Su Jing sighed. Maybe she was worrying too much.
The soup was warm and delicious, and the dumplings were tender, with a soft texture that satisfied her hunger. Her body seemed to absorb the spiritual Qi well.
Of course, in cultivation, it wasn't a really significant effect, but Su Jing felt satisfied with this, too. She at least had now the energy to run around if she wanted.
Continuing to eat, her gaze went down to the busy street. Countless people were strolling around, carrying intricate swords. The sun made them shine beautifully as if it had imprinted a special power.
A stunning female cultivator had such a splendid weapon, in tune with her flowing lavender robes. She had a slim, tall figure, and her hair was gorgeous enough to be held with high-quality jade pins. She was standing not far away from the restaurant, being close enough for Su Jing to easily hear her from the upper floor.
"Is Elder Brother Wu thinking of dining in this restaurant?" her voice was serene, like a fairy. She gazed lovingly at the male cultivator beside her, holding his arm with adoration.
Regarding him, Su Jing found him not too far in looks either, as his attire had a green colour that complemented her clothes well. It looked even more expensive if Su Jing could say, since the material used seemed imbued in spiritual Qi. It was clearly a cloth used for defence.
Attached to his belt was a sword, longer and bigger than the girl's. He was going to nod at her, but suddenly, Su Jing too was surprised to see another character getting in between those two.
It was a woman. Much smaller than the two of them, she wore a deep green colour paired with black, enough to gravely contrast with the pale colours the others wore. Her hair was also shorter, the upper part being kept in two small buns.
”Senior Brother!” she called, her voice aggrieved, ”You don't even know how much I have searched for you. Why weren't you responding to my calling talismans? It got me really worried!”
Her lower lip trembled, giving fast and hateful side glances to the other woman.
”Little Wan.” The man called her name, turning towards her. The girl immediately went closer and kept pulling his sleeve delicately, wanting to make sure the man's attention remained on her.
”You know you promised me we would hunt spiritual beasts together, right? Did you forget that, brother?”
The other woman frowned as she saw her, looking visibly annoyed. She nearly went to respond to her, but the man lifted his hand, signalling her to stop.
”Of course, I didn't. How could I?” he caressed her face with his fingers, placing some messy hairs behind her ear, "But little sister Wan might have to wait for that. We can hunt anytime, but a good meal is a rare pleasure, wouldn't you agree?"
The girl pouted. ”Then elder brother needs to keep his word. You rarely get free time from our sect so it would be a shame to miss that.”
Oh, so they were sect disciples. Su Jing could only imagine they were part of one that put the accent on swordmasters since they all seemed to hold swords - even the last woman, though it wasn't as grand as the other two's weapons.
Su Jing watched them enter, curiously caught in this love triangle that just happened. A handsome man who seemed to be the love project of two cultivator women, yet he was hot-cold to both of them.
This smelled like an important male character but she couldn't recognise him yet. He was too far away. She tried to lean over the window to better see him. Still, unfortunately for her, he had already entered with the two girls, disappearing from her range.
”Did something happen outside?” Ya Wen stared out of the window too, while putting the chopsticks sideways.
Since it would be suspicious if she were to say she saw someone she knew, Su Jing shook her hands, not wanting to create baseless misunderstandings. ”There were some cultivators outside who caught my attention. Their swords were so elegant so I couldn't help but stare at them.”
Ya Wen withdrew his gaze, though his attention still lingered outside, ”They must be sword cultivators from a sword sect. Yang City has this marketplace open only temporarily so probably they are here to find opportunities in enhancing their weapons.”
A marketplace? Su Jing would have wanted to visit it but unfortunately, she had no money.
”Are you actually interested in swordsmanship?” Ya Wen asked, his tone a bit curious, ”Though training usually begins from childhood like in forging, you can still work it through with enough perseverance. It is not impossible. I have heard of generals in the mortal realm who defeated cultivators with just their will enough.”
Su Jing knew Ya Wen's words were not baseless. If there was something mortals could do like immortals, then that was swordsmanship. Although it was easy for them to easily get overwhelmed if an immortal had trained their sword intent, the thing was - people in the mortal realm could also enhance their sword intent at the academy!
That was thanks to some immortal ancestors who built that academy to help mortals defend themselves from the aggressive spiritual beasts. This academy had annexes across the mortal realm, the smallest one, obviously in the Qin Country, where Feng Zhihao made a mess with the corrupt teachers.
Although sword intent only increased their agility, there were mortals talented enough to even physically show sword Qi. Such a prodigy was Feng Zhihaos's father, the head of the Feng family who even trained with a master from the immortal realm. That was how he encountered Feng Zhihao's mother, an herbalist doctor and niece of his master.
Their love was so strong that the mother willingly came to the mortal realm in hiding and became a teacher in pharmacology and medicine at the academy. The master was opposed, so he fought with Feng Zhihao's father, dismissing him as a disciple.
Things were rather peaceful, at first, and Feng Zhihao was born with a title even greater than a princess. She was engaged to the most favoured prince of the Qin Country, and other royal families even fought that decision saying that their prince was better for such an esteemed lady.
After all, it wasn't that strange for other countries to wish for such a connection with Feng Zhihao - they were probably thinking that her offspring would be even more powerful and that would come as a guarantee of who the next top power country will become in the mortal realm.
It was sad thinking that, but mortals often had this habit of ”breeding” to obtain the best roots. Su Jing, as much as she was a mortal too, preferred to stay ostracised between immortals rather than becoming a ”furnace” for some lesser noble.
Most probably that was the case of her forced marriage. Those villagers sold her to a noble in need of a weak but competent woman in cultivation. She wasn't powerful enough to protect herself so the very blessing of her roots became her curse, unfortunately.
She did not have the protection of two powerful parents, like in Feng Zhihao's case. Feng Zhihao remained engaged to Qin Wu Rong, the crown prince of Qin at that time because her parents wished to not be implicated in the power struggle of an even bigger kingdom.
Qin Country was small and peaceful, especially weak, but with the protection of the cultivation academy - it couldn't be carelessly attacked. Feng Zhihao would be like this permanently protected, while allowed to raise her head even above the royal Qin family.
Of course, her other prospective fiance candidates would encounter her later, making each one fall in love with her - such a case was the Prince of Wei, Wei Mu Xing. He was bound to be the ”loyal dog” and that type of childhood friend the female lead carelessly forgot about.
And there were so many others - in simple words, any man with a powerful background was bound to fall in love with her. But he, Wei Mu Xing, was special because he was an amazing mortal swordsman, almost on the same foot as the main male lead. He was the type of mortal Yawen mentioned - talented and powerful.
Naturally, it went without saying that Su Jing could also reach the level of a skilled swordsman - Ya Wen wasn't wrong. However, while she knew that wielding a sword could save her life anytime, what concerned her more was the ethics of sword masters.
Swordmasters often engaged in bloody duels, fighting for honour—or, as Su Jing saw it in the story, for their pride. To her, these battles were often pointless, drawing in any weaker cultivators with a sword attached to their belt - just so the stronger ones could feel powerful.
”For now, I am not really sure about my talents.” Su Jing in the end responded, not wanting to be too hastened in her decisions, ”Has cultivator Wen any experience with swords? I had never even touched one till now.”
Ya Wen wouldn't comment if he knew nothing about this subject. He nodded, and for a second his eyes flickered. ”I have some skills, but not enough to be called a sword master. My father used to train me when I was little but that was all of it.”
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Unconsciously, Su Jing looked at his cane, understanding his situation. Poor health and swordsmanship didn't really go hand in hand.
”Was your father a swordsman?”
She might recognise him as a character if she discovers more about him. However, opposing her expectations, Ya Wen shook his head, ”My father had the knowledge, but not the constitution. Even my mother, though she was known for her fast sword flying, wasn't a swordswoman.”
Still, his parents sounded like two great cultivators! It was hard to teach swordsmanship, so for them to train him meant those two were quite big.
Su Jing tried to recall couples who weren’t officially swordsmen but were known for their skills. Though several came to mind, she wasn’t sure if any fit Ya Wen’s situation.
”That means you practice something else, right? In my village, I often heard stories of immortals practising medicine and talismans so I have always been curious how they were made.”
Since she wouldn't receive too much information about swordsmanship, she could always change the subject to something else. After all, in towns, cultivation was often considered a legend, so she figured her curiosity would seem natural.
To her relief, Ya Wen seemed at ease discussing this topic.
”These would be called alchemists or practicers of the life. Unfortunately, I am not really fond of making spiritual pills or elixirs. That's why I did not even have medicines on me when I fell down.”
He looked a bit embarrassed as he said this, but soon after, he began rummaging through his sleeves. A moment later, he pulled out a thin piece of paper.
“This is a talisman I made. It’s not of high grade, but it’s something nearly every cultivator carries.”
Su Jing leaned in to examine it, noting the intricate red ink patterns on the talisman. Even without touching it, she could sense a faint energy emanating. Ya Wen held it out as if inviting her to touch it.
Tentatively, she reached out, but as soon as her fingers made contact, the talisman disintegrated into dust. Su Jing flinched, thinking she had done something.
”Don't worry, I was the one who activated it.”
After Ya Wen said that, a strange warm air embraced her body. The grime on her skin vanished, and to her astonishment, she now smelled of fresh roses. Her clothes sparkled as if newly washed.
”It really works wonders, right?” Ya Wen chuckled, watching as Su Jing marvelled at the transformation.
She had been uncomfortable all this time because of her dirty body and only Heaven knew how much she desired to get a bath.
Feeling gratitude well up inside her, Su Jing almost wanted to kowtow to Ya Wen, ”Thank you so much, cultivator Wen!” Her hair, now curled up, began getting in her face. She went her fingers through it, now really feeling the beautiful power of cultivation!
That's it, she will do talismans for a living! She always found talismans lame through Feng Zhi Hao's lenses but in truth, she now found these so cool!
Yawen put two more in front of her, ”These will not activate without infusing Qi energy so you can keep them for later. I already have too many since I am a practitioner of space.”
Su Jing took them into her hands, realising even without experience that these were really done well.
”So you are a talisman master? I thought talismans were something only used for exorcising.”
Of course, Su Jing already knew the deal about the type of practitioners, but she couldn't look knowledgeable when she started posing as an uncultured village girl.
”You can say that, though I also study arrays and formations. Practitioners of space mainly work with things like that.” he paused, and as if realising something, he sighed, ” Ah yes, you may not know things like these. I am sorry for confusing you. There are five types of practitioners - life and death, space and time, harmony and sounds, body and martial arts, and mind and dreams. Different from the roots from birth, which we can't change, these practices are welcome for anyone to try. You just need interest and ambition, though I do not recommend trying more than one since it can get overwhelming.”
Su Jing already knew from Feng Zhi Hao. She was at first a practicer of life since she was a doctor, but then also mastered the death, gaining skills in poison and lethal arts. She then tried body practices, to get her meridians cleansed, and then learned martial arts to improve her strength.
Right now, she was soon gonna learn about space and time - the thing Ya wen was studying now, improving tremendously in the arrays, formations and talismans.
These practices were different types of categories cultivators took to improve in a specified sector. For example, a talisman master could take space and time classes and only know how to make sealing and transporting talismans. If he wanted to gain more skills, he could go to life and death and learn how to make a talisman that stops poisoning or headaches. The same thing if he went to mind and dreams, where he could freeze up someone's mind or exorcise a lost soul in the wild. But the main thing was still taught in the time and space - the others were auxiliary.
It was recommended that you concentrate on only one type of practice, and only slightly know the others. An amazing swordmaster may know all sword techniques from all practices, but that meant he needed to know his base practice perfectly - the body and martial arts. So it was difficult to also do another thing from another branch, at the same time, like array mastering or alchemy.
Or simply put, it was humanly impossible to master too many - except, of course, for the female lead and male leads who were often geniuses. But Feng Zhihao too had difficulty in some of them if she hadn't met the sub-characters who were responsible for teaching her each type of practice and specialisation.
If Su Jing wanted to learn talismans, then she needed to first study well time and space, and then get the basics of talismans and the other space-time specialisations. Only after that, she could learn the different types of talismans from the other branches, and like that became a master.
Swordmaster would come from body practice, alchemy from life and death, arrays or formation too in time and space, beast taming in harmony, and lastly, divinators from mind and dreams. There were other specialisations, but those were the main ones cultivators usually took since they were the most popular - so it was easier to find a master.
A master of a single branch was the rarest, and usually the most powerful and highest in the hierarchy - like a Master of Life and Death, or a Master of Space and Time.
Su Jing was sure talisman masters were the most numerous and also quite inferior so finding a teacher wouldn't be a problem.
”But didn't Cultivator Wen just say that you take talismans mastering and arrays? Isn't that difficult for you?”
He seemed experienced in talismans making so arrays might be something he only recently learned.
”Oh, that is true, but since arrays also take part in the practice of space and time, it applies the same theory but in a different form - though it takes a lot of time. I had stopped my talismans mastering to learn the other.”
Yeah, it was easier to learn something from the same practice. So she could do the same as Yawen since arrays and formations were the best defence mechanisms a cultivator like her could use. However, for that, she would need tremendous effort - and Yawen looked like quite a talent or even a genius.
Maybe it was really best to follow him to Tian Hui Sect. There were many risks, but having someone with exactly her interests in learning would be the best way for her to kickstart cultivating.
Su Jing was just about to respond, wanting to discuss some other formalities from TianHui Sect, but she was interrupted as quick knocks were heard on the door. Her gesture couldn't help but pause. Su Jing wondered who could be knocking, especially when other guests were not supposed to enter their room.
And it was clear from Ya Wen's expression too that he hadn't expected to encounter anyone familiar, let alone receive an invitation. If more, he looked startled, making Su Jing can't help but stare at him for a moment.
.
"My apologies for disturbing you," In the next moment, the door creaked open slightly, and the familiar face of the waiter appeared, bowing respectfully. He looked at both Su Jing and Ya Wen before continuing, "I came to inform you of an invitation. The other guests in the neighbouring room would like both of you to join them in sharing a meal."
Ya Wen’s brows furrowed slightly as he exchanged a glance with Su Jing. Su Jing could understand if someone had invited Ya Wen alone—but why include her? Supposedly, she knew no one here apart from Ya Wen.
His eyes narrowed slightly,” May we have the cultivator's name? We already finished our food so unfortunately we will have to decline their request.”
”The young master said you would know already his name. He also insisted the young mortal to accompany you too.”
Ya Wen's posture stiffened as if a sudden realization struck him. Su Jing couldn't get whether it was relief or worry - but just as quickly, his expression soured again when he heard the last part, ”Why would she be obligated to follow if he doesn't even know her.”
That was exactly what Su Jing was confused about too. Was her mortal aura so obvious that even a young master she never encountered saw it? The waiter however shook his head, ”I do not have an answer to that. You can either follow me or lend the young master a message.”
Su Jing turned towards Ya Wen, however he seemed to be already looking at her.
”Is that alright with you? I will ensure you leave safely if you are feeling uncomfortable.”
Leave safely? Was this person actually dangerous or what? Su Jing wanted to ask Ya Wen, but since the waiter was there too, it felt awkward. She nodded, after all being with Ya Wen was the best protection she could get, ” It's alright for me. We can go.”
Both of them rose up and followed the waiter. Once they were out of the hallway, the sound seemed to increase, making Su Jing realise those rooms had a soundproof mechanism.
They quickly reached the next door, and the waiter announced the person inside.
”Young master, they are here.”
A silence was brought for a few seconds before the voice of a man sounded, ”Let them in.”
Su Jing had no time to analyse the tone because Ya Wen had already entered the room, forcing her to follow along. However, as soon as Su Jing saw the three characters seated inside, she realised why she found the man's voice strange - because he was the cultivator she had just seen outside!
He was at the head of the table, having on his right the girl called Wan, while the other female was sitting on the windowsill hugging her sword.
Ya Wen, showing his regard, cupped his hands in greeting. “We pay our respects to the esteemed cultivators.”
Su Jing quickly followed Ya Wen's actions. She saw Wan's serene face quickly fade, her lips opening slightly as if wanting to say something. In the end, she closed her mouth back again, clearly with a ”tsk” directed towards them.
The young master however looked more content, “Cultivator Wen, you’ve arrived.” He curled his lips into a faint, knowing smile, signalling them with his hand to come closer, ”I must admit, I didn’t expect to encounter you so soon. But when I sensed your Qi nearby, I couldn’t resist inviting you.”
His tone was friendly enough, but there was an underlying hint of something more, which made Su Jing uneasy. She glanced at Ya Wen, who maintained his calm demeanour, though she could tell he was carefully gauging the situation.
“I appreciate the invitation, Young Master,” Ya Wen replied evenly. “It seems our paths were destined to cross again.”
The man gestured gracefully for them to sit. Ya Wen took his place directly across from Wan, who observed him with a reserved expression. Su Jing, following Ya Wen’s lead, chose the seat beside him, wanting to position herself at a safe distance from the man.
But as soon as Su Jing was seated, the woman perched on the windowsill moved and settled into the chair directly in front of Su Jing. She placed her sword on the table with a thud, her expression darkening as she shot Su Jing an even more disdainful look.
That certainly wasn't a good sign.
”Senior brother, how come do you know disciples from the Tian Hui Sect?” the girl shited her eyes from Su Jing, changing her expression to the usual docile one.
The other girl, Wan, nodded frenetically at the question, ”Yeah, brother. Why didn't you tell us we were gonna meet a rival disciple. I would have brought my best sword to challenge them to a battle.”
"Now, Wanwan. There’s no need for such hostility," he said soothingly, trying to calm her down. "Cultivator Wen is someone I had met in the last Seven Sects Tournament. He is not a swordsman and I believe his companion isn't even part of Tian Hui Sect.”
Su Jing really did not like how he was able to tell that on his own. And she couldn't help but find his way of conversing strange. He responded to Wanwan when the girl who actually asked the question seemed ignored by him. She was visibly frustrated by that, biting her lips and slightly clenching her fingers around the sword's handle.
And now came another female, Su Jing, who was furthermore stealing the attention of her beloved. Of course, she would be angry! However, Su Jing would have wanted to ensure that wasn't even the case since she felt that the man's attention was fickle and shallow, focused only on what he found useful or amusing at the moment. His interest in her was likely fleeting since mortals are rare to see.
”Young master Wu is right. Actually, Cultivator Su and I just recently met. I was treating her to a meal for helping me so I would hope for you to not treat her as an adversary of Silver Sword Sect.”
Yawen took Su Jing's side quickly, and that made her breathe out the anxiety that built up inside her chest. He did not look particularly close to this young master, but, at least, it seemed they weren't on that bad of terms. The man sided his head to look better at Su Jing, and once Su Jing jerked at his attention, he smiled.
”Of course, you do no need to worry.” the young master paused, ”I can clearly see she's from the mortal realm. It is impressive to see how far she's away from the mortal gate. I can only imagine her as a great talent.”
Su Jing remained composed, though her heart quickened at the unexpected attention. "Thank you, Young Master," she responded with a polite nod. ”I, indeed come from the mortal realm, but coming here so soon was thanks to a more powerful cultivator who helped me pass over the forest. I wouldn't dare consider myself too talented.”
The young master’s smile lingered as if he was satisfied with her talking. "Then Cultivator Su must have been really in luck," he remarked, his gaze shifting back to Ya Wen. "After all, I suppose Cultivator Wen had heard about, too. The Immortal Guild's array fell not too long ago."
Su Jing's breath paused, the air getting stuck into her lungs. There was only one famous array in the Immortal Guild and that was the one connecting the mortal realm to the immortal realm!
”As much as we don't know each other,” he sighed, ”I hope that didn't impede your travels, Cultivator Wen. For now, even immortals cannot pass to the mortal realm. I had heard of you going to the Immortal Guild in need of the array.”
Su Jing's heart was quickening with each word this young master was saying. The gate crumbled when she went through to the immortal realm. So the biggest suspect for this mess would surely be no one else but - Su Jing!