The Fairy's Bitterness

Because disciples had been slaughtered in Shengjing, their deaths gruesome beyond description, most of the Celestial Academy's Outer Court disciples were uneasy.

Especially since the Affairs Management Courtyard had yet to uncover any results, all manner of demonizing rumors began to spread.

As for Ji You, the most important thing before him was to raise his realm.

The air of unrest had already begun to spread through this world unseen. The attacks might only have been the beginning.

For now, only strength was the best means of preserving one's life.

Besides, that Kuang Cheng fellow was becoming more and more of a hotheaded fool.

It was now deep winter. All things had withered, and scraps of snow occasionally drifted down from the sky.

Ji You arrived at the Dao Comprehension Ground and found that some students here remained untouched by the turmoil, having devoted themselves to cultivation for many days.

For instance, Du Zhu of the Nirvana Realm, Yue Ze and Zeng Pan'er of the Middle Stage of Condensing Illumination—each had once been close to Chu He.

To them, the Celestial Academy was, after all, the Great Xia Sacred Sect. Even if some petty villains stirred up trouble, they would still end up crushed into ashes.

It was not until Ji You arrived that these students meditating on the Dao finally showed some reaction.

"He really wasn't hurt in the slightest..."

"Someone said he used three swords alone to save seven people, including two senior brothers from the Inner Court. Is that true?"

"It should be true. Someone saw those two Inner Court senior brothers bow to thank him."

By now, news of the battle on West City Front Street had spread through unofficial channels in a relatively complete form. There was no one left who had not heard of it.

They said Sword Testing Forest was bustling beyond belief now. The number of students going there to cultivate martial arts exceeded even the bamboo growing in Sword Testing Forest.

Some two-and-a-half-year trainees had meditation quarters close to Sword Testing Forest. It was said that every evening, they could hear instructors up in the mountains cursing Ji You.

At this moment, Fang Ruoyao was also at the Dao Comprehension Ground.

She was still at the initial stage of Spirit Awakening, and her communion with the spiritual energy of heaven and earth was far from smooth.

Thus, she worked harder than most, finally managing to grasp a little of the method.

Yet it was precisely because she worked so hard that she could more clearly sense that the gap between people was not something one could bridge simply by giving everything one had.

Watching Ji You sit down on the ground and arrange the hem of his robe, she could not help feeling dazed.

She shared a meditation quarters with Lou Siyi and Sun Zhiqiao, and had heard the most detailed account. She had even dreamed several times of that white-robed swordmaster switching swords between his hands and flicking his sleeve to command swords, saving two Inner Court senior brothers.

This morning, she had accidentally overheard that Lou Siyi had secretly sent a maid into the city to look for a sword, intending to give it to Ji You as a gift.

For some reason, the sense of loss in her heart was especially heavy.

In truth, many people in the academy had already begun spreading rumors that her identity as his fiancée was fake, because the two of them had never even spoken.

"Ji You, could you take a walk with me before the hour of the boar?"

Fang Ruoyao gathered her courage and called out to him.

But at that very moment, heavenly light descended. Above the layered clouds came the roar of tigers and the cry of dragons, after which the light sank into his crown, clearly signaling that he had entered the Heavenly Book.

Seeing this, Fang Ruoyao lowered her eyes, while everyone in the Dao Comprehension Ground wore complicated expressions.

Entering the Dao Comprehension Ground and receiving a response from the Heavenly Book—this was really showing off too hard. Every time they saw it, it made them jealous all over again.

Ji You's Divine Sense now flew into the heavens, following the vast starlight filling the sky as it gradually entered the void expanse.

But before he could steady himself, a snow-white jade foot came straight at him and, with a smack, kicked him out.

In the blur, Ji You saw nothing clearly. He only caught sight of the woman in red turning sideways to look at him, icy to the extreme, her face frosted over as though she were furious.

"?"

"Rewarding me right away? What's going on?"

Ji You was forcibly driven out of his state of comprehension, his face full of confusion.

Then he entered again, only for that delicate jade foot to come at him once more. No matter what, she would not let him enter Void Mountain.

With his Divine Sense returned, Ji You sat in the Dao Comprehension Ground and counted the days on his fingers. It isn't even those days!

Why was she so angry that she would not even let him go home?

The students around him, meanwhile, stared blankly at the heavenly light flickering in and out above, their faces numb.

Not until the third time did Ji You reenter the void expanse without a jade foot flying at his face, successfully making his way in.

As Void Mountain and the chaotic Heavenly Dao gradually came into focus before him, he saw that the Fairy in the red dress had returned to her black stone. Yet her expression remained cold, warning strangers to keep away.

What drew the eye most, however, was the deep purple, almost black aura shrouding her body. Like flames, it swayed endlessly around her.

"Y-you... what is that around you?"

"The Fairy's bitterness."

The woman gritted her teeth, her voice cold enough to freeze one to the bone.

She had thought that although they had not spoken much, they came in every afternoon to cultivate. That alone counted as an agreement.

But who could have known that he would vanish without a word for several days last time—and now he had done it again!

At first, she had not cared. I have lived alone on this mountain for more than a decade since I was little, comprehending and cultivating the Dao by myself. What difference could there be?

But afterward, she discovered a faint purple mist gathering around her.

At first, she thought she had suffered cultivation deviation. Later, however, she figured out that since she had entered Void Mountain with her Divine Sense, certain emotions capable of affecting one's state of mind would appear around that Divine Sense in the form of such an aura.

On the first day, its color had only been faint. On the second, it began to deepen, gradually heading toward black in the end.

And at this moment, she seemed to understand what that yellow haze drifting all around him had been whenever that person stared at her little feet.

Just then, Ji You discovered that the aura around her had suddenly turned into an intensely sorrowful gray.

He watched for a long while, vaguely seeming to realize what she was bitter about. "On the night of the winter solstice, I had dinner with fellow disciples. On my way back, I was attacked by villains. I used up too much Divine Sense in the fight and slept for two days straight."

"Were you hurt?"

"I wasn't injured."

Ji You thought for a moment. "The academy has been investigating the matter these past few days. I only just returned after being questioned."

"You're a Celestial Academy disciple." The woman suddenly pointed at him.

She truly was quick-witted as ice and snow. Among the Seven Great Immortal Sects, the only one that called itself an academy was the Celestial Academy.

Ji You curled his lips as he looked at the tsundere Fairy before him. "Then what exactly is the Fairy's name?"

The Fairy looked at him for a long time. "Yan Shuyi."

"Then I'll start cultivating. No kicking me, all right? Though the way of feet is also a Dao..."

"Then what's your name?"

"Ji... Bochang. It means gathering the strengths of many."

Yan Shuyi raised her head, looking at the yellow smoke billowing from above his head, and narrowed her eyes slightly.

Ji You knew that was the expression she made before kicking someone, so he held his breath. "Yan Shuyi, you just said you wouldn't kick me!"

"Lecher!"

"Damn it!"

Even after being kicked out of the "chat group" by that snow-white jade foot, Ji You was still baffled.

She should not have known what that word meant—until he noticed the lush yellow smoke above his head...