Chapter 2

Parsed with an automated reader. The content accuracy is not guranteed.

Translator: Ashlyn Rose

Editor: Sal

Proofreader: Sdofu

As soon as these disciples’ voices fell, they were all knocked down by the vines!

The originally well-dressed disciples were now all rolling on the ground, clutching their cheeks in so much pain that they couldn’t speak. Ironically, the battered and exhausted youth was now the one perfectly fine and standing upright.

Li Hong looked at them and used her own bare feet to step on the head disciple’s chest. She obviously had the appearance of a small seven-year-old girl yet in that moment, she looked even scarier than the head of Hexu Valley. The disciple shrank up and as a result, his shoulder was almost trampled upon by his opponent’s foot. Li Hong shifted her toes to the left with disdain and kicked him in the jaw, obviously in a bad mood, “Demons? Your master taught you to talk like this?”

The other party whimpered for a while, vaguely trying to say something but was too afraid of the vines scattered throughout the forbidden ground, and did not dare continue. The leading disciple stretched out the back of his hand and quietly smashed something. Li Hong saw it but didn’t really care.

As mentioned earlier, Tianshen had given her an identity that could best help Chen Lin achieve what he most desired; in Hexu Valley, this tree of Li Hong’s was the Heavenly King Laozi.

What the disciple crushed was probably some kind of summoning talisman. Li Hong felt that this was a great opportunity and raised her head to look at the sky in anticipation. The originally quiet giant tree suddenly began to tremble fiercely; its canopy split open and seemed to be expanding indefinitely, and momentarily, it grew to cover most of Hexu Valley.

Everything was trapped in darkness and Hexu Valley was shocked into an uproar!

Tian Shen asked, “What are you doing?” Tian Shen asked in shock.

Li Hong replied lazily, “Helping the Great God get what he wants.”

The forbidden area hadn’t been this lively in over a hundred years. A golden light flashed in front of the head disciple. His eyes lit up at the familiar back that materialized in front of him and he blurted out the word ‘Master’ before immediately being frightened into silence once again by the rest of the figures that followed. All of Hexu Valley’s elders had appeared.

The head of Hexu Valley has been following the dao of the sword since young and has lived for 300 years now. Seeing him suddenly appear, the young disciples looked at each other in dismay and panic, not understanding what was happening. They let the head step forward.

Could it be that this evil spirit was immensely strong?

The most surprised was none other than Chen Lin, who stood facing the approaching head. He could clearly see the deep respect reflecting in the elder’s eyes.

The head of Hexu Valley solemnly bent his waist to the short girl and with a lowered head, apologized in a low voice, “Grand disciple, Xuan Zhong, failed to teach this one’s disciple and has disturbed the Matriach’s self-cultivation. I hope you can forgive this one.”

Chen Lin took a step back in surprise.

On the other hand, the girl standing in front of him did not seem to realize just how shocking this scene was and instead, said slowly in a soft childlike voice, “I am not a demon.”

After a pause, she added, “I don’t like other people saying that to me.”

Xuan Zhong immediately said, “It’s Grand Disciple’s disciple’s slip of tongue. This one hopes the Matriarch will not get angry.”

Playing the role of the sacred tree, Li Hong replied, “I am not angry. After all, it was not me who was taught a lesson by the old tree.” Speaking up to there, she glanced at Chen Lin and continued, “Don’t punish him. It was I who couldn’t bear to see him being bullied and let the old tree handle it.”

“Since the Matriarch has spoken, this Grand Disciple and disciples will obey.” Xuan Zhong said but then looked at Chen Lin, speechless for a moment, “You–”

Chen Lin immediately saluted and said, “This disciple is called Chen Lin and has just started last year.”

Xuan Zhong kindly asked, “What level have you reached?”

Chen Lin blushed and didn’t know how to answer. Because he was an orphan, he had no money nor connections. After two years of learning, he was still sweeping floors as an outer sect disciple. If it weren’t for Elder Miaozhong’s disciple, Dan Ling, who pitied him and taught him how to practice Qi in private, he was afraid that he wouldn’t have even been able to become an outer disciple. But saying it out loud now would put the sect head in an awkward position. At that moment, he could only blush and keep quiet.

The elder beside Xuan Zhong was anxious when he saw this, and when he was about to question him, Li Hong spoke up, “No matter where I am, it’s always a little boring being by myself when I’m awake. How about giving him to me; I’ll accept him under my tutelage.”

Seeing the look on a few elder’s faces, she continued, “I remember when Heng Yue found Hexu Valley, he once told me that I could set up my own division. Was I mistaken?”

Xuan Zhong immediately said, “If Matriarch wants to accept him as a disciple, it is naturally his blessing.”

In Chen Lin’s eyes, the girl laughed slowly after receiving the news. When she laughed, her eyes would bend cutely into crescents.

He then heard her milky voice go, “Well, since he is my apprentice, he will be your master in the future. Xuan Zhong, you have to respect him well.”

A deafening silence fell over the forbidden area.

Li Hong’s expression sank, seeing how Xuan Zhong’s face flushed at her word and the big tree behind her began to rustle. Li Hong said coldly, “What? Because Heng Yue is dead, my words mean nothing now?”

Xuan Zhong faintly felt the spiritual veins growing restless, and immediately bowed his head, “Of course not. Grand Disciple was just thinking: since Chen Lin is an elder, he shouldn’t live in the disciple houses but instead, should move to the elder’s courtyard.”

Li Hong’s complexion immediately improved a lot after hearing his words. The big tree that covered the sky seemed to feel her change in mood, and suddenly receded a lot. Beams of sunlight began to filter through the canopy one after another.

“Is Heng Yue’s house still empty? If it is empty, let him move there.”

“This – how can we touch the founder’s yard–“

Li Hong looked over, her expression darkening again, “What’s the matter?”

Xuan Zhong immediately said, “Matriarch is thoughtful. Grand disciple will send someone to clean it up.”

“Okay, when you are done, send someone here to pick him up. I will calm the old tree.”

Xuan Zhong complied, asked Li Hong a few more questions, then left with the injured disciples.

After leaving, Xuan Zhong’s junior brother looked in the direction of the forbidden area and whined, “That tree has slept for hundreds of years, so how come it woke up now! It’s fine if she just woke up yet she let an outer disciple live in the founder’s courtyard. Who does this grandma think she is? She’s just a little girl who can’t grow up!”

Xuan Zhong waited for his junior brother to finish speaking to plainly reprimand, “Speak carefully!” After a pause, he continued, “It’s just a room. The Founder highly respected the Matriarch and established many rules and traditions because of her. It’s just a room. Let her be happy.”

Elder Xuan Yun was anxious, “Brother (shixiong), do you really want to call that kid Master?”

Xuan Zhong glared at Xuan Yun, and slowly said, “It’s just a title, why bother taking it to heart.”

“Brother!”

Xuan Zhong continued, “You and I all know what that tree means. Before the spiritual veins are depleted, my Hexu Valley cannot lose this tree!”

Hearing this much, Xuan Yun could only shut up but was still unwilling in his heart. He had practiced hard for hundreds of years before getting to where he was today yet now, he had to call an outer disciple master purely because of the words of a little girl? In addition, his disciple was injured by the sacred tree because of him. No matter what, this injustice would not be forgotten.

Xuan Yun snorted coldly. The sacred tree resided in the forbidden area and he couldn’t interfere, but in Hexu Valley, that tree wasn’t everywhere and couldn’t interfere..

Seeing that everyone was gone, Li Hong slowly retracted the expression on her face, very slowly turned around and walked back. The innocence and naivety that was previously displayed on her face was completely gone, leaving only indifference and impatience.

She looked up at Chen Lin who was still blankly rooted there, and said, “Are you waiting for them to pick you up, or are you going to leave with me first?”

In a daze, Chen Lin stood unmoving from that spot.

Li Hong was not in a hurry, so she walked back on her own when she didn’t get an answer. Anyway, with her own repeated coercing, the plants in the forbidden area would no longer attack Chen Lin.

Tian Shen was anxious, “Li Hong, why did you leave behind the Great God. What are we going to do if he becomes unhappy!”

Li Hong sneered, “I just made him the head’s master and robbed the founder’s house for him. What would he be unhappy about?”

Tian Shen rebutted, “But he doesn’t look happy.”

Li Hong stopped and turned back to look. Chen Lin was still standing in place. She watched for a long time and had to admit that Tian Shen was right: there was no joy on his face. Li Hong couldn’t help thinking, was it possible that because he was the Great God, he doesn’t care about these mortals at all? What he actually wants is to become immortal? If it’s that, then she’s done for. She didn’t know how to achieve that!

As she was stressing, Chen Lin finally recovered from his shock.

He looked at Li Hong with a complicated expression, “Little sister…no, Matriarch, I…”

Li Hong raised her head to look at him. Those round green eyes sparkled with a youthful vitality.

Chen Lin was startled slightly, and then heard the girl’s steady voice, “What Matriarch ah?”

She paused and stretched out her hand to beckon Chen Lin. When he lowered his head, she reached out to touch his forehead, feigning maturity and sophistication, “Call me Master.”

Chen Lin was really stunned. Since he was a child, he had been lonely and suffered a lot of hardships; he endured a lot of abuse, both mental and physical, from others. This feeling of being caressed and cared for by an elder was new to him – unique even. Looking at the little girl in front of him who was no taller than his waist, Chen Lin’s eyes were extremely complicated. For a long time, he thought a lot, and considered a lot, but in the end, his tumultuous thoughts were no match for the warmth radiating from her palm.

Thus, he knelt down slowly. As he leveled his eyes with Li Hong’s, the corners of his mouth raised lightly, “okay, Master,” and smiled at her in response.

Chen Lin had been tense since entering the forbidden ground, and Li Hong hadn’t had the chance to properly look at his face.

Right now, he had let down his guard and was relaxed. With the light smile, he became more and more gentle like jade. His demeanor also relaxed into a confident and easy-going nature that was like the wind. Li Hong’s pupils slightly enlarged, staring at the corner of his mouth for a moment before looking away and thinking: he was indeed part of the crazy god she’d met in the park. The two men really looked alike when they laughed.

However, on the surface she simply just retracted her hand, looked ahead calmly, and lazily turned to Tianshen, “See? He’s happy now.”

Tianshen, “…” Enough. I know you’re capable. If you weren’t, I wouldn’t look for you!”

Wuxia Terms

I’m not too familiar with wuxia/xianxia/cultivation but here’s the general sect hierarchy:

Patriach – founder

Ancestor

Sect Master

Elder

– Peak elders = elders below master which controls various areas of the sect (like a mountain)

– Regular elders = controls different operations/studies

Disciples

– Core disciples = disciples with master

– Inner disciples = real disciples of the sect granted resources and represent the sect

– Outer disciples = usually works as servants until their cultivation reaches a certain level

Servants

(门/meng) usually means door but in wuxia, it means school or sect (the two are exchangeable). Sect is an organization dedicated to the practice of cultivation and/or martial arts.

Translator’s Corner

Oh boyyyy. This one took me a while to translate. I’m still getting used to translating but it’s fun. It’s been super busy with school and EA management and making of the website so…. this book will probably only update once a month for a bit from now on. QAQ Sorry everyone :/ I’ll see if I can stockpile some chapters up for you guys to read.