Chapter 39 He's just an old man! Caught red-handed talking badly about others...
Su Wan was immersed in the immense frustration of "not even leaving a mark after a full-force attack" when she suddenly noticed someone behind her.
She turned her head and met Master Liuying's clear eyes, which were also filled with a hint of inquiry.
"!!!"
Su Wan froze instantly, her deep sorrow instantly cracking, replaced by the embarrassment and utter dismay of being caught red-handed.
She sprang up from the stone block with a "whoosh," frantically trying to hide the conspicuous sledgehammer behind her back. Unfortunately, the hammerhead was too big, and she was too petite; the weapon simply couldn't be concealed.
"Uh...hehe...good morning, senior sister..."
Su Wan chuckled dryly, her eyes darting around, unsure of what to do with her hands and feet.
In a moment of inspiration, she began to do extremely stiff chest-expanding exercises on the spot, muttering to herself, "Getting up early in the morning and stretching, haha, loosening up is very good for physical and mental health. Senior sister, do you want to join me...?"
Shi Liuying found her attempt to cover up her misunderstanding adorable and couldn't help but smile.
She stepped forward, her tone gentle and sincere: "Junior Sister's move just now was extraordinary. Could you... demonstrate it again for me to see?"
Su Wan: "!!!"
Again?! Wasn't embarrassing enough once?! She screamed inwardly, forcing a smile that was more like a grimace: "This...this isn't right, is it? I was just fooling around, just stretching my muscles..."
However, when she looked up into Master Liuying's pure eyes, which were filled with nothing but earnestness and expectation, the words of refusal stuck in her throat.
What's going on?! Why do this senior sister I've never met have such innocent eyes? Being looked at like that by her makes it seem like not agreeing to her request is some kind of heinous crime.
Su Wan muttered to herself: Why does this person seem even better at being charming than I am? And in such an subtle way. Oh well, she's beautiful, so she has her reasons... It's not so bad for a foolish emperor to make a fool of himself just to please his beloved concubine.
"Fine then!" Su Wan was determined to give up, showing the resolve of a hero who had given up on everything.
She shouldered the sledgehammer, took a deep breath, and said, "Then, senior sister, watch carefully!"
She repeated the same routine again—run-up, exert force, spin like a falling object, and finally jump!
Su Wan shouted "Splitting Heaven and Earth!" and slammed the sledgehammer into the mountain wall!
"boom!"
The result was the same; the mountain wall remained unmoved, not even a speck of stone fell.
Su Wan hung her head, like a wilted and listless blade of grass, ready to receive a "just as I expected" look.
However, Shi Liuying frowned slightly, looking at it even more carefully than before.
This time, she keenly perceived the problem.
“Junior sister,” Shi Liuying stepped forward, her voice gentle yet knowing, “your moves are all form and no substance.”
Su Wan looked up in confusion: "Formless but not real?"
"Hmm." Shi Liuying nodded, pointing to her earlier exertion, "You rotated and gathered your strength, seemingly mobilizing all your power, and the hammer strike was extremely powerful."
"However, at the most crucial moment when you exert force, the spiritual energy in your dantian is scattered and does not truly flow into the hammer body according to your intention and movement."
She paused, looking at Su Wan's somewhat confused eyes, and then used a more colloquial way of putting it, gesturing with her hands: "It's like you have a great river that flows endlessly."
Shi Liuying pointed to Su Wan's dantian.
"You've found the right river channel."
Shi Liuying then pointed to the hammer handle and wrist where Su Wan exerted force.
"But at the very moment when the river was needed to impact the target, you blocked the river mouth yourself."
"Therefore, the water flow, which is spiritual energy, is just circulating within your own body and has not been truly released, so it cannot cause any substantial damage to the mountain wall."
Shi Liuying explained patiently and in simple terms, and Su Wan understood but was still skeptical.
She always thought it was because she wasn't strong enough, or that the hammering technique was just for show; she never considered the possibility of spiritual energy circulation.
After all, her master always said that the fancy but ineffective martial arts she practiced were of little use and that she didn't need to practice them, as he would protect her for life.
Looking at her puzzled expression, Shi Liuying was also somewhat confused: "These... basic methods of using spiritual power, has no one taught you?"
She said earnestly, "Judging from your clothes and demeanor, you should be an inner disciple. Every inner disciple should have a mentor to teach you these basic knowledge."
"Master, hehehehehe...Master?"
When her master was mentioned, a complex mix of emotions flashed across Su Wan's face, including helplessness, annoyance, and a bit of reluctance to speak.
She pursed her lips, gave a self-deprecating laugh, and swallowed all the insults.
Forget it, I shouldn't scare this seemingly well-behaved and cute senior sister. After all, she just gave her some pointers, so I need to leave a good impression on her.
Finally, Su Wan suppressed her indignation and whispered, "I do have a master... but he doesn't teach me anything."
Su Wan's inner monologue was quite wild: In reality, Master is just an old lecher! All he wants to do is cuddle with me every day, what a shameless old lecher! Besides stuffing all sorts of flashy but impractical magical treasures and jewelry into my hands, he only demands that I be obedient, sensible, and maintain a good image, without ever uttering a single word about serious cultivation!
Upon hearing this, Shi Liuying's eyes immediately revealed genuine sympathy.
She thought of herself. Although she had a master in name only, she had never even met him since she entered the sect, let alone received any instruction from him.
As fellow "unteachers" in the world, she immediately felt a sense of kinship with her junior sister.
“It’s alright,” Shi Liuying said with even more patience and gentleness. She took a step forward and took Su Wan’s hand. “I’ll teach you. Just try it again as I say.”
Fortunately, thanks to the guidance of her senior sisters, brothers, and elders, she is now considered a powerful cultivator.
Because she herself had been caught in the rain, Shi Liuying especially wanted to hold an enormous umbrella over the poor baby in front of her.
Su Liuying carefully guided Su Wan: "Close your eyes and focus your inner energy on your dantian. Can you feel the immense spiritual power within your body?"
Su Wan nodded repeatedly, like a chick pecking at rice: "Mmm-hmm!"
"Yes, that's it. Now, imagine it's no longer a scattered stream of air, but a solid energy that you can control."
"As you spin and gather your strength, just as you are about to swing the hammer, don't just think about using the strength of your arm. Use your mind to guide this energy along your meridians and into your arms."
"Finally, inject it completely and without reservation into the hammer handle, and then let it burst out through the hammerhead!"
Shi Liuying's voice carried a strange soothing and guiding power: "Remember, the heart and mind must be in harmony, the mind and the breath must be in harmony, and the breath and the strength must be in harmony. Your spiritual power is a part of your physical strength, even the most powerful part."
"Trust it, and master it."
Su Wan was skeptical.
Trust it? Trust the spiritual power within your own body?
Does my senior sister mean for her to...believe in herself?
Guided by Shi Liuying, Su Wan cleared her mind and gripped the hammer handle tightly once more.
She closed her eyes, trying to feel the immense energy within her that she had always felt existed but didn't know how to use.
Spin, accelerate...
Su Wan suddenly opened her eyes, her gaze flashing with an unprecedented light.
Su Xiaowan! Now!
"Splitting the heavens—cleaving the earth—!"
This time, just as the hammer was about to hit the mountain wall, Su Wan cleared her mind of all distractions, with only one thought in her mind—to send out all that scorching, surging energy!
"Boom—!!!"
A dull, terrifying explosion, completely different from anything before, rang out!
This attack was no longer just a showy display, but a real destructive force.
The solid mountain wall suddenly trembled violently, centered on the point where the hammer fell!
Spiderweb-like cracks spread instantly, reaching several feet in length, and pebbles of varying sizes fell like rain.
"careful!"
With lightning speed, Shi Liuying caught Su Wan's waist before the falling rocks, lightly touched the ground with her toes, and gracefully glided backward several feet, landing steadily in a safe area.
Su Wan stared blankly at the mountain wall that had finally left her mark, then looked down at her hands holding the hammer handle, as if she didn't recognize them anymore.
The next second, she suddenly raised her head, her eyes shining brightly as she stared intently at Shi Liuying, her voice trembling with excitement: "My beloved consort! It was you! You saved me! I have no way to repay you but to offer myself to you!!"
Shi Liuying was taken aback by her sudden bold statement, then chuckled, gently patted her head, and said with a hint of helpless laughter, "Don't be silly."
Su Wan seemed not to hear, and like a child who had finally received her favorite toy, she picked up the hammer again and began to experiment on a smaller rock next to her.
"ha!"
"Bang!"
"Crack!"
"Smash them all!"
The rock shattered instantly.
Su Wan looked at her left hand, then at her right hand, repeatedly confirming her identity, and finally believed that she could really use a move that contained spiritual power and had real offensive capabilities!
The grievances, frustrations, and self-doubt accumulated over 150 years surged forth at this moment like a flood bursting its banks.
She thought about all the hardships she had endured over the years, how she had racked her brains to find opportunities to sneak out and cultivate, the despair she had felt every time she attacked Shi Shen Dahai, and the relentless brainwashing she had received from the system day after day.
Must she grow like a parasitic plant under her master's protection?
The dodder flower is lovely and cute, but she didn't develop the personality of a dodder flower.
She enjoys swinging a sledgehammer, feeling the vibration between her hand and the weapon, and the sensation of muscle soreness.
What she wanted was power, never the self-righteous protection she craved.
The hammer in Su Wan's hand fell to the ground with a "clatter".
She walked step by step to a tree stump next to her and slowly sat down.
First, tears welled up uncontrollably from the corners of her eyes. Su Wan wiped them again and again, but the tears kept falling, one after another, at an increasingly rapid pace.
Then, the tears shot out like a dam being opened!
"Waaaaaah... Waaaaaahh ...
She suddenly raised her head and burst into tears! The sound of her crying was deafening, full of catharsis, and she didn't care about her image at all. She was the fierce woman who shed tears.
The colorful birds on the back hill all scattered and flew away in a cold, chaotic manner, while the leaves rustled.
Shi Liuying was completely taken aback by the scene.
She...she had never met anyone cry like that in front of her before!
The senior students are all very restrained people. They would never shed a tear, let alone show even the slightest bad emotion in front of her.
She had never seen anyone cry so intensely, so unrestrainedly, so... powerfully before.
Shi Liuying was at a loss, her fingers straightening and then curling up, her arms rising and then falling down.
She stood there blankly, like a stupid puppet whose mechanism had malfunctioned.
Although her movements were slow, Shi Liuying's brain was working at full speed.
Brain, think! Quickly come up with some way to comfort me!
Shi Liuying recalled how her senior brother would gently pat her head when comforting her.
She hesitated for a moment, then tentatively walked to Su Wan's side.
Then he reached out and gently, somewhat clumsily, placed his hand on Su Wan's head and rubbed it.
"Uh... no, don't cry?" she whispered, her voice filled with uncertainty.
However, this method clearly did not work.
Su Wan's crying did not stop; instead, she became even more aggrieved because someone was comforting her. She cried so hard that she could hardly breathe and even started hiccuping.
"Ugh...hiccup...waaaah...hiccup..."
Shi Liuying became even more flustered.
What should I do if my child keeps crying and won't get better?
She wasn't good at crying, and she had never received any comfort, so the only behavior she could learn was her senior brother's brief pat on the head.
For a moment, Shi Liuying even felt a little resentful towards her mother who didn't love her. If her mother had shown her more care, she wouldn't have been so helpless and like a block of wood when faced with tears.
Just as Shi Liuying was at a loss and scratching her head, Su Wan, who was sitting on a tree stump, suddenly stretched out her arms and hugged her waist tightly. Then she buried her face, which was covered in tears, deep into Shi Liuying's soft belly.
Shi Liuying's body stiffened, and she felt a dampness on her stomach.
But strangely, with her belly acting as a gag, she felt that Su Wan's crying seemed... to have really subsided a lot? At least it wasn't so deafening anymore.
Shi Liuying had a strange feeling that her stomach was very useful.
She stood frozen in place, letting Su Wan hug her, her hand still resting on her head.
After a long while, Su Wan's crying gradually turned into sobs.
She buried her face in Shi Liuying's stomach, speaking in a muffled, broken voice, "I'm sorry... Senior Sister... I... I lost my composure..."
"No, it's alright," Shi Liuying quickly replied.
It's alright if you don't cry, it's alright if you don't cry.
The person in front of her stopped wailing, and Shi Liuying felt that her stiff limbs could move freely again.
"I...I was just too excited..."
Su Wan sniffed, her voice thick with nasal tone.
She complained like a child tattled: "A whole... one hundred and fifty years... hiccup... one hundred and fifty years! I finally... finally learned a... offensive move!"
"Waaah... I'm not stupid... I also have cultivation talent... I'm not just a pretty face who can only act cute and charming..."
Hearing this, Shi Liuying was touched and gently comforted her, "Of course you're not stupid. You're very talented, and your spiritual power is very rich. You just didn't know how to use it before."
"To possess such a rich foundation of spiritual energy, you must have never slacked off in your cultivation over the past 150 years."
Affirm her efforts and praise her; it will cheer her up! Besides, what she said is true. She didn't see any progress for a full 150 years, yet she still persisted in her cultivation. What else could this be but perseverance?
Upon hearing this, Su Wan suddenly raised her head and looked at Shi Liuying.
Her small eyes were red from crying, and her nose was also red. Her carefully applied makeup was ruined, making her look pitiful.
She tried hard to make a wronged expression, but because she cried so hard, her cherry lips turned into a catfish mouth. But instead of looking ugly, she looked cute with a pitiful expression.
Upon being affirmed by Shi Liuying, Su Wan seemed to have a switch flipped, and with a "whoosh," tears shot out like a small fountain!
Shi Liuying was startled. With quick reflexes, she pressed Su Wan's head back onto her stomach.
Hold it down!
Shi Liuying gently patted her back, coaxing her in a tone that even she herself found unfamiliar and not very skilled: "It's okay, it's okay... don't cry..."
Su Wan said in a muffled voice in her arms, "You, you are the first person in these 150 years to praise me..."
"And the first, hiccup—the one who truly taught me the martial arts..."
"Waaaaah..."
Shi Liuying felt even more pity for her and asked softly, "Don't your senior brothers and sisters teach you?"
Su Wan's voice was choked with sobs and grievance: "Master doesn't like me being alone with my senior brother. I only talk to him because... my senior sisters don't really like me either. I know all that."
She paused, her voice lowered, tinged with self-mockery, "Actually... it's all my fault... they don't like it when I'm not well-behaved."
Shi Liuying thought about it from Su Wan's perspective. If it were her, she would step into the immortal sect full of expectations, only to encounter a master who doesn't teach anything but just wants to cuddle.
My senior brothers and sisters have also distanced themselves from me for unknown reasons, and I want to cultivate diligently but I don't know how.
That's a full 150 years of wasted time, the most precious cultivation period for a cultivator. In those 150 years, one can only imagine how much spiritual energy one would absorb, how many fellow cultivators one would spar with, how many secret realms one would visit, and how many cultivation levels one would advance...
It's so tragic and infuriating that 150 years of life were wasted!
A surge of righteous indignation welled up in Shi Liuying's heart.
She couldn't help but feel indignant on Su Wan's behalf, raising her voice slightly: "How can you blame yourself?! It's clearly your master who's being unreasonable!"
"As teachers, it is our duty to impart knowledge, teach skills, and resolve doubts!"
"He neither teaches you cultivation nor allows you to interact with fellow disciples. What kind of master is that?!"
Su Wan seemed to have found a kindred spirit. She lifted her head from her embrace, her eyes brimming with tears, and nodded vigorously: "That's right! He's simply..."
Shi Liuying grew angrier the more she thought about it, and then cursed, "I think he's just irresponsible! He's unworthy of being a teacher!"
Su Wan clenched her small fists, her cheeks flushed with anger, and indignantly chimed in, "That's right! He's simply..."
Shi Liuying: "You're just occupying the seat and not doing your job!"
Su Wan: "Yes! He's just a..."
One of them cried uncontrollably, while the other comforted them so much that he forgot to ask. The two shared an unprecedented resonance, and both found an outlet for their emotions.
Therefore, neither of them noticed that not far behind them, a silver-white figure appeared silently like a ghost, standing there quietly, emanating a chill that could almost freeze the air.
Xuanji Daozun stared expressionlessly at the two people who were "shared in hatred" over there, listening to them denouncing him one after another. His fair and dignified face grew darker and darker.
In her concluding remarks, Shi Liuying stated firmly, "Such a master is truly despicable!"
Su Wan finally found a group of the most accurate words.
She abruptly stood up from the tree stump, hands on her hips, and with all her might, loudly and clearly delivered her final judgment:
"That's right! He's a hypocrite, an elder who disrespects his elders, and a liar who misleads young people—Old Bi Deng—!!!"
The crisp, clear sound echoed through the valley.
The world fell completely silent.
Only Su Wan's words, "Old Bi Deng," still lingered in the air.
Shi Liuying and Su Wan froze simultaneously as a cold, almost tangible aura emanated from behind them, locking onto them.
Like startled birds, the two suddenly released each other and turned around in alarm.
Xuanji Daozun was standing there, his face as handsome as ever, but his eyes were as cold as ice that had been frozen for ten thousand years.
He parted his thin lips slightly and uttered three emotionless words:
"Oh? Is that so?"
His silver robe trailed on the ground as he approached step by step.
"Hypocritical and sanctimonious?"
"Disrespectful to elders?"
"Misleading students?"
"of……"
"Old Bi Deng?"
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Author's Note: Random red envelopes will be dropping! [pat on the head]
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