(MC POV)
Chuyan's affinity awakening was not hard at all, and since she had already reached the proficient rank, she had, In a way, loosened the shackles of the wood tier affinity covering her divine tier affinity.
Meaning that when she maybe reaches master rank, her divine affinity would be on full display for all to see, and that is when everyone, including her, would have realized the big mistake they had made.
It has been about three weeks now since I came back, and things have been pretty fine. Chuyan has increased three of her elements to proficient, Linda and Lynda are now attending a school set up by the sect to teach the children that showed great affinity and, of course, the elders' or disciples' children, the sorceress woke up, and I was busy just relaxing.
What? Do I need to explain something? Okay, I don't know why you want me to explain how I relaxed, but okay.
Uh, I lay down on a recliner as I took some tea. The sorceress served me, and that was how I relaxed.
It's not about my relaxing?
The sorceress? She is fine. I mean, she is actually serving me tea right now as we speak.
Okay, I would stop messing with you. The sorceress woke up about two weeks ago, and I was actually with the other sect elders when Chuyan ran to me screaming that the sorceress was awake and that she was crying. Which made me both confused and shocked as I took an excuse to go and check on her.
She really was crying, and when she saw me, she asked if I was the one that saved her, and I, of course, replied with yes, and she threw herself on me, thanking me profusely with tears in her eyes. I had never felt so sympathetic about someone this much after I had heard her story.
You see, she was a woman in her early thirties and was single! Is that not really sad?.
Okay, I would stop. She was a woman in her late thirties who was not able to leave her parents since when she first awakened her powers, she accidentally paralyzed them, so the guilt of that has been eating at her. Even though they said they were fine, she knew that it was a lie, so she devoted her life to helping them before they later passed away.
She then decided to build a kind of monolith as a way to show that she was deeply sorry, but of course she needed money, so she used the powers that she called a curse to perform some tricks on the streets of Ankra city but was seen by the dark sect, who offered to help her.
They built the monolith for her, but the price they asked for was her life, which she, of course, refused, and she tried to run away. Just because she was sad did not mean she would give her life away when her own parents told her to live a good life.
That was how she ended up in their hands and was used as a sacrifice for Kabbal and was saved by yours truly.
She then took me as her master, to which I agreed, of course, and now here we are.
It was really not that complicated; she accepted me as her master as a form of repayment for not only saving her but also cutting the link between her and the demon.
Looking at Chuyan and my twin daughters playing in the courtyard, I felt fulfilled. This was not really the kind of easy life I was looking for, but this is even better.
Until...
knock*Knock
The sound of my gate being knocked brought me out of my relaxed state.
"I'll get it!" Linda yelled, running to the gate.
"Good day, little miss, is elder Zen in?" A sect disciple in robes showing that he was an outer disciple asked Linda, who pointed to me as I was sitting in the pavilion, looking at the gate.
The disciple bowed to Linda and the others after he came in.
"Greeting elder Zen." He bowed. "The sect master said I should give you this."
He took a jade slip from inside his robes and handed it over to me with a bow. seeing his slightly shaking hands, I knew he was nervous, but I did not mind and rather looked at the jade slip like it was a sworn enemy.
If I know the sect master, this would surely be another task he wants me to do for him. He had been giving some strange looks lately, and I don't like it.
Mom even came one of these days and asked if there was anything going on with me and Yuri.
Right, the lady's name is Yuri. Even though she is a disciple in name, I see her as more like a friend, since the last two weeks have made us a bit close. She was like a big sister to Chuyan and like a mother to Linda and Lynda; they even called her mom once. Maybe that is where Mother got that misunderstanding from.
Putting some of my elemental energy into the jade slip, some words appeared on it, and I felt like cursing.
[Elder Zen, you have been chosen to be part of the delegates that have been sent to the Pink petals sect exchange festival that will take place about a week from now, alongside Elders Meng, Sun, and Liang. You can only take two disciples with you. And also, we are sorry for the trouble we might cause you when you get there.]
Looking at the outer disciple, who still had his head lowered, and back at the slip. I had a very bad feeling when I read the end of the closing sentence.
What does he mean that we are sorry? did he apply for me to become the leader of the delegation? Or something else. Is it because I missed the sects' exchange festival?
"You may leave," I said to the disciple and called out to Chuyan and the girls.
"So, when are you planning on leaving?" Yuri asked me as she carried Lynda.
"The pink petals sect is about three days journey if we all took a diamond-tier flying sword and about a week if we took a carriage." I looked at the twins. "But with Linda and Lynda, I would prefer the carriage; we might just get there a bit late."
"I will go and pack," Yuri said, turning around and heading to the living quarters with the girls.
"Master, where are we going?" Chuyan asked as she came to me with sparkling eyes.
"To the pink petals sect"
"..." She just looked at me with an excited expression on her face.
Seeing her reaction, I could somehow understand. The pink petals sect was a sect that only accepted female disciples.
The life of practitioners is hard, and for the females, it's even harder. Not only are they few in number, but when they get pregnant, they would be out of commission for two years, so most female practitioners never get married or have kids.
The pink petals sect does not forbid love and marriage, but they rather exist like a female police that protects female practitioners, and husbands who have a practitioner wife would bring them there to be protected and taken care of when she is pregnant or on her period since that too can cause some problems for the women.
And most female practitioners go there with their partners to confess their love and get married.
So for her, that might be a good thing since she can socialize and learn some elemental techniques for females and see the romantic scenes that would unfold.
I should take Yuri too.
So I guess it's not that bad.