Fainting
With his master's signal, Lin Yun carefully sat down on the stone bench, his back ramrod straight, revealing a barely perceptible stiffness.
Yichen took in her appearance, a slight dryness rising in his throat.
However, given his personality, he found it difficult to directly ask her if she harbored resentment because he had prevented her from mentioning the evil cultivators of Shuofeng City to the sect leader today.
He stroked the teacup for a long while before finally speaking: "I've come here today to apologize to you."
Upon hearing this, Lin Yun swayed violently, almost tipping over along with the stool. Fortunately, the stone stool was heavy and managed to keep him steady.
"Master!" She looked up hurriedly, a hasty smile instantly spreading across her face, her words flying, "This disciple doesn't mind what happened today, I know Master's good intentions, it was me..."
“That’s exactly what I was afraid of,” Yichen interrupted her self-reflection before she could finish, her words gentle yet firm, “taking all the blame upon yourself.”
Lin Yun forced a smile, trying to appear carefree, but deep in his eyes lay a sense of bewilderment and helplessness.
She was just afraid of disappointing the person in front of her, especially after her first mission outside the country failed.
The girl knew her master's character and naturally wouldn't blame herself for a failed mission, but she couldn't get over it herself. "I..."
Yichen quietly looked at her forced smile, his tone as gentle as ever, carrying a reassuring power, and said patiently, "Yunwang, let me finish speaking first."
After a few deep breaths, Lin Yun forcefully suppressed the turmoil in her heart, and when she looked up again, her eyes had regained some composure. She looked at Venerable Yichen and softly replied, "Okay."
The master said clearly and deliberately, "No matter what happens, you will always be a disciple I am proud of."
“You’ve always done a great job.” His voice was gentle, like a breeze.
It was this gentle breeze that breached the dam, causing Lin Yun to suffer a crushing defeat.
Tears welled up suddenly, without warning, before any words could be uttered, blurring my vision.
Lin Yunwang was not a crybaby. She thought she had cried all her tears during her turbulent childhood. However, the setbacks and suppressed anxiety of the past few days were like scorching fire, which had long since burned away her forced composure.
"Master..." A broken sob, filled with long-suppressed grievances, finally poured out to the person she trusted most, "I want to do better... I want to find out the truth about Shuofeng City, I want to live up to your expectations... But... But there are too many people blocking my way, too many things hindering me... I, I..."
The words caught in his throat, leaving only silent sobs, and his shoulders trembled uncontrollably.
After she finished recounting her experiences with sobs, she raised her tear-streaked eyelashes and, through her blurred vision, encountered a scene that made her heart tremble.
The usually aloof and ethereal master shed two silent tears that slid down his jade-like cheeks, gathered at his chin, and finally dripped onto his moon-white robes, leaving a small, dark, damp stain.
“No one will do better than you,” he said firmly.
As time passed, the two finally calmed down.
Many people say that Yichen, Sangzhao, and Lin Yunwang, the three masters and disciples, all share a similar stubbornness and introversion. Precisely because of this, the tenderest feelings between them become the most awkward things to express.
Lin Yun, with tears still wet on her cheeks and a hint of embarrassment, said, "Master, I am very happy to be your disciple, and I am proud to have you as my master."
Upon hearing this, Yichen felt somewhat dazed. The recurring dream had swept over him again, and the figure in front of him kept overlapping with the person in his dream. He felt a sharp pain in his heart.
"Master?" Lin Yunwang immediately noticed that his face had instantly lost all color, turning frighteningly pale, and subconsciously leaned forward, "What's wrong with you?"
However, the closer she got, the clearer that concerned face became in Yichen's eyes, constantly merging and colliding with the shattered images deep in the dream.
“Master, I am determined to go... May you and my senior brother in heaven protect me.”
Bang!
The string that had been taut in my mind finally snapped under the intense strain.
Lin Yunwang felt a blur before his eyes, and his master, who had been sitting upright just moments before, suddenly slumped to one side without warning.
A gasp shattered the silence.
She hurriedly pulled out a communication talisman from her sleeve, "Sect Master, Master has fainted!"
The gloom that had gripped the sect for days due to the undercover operation was quietly dispelled by today's unexpected turn of events. At this moment, everyone's only concern was when Venerable Yichen would wake up.
The Ninghua Sect Master stood before the bed, looking solemnly at Yichen's pale face. When he turned away, his face returned to calm.
“He’s not seriously ill, so there’s no need to bother Sang Zhao. That child is thousands of miles away and won’t be back anytime soon, which would only cause him more worry.”
Her gaze swept over Lin Yunwang, who stood silently in the corner, seemingly still reeling from the shock, and she naturally turned her attention to her, "Yunwang, what do you think?"
Lin Yunwang, upon being called upon, seemed to wake from a dream and hurriedly lowered his head, replying, "Disciple obeys."
She was still somewhat absent-minded, and before she knew it, Ninghua had walked up to her.
A warm and steady hand landed on her shoulder, patted her gently, and the voice softened, "Go back and rest. I'll take care of things here."
Seeing that she did not move, Ning Hua's gaze darkened, and he called out to the door, "Buyu, take Yun back to her residence to rest."
Lin Yun seemed rooted to the spot, still hesitating and not moving.
"Junior Sister Lin, let's go back."
And so, with Xiao Buyu half-dragging and half-pulling them, the two walked together toward the residence of the personal disciple.
The atmosphere was somewhat somber along the way.
The mountain path was quiet and secluded under the cover of night, with only the sound of their footsteps echoing on the stone steps. Lin Yunwang and Xiao Buyu had only met once before, and they had nothing to say to each other at the moment.
Halfway there, Xiao Buyu suddenly stopped and turned to face Lin Yunwang. Under the moonlight, his face showed obvious apology and a hint of barely perceptible embarrassment, and his voice was a few decibels lower: "Junior Sister Lin, on behalf of Xiao Wei'an, I apologize to you."
This abrupt apology startled Lin Yun.
For peace? Who?
Thinking of the surname of the senior student beside her, she had the answer in her heart.
She didn't respond for a moment. Seeing this, Xiao Buyu said again, "After I heard about this, I wanted to apologize to you. Unfortunately, I wasn't in the sect at the time. When I returned, you had already taken on a mission and gone down the mountain. I never thought it would be delayed until now."
“Senior Brother Xiao, there’s no need to worry about it. I’ve long since stopped thinking about it. Besides, didn’t I take advantage of the dark night to give him a good beating to vent my anger? He didn’t go to the Discipline Hall to complain, and I have no intention of complaining to you, Senior Brother.”
She didn't believe that Xiao Buyu only knew one side of the story and not the other. Now that things were out in the open, it was naturally a good thing.
To her, these grudges and entanglements were nothing more than insignificant specks of dust on the path of cultivation, not worth dwelling on. Her family, close friends, and future path were far more important.
Lin Yunwang's reaction was exactly what Xiao Buyu expected. He said sincerely, "Junior Sister Lin is indeed as the sect says, open-minded, reasonable, and free-spirited. Compared to you, my good-for-nothing nephew is worlds apart."
She wanted to say a few polite words, but Xiao Weian's demeanor made it impossible for her to come up with any genuine praise.
In the end, she could only utter a few dry words: "Your nephew... is also handsome and dignified." Even she herself felt that her words sounded stiff.
Unbeknownst to them, the two arrived at the gate of the courtyard where Lin Yun was staying.
"Senior Brother Xiao, farewell." She nodded slightly, her hand already touching the cold door, about to push it open, when she heard Senior Brother Xiao call her from behind.
“Junior Sister Lin, while you were away on your mission, Venerable Yichen has fainted three times already, just like today.” He paused. “Including today, this is the fourth time. Perhaps the Venerable doesn’t want you to worry…”
Lin Yun's hands, which were pressed against the door, suddenly went limp and fell softly to her sides. She said in a daze, "Thank you for informing me, Senior Brother."
Under Xiao Buyu's gaze, Lin Yunwang, his face ashen, staggered into his small courtyard.
Until the sound of footsteps faded completely into the night, she felt as if all her strength had been drained away. Leaning against the cold door, she moved her lips a few times, uttering a hoarse, strained sound, "System, what happened at Jingyin Sect during my mission?"
After a brief silence, a cold, emotionless mechanical voice echoed in my mind: "Unknown. During the host's mission, this system is in a forced hibernation state and cannot obtain external information."
She collapsed to the ground, hugging her knees, burying her face in her arms, her body trembling slightly. After a moment, she asked, "You can scan the structure inside the Tower of a Thousand, so what about the human body?"
"Can."
These two simple words made Lin Yunwang's heart skip a beat. However, the next second, the system's emotionless voice made her feel as if she had fallen into an ice cave.
"Warning: The target life form's structure does not conform to the basic database's cognitive framework. Standard pathological analysis cannot be performed, and the location of the lesion cannot be confirmed. Only a basic substance scan can be performed to detect residual non-self energy or substances within its body. Please confirm."
Lin Yunwang fell silent again.
"The Ninghua Sect Master clearly informed the host that the target life form is not seriously ill. The host's current physiological indicators show drastic fluctuations, which is inconsistent with the system's expected response to information about non-serious illnesses."
In a daze, she seemed to have returned to her childhood days of wandering around, and she couldn't help but ask, "System, are you still there?"
"Host, I'm here."
This system is not the one she remembers from her life in the Jingyin Sect.
She could only respond with silence.
Although her resonance ability has been partially unrestricted, she still cannot resonate with the system within her body. She also still does not know the true thoughts of the system, and with her weak intuition, it is difficult to judge which one is the real Him.
Lin Yunwang didn't know if the system could only recognize people's superficial meanings or if it was doing this on purpose. He patiently explained to the system, just like on his first day at Jingyin Sect: "According to what Senior Brother Xiao said, Senior Brother Sang should already know, but he didn't tell me in Qingfeng Town. That proves that what the Sect Master said today was not to prevent Senior Brother from being distracted, but was specifically for me to comfort me."
"I see."
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