Protect the Embroidered Pillow

Chapter 13: Protect the Embroidered Pillow

The Cat-Eared Loli feeling a hint of joy was actually quite easy to understand.

The gaze of the secular world can sometimes carry great weight.

The Famous Righteous Sects had an easy time recruiting new disciples, while those branded as Heretical Path faced far greater difficulty.

A large sect could be understood as a big company; besides needing management and technical core staff, it also required a large number of ordinary employees.

Outer Sect Disciples were the regular staff, needed by every sect. Individually, they might not amount to much, but a sect simply couldn't do without this group of disciples.

At the same time, they were fresh blood, the future pillars of the sect.

Among the Heretical Path, even the Three Great Demonic Sects faced a somewhat bleak situation when recruiting disciples, utterly incomparable to the so-called Four Great Righteous Sects.

This was actually easy to understand. In some films or novels, if the demonic sect had more disciples than the righteous one, wouldn't that seem a bit strange?

Of course, this situation would turn around once the players descended.

As mentioned before, to players, this was just a game. The so-called righteous path or demonic path meant nothing to them; the key was whether they could have fun!

Many players might even think the demonic sects looked cooler...

But for now, this unprecedented boom had yet to appear, so the Demon Sect wasn't opposed to newcomers like Ji Li; in fact, they were quite welcoming.

Her background was clean and pitiful. Someone without family or support would develop an especially strong sense of belonging to the sect.

Now, the main thing was to see if she had Cultivation Aptitude.

Mao Nanbei wasn't willing to handle such trivial matters. Murong Yan gave a simple-minded smile and took over for the Little Martial Grand-Aunt.

"Miss Ji Li, relax your mind and don't think of anything. I'll examine your Cultivation Aptitude," she said, then extended her chubby finger and gently tapped Ji Li's brow.

Like raindrops falling on a calm lake, a faint ripple spread through the air.

Mao Nanbei sat on Murong Yan's shoulder, extending her small hand to count the ripples.

"One, two, three... seven, eight."

"Eight ripples!"

Mao Nanbei's gaze toward Ji Li changed.

"Only one less than mine. A truly exceptional uncut jade," she said with a slight nod.

Lu Xun listened, but he felt the core of that sentence was in the first half...

It was actually easy to understand. Eight ripples meant roughly an "Insight of 8."

The upper limit for Insight was 10, so 8 was already top-tier aptitude.

Even in the Demon Sect, she would definitely be a key candidate for cultivation.

However, the path of cultivation wasn't just about aptitude.

It was like someone naturally brilliant but with no interest in studying, still ending up at the bottom of the class.

Many times, the heavens grant you talent, but it can slowly be taken back through your own squandering.

The path of cultivation involved many factors. It could be understood as a unique discipline, where cultivators were pursuing knowledge.

Innate conditions were important, but when innate conditions were similar, it came down to hard work.

In many novels, having great talent meant leveling up super fast, with no other factors to consider—that was far too wishful thinking.

Therefore, some sects prioritized temperament above all when taking disciples.

Of course, having good talent was definitely a good thing.

An Insight of 8, placed in some small, minor sect, would have the sect leader grinning from ear to ear.

Ji Li, hearing the Cat-Eared Loli's words, clenched her small, chubby hands into fists, visibly excited.

Does this mean... I passed?

At this moment, Mao Nanbei tilted her head. The movement looked very cute, a bit of a head-tilt kill, but her gaze landed on Lu Xun.

Her meaning was clear; she was curious about Lu Xun's aptitude.

Murong Yan was a good-natured person, so she respected Lu Xun's wishes, not at all like the typical Heretical Path in the public eye. She asked, "May I?"

Lu Xun was carefree about it and nodded indifferently.

He knew very well what the result would be. If you want to see, then see.

Murong Yan's chubby finger gently tapped Lu Xun's brow. Soon, ripples spread through the air.

No, layers upon layers were called ripples.

If there was only one layer... then that was just a circle!

Lu Xun currently had an "Insight of 1," so of course there was only one circle!

Like a hole, empty and hollow.

"Eh!?" The Cat-Eared Loli was a bit stunned.

It seemed the heavens were fair. After giving him unparalleled looks, they hadn't granted him extraordinary aptitude.

"Is he just a pretty face?"

The three women present, for some reason, looked at Lu Xun's face, then at the circle in the air, and all felt a twinge of pity.

The next day, the group of four officially set out.

Last night, Lu Xun and Ji Li naturally hadn't slept in the same room. That bratty little sister had probably already given up on the idea of using him as a Cauldron. He didn't dare say it was a hundred percent certain, afraid she might still covet his good looks.

Mao Nanbei had tied her hair back into her Nezha hairstyle again, wrapping her cat ears up in her hair so they looked like two little meatballs.

Sometimes, when Lu Xun looked at her little head, he felt an urge to reach out and ruffle it, but this little loli was fierce despite her cuteness, and he feared she'd blurt out her catchphrase: "This old lady will chop your head off with one slash!"

Though a man had two heads, losing either one was ultimately not a good thing.

They needed to buy some daily supplies first, since they'd be eating and drinking on the road.

While cultivators could practice inedia, that was probably only during seclusion. On ordinary days, everyone still ate and drank normally.

Food was too delicious; not many could completely abandon their appetite.

On the contrary, fine cuisine could lift one's spirits, and a good mood led to a good state of mind, which was beneficial for cultivation.

Of course, the above could also be the solemn nonsense of foodie cultivators.

But in truth, the Cultivation World had quite a few gourmands. Many big shots loved fine food and fine wine, so the mortal world was filled with many interesting legends and stories.

Back when Lu Xun was playing his main account, to unlock a hidden quest, he'd frantically offered delicacies to a certain foodie big shot NPC, using this to raise his favorability. And sure enough, it went straight to the stomach, and he actually got the quest!

While purchasing daily supplies, Ji Li, walking behind Lu Xun, reached out her chubby little hand and tugged at the corner of his robe.

"What's wrong?" Lu Xun asked, turning back.

Ji Li kept her head down, her eyes fixed on her own toes, then said something seemingly out of nowhere:

"Once I get to the Demon Sect, I'm definitely going to train hard."

"That's great." Lu Xun smiled and replied.

But he was a bit puzzled—why the sudden statement?

He didn't know that after learning last night that Lu Xun's talent barely scraped the threshold of cultivation, Ji Li hadn't rested well at all.

She figured cultivation was probably similar to martial arts. Her father had a disciple with terrible talent; no matter how hard he trained in martial arts, he'd never achieve much in this life.

Lu Xun might end up the same.

And the place they were heading to was the legendary Demon Sect. She had no idea what the environment there was really like.

Would it really be as the world guessed—survival of the fittest?

Wouldn't his situation be very dangerous!?

Besides, Lu Xun was so good-looking—would he be targeted by those of the same gender...

The self-induced fantasies of a terminal Appearance Control patient—truly terrifying.

She was already like a fan of Lu Xun's looks, trending toward becoming a fangirl.

Moreover, Lu Xun had helped her a lot these past few days, and she was genuinely grateful to him.

So, she had actually only said half a sentence just now. The first half was, "Once I get to the Demon Sect, I'm definitely going to train hard!"

The other half remained unspoken.

— "And then protect you."