Chapter 202: Gathering for Cultivation (2)

Lin Jin came back in a hurry with a pile of fruits in his arms. He looked at the girl sitting cross-legged on the ground and swallowed. “Here… This is all I found.”

Ming Shu waved him over.

Lin Jin took a deep breath and then approached Ming Shu while holding the fruits.

Ming Shu took the fruits and started eating. She didn’t do anything else to him. But for some reason Lin Jin stood next to her instead of taking the opportunity to run away.

Lin Jin couldn’t help but ask finally, “Don’t you have a three-spirit root? Why are you so powerful?”

“Three-spirit root is not a waste.” Ming Shu curled her mouth in a perfect smile, her lips stained with juice as pink as a petal. “I didn’t use magic to beat you, so what does it have to do with spirit root?”

Lin Jin thought about it. Before he was beaten, and it was indeed not a magic art, but a kind of… violent violence.

Thinking of Ming Shu’s scary beating, Lin Jin couldn’t help shaking off goosebumps all over his body. It was too horrible.

“Why did you pretend to be so weak?” Lin Jin sounded a bit whiny. If she didn’t pretend to be so weak, how could he bully her?

He would never dare.

Ming Shu smiled meaningfully, and her voice was very light. “I was really weak.”

Lin Jin didn’t understand. “What?”

Ming Shu didn’t answer him then. She concentrated on eating the fruits and finished them all. Probably the environment in the sect endowed these fruits with reiki; after eating all the fruits, Ming Shu was not hungry like before.

Ming Shu dusted off her clothes and got up to leave. She didn’t looked at Lin Jin at all.

Lin Jin looked at his errand boys who were still lying on the ground and bleeding, and stopped Ming Shu. “Hey.”

The girl turned back slightly. A breeze blew through the mountains, leaves rustling, and the mottled shadows fell on her skirt.

Lin Jin moved away his gaze immediately after he looked into Ming Shu’s eyes. “You… you’re just going to leave like this?”

Ming Shu raised her eyebrows. “Or what? Do I need to bury them?”

Lin Jin: “…” They’re not dead, why do you need to bury them.

“Aren’t you afraid that I’ll report this to the deacon elder?”

“Oh.” Ming Shu turned back and continued walking down the hill. Her soft and smiling voice was slowly blown over by the wind. “If you report once, I’ll beat you once. So just have a try.”

Lin Jin: “…”

Surely she was still that arrogant girl.

Lin Jin believed that she was only hiding her strength before. He didn’t know why she did that, but he wouldn’t dare to bully her in the future.

One terrible experience was enough.

…

The sect recruited new disciples every three years. All the candidates would accept the first test when they went up the mountain, to see if they had any spirit root.

Having a spirit root was the threshold to enter the external division. But this didn’t mean they became outer sect disciples. They could only become outer sect disciples after they passed the cut-off scores in the second test, which served to test what kind of spirit root they had.

Those who didn’t reach the passing line could choose to give up and go home, or they could choose to stay in the sect. In that case, they would become the off-staff disciples of the external division and wouldn’t be recorded in the sect register.

This kind of disciple were generally an all-around worker. They had to do all kinds of chores or dirty and tiring jobs, hence they were also called the servant disciples.

The Host was a three-spirit root owner and not qualified to be an outer sect disciple. But she chose to stay in the sect, so she was a servant disciple now.

“Yoo, Xuan Ji is back.”

“Someone just can’t accept her poor destiny. If I were a three-spirit root owner, I would have already left the mountain. I wouldn’t have the face to stay here forever.”

“Well, she has a thick skin.”

As soon as Ming Shu stepped into the yard, three girls standing under the roof started their mocking and provoking immediately.

Ming Shu spared a glance at them.

The Host was quite interesting to these three girls. They didn’t bully her with real actions, but they provoked her with words and egged on others to bully her.

They were headed by the girl with an oval face standing in the middle, who was called Zhu Xiaoyu.

“Are you envying me because I’m more beautiful than you?”

The girls were suddenly stunned.

What was she saying?

Zhu Xiaoyu sneered and her face was full of scorn. “We envy you? Xuan Ji, do you have a problem today?”

Ming Shu spread her hands. “Well, jealousy is useless. I’m still more beautiful than you.”

It’s not my fault I’m a beauty.

But I am a beauty.

The girls: “…”

Ming Shu went in the direction of the kitchen, leaving the three girls to face each other alone.

“Don’t you think that Xuan Ji is weird today?” After quite a while, the girl with an oval face spoke.

“She… seemed to be smiling,” a girl next to her answered hesitantly. “I never saw her smile, it’s too strange.”

Everyone shuddered, inexplicably.

“What did she go out to do today? Didn’t Lin Jin take her out? Why did she come back so soon?”

Except for some dirt on her clothes, there were no scars or wounds. This was not right.

The more Zhu Xiaoyu thought, the more confused she felt. She waved to the other two girls. “Follow me, let’s go have a look.”

But they didn’t find Ming Shu at all.

…

“Yun Yao, you’re so powerful.”

“Yun Yao, am I doing it right?”

“Ah, this is so difficult…”

Ming Shu was preparing to go back to sleep. But when passing by a room, she happened to hear the exclamation of girls from inside.

Yun Yao…

Ming Shu bit twice into a steamed bun. It was the fake female protagonist.

Cultivation in the external division would take one year. Disciples could get into the internal division after successfully passing the Nine Zigzag Mountain Array. Those who couldn’t pass it would have to wait another three years to go to the array and try to pass it again.

So at present, both Yun Yao and the female protagonist were in the external division.

Squeak—

The door suddenly opened, and Ming Shu and the other person ran into each other face to face.

“Ah!” The girl who was coming out screamed. Then after she recognized it was Ming Shu, she yelled, complaining, “Xuan Ji, what are you doing at Yun Yao’s door?!”

Well, as you know, extreme news, whether good or bad, always had wings.

The entire external division all knew that the Host had a three-spirit root. Naturally, they knew this famous face.

“What’s wrong?” A soft inquiry voice came from inside.

Then a figure appeared at the door. The robe on her body was slightly different from that of Ming Shu, a faint cyan.

This was the clothes for outer sect disciples.

Being the female supporting role in the original story, Yun Yao was of course a good-looking girl. Her skin was as fine as snow, and her eyebrows were two crescent moons; her eyes were as clear as autumn water, and when she looked at you, it was like gentle lights shining from the sky.

“Yun Yao, she stood at your door stealthily. I was scared!” The girl who opened the door immediately reported to Yun Yao.

Yun Yao examined Ming Shu from upside down, then asked politely, “Are you looking for me?”

Ming Shu gave her a big smile. “No, just passing by.”

The fake female protagonist!

Should I give her a beating first?

Ming Shu pondered for a while then gave up the idea. If they beat her all together later, she would have to kill herself again. I died once just now, I have to take it slow.

Ming Shu turned around and left, eating the steamed bun all throughout. She only left a natural and unrestrained back to the girls behind her.

“She only has a three-spirit root and is not even an outer sect disciple. How can she be so arrogant? No wonder she was beaten by others.”

“I really don’t know who gave her the courage.”

“Okay, that’s enough. Get inside.” Yun Yao stopped those people. She watched the figure of Ming Shu disappearing at the corridor’s end with a thoughtful look.

“She scared me just now.”

“Yun Yao, what was she doing standing at your door? Do you think she was planning something bad?”

Yun Yao shook her head and pacified her. “Perhaps she was really passing by. We don’t have conflicts with her, so I don’t think she is against us.”

“Who knows. I heard that she was a little mentally ill. What if she goes crazy?”

“I heard that too.”

Yun Yao interrupted these people’s discussion. “Okay, but now everything is fine, just get inside.”