A flying tortoise

"Senior Brother, that's where you're wrong. How can you discriminate against our tortoises? Er Dan, show him what you've got!" Lan Yue gently patted the slate-gray tortoise's head.

Then, under the other two's astonished gazes, the tortoise stretched its limbs a few times and slowly rose into the air.

Seeing their stunned expressions, the little figure inside Lan Yue's heart nearly planted its hands on its hips and burst out laughing.

Even Senior Brother hadn't expected this, had he? The tortoises on Spirit Moon Peak could fly too!

Actually, she hadn't known that at first either. She had simply stumbled upon a spirit tortoise on Spirit Moon Peak and started feeding it there.

As she kept feeding it, she gradually noticed several more spirit tortoises appearing, as though they had brought their entire families along.

Feeding one was feeding, and feeding a whole bunch was still feeding, so every day she went to spear fish in the stream behind a nearby peak, then grilled them one by one for the spirit tortoises.

Luckily, she had honed her fish-spearing and grilling skills in her previous life. Otherwise, she would have starved even after coming to the Southern Spirit Sect.

It was only as more and more spirit tortoises came to mooch meals that she discovered some of them actually flapped their stubby legs and flew straight over.

When she first saw that sight, she was utterly astonished.

Those spirit tortoises struggling to paddle through the air struck her right in the heart. She took the initiative to feed them every so often, and they were wonderfully cooperative.

As long as one spirit tortoise spotted her grilling fish there, an entire flock would fly over before long.

She had to admit, the fish raised on the neighboring peak tasted pretty good, and smelled even better grilled. If she had known what species they were, she would have bought some fry outside to raise herself.

After all, if she kept spearing fish, what would she do once she caught them all? She needed to increase her supply and conserve what she had.

Unfortunately, she had asked at every shop, and nobody knew what those fish were called.

Feeling regretful, Lan Yue stroked Er Dan's head. "Raise a tortoise for a thousand days to use it for a single moment. Er Dan, your big sister will be counting on you from now on!"

The enormous spirit tortoise nuzzled her, then worked hard to pick up a little more speed.

"Charge, for the dried fish!" Lan Yue waved her arms in front of her. "We must defend the dignity of grilled fish too!"

The spirit tortoise beneath her really did speed up again, paddling hard with all four legs. Anyone who didn't know better might have thought it was swimming beneath the sea.

In any case, the other two on its back were thoroughly shaken.

So they could fly through the sky on a spirit tortoise too?

Yun Xi took it fairly well. She hadn't been at the Southern Spirit Sect long and hadn't seen much, so she simply assumed it was a special breed.

Li Bai, however, was in a daze. He had searched the entire compendium of spirit beasts in his mind and still couldn't find this breed of tortoise.

While they were in a daze, Silver Snow, trailing behind them, was positively sulking.

"Silver Snow, behave." Lan Yue turned around and saw Silver Snow catching up, sneakily aiming at the tortoise's tail in preparation for a backstab.

She pulled Silver Snow into her arms and secretly lowered her voice. "From now on, you'll be my Imperial Sword. How could I step on you? Wouldn't it be better for us to sit on the tortoise together and enjoy the gossip?"

Silver Snow swayed, successfully persuaded, then obediently nestled into her arms.

[Lan Yue: Today's another brand-new day. How wonderful! There's fresh gossip to enjoy! Let's check on the Fifth Elder first. Looks like his gossip has been updated again.]

Behind her, Li Bai's burly frame jolted. He wanted to stop her but had no idea where to begin, so he could only sit there scratching his head in agitation.

[Lan Yue: Shocking! Why was the Stern Fifth Elder squatting outside a disciple's door late at night with scratch marks on his face? Was this the twisting of human nature, or the collapse of morality?]

"Pfft!" On a mountain peak below, a disciple who happened to be drinking tea outside couldn't help spraying out a mouthful.

He hurriedly flew off to spread the news. Before long, those people had gathered on the peaks near Spirit Moon Peak, all secretly probing with their spiritual senses.

Meanwhile, on the mountain closest to Spirit Moon Peak-the very peak Lan Yue often visited to spear fish-the Sect Master and the other elders exchanged looks.

They examined the Fifth Elder's face and discovered that there did indeed seem to be scratch marks on it.

"Ahem, little Lan Yue's inner voice is reaching farther again. Her cultivation must have improved." Yun Chong could only use that to conceal the amusement in his eyes.

The Fifth Elder dragged a hand over his face, looking worn down by life. He felt that coming here had been a mistake!

Did little Lan Yue have any idea how to rein herself in? Couldn't she find someone else to fleece? She had practically plucked him bald!

The Fifth Elder looked bitter and indignant. He felt that the spiritual artifact he had given her a few days ago had been a complete waste!

The others recovered their senses, equally incredulous.

"Fifth Brother, isn't this a little inappropriate?" The master of Jade Snow Peak stared blankly for a long while before squeezing out those words.

"It's not what you think!" The Fifth Elder was nearly tearing his hair out.

But he hesitated to explain what had actually happened.

Wouldn't that destroy his imposing reputation?

Beside Spirit Moon Peak, Li Bai sat on the spirit tortoise's back, looking equally dazed.

What? His master had actually sat outside a disciple's door late at night? Which disciple? Didn't his master only have two disciples? One was him, and the other was his junior brother.

At that thought, Li Bai's expression suddenly turned horrified.

If Lan Yue hadn't been sitting right across from him, and if he hadn't feared startling the snake in the grass, he would probably have drawn his Gilt Long Sword already.

No wonder his junior brother had looked so conflicted these past few days, with scratch marks even on his neck. Despicable, utterly despicable! How could their master do such a thing!

He had completely misjudged his master!

[Lan Yue: Let me see what actually happened. I'm so curious! I wonder whether gossip at this level comes with a video. If there's a video, hehehe...]

Beside her, Li Bai's face darkened, and he nearly fainted.

Inside, he kept screaming, Stop, Junior Sister! How old are you? What are you thinking about all day?

"Senior Brother, why does your eye keep twitching? Are you having a fit? Oh, no, do you have some kind of eye condition?"

Lan Yue had been digging through the system's newly updated gossip when she happened to notice her senior brother's eye twitching incessantly, so she paused to offer a word of concern.

"Yes, yes, my eyes seem to be bothering me a little. Why don't we head back first?" Li Bai no longer cared about his reputation. He just wanted to trick his junior sister into moving on.

[Lan Yue: So even cultivators can have fits. Poor Senior Brother! Let me observe a second of silence for him first.]

Li Bai: "..."

The news that he was having fits would probably spread throughout the sect before long. That was fine. He could bear that suffering, as long as his junior sister stopped focusing on that video business!

Silence settled over them for a moment.

Just as he thought the video matter was about to blow over and they would soon head back, uncontrollable laughter suddenly rang out again.

[Hahahahaha, I'm dying! That headline was so weird I thought it was some explosive scandal. Turns out the Fifth Elder has a habit: he needs to hold a spirit cat to fall asleep!]

[Lan Yue: I'm dying of laughter! Not only does the oh-so-serious Fifth Elder secretly stick on a beard in private, he actually needs to hold a spirit cat to sleep! Does that mean he needs to cuddle a kitty to enter a meditative trance too?]

[Lan Yue: What did the kitties do wrong? They must just be too adorable! That's why even someone as serious as the Fifth Elder likes them so much he has to hold them to sleep! And cuddle and kiss them too!]

"Pfft!" The Sixth Elder laughed without restraint. He hadn't expected the Fifth Elder to have such a side in private either.

Despite one being the Fifth Elder and the other the Sixth Elder, their peaks were actually far apart. Unless something important happened, they never even met.

It was only because Lan Yue had recently appeared with a Divine Artifact that their group had gathered together.

"Ahem, Fifth, didn't you bring back a litter of spirit cats from a secret realm a while ago? Didn't you say you were giving them to your disciple to raise?" The Second Elder coughed.

"I remember you even reprimanded your young disciple for having his mind entirely on the spirit cats and seriously neglecting his cultivation. You even punished him with confinement."

The Second Elder looked over, his eyes filled with teasing amusement.

The Fifth Elder: "..."

At the time, he really had thought that litter of spirit cats was seriously interfering with his young disciple's cultivation, so he had taken them over to raise himself.

Who knew those little things would decide he was their master? At night, they insisted on burrowing in beside him to sleep. If he didn't give them room in bed, they all stayed there meowing in their tiny, babyish voices.

They were far too clingy! It was all those spirit cats' fault!