When the White Moonlight Holds the Script - Chapter 16

Zhu Zhihan followed Tu Meng to the training ground.

The training ground was a fairly large circular platform, its red-painted surface slightly faded from exposure to wind and sun. Maple trees were planted around the perimeter for shade, and in the distance, Zhu Zhihan thought she spotted a vegetable patch probably just her imagination.

From afar, she noticed three people standing on the training ground.

One of them stood out particularly, a young man dressed as a street peddler, with a carrying pole set beside him. He was animatedly gesturing and speaking angrily to the other two.

Tu Meng clearly saw him too and shouted from a distance, “Wan Mengchen!!”

The peddler-dressed young man flinched, his earlier anger vanishing instantly as he turned around with a dejected expression. “Second Elder,” he mumbled.

Zhu Zhihan noticed two dark bruises on the young man’s face, as if someone had hit him.

Tu Meng smiled cheerfully. “Mengchen, do you remember what your auntie told you before?”

Wan Mengchen hunched his shoulders. “You said to focus on practicing the blade and not waste time on other trivial matters.”

Tu Meng glanced at the carrying pole beside him. “And what have you been doing?”

Wan Mengchen admitted his mistake immediately, raising two fingers to his temple. “I was wrong! I shouldn’t have!”

Tu Meng replied, “Oh, so you admit it but won’t change, is that it?”

Wan Mengchen: “…”

After listening for a while, Zhu Zhihan understood the situation.

It turned out this senior brother had little interest in blade practice. Instead, he loved collecting miscellaneous items from rogue cultivators and reselling them at a cultivation market over ten kilometers away. Tu Meng didn’t want her disciples worrying about making a living so early because of the sect’s circumstances, so she had forbidden him from going.

Zhu Zhihan marveled inwardly this one was quite the entrepreneurial talent.

After briefly lecturing him, Tu Meng reluctantly stopped, as catching him hadn’t been her purpose for coming today.

She stepped aside to reveal Zhu Zhihan behind her.

“Come and meet your new junior sister, Zhu Zhihan.”

Tu Meng introduced them to Zhu Zhihan: “This not-so-reliable one is your third senior brother, Wan Mengchen, at the fifth level of Foundation Establishment.”

She then pointed to the other two. “The chubby one is your first senior brother, Zhong Yue, at the third level of Foundation Establishment. The shorter one is your sixth senior brother, Shi Yuanshui, at the first level of Foundation Establishment.”

“You have three more senior brothers out on training journeys. I’ll introduce them to you when they return.”

Zhu Zhihan found herself under the gaze of three pairs of eyes.

She managed, “Greetings, senior brothers?”

The chubby first senior brother grinned, his eyes nearly disappearing into slits. “Hey there.”

The sixth senior brother exclaimed, “Wow, so this is the junior sister who joined a couple of days ago? We finally have a junior sister! Hehe, I’m not the youngest anymore!”

The third senior brother pulled two talisman papers from his carrying pole, his expression clearly reluctant as he handed them over.

Finally, he closed his eyes and pressed them into Zhu Zhihan’s hand. “Junior sister, I don’t have much to offer, but take these talismans as a welcome gift!”

“Hey, you’re sneaking ahead!”

“First Senior Brother, I prepared something too.”

In no time, Zhu Zhihan found herself holding a small bell and three packets of seeds.

Clutching the items, she felt a strange sense of warmth.

In the past, as the eldest senior sister, she had always been the one looking after others. Now, for the first time, she was experiencing what it felt like to be the youngest.

She could sense the careful, considerate treatment from these people, which only strengthened her resolve to help this sect grow and flourish.

The afternoon passed quickly. As Zhu Zhihan watched her senior brothers practice their swordsmanship, she understood what her upcoming schedule would entail.

That evening, back in her disciple quarters, she took out the small cauldron from the bag and examined it carefully.

She probed it with her spiritual sense and confirmed that the previous owner’s spiritual imprint had been completely erased, it was now an ownerless, damaged magical artifact.

The inner wall of the cauldron was intact, and the missing leg could probably be propped up with something.

She bit her fingertip and let a drop of blood fall onto the small cauldron.

A faint, almost imperceptible connection formed.

[Ding!] A mechanical voice suddenly rang in her ears.

[Congratulations on triggering the side quest: Repair the Glazed Cauldron.]

[Quest Description: This is a half-destroyed Glazed Cauldron, once an Earth-grade spiritual artifact. Due to severe damage, the cost of repairing it exceeded that of buying a new one, so it was abandoned. But with the system here, that might not be the case!]

[Host, please follow the prompts to gather the required materials.]

[Illusion Sand 0/3, Striped Gold Stone 0/1. Once collected, the cauldron will be restored to the Mysterious-grade and unlock the next stage of the repair quest.]

Spiritual artifacts were categorized into four tiers: Heaven, Earth, Mysterious, and Yellow. Heaven-grade artifacts were rare and hard to come by. Zhu Zhihan recalled that even the small cauldron her master in her previous life used was only a high-grade Earth-tier artifact.

She stroked the small cauldron, a surge of excitement rising within her.

No alchemist former alchemists included could resist a good cauldron. No one!!

Luckily, Illusion Sand and Striped Gold Stone weren’t particularly difficult materials to obtain. Rounding it up, she now had a growth-type spiritual artifact!

System, you’re just too amazing!

After calming her excitement, Zhu Zhihan set the cauldron aside. She didn’t have the materials for alchemy yet, so there was no rush.

Picking up the jade pendant given by Luan Wu from the bag, she took a deep breath and pressed it against her forehead.

Tonight, she needed to memorize the blade techniques thoroughly so she could start practicing tomorrow.

Boom!

The darkness before her eyes faded, and she found herself standing in a vast wilderness.

Not far away, a figure in blood-red robes held a long blade, sleeves billowing in the wind.

Zhu Zhihan knew this was a spiritual imprint left by Luan Wu essentially a pre-recorded image.

The woman in red spoke calmly, “The blade I commonly use is the Miao Dao, five feet long, named for its resemblance to a rice sprout. An inch longer, an inch stronger in my view, there is no better weapon.”

“The blade technique consists of nine forms. Watch closely!”

Wan Mengchen was a diligent, ordinary disciple whose daily routine consisted of practicing his blade skills and figuring out ways to earn some extra money.

His uneventful life continued until two days ago.

According to Shi Yuanshui, the guy best at gathering information their reclusive, elusive sect master, who never involved himself in sect affairs, had taken on a new disciple!

And this new disciple was a junior sister!

The news caused quite a stir.

Whether it was due to bad feng shui or something else, their sect had female disciples in the previous and the generation before that, but for some reason, their current generation was entirely male.

Now, they finally had a junior sister?

They were burning with curiosity. What was the new junior sister like? Anyone accepted by their formidable sect master must be quite formidable herself!

But when they finally saw her, she defied all their expectations.

Among the women in their sect, the sect master seemed aggressive and intimidating, Tu Meng was incredibly strong, but the junior sister was different from both of them.

The little junior sister was quite beautiful, with clear, cold features that carried a touch of nobility. She gave off an impression like snow the kind of cool, harmless snow, white and tranquil.

Moreover, she appeared delicate and frail, clearly unwell they all knew that the young girl had fallen ill for two days right after arriving at the sect and had only come out to meet everyone after recovering.

Instantly, they were filled with boundless compassion: This was their little junior sister of the Blade Sect, and they must protect her well!

In a surge of excitement, Wan Mengchen gave away a talisman he had treasured for a long time, one he had originally intended to sell for a good price.

But watching the junior sister softly say thank you, he didn’t feel the slightest bit of regret.

The next day.

Wan Mengchen’s goods were confiscated again by Second Elder Tu Meng, and dejected, he had no choice but to rise early and head to the training grounds to practice his blade.

Usually, he was the earliest to rise and arrive, but that day, a figure had already reached the grounds before him.

A slender and delicate silhouette, snow-white hair tied into a ponytail at the back, holding a long wooden blade.

Who else could it be but their little junior sister!?

The little junior sister seemed to be practicing basic movements like slashing, chopping, and thrusting. Due to her lack of arm strength, she swung the blade with great effort, but she strove to make each movement as precise as possible.

Wan Mengchen watched for a while without disturbing her, then moved to the side and began his own practice.

Even the newly arrived, frail little junior sister had started working hard, how could he, as her senior brother, slack off?

Another half-hour passed before the eldest senior brother and the sixth junior brother arrived late. Seeing the little junior sister diligently practicing and Wan Mengchen, who had shed his usual careless attitude, they suddenly felt ashamed and began training as well.

The wooden blades used for practice in the Blade Sect were specially made, their weight comparable to that of real blades.

By the time the sun was high in the sky, the three slackers were struggling to keep going. But sneaking glances at the others, who showed no signs of stopping, they forced themselves to continue.

Wan Mengchen, who had started practicing the earliest, could barely lift his arms from the soreness. Watching the young girl who had hardly paused nearby, and the senior and junior brothers around him, he voiced a soul-searching question.

Is this what it means to be so fiercely competitive?

Eldest and sixth, you’ve never been this diligent before! Can’t we take a break?

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