The girl visibly relaxed when she saw the clear-headed Yun Miao, offering a slightly embarrassed smile.
“Master Yun, is your body alright?”
Hearing the familiar voice confirmed her suspicions even more. “Shang Mancang?”
Shang Mancang noticed that Sect Master Chang and the others were all watching her, so she nervously fidgeted with the golden toad pendant hanging at her waist. “It’s me.”
Tian Laokou looked toward Ning Yu. “What’s going on?”
“Sect Master, Tian Peak Lord, Senior Brother.”
Ning Yu first cupped her hands in salute to the three of them, then coldly recounted what had happened.
Because today was the day of the Disciple Recruitment Grand Ceremony, Ning Yu had early on gathered all the newly inducted disciples at the Main Peak.
When Huo Xin and the others noticed Yun Miao was missing, they asked about her. Knowing they were Yun Miao’s friends, Ning Yu briefly explained Yun Miao’s situation.
Unexpectedly, Shang Mancang’s face changed upon hearing this, and she stepped forward hesitantly, stumbling over her words as she revealed the big business deal she had just made with Yun Miao the night before.
Ning Yu keenly sensed that the strange incident that happened to Yun Miao last night was related to this matter, so she came forward to report it.
Sect Master Chang and the others exchanged surprised glances, their gazes inevitably falling on the round-faced girl.
Regardless of anything else, just by looking at her ability to gather information and her keen business sense… this was a genuine prodigy in commerce!
Still, criticism was necessary.
Sect Master Chang sighed, “You children have just begun your path of cultivation and are somewhat reckless and naive. Ning Yu already told you not to look too closely, yet you still dared to set your sights on the Founder’s Inscription on the Zhufeng Pillar.”
Shang Mancang bowed her head in shame. “I’m sorry…”
Qi Shubai sighed as well. “Since you know how to use the Dizi Ling, you should also know there are many sect tasks available in Kongyu.”
“If you need Ling Stones, you can take on simple sect missions to earn Contribution Points, then exchange them at the Treasure Repository for Ling Stones and other cultivation resources. In short, don’t be so impulsive next time.”
Shang Mancang’s head drooped even lower. “I’m sorry…”
Tian Laokou groaned in frustration. “The worst part is that you even wanted to sell the Founder’s Inscription! Damn it, why didn’t I think of such a brilliant idea before?!”
“S-sorry… ah?”
Shang Mancang hesitated, then looked up just as a shadow flew past her eyes, landing precisely on the first floor’s pill refining furnace lid with a bang, which snapped shut automatically.
At the same time, the short and stout figure of the Tian Peak Lord was already gone from in front of her.
Shang Mancang: ???
Sect Master Chang stroked his beard and kindly admonished, “Just remember what Qi Shubai and I said. Pretend you didn’t hear that last sentence.”
Shang Mancang nodded quickly, as if she were a chick pecking at grains, promising to reform and start anew, afraid that if she wasn’t sincere enough, the Sect Master might throw her into the pill furnace next.
Yun Miao lay on the bed, watching with great interest, while Ning Yu cast a cold glance her way.
“So, last night you risked your life to secretly copy the inscription on the Cloudview Platform for a few measly Ling Stones, and ended up injured by the lingering Dao resonance on it.”
“You accidentally broke through your Purple Mansion and nearly became a drooling fool?”
“Although I sympathize with your predicament, the Disciplinary Hall has always been just and strict. Since you made a mistake, the punishment must be carried out.”
“Shang Mancang secretly incited fellow disciples to take dangerous risks, violating sect rules.
Considering she is only a newly inducted mortal disciple, she’s punished with three months of dung duty in the Beast Peak’s Beast Garden. As for you…”
Qi Shubai frowned slightly, interrupting Ning Yu.
“That’s not right. Little Sister lives right next door to me, so I can confirm she didn’t go out last night. Besides, she lost consciousness inside her own room, not on the Cloudview Platform.”
“That’s right, that’s right. I copied everything purely from memory, so I didn’t sneak off to the Cloudview Platform.
Sister Ning only said we weren’t allowed to look at the inscriptions too much, she never forbade us from recalling and writing them down privately.”
Yun Miao lay on the bed, deliberately coughing weakly several times. “Cough cough cough, so I didn’t commit a mistake. You can’t punish me by making me pick dung.”
Her words left everyone momentarily stunned. Ning Yu, unaware of the full situation from the previous night, was simply surprised, while Qi Shubai’s eyes flashed with astonishment. “All from memory?”
Sect Master Chang accidentally plucked out a beard hair. He declared firmly, “Impossible. Those are the Founder’s Inscription left behind by the Patriarch, filled with her Dao insights.”
“For a disciple still at Qi Refining First Layer, being able to even clearly read those inscriptions is lucky enough. How could you possibly remember so many words just from one glance?”
He had personally checked Yun Miao’s room earlier and seen the dense inscriptions there with his own eyes. The handwriting was exactly the same as the Founder’s Inscription!
This was his greatest mystery so far, and because he couldn’t find any other explanation, he had even started pondering the possibility of the Patriarch’s spirit manifesting or possession.
And now his little disciple said what?
That it was only because of her exceptional memory? That she could remember those profound, Dao-infused inscriptions after seeing them just once?
Yun Miao’s expression darkened. “Perhaps… I’m actually a genius.”
Player can screenshot, record = player has photographic memory = player is a genius. Yes, that equation checks out.
Sect Master Chang was silent for a moment, then asked Yun Miao kindly, “Disciple, let’s put this aside for now. Think back to last night when you were writing those words.”
“Did you feel anything strange? Like suddenly hearing a woman’s laughter? Or feeling like someone was leaning on your back, holding your hand to force you to write?”
“Or perhaps a cold, sinister aura entering your body, making you feel like there was someone else inside you?”
Yun Miao didn’t know what Sect Master Chang was suspecting and thought he was simply concerned, wanting to uncover the truth quickly.
She felt warm inside and obediently told him everything that happened last night.
Sect Master Chang’s hand, stroking his beard, paused mid-air for quite a while—long enough for Yun Miao to think the game had frozen—before he said in disbelief, “You really only have a photographic memory? It’s not the Patriarch possessing you?”
Yun Miao froze for a moment, then shocked, half-sat up and looked at her affectionate master in disbelief.
“Master, you would rather believe it’s a possession than that I’m a genius?”
Sect Master Chang quickly explained, “Not a ghost possession, a Patriarch possession.”
“What’s the difference? You promised to have my back, always stand by me and believe in me, yet when it matters, the one farthest and least believing in me is my own Master.”
Yun Miao looked weak and pitiful at the white-bearded old man. “Master, you’re insincere.”
Sect Master Chang sighed deeply, then gently patted Yun Miao’s head again. “Alright, it’s the Master’s fault. I apologize to you.”
Yun Miao immediately cheered up. “Fine, since you’re so sincere, I’ll reluctantly forgive you.”
Ning Yu watched nearby, wincing. Yun Miao was clearly the one at fault, yet Sect Master was apologizing? Where was his dignity as Sect Master?
What about the decisiveness he just showed when dealing with Tian Peak Lord?
Out of duty, she coldly interrupted the warm scene of master and disciple affection.
“The Disciplinary Hall has always been just and strict. Since you copied the inscriptions purely from memory and did not sneak onto the Cloudview Platform to study the Founder’s Inscription, naturally we will not punish you for this.”
Yun Miao revealed a somewhat smug smile. Before she could celebrate escaping punishment, Ning Yu said flatly, “Now let’s discuss the next issue. Can you explain this message?”
Ning Yu briefly explained the situation that unfolded after Yun Miao fainted last night, both in reality and in Kongyu.
Then she waved her hand, and several lines of dense icy text appeared in the air—exactly the content Yun Miao had sent earlier in Kongyu.
“‘Take revenge on Lu Dajiao, dip in chili sauce, make deer meatballs, spicy-sesame deer meat pancakes, steamed deer meat, steamed deer hooves, steamed deer tails, roasted deer heads, roasted deer legs, roasted deer tails, braised deer heads…’”
“Although I already know from Shang Mancang what Lu Dajiao did to you, and I admire your fearless determination to seek revenge last night even at death’s door, I still must say, casually turning a senior brother into a whole deer banquet is quite rude.”
Yun Miao was stunned for a moment, then immediately pretended to be weak, lying on the bed and coughing.
“Cough cough cough, where in my words did I say ‘steamed deer tails’ or ‘braised deer heads’?”
“Clearly it was Sister Ning who planned the whole deer banquet, cough cough, this is slander, pure slander! I’m taking this to the Disciplinary Hall! To the Disciplinary Hall! Cough cough cough!”
But she didn’t sound convincing at all. Sect Master Chang patted her back and whispered, “Xiao Miao, stop coughing. You’re injured in the Purple Mansion, not suffering from tuberculosis.”