Chapter 665: Heaven-Earth Seeing Hound (4)

“Ah! Is that child entering Divine Lady’s Gate? The youngest? Or is she so young it feels even younger than ‘youngest’? Wow, lucky. Instead of dropping down to great-grand-disciple rank, she’s coming in as a junior-sister.”

“Wow, our baby junior-sister has the gall to plop herself right into the Great Ancestor’s arms—are ranks a joke to you? A lineage-wrecker if I’ve ever seen one! You brat—annihilation!”

“Ah, this is Seomun Jayeo. I decided she’ll be my daughter. I’ve told Master, too. Instead of formal entry. Just my daughter.”

“Then, since she’s the Great Ancestor’s daughter—Grand-Aunt? The moment I saw her I smelled noble air. I knew a precious one was coming!”

“Ah—I was the lineage-wrecker. Yeonseo, you bitch—annihilation! Grand-Aunt, instead of this impious thousand-year—Sarang will show you something. Behold—the phan—tas—tic—”

“What, me!? Why do I feel like I have to do it?”

Still the two of them, chattering and loud.

Among the third-generation disciples they were the universally acknowledged glued-together pair.

“Acknowledged” meaning that if either walked alone, people would pelt them with, “What’s this, why alone, where are Yeonseo/Sarang?”—to that degree.

At that point you could call them official inseparables.

“You two plan to keep yapping until I stuff something in your mouths?”

“Ah-uh-hng—candy.”

“Ah-uh-hng—any snack.”

So they passed through Divine Lady’s Gate’s main gate, and every third/second/first-generation disciple they met squealed about the adorable Grand-Aunt / Aunt-Master / junior-sister.

The higher the rank, the worse the fuss—of course middle-aged women would find a tiny green sprout who could barely wriggle unbearably cute.

In truth, children catch on to “adore the cutie” attitudes first.

Jayeo, who had hunched her shoulders before Divine Lady’s Gate, tucking in her neck with anxious eyes, was now whipping her head around with that cocky, rotten glint—inspecting everything.

“Ah, Sister Seol—you’re here?”

“You came this way?”

By now Seol Iri was treated as an honorary member of Divine Lady’s Gate; no disciple even bothered to be surprised.

She seemed to feel the same; without any guide she briskly found her own way to the guest hall.

Then up Divine Lady Peak and around the back.

Turn the corner and there it was as always: my dear, longed-for house—sweet home—with its side of shabbiness, the little hut greeting Qing in its accustomed place.

Of course, Qing had decided she would be staying in the Grand Sect Master Hall from now on, so waiting here would be for nothing—but still.

“Jayeo—this is Daddy’s house.”

“...?”

Jayeo’s pupils trembled a little.

As if to ask, Really?

No wonder—Jayeo had mostly seen Qing living high on the hog on honor wherever she went; a one-room, half-kitchen, bare-bones hut was hard to believe.

It must have been just past noon: Jangmyeong wasn’t around.

In daylight, Jangmyeong would be training, chopping wood, gathering greens, cooking, and cleaning—in short, doing a Divine Lady’s Gate disciple’s own chores and duties.

She couldn’t just stand guard like a gravestone and tend Qing’s hut exclusively.

Qing packed the few clothes in the hut, then suddenly drew her sword and carved a line into the floor.

—Seomun Cheong was here.

Mm. What is this? Where have I seen that line?

Something like the lament of someone who can’t adapt to society and has no place.

I adapted fine and my place is solid.

Qing added a line below.

—Got a problem? Then come to the Grand Headmaster Hall, brat.

She then set her things in the Grand Headmaster Hall, straightened her attire, and headed to the Sect Master’s Hall.

Wang Juhee—now even more mellow—welcomed Qing with a warm smile.

“So, you’re back. Only, Master is away on urgent Alliance business; she said she was going to Kunlun. Did you happen to see her?”

“Yes. She’ll be staying there for a time. As for how that happened—”

“Junior-sister, introduce our lovely little guest first. The child is so bright-eyed—”

Seeing the deep shadows under Jayeo’s eyes, heavy with that rotten glint, Wang Juhee quickly changed her words.

“—is not, but, ah, how much hardship must such a little one have already endured.”

Pity spread in Wang Juhee’s gaze.

It wasn’t rare for a Divine Lady’s Gate disciple to pick up a girl with nowhere to go.

And it wasn’t hard to guess those children hadn’t had an easy world.

“This is Jayeo. Seomun Jayeo.”

“Seomun? Don’t tell me our baby junior-sister is no longer the baby—did our baby bring back a new baby junior-sister?”

“No, not that. I decided she’ll be my daughter.”

Wang Juhee looked surprised, then nodded gravely.

“You said you saw Master—so this has already been discussed, yes? You wouldn’t casually bestow our surname otherwise.”

“Yes. Here’s how it happened...”

Qing recounted Kunlun.

Bandits of the West, suspicious lamas, and the Blood Cult’s tricks.

“The Blood Cult... What is the world coming to. These are unsettling times. We may have to tighten discipline. Training hours—greatly increased.”

“Ah—if you suddenly do that—”

“Not because of you, junior-sister. It looks like another grim era is rolling in. The Martial Gathering last time, and now Blood Cult keeps getting mentioned—mm. Not good.”

“Mm.”

Qing fell quiet and offered a moment of silent condolence.

The Sect Master wasn’t wrong: from the Martial Gathering to the Jin Family House, Mount Lao, and now Qinghai—what writhed beneath was ominous.

Disciples caught in it would have a rough time, but if something big exploded, the sweat they shed now would save that much blood later.

Otherwise? Then all that training would be precious time that becomes blood and flesh.

The pieces slotted together perfectly.

In Qing’s homeland they called it “alignment.”

And while she was at it, she could hitch that to drafting a hell-training plan with Jayeo.

“Then—may I help oversee the third generation’s training?”

“Oh, dear. The thought is kind, but—here, a mission letter from the Alliance for you.”

“Ah.”

Grumbling, Wang Juhee handed Qing a missive stamped with the Alliance seal.

“Honestly—does the Martial Alliance bully Divine Lady’s Gate because we’re ‘small’? The girl just got back and they— Junior-sister, these assignments are optional, and there’s nothing much to ‘eat’ in the body of it; if it’s a nuisance, toss it.”

“C’mon—I only took one last winter. Everything else I’ve done was on my own business. Alliance missions aren’t exactly what I’d call grueling...”

Suddenly she recalled that utter fiasco.

Granted, the Alliance would protest.

The grand, injury-strewn mêlée with Green Forest and the magistracy had been born of Qing’s shortcut scheme—nothing to do with Alliance orders, just self-inflicted hardship.

“Anyway, the intent here doesn’t sound so bad. Mm, let’s see.”

Qing unfolded the letter.

First to arrive was a rather elegant hand.

Everyone praised Qing’s calligraphy, but to her it was just boring, stiff standard script.

Of course, the fact that it was the standard hand in her homeland for hundreds of years already proved its merit—

But this hand had a slim, slanting, flowing charm—more fussy to read, yes, but still—

“To my only worthy rival, the Heavenly Flower Sword.

From the high blue vault gazing down upon the common herd, I set forth my loneliness, my stifled vexation, my contempt—the sorrow of a superior being.

You, at least, would understand the sorrow of superiority.”

The opening was... not ordinary.

“We supreme geniuses exist to enlighten the foolish masses—”

Qing’s eyes slid past the empty calories.

“—thus, as an instructor of the Righteous-Proper Martial Academy, it is time to educate and enlighten the pillars of the orthodox world and thereby fulfill the duty of a superior being to save the foolish multitude...”

Qing skimmed the nonsense.

“They’re asking if I’d consider serving as an instructor. Mm. Righteous-Proper Academy? Sounds familiar...”

“Ah, yes. They’ve been making a fuss about opening it. This time especially grand. You more than qualify to instruct—an expert in the Flower Realm.”

Wang Juhee smiled with satisfaction.

This wasn’t just any mission but an instructor’s post at the academy.

It was recognition, at Alliance level, that Qing’s cultivation was lofty enough to teach others—and once the news spread, the world would think so, too.

For Divine Lady’s Gate, beyond the prurient “women’s mystery sect / men-forbidden sanctuary,” it was a chance to make a great name.

And it wasn’t some trip where you ate side-eye; you’d just teach quietly at the academy, get treated like a teacher, and come back.

Except—

“I think I’ll decline this time.”

“Hm? Why? It’s a good opportunity.”

“Jayeo needs to start martial study. As adoptive father and master both, I want to teach her closely.”

“Then it can’t be helped. I’ll send a reply by courier—hmm? Right.”

Wang Juhee clapped once, as if struck by a fine idea, and pivoted.

“They say the Junior Division is opening this time. How about enrolling Jayeo in the academy’s Junior Division?”

“Junior Division?”

“Training with peers would be far better for her. Thanks to Seol Trading Co. spreading largesse down below, we haven’t taken in any new children lately. Even if she grows up among my sisters, a child still needs friends her own age.”

“Ohh.”

Qing agreed fiercely.

Then she could ask for the Junior Division instructor’s slot.

Body conditioning rooted in Bone-Reversing & Marrow-Washing—what an effective practice for our sprouting orthodox youths.

Wang Juhee added:

“Each sect has been asking to place disciples who can self-study. They need a squad leader, they say. I wondered whom to send—but if you go, Jangmyeong will follow. That disciple dotes on you anyway. The three of you going together would be nice.”

The Grand Headmaster Hall was in neat order.

Ever meticulous, Master must have cleaned everything before leaving, and even if not, would disciples—Qing’s same-rank sisters—leave Master’s residence untended?

Thus, True Person Ximen’s “come keep the empty building” had always been a pretext; this moment proved it had been her own private wish.

Even so, a place isn’t kept by daily use, so after dropping her bags, Qing set straight to cleaning.

Top to bottom, inside to outside—simple principles; and the last step, finishing the building, was to sweep the courtyard.

Which was exactly when Jin Jangmyeong arrived—Qing was sweeping the yard, and Jayeo, clutching a broom as tall as herself, was “helping” by making a glorious mess.

And the first thing Jin Jangmyeong said upon seeing Qing was:

“What is this now?”