51. Oh Beans, Oh Beans

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“Heh heh, Junior Brother, your abacus beads are practically bouncing off my face,” Venerable Enlightenment said bluntly.

“It’s nothing. I’m taking Jiuci with me. I had intended to accept only Jiuci as my disciple anyway.” With that, Venerable Enlightenment vanished from the grand hall.

“Senior Brother Enlightened Thunder, you have Senior Brother Enlightened Dao’s medicinal-bath formula, don’t you? I’ll offer a thousand-year-old Thunder-Attracting Herb.”

“Senior Brother Enlightened Thought, I’ll offer a piece of secret iron ore.”

“Senior Brothers and Junior Brothers, it isn’t that I’m unwilling to share. The formula was designed specifically for a child’s constitution, and it won’t be of much use to you. Lingxiao’s master has also been chosen, so we’ll take our leave first.”

Venerable Enlightened Thunder immediately departed with Lei Lingxiao, though the smile at the corner of his mouth was impossible to suppress.

Zhang Geng was much the same, though he was still somewhat regretful. If only Zhang Boyu had been more obedient, things would have been even better for him now.

The others were left lamenting as well. They had once mocked the two men for being fools, but now it seemed that they were the real fools.

“Junior Brother Sect Master, don’t you have anything to say?” someone asked after noticing the Sect Master listening with great interest. Ah, so there was also an advocate for the Sect Master’s faction here.

“Senior Brother, what am I supposed to say? Persuade Senior Brother Enlightened Dao to hand over the medicinal-bath formula? You know very well that I have little say in our faction. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have ended up as Sect Master.”

The Sect Master looked extremely troubled. Since they could not torment his senior brother, they had decided to torment him instead.

“Junior Brother Sect Master, for the sake of the sect’s development, you ought to persuade Senior Brother Enlightened Dao. We won’t use it for free,” someone urged earnestly, hoping to move him with sentiment and reason.

“I can ask him on your behalf. But as Senior Brother said, everyone’s circumstances are different. Rather than placing your hopes on a medicinal bath that may or may not be effective, you would do better to return and strengthen the children’s basic training. As far as I know, Lei Lingxiao and Zhang Boyu have trained very solidly. If you are willing to let your children endure hardship, why fear that they will not succeed? The medicinal bath is merely supplementary. Do not mistake the secondary for the primary.”

The Sect Master offered his advice.

Everyone fell silent, considering whether it was feasible.

Back at the Sect Master’s residence, Lin Jiuci finally relaxed. Whew, that had been frightening.

“Is that really all there is to it? Accepting a disciple happens so quickly?” Lin Jiuge asked distractedly as she sliced red beans, voicing the question in her mind.

Li Yun exchanged a glance with Venerable Enlightenment.

“Of course. Jiuci entered through the inner arrangements; it was merely a formality,” Venerable Enlightenment replied.

“I see. Does Jiuci’s master also need to hold a disciple-acceptance banquet?” Lin Jiuge asked, now understanding. Her sword continued slicing through the yellow beans and struck the red beans without error, despite her divided attention.

“Not for the time being.” Venerable Enlightenment shook his head. Jiuci’s aptitude had already made that crowd envious today. If they held another disciple-acceptance banquet, who knew what those irrational people might do?

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“Good.” Lin Jiuge breathed a sigh of relief. Her own disciple-acceptance banquet had brought in many gifts, but the whole affair had been far too troublesome. She herself had no problem competing, but she could not tolerate her little sister being treated that way.

“Jiuge, you sliced a yellow bean,” Li Yun said impassively.

“Master, I did not,” Lin Jiuge replied with absolute certainty.

When all the beans had passed through, the fallen beans lay mixed together. Most of the red beans had been split in two, with only a few escaping intact. Every yellow bean remained whole.

“Jiuci, we’re having red-bean glutinous rice cakes tonight.” Lin Jiuge decided on the evening dessert.

“Sis, put in lots of sugar.” Lin Jiuci made her request.

“Less sugar. Have you even looked at your teeth?” Lin Jiuge had never realized that teeth could be so important. Fortunately, Jiuci still had her baby teeth, so there was time to save them.

Lin Jiuci covered her mouth. The little worms had ruined her teeth! Now her sister was going to restrict her desserts.

“Jiuge, when can we switch to another kind of bean?” Li Yun asked. He had recently developed something of an aversion to bean products.

Ever since Lin Jiuge and Zhou Yan had begun using beans for cultivation, they had followed the principle of wasting nothing. The beans they had ruined had been turned into tofu, bean curd sheets, soy milk, tofu pudding, and bean cakes. At first it had seemed rather novel, but now the mere sight of beans made him turn pale.

“Soon.” She was gradually finding the right feeling. Her senior brother probably would not need to practice picking up beans anymore.

“Can we switch to mung beans tomorrow?” Li Yun offered his suggestion. Compared with red-bean cakes, he much preferred mung-bean cakes.

“That’s fine.” Lin Jiuge was willing to grant him that request.

The next day, Lin Jiuci officially began cultivating. Venerable Enlightenment taught her the formula for drawing qi into the body, and before long, Lin Jiuci succeeded!

Venerable Enlightenment was so shocked that he yanked out one of his own magnificent whiskers.

Moreover, Lin Jiuci did not circulate her energy for a single cycle as was customary. Instead, she followed the route for a full nine cycles.

Just when Venerable Enlightenment thought that she had reached her limit, Lin Jiuci began circulating it again. Then, with a sudden pop, she entered the first level of Mortal Awakening and finally stopped. Her body did not shed a trace of skin, yet she had truly reached the first level of Mortal Awakening.

“Master, my body feels lighter.” Lin Jiuci carefully sensed the change and beamed with delight. So this was cultivation? She stared in surprise at her own chubby little hands.

Venerable Enlightenment was at a loss. His disciple was too much of a genius. How was he supposed to teach her? Urgent—answers wanted.

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Watching from the side, Li Yun seemed to understand how that old bookworm must have felt at the time.

“Jiuge, would you like Jiuci to practice my cultivation technique?” The Nameless Sword began carving characters into the sea of Lin Jiuge’s consciousness with a rapid swish, swish, swish.

“Slaughtering Gods?” Lin Jiuge instinctively glanced at her adorable little sister, then looked at the name of the technique and politely declined.

“It is not Slaughtering Gods. Jiuci has no talent for swordsmanship.” The Nameless Sword continued carving words.

“Jiuci is a rare spellcaster. Whatever spellcraft she studies, she will master.”

Lin Jiuge was somewhat stunned. Was her little sister really that much of a genius? Yes, the spellcraft-challenged Lin Jiuge was indeed shocked by this.

“Jiuci, now that you have cultivation, try using your essence force to draw the talisman from before.” Venerable Enlightenment immediately raised the difficulty.

Lin Jiuge instinctively looked over. It was her sister’s very first day of cultivation, and she had pushed herself so hard already.

Lin Jiuci took a small talisman brush and followed the instructions with utmost seriousness. Venerable Enlightenment had not explained how to distribute or use essence force; he was simply testing her.

Soon, Lin Jiuci drew the final stroke. The runes on the talisman seemed to come alive, and the paper flashed with golden light before becoming still once more.

“Master, Jiuci is finished.” Lin Jiuci rubbed her chubby little hands and then revealed a sweet smile. Her sister had told her that once the brush touched the paper, there could be no regrets; one had to complete the work in a single breath.

Venerable Enlightenment picked up the talisman and activated it.

It worked.

Although the essence force within the talisman was extremely faint, it had genuinely succeeded.

The anxious heart of Venerable Enlightenment finally settled. Excellent! Unlike Lin Jiuge, who could only master theory, Jiuci was outstanding in practice as well. The two sisters really were different.

Heaven knew how nervous Venerable Enlightenment had been after discovering Jiuci’s talent in spellcraft. He had feared she would turn out to be a second Lin Jiuge. Fortunately, she had not.

“Jiuci, you succeeded.” Venerable Enlightenment praised her without reservation.

“Jiuge, see? I was right, wasn’t I? Would you like me to provide a cultivation technique?”