It was already nightfall when Ling Luo arrived at the outer sect.

She thought that with Yue Liangze’s wooden personality, he would still be dutifully serving his punishment at the medicine hall, so she quietly climbed into the pharmacy but found no one there.

Could he have finished his work already?

Ling Luo left without disturbing the senior sister of the medicine hall and went to Yue Liangze’s small courtyard.

The stone lamps along the way were already lit. When she reached the courtyard, she saw bright lights inside but no cooking smoke.

Ling Luo waited at the courtyard gate for a while, standing on tiptoe to peek inside, but he didn’t seem to be there either.

Previously, she had always come stealthily, not showing herself, quietly lurking. Now she was openly appearing here, but Yue Liangze was nowhere to be seen, which annoyed her a bit.

It was nighttime, and Yue Liangze should have returned to make dinner.

Ling Luo waited patiently for a while and finally saw Yue Liangze returning.

He was carrying a black pair of fire tongs in his hand and a bamboo basket on his back, coming from a small forest path. He was slightly startled when he saw Ling Luo standing in front of his courtyard.

“Where did you go?” Ling Luo, who had been sitting on the stone steps, stood up and asked quietly, “Instead of staying home and making your dinner, did you go run errands for others and take their punishment again?”

Yue Liangze didn’t know why she was there. After a moment of silence, he said, “No.”

Ling Luo glared at him, feeling frustrated. Blockhead, dunce, why are you so taciturn?

Just as she finished her mental complaint, she saw Yue Liangze walking into the courtyard, saying, “I went to the mountains to collect chestnuts. Just got back. Do you need something?”

As he passed by, Ling Luo finally saw what was in the bamboo basket. The raw chestnuts that had fallen from the trees were still wrapped in their green prickly shells. Those dense thorns were painful to touch, and Yue Liangze was using the fire tongs in his hand to pick them up.

Ling Luo remembered the chestnut roasted chicken, chestnut porridge, and chestnut cakes he had made for her to eat before. She was tempted, so she nodded and said, “I dealt with Senior Brother Hong Mao and his friends for you. How come you haven’t shown any appreciation?”

Yue Liangze put the basket down by the stone table and turned to look at Ling Luo, asking with some hesitation, “For me?”

Ling Luo said with a straight face, “Who else if not you? I have no grudge against them. I just couldn’t stand them bullying you.”

Not true.

She had simply seen through Hong Mao’s intentions and dealt with him first, not giving him a chance to seek revenge against her. It just happened to coincide with her inability to participate in the martial trial to become a personal disciple, giving her an excuse to find Yun Shouxi.

Yue Liangze stood in the moonlight, silently looking at her for a moment, then lowered his eyes and said softly, “Thank you.”

“What use is just saying thank you?” Ling Luo stood at the courtyard gate, pointing at the basket, and said, “I haven’t had dinner yet. I came down from the inner sect specifically to see you.”

The implication was clear: Aren’t you going to invite me to dinner to thank me?

Yue Liangze said, “Then you should head back early.”

There was a curfew between the inner and outer sects. He was worried Ling Luo would get back late.

But Ling Luo was about to explode with anger.

“How can you be so stingy! I drove away the people who were bullying you. Is it so hard to treat me to a meal?” Ling Luo said angrily. “And you’ve collected so many chestnuts! Is it so difficult to make me a chestnut roasted chicken?!”

Yue Liangze remained silent in the face of Ling Luo’s sudden outburst.

As Ling Luo was about to step forward and forcibly take the chestnuts, she heard him say, “I don’t know how to make chestnut roasted chicken.”

Without thinking, Ling Luo retorted, “You’re lying! You know how!”

Yue Liangze raised his eyes to look at her, his gaze clear, “When I learn how in the future, I’ll make it for you then.”

Only then did Ling Luo come to her senses—the young man before her was not the Yue Liangze who had been trapped on Mount Tianzhao.

Perhaps the current version of him truly didn’t know how to make chestnut roasted chicken.

Ling Luo pressed her lips together and compromised, “Fine then, please make me something else to eat.”

“The chestnuts haven’t been peeled yet. If you’re hungry, I can stir-fry a couple of small dishes,” Yue Liangze said, rolling up his sleeves to reveal the firm, slender lines of his forearms.

“You go cook, I’ll peel the chestnuts,” Ling Luo finally stepped into the courtyard.

She took out Yingxi and opened it with a swish, the semicircular fan surface adorned with tiny specks of floating light.

Yue Liangze glanced at it. Ling Luo twirled her wrist and fanned him, deliberately teasing, “A superior-grade weapon, isn’t it beautiful?”

Jealous? Want one?

Yue Liangze made a sound of acknowledgment and turned to go to the kitchen, showing not the slightest trace of envy or longing.

So above it all!

Ling Luo muttered to herself as she sat down at the stone table. She channeled her spiritual energy to control Yingxi, mastering each portion of energy perfectly, skillfully and quickly slicing off the prickly shells. The chestnuts that flew down were caught on the fan’s surface.

She was quite adept at using Yingxi now.

If Yun Shouxi saw this, he would have to praise her innate talent.

Yue Liangze came from the kitchen with a bamboo basket and placed it on the stone table. Seeing Ling Luo using a superior-grade weapon to peel chestnuts, he couldn’t help but be stunned.

Ling Luo put the chestnuts from the fan into the bamboo basket and asked him, “Your written test ranked thirtieth, which is just enough to enter the inner sect. How come your name wasn’t announced today?”

Yue Liangze lowered his eyes and said, “I don’t know.”

His answer was straightforward, but Ling Luo somehow didn’t believe it.

She rolled her eyes and said, “Maybe there was some misunderstanding. Come on, I’ll take you to the inner sect right now to ask the hall master for clarification.”

“No need,” Yue Liangze turned to walk into the house. “I only took the test to make Xiu Man fall below the passing line. That day, if you hadn’t intervened, even if I hadn’t been punished, I wouldn’t have gone to take the martial trial.”

“You don’t want to go to the inner sect?” Ling Luo asked.

Yue Liangze said, “No.”

Ling Luo slightly raised her eyebrows as she looked at the young man’s straight back.

She raised her hand to the fan, blowing the chestnuts on the ground into the air, then slicing them open with the spiritual blades that flew from Yingxi.

Ling Luo asked, “Then why did you enter Eastern Island Tianji? All outer sect disciples aspire to enter the inner sect.”

Yue Liangze went into the kitchen and said without much emotion, “To make a living.”

Ling Luo: “…”

For a moment, she couldn’t refute him.

Despite what Yue Liangze said, she still felt something was odd. But knowing she couldn’t get answers from this wooden block, she had to let it go for now.

Yue Liangze came out to fetch water and sort vegetables. Ling Luo watched him bustling about, listening to the rapid chopping sounds. The night lamps cast his silhouette on the window, captivating her.

In a moment of inattention, a prickly shell flicked by Yingxi landed on the back of her hand. The sudden sting brought Ling Luo back to reality, and she secretly frowned.

She had been wondering why she entered Eastern Island Tianji.

Initially, it wasn’t to enter the inner sect.

It was because she was being hunted and needed a place to hide.

And also to gain power and become stronger.

Ling Luo looked at the back of her hand, where the prickly shell had pricked her, leaving a red mark. It was a bit painful, but nothing more than that.

She peeled the chestnuts very quickly with Yingxi. By the time Yue Liangze came out with the food, Ling Luo had long finished and was lying on the stone table, playing with the completely black jade listener.

Ling Luo activated it with a drop of blood, and tiny golden patterns lit up around the edges of the jade listener.

Yue Liangze paid no attention to this. He set out bowls and chopsticks on the table, filled a bowl with white rice for Ling Luo, and said, “It’s ready to eat.”

Ling Luo sniffed the aroma of the food, and her stomach rudely growled.

Ling Luo: “…”

Yue Liangze looked at her without blinking.

“Don’t look!” Ling Luo glared at him, put down the jade listener, and went to eat.

Yue Liangze lowered his eyes, somewhat wanting to laugh.

As the two ate, Ling Luo asked him where he had collected the chestnuts, and Yue Liangze said it was on the back mountain.

“There are countless back mountains here,” Ling Luo said with her cheeks puffed out. “How come I’ve never seen you at the cultivation hall?”

Yue Liangze said, “Don’t want to go.”

“You can just not go if you don’t want to?” Ling Luo said irritably. “Won’t the master look for trouble with you?”

Yue Liangze: “No.”

Ling Luo bit her chopsticks and asked suspiciously, “Do you have some kind of backing? Which hall master is protecting you?”

“My spiritual energy is too weak, I can’t cultivate, so there’s no point in going,” Yue Liangze said calmly. “Also, I don’t want to go.”

“Then why does Tianji keep you around?” Ling Luo still didn’t believe him. “If you don’t cultivate and don’t have the aptitude, they should have sent you down the mountain long ago.”

Yue Liangze said, “They keep me for odd jobs.”

Ling Luo: “…”

She swallowed a mouthful of food, feeling complicated.

You, the number one sword cultivator, are serving as an odd-job disciple in the outer sect of Eastern Island Tianji.

Is Eastern Island Tianji too confident or too blind?

No, no, this guy currently has weak spiritual energy and can’t cultivate. Eastern Island Tianji doesn’t know this hidden gem, but she does.

Before you learn all kinds of powerful sword techniques, let me have some fun first.

So Ling Luo smiled with crescent-shaped eyes as she looked at Yue Liangze and said, “Sword cultivation doesn’t solely pursue spiritual energy. Even with weak spiritual energy, you can still achieve something.”

“At most, you’d be a bit behind in techniques and spells.”

Yue Liangze looked up at her, and Ling Luo said, “Just practice more, at least when someone bullies you again, you won’t just take the beating.”

She continued, “But you can’t practice alone. It’s only useful when two people spar and break down moves together.”

Yue Liangze: “Mm.”

Ling Luo said patiently, “After we finish eating, I’ll practice with you.”

Yue Liangze: “No need.”

Ling Luo didn’t listen and said, “I won’t use spiritual energy, just sword techniques.”

“No…”

“Hey,” Ling Luo tapped her bowl with her chopsticks and said seriously, “Senior Brother, I have good intentions. In the future, when I go to the inner sect, what will you do if you’re bullied out here again?”

Yue Liangze fell silent.

Wasn’t it she who said he wasn’t her senior brother and that she shouldn’t be called junior sister?

Seeing Ling Luo’s serious expression, Yue Liangze didn’t refuse anymore.

He thought his junior sister was sincere.

After dinner, Yue Liangze busied himself in the kitchen while Ling Luo broke off a branch of begonia flowers from the tree, waiting to spar with him.

The crickets chirped incessantly in the night. Ling Luo removed the excess twigs and casually wielded the branch a few times.

Yue Liangze washed his hands and came out with a wooden sword.

The courtyard was spacious enough for the two to exchange a few moves.

Ling Luo said, “I’ll only use Tianji’s basic techniques.”

With that said, she took the lead, holding her sword and attacking Yue Liangze.

Without using spiritual energy, relying only on sword techniques.

Yue Liangze steadily received this attack.

When the wooden sword and flower branch collided, they didn’t produce the humming of sword blades but rather a somewhat dull, low sound.

Ling Luo had seen Yue Liangze practice the basics painstakingly but had never seen him use a sword to fight someone.

Now as they sparred, she was startled to find that his application of the sword and understanding of techniques were not inferior.

The outer sect of Eastern Island Tianji didn’t teach anything—movements, techniques, spells, incantations, and the myriad phenomena of heaven and earth were all covered, numerous and varied. It was only after entering the inner sect that one would specialize in one or two.

Both of them specialized in sword cultivation, but their talents in other domains were not low either.

True geniuses aren’t limited by spiritual energy.

After several exchanges, Ling Luo discovered that Yue Liangze learned very quickly. The sword techniques that she had suppressed him with, he could soon return with the same force.

Ling Luo smiled strangely, “Senior Brother, looking at your rich combat experience, it seems you’ve practiced with people quite a bit.”

Yue Liangze tilted his head, avoiding her attack, and said softly, “Today is the first time.”

Ling Luo: “…”

So skilled on the first try?

What are you showing off for?

I’m done!

Ling Luo’s techniques became fierce, her movements suddenly accelerating, catching Yue Liangze off guard. In the next moment, she had disarmed him, and he was knocked to the ground by the flower branch.

The night wind rustled, and begonia flowers from outside the courtyard fluttered in with the breeze.

Yue Liangze supported himself with his hands and sat up from the ground, looking toward the young woman standing at the front of the courtyard.

Weren’t we just using basic techniques?

But Ling Luo had already turned to leave, dropping the flower branch and leaving only a light remark, “Senior Brother, you still need more practice.”

Yue Liangze was silent.

His brain was repeatedly bouncing between “Ling Luo sincerely wanted to spar” and “Ling Luo was mocking him through the duel.”