Let Go of My Junior Sister!

"Have you heard? The sect master found his biological daughter. They say she's only in her teens!"

"Of course I've heard. How could we not know about something this big? Not only that, I even know the sixth elder acknowledged a niece and took her as his disciple!"

"The sixth elder has a niece now too? Hiss, are all the big shots in our sect holding a family reunion? Quick, tell us what they're like! Do they look alike? What happened back then, anyway? Why have the sect master and the sixth elder suddenly gained a daughter and a niece?"

"Hehehe, she doesn't really look like the sect master, but she looks a lot like the Beiling Holy Son!"

"What? How did the Beiling Holy Son get dragged into this? What does he have to do with our sect master?"

"Heh, now that brings us to the love, hate, and tangled grudges between the sect master and the Beiling Holy Son. You weren't at the arena that day-what a shame..."

On Spirit Sword Peak, a group of disciples were discussing the matter in hushed voices.

Quite a few had gathered together, their eyes gleaming with gossip.

Lan Yue, however, sat with her face in her hands, gazing up at the sky. She had been thinking all this time and felt she must have transmigrated into a fanfic of Road to Immortality.

Perhaps the sects and cultivation system described in the book were the same, but the actual events had long since changed, developing around the fanfic's main plot.

Otherwise, how could something so strange happen? Not long after the heroine entered the sect, the sect master had discovered her, and even the sixth elder had taken on a disciple!

This development was a hundred and eight thousand miles removed from the original!

Perhaps this was a fanfic centered on the disciple the sixth elder had acknowledged?

Lan Yue rubbed her face. Forget it. She would stop pondering such profound questions.

Today, she had mainly come to collect a spirit sword.

Yes, after more than three months of hard work, the few spirit swords she owned had finally been completely ruined. Not a single one remained!

And apart from a pitiful handful of spirit beasts, she was the only official disciple on all of Spirit Moon Peak.

As for the peak lord of Spirit Moon Peak, the only person she could call her master, Lan Yue had met the old man just once when she became his disciple. She had never seen him again!

Her master was probably in some forgotten corner, undertaking secluded cultivation he would not leave until he achieved a breakthrough. He likely wouldn't emerge for decades.

Even more absurdly, Lan Yue still didn't know her master's name.

She even strongly suspected that this nominal master had only accepted her because her name, like Spirit Moon Peak's, contained the word "moon."

Ah, life was lonely as a boundless field of snow!

Her master was probably another lonely soul seeking a worthy opponent, wasn't he?

"To collect a new spirit sword, you must pay a deposit of one hundred mid-grade spirit stones."

As the managing elder of Spirit Sword Peak spoke before her, the faint melancholy in Lan Yue's heart instantly fell to the ground with a splat.

"What? One hundred mid-grade spirit stones? And that's just the deposit? What kind of spirit sword is that expensive?"

Lan Yue's eyes widened in shock. She could hardly believe it.

The managing elder before her was about to explain when the girl's inner voice drifted over again.

[Am I even worthy of a spirit sword that expensive?]

The elder promptly choked on his breath, unable to say a word for a long while.

How many people on Spirit Sword Peak desperately sought a treasured sword without ever obtaining one? What was this child saying? Was this a question of being worthy?

A sword cultivator's sword was their second life, their cultivation partner! How could it be measured in spirit stones?

"Elder, can we negotiate? Will you sell it at a ninety-percent discount?" Lan Yue clutched her storage pouch, painfully short of funds.

The two stared at each other for a while.

Before long, a girl in a pale blue dress was carried out and deposited on a rock outside Spirit Sword Peak's mission hall.

Sitting on the same rock where she had already spent so much time, Lan Yue sighed again.

Regret welled up inside her. She should never have been fooled by her nominal master's ethereal, immortal air and set foot on this road of no return.

When other people became disciples, their masters not only gave them generous initiation gifts, but those disciples could also collect a monthly allowance from the mission hall.

Only their Spirit Moon Peak had nothing! Her pockets were cleaner than her face. The few spirit beasts left were spirit turtles of some unknown breed, the sort that could sleep for half a year at a time!

Spirit turtles could go half a year without eating or drinking, but she couldn't!

Lan Yue was heartbroken. She couldn't let this continue!

She had to make a change!

A while later, the girl in the pale blue dress sneaked over with a piece of Spiritwood in her arms, looking at the managing elder with sparkling eyes.

"You can have spirit swords custom-made here, right?"

"You can, but you..." The managing elder's eye twitched as he looked at the familiar piece of Spiritwood in the little girl's arms.

They did offer custom-made spirit swords, but she couldn't just take a practice post from Spirit Sword Peak and use it to make a wooden sword!

Precisely because this sort of Spiritwood was unsuitable for making spirit swords, the disciples of Spirit Sword Peak often hacked at it for fun to hone their swordsmanship.

Just as he was about to mercilessly refuse her, a voice transmission suddenly sounded in his ear.

He froze for a long moment, then looked again at the little girl with her sparkling eyes and said helplessly, "Your master once commissioned a spirit sword here. Come with me to collect it."

The managing elder walked for quite a while, only to turn around and discover that the little girl hadn't followed.

She fidgeted and said, "Wouldn't it be inappropriate to take Master's spirit sword so suddenly? He's still in seclusion, and I..."

"There's nothing inappropriate about it. He commissioned this spirit sword for his disciple. Since he's in seclusion, you can simply collect it," the managing elder said stiffly.

"Do I need to pay any additional spirit stones?" Lan Yue tilted her little face up and asked the most important question.

"No..." The managing elder scarcely knew what to do with his twitching mouth. This girl might be tiny, but she certainly has plenty on her mind.

"Don't worry. Just pay one spirit stone."

"One supreme-grade spirit stone?" Lan Yue exclaimed in shock.

[Even selling me wouldn't cover that!]

"One low-grade spirit stone." After a long silence, the managing elder finally clarified.

He led the little girl farther and farther away, even descending Spirit Sword Peak.

Lan Yue followed him, her bright black eyes growing increasingly wary.

[Holy shit, is the elder going to kill me and dump my body because I'm only paying one spirit stone?]

The managing elder ahead stopped. Unable to endure it any longer, he picked the girl up and tossed her straight into the teleportation array.

As dazzling white light flared, the girl who had just been bouncing along vanished in an instant.

The managing elder had originally intended to leave immediately, but something seemed to occur to him. Instead, he took out a meditation cushion, sat cross-legged nearby, and closed his eyes to stand guard.

Feeling pressure coming from every direction, Lan Yue truly thought for an instant that the managing elder intended to murder her and hide her body.

Fortunately, at the last second, the teleportation array's light faded completely. She had left a place filled with birdsong, fragrant flowers, and grassy fields and arrived in a dim, empty cave.

"Could this be the legendary Hidden Sword Pavilion, supposedly incredibly luxurious and even home to ninth-tier spirit swords?"

Lan Yue looked around, an indescribable expression on her little face.

[Who started that rumor? Isn't this drab place just a lousy cave? Are ninth-tier spirit swords really hidden here?]

She took two tentative steps, and dirt actually began raining down from overhead.

Lan Yue: "..."

[Sure enough, Elder Lin of Spirit Sword Peak still wants to murder me and hide my body!]

"Ahem!"

"Cough, cough, cough, cough! Cough, cough, cough, cough, cough!"

Violent coughing suddenly erupted ahead, as though someone had suffered an asthma attack and couldn't catch his breath.

Lan Yue looked over warily and discovered a kindly-looking old man. He kept coughing, his face turning red.

[Is he Elder Lin's accomplice? Doesn't that mean I'm done for? I'm doomed, doomed! These little arms and legs can't put up a fight!]

"Cough, cough, cough, cough!!!"

The coughing inside the cave grew even more forceful.

"Young friend, you must be the one Elder Lin sent to collect a spirit sword. Come with me. I'll take you to get it."

The elder finally couldn't bear listening any longer. He feared that before tomorrow arrived, news that he and Elder Lin had joined forces to brutalize a sect disciple, then murder her and hide her body, would spread throughout the Southern Spirit Sect.

How did someone so young have so many thoughts?

Never mind that the girl possessed an immortal artifact that even the sect master couldn't probe-their age alone forbade them from bullying someone so much younger!

If word spread that the two of them had teamed up to bully a little girl barely in her teens, would either of them have any face left?

"Thank you, Elder." Once Lan Yue heard that he really had a spirit sword, she immediately relaxed. It seemed she had been overthinking things.

The elder beside her merely gave her a few extra looks, wondering how a little girl who appeared so sweet and obedient could be so wild inside.

Could all those sweet, obedient little girls outside be this erratic on the inside?

Thanks to that immortal artifact, he had learned that appearances truly could be deceiving.

Even the most obedient little child could harbor a rebellious heart!

The elder sighed as he walked ahead, while Lan Yue obediently followed behind.

But before they reached their destination, a loud shout came from nearby!

"Let go of my junior sister!"