My Master Was Better Than Anyone I Had Ever Met

Zhu Lianqing watched from beneath the eaves.

Shen Ji truly lived up to his reputation as a master diplomat. With him putting it that way, how could anyone refuse?

Yet strangely enough, the villagers outside the gate still exchanged glances, all looking somewhat hesitant.

Their attitude thoroughly irritated Jiang Tingxue.

"What exactly are you agonizing over? We're here to slay the demon, and we're protecting you too! Do you not want to live? That person died so horribly last night. We really should have let you see it, or you won't know how terrifying this demon is!"

At those words, the gathered villagers immediately turned deathly pale, their gazes involuntarily drifting through the gate.

"Tingxue, don't be rude." Shen Ji shook his head at Jiang Tingxue, then said to Wang Si, "If you're worried about having nowhere to put us up, there's no need. We can stay right here. You needn't bring food or water either. Once we've slain the demon, we'll leave immediately without lingering. We won't cause you any trouble."

After Shen Ji said this, the people who had been looking uneasily around fell silent.

With him having gone this far to accommodate them, how could they refuse again?

Wang Si bowed to Shen Ji and the others in the courtyard. "Then... we're truly sorry for troubling you, honored Daoists."

Zhu Lianqing strode toward the gate and looked over the villagers outside, spotting a familiar face: Liu Er.

He stood among the crowd, his usually rough, dark skin drained of color, looking utterly haggard.

Zhu Lianqing asked, "Brother Er Liu, why haven't I seen Sister-in-law Little Liu today?"

At Zhu Lianqing's sudden question, Liu Erzhu seemed to jump at the sound of her voice, his already bloodless face turning even paler.

"She... my wife wasn't feeling well this morning. She's lying down at home."

"Really? She was so lively yesterday. How did she suddenly fall ill? I'd like to go see her."

"N-no need. She'd already gone back to sleep when I came over. We do manual labor; we get sick quickly and recover quickly too. No need to worry, honored Daoist."

Zhu Lianqing nodded. "Then all I can do is wish her a speedy recovery from here." She then stepped back to stand beside Xie Lingchuan and gestured for Shen Ji to continue.

Shen Ji nodded and said to Wang Si, "Then it's settled. You needn't concern yourselves with our meals. Just lend us this courtyard. We'll keep watch here."

"Thank you for your efforts, honored Daoists."

Wang Si glanced into the courtyard and beckoned to the villagers behind him, who gradually followed him away.

Some villagers also stood at the gate, closed their eyes, and bowed toward the empty courtyard, murmuring folk prayers for the repose of the dead.

Once all the villagers had left, the little courtyard grew quiet.

The four fellow disciples over there returned beneath the eaves one after another.

Zhu Lianqing glanced at Xie Lingchuan beside her, who had not spoken for some time.

His gaze was still on the villagers who had just left.

"What is it, Young Hero Xie? Have your meticulous observations yielded any discoveries?"

Xie Lingchuan glanced at Zhu Lianqing and shook his head. "Nothing."

Zhu Lianqing smiled noncommittally, turning back toward the courtyard as she said, "Young people really do keep their guard up."

It wasn't that he had discovered nothing. He simply didn't want to say.

Because her haste to leave after someone died last night was probably among the things Xie Lingchuan found suspicious too.

The four beneath the eaves sat side by side.

Jiang Tingxue rested both hands on her knees and looked up at the sky, her eyes full of bewilderment.

"I don't understand."

For once, Song Wensheng did not needle her about being stupid, instead looking up at the sky with her.

Shen Ji sat beside the two of them, unusually silent. His gentle brows were slightly furrowed, as though he too were thinking.

"I keep feeling there's something strange about this village. This isn't what my master described when she talked about going down the mountain to vanquish demons and uphold the Dao."

Zhu Lianqing leaned against a pillar with her arms folded and asked casually, "Oh? Then what does vanquishing demons and upholding the Dao look like to you?"

Looking conflicted, Jiang Tingxue said, "I've heard that ordinary people hold cultivators in great reverence. Demons run rampant in the mortal world, so if they encounter cultivators who come to slay demons, they're bound to be so grateful that they kneel three times and kowtow nine times, and they can't wait to bring out their very best things to entertain them."

"That's why Master taught us to hold righteousness in our hearts, learn to care for the weak, and take slaying demons as our duty. We mustn't covet mortals' reverence, their kneeling obeisance, or their wealth."

She paused, seeming to recall what had just happened. "But I keep feeling that the people here don't seem to welcome us."

Zhu Lianqing smiled. "When demons harm people, mortals don't always see things clearly. If they threw stones at you today and drove you away, would you really leave for good and stop slaying demons?"

Jiang Tingxue immediately shook her head. "Of course we'd still have to slay them."

"So, since your master taught you to take vanquishing demons and upholding the Dao as your duty, just stay true to your own Dao. Why concern yourself with what others think or say?"

Jiang Tingxue's eyes brightened. "Senior, hearing you put it that way, I feel as though I understand much better!"

Zhu Lianqing smiled. "Really? As long as it helped."

After hearing this exchange, Shen Ji looked up at Zhu Lianqing. "Senior, with such an open and clear-minded disposition, your cultivation in the past surely must have been far from ordinary. Which immortal sect did you cultivate in before? Perhaps this junior has heard your Daoist title."

Zhu Lianqing thought, Not only have you heard of me, I'm your little martial aunt. I'd scare you to death if I told you.

But what came out of Zhu Lianqing's mouth was pure fabrication. "Hahaha, I used to be a rogue cultivator. I went to your Luoyu Sword Sect hoping to become Immortal Master Zhu's disciple."

At this, the others all looked toward Xie Lingchuan.

Seeing Xie Lingchuan's brow furrow slightly, Zhu Lianqing continued with a smile, "Unfortunately, Immortal Master Zhu wouldn't take me. So I ran off to Seven Splendors Mountain in the Eastern Realm, but their sect said they wouldn't take anyone who wasn't good-looking. Then I ran off to Spirit Sword Mountain Manor in the Central Continent, but they wouldn't take anyone so poor their pockets jingled with emptiness. In a fit of rage, I raged for a moment, then carried on as a rogue cultivator."

When Zhu Lianqing finished, the little courtyard sank into an odd silence again.

Once more, Shen Ji was the first to break the awkwardness. "Your experiences... truly are fascinating, Senior. I'm sure you had the ability; you simply lacked a little affinity with those sects."

Zhu Lianqing instantly felt that Shen Ji truly had the bearing of a great sect's eldest senior brother: mild-tempered, well-spoken, and good at comforting people.

After that torrent of words just now, her appetite for acting had flared and had yet to subside. The urge to tease her little disciple immediately surfaced.

Zhu Lianqing smiled mysteriously. "Yes, I lacked a little affinity, especially with Immortal Master Zhu."

"I almost became Immortal Master Zhu's disciple back then, but I still didn't have the affinity Young Hero Xie did."

"Young Hero Xie, you've been Immortal Master Zhu's sole direct disciple for so many years. What do you think of your master? If she's no good, I can have one less regret."

The juniors beside them were all dumbstruck.

Senior, how could you dare unleash your ultimate right in his face?

For a moment, Xie Lingchuan looked slightly unnatural, as though recalling something.

He was silent for so long that Zhu Lianqing thought he wouldn't answer. Yet, in the end, Xie Lingchuan said softly, "My master... she's very good."

Zhu Lianqing raised an eyebrow. Why did he need so long to think up even a polite answer like that, and sound so unsure?

Could I really be such an inadequate master?

"My master is better than anyone I've ever met," Xie Lingchuan spoke again, his gaze calm and unruffled as he looked into the distance, but his tone firm.