Love & Redemption
Chapter 43 - 3 Bizarre Cultivation

Chapter 43: Chapter 3 Bizarre Cultivation

The first update.

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Having said that, she stood up with a smile. Everyone felt that her eyes and eyebrows appeared clear and handsome, and her outline vaguely resembled the Xuanji they remembered, yet upon closer inspection, she didn’t seem the same.

This young girl, with her jet-black hair and fair skin, had a gentle smile. In such harsh, cold weather, she surprisingly gave a feeling of refreshing spring warmth to those around her.

Linglong was the first to react, exclaiming loudly, "Xuanji!" Yet, her feet hesitated, unable to rush up to her with the same closeness as when they were children. The four-year gap had finally shown its enormity. Suddenly she felt unsure of how to get close to the young girl before her.

Xuanji smiled at her slightly, opened her palm, and said softly, "Linglong, why aren’t you coming over?"

Then, she had no more doubts and rushed over joyfully, grabbing her hand and saying anxiously, "You... you are Xuanji? You are Xuanji?! Oh my, how did you change like this! I, I wasn’t sure it was you at first!"

She dragged Xuanji back with her, shouting as if presenting a treasure, "It’s Xuanji , Dad, Xiao Liuzi, First Senior Brother, Second Senior Brother! It really is Xuanji!"

After shouting, she touched Xuanji from head to toe once more; she was the most lively one in the gathering.

"You’ve grown taller! You’re as tall as me now!"

Linglong compared their heights. Seeing the two girls, one dressed in silver and the other in green, standing in the snow, both blooming with the beauty of youth, was indeed a delightful sight.

Chu Lei coughed with a laugh, eventually calming the initial shock and delight, and waved at Xuanji, "Xuanji, come here and let dad have a good look at you. Why did you run up here without saying anything, worrying us?"

Xuanji walked up to him. It had been four years since she saw her family. Now, seeing them again, she though Linglong became even more beautiful, whereas Dad had graying temples and looked somewhat older.

She softly said, "I was in such a rush to see everyone, I forgot to send a message. It won’t happen again."

Gone was her youthful laziness that used to exasperate people; her responses had become more appropriate, making everyone laugh and say, "Now you really do look a bit like a female hero! Junior Master Chu truly knows how to teach!"

When Du Minxing saw her in the cold with thin clothes, wearing only a light green spring outfit with sleeves fluttering in the wind, he couldn’t help but say warmly, "Why are you wearing so little? What if you catch a cold?"

She just smiled carelessly, "No worries, I don’t feel cold at all."

Linglong grabbed her hand, which was indeed warm and soft, and exclaimed in surprise, "Has your body improved a lot since before?" She remembered how Xuanji used to bundle up like a bear in winter and still complained about being cold, and since she was naturally lazy, she became even less inclined to move.

Xuanji didn’t respond, but Min Jue next to her laughed and said, "Junior Sister’s question isn’t well-put. Xuanji Junior Sister has been at Little Yang Peak for four years; she must have learned many skills from Junior Master. With profound inner strength, what’s a little cold?"

Linglong’s eyes widened, "You’ve learned the Yang Que Technique? How did you... learn it so fast?"

"I’m not sure if it’s the Yang Que Technique..." Xuanji pondered, "I remember when I got to Little Yang Peak, I was always either too hot or too cold, the climate there isn’t much like Shaoyang Peak. Later, Master asked if I wanted to learn a lazy method suitable for warmth in winter and cool in summer. I asked her what lazy methods there were for warmth in winter and cooling in summer. She said there were indeed such methods. In winter, wearing more clothes is most troublesome. If I learned this method, I could be lazy and not wear a cotton coat, and still not feel cold; in summer, sweating the most is draining, and this method would let me not feel too hot...So I just followed her and learned, and indeed, as time went by, I did feel warm in winter and cool in summer."

Everyone who heard this burst into laughter, realizing that Junior Master Chu had used this method to entice Xuanji to learn inner strength! No wonder she said that she couldn’t be treated with common sense. Thinking about Xuanji’s character, if someone talked to her about Immortal Cultivation Internal Technique or steadily rising to great heights, she probably would have fallen asleep. Only Junior Master could come up with such a tricky idea, actually teaching Xuanji thoroughly.

Even Chu Lei couldn’t help laughing and shaking his head as he heard her say this. He truly hadn’t thought of teaching his disciples in this way, nor had he suspected that Xuanji could only learn it this way.

"What else did you learn? Tell us more!" Linglong shook her hand, very curious.

Xuanji thought again, "Well, the first thing I did when I got there was learn to fly with a sword... Master called it sword flight. At first, I wasn’t fast, so Master said if I could go back and forth between Lutai Mountain and Shouyang Mountain three times within an hour, she would give me a three-day vacation. The more trips I made, the more days off I’d get..."

The crowd burst into laughter again. Du Minxing said with a wry smile, "I never expected that Junior Master would lure the Junior Sister into learning skills in such a manner."

Xuanji looked at him, seemingly asking, "Are you trying to lure me into learning martial arts?" Du Minxing met her gaze and his heart trembled unexpectedly, feeling somewhat embarrassed, he quickly looked away as his face slowly turned red.

"So you’ve only learned the Yang Que Technique and Sword Flight?" Chu Lei seemed dissatisfied, knowing that Inner Strength and Sword Control should be learned, but cultivators often need to eliminate demons and protect themselves; not knowing any defensive skills meant being practically helpless.

Xuanji shook her head: "I’ve learned many others... whose names I don’t know. Master never mentioned them."

She furrowed her brows, seeming to not even know what the Yang Que Technique was.

"Then tell us quickly, quickly! What else have you learned?"

Linglong was more anxious than anyone; her sister who used to know nothing appeared to have learned everything upon returning after four years, even mastering the Yang Que Technique which she could never grasp. Linglong was both anxious and eager to hear about skills she herself had never learned.

"Oh, I’ve also learned transformation spells!" Xuanji thought hard and finally remembered, hastily adding, "After I arrived there, the room didn’t even have a candle. I asked Master for one, but she taught me many complex spells instead, telling me to light it myself. After reciting them for over a month, I finally managed to create fire and lit the candle."

The crowd was too stunned to react, both surprised that Chu Yinghong would teach her martial arts this way and that Xuanji had even learned Immortal Law.

Cultivators of the Shaoyang Sect could master physical martial arts with intense training, achieving minor success in three to five years. With Internal Cultivation Methods like the Yang Que Technique, immersing oneself in study regardless of external affairs could lead to breaking through the first barrier. However, Immortal Law wasn’t something everyone could learn. Some spent their lives reciting spells and creating talismans, wearing out their lips and hands without producing a single spark; such was the fate of those without an affinity for Immortal Law. Those without this fortune could only end up as mediocre cultivators, forever envying those who mastered Immortal Law with ease.

This revelation genuinely shocked and delighted Chu Lei, who urgently asked, "You’ve mastered the Five Elements Skill?! Is that really true?"

Xuanji awkwardly fidgeted with her sash— she had a habit of doing so whenever she faced difficulty, a habit that had not changed even now.

"I’m not sure what the Five Elements Skill is..." she said slowly, "but I did learn the transformation spells. Master said they weren’t very hard, just to recite the spells a few times each day so as not to forget..."

Seeing the strange looks on everyone’s faces, she immediately stopped speaking, feeling utterly lost as to whether she had said something wrong.

"Words alone provide no proof; let me see it for myself." Chu Lei was still somewhat skeptical, perhaps because the deep-seated image of his daughter as ignorant was hard to shift. Now that she seemed to have learned so much, he found it difficult to accept.

Xuanji made an "oh" sound and slowly raised her hand, not bothering with drawing or tossing talismans, but simply turned her palm upwards. She rapidly muttered something under her breath. The snowflakes drifting from the sky, as they neared her body, were drawn to her and gathered in her palm, eventually forming a snowball the size of a palm, which gently fell into her hand and crumbled as she softly squeezed it.

Chu Lei rose to his feet, exclaiming loudly: "Good! Very good!" He laughed heartily, feeling extremely relieved that the knot in his heart concerning his least accomplished daughter had finally been untied.

"You didn’t draw any talismans; where did the mana come from?" Chen Minjue asked, still amazed and stuttering.

But as he asked, he understood. The green spring dress Xuanji wore, upon closer inspection, was densely embroidered with countless patterns in dark silver thread, covering her from head to toe with numerous types of talismans. She didn’t need to draw talismans; she just needed to recite the spell, and the Immortal Law would naturally follow her will.

He finally admitted his respect, laughing and sighing: "Junior Sister has truly become a female hero! How joyful! How admirable!"

Xuanji chuckled twice. To tell the truth, her master had taken her to Little Yang Peak and seemingly taught her quite a lot. But if asked to articulate everything, she found herself unable to do so. Her master taught haphazardly, and she learned haphazardly; moreover, in her heart, some things were not so much learned as played with. So, in the end, she too was unclear about what exactly she could or couldn’t do.

In high spirits, Chu Lei patted her shoulder and spoke kindly, "Come, let’s go to the Mei Ting Courtyard in the back mountain to see your mother. She has been missing you these past few days. Min Jue, call the other brothers too; let’s all have dinner together tonight."

Chen Minjue immediately agreed enthusiastically and went off to call the others.

Linglong saw her father embracing her sister and walking forward. She wanted to go up to them and make a joke like old times, and be affectionate with Xuanji, but her feet wouldn’t move.

The slim silhouette of the young girl seemed somehow unfamiliar, so distant, as if she couldn’t catch up.

She pursed her lips and hung her head as she followed. Suddenly, someone tapped her on the shoulder; she looked up to see Zhong Minyan smiling gently, saying softly: "Stop dawdling, let’s walk faster. There’s plenty of time for whispers tonight."

Moved, she finally nodded with a smile and took his hand, walking together towards the back mountain.