Resonance Sect?” The shopkeeper gestured toward the east and waved her hand dismissively without saying a word. The silence spoke volumes.

The shopkeeper placed the weighed tea into a porcelain jar and included an additional small box. “This tea is unique to our shop. It is slightly bitter upon the first sip but leaves a quiet, elegant aftertaste. Please, accept it as a gift.”

“My thanks.”

To the east, the peaks of the Sword Resonance Sect soared into the clouds, radiating the grand prestige of an immortal residence. Lin Xi cast a single glance in that direction before lowering her gaze and turning to leave.

******

A Golden Hou lunged at a woman with its blood-red jaws wide open. The woman looked on in terror toward a group of cultivators rushing from a distance. Seeing the beast’s claws inches away, she gritted her teeth and threw her daughter out of her arms to safety.

The arriving cultivators only had enough time to catch the wailing child. Everyone looked away in pity, certain the woman was about to be slaughtered. The child’s cries were heart-wrenching as she screamed for her mother.

Suddenly, several silk threads shot through the air. they wrapped tightly around the Golden Hou’s limbs and yanked it away with immense force. Simultaneously, a few nearly invisible threads pierced through the beast’s vital points like sharp swords. The creature, which had been so ferocious a moment ago, lost its life instantly.

The threads unraveled, and the beast’s carcass hit the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust. The onlookers stared in astonishment at the woman who had appeared out of nowhere.

She wore a dark cyan robe with narrow sleeves, decorated only with a simple pattern of osmanthus embroidery at the cuffs. Half of her hair was pinned up with a white jade hairpin, while the rest fell casually down her back. She wore a faint smile that made her appear like a white camellia amidst the bloody scene, bringing an involuntary sense of calm to those around her.

Ignoring the silence, Lin Xi helped the woman up and spoke in a gentle tone. “It is over now.”

The woman stared blankly at her savior. Once she realized what had happened, she began to cry and attempted to kneel. “Thank you for your great mercy, Immortal.”

Lin Xi held her firmly to prevent her from kneeling and performed a Cleansing Spell on her. “Your child is waiting for you.”

The cultivator holding the girl snapped out of his daze and handed the child back to her mother. The two embraced and wept together. The other cultivators also breathed a sigh of relief and bowed to Lin Xi.

“I am Luo Qing, a thirteenth-generation disciple of the Exquisite Sect. I thank the Daoist Master for her assistance.”

Lin Xi nodded graciously. “I am Lin Xi.”

At that moment, Luo Qing’s communication device buzzed. A vibrant female voice came through. “Senior Sister, how are things on your end? We have finished up over here.”

Before Luo Qing could answer, her junior sister continued in an exaggerated tone, “You have no idea how dangerous it just was. Little Six almost died! Then, a powerful master descended from the sky and produced all these silk threads, and the beasts were all dead in a flash.”

The girl rambled on while another softer voice chimed in. “Yes, exactly, they were all dead.”

“She is so powerful and yet so incredibly kind. She even gave candy to the crying children.”

“Hypothetically speaking,” the first voice continued, “can a twelve-hundred-month-old child like me not receive some candy too?”

The other voice added, “This eight-hundred-month-old child wants some as well.”

“From this day forward, I no longer like Ning Wu of the Sword Resonance Sect. This woman is my new idol.”

Luo Qing looked at Lin Xi, who was currently tucking a piece of candy into the hand of the frightened little girl. Everything matched the description perfectly. Someone who could travel from the other side of the mountain in an instant possessed truly extraordinary strength. Though Lin Xi looked young, she was likely a core disciple from a major sect.

Lin Xi looked toward Luo Qing as if a thought had occurred to her. “Are those your junior sisters?”

Luo Qing nodded awkwardly. Although they hadn’t said anything cruel, it was embarrassing to have her sisters gossiping about the very person standing in front of her. Lin Xi did not seem to mind and even offered a compliment. “They are very lively and brave.” She then handed the remaining candy to Luo Qing. “Please, have some.”

Luo Qing hesitated for a moment before accepting the sweets with a blush creeping onto her ears. She then gathered the Golden Hou’s carcass into a storage bag and offered it to Lin Xi, but the woman simply shook her head.

“How many beasts remain?” Lin Xi asked.

A young disciple beside Luo Qing thought for a moment. “There should be several hundred left. This group has been causing trouble lately. We are short-handed, so we have mostly focused on driving them away and saving as many people as possible.”

Lin Xi glanced toward the east in silence. Luo Qing understood the implication and rubbed her nose sheepishly. “The Sword Resonance Sect is a major power, and their disciples stay quite busy…”

Luo Qing racked her brain to find something positive to say. Small sects like hers relied on the major powers to survive, and if word got out that they were speaking ill of the Sword Resonance Sect, their lives would become even more difficult. Her junior sister let out a quiet huff but ultimately settled for a simple roll of her eyes.

Lin Xi maintained her unchanging smile and changed the subject. “I must ask you all to accompany me for a while.”

The group did not understand her intention and looked at her in unison. She stroked the ribbon on her wrist, though the smile in her eyes did not reach her heart. “After all, these calamities cannot be allowed to drag on any longer.”

If things continued this way, she wouldn’t be able to buy any tea, and she was quite capable of killing over such a thing.

Luo Qing took the lead as the guide. They had previously placed tracking seals on the beasts to warn tea farmers to evacuate, and those seals now saved them the trouble of hunting for their prey.

When the communication device at Lin Xi’s waist lit up and a voice called out “Senior Sister,” the smile on Lin Xi’s face suddenly deepened. If her previous smile had been like autumn sunlight that’s bright but lacking warmth. It was now like a warm spring where the glaciers finally melted. A sense of genuine joy radiated from her.

Luo Qing thought to herself that it was a coincidence they were both senior sisters.

After that, the group could no longer hear the conversation. Lin Xi wore an exquisite earring that glowed like the flickering wings of a butterfly. Luo Qing held her breath, recognizing it as a high-grade communication tool that transmitted sound directly into the wearer’s consciousness. Such an item was incredibly rare.

Lin Xi’s mind was entirely on her junior sister. Ji Ling had been away on a training journey for a month, which was the longest they had ever been apart. If Ji Ling hadn’t forbidden her from following, Lin Xi would have been there long ago.

She toyed with the Qinshuang ribbon on her wrist as she listened to Ji Ling describe her day. Her smile never wavered. Even as various predatory beasts lunged from the shadows, thousands of silk threads manifested in the air. Luo Qing and her companions eventually stopped using their swords and instead focused on filling their storage bags with the beasts that were dying before they could even react.

This woman’s strength was truly terrifying.

“Senior Sister, I want to eat custard lava buns,” Ji Ling’s voice said.

Lin Xi kicked a yellow beast toward Luo Qing. “The ones from the Wanning Sect cafeteria?”

“Yes! They only serve them on the fifteenth of every month. Please remember to buy some for me.”

Lin Xi teased her, “So you only called to make sure I buy you buns, and not because you miss me?”

Ji Ling sounded flustered. “That isn’t true! I miss you too, Senior Sister.”

Lin Xi chuckled, her smile widening as she heard Ji Ling gritting her teeth in annoyance. She eventually apologized, feeling that the world was much brighter after teasing her sister.

Behind her, Luo Qing tried to stuff a mountain phantom into a bag but found it was too full, so she swapped it for a smaller one. Suddenly, a spotted snake dropped from a tree and bared its venomous fangs. In the next instant, silk threads pinned the snake to the ground. Luo Qing didn’t even blink as she expertly stuffed the snake into her bag.

Luo Qing looked at her fellow disciples, but they all shook their heads to indicate their bags were full as well. In the distance, Lin Xi held a small blue flower she had plucked from somewhere. She tied the cyan ribbon around the stem, completely oblivious to the work going on behind her.

A bundle of storage bags embroidered with osmanthus branches landed at Luo Qing’s feet. Looking at the glowing earring Lin Xi wore, Luo Qing felt that using such beautiful bags to carry carcasses was almost a waste.

“I saw a little rabbit yesterday,” Ji Ling’s voice continued. “It was quite cute, but it was so skittish that it ran away before I could get a good look.”

“A rabbit?” Lin Xi looked up and met the gaze of a waist-high gray rabbit. “Would you like to keep one?”

“Maybe a little.”

The rabbit’s red eyes glared fiercely at Lin Xi’s throat before it charged. Lin Xi waved her hand and sent it flying. This one wouldn’t do; it was far too aggressive and would only frighten her sister.

“I found a beautiful stone with a feather pattern on it. I’ll show it to you when I get back.”

“I look forward to it.” Lin Xi toyed with the flower petals and considered clearing out another room to store her sister’s growing collection of oddities. Her sister was adorable, so what did it matter if she liked collecting junk? There was plenty of room on Fengming Mountain.

They spoke for nearly an hour. When Lin Xi finally put away the device, she looked at the now-bare flower in her hand and went back to her task. The Exquisite Sect disciples were draped in storage bags. Seeing that she was finished, they tried to hand the bags back to her.

Lin Xi shook her head with a gentle smile. “You may keep them.” She had no use for the materials.

Luo Qing stood frozen by the sudden windfall, while the young disciple beside her turned red with excitement. These carcasses were worth millions of spirit stones. The disciple looked at Lin Xi with profound respect. “Thank you… thank you, Immortal.”

Lin Xi surveyed the cleared battlefield and bid them farewell. “I have other matters to attend to, so I shall take my leave. I will leave the remaining details of the tea mountain to you.”

Luo Qing and her sisters shook their heads quickly, assuring her it was no trouble at all.

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