In the garden of the Yin-Yang Sect, a pavilion stood quietly amid a scattering of flowers. At a low table, Hua Qingyan sipped tea from a delicate porcelain cup, while across from her, Hua Xiran nibbled on a plate of sweets.
"When were you going to tell me?"
Hua Xiran, focused on eating, did not understand Hua Qingyan's question.
"Tell you what?"
"You took in a new disciple."
Hua Qingyan said this. Hua Xiran flinched and spoke.
"Ooo, I forgot it slipped my mind, but how did you find out, mother?"
While she thought.
After all, you rarely leave the garden.
"She visited here yesterday."
"She did?!"
Hua Xiran was stunned.
This fox girl gets around!
"Well, Meilin brought her back, and I did not see any reason not to accept her."
Hua Qingyan looked at her daughter. She knew she was not the type to just accept a disciple on a whim, there must be another reason.
Hua Xiran chose to take Su Meilin as a disciple due to her pure Yin body, but then built emotions for her first disciple. She thinks and makes choices with logic and reason about what she can gain, but later, she becomes emotional.
Hua Qingyan felt that for a sect master, this was a good quality, making rational decisions, but for a normal person, it was quite eccentric; after all, certain relationships happen spontaneously.
Being stared at by her mother as if she knew she was lying, Hua Xiran could only buckle under the pressure of Hua Qingyan's gaze and speak the truth.
"...Well, her Yin energy was abundant and had a purity I've never seen before."
Hua Qinyan nodded her head with a smile.
I knew it!
She took pride in being a mother who understood her daughter.
As she thought about what Hua Xiran said, she picked the porcelain cup up and sipped the green tea. Soon her eyes opened wide, and the tea was spat out of her mouth, hitting her daughter in the face.
"Ewww! That's gross!"
Hua Xiran started to wipe her face with a handkerchief.
"C-cough, Don't tell me you plan to make her your…"
When Hua Xiran heard this, her face started to turn red. In truth, she had no experience in romance whatsoever, and the persona of a charming, intelligent sect master is what she shows to everyone outside; she only showed this side of herself to her mother and sometimes to Su Meilin.
Looking at her daughter, Hua Qingyan felt complicated. She knew her daughter was born with a pure Yang body; if she had given her the Two Suns cultivation art, this would have been avoided, but she was forced to make her practice the Yin-Yang Fusion Scripture.
Hua Qingyan thought back to the girl who visited her, it was the best time she had in a long time speaking to a person about her garden. Thinking that such a person would become her daughter-in-law.
Not a bad idea! A great idea!
Hua Qingyan looked at her daughter and said.
"I support it, do your best."
Hua Xiran was stunned. She did not believe she would get support this fast.
Hua Xiran would never have thought the fox girl had charmed her mother.
In a happy mood, she ate more desserts. Hua Qingyan looked at her silly daughter and was reminded of something.
I hope the girl can handle Xiran, she has certain tendencies to love at extreme levels.
…
Bai Shuying was filled with excitement that she started to skip.
Finally, the first day of class!
She was making it towards her first class, gardening taught by Elder Hua. Soon, she spotted the familiar robes and bare feet.
"Hey! Elder Hua!"
Bai Shuying called out enthusiastically and rushed towards Elder Hua, stopping right in front of her.
"Oh, Shuying, why are you here?"
"I'm here for the gardening class!"
Elder Hua was stunned.
At the beginning of the gardening class, she had disciples join, but little by little the number dwindled over the years. Last year, no disciple signed up, so she was astonished that someone wanted to take the class, and that person was Bai Shuying.
"I see, well, welcome to the gardening class."
Elder Hua took Bai Shuying into the pavilion and brewed green tea, pouring it into a porcelain cup, which she then placed in front of Bai Shuying.
Bai Shuying picked up the cup and drank in small sips, savoring the flavor.
The more Elder Hua interacts with Bai Shuying, the more pleased she is.
Hmm, what a good daughter-in-law!
Elder Hua had already started to consider her as her prospective daughter. Even favors her more than her biological daughter.
Better than that little girl who only knows how to eat desserts and cultivate, hmph!
"Achoo!"
"Sect leader, what's wrong?"
"Allergies?"
Elder Hua took out a large book and placed it on the table.
Thud!
Bai Shuying looked at the book, dazed, and gulped.
This is bigger than the textbooks I'm used to! Is this for the class?
"This here is called the encyclopedia for plants, volume one, all recorded information of plants is in this book."
"Elder Hua, you said… volume one?"
"Yes, there are so far eight volumes in total, so seven volumes more after this."
Bai Shuying started to go a little pale.
The gardening class was somewhat popular in the Yin-Yang Sect, but one factor caused the course to decline over the years. It was the book Elder Hua put in front of Bai Shuying. Elder Hua was an expert in the field of gardening; anything below her standards was changed to match them or exceed them. Normally, one would not need to know every plant that existed under the sun, but for an enthusiast like Elder Hua, it was a basic requirement.
It should be okay? I have a great comprehension trait! It should all be right? Right?!
"In this class, you'll master three essential skills: identifying plant species, cultivating them effectively, and applying their practical uses."
The rest of the time, Elder Hua taught Bai Shuying and took her around the garden.
Bai Shuying left the garden mentally exhausted.
Professionals are scary!
Remembering the class sent shivers down her body, but a smile spread across her face.
Bai Shuying walked a slightly longer path back, looking up at the night sky.
The stars shine much brighter here.
She couldn't help but think of her previous life. The reason she enjoyed her time with Elder Hua is that she yearned for the warmth of an elder. It reminded her of being raised by her grandparents after her parents passed away.
Bai Shuying was not okay with everything she went through, the her of this life and the abrupt end to her previous life were very stressful for her, she just kept everything sealed tightly inside herself.
…
Bai Shuying sat on the cushion in her room, in front of her was a calabash that Elder Hua had grown in her garden.
"Too think I would find something like this here."
A calabash, a large green fruit that could be found in her previous life. It comes in various forms and could be turned into a bottle.
The calabash is in the form of a gourd. When Bai Shuying first saw it, she knew it had to be used to make an alcohol container.
I can't wait to be a wine-drinking immortal!
Bai Shuying pictured herself flying on a sword in the clouds, taking a sip from the wine gourd.
Too dreamy!
She took out a small knife and cut the top of the gourd. She then took out all the pulp and seeds from the gourd.
Bai Shuying focused her Yin energy into the gourd. She smoothed and cleaned the inside of the gourd, dried it out, and improved the opening of the gourd.
She then took a red rope and tied it to the center of the gourd, and placed a cork to plug the opening of the gourd.
After finishing, she looked at the final product. There in front of her was a smooth blue gourd, with a red rope tied to its center, and a brown cork. It radiated the coldness that the Yin energy had, which Bai Shuying infused it with.
If refiners saw this, they would be stunned.
How?! She doesn't even know refining!
The wine gourd Bai Shuying created was an artifact that is at the spirit grade level.
Artifacts that mortals create, such as swords, spears, etc., are at the mortal grade. While above the mortal grade are what cultivators use, the spirit grade, an artifact imbued with qi, giving it an elemental affinity.
Bai Shuying, who doesn't even know how to refine mortal grade artifacts, suddenly created a spirit grade artifact without any knowledge is remarkable.
Bai Shuying looked at her creation with pride.
I have to give it a name.
She tilted her head and stared at the gourd.
Gourd… holds wine… cold, hmm.
Bai Shuying muttered a name.
"...Yin Gourd?"
As if in response, the gourd fluctuated, releasing a stream of coldness.
"Oh, it likes it, Yin Gourd it is then!"
Bai Shuying then took out the sealed clay containers she had and ripped the seal. soon the smell of wine filled the room.
Bai Shuying believed the grapes she found in the wild were similar to the grapes in her previous world, but she found out she was wrong.
This fruit looks similar to grapes, but is completely different. Grapes need to go through a process before it is turned into wine, but the ones she found already contained a percentage of alcohol in them.
I need to be careful that things in this world are different from my old one.
Bai Shuying reflected on herself; such a thinking would have caused an issue for her if she didn't correct it.
Bai Shuying collected and crushed the grapes and filtered them using clean clothes and poured the liquid into clay pots she bartered from the village, and sealed them. When she left her home, she had Su Meilin carry it into her spatial ring.
Bai Shuying then poured the grape wine into the Yin Gourd and placed the cork on the gourd.
This damn alcohol trait! I have now conquered it!
Bai Shuying felt the trait was manageable, but felt tired from eating wild grapes; now with the grape wine just a few sips satisfied her.
Oh, the Yin Gourd even keeps the grape wine cold!
She marveled at the features of the Yin Gourd.
…
In a residence at the Yin-Yang Sect, Ye Mingyue, a sharp-eyed girl, and Xiao Wuji, a pointy-nosed boy, sat in a room speaking to a disciple.
Ye Mingyue asked the disciple sharply.
"Do you know who she is?"
"Y-yes, her name is Bai Shuying, a new disciple."
If Bai Shuying were here, she would be surprised, the disciple is the one who registered her for the courses she chose.
Xiao Wuji asked coldly.
"What course did she register for?"
"She registered for… Alchemy, Sword Cultivation, Beast Taming,… Gardening and Cooking."
Xiao Wuji and Ye Mingyue were confused and asked in unison.
"Gardening and cooking?"
The disciple was sweating and nervously responded.
"Y-yes, s-she signed up for th-those."
Xiao Wuji and Ye Mingyue did not care for those courses, so they shrugged them off.
Ye Mingyue smirked.
"Guess I'll meet in the Alchemy course while you meet her in the Sword Cultivation course. Who does she have as the instructors for those courses?"
The disciple quickly answered.
"Outer Elder Lan Wumian and Inner Elder Su Moyan."
Xiao Wuji licked his lips and spoke.
"I can't wait to deal with her in the Sword Cultivation course."
Ye Mingyue glanced at him and thought.
That nasty habit of his.
While Xiao Wuji was lost in his fantasies. Ye Mingyue thought.
Whoever has any connection to Su Meilin needs to be dealt with, even if they are acquaintances, which I doubt.
Ye Mingyue hated Su Meilin as a fellow woman, she disliked that someone was prettier and more talented than her.
If it wasn't for her, Hua Xiran, our Master Mo Xingyu would be the Yin-Yang Sect Leader, and I would be the leader's disciple.
Xiao Wuji thought.
If I can't play with Su Meilin, I'll settle for this Bai Shuying then.
He was just a pervert who wanted to fulfill his desires.
Su Meilin, the disciple of the sect master, had a unique reputation in the Yin-Yang Sect. She did not practice dual cultivation or have a partner; she was cold and placed a certain amount of distance from others.
That cold and aloof person now had a smile on her face as she escorted and walked side by side with a girl who was brought back from who knows where.
To the disciples of the sect, this was an interesting piece of gossip, but to a certain group of people, this was an opportunity.
While the two were lost in their thoughts, the disciple quickly ran away.
I need to leave these two sickos are dangerous.
Ye Mingyu and Xiao Wuji's reputation in the sect was horrible; most kept a distance, but found it difficult to act or say anything against them due to their Master Mo Xingyu.
When Hua Xiran competed for the Sect leaders' seat, she fought against the inner elder, Mo Xingyu.
The Yin-Yang Sect declining into debauchery, Mo Xingyu enjoyed such a situation, seeking pleasure and increasing her cultivation rapidly. The number of people she had drained was already in the triple digits.
She was a despicable person who schemed and plotted, but she did not expect Hua Xiran to return as a Soul Transformation cultivator. Mo Xingyu took a step back and waited for an opportunity to strike. She even told her disciples to make things difficult for Su Meilin.
A gust of wind pushed the door to the room open, and a woman with an average face, but with a seductive figure, walked in.
Ye Mingyu and Xiao Wuji quickly stood and bowed.
"Greetings, Master!"
Mo Xingyu saw her disciples a hint of dissatisfaction in her eyes, which quickly faded, and she smiled.
"What are you two doing?"
Xiao Wuji gulped at the sight of his master's figure. Ye Mingyu became nervous and responded.
"We were planning to deal with a mortal person, Su Meilin brought back."
Mo Xingyu was intrigued by this and asked.
"Oh, tell me more."
Ye Mingyu explained everything to her master.
Mo Xingyu smiled, and a cunning look appeared on her face.
"Mingyu, you deal with her in an alchemy competition, it should be an easy victory since you are already an Apprentice Alchemist."
Mo Xingyu turned to her other disciple, Xiao Wuji. When she saw the lust in his eyes, she thought.
His cultivation is too low; if it were higher, I would have drained him.
"Wuji, you also challenge her to a duel."
When Xiao Wuji heard this, he smiled and responded.
"Yes, Master, I'll take care of her."
Mo Xingyu heard this she felt disgusted inside.
Why did I take on this sick disciple?
Those who knew Mo Xingyu would have thought.
Master like disciple, neither of you is good.
Mo Xingyu pouted and thought.
I could deal with Hua Qingyan, but Hua Xiran and Su Meilin are difficult.
Mo Xingyu was frustrated as a dual cultivator; she would seduce the partners of other women, but Hua Xiran and Su Meilin did not have partners, so she found no way to deal with them. She didn't care about Bai Shuying; she just wanted to let off some steam.
She also did not like her disciples because they could not do anything to Su Meilin. Su Meilin had a higher cultivation, and her sword and formation dao were higher as well. Compared to Su Meilin, her disciples were garbage.
If Mo Xingyu knew the truth about Hua Xiran's and Su Meilin's situation, she would spit blood.
Shit! They have no flaws. How can I, a dual cultivator, compete with them?!