Senior

Slowly but steadily, a world began to form in Yujin's vision. He found himself in a bed, covered with bandages and with a heavy and hurting body.

He was alone in a strange room and didn't know what happened after he passed out. But judging by his state, he thought he was rescued by the reinforcements of the sect.

After a short blank in his mind, he began to worry about Long Xue. In the last fight, he was struggling hard to not be killed and had no time to pay attention to her, so he was worried she would be wounded in the aftermath of his battle.

He inspected his body and found that everything seemed normal besides his wounds, his cultivation base was still there.

He had a reason to worry about it since the Furnace had varying degrees of punishments for people who absorbed the energies of living beings.

Then, he began to feel pain in his mind. It wasn't his head, he knew it was his soul that was hurting.

The pain grew to the point that Yujin almost passed out.

"It seems the wound in your soul is still healing," a rough voice came from his side, and an old woman suddenly appeared, "You are lucky it was just a superficial wound, otherwise your cultivation career would have been cut off."

"Where am I?" Yujin asked after taking a deep breath, "What happened to the little girl that was with me?"

"What a wonderful feeling, to worry about others after almost dying," the old woman giggled, "She was hurt by the aftermath of your battle, but it's not something too grave, she will be fine after a few days..."

"That's good," Yujin sighed in relief and felt his heart turning lighter, "Where am I?"

"This is the sect's branch in Hebei," the old woman answered.

"This... Hebei? So far away?" Yuhin was shocked, "For how long was I unconscious?"

"Almost two weeks," the old woman explained, "Your soul was wounded after all, didn't I just say you were lucky?"

After a short silence, Yujin asked, "What happened to... the people in the branch?"

"When we arrived there, there were just ruins and corpses..." the old woman sighed and shook her head, "Those bastards hit an egg with a hammer, they dispatched a Real Person to destroy a small branch..."

Yujin's eyes shrink, he knew what a Real Person was, someone in the Nascent Soul Realm.

"...Survivors?" Yujin asked with clenched fists, "Surely some people managed to escape?"

"Well, perhaps..." the old woman sighed bitterly, "But we don't have notice of anyone escaping besides you and the little girl."

Yujin took a deep breath and asked, "Is she awake? How is she?"

The old woman sighed and asked back, "What do you expect?"

"Can you help me see her?" Yujin asked with pleading eyes, "I know very well how she must be feeling."

The old woman gave him a deep look and said, "I have a little information about you, you are an orphan, right?"

"...More or less," Yujin frowned and put his hand on the wound on his chest, "Are you going to help me see her?"

The old woman nodded, "Since you want to, why not? I will bring her here, you are too hurt to move, it's a miracle you survived.

"Oh, by the way, my name is... Long Meng," the old woman smiled brightly, "I'm the little girl's grandaunt."

Yujin was surprised but at the same time happy, at least Long Xue wasn't left alone in the world... like him.

After a few minutes, Long Xue was brought into the room by Long Meng. The little girl had a gloomy face and tried hard to squeeze a smile for Yujin.

"Elder brother, you... finally awake, heh?"

Yujin gestured for her to get closer and hugged her, "I'm happy you are okay, I was worried about you.

"I know you are strong, but I must hear your complaints, right?"

Tears began to appear in her eyes and she began to cry loudly in his arms, "Why are they taking so long to come here? I miss them!"

Yujin didn't lie to comfort her, he knew it would only backfire later. Instead, he just heard her complaints and silently comforted her with a warm hug.

After a few dozen minutes, Long Xue was finally exhausted by crying and fell asleep right there, in his arms.

Long Meng put her on the bed properly, beside him, and said, "I'm glad she has someone close enough right now.

"I only saw her a few times before, so we aren't so close."

"Blood is thicker than water," Yujin shook his head with deep eyes, "Even if you don't see it, this is the truth."

Long Meng looked at him meaningfully and sighed, "This world is full of misery."

"It's not the world's fault," Yujin said, "We humans are the culprits of our own misery."

Long Meng didn't know what to say and just left them alone in the room.

Yujin felt his eyelids heaving down and didn't resist, he quickly fell asleep.

...

"Hey, looks like the kid is about to die, be quick!"

Five people descended from the sky and looked at Yujin, who was slowly bleeding to death with a sword impaled on his chest, three men and two women.

"The little girl is wounded too, give her some healing medicine."

"Damn! I only have a few pills appropriate for someone so weak."

One of the women examined the place and frowned deeply, she looked at the hollow corpse not far away and felt something was gravely wrong.

"It looks like demonic magic," the other woman said after looking at the corpse, "But why would a demon practitioner save them?"

"Something is wrong!" a man shouted after examining Yujin, "This kid is probably the one who fought that dead woman to death, look at his wounds, it was a long fight."

"I can't sense the cultivation base of the owner of the corpse, there's not a single trace of energy remaining... her corpse is about to turn into dust."

"Look at the sword, it's a treasured weapon from someone in the Foundation Establishment Realm..."

"The kid couldn't possibly have fought someone at that Realm, he is just at the fifth layer of the Qi Refining Realm."

The five discussed bravely while treating the wounds of Yujin and Long Xue.

"Stop wasting time," a female voice full of power came from the sky, "Let's hurry!"

"Yes, sir!" the five didn't dare to waste time and set off with Yujin and Long Xue still unconscious.

...

Yujin opened his eyes again and first noticed that Long Xue was no longer by his side, she had been sleeping with him for the last few weeks while he recuperated.

After three weeks of recuperation, Yujin could finally walk and do basic things by himself, he no longer was locked to the bed.

He got up and walked outside. The branch in Hebei was located at the top of a mountain, close to a big city. It was much bigger and more prosperous than the branch in Azure Lake City. Many disciples were living there, including outer disciples, it was a more important branch of the sect.

A fresh breeze hit his face and made his hair flutter, he enjoyed it for a while and admired the scenery silently.

"Elder brother, you are awake!" a sweet voice woke him from his daze and Long Xue tugged his sleeve, "How are you feeling?"

Long Xue wasn't wearing the same colored clothing as before, but rather a deep blue robe, it was the clothing of a personal disciple of an Elder of the Sect. In theory, she had the same status of an inner disciple even without having the equivalent cultivation base.

Long Meng was someone in the Golden Core Realm, and she accepted Long Xue as her only disciple. It enabled her to receive very good treatment from the sect despite her swallow cultivation base.

"Why are you lazing off? You should be cultivating right now," Yujin flicked his finger at her forehead, "Go back to your cave abode and concentrate!"

"But I was worried," Long Xue pouted, "I'm very talented and don't need to put in too much effort to advance!"

Yujin sighed helplessly and said, "Is it really impossible for your disposition to change? You are wasting your talent!"

"But I'm already doing my best!" Long Xue was angry, "I just left my cave abode to see if you are alright, stinky brother."

"Alas," Yujin shook his head and waved his hand, "I'm fine, return before your aunt caught you."

"Little girl, shouldn't you be focusing right now?" Long Meng suddenly appeared beside them, "You are about to break through, why are you still like this?"

Long Xue pouted and avoided eye contact.

Long Meng caught her by the ear and took her away, "Let's go."

Long Xue gave Yujin a pleading look, but he just ignored her.

"Bah! I hate you!" Long Xue shouted after seeing Yujin ignoring her.

After enjoying fresh air for a while, Yujin returned to the inside and began to meditate using the heart sutra, he had recently found inspiration and his state of mind was further refined.

After two more weeks, Yujin was thoroughly healed, including his soul, which was the most worrying factor. So much so that he didn't even dare to cultivate or practice secret techniques until it healed completely.

But he didn't immediately report his healing to the sect.

That branch of the sect had a very strong Spiritual Qi Gathering Formation, so it was about forty times denser than in the ordinary wild. It was more than enough for Yujin to cultivate.

He first began to refine his cultivation to the limit of the fifth layer and then let his body adapt for a few days, he didn't break through because he knew the sect had information about his talent.

Being in the fifth layer was already abnormal since it wasn't long since he advanced to the fourth layer. Advancing to the sixth layer would bring even more suspicion unto him.

Just as he stabilized his Realm and was ready to report his complete recovery to the sect, so he could return to his life as a registered disciple... a person visited him.

It was a beautiful mature woman with long crimson hair, she had jewel-like red eyes and a transcendent aura emanating from her.

The woman appeared suddenly beside him, so he didn't know what to do or say. He only wondered if it was an enemy ready to take his life.

After glancing at each other in silence for a while, the woman said, "Why aren't you greeting your senior?"

Yujin was confused but still did as she said, "Disciple greets senior, may I know who are you?"

The woman didn't answer him immediately but instead grabbed his arm and frowned, "It is stronger, have you been cultivating while you healed? Do you want to suffer qi-deviation?"

"I'm sorry?" Yujin didn't know why she was worried about him, "How can I help senior?"

The woman glanced at him with a deep gaze and asked, "Who are you?"

Yujin felt something strange all around as if a strange energy was trying to penetrate his whole being and see what was hidden within.

"My name is Yujin, senior, I have no surname," Yujin said with sweat on his forehead.

"Really?" the woman asked with her mouth forming an arc, "Why would someone without a surname, someone with such a clean and ordinary background, have such strong true qi while in the fifth layer of the Qi Refining Realm?"

Yujin understood he was busted and said, "My name is Yujin, someone without family, only a strange mother far away. I have nothing in my name, and my past has since early been checked by trusted sources... Why is senior doubting me?"

The woman snorted and gave him a sharp glance, "That's why I'm doubtful. You have a seven-elemental spirit root, which is rare but bad. You have no extraordinary background, and thus it is illogical for your foundation to be so deep.

"I can only assume that you are either someone with ill intentions or someone who had a fortuitous encounter.

"Which of them are you?"

Just as she stopped talking, Yujin felt murderous intent coming from her aura, his skin felt like it was being washed by sharp and cold water.

Yujin felt an interesting feeling, he was annoyed. He had just survived a catastrophe, but the world seemed to harbor a huge resentment against him.

Yujin knew that he should have been feeling fear, but the annoyance was too strong. He looked back at the woman with clear eyes and barely controlled his impulse to say something rude.

"Senior... I just had a fortuitous encounter, that's all," he said with a sigh and a complex expression, "Isn't normal for me to hide it from others?"

After a short silence, the woman stopped intimidating him with her aura and said, "I get it, you aren't lying, and you aren't wrong by hiding it."

The woman seemed to sense something and asked, "Are you angry?"

"...Yes," Yujin sighed, he knew it was impossible to hide it from her, "I'm sorry, I just... couldn't help it."

"Heh," the woman grinned, not angry at all, and said, "You have an interesting temperament."

"...Thanks for the praise," Yujin said with a confused expression.

"Do you want to be... my disciple?" the woman asked with a calm gaze but serious eyes.

Yujin doubted his ears and looked at her dumbly, "Your disciple?"

"You heard it right, answer me," the woman said and began to intimidate Yujin again with her aura.

'Damn, why are you trying to scare me?' Yujin cursed in his heart and knew he couldn't refuse and offend such a strong person, even if he doubted her motives.