Chapter 81: It's Not Easy Being a Disciple

  "No way, this is a sect's trial task, outsiders can't interfere, or the task will be invalid." Xue Bingxin said with a round and shiny black eye staring at Zhao Chun.

  Zhao Chun pouted and said, "Shixiong is now the second-class guest of our Qingyang Gate. According to the rules of our sect, he is equivalent to an inner disciple of our sect and cannot be considered an outsider. Moreover, Shixiong has only cultivated his Qi for six layers, his strength is weak, and it's impossible for him to help us with anything. It's not like we're asking someone to do a task. Even if the people in the Task Hall knew about it, they wouldn't be able to say anything. Shi Jie, just agree to it, okay? Shixiong is alone outside, cultivating and being bullied by the Tulong Society, it's so pitiful!"

  Zhao Chun came to find Xue Bingxin early in the morning, asking her to let Lin Feng participate in the training exercise. Unexpectedly, his usually eloquent senior sister bluntly refused him. Having no other choice, he had to go all out, presenting facts and reasoning, and if that didn't work, he would put on a cute face, pretend to be pitiful, and do whatever it took to get his senior sister to agree.

  "What exactly did your senior brother give you, that makes you so eager to speak well of him?" Xue Bingxin still understood Zhao Chun's character very well. Generally, if it wasn't something he was particularly concerned about, he wouldn't repeatedly persuade like this.

  "What's the benefit, is that Brother Shifu has always been good to me. In the past when we were in the family, Brother Shifu didn't know how much he cared about me. Now he wants to go and experience some hardships, such a simple thing I of course will help with all my might. Besides, I already promised Brother Shifu yesterday. Sister Shifu, just be nice and agree with me, otherwise I'll lose face."

  "What face do you want, a little kid? Hmph, saying that your senior brother is good to you, then tell me, is it Lin Feng who is good to you or is it Xue sister?" Xue Bingxin was after all a girl, and Zhao Chun's praise of Lin Feng in front of her made her feel somewhat uncomfortable.

  Although Zhao Chun was young, his master and three senior sisters were all women. The Jade Maiden Peak was also a place where the feminine energy dominated over the masculine one. In such an environment, he knew some taboos about women. When Xue Bingxin said this, he knew there was danger. If he didn't answer well, things wouldn't go smoothly, and he might even provoke another beating from his senior sisters.

  "Hehe, Shijie is much nicer to me than Shige, after all, she's a woman and a beautiful one at that. The delicacy of women is something that rough men like Shige can't compare to." Zhao Chun immediately belittled Lin Feng for his own selfish desires, as for the dignity of being a man, what was that worth? Could it compare to Shijie's Ice Fire Twin Swords?

  Zhao Chun's flattery was clearly effective, as Xue Bingxian's expression softened even though she didn't smile. Zhao Chun knew when to stop, fearing that excessive praise would sound insincere. He thought for a moment before continuing: "Actually, I don't know why, but I feel like there's something inexplicable about Shifu that makes me want to get close to him. It's like... it's like when you're thirsty and want water, or cold and want to warm up by the fire. Does Shijie have a similar feeling?"

  Xue Bingxin's face immediately showed a warm anger when she heard Zhao Chunjian's first few words, apparently misunderstanding the relationship between him and Lin Feng. But after listening to the end, she seemed to suddenly remember something, her face full of doubt: "Chun Shidi, could it be that you possess the legendary Ling Jue, and your senior brother Lin Feng has some kind of spiritual object on his body?"

  "I don't know if Shifu has anything spiritual on him, but Shijie, what is Ling Jue? It sounds very mysterious, is it related to divine consciousness?" Zhao Chun had only entered Qingyang Gate for a short time and wasn't clear about many things.

  "I'm not very clear about it either, but Master said that it's roughly equivalent to what ordinary people call the sixth sense. It's a bit like our spiritual awareness, but spiritual awareness can be controlled, while Ling Jue is purely a feeling. It's a special feeling that every cultivator, including ordinary people, has from time to time towards certain things. This feeling often flashes by in an instant, and when faced with the same environment and situation again, it may not appear again. But some people can maintain this special feeling towards certain special things, and they are said to have Ling Jue. If what you just said is true, I think you should be someone who has Ling Jue towards something on your senior brother's body." Xue Bingxin didn't know much about it either, but her explanation was still quite clear. However, Zhao Chun seemed not to have understood.

  "So, Master Sister, what's the use of this Spiritual Awakening?"

  "I'm not very clear about it either, I just know that there are many kinds of spiritual awareness. For example, some spiritual beasts have a special sense of certain dangers from birth, and this spiritual awareness can help them avoid danger. Or someone has a special sense of a certain spiritual object, then they can easily find it by relying on their own feelings. As for you, if it's really spiritual awareness, maybe you can easily find your senior brother in the crowd, haha! Just kidding, actually I don't understand it very well either, wait until we get back to the sect and you can ask your master or look at books yourself!" Xue Bingxin's last half sentence was a joke made because of Zhao Chun's serious expression, seeing Zhao Chun getting annoyed that his possible spiritual awareness could only be used to find people, suddenly burst out laughing.

  "Sister! Don't play tricks on me like this, Master said I should learn from you properly, and you're teaching me like this? When I get back, I'll tell Master." Zhao Chunyan was tricked by her sister again, and since her previous request wasn't satisfied, she suddenly looked like she was about to cry.

  "Alright, alright, I was just joking, it's not that serious, come give me a smile, good girl!"

  "Pffft!" Zhao Chun was a child, but his mental maturity could compare to that of an average adult. He had originally wanted to take advantage of the situation to coerce his sister, but she had ruined his plan with just one word. However, he was quick-witted and took advantage of Xue Bingxin's excitement to ask: "So, Sister, you've agreed to bring Brother along on our training journey?"

  He thought that since I had already admitted that you were better than Shifu, and you were so happy about it, then the matter should be settled. Moreover, he chose to suddenly say this at this time, not without the intention of catching Xue Bingying off guard. But unexpectedly, such a clever idea was completely useless in front of Xue Bingying, who replied without even thinking: "No way!"

  "Why? Eldest sister, the problems you mentioned are no longer a problem. Since we two can complete the task, having one more person won't make a difference. If there's anything, just have him watch from the side."

  "Even if everything I said earlier wasn't a problem, have you thought about it? The tasks that Master specially chose for us will be as simple as the ones we did before? It was easy before because we didn't have any experience, it was just a transition period. As the tasks go on, they'll get harder and harder, even to the point of being dangerous. That's why we can't bring him along, otherwise when the time comes, we won't be able to take care of ourselves. If your senior brother gets into danger, will you save him or not?" Xue Bingxin said seriously to Zhao Chun, seeing his determination to bring Lin Feng along.

  "In that case, we should bring him along even more! Having one more person to help is always good!" Zhao Chun saw Xue Bingxin's serious expression and knew that things might not work out, but he still weakly tried to persuade her.

  Xue Bingxin knew that Zhao Chun had started to nitpick again, and seeing that she had said so much but he was still there entangling, so she laughed extremely and said: "When bringing people, it depends on what kind of person they are. Bringing a Qi Refining stage 8 or 9 cultivator is naturally considered helpful, but if you bring a Qi Refining stage 6 cultivator, do you think they can complete the task that even an 8 or 9 stage Qi Refining cultivator can accomplish? Will they be a help or a hindrance?"

  Zhao Chun naturally understood this principle, but he had already boasted in front of Lin Feng, so he couldn't help but try a bit harder. Originally, he was prepared to give up when he saw his master sister being so resolute, but Xue Bingxin's words gave him hope, and he hastily said: "Master sister, Master brother has a mid-grade artifact-level weapon, and his strength is comparable to that of an ordinary cultivator at the seventh layer of Qi Refining. Moreover, he also knows how to refine pills, and his technique is very good. Who knows, if something unexpected happens, he might be able to help."

  "Alchemizing, what kind of pill would he alchemize? With his cultivation level, he can only alchemize some first-grade pills at most. Even if he could alchemize all kinds of first-grade pills, what's the use? Didn't Master prepare emergency pills for us?" Xue Bingxin heard that Lin Feng had a mid-grade artifact and her estimation of his strength increased slightly, but a cultivator who can only alchemize first-grade pills is useless to her. Zhao Chun bringing this up was just nonsense.

  Zhao Chun was anxious, since the words had already been said this far, he didn't have any concerns anymore. Anyway, the fact that he took the top-grade elixir would be known to his master and senior sister sooner or later, so he might as well take it out now to plead for his brother.

  "Clang!" Zhao Chun placed the jade bottle containing the Qi-tonifying Pellet in front of Xue Bingxin and said, "This is the Qi-tonifying Pellet refined by Master. Take a look, Sister, does it meet your expectations?"

  "Hmph!" Xue Bingxin snorted disdainfully, she didn't believe it, what was so special about the Tiqi Dan, at most it was just a mid-grade dan. Could Lin Feng really refine it into something extraordinary? But when she picked up the jade bottle and took a look, she was stunned - this Tiqi Dan had actually been refined to have a floral pattern! Although it was very faint, that was a characteristic of top-grade dans. This dan may not be top-grade, but it was undoubtedly high-grade without any dispute.

  What a high-quality elixir! She has been in the sect for so long, but she hasn't heard of anyone successfully refining a high-quality elixir. Even Liu Shishu, the most powerful senior alchemist in the sect, hasn't succeeded. And now Zhao Chun says that this high-quality elixir was refined by his sixth-level Qi-refining brother? Is this believable? No one would believe such a lie, but the real high-quality elixir in her hand tells her that it's true. At this moment, Xue Bingying is also a bit confused.

  However, Xue Bingxin was a genius figure who had been carefully trained by the Dà Mén Pài and had seen the world. After a brief moment of distraction, she calmed down and thought for a moment before confirming that Zhao Chun's words were true. Because she was very clear that yesterday Zhao Chun was still taking medium-grade Tiqi Dan, but since last night's all-night conversation with Lin Feng, today he took out high-grade Dan, who else could it be besides Lin Feng?

  "How is it, Shifu Jie? My Shifu's pill-refining skills are impressive, right? As long as we bring him along, second-grade pills aren't even worth mentioning. First-grade high-quality pills can be refined at will. If you want some, I can ask my Shifu for you." Zhao Chun had been paying attention to his Shifu Jie's expression changes all along, despite appearing confident and carefree on the surface. Seeing Xue Bingxin's admiration, he immediately began speaking up.

  "No matter how good your skills are, what's the use? When we go out to gain experience, it's possible that we'll be fighting for our lives. Unless he can withstand my two moves, everything is off the table."

  "Ah! Eldest sister, how is this possible? You have reached the pinnacle of cultivation at the 9th level of Qi Refining, and with two top-grade artifacts, even if I were to team up with brother Lin, we might not be a match for you!" Zhao Chun couldn't believe what he was hearing. After thinking through all possibilities, Xue Bingxin had still come out with such words. Lin Feng didn't need to exchange two moves, just one move would be enough to overwhelm him. Saying this was no different from directly refusing to fight.

  "Hmph, who told you to call me 'Shi Ge' so intimately? And with a top-grade dan in your hand, why didn't you tell your Shi Jie earlier? You only spoke up when you were forced into a corner, this is the punishment for you!" Xue Bingxin glared at Zhao Chun with a hint of a smile.

  Zhao Chun suddenly felt a sense of despair, he didn't think that after careful planning, he would still make a mistake in the details, resulting in ultimate failure. Now his only feeling is that old saying - "It's hardest to raise women and petty men!"

  "However, I can suppress my spiritual power to the level of Qi Refining Seventh Layer. If you still can't handle two moves at this level, then there's nothing more to say." Xue Bingxin saw Zhao Chun's pig-like face and couldn't help but feel a thrill in her heart. Seeing that she had teased him enough, she said these words with a sly smile, turned around and left, leaving Zhao Chun standing there with his eyes wide open in shock.

  Zhao Chun watched as his senior sister, Wei Na, disappeared behind the Moon Gate, her figure swaying gently. It wasn't until a long time later that he murmured to himself: "Senior brother, you'd better work hard, being a junior brother is really not easy!"

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