"Go ahead, don’t be te for the Ascension Ceremony and leave a bad impression on the other elders. Also, spend your travel money wisely, and don’t let others cheat you."

  Ying Wuyou stuffed a handkerchief into Shen Xibai’s palm, then stepped onto her flying sword, her heart already racing toward the painted boat by the keside of Skygazing City.

  Cultivators couldn’t completely avoid the lives of ordinary people. In her spare time, she often sneaked down the mountain when her master, Xiao Che, wasn’t paying attention, and it was common for her to stay out all night.

  Due to her special constitution, she couldn’t keep up with the training intensity of the other disciples, and her scking time far exceeded her practice time. Xiao Che’s only requirement for her was to live well, with no expectations in other areas.

  Her frail body could only store a very limited amount of qi, like a narrow-necked bottle, while others were like buckets.

  The limit of her qi restricted her cultivation efficiency. While her peers had already reached the Foundation Establishment stage, she was still lingering in the Qi Refining stage, stuck at the seventh level.

  Flying on a sword was already a very extreme feat for her. At first, Xiao Che thought she would never be able to fly, until she pulled out the Heaven-Splitting Sword, which was said to have once split the Grand Sentinel Peak, from a boulder on the back mountain with her weak hands.

  Her usually zy and indifferent master showed a rare expression of surprise, sighing, "This is the choice of fate." Then, after patting the young Ying Wuyou’s head and remaining silent for a long time, she finally decided to teach her some simple spells.

  Originally, Xiao Che hadn’t pnned to teach her, and no one knew why.

  By the time Shen Xibai came to her senses, Ying Wuyou was already gone, leaving only a faint fragrance in the air.

  "Senior Sister Ying… is so gentle."

  Her cheek, accidentally touched by those soft fingertips, was still warm. Her ears and cheeks felt like they were burning, and her heartbeat was unnaturally fast.

  As she climbed the steps toward the mountaintop assembly square, she couldn’t help but recall the girl from earlier.

  With features as beautiful as a painting and a tall, graceful figure, her white hair fluttering in the wind, she stood out more than any other disciple of the Wuxiang Sect.

  Others either ordered her around or treated her with cold indifference. After all, being an outer disciple meant her cultivation talent was low, and she was destined to never be taken seriously by the inner disciples.

  Ying Wuyou was the chief disciple of an inner elder, yet she had spoken up for her and even wiped her face…

  Unable to resist, she sniffed the handkerchief in her hand, which still carried the warmth and fragrance of her senior sister. It was intoxicating, and she couldn’t help but fantasize about getting closer.

  Standing there in a daze for a long time, Shen Xibai finally realized one thing.

  She was really going to be te.

  ---

  Ying Wuyou let out a sigh of relief for now.

  "Giving her some dignity in front of everyone should prevent her favorability from turning negative. I hope I never run into her again. She can study under any elder she wants—Hey God, please, just don’t let her catch my master’s eye…"

  As long as Shen Xibai went to study under another elder, her nightmare would come to an end.

  There were countless training grounds near Grand Sentinel Peak, and disciples of different elders were assigned to live in different areas. Their training schedules and guidelines couldn’t possibly be the same.

  The female protagonist could continue her path as a growth-type main character, with the vast world ahead of her, and they would never cross paths again. If she couldn’t handle it, she could at least avoid it.

  Her master wasn’t on the mountain today. Her junior sister said she had gone hundreds of miles away to the Spirit Sword Sect to py chess with a certain elder, and the loser would have to cover the other’s expenses on the painted boat.

  Those two were both old and unscrupulous, some of the few oddballs among cultivators.

  Since her master wasn’t here, it meant she wouldn’t attend today’s Ascension Ceremony, nor would she take on any new disciples.

  In the original story, Shen Xibai was Xiao Che’s second personal disciple. After that, she never took on anyone else, and the others weren’t at the personal disciple level.

  The retionship between master and disciple remained ambiguous. They drank under the moonlight, pyed chess, and bathed together in the hot springs deep in the forbidden area, after which some indescribable things happened.

  R18 was a game feature, and it had to be experienced.

  Ying Wuyou, who had always admired her master, Xiao Che, secretly followed them and saw the two being intimate in the bath. Burning with jealousy, the seeds of envy were deeply pnted and gradually sprouted in the future.

  If Xiao Che and Shen Xibai got together in this worldline, it wouldn’t matter to her. Not only would she not be jealous, but she would also offer them her sincere blessings.

  There was a beautiful boat owner by the keside of Skygazing City, and that type was more her style.

  She deliberately skipped the Ascension Ceremony to have a little chat with the boat owner on the ke.

  The boat owner had a massive painted boat, which was essentially a vishly decorated vessel. It was built like a ship, resembling a modern luxury cruise liner, with various functional areas for dining, entertainment, gambling, and pleasure.

  The boat had a special name, Forget Worry Forest.

  In the original story, Ying Wuyou often lingered here because "Forget Worry" and "Wuyou" sounded simir. The boat owner was the only person besides Xiao Che who truly treated Ying Wuyou well, though their retionship was also somewhat twisted, as if they loved each other but also treated each other as substitutes.

  When she pyed the game, the boat owner was one of her favorite characters.

  Regardless of the original story, she wasn’t the same gloomy, repressed drunkard who kept all her sorrows bottled up. She believed in living in the moment.

  If there was something she wanted to do, she did it immediately. If there was a woman she liked, she pursued her. Although the boat owner was cold, with enough visits, there would always be a chance to meet her.

  Today, her luck wasn’t great. She waited for a long time, but the boat owner didn’t show up. When she asked the boat’s attendants, she learned that she had gone to negotiate with a merchant and wouldn’t return to Skygazing City for a few days.

  The moment she missed her, the anticipation for their next meeting began to brew.

  "I hope I can see Miss Ye next time."

  She left a package behind, instructing, "This is Cherry cake imported from the Celestial Sea Kingdom. Please make sure to give it to Miss Ye. It’s her favorite snack, so don’t forget."

  Before leaving, Ying Wuyou tipped the maid a bit of money.

  With no further pns, she decided to return to the Formless Sect to rest. As she flew on her sword halfway up the mountain, she passed by two outer disciples who were discussing the test news from the Ascension Ceremony.

  "Did you hear? Elder Xiao from the inner sect took someone with a low spiritual root as her personal disciple. I heard she’s eccentric, and all her disciples are strange too."

  "I remember, she's the illegitimate daughter of a merchant family from Riverpiece City, right? Her name’s Shen Xibai, I think?"

  "She’s so lucky. I heard Elder Xiao is very kind, and her training is quite rexed. I wish I could join her."

  "Give it up. Elder Xiao only takes female disciples. What are you even thinking?"

  ---

  Their conversation didn’t reach her ears.

  Ying Wuyou’s mind was buzzing. She poured all the qi she could muster into her flying sword and rushed straight to the Mantra Peak on Grand Sentinel Third Peak, where Xiao Che resided.

  "Master, you promised to only take one disciple. I was supposed to be the first."