The Abused-Novel Female Lead Holds a Mad Brush - Chapter 15
Chapter 15: Beep Beep Beep
In front of the Water-Moon Mirror at Xihe Sect.
Sect Master Xihe-jun swept his eyes across the water mirror. Before he could speak, Daoist Yiyao beside him said with satisfaction, “A good performance.”
Xihe-jun’s eyes rolled slightly. He uttered an “Oh,” lightly flicked his whisk to the other side, and then looked at Daoist Yiyao with eyes full of affection.
“Since Nephew Yiyao says so, do you already have suitable candidates in mind for selecting new disciples?”
The Sect Master’s words sounded casual, but the question was clever.
The trial had just begun, so how could anyone have already found a “suitable candidate”?
Unless the spots were pre-determined.
And pre-determined spots naturally would not go to rustic youths from the countryside.
Given the nature of a fellow like Yiyao…
Sure enough, Daoist Yiyao nodded in front of everyone, his tone boasting without restraint. “One is a son of the Xuan family named Yeyang. The other is a direct descendant of the Pei family called Tianming.”
“Setting the latter aside for a moment, this Peak Master believes the former’s natural talent and cultivation level deserve the top spot in this trial!”
Xuan Yuanzi, the Peak Master of Chilun Peak, lifted his eyelids and lazily let out a yawn.
He just knew it.
Daoist Master Yuanru, the Peak Master of Yuge Peak, snorted with disdain.
Heh, listen to these names, so outdated and cliché.
Names like these were no longer used even by the disciples under him when writing popular novels!
Yiyao’s taste went only this far.
Even so, Daoist Master Yuanru had to admit that Daoist Yiyao’s words were not entirely without reason.
Xuan Yeyang, the monstrous talent of this generation in the Xuan family, had achieved the peak of Foundation Establishment at a young age and was highly valued by the elders of the Wushang Sword Sect.
Xuan Yeyang was a true genius. Ever since entering the Hongmeng Scroll, he had maintained the number one spot.
If not for certain external circumstances… this disciple likely would not have ended up at their Xihe Sect.
Despite this, Daoist Master Yuanru raised his chin and let out a soft, cold sneer. Only the book soul-mark behind him emitted a faint, cold light.
Seeing his arch-rival unable to refute, Daoist Yiyao became even more smug.
The less Daoist Master Yuanru spoke, the more Daoist Yiyao wanted to push his luck and show off.
“I suppose Daoist Master Yuanru has been so busy tinkering with ink and brush at his peak that he is likely unaware of recent events.”
Daoist Yiyao stroked his beard and smiled. “This child of the Xuan family was born extraordinary. He brought a jade brush with him at birth, and his talent became even more remarkable as he grew.”
Towards the end, Daoist Yiyao grew increasingly boastful.
“Apart from Ye Jingtian of the Ye family who can match him, no one among this generation of disciples can outshine him. His brilliance is peerless!”
“I think that if he comes to our Xihe Sect, in time, when the Great Continent Dao Discussion arrives, he will be a great help.”
These words were cleverly phrased.
Framed as a “if,” they actually secretly left a fixed impression in everyone’s minds, implicitly raising their expectations of Xuan Yeyang and isolating him above the other disciples.
The praise and pride in his words could no longer be hidden.
Daoist Ninggui frowned slightly as she listened.
The disciples below might not know, but she knew that the Xuan family was actually Daoist Yiyao’s original clan.
Yet, who could blame young master Xuan for being so capable? Currently on the water mirror, he was indeed ranked number one in the Hongmeng Scroll.
Although Daoist Yiyao’s words were somewhat exaggerated, they were not fabricated out of thin air.
Daoist Ninggui let out a silent sigh, exchanged a glance with Daoist Master Yuanru, and shook her head.
Sect Master Xihe-jun still looked at everyone with a smiling face, remaining silent.
As for Daoist Wanren? He had always been on good terms with Daoist Yiyao and would not easily undermine him.
Besides…
“Yiyao makes sense.”
Daoist Wanren raised his chin high, his gaze disdainful and posture arrogant.
“From what I see, the top three are all young men. It shows that in this world, men are ultimately more capable. I believe…”
He wanted to say more, but seeing Ninggui turn her head slightly to smile at him gently, he immediately swallowed the rest of his words back into his stomach.
Daoist Wanren felt a bit aggrieved, but he did not dare say any more.
After all, in the eyes of the world, Daoist Ninggui was known as “Fairy Ninggui,” gentle as water.
However, Wanren, who had debated Dao with her, believed that this woman was insidious and ruthless to the extreme.
Winning the debate was not enough; she even poisoned him behind his back, making it impossible for him to sleep well for seven days and seven nights!
She lacked even a bit of the gentleness and generosity a woman should have!
Daoist Wanren turned his eyes away. A second thought occurred to him, and he instantly felt smug again.
Heh, so what if she wouldn’t admit it?
This new disciple trial would ultimately prove that on the path of cultivation, men were simply more talented than women!
While the world was full of noise and everyone held their own thoughts, Xuan Yuanzi, the Peak Master of Chilun Peak—
Liu Ruxiu, the chief disciple of Chilun Peak, sighed.
Familiar with the routine, he nudged his master and whispered, “Master, wake up. Stop sleeping, the competition has started!”
The surrounding disciples cast sympathetic looks toward him.
Chilun Peak.
The thousand tribulations of floating life eventually come to an end, while the long days of Chilun remain bright with the scent of medicine.
As the saying goes, this was supposed to be a exceptionally lofty and ancient peak, gathering sunlight as radiance to heal all living beings. Yet, the Peak Master of Chilun Peak, Xuanyuanzi, despite saving lives and harboring great compassion, was exceptionally…
Unbothered.
For example, right now, under the nudging of his chief disciple Liu Ruxiu, Xuanyuanzi uttered a “Mmh,” opened a crack in his eyes, lazily yawned before speaking, and then said, “Mm, mm, mm, eat it all, eat it all, no one will die, no one will die.”
Liu Ruxiu said, “Master, we are not practicing medicine right now.”
Xuanyuanzi said, “Then what are we doing?”
Liu Ruxiu said, “We are observing the entry trial of the new disciples.”
Xuanyuanzi yawned once again, his eyes half-squinted.
“Mm, mm, mm, they are all good kids. You decide, you decide.”
Liu Ruxiu remained silent.
Facing Xuanyuanzi’s perfunctory attitude, Liu Ruxiu felt helpless, yet there was nothing he could do.
As a healer among pen cultivators, Xuanyuanzi had always been remarkably open-minded.
In Xuanyuanzi’s own words, if a healer still took things too seriously, wouldn’t they have died of anger long ago?
Liu Ruxiu had no choice but to say softly, “Among the top-ranked disciples right now, several clearly have pre-arranged destinations. Not everyone is available for choosing.”
Xuanyuanzi did not care at all.
“Then pick from the remaining ones. There will always be good ones.”
“Disciples of my Chilun Peak do not need to have deep cultivation, nor do they need rare comprehension. Compared to those, what I value more is whether they have a compassionate heart to save the world.”
For a healer, without a sufficiently firm Dao heart, deep cultivation and extraordinary comprehension were useless.
If inner disciples of Chilun Peak were placed outside, every single one of them would be praised as a favored child of heaven with “extraordinary talent.”
Yet those “number ones of this generation” lauded outside were not all suited to walk the path of a healer.
Too much intent to kill, not enough compassion.
What the path of a healer required was often just this single thought of compassion.
Saving the world with a broad mind, keeping the pure heart turning without fading—only then could one lift a pen to enter the Dao as a healer.
Liu Ruxiu cupped his hands, his expression becoming even more respectful.
“This disciple understands.”
No sect could do without healers.
At Xihe Sect, because everyone was quite particular, anything from inner demons to a finger cut by a fallen leaf would prompt them to visit Chilun Peak for treatment.
In short, in the eyes of Chilun Peak disciples, everyone in Xihe Sect was quite ill.
Liu Ruxiu urgently needed extra hands to help.
If not for the final trace of Xihe Sect’s “noble and refined” bloodline constraining him, Liu Ruxiu would have loved to put up a headline over his head like “Chilun Peak Offers Huge Reward for Disciples.”
Liu Ruxiu thought for a moment, pointed at Yu Jiaxue’s figure in the water screen, briefly recounted what had just happened, and asked, “What does Master think of this fellow cultivator?”
Xuanyuanzi hesitated for a moment.
He recalled what he had seen at the foot of the mountain that day and said slowly, “Her mind and character are excellent, except…”
“She endures far too much.”
Liu Ruxiu asked, “???”
Where did this come from?
Xuanyuanzi did not look at his chief disciple, whose eyes were filled with pure stupidity.
He stroked his beard calmly, using the gesture to cover a yawn.
“Do you not know about the Wushang Sword Sect yet?”
Liu Ruxiu was confused.
“Does Master mean the explosion at the dungeon of the Wushang Sword Sect?”
On Chilun Peak, Liu Ruxiu was so busy every day that his feet barely touched the ground.
He really had no time to listen to gossip.
Seeing his usually calm disciple looking bewildered, Xuanyuanzi, as his master, immediately felt triumphant.
For once, he did not feel sleepy.
He vividly narrated the conversation he overheard while strolling at the foot of the mountain that day, emphasizing the atmosphere at the time, everyone’s disbelief, and Yu Jiaxue’s heavy certainty.
This was destined to be a vivid description.
If this story had been told by Yu Jiaxue, the credibility would only be fifty percent.
But coming straight from the mouth of Xuanyuanzi, who was usually immortal-like and refined, the credibility instantly rose by two hundred percent.
Liu Ruxiu listened, feeling dizzy.
He jumped back and forth between “This must be fake! How could Wushang Sword Sect be so absurd?” and “But Master said it himself!”
For a moment, his entire brain crashed, leaving him only able to think mechanically.
Amid his disciple Liu Ruxiu’s shocked and dazed gaze, Xuanyuanzi taught him earnestly.
“Sigh, although a healer is forgiving, one must still have a bit of a temper!”
For instance, if that kid from the Ye family dared to eat…on his Chilun Peak… well, no matter how good Xuanyuanzi’s temper usually was, he would leap up from his bed in the cave dwelling, fly down from his bed on the Chilun Peak, or leap out from his bed into the lake—
Xuanyuanzi worried for a moment, then spoke with righteous gravity.
“As the chief disciple of my Chilun Peak, you must step forward without hesitation—”
Liu Ruxiu said, “?!”
Liu Ruxiu suffered a complete breakdown.
Rarely interrupting Xuanyuanzi’s words, he said firmly, “Master, I cannot do this!”
Xuanyuanzi frowned.
“Why not?”
Liu Ruxiu said, “This disciple really cannot do it!”
“Fine.”
Xuanyuanzi cast a look of disgust at Liu Ruxiu.
“Then your master will handle it personally when the time comes.”
Liu Ruxiu imagined that scene, his emotions bordering on collapse.
“Please think twice before acting, Master!”
Xuanyuanzi was taken aback by the desperate tone of his eldest disciple, his heart full of doubts.
“What is wrong with you today, child? What exactly can’t you do? You grew up on Chilun Peak. It’s not like you haven’t seen your master throw people with a gourd.”
The “gourd” Xuanyuanzi referred to was his soul-mark.
At this moment, that huge gourd was floating behind Xuanyuanzi, staring at Liu Ruxiu alongside him.
“…”
“…………Well, there is nothing wrong with that. It was this disciple being rash and overthinking, causing a misunderstanding.”
As for what he misunderstood, Liu Ruxiu felt that his master never needed to know for the rest of his life!
