So petty, guarding against even a turtle.
Su He carried the two of them to the surface. Feng Ya Ya waved her arms around as she showed off the results of her Great Turtle talent test to Su Hua Nian.
A trace of surprise flickered through Su Hua Nian's ancient-well-still eyes.
The blue-stone pendant at her waist brightened. With a flick of Su Hua Nian's finger, the stone floated before her, then flashed and projected a human figure.
It was a refined middle-aged man with a strong scholarly air.
Su He guessed this was some daoist art like the Water Mirror Technique, capable of allowing people to speak from afar.
The instant the middle-aged man's projection appeared, his gaze turned stern upon seeing Ya Ya. "You ran out of Prison Suppression again. Who lifted your confinement?"
Feng Ya Ya made a face at him and shrank behind Su Hua Nian.
That annoying Daddy again. He showed up less than once a year, and whenever he did, all he knew was how to criticize Ya Ya.
Hmph! Nobody lifted my confinement. Ya Ya performed well, so I was released early.
This middle-aged man was Feng Yi Ju, the Sect Leader of Azure Origin Sect.
Watching Ya Ya avoid him, disappointment flashed through his eyes. "Madam, Elder He came to see me just now. He suggested that our daughter begin attending lectures at Li Nan Courtyard with the newly inducted disciples tomorrow. I agreed."
The little girl hiding behind her Mother immediately widened her eyes and glared fiercely at her Father. You're the one who needs to go to school! Your whole family needs to go to school!
She jumped up, about to bite the blue stone with her little tiger fangs and cut off the conversation, but Su Hua Nian pressed her back down with one fair jade finger.
Su Hua Nian's delicate brows drew together slightly as she looked at the husband she had not seen for so long, a man who now felt somewhat unfamiliar. "Why?"
Feng Yi Ju sighed. "This time, Beast Taming Valley fell into great chaos. If she had merely caused trouble, that would have been nothing—we could simply punish her. But she was schemed against by Lu Ming. If Lu Ming could scheme against her and make her turn Beast Taming Valley upside down, then someone else could scheme against her and shake the entire Azure Origin Sect."
Feng Yi Ju would never allow such a thing to happen. What disappointed him most in this incident was not that Beast Taming Valley's First True Disciple had schemed against an ignorant child.
It was that Ya Ya could not even see through such a simple scheme!
All it took was for two miscellaneous servants to say while passing by her, "Ya Ya is only waiting in vain. There are too many beast pets in Beast Taming Valley, and the person she is waiting for is too scared to come."
Then this rebellious daughter turned Beast Taming Valley upside down and released more than half its beast pets.
Coldness flashed through Su Hua Nian's eyes and vanished in an instant. As the Sect Leader's Wife, she rarely interfered in the affairs of sect disciples. She only fought campaigns beyond the sect, ensuring the disciples had a peaceful external environment in which to develop.
But anyone who dared scheme against Ya Ya had touched her reverse scale.
Feng Ya Ya shrank her neck and hid behind her Mother. She was young, but not foolish. Aunt Lin had already told her that she had been used. But Lu Ming, the one who had schemed against her, had even had his lifebound beast bitten to death by the Great Turtle.
That was why Feng Ya Ya had asked Gu Lin to bring her to find Su He.
Su He did not understand what was going on, but he could guess part of it. It probably had something to do with him.
Feng Yi Ju looked at his wife and daughter. "There will always be times when you and I are negligent, and she is special. A hundred years pass in the blink of an eye.
Rather than let villains scheme against her, it would be better for her to begin interacting with new disciples now. Among new disciples, there may be no major affairs, but there is no shortage of petty scheming and scrambling like flies for scraps. She ought to suffer a few losses and broaden her horizons."
By age, Ya Ya was already several decades old. Yet she grew slowly and remained innocent and guileless. Her Mother had also protected her too well. She had not even had friends these past years. That was why, upon meeting a turtle, she treated him as a priceless treasure.
Feng Ya Ya bared her teeth and protested quietly, "Mother, no, absolutely not! I have the Great Turtle with me. No one can bully me!"
Su Hua Nian ignored her daughter and remained silent for a long while. Her uneven breathing revealed the unrest at the bottom of her heart.
Feng Yi Ju did not urge her. Only after a long while did Su Hua Nian softly spit out a single word. "Fine."
Feng Ya Ya, who had been muttering her protests, instantly fell silent. She stared at her Mother with her beautiful wide eyes. In that instant, she felt that the whole world had betrayed her. Only the Great Turtle remained...
She hugged Su He's head, her spirits sinking.
Nothing happened that day. Su He rested beneath the pool. Feng Ya Ya was so despondent over having to attend lectures at Li Nan Courtyard starting tomorrow that she forgot to ask Su Hua Nian to give Su He guidance in cultivation.
Since there was a reason for it, Su He magnanimously forgave her for one day.
That night, Su He lay beside the pool and watched the mother and daughter in the grass dwelling. Feng Ya Ya had complained until she was exhausted and fallen asleep early. Su Hua Nian sat cross-legged in meditation, her chest rising and falling faintly. Her proud figure made her white robes sway, stirring one's imagination.
Even a turtle's imagination was stirred.
His resolve to transform into human grew firmer.
Before he knew it, the moon had climbed to the middle of the sky. The autumn breeze blew softly, and at some point, Su He fell asleep as well.
Then he felt a pair of little hands plucking at his scales.
When he opened his eyes, Feng Ya Ya was holding a finger to her lips in a gesture for silence.
"Come on, Great Turtle! Before dawn breaks, let's skip class! I'll take you to Tranquil Peace Hall to steal Life Nourishing Porridge. Once we're full, you can take me to catch fish. We'll be self-reliant, and we'll never come back!"
Were children these days really so averse to studying? She was even running away from home.
With Feng Ya Ya on his back, he quietly crawled out of the formation. Following the little girl's directions, he charged wildly through the mountains and barreled straight into Tranquil Peace Hall.
A group of disciples inside Tranquil Peace Hall turned to look at them.
Feng Ya Ya covered her face with a handkerchief and shouted at an Azure Origin Disciple, "What are you looking at? Never seen a girl steal something before? Speak! What medicinal cuisine did you cook today?!"
The disciple wore a helpless expression, then was forced to put on a terrified look. "W-We cooked Assorted Deer Antler Soup."
"Very good!" Feng Ya Ya nodded in satisfaction, then crouched down and whispered to Su He, "Great Turtle, go through that window. There are fewer people there, so no one will catch us stealing!"
Su He rolled his eyes and shoved through the crowd, crawling in the direction Feng Ya Ya had indicated.
Before long, a massive turtle carrying a huge vat raced out alongside a Little One, with a cafeteria auntie behind them, wielding an iron ladle as she chased and struck at them.
The auntie was exceedingly valiant. Every time her iron ladle smashed into his shell, Su He could feel a dull ache in his internal organs. At last, they escaped to the foot of the mountain and reached a great river. He picked Feng Ya Ya up in his mouth and crawled into the river, drifting downstream with the current.
Feng Ya Ya let out delighted shrieks, laughing happily.
The auntie returned empty-handed. Back at Tranquil Peace Hall, she found the Hall Master lounging under the morning sun. Rage surged through her, and with one ladle strike, she knocked him off his recliner. "That little girl took a turtle and robbed us of a whole vat of medicinal cuisine! Are you blind?!"
The Hall Master had a face full of confusion. "Madam Su sent spirit stones by flying sword before dawn and paid for the meal. Why should I care? Are you reluctant to part with one vat?"
The auntie: "..."
If they had paid, why did he not say so earlier? And he still had the nerve to sound justified!
Bang! Bang! Bang!...
On a small island at the center of a lake, Feng Ya Ya lay on the grass laughing loudly, her mouth smeared with medicinal cuisine. Her eyes gleamed with excitement.
Stolen medicinal cuisine was amazing—far tastier than usual. After drinking it, her stomach felt wonderfully warm.
Su He gulped down the medicinal cuisine in great mouthfuls, but worry showed in his eyes.
He had gone wild playing with the child today and nearly forgotten about the dice. Fortunately, this time it had rolled three points of quality. If it had been a three-point increase in quantity instead, and one vat of medicinal cuisine had suddenly become three vats...
Azure Origin Sect would probably have sliced him apart for research.
No, he could not do this sort of thing again.
Robbery could only be done among the Beast Horde! Feng Ya Ya flipped over and patted Su He's shell. "Great Turtle, let's not run away from home today. Let's go to Heavenly Mechanisms Pavilion and ask Grandpa Hu to make you a Cosmos Ring. You eat too much. If you carry too many things while stealing, people will notice."
Su He's eyes brightened.
A voice came from beside them. "Why would you need a Cosmos Ring? If you knew formations, you could carve one onto your turtle shell. Forget holding things—even if you wanted to hold the heavens, you could!"
Feng Ya Ya and Su He turned their heads at the same time.
They saw a middle-aged man leading seven or eight youths as he simply walked up from beneath the lake.
"You are Feng Ya Ya?" The middle-aged man sized her up and down, then nodded. "Yesterday, I received word from the Sect Leader that you would be attending lectures—Not bad. You knew to ask about the lecture location beforehand and arrive early."
Feng Ya Ya: "???"
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