Beast Immortals Are Never Slaves

The next morning.

Blue light swept across the sea of clouds, and dawn clouds filled the sky. The empty Sword Terrace bathed in mist and morning light.

Everything was as it had been yesterday.

The pitch-black Immortal Boat was moored at the suspended harbor, as if floating in a sea of clouds beyond the cliff.

The layout of the Sword Terrace had suddenly opened up.

My journey is the vast sea of the Immortal Court...

That was the grand vision Lu Ya had painted for Muyu Feifei.

Muyu Feifei lay on the deck.

Arranged into two big characters.

Last night.

The two girls had first been summoned by Lu Ya to chop bamboo and build a harbor, then by Ning Zhongzi to chop bamboo and put up a Bamboo Cottage.

They had been excited and worked themselves ragged for most of the night. Lying on the Immortal Boat's deck, they compared notes and realized something was off.

They had thought they'd picked up a flute-playing boy, but it had turned out to feel more like, "A big shot has arrived, and our standing in the sect just dropped by one." Somehow, they'd been ordered around to do this and that, and had ended up as the flute-playing boys themselves.

"Feifei, we can't go on like this."

"Once, we were kings of the jungle. Now we're enslaved by those damn humans!"

"Awooo~"

"How can we get stronger?"

"What exactly is a shipgirl?"

"Can we really get stronger?"

At that moment, the thought that "Beast Immortals are never slaves" was beginning to sprout in their hearts.

By the bamboo grove.

Ning Zhongzi had worked through half the night and finally finished building Lu Ya's residence.

For immortals, building a house was normally a trivial matter they could finish with a wave of the hand.

But since it was Lu Ya's residence, Ning Zhongzi had been especially meticulous.

She built it where the Sword Terrace met the bamboo grove.

With the roar of the bamboo behind it and a sea of clouds before it.

The Bamboo Cottage's layout was exactly the same as Liu Xuanye's residence.

The first floor had a living room, a bedroom, and a study.

The second floor was a Meditation Pavilion.

This wasn't to save on design fees. There was a much deeper plan behind it.

According to the scene she'd imagined—

One night, after soaking in the hot spring until he was dizzy and disoriented, Lu Ya would walk into Liu Xuanye's room, mistake it for his own, and, in his daze, the two would spark a flame of love.

Otherwise, with one of them aloof and the other a Salted Fish, even if fate had brought them together, they'd be no more than partners in name.

After finishing everything, Ning Zhongzi wiped the fine sweat from her snowy neck and walked to the edge of the cliff by the Sword Terrace.

She sighed softly.

In her eyes, wiping out the Black Lotus was only the beginning.

The Bamboo Spring Sect might have made an enemy of the powerful White Lotus Sect as a result.

More, and stronger, rogue immortal organizations would also set their sights on this land because of what had happened.

Besides that, the Bamboo Spring Sect still had to face the Immortal Court's investigation of its sect master, the decline of its educational efforts, the dwindling population of Floating Mountain, and a host of other problems.

If things didn't improve by the end of the year, the Immortal Court might revoke the Bamboo Spring Sect's status as an immortal sect.

As long as the restriction inside the sect master's body remained, the Bamboo Spring Sect would never be tolerated by the Heavenly Dao.

Would Lu Ya be the one to change the Bamboo Spring Sect?

Even a fool could see the aura of a health-conscious old soul in his words and actions.

Did he really care about the Bamboo Spring Sect?

Even if he did, did he have what it took to defy the world?

Ning Zhongzi raised her head and looked at the dawn clouds filling the sky.

In the hazy dawn, golden light suddenly burst in all directions, like boiling steel spraying forth, as it surrounded the sun and lifted it slowly above the mountains!

Layer upon layer, the clouds overhead turned from dark red to dazzling gold, growing ever more brilliant until, in the blink of an eye, they had dyed the whole world red.

As soon as the sun appeared, Floating Mountain in the distance also came faintly into view against the deep blue sky.

Standing at the cliff's edge, Ning Zhongzi had seen new life at the Bamboo Spring Sect for the first time in five hundred years.

At some point—

Liu Xuanye had appeared at Ning Zhongzi's side.

Her blue robes were as thin as a cicada's wings, her bearing as sharp as Sword Bamboo. At the curve of her figure, she seemed sculpted by gods and demons. Her brows were lightly brushed with ink, slanting up toward her temples, and her clear eyes shimmered like a lake beneath bright stars.

Her usually solemn, aloof expression held noticeably more tenderness and languid ease than it had the night before.

Ning Zhongzi swept her divine sense over Liu Xuanye and gave a faint start.

"You recovered faster this time than before."

Liu Xuanye kept her Immortal Sect Master's spiritual pressure restrained and didn't mention the tribulation from the night before. She only said,

"Don't do anything pointless next time, Senior Sister."

"I hope there won't be a next time."

Ning Zhongzi knew she was talking about taking the sword for her last night. Every time she remembered that she'd blocked an empty sword, she felt especially awkward, so the subject naturally turned to the man who'd made her do it.

"What do you think of Senior Brother Lu?"

"I still can't see through him."

Liu Xuanye spoke frankly, then added,

"But he means no harm."

Ning Zhongzi nodded.

"His words and mannerisms are those of a young man. It doesn't seem like an act, but he really is too powerful. His cultivation may well be at the level of an Immortal Venerable... I don't quite believe in fate. Maybe he's just a clone of some great expert, who hit a bottleneck while leveling up and is now living as a mortal to comprehend the Dao in his heart."

Liu Xuanye raised her head slightly and gazed straight at the rising sun.

"Perhaps this is part of fate."

Ning Zhongzi didn't want to take fate for granted.

She wanted to actively bring the two of them closer, to turn the legendary fate between them into a certainty.

"Now that your body has recovered, if nothing goes wrong on the Immortal Court's end, Senior Brother Lu's immortal appointment should be approved today. You two can hold the Partner Sealing Ceremony tomorrow."

"Mm."

"You rarely meet such a suitable man. You should cultivate together as soon as possible. That way, you can suppress the restriction in your body, and you can also draw on his strength to overcome your tribulation and ascend to Immortal Sect Master."

Even though she was already an Immortal Sect Master...

Could cultivating together really help her overcome a tribulation?

Liu Xuanye suddenly grew interested. The corner of her vermilion lips lifted into a lazy crescent.

"How do we cultivate together?"

Ning Zhongzi rolled her eyes at her.

"You're three thousand years old. You still don't know about this?"

"Senior Sister never taught me. How could I know?"

As Liu Xuanye grew up, Ning Zhongzi had played many roles in her life: savior, mother, senior sister, physician, and sect steward.

Before Ning Zhongzi, she really was still a child.

Ning Zhongzi straightened the lapels of her robe, her expression turning solemn and dignified.

"Cultivating together means exactly what it sounds like: two people synchronizing their spiritual power and practicing together in close proximity."

"Practicing together in close proximity..."

Liu Xuanye furrowed her swordlike brows, unable to help recalling the scene of facing Lu Ya while overcoming the tribulation the night before.

Had she already cultivated together with him last night?

Could cultivating together help one overcome a tribulation?

Liu Xuanye's thoughts ran wild.

Ning Zhongzi, meanwhile, took on the air of someone speaking from experience and began to patiently instruct her.

"Though an immortal's body is considered perfect in its untouched state, when it comes to the Heavenly Dao, the blending of spiritual power is the natural course of the Dao. Cultivating together is only human nature. You needn't feel ashamed."

"Have you ever cultivated together with anyone, Senior Sister?"

A flicker of panic flashed through Ning Zhongzi's eyes, but she quickly regained her composure.

Liu Xuanye wasn't an obedient junior sister, and she especially loved to act on impulse. If Ning Zhongzi couldn't maintain the dignity of an elder, the Bamboo Spring Sect would have shut its doors long ago.

With that in mind, she forced a confident smile.

"Of course. That's how the Immortal Realm is nowadays. Men and women cultivate together: two, three, or even in groups... It's all common. There's no need to make a fuss."

Just as she finished speaking—

A leisurely male voice suddenly came from beside Ning Zhongzi.

"Senior Sister Ning has quite a story to tell."

Looking at Ning Zhongzi, Lu Ya, now dressed in a blue robe, spoke with deep meaning.

Quite a story...

Ning Zhongzi's bright eyes froze, and her lovely face crumpled.

She was too embarrassed to say a word, and could only circulate her immortal power to force down her blush.

Just then—

Two cries rang out from the horizon.

The three of them looked up and saw two enormous Immortal Falcons flying over from the east.

Two figures stood proudly on their backs.

Ning Zhongzi secretly breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly said,

"The Immortal Court's envoys have arrived."