Chapter 98 - 43: Frost Heaven Divine Sword

Chapter 98: Chapter 43: Frost Heaven Divine Sword

"The young master has returned!"

Following the crisp shout, two young maids with double-topknot hairstyles timidly peeked their heads out from behind the door to look at Jiang Xuan. Immediately after, Shen Yuerong and Liu Hui walked out from the main house together, followed by another maid carrying a tea tray.

Seeing the look of utter astonishment on Jiang Xuan’s face, Liu Hui cut in with a smile before Shen Yuerong could speak. "Lady Su came to visit a couple of days ago. She saw that your house was a bit old, so after getting your mother’s permission, she helped have it renovated."

"Furthermore, Lady Su felt that your mother has toiled for most of her life and deserves some peace and comfort. She was also worried that with you away cultivating, your mother would be quite lonely at home by herself."

"So, she found some people to look after your mother." Pointing at the two young maids, Liu Hui said with a light laugh, "Xiao Hong and Xiao Qing aren’t strangers. They’re the children of old friends of mine and your mother’s."

"With them to keep her company, your mother will be well looked after and won’t feel lonely."

"..." Jiang Xuan was at a loss for words.

Even though he knew full well this was the Su Family’s way of currying favor and creating a debt of gratitude, he couldn’t refuse.

It wasn’t as if Jiang Xuan was cultivating the Dao Fruit of emotionlessness, severing all familial ties and casting aside his feelings. If he had the means, he naturally wanted his mother to live more comfortably.

And these few children from families they knew would indeed ease his mother’s loneliness after he was gone.

In the end, all he could do was sigh to himself.

’As expected of a Cultivation Family with a legacy spanning hundreds of years. Even their gifts are so thoughtful you can’t find a single thing to fault.’

"I will indeed be cultivating away from home from now on, so I’ll be more at ease knowing my mother has company," Jiang Xuan said. "Aunt Liu, please thank Lady Su for me."

"Huh?"

Jiang Xuan’s decisive acceptance actually stunned Liu Hui, who had prepared a whole list of reasons to persuade him. She had assumed that, given his personality, he would surely refuse at length.

What surprised her even more was Jiang Xuan’s demeanor.

Previously, when the Daoist School first opened, Jiang Xuan always carried with him a lingering sense of unease and anxiety, as if something was constantly nipping at his heels. But now, his eyes held a new calm and composure, and his entire aura had transformed.

’Did something happen to him?’

Liu Hui was puzzled, but Jiang Xuan’s circumstances and mindset had indeed changed.

Before, he was a lone Lower Classes’s Son. When faced with the schemes of others, he could only be careful, then more careful, then more careful still. He certainly couldn’t afford to casually accept things from others.

If he took them, repayment would be incredibly difficult.

Furthermore, Jiang Xuan had only just awakened his memories from a past life and discovered he was no longer in an orderly, modern society, but in a dog-eat-dog Immortal Martial World.

He knew the Mountain Gate he belonged to was a Renowned and Righteous Sect. Even so, the abrupt change in environment, the ancient and feudalistic system, and the pressure from Daoist School lecturer Song Zhou all made Jiang Xuan feel like he was walking on thin ice.

Back then, he could only desperately increase his strength for the sake of self-preservation.

But after joining Four Seasons Valley and gaining a group of martial brothers and sisters, much of the unease in Jiang Xuan’s heart had faded.

As an official Inner Sect Disciple of Four Seasons Valley, he was no longer on his own.

If he ran into trouble, he no longer had to shoulder the burden alone. He could ask the valley’s seniors, or have Xia He and the others, to step in for him.

For instance, if the Su Family tried to cash in this favor and demand he help Su Linyin, he could simply say that he wasn’t in a position to make that decision and would have to report it to the valley’s Elders to handle.

After all, the price of a favor from a Lower Classes’s Son was completely different from the price of a favor from an Inner Sect Disciple of Four Seasons Valley.

The Su Family wouldn’t even be able to mention such a petty favor in front of the Elders of Four Seasons Valley.

’An ordinary house and a couple of maids, and you expect a disciple of our Four Seasons Valley to forfeit his points and go all out to help your child get into the Inner Sect? Hah! Are you treating an Inner Sect Disciple of our Four Seasons Valley like some common beggar?!’

And with Four Seasons Valley as his backer, the Su Family wouldn’t dare make a move against his family.

This rise in status and the presence of a powerful backer finally allowed Jiang Xuan to loosen the tightly wound string in his heart. He began to handle matters with much more composure.

Of course, this didn’t mean Jiang Xuan would stop striving. His pace of cultivation would not slow, whether his goal was longevity, seeing grander sights from a higher station, raising the status of Four Seasons Valley, or repaying Zhou Qing, Xia He, and the others who had looked out for him.

But with seniors watching his back, Jiang Xuan was finally no longer as frantic as he once was.

His changed mindset was reflected in his studies at the Scripture Pavilion. He no longer prioritized speed—casually finding three hundred simple books to memorize—but instead devoted himself to thoroughly studying every single Dao Scripture.

Of course, Liu Hui knew nothing of what Jiang Xuan had experienced, but that didn’t stop her from making a few guesses.

However, being a perceptive woman, she kept her guesses to herself and didn’t probe any further.

...

Besides going home to visit his mother, Jiang Xuan also returned to the Chen Daoist School every few days to attend a class and catch up with Dong Hao and the others.

And that was when Jiang Xuan discovered he was being treated with hostility.

Of course, it wasn’t just him. After some observation, he realized that all the disciples who had passed the first assessment on the seventh day with an "Excellent" evaluation were being stared at with intense, resentful glares.

"Pay them no mind." It was Su Linyin who spoke. Dong Hao hadn’t come today, and seeing the hostile stares and Jiang Xuan’s confusion, she approached him and explained gently, "Those are the disciples who advanced on the eighth and ninth days with a ’Good’ evaluation. They’re still hoping to defeat you to get promoted to Grade A in the second assessment."

"Unfortunately, one slow step means you’ll always be behind. Promotions at the Chen Daoist School don’t allow any of us disciples to fall even a single step behind. In the second assessment, the number of Grade A spots isn’t forty or fifty like in the first round. There are only ten."

"They’re already out of the running."

As she spoke, Su Linyin’s gaze was filled with deep meaning.

Jiang Xuan, in turn, vaguely sensed something from her words.

But he paid it no mind, only saying coolly to Su Linyin, "Thank you for the reminder, Miss Su."

"Think nothing of it."

With that, Su Linyin—the very person who had renovated his house and gifted his family two maids—said nothing more and quietly walked away.

Her perfect sense of restraint only served to confirm Jiang Xuan’s earlier suspicions.

’The Su Family is... waiting for me to get anxious? Waiting for me to be the one to ask for help?’

Thinking of the Su Family’s scheme, and then of his own progress over the past several days, the faintest of smiles touched Jiang Xuan’s lips.

’If you keep waiting, I’m afraid you’re going to be waiting in vain.’

...

At the Daoist School, Jiang Xuan mainly just kept abreast of the situation and had no intention of staying long. He still spent most of his time at Four Seasons Valley, engrossed in his cultivation.

And so, on his seventh day there, after having polished the "Winter Solstice" technique to perfection, Jiang Xuan officially began practicing the subsequent Sword Techniques:

One-Nine Frost Shadow Companion; Ice Burst Shadow; and Three Nine—Frost Heaven Divine Sword!