Chapter 9: Gold Nest, Silver Nest, Dog’s Nest
Getting up, along with his disciple, he walked out. He looked at the position of his own thatched cottage, and then, from the storage pouch he took out from within his clothes, he took out an item. Throwing it onto the ground, a refined three-story building, shining with golden brilliance, appeared next to the thatched cottage, dying the entire night sky with sparkles and a magical atmosphere.
“Mas… Master.” Zhu Yao pointed her trembling finger at the building that was capable of blinding one’s eyes. “Living… in a house like this, isn’t really a good idea, right?”
“You don’t like it?” Yu Yan raised an eyebrow. He obtained this house from a toad spirit that have cultivated for a thousand years. Back then, when he took it away, although he personally did not like it, when he looked at the toad spirit’s regretful eyes, he concluded that it was still something pretty good, so he believed his little disciple would like it.
Yu Yan lowered his head, continued searching through his storage pouch, and casually threw out another item. This time, it was a courtyard made out of jade. Under the moonlight shine, it emitted out a faint silver light, and from outside, the luxurious designs and furniture inside the building could be vaguely seen.
Zhu Yao could not help but to use her hand to support her jaw, which was about to fall off. It seemed like… she had been taken in as a disciple by an unbelievable tycoon. She looked at the golden building on the left, then, she looked at the jade building on right, and then, she looked at the dirt-filled thatched cottage at the center.
“Pick out whichever you like, and just live in it.” Yu Yan said indifferently.
Zhu Yao looked blankly at her own master, as though she saw him turning into a river god, and with a golden house on one hand, and a silver house on the other, asking her, “Oh, courageous girl, the house you threw, was it this golden house, or this silver house¹?”
Zhu Yao swallowed her saliva, and deeply suppressed the vanity in her heart. That Aesop’s fable had taught her that, to be human, it’s necessary to keep to a low profile. Since her master was living in a thatched cottage, no matter how it looked, it would be inappropriate for his disciple to live in either the golden or silver house.
“Master… I think it’s fine if you give me a house that’s similar to yours.”
Yu Yan tilted his head, gave his disciple a strange look, and sighed, revealing an ‘as I thought, my disciple is really an idiot’ expression. With a wave of his hand, the two buildings were retrieved. And then, with some unknown arts, a thatched cottage was being built at a speed visible to the naked eye on the ground.
Not even a moment later, a thatched house that looked exactly the same was built. Zhu Yao thanked her master, and entered her own house. She found out that, the interior was exactly the same as her master’s, other than a wooden bed and a blanket, there was nothing else.
After being fatigued for two days and one night, Zhu Yao did not really care anymore, and simply lied on the bed and entered her dreamland.
The next day, Zhu Yao woke up really early. It was not that she was diligent, rather, the bed in her room was simply too hard. She momentarily regretted rejecting those two exquisite houses back then. As I thought, one should not try to put up a front, and take the offer when one has to.
Opening the door, Zhu Yao realized her master was already waiting outside for her. His eyes swept past her deep and heavy bags under her eyes, lightly frowned, and signaled her to sit on the empty ground in front of him.
She was going to start cultivating just like that? Zhu Yao raised her spirits, immediately ran over, and sat cross-legged in front of her master.
“Today, I shall teach you how to take in spiritual energy into your body.” With a single finger, Zhu Yao tapped on Zhu Yao’s forehead. “Close your eyes!”
Zhu Yao obediently closed her eyes, and simply felt a familiar flow of energy entering from her forehead, and then, the energy slowly flowed within her entire body. After that, it converged at her cinnabar², causing her entire body to feel warm, and she felt fresh and spirited.
“This is the method to circulate the spiritual energy inside your body. Remember this method. When you’re able to sense the spiritual energy around you, you can use this method to take in spiritual energy.” Seeing that she had comprehended, Yu Yan retracted his hand.
“Then, how can I sense spiritual energy?” Zhu Yao asked.
“That will depend on your own comprehension ability.” Yu Yan said indifferently. Spiritual energy was the world’s biggest uncertainty. Everyone had their own comprehension of it, and everyone looked at it differently. There were people who are capable of sensing in an instant, and there were people who were unable to feel a hint of spiritual energy in their entire lives. As her master, he could only guide her, and was unable to sense it for her. “Close your eyes. Clear your mind of all thoughts. Use your heart to feel it, and you will naturally be able to sense it.”
Zhu Yao once again closed her eyes, and slowly removed all thoughts from her mind. However, she was merely submerging herself into darkness. Ten minutes later, forget about feeling spiritual energy, she simply felt like sleeping.
And her master simply gave her an advice not to be anxious, and left, leaving her to silently meditate by herself.
However, she meditated from morning till noon, and still did not produce any results. During the process, she had almost fell asleep several times, and other than her body feeling sore, she could not feel anything else. Zhu Yao could not sit still any longer, and decided to take a stroll and get some fresh air before continuing.
Just when she used the formation to teleport herself down the mountain, she saw a person riding on a flying sword as he flew over from afar. Wearing the sect’s white robe, he seemed to be a male disciple in his twenties, and he even looked a little familiar.
When he saw Zhu Yao on the ground, he politely gave her a smile, only then did Zhu Yao recalled who he was.
“Senior-martial uncle Li?” Was he not the youth who brought them to the sect?
The youth stopped in front of her, and was a little startled, before giving her a greeting. “This disciple isn’t worthy of being referred to as senior-martial uncle. Grand-martial aunt, please refrain from referring me that way, and simply call me by my Daoist title³, Li Lin.”
“Ah?” Did those little turnips not addressed him that way?
Seeing that she was skeptical, Li Lin continued. “Sovereign Yu Yan has the highest seniority in our sect, and even Sect Master has to address him as Ancestral-martial uncle. You’re Sovereign Yu Yan’s disciple, so, according to seniority, this disciple should be addressing you as Grand-martial aunt.”
So her status was actually this amazing, Zhu Yao suddenly felt as though she had used a cheat.
She immediately asked Li Lin a few questions, and found out about some inside details.
The sect that she had admitted in was called Ancient Hill Sect. It was the most famous sect in the cultivation world, and was the sect which had the most disciples as well. In the sect, they had three Demigod-stage elders, and dozens of Azoth-stage disciples. The sect was separated into two portions, the Inner and Outer Sect, and the Inner Sect was further divided into six mountains, Beast-Taming Mountain, Sword Mountain, Talisman Mountain, Weapon-Refining Mountain, Medicine Mountain, and Jade Forest Mountain which she currently resided in. Every mountain had their own specialty, for example, the Sword Mountain specialized in using swords, and the Talisman Mountain specialized in using talismans, etcetera. There were not less than ten thousand disciples in each Mountain. Among them, the Sword Mountain had the most disciples, and undoubtedly, it was the strongest out of the six. In Sword Mountain, all the disciples cultivated in the way of the sword, and the Lord of Sword Mountain was also the Sect Master of Ancient Hill Sect, Reverend Zi Mo. He was the one who tested her Spirit Vein the other day at the great hall. Every Mountain Lord was at least at the Nascent Soul level of cultivation, and thinking back, the other people who were seated at the hall back then, were definitely the other Mountain Lords.
And the lady whom she had offended then, was the Lord of Medicine Mountain, Reverend Hong Chou. The Medicine Mountain specialized in refining divine medicine, and the Mountain Lord was even a Ninth-Grade Pellet Refining Master, rarely seen in the cultivation world. As people who cultivate into deities, it was hard to avoid borrowing the use of pellets to aid in one’s cultivation. Hence, many practitioners would seek help from the Pellet Mountain, which also meant that, not many people would easily offend a Pellet Master, let alone one at the ninth-grade. But, she just had to have offended one!
When she realized this truth, tears began to flow down from Zhu Yao’s eyes.
¹ Reference to the Aesop’s Fable – The Woodman.
² https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dantian
³ Basically, it’s the name he uses as a deity practitioner.