Song Kui glanced over at Ren Leihan with incredulity apparent in his gaze. 

‘Of all things, that's what you first think of?’ Song Kui bit back the exasperated remark that threatened to escape, since there was currently an ‘outsider’ present. No, he had to maintain his leaderly aura…

The staredown was extended as Song Kui narrowed his eyes slightly, trying to scan the other individual with spiritual energy to check for any hints of demonic energy. He was extremely suspect, in his uncannily similar physical appearance and the fact that the pill refining recluse Le Lingyan himself had gone down to fetch him.

To his surprise, Song Kui did manage to detect spiritual energy, but only a very, very weak pulse of it was circulating through his body, like he was someone who had just awakened spiritual veins. That was even more suspicious, even though the other really didn’t have any traces of demonic energy. 

How had such a weak individual communicated with the Le Lingyan who was quietly refining pills shut up in his courtyard? How did he survive for so long in such a dangerous world with such a weak physique, and from where did he come from?

There were too many questions and no answers.

Hence, it was unsurprising that the tension in the stretched silence only kept mounting. 

Both Le Lingyan were not people to initiate conversation, though they had an inkling that they should probably explain things before the situation got out of hand. However, their lifelong buddies known as social anxiety kept both their mouths effectively glued shut.

Social anxiety: Yooo~

Yue Linxia’s eyes darted between the replicated faces, a trace of suspicion surfacing in her light brown eyes as well. Clearly, a cultivator’s sense of danger was shared; what Song Kui thought of, the others could as well… except maybe Ren Leihan. No one knew what went on in that blockhead’s brain.

It was at this moment that the two little outer sect disciples who encountered the modern Le Lingyan in the forest with the grey-crowned crows finally reached the top of the central peak, having hurried behind the two silent men. The two little outer sect disciples were panting and huffing, clearly out of breath.

“Excuse…me, sir! You, cannot, just bring, a suspicious individual, into the sect grounds like this!” One of the two blue-robed disciples, the little shidi, panted heavily with his head bowed and his hands on his thighs. The shixiong behind him looked a little less dishevelled, but was clearly still ruffled by the large distance they had to cover within a short time, moreover on foot. As little outer sect disciples, they hadn’t mastered even the most basic qinggong¹Qinggong is a technique that allows a practitioner to jump very high and far distances, almost like flying due to the lack of resources allocated to them.

“It’s, against sect rule number 12— Ow!” The shidi looked up at the shixiong beside him while rubbing at his arm, which had been secretly pinched by his shixiong. 

“Shidi, shut up.” The shixiong mumbled, clearly catching sight of something unfavourable to them.

Confused, the shidi’s mouth, which had opened ready to retort, shut itself with an audible ‘clop’ once he finally turned to face the front. The sight that greeted him was the Lanyue sect’s most powerful individuals, standing in a row. 

These were figures he only saw once a year! Or maybe even less!! Worse still, all of them were currently staring at them!!!

“S-s-s-se–” The little shidi’s brain circuits seemed to be fried, reduced to a stuttering mess. 

“–ct Master Song, Sword Master Yue, Talisman Master Ren… Sect Elder and Sect Elder’s guest.” The shixiong stepped forward and continued smoothly, half blocking his shidi behind him. He raised his hands in a proper salute with his head slightly bowed, back ramrod straight. However, only he knew that his palms were currently clammy with cold sweat.

“This outer sect disciple greets Lanyue sect’s distinguished leaders and apologises for me and my shidi’s rudeness to chase and berate a sect elder. It is this shixiong’s fault for not educating his shidi properly, hence our failure to recognise an important sect elder.” 

The shidi’s wide eyes reflected the pale face of his shixiong. “S-shi–”

“This outer sect disciple will not turn away from deserved punishment," The shixiong loudly said, cutting him off before his shidi could recklessly say anything else that might create more trouble for them. “However, I also impudently beg for the generous Peak Masters to pardon my xiao²Small, or little shidi by allowing this humble disciple to take the punishment in his place.”

The modern Le Lingyan stood slightly behind ancient Le Lingyan, among the crowd that had turned to face the new arrivals. His heart was thumping so loudly to the point that he vaguely wondered if his ancient self standing nearby could hear his spiking heart rate.

‘This is it.’ modern Le Lingyan thought to himself, almost dizzy in excitement. ‘Exactly something I’d read! It’s almost like I’m in a wuxia novel! 

Unlike his various experiences in this world leading up to the current moment – where he had been made to face many beasts bigger than him, run, jump, climb, and basically go directly against the stay-home otaku’s lifestyle he had been leading for many years – he was finally experiencing a proper wuxia moment!

Modern Le Lingyan felt rather moved. It finally felt like he had finally reached the right genre.

‘I almost thought I transmigrated into a world with the Farming and Wilderness tags. My weak physique would never survive if that were the case.’

Compared to having all those scrutinising gazes of real masters staring at him just now, this was much, much better. He would very happily rather be a background character observing situations like this firsthand.

Though, ‘observing’ was a bit of an overstatement. All he could really see were multicoloured blobs right now... Le Lingyan shrugged. 

No problem, he could simply treat this as an audio drama instead.

On another note, modern Le Lingyan was sure that his social anxiety had only been tamped down temporarily due to his lacking sight. Hence, he hadn’t been forced to bear the full brunt of those heavyweight stares, which resulted in much less of a reaction than he would usually give. On the contrary, his ancient self must have been majorly affected, since he had felt the other trembling, but not noticeably; he had only noticed due to his physical proximity. 

Modern Le Lingyan had never thought that his ancient self also suffered from social anxiety, and he was rather touched by meeting a comrade. 

Ancient Le Lingyan seemed to be able to guess his thoughts, glancing over at him. What met his line of sight was his own face lightly flushed in excitement and the hands hanging by modern Le Lingyan’s sides clenched tightly into fists, trembling. 

A little stunned, ancient Le Lingyan took a few seconds to realise that the other was probably excited at the real life wuxia scene taking place before him. The notion was weird to him, since, well; he was ancient Le Lingyan, and this was ordinary life until now. On the other hand, this was extraordinary to modern Le Lingyan.

A fleeting sense of surrealism slithered through his gut, along with a sense of sudden courage; ancient Le Lingyan suddenly felt that, in this moment, he might be able to do many things he had never dared to before. 

Going with the flow, he took a deep breath and hesitantly reached out, bumping into modern Le Lingyan’s clenched fist next to him with an outstretched pinkie. 

Surprised, modern Le Lingyan looked down and squinted at the thing that touched him. It was a shaking, outstretched hand. Though a bit taken aback, modern Le Lingyan caught the nuance and decisively grabbed the clammy hand that was just about to retreat in hesitation.

Flinching slightly, ancient Le Lingyan vividly felt the warm palm tightly holding his own slightly sweaty palm. It was a strange feeling. It was a foreign touch that wasn’t quite foreign, which also brought relief and an unusual familiarity. It was almost like holding his own hand as the bone structure was exactly the same, but these slim appendages lacked the calluses from sword training.

Modern Le Lingyan quietly squeezed the cool hand in his grasp. He understood these emotions all too well… after all, how many times back in his world had he silently wished someone was there to hold his hands or comfort him when he was alone and trembling, with no way to turn with his social anxiety?

He just never thought that there would come a day that he would be the one comforting others… though said ‘others’ was still himself.

‘Ah, the trembling stopped.’ Ancient Le Lingyan suddenly realised. He exhaled quietly as the wide blue sleeve belonging to him dropped downwards and swept over their intertwined hands, like the newfound courage was protected from the outside world, circulating only between them.

Meanwhile, with his arms folded seriously behind his back, Song Kui turned his attention to the two outer sect disciples. One was saluting with a pale face and the other was bowing his head in shame.

Abruptly, he chuckled and asked, “What is your name?”

The shixiong paused like he hadn’t expected such a jovial attitude from the upper echelons of Lanyue sect. “This one’s name is Yan Zhiping.”

Song Kui turned to the little shidi. “And you?”

Stunned, the brunette only responded after being discreetly elbowed by Yan Zhiping. “T-this, this outer sect disciple is surnamed Wei, named Yang.” He nervously copied his shixiong’s salute.

“Where are the both of you from?” Ren Leihan, who had been silent after his exclamation about long lost twins, suddenly spoke up, looking like his interest had been piqued.

“I-I hail from Haiyang town!” Wei Yang straightened up and nervously reported. 

Unexpectedly, Ren Leihan burst into loud guffaws, half leaning on Yue Linxia next to him, who pushed him aside in annoyance, flicking her dainty fingers at him imbued with spiritual force.

“I meant to ask, which division are you from?”

Wei Yang’s small face flushed completely from embarrassment, before he dutifully answered the questions. “Shixiong and I are from the Patrol Division in Lanshi³Directly translates to Blue Stone house.”

“Oh?” Song Kui raised his eyebrows. “Central Peak is a long way away from Lanshi house’s patrol routes. Both of you managed to wander from the outer sect to the inner sect?”

It seemed impossible, but Wei Yang’s young face seemed to flush even harder, so red it looked like it could drip blood. “I, we, we…” 

Yan Zhiping took over from here. “Reporting to Sect Leader Song, our patrol route today was executed in pairs. Shidi and I reached the outskirts of the first level of the Northern Sect Woods when we abruptly heard the calls of grey-crowned crows.”

“Grey-crowned crows?” Song Kui’s eyebrows rose further.

“Yes, grey-crowned crows…” Yan Zhiping paused here, before he took a deep breath and quickly admitted, “We were alarmed, so shidi and I went into the second level of the Northern Sect Woods to… scout the situation.” In the hopes that they might be able to catch one so they could get noticed by a Peak Master, but here they are. In a twist of fate, not only were they communicating with the Peak Masters, even the Sect Leader was here!

…Though, it wasn’t exactly the ideal situation for a first meeting with the Sect Leader.

“Are you aware that grey-crowned crows are very dangerous spiritual beasts?” Song Kui asked calmly. 

Both Yan Zhiping and Wei Yang bowed their heads heavily, breaking out into cold sweat from anxiety. “...Yes, Sect Leader.”

“Yet with the knowledge, the two of you were still brazen enough to continue wandering into the second level of the sect woods?” The shixiong and shidi pair’s heads further drooped under the pressure. “You are lucky to be alive.”

“Yes, this outer sect disciple is immensely grateful to Sect Elder and Sect Elder’s guest to have made it out alive. Asking for punishment!” Yan Zhiping bravely spoke up.

“Asking for punishment!” Wei yang echoed after this shixiong.

“Oh? You have witnessed the guest’s arrival? Tell me a clear recount of everything you witnessed.” Song Kui urged, suddenly catching onto a main point. Yes… why didn’t he think about it before? The shixiong and shidi pair had chased after Le Lingyan, so they should have witnessed at least a part of how the replica met with Pill Elder Le. 

‘Nice! Witnesses obtained!’ Both Le Lingyan also realised the same fact in the moment, both of their shoulders sagging slightly in relief.

Two people had volunteered to explain for them, so they longer had to bear the stress of mustering the courage to open their mouths.

“When shidi and I reached the approximate area of where we had heard the grey-crowned crows calling, the woods suddenly went silent. We walked in the area cautiously for a few minutes, but did not encounter anything, not even the most common jumping rodents. Finding it strange, shidi and I were ready to retreat when an adult grey-crowned crow swooped down from above, almost claiming our lives.” Remembering the close call, Yan Zhiping felt cold sweat slide down his nape.

“Just then, a blue robed man, the distinguished Sect Elder over there, flew out from behind us and blew us out of the crow’s attack range with a huge gust of spiritual wind!” Like he was replaying the scene in his mind, Wei Yang almost had stars in his eyes. 

Modern Le Lingyan turned over to stare at his ancient self, similar awe in his eyes. Ancient Le Lingyan felt embarrassed, but somehow didn’t cringe from the attention as usual. (Was getting admired by his other self considered narcissism?)

“Then, the grey-crowned crow paused its attacks for some reason, which allowed the Sect Elder to fly past the crow. The crow went after him, but Sect Elder soon returned holding the unconscious guest in his arms. He swept us out of the forest with spiritual energy before speeding up the mountain with qinggong… So, we had trouble catching up.” 

There was silence as everyone considered the story. Modern Le Lingyan was also hearing of this for the first time, since he had woken up on the grass under a tree somewhere on the route up the mountain. 

“We have never had grey-crowned crows in our sect woods before, so these probably settled down in our sect woods earlier this year, Sect Leader.” Yue Linxia turned to Song Kui. “Allow me to investigate and record their presence in our sect books as you handle matters here.” 

‘No need to look for us!’ An unfamiliar female voice suddenly rang out in both Le Lingyan’s minds. A strong gust of wind caused their long hair to scatter in disarray, some inevitably ending up in their mouths. 

‘–Cool descriptions of cultivators in novels never warned me about this!’ Modern Le Lingyan almost wanted to swear as he frantically swiped at his face, trying his best to get hair out of his face and mouth. What was all that about “so and so’s long ebony hair was lifted backwards by the passing breeze, flapping his immaculate white immortal daoist robes stained by blood flowers…”?!?

It was all a lie, unless the wind never blew in the opposite direction! They never wrote about cultivators accidentally accidentally eating their own hair because of the wind!

As everyone got used to the heavy wind, everyone looked up to see four grey-crowned crows casting huge shadows on the floor. They hovered far above, blocked out by the sect mountain’s defensive barrier.

It was the most basic defensive barrier that would activate automatically in a siege or facing any attacks. More barriers would have to be manually erected by the Peak Masters, but this basic barrier would hold out against a single full-blown attack from a Golden Core cultivator, which was impressive enough.

‘Didi!’⁴Younger brother, but not necessarily related by blood The unfamiliar female voice continued. It was at this moment modern Le Lingyan, who made eye contact with his ancient counterpart next to him, realised that others most likely could not hear the voice, which was most probably the female crow’s spiritual voice.

The four adult grey-crowned crows were sending occasional wind blades at the barrier, which was filtered and had its force dampened, resulting in only stirring a strong wind down on the floor. 

‘We’re here to save you!’

– ❀ –

[1] Qinggong: Qinggong is a technique that allows a practitioner to jump very high and far distances, almost like flying

[2] Xiao: Small, or little 

[3] Lanshi: Directly translates to Blue Stone (note: I might use Bluestone house and Lanshi house interchangeably in the future!)

[4]  Didi: Younger brother, but not necessarily related by blood

~~

✉ Author's corner: ✉

Happy Lunar New Year! It’s officially the Year of the Tiger 🐯🧧 This lunar year’s element is water, so hopefully it washes away all the bad luck! XD

For me, I hope it washes away my writer’s block >:c My New Year’s resolution is to be able to stock up on several chapters so I can post on time(??). Though I have a feeling I might not be able to follow through for too long… maybe I can prove myself wrong. ( ︶^︶) =3

Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and as usual, don’t be afraid to comment your thoughts! 

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