Chapter 18: Yan’er Continues to Work Hard

Xiao Yan took a deep breath and steadied his mind.

“Changqing!”

Xiao Yan raised his voice.

From the night came urgent footsteps.

Gu Changqing walked out from behind an osmanthus tree, his robe slightly disheveled and his hair not properly tied, clearly interrupted from cultivation.

Seeing Xiao Yan’s back standing in the clearing, he paused.

“Master, you’re back.”

“Where’s my house?”

Gu Changqing hesitated for two seconds, as if weighing his words.

“A month ago, junior sister used your alchemy furnace to roast a chicken. The furnace exploded, and the house collapsed. I cleared the rubble.”

The sky is falling!

Xiao Yan realized that the fruits of his… no, of his hard work for three months… were all fucking gone.

“You’re saying… Qingci used the furnace… to roast chicken?”

Gu Changqing watched his master’s fingers trembling slightly.

“Master?”

“It’s nothing.”

Xiao Yan’s voice was low, carrying a deliberate calm.

“Where’s the furnace?”

“It exploded. Shattered into pieces.”

“Good, good, good!”

Xiao Yan said three good words in a row, then walked over to a rock and sat down, crossing his hands in front of his face.

Gu Changqing stood a few steps away, watching quietly.

He had never seen his master like this.

Xiao Yan had always been gentle and composed, taking everything in stride as if the sky could fall and he would only frown.

But the person squatting in the ruins now looked as if he had been struck by something.

“Go call Qingci over… I want to speak with her alone.”

“Yes, Master.”

Gu Changqing accepted the order and left, his footsteps quickly fading into the night.

Xiao Yan sat alone on the rock.

The moonlight lit half his face pale white, and the worry on his face was immense…

For this little disciple’s betrothal compensation, he had given massages, poured wine, performed sword tricks, kneaded legs, washed feet, and stepped on backs.

He was almost selling his ass.

But this little brat had blown up the gift he prepared.

Oh dear…

If she weren’t so grown, I’d really want to kick her a couple of times…

Soon, footsteps sounded.

Xiao Yan looked up.

Luo Qingci was wearing an outer robe draped over her, her hair loose, clearly woken from sleep.

She walked with her head down, hands twisted in front of her, like a kitten caught misbehaving by its owner.

Luo Qingci walked up to Xiao Yan and stopped.

Then with a “thud,” she knelt straight down.

Her knees hit the gravel, the sound crisp, making Xiao Yan’s eyelid twitch.

“Master, I was wrong.”

Luo Qingci looked up, her expression as serious as if she were swearing a heart demon oath.

“I shouldn’t have used your furnace to roast chicken, shouldn’t have blown up your house, shouldn’t—”

“Wait.”

Xiao Yan raised a hand to stop her, his brow slightly furrowed.

“Get up first.”

“No.”

Luo Qingci said, “I made a mistake, I deserve to kneel.”

Xiao Yan sighed at her stubborn look, then said, “Do you know how many spirit stones that furnace is worth?”

Luo Qingci shook her head.

“A fifth-grade alchemy furnace, market price in Zhongzhou: one thousand high-grade spirit stones.”

Xiao Yan kept sighing as he said this.

Luo Qingci’s pupils dilated slightly.

How many?

One thousand high-grade spirit stones?

Luo Qingci’s mouth opened slightly, then closed, then opened again, like a fish thrown onto the shore.

“This… so expensive?”

Luo Qingci knelt on the ground, her head buzzing.

“And that’s not all…”

Xiao Yan looked up at the moon.

“If it were just roasting a chicken, the furnace wouldn’t have exploded, but inside I had placed a storage ring containing several thousand spirit stones.”

“Guess what that furnace and those spirit stones were for?”

Xiao Yan withdrew his gaze from the moon, landing it on Luo Qingci kneeling before him.

“Alchemy?”

“No, do you think I can do alchemy?”

“Uh… this disciple doesn’t know.”

“They were the betrothal compensation prepared for you… In other words, you blew up your own betrothal compensation.”

Luo Qingci knelt on the ground, completely frozen.

She blinked slowly once, then again.

“So…”

Luo Qingci’s voice was a bit airy.

“I blew up the betrothal compensation you prepared for me?”

“Yes.”

“Uh… Master,”

Luo Qingci looked up with an awkward smile on her face, “How about… you beat me?”

“Can beating you produce a thousand high-grade spirit stones?”

“No,” Luo Qingci answered honestly, “but you can vent your anger.”

Xiao Yan glanced at her, then looked away.

He did want to vent his anger.

Not only that, he wanted to pick up this little brat by the ankles and shake her, to see if any spirit stones would fall out.

But he was a respectable man, a cultivated cultivator, a revered master.

A respectable man cannot hit a disciple, especially a female one.

“Get up first,” Xiao Yan said.

“No.”

“Get up.”

“No, Master, just let me kneel. It makes me feel better.”

Xiao Yan took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled.

He looked at the little disciple kneeling stubbornly like a donkey, and suddenly felt his heart weary.

“Qingci,” Xiao Yan’s tone suddenly became very calm.

This calm sent a chill down Luo Qingci’s spine.

“Master, please speak.”

“Take this jade pendant. It conceals your aura.”

Luo Qingci was stunned.

Not punish me, but give me something?

Xiao Yan stood up, hands behind his back.

The moonlight stretched his shadow long.

“Then you’ll have to wait a few more months to dissolve the engagement…”

Luo Qingci knelt on the ground, clutching the warm jade pendant in her hand, stunned again.

“A few more months?”

she murmured.

“Master, do you mean… you’re going out to earn money again?”

Xiao Yan did not turn back.

The moonlight outlined his upright back like a warrior facing death.

“Otherwise?”

His voice was soft.

“I have to give them the betrothal compensation. Your master doesn’t steal or rob, so I can only rely on these hands.”

When he said “these hands,” he slightly raised his right hand and turned it over in the moonlight.

Those hands were fair and slender, with distinct knuckles—they didn’t look like they had done rough work at all.

But Luo Qingci was so moved she almost cried.

‘Wow, master, how can you be so good to me!’

“Master, I’ll go with you.”

Luo Qingci “swooped” to her feet.

“Even though I’m only at Foundation Establishment, I can still help you. Two people can earn faster.”

Xiao Yan’s back visibly stiffened.

“No.”

He turned around, his expression unbelievably serious.

“You stay on the mountain and cultivate obediently.”

“Why?”

“Because…”

Xiao Yan’s eyes drifted for a moment, then quickly steadied.

“The place your master goes is not suitable for you.”

Luo Qingci looked puzzled.

“Not suitable for me?”

“It’s manual labor.”

Xiao Yan coughed.

“The… environment is harsh. Very harsh. I can’t let you suffer that.”

“Actually, I’m pretty strong.”

“Only men can do it, women can’t.”

“Oh…”

Luo Qingci lowered her eyes.

It seemed she couldn’t help her master.

Xiao Yan looked at this little disciple’s stubborn face and suddenly felt his temples throbbing.

He took a deep breath and said in a tone coaxing a child, “Qingci, listen to your master. The most important thing for you now is cultivation, not earning money. Wait until you reach the Golden Core stage. Zhongzhou is too dangerous.”

‘If you go, it’ll be a disaster!’

‘Your master endures humiliation, turns into a woman every day to accompany drinking in taverns, day and night without rest. If this gets out, does Xiao Yan want any reputation left?’

“In short,” Xiao Yan concluded decisively, “you stay on the mountain. Don’t go to Zhongzhou unless necessary. Changqing, keep an eye on your junior sister!”

Gu Changqing nodded slightly.

“Yes, Master.”

Xiao Yan turned to leave.

Luo Qingci called out from behind, “Master! When do you leave?”

“In a few days.”

“Then where will you sleep tonight? Your house… exploded.”

Xiao Yan’s steps stopped.

He slowly turned back, looking at the ruins—where his bedchamber once stood, now only a few charred wooden posts and broken tiles remained.

The moonlight shone on it, desolate and bleak.

“Tonight, your master…”

Xiao Yan’s voice was a bit airy.

“Will meditate first.”

After saying this, he strode quickly toward the rear mountain, his back looking especially forlorn in the moonlight.

After walking a hundred yards, sure that his two disciples couldn’t hear, Xiao Yan stopped, covered his face with both hands, and let out a suppressed roar of frustration.

“My furnace—my spirit stones—my house—”

He crouched behind a large rock, silently breaking down for half an incense stick’s time like a child whose sugar-coated hawthorn had been snatched.

Then he straightened up, adjusted his clothes, and emotionlessly pulled out a small bronze mirror from his sleeve.

He made a hand seal, and the bronze mirror reflected a strikingly beautiful face—the very “Miss Yan’er” who had become the talk of the Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion these days.

Xiao Yan stared at that face in the mirror for three seconds, and murmured hoarsely, “Yan’er, Yan’er, you need to work hard for a few more months.”

The face in the bronze mirror gave a smile that was uglier than crying.

He had originally planned to stop after a while, retire with a pile of spirit stones back to the sect, then in ordinary times do some sect tasks, bounties, explore secret realms—resources enough for his disciples to cultivate for a long time.

Xiao Yan put away the bronze mirror, brushed the dust off his robe, and walked out from behind the rock.

Moonlight bathed him, stretching his shadow very long.

He stood at the cliff of the rear mountain, gazing at the continuous silhouette of the Cangwu Mountain Range in the distance.

The night wind surged from the valley, making his robe rustle.

He was thinking about one question.

How did he, the dignified Peak Master of Lingyun Peak of Azure Cloud Sect, a Golden Core True Person, a Sword Dao Grandmaster, fall to such a state?

Turn into a woman to accompany drinking in taverns, give massages, pour wine, perform sword tricks, knead legs, wash feet, step on backs.

The spirit stones he painstakingly saved for months were all used by his little disciple to roast chicken.

No, not just used to roast chicken.

It was used by the little disciple to roast chicken with the furnace, and the furnace and spirit stones all exploded together.

Xiao Yan took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled.

The night wind scattered his sigh, leaving no sound.

He turned and walked deeper into the rear mountain.

There was a cave he had lived in during his early cultivation years; though crude, it could keep out wind and rain.

He would make do for tonight, and think of a solution tomorrow.

The cave was not large, only a few zhang square.

Moss grew on the stone walls, cobwebs in the corners, and a thick layer of dust on the ground.

Xiao Yan stood at the entrance, looking at this place he hadn’t visited in years, silent for a moment.

Then he made a hand seal, and a gentle breeze surged from his palm, sweeping the dust and cobwebs out.

He took out a blanket from his storage pouch, spread it on the ground, and sat cross-legged.

He didn’t cultivate, just sat there, staring blankly at the moonlight at the cave entrance.

In a few months, Qingci would turn eighteen.

He needed to gather enough money before her eighteenth birthday.

Time was running out…

‘Did he really have to sell his ass? No! A man can’t sell even if he’s poor!’

Then his mind thought of that friend from Zhongzhou—Lu Xunling.

If not for him, Xiao Yan wouldn’t be able to perfectly transform into “Xiao Yan’er”; the transformation art paired with the pills he gave allowed him to perfectly become a “girl.”

Ever since Xiao Yan started working as a bar girl, that guy Lu Xunling came every day to have him give massages, wash feet, clean ears…

He even wanted to rent him for the whole day, which made Xiao Yan so angry he twisted his ear and gave him a couple of kicks.

‘Deliberately watching me make a fool of myself, huh?’

‘You just practice alchemy all day, how tiring can a few crappy pills be?’

But… the spirit stones he gave were really a lot…

No choice…

I have to agree to let him rent me for a whole day…

Sigh…