Dongfang Xiaotian looked at the girl before him, and there was nothing but disdain in his eyes.
“Go, go, go! Men and women shouldn’t mix—could you leave the room for a moment?”
Dongfang Xiaotian clutched a towel over his groin. “Any more staring and I’ll start charging!”
“Who—who’s staring at you?!”
Chun’er immediately fought back the urge to have a nosebleed and turned away, her mind swirling with images of his massive biceps and well-defined chest and abs.
“In any case, hurry up and put on your clothes! Don’t sully my lady’s eyes!”
Chun’er, her face red with embarrassment, hurried out, only to bump directly into someone. When she saw who it was, she immediately bowed respectfully. “M-milady, you’re awake?”
“I just finished cultivating.”
Beichen Yue looked curiously at Chun’er’s flushed face. “What was Young Master talking about just now, about charging?”
“He’s shameless! Says if anyone accidentally sees him bathing, they have to pay!”
The mere mention of “charging” had Chun’er recalling Dongfang Xiaotian’s nearly perfect body, and she quickly forced those distracting thoughts aside. “Anyway, miss, just ignore him!”
How could that body be seen by her lady? What if her lady went astray from her cultivation because of it?
You have to understand, the scariest part of the Way of Forgetting Feelings is one’s insistence on their own path.
But if that insistence turns from a matter of “principle” into an attachment to a person, the consequences would be…
That, after all, is one of the reasons the Way of Forgetting Feelings emphasizes severing love and desire—it’s all too easy to go to extremes.
Beichen Yue nodded slightly, but her eyes couldn’t help but drift toward the screen.
Chun’er noticed her lady glance at the screen, then at herself, and somehow, she saw a spark in that usually calm gaze—a look she had never seen before: envy!
What’s there to be envious about?
N-no, that can’t be right! She must have been seeing things!
Her lady had just finished cultivating the Way of Forgetting Feelings, how could she show such emotion?
Impossible, absolutely impossible!
“W-what is it, milady?”
“How many spirit stones do we have left?”
Chun’er was rendered speechless for a moment.
“Huh? Why are you all gathered here?”
At that moment, after just a few exchanges, Dongfang Xiaotian—worried that Second Junior Sister would wake up soon—hurried out of the bath barrel, dried himself off, and changed into fresh clothes.
Unlike Chun’er, an outsider, Second Junior Sister was someone he’d be living with for a long time; nobody liked showing off their Barrett to family.
And it was all the fault of those undercover agents—especially the two at the Foundation Establishment Stage. They splattered a lot more blood than those at the Qi Refining Stage.
Beichen Yue glanced at Dongfang Xiaotian, who had just emerged, and sighed faintly. “No, it’s nothing now. You don’t need to worry, Young Master.”
“Oh.”
Dongfang Xiaotian said nothing more and packed up the screen and bath barrel.
This was just a temporary camp for the Four Sages Academy; it didn’t have a drainage system like the sect, so just like before, when those undercover agents had to dig a hole to relieve themselves, wastewater here also needed to be handled personally, not dumped within the camp.
“I’ll leave you to your conversation. I’ve got things to do.”
Dongfang Xiaotian said this, found a flat spot, and took out his Four Treasures of the Study—brush, ink, paper, and inkstone—from his spatial artifact, as well as a table.
After adjusting the table legs so it wouldn’t wobble, Dongfang Xiaotian immediately began grinding ink.
“Is Young Master going to paint or write?” Beichen Yue leaned in to ask, curious what could be so important that Dongfang Xiaotian couldn’t even be bothered to dry his hair.
Could it be some vital intelligence?
After watching for a while, Beichen Yue initially thought Dongfang Xiaotian was painting, but as he drew, he took out another brush, dipped it in red ink, and started scribbling…
The content was simple, things like, “About this spot—just walk two steps and you’ll be there,” “If some fool walks to this spot, you st…,” “This location can be used to set someone up, method is…”
Each sentence made sense, but the overall meaning was elusive.
Chun’er also asked Dongfang Xiaotian what these things were for, but he only smiled.
“This is a new teaching aid for my little junior brother—an introduction to formations.”
Dongfang Xiaotian waved a hand impatiently. “If you’ve got nothing else, don’t bother me… Just drawing this from memory is hard enough without you pestering me.”
Seeing Dongfang Xiaotian’s annoyance, the two of them dropped the matter and watched in silence.
Chun’er still had some prejudices about Dongfang Xiaotian’s character, but she couldn’t deny how beautiful his handwriting and drawings were.
Even though it wasn’t the kind of landscape painting famous traveling artists could do—painting mountains and rivers full of grace—Dongfang Xiaotian’s drawings were so realistic that you could tell at a glance what he was depicting.
Very soon, Chun’er realized why Dongfang Xiaotian was making everything so lifelike—he was drawing a map, a bird’s-eye view.
On the map, he’d used the red brush to mark numerous dense little dots, and then divided the map into even more detailed sections…
Chun’er glanced at her lady, her eyes filled with questions—she had no idea what Dongfang Xiaotian was up to.
Beichen Yue soon gave up trying to understand and went to attend to her own matters.
“Whew~”
Suddenly, Beichen Yue sensed an intense, tyrannical wave of icy spiritual power erupting, and turned to see its source—it was the “Second Junior Sister” that Dongfang Xiaotian had rescued earlier, Tushan Bingxian.
Tushan Bingxian had just broken through to the tenth level of the Qi Refining Stage, and now the frosty power radiating from her was so intense that it froze the mat she sat on, even forming a layer of frost on the ground.
“Spell cultivator? Ice-element technique?”
Beichen Yue was stunned—the sheer chill of that power was as shocking as Dongfang Xiaotian’s formation-breaking sword!
Beichen Yue’s primary path was sword cultivation, with secondary training in the arts, and this display made her eager once again to discuss cultivation.
If just a bit of spiritual power escaping could have such an effect, how deep was her insight into ice-element immortal arts and techniques?
But the spiritual power was almost too domineering—although Tushan Bingxian had reached the tenth level of the Qi Refining Stage, she still took a whole cup of tea’s time to finally steady her restless spiritual sea.
“Whew~”
Tushan Bingxian exhaled a long plume of icy mist, then took out a pill from her spatial artifact and swallowed it before she recovered.
“Miss Tushan, congratulations on your breakthrough.” Beichen Yue stepped forward with an impassive expression to offer her congratulations.
“What is it?” Tushan Bingxian returned the look with equal indifference.
Beichen Yue said, “I see that your technique is quite profound—it has similarities with the Ice Yi Divine Skill I practice. I wish to exchange insights, if you’re willing.”
Tushan Bingxian sat up, brushed the ice crystals from her rear, picked up her mat and shook off more frost as she replied, “You at the Ice Ling Immortal Palace match your mental techniques to your skills, practicing Supreme Forgetting Feelings.”
“I don’t cultivate that. My technique takes a different path. Without a matching mental technique, it’s easy to go astray. I suggest you don’t learn it.”
“In that case, why does Miss Tushan cultivate this technique?”
Beichen Yue was puzzled. “If you go astray, wouldn’t all your cultivation be wasted?”
“If I can’t summon enough strength at a crucial moment, then all my cultivation would be wasted anyway, wouldn’t it?”
Tushan Bingxian smiled self-deprecatingly, and was about to make a joke, “If you really want to practice the Way of Forgetting Feelings, then I suggest you can just…”
But halfway through, Tushan Bingxian stopped herself, even someone like Beichen Yue, who cultivated the Way of Forgetting Feelings, might not take that well.
“You suggest what?” Beichen Yue pressed.
“No, I still recommend you don’t learn it—it’s too easy to lose control.”
As Tushan Bingxian spoke, her gaze subconsciously drifted to their senior brother not far away, who was still absorbed in his drawing and writing, while Chun’er watched with growing interest.
Tushan Bingxian tossed her now-clean mat into her spatial artifact and asked, “What’s he doing now?”
Beichen Yue shook her head. “According to him, he’s compiling formation study materials for Young Master Jiang Li… But I’ve read plenty of formation books, and I’ve never seen anything like this.”
“Oh, then don’t worry about him.”
At the mention of her little junior brother’s name, Tushan Bingxian lost all interest.
Beichen Yue, however, grew even more curious. “Miss Tushan, why does Young Master Dongfang care for Young Master Jiang Li so much? Even compiles teaching materials for him?”
“Little junior brother once saved his sorry life.”
Tushan Bingxian shrugged. She knew all about that incident between her little junior brother and senior brother, but saw no reason to elaborate.
She also couldn’t help feeling regretful—if only she’d been the one to save senior brother’s life when he was weak…
Even if she couldn’t save his life, running into him during a period of weakness would’ve been something…
A faint tinge of regret lingered in her heart.
“Second Senior Sister, Senior Brother, and Miss Beichen…”
Suddenly, a female disciple called from outside the tent.
“The Third Elder has awakened—she wants you all in her tent for a discussion.”
“Alright, I know. We’ll be over in a moment—you may leave.”
Tushan Bingxian relaxed at the news of the Third Elder’s recovery, but then glanced at Beichen Yue in puzzlement.
Why was the Four Sages Academy inviting Beichen Yue, an outsider, to their meeting?
Beichen Yue just shook her head. “I just handled some paperwork together with Young Master Dongfang and spoke with those in charge here. As for everything else, I have no idea.”
“Well, we’ll find out when we get there.”
Beichen Yue finished, sighed, and went to Dongfang Xiaotian. “Enough, put your things away. The Third Elder is looking for us—let’s go.”
“Not going!”
The moment Dongfang Xiaotian heard the elder wanted to see him, he refused immediately. The Third Elder never gave him the sweet deals she did for his little junior brother.
“She only cares about you, the genius. I don’t matter, right?”
Dongfang Xiaotian put down his brush, stretched, and said, “If it’s something important, let the inner disciples discuss it with you. If it’s not important, then there’s no reason for me, the senior brother, to get involved, is there?”
“So you see, whether it’s important or not has nothing to do with me.”
The reason Dongfang Xiaotian wanted to become senior brother was simple—he thought it was the ideal “high status, lots of power, light responsibilities” position.
“Where did you get this nonsense—get up!”
Tushan Bingxian grabbed Dongfang Xiaotian’s ear and pulled him up from his desk, making him grimace in pain.
“Ow, ow, ow! Fine, I’m up! Happy now?”
Unable to resist his second junior sister, Dongfang Xiaotian grumbled inwardly about the Third Elder who just had to call for him, and asked Chun’er to take care of his little junior brother before heading to the Third Elder’s tent with his sister.
Upon entering, Dongfang Xiaotian immediately noticed—everyone present was a late-stage Qi Refining disciple about to enter the inner sect, not a single one had a cultivation base lower than his.
But the odd thing was, not a single Foundation Establishment inner sect disciple was there.
That was strange—among the undercover agents he had eliminated, there had indeed been two at the Foundation Establishment Stage, but surely not all of them had died?
Hmm, probably not.