After accepting a disciple on behalf of Wang Instructor, Ji You returned to the Outer Courtyard from the Master's Courtyard.
However, as soon as he reached the Ascension White Jade Platform, Ban Yangshu and Ji Qirui caught up to him, each holding a Spirit Sword, intending to give them to him as a thank-you gift.
Ji You waved his hand to decline, but finally, unable to refuse their earnestness, he tied the sword to his waist with a dead knot.
The Senior Brothers of the Inner Courtyard were too generous and simple-minded, Ji You thought with some emotion.
He finally had some motivation to enter the Inner Courtyard.
“I didn’t even see when Junior Brother Ji tied the knot…”
“With such hand speed, he must have been holding back when he fought that Evil Seed that day…”
“……”
Bidding farewell to the two Senior Brothers, Ji You walked towards the Bishui Lake Garden.
As he got a little closer, he noticed a woman standing in front of his door.
The woman, dressed in a snow-rolled fine gauze dress and holding a crescent-white longsword, was looking around, and it was Lou Siyi, who had attended the banquet with him that day.
No matter a woman's personality, gentleness is always the most important component.
When attacked on the street and rescued by a man, she will always develop some subtle feelings.
So, upon learning that Ji You did not have his own saber, she entrusted someone to buy him a good sword.
However, the person Lou Siyi waited for at the door was not Ji You, but two other close friends of hers, who were arriving from different directions.
One was Lu Qingqiu, the Young Miss of Yunzhou, holding a longsword adorned with pearls and jewels, her skirt swaying as she approached, creating a ripple.
The other person who arrived was Sun Zhiqiao, who also held a longsword.
However, the three women seemed not to have communicated in advance, and after meeting, they were slightly stunned, then noticed the swords in each other's hands, looking a little awkward.
“Why are you here?”
“Young Master Ji doesn't have a sword, I'm here to give him one…”
Lu Qingqiu listened to Lou Siyi's answer, then turned her gaze to Sun Zhiqiao: “You call yourselves sisters, yet you acted on your own without consulting us?”
Sun Zhiqiao's face flushed slightly as she held the sword in her hand: “Giving a man a saber is already easily misunderstood, not to mention he is Fang Ruoyao's fiancé, how could I say it out loud.”
Lu Qingqiu raised her delicate eyebrows slightly: “You know he's Fang Ruoyao's fiancé, and you still have the nerve to come here like a lovesick bird to give him a sword?”
“But Qingqiu, you seem to be here to give a sword too, right?”
Lu Qingqiu was choked for a moment, then pursed her lips for a while before speaking: “I was the host of the banquet yesterday, and I am also responsible for the attack. Moreover, he saved me twice yesterday, so I can’t just do nothing, that would be too heartless.”
Sun Zhiqiao and Lou Siyi exchanged glances: “We were naturally also here because he saved our lives.”
“His saving you was just a side effect, you don't need to be so overly polite.”
“?”
Lou Siyi and Sun Zhiqiao were slightly startled, thinking, why did saving us become a side effect.
Besides, the phrase “you don't need to be so overly polite” should have been said by Ji You himself.
Lu Qingqiu ignored them and continued to speak to herself: “Besides, that day, only my sword was held tightly by him, he must have liked it very much, so I'll give him an identical one.”
“That's just because your sword was closer to him. If mine was closer, the one he held tightly would definitely have been mine.”
Lu Qingqiu didn't know where her sister got such confidence: “When a man chooses a sword, he will definitely choose one he instantly likes.”
Lou Siyi rolled her eyes at her: “In a life-or-death situation, it's naturally done on the spur of the moment, there's no such clever thought as Qingqiu's.”
“You…”
Sun Zhiqiao saw the two about to argue and immediately spoke: “Alright, alright, since he can use three swords, isn't it just right for each of us to give him one?”
Lou Siyi stopped speaking upon hearing this, but then began to hesitate: “Should we inform Fang Ruoyao that we are giving a sword to her fiancé?”
Lu Qingqiu raised her head: “We don't have any other intentions, since our consciences are clear, why do anything extra? That would only make people think there's something going on.”
However, no sooner had her voice fallen than two more figures rushed over from the side, one was Qian Yunxiao, and the other was Bai Rulong.
Both of them also had a sword in their hands, and they bumped into the three women, looking somewhat surprised.
It seemed that they had all thought the same thing.
Ji You stood on the mountain path not far away, watching this scene, thinking to himself, this is good, he's about to become Zuo Qianhu.
“Young Master Ji.”
Lu Qingqiu happened to see him approaching along the mountain path and extended her fair, jade-like arm to wave to him: “Has the Master's Courtyard's investigation yielded any results?”
Ji You shook his head: “The matter is strange, and the Master's Courtyard currently has no clues. Everyone should try not to go out these few days.”
“You mean they will commit crimes again?”
“The motive of the culprits is still unclear, so we cannot determine if they will stop.”
Bai Rulong hesitated for a long time before speaking: “I've been tossing and turning these past few days, and I think it was my half-brother who hired assassins.”
Lou Siyi also couldn't help but speak: “I think they came for me, perhaps they were eyeing my family's Spirit Medicine.”
Ji You smiled upon hearing this.
If it was truly as they thought, then this matter would be simple.
But the problem was, this explanation couldn't account for why Zhang Congzhi, Cai Ziyao, and the other three cultivators were killed.
In the Qingyun World, to kill Immortal Sect disciples so brazenly, the conspiracy behind it must be far greater than they imagined.
Ji You came back to his senses, looked at the swords in everyone's hands, and coughed: “By the way, what can I do for you all?”
Lou Siyi and Sun Zhiqiao then remembered their purpose and immediately stepped forward, holding out their swords: “Young Master Ji, we heard you don't have a saber, so we specially selected one to give you, to thank you for saving our lives.”
Lu Qingqiu also raised the sword in her hand: “And me.”
Bai Rulong and Qian Yunxiao also nodded: “Us too, thank you, Brother Ji, for saving us both. From now on, we two will follow Brother Ji!”
“Hey, what kind of talk is that.”
Ji You waved his hand, taking the five swords one by one: “I'll accept the swords, but Junior Brother is too valuable, it's not appropriate.”
“?”
Afterward, Ji You invited several people into the courtyard to boil tea around the stove.
Although he didn't have much affection for Worldly Family disciples, he had, after all, accepted their swords, so he couldn't even deny them tea.
Ji You finished brewing the tea, poured the first cup, and handed it to Lu Qingqiu, who was on his right: “Let it cool first, be careful, it's hot.”
“Thank you…”
Lu Qingqiu took the teacup, unable to help but look at Ji You.
On the night of the attack, this person selflessly pushed her away, then exchanged positions with her in front of the sword's edge, and also couldn't bear to part with her personal sword.
Now the first cup of tea was given to me, and his tone was so gentle.
Looking closely, among the five teacups on the table, only hers and Ji You's were of the same pattern, like a pair.
Indeed, there were some feelings beyond mere camaraderie…
Young Miss Lu, the Young Miss of Yunzhou, couldn't help but prop up her chin, staring at Ji You's profile for a long time.
Ji You could indeed be described as handsome and elegant, and even his temperament was quite extraordinary.
She had only known before that he was a private cultivator from a remote, rural area, but she had never noticed this point.
After watching for a long time, Lu Qingqiu came back to her senses and couldn't help but gently shake her head.
She could see his kindness towards her, but unfortunately, she would not choose him.
He had done nothing wrong, he was just wrong in his humble origins.
Before coming to Tianshu Academy, the Elders of the Lu Family had hinted to Lu Qingqiu that she should befriend Chu River.
Because every member of the Chu family was a master of the Upper Five Realms, and their talent could be passed down through their Bloodline, which was too terrifying.
But Lu Qingqiu did not like Chu River; she always felt that he was too aggressive and dark-minded. Compared to him, a man like Ji You was far better.
But even so, Lu Qingqiu still wouldn't choose him.
The Yunzhou Lu Family started with Spirit Mines and was already quite envied, so they needed to unite with more forces through marriage alliances.
Her aunt had married the son of an Elder from the Mountain and Sea Pavilion for this very reason.
Although the Elder's son was uneducated and incompetent, he could make those who coveted the Lu Family's Spirit Mines dare not act rashly—this was the alliance.
Unless Ji You could become a direct disciple of the Palace Lord, and then remain within the Sect to become an Elder, establishing a family and taking root in Tianshu Academy.
But such a probability was too low.
There are countless examples of those who were exceptionally talented in the Outer Courtyard but gradually became mediocre after entering the Inner Courtyard; Senior Brother Ban was one of them.
Human power is limited; only a Worldly Family can last for ten thousand generations.
The Qingyun World was such an unyielding block.
There was once a folk opera that told of a daughter of a gentry family who fell in love with a scholar from a poor background, and in the end, even in death, they would cling to each other, transforming into butterflies and flying away as a pair.
But that, after all, was just an opera, an opera that only common people could write.
Lu Qingqiu pondered for a long time, feeling that she still needed to find an opportunity to explain the pros and cons to him.
At this moment, Ji You was completely unaware of the intense internal monologue of the Young Miss beside him.
What he was thinking about now was that because of this attack, he seemed to have not gone to Tianshu Academy to discuss the Dao for a long time.
“It's getting late, time to go back.”
After drinking a few pots of tea and chatting for a while, Lu Qingqiu suggested leaving.
Seeing this, the others looked up at the sky and found that it was indeed approaching dusk, so they all responded.
However, to their surprise, Ji You also got up and walked out of the courtyard with them, closing the courtyard gate.
“Do you have to see us off for such a short distance…”
Lu Qingqiu was somewhat worried about Ji You's subtle, unspoken care.
But before she could open her mouth to refuse, she noticed that Ji You did not walk with them, but turned and went to the Wudao Field.
(I had a fight with my wife, she blasphemously wants to drag me out shopping. Is my time for shopping? It's for coding! Please give me monthly votes, please continue reading... orz)