Why Was I So Miserable!

"I heard you still haven't learned Sword Flight?" Guangji's cool, aloof face remained expressionless.

"Huh? No way! Master, that must be a false rumor! How could I possibly not know Sword Flight?" Lan Yue waved her hands frantically, refusing to admit it.

"Is that so? Then fly on that Spirit Sword in your arms and show me." Guangji glanced at Silver Snow, unsurprised.

Lan Yue froze. By the time she came to her senses, she had already been picked up and seated on Silver Snow, which had just taken flight.

"No, no, no! Silver Snow, slow down!" Amid her howls, they flew farther and farther from the Four Arts Hall.

Behind them, Er Dan poked its head out to look, then hurried after them, paddling all four feet.

Guangji cast another glance at it. Er Dan flew even harder, wishing it could vanish from his sight immediately.

Not only Lan Yue and the Spirit Tortoise, but everyone else in the Four Arts Hall fell silent too, each as quiet as a chicken.

In the nearby Spirit Artifact Hall, a newly admitted disciple looked over curiously and scratched his head in confusion.

"What's going on? Who is that man, anyway? Why did our Spirit Artifact Hall go so quiet as soon as he arrived?"

He had come over from the Morning Cultivation Hall not long ago. He had only just chosen the Spirit Artifact Hall and had yet to formally begin Artifact Refining, so he was curious about everything.

Naturally, he could not resist asking about this cultivator who had just appeared.

But the moment he asked, two hands reached out from beside him and clamped firmly over his mouth.

"Mmph, mmph, mmph!" Lin Shu jumped in fright. Thinking someone was trying to murder him, he struggled fiercely.

"Mmph, mmph, mmph, mmph, mmph!" Master, hurry and save me!

When he saw that even his master beside him remained unmoved, his heart went cold.

So even a sect as great as the Southern Spirit Sect had people like this?

"Junior Brother, stop struggling. Quiet down first, and we'll explain through voice transmission." Seeing their new junior brother's face turn ashen, the two senior brothers behind him felt their mouths twitch.

"Junior Brother, whatever you do, don't underestimate that elder in white outside. He's actually incredibly vicious."

"Exactly! You must never provoke him! You have no idea what happened twenty years ago. An elder of our Southern Spirit Sect fell to demonhood, and Elder Guangji cleaved him straight in two. Blackish-red blood splattered across the entire mountaintop!"

"And that's not all. He chops cultivators down like radish tops. They say plenty of people who disliked Elder Guangji later disappeared!"

The two chimed in one after the other, sending voice transmissions to their junior brother and successfully terrifying the sheltered fellow.

So when Guangji walked in, both his legs trembled. In the end, his eyes rolled back and he fainted outright, lying stiff as a board on the floor.

"The Spirit Sword I commissioned." Guangji's cool voice rang out as he looked at the unconscious disciple before him with some puzzlement.

"What happened to him?" He was a Southern Spirit Sect disciple, after all. Guangji had to ask.

"Elder Guangji, nothing's wrong! Really, nothing's wrong! He was simply too excited to see you!"

The two senior brothers beside him had their hearts lodged in their throats.

Hearing this, Guangji suddenly recalled those incidents from the past, and his expression stiffened.

"Elder Guangji, your Spirit Artifact has long since been completed."

The Spirit Artifact Hall elder, who had been sitting nearby drinking tea, walked over with a smile and handed him a Storage Ring.

At the same time, the elder cast the other two a meaningful glance, telling them to carry the disciple away.

Guangji accepted it, left behind a white porcelain bottle, and vanished in the blink of an eye.

The two senior brothers, just about to lift their junior brother, exchanged bewildered looks at the porcelain bottle before them.

"Accept it on your junior brother's behalf. This is a token of Elder Guangji's goodwill. Stop spreading tales about how vicious he is. However vicious he may be, he is still protecting our Southern Spirit Sect."

The Spirit Artifact Hall elder's smiling expression changed, and the elder admonished them solemnly.

The two senior brothers froze. They had only heard those stories from others themselves. In any case, there was not a single disciple in the entire Southern Spirit Sect who did not fear Elder Guangji.

Recalling how considerate the elder had been today, they were immediately overwhelmed with shame.

Once the two disciples had understood, the Spirit Artifact Hall elder turned back, settled into the reclining chair, and leisurely drank tea.

After Guangji vanished from the Four Arts Hall, the azure water mirror Yun Chong had formed above the clouds shattered completely with a crisp, clear sound.

"Looks like Ninth Junior Brother is angry." Yun Chong was terribly disappointed.

"Then stop crowding around here and get back to your own business, unless you want Ninth Junior Brother to come looking for sparring partners."

The moment Yun Chong said this, the surrounding elders scattered in a rush and vanished without a trace, each fleeing faster than the last.

What a joke! Ninth Junior Brother could fight the Grand Elder without giving an inch!

For them to practice swordsmanship with their junior brother would be practically asking to die!

They would all end up with swollen noses and bruised faces, probably giving little Lan Yue plenty of fresh gossip to feast on. The mere thought made their scalps prickle!

Meanwhile, Lan Yue, who had flown off on the Spirit Sword, saw that she was about to fall. She hurriedly hugged Silver Snow's hilt, leaving her whole body dangling from it.

"Silver Snow, slow down, slow down!"

Silver Snow had no choice but to slow again and stop steadily in midair.

Before Lan Yue could catch her breath, however, she felt someone grab the back of her collar and move her elsewhere.

She was transferred onto another Spirit Sword. This one was even smaller, and before she could react, it shot off like a streak of smoke.

"Aaaah! Help! Silver Snow, save me!"

At that speed, she could not keep her footing at all, and her body had already begun tipping backward.

Silver Snow was about to rush out to save her when Guangji stopped it.

"If you want her to learn Sword Flight, stay still." Guangji did not intervene either, merely watching the silver-white Spirit Sword.

A pure white cat sprang out of the long sword and gave Guangji a disgruntled look, but ultimately stayed put.

Meanwhile, Lan Yue could hardly believe it. The Spirit Sword she had only just brought back had betrayed her?

Lan Yue clung to the Spirit Sword as it accelerated, her face full of sorrow.

Seeing that she was about to plummet to the ground from such a height, Lan Yue covered her face, her heart nearly stopping.

At the very last moment before she hit the ground, Guangji flew over with a frown and hauled her back up.

This went on for three whole days. Throughout those three days, Guangji followed behind her, putting her through special training.

Perhaps the brink of death had sparked some insight, for Lan Yue finally learned Sword Flight on the third day. But unlike her senior brothers and sisters, who stood on their Spirit Swords and flew with ethereal grace, she could only ensure that she did not fall off hers.

That was already the absolute best she could manage!

Watching from the side, Guangji still frowned slightly, but at least he nodded and did not continue her special training.

[Lan Yue: I'm utterly exhausted! Three whole days of bungee jumping! Who could take that?]

Lan Yue sighed and groaned. She absolutely never wanted to experience this a second time.

[Lan Yue: I wonder how Er Dan is doing. Will it find food on its own? Even Silver Snow betrayed me. Boohoo, why am I so miserable?]

Her inner voice sounded so pitiful that even Guangji was taken aback. He even wondered whether he had truly gone too far.

Just as he was about to offer his disciple a few words of comfort, he heard her inner voice again, though this time it was much more cheerful.

*[Lan Yue: Oh well, since I'm so miserable, I'll feast on a few more sweet melons of gossip. That's the only thing that can soothe my wounded little heart!*

*I'll look again and see if there's any fresh gossip about Master to feast on! Heh heh, sure enough, I found some more!]*

Guangji, opposite her: "..."

It seemed he still needed to intensify her training.