“Y-Yeah...” Huang An shrank her head back a little from embarrassment. “I thought that it might be good if I stepped a little out of my comfort zone for once...”

“Haha, it’s about time for you to realise that indeed! Don’t worry, I will tell you everything you need to know!” Zhao Yunxiao laughed. “If it will make you feel better to treat me for free in return, then I guess I have no choice but to accept it!”

“Who are you kidding? It’s all about the money after all,” Gu Qiansi rolled her eyes. “You agreed immediately upon seeing that it’s free!”

“What do you know? I’m doing this solely to make Junior Martial Sister Huang feel better,” Zhao Yunxiao shrugged. “Isn’t that right, Junior Martial Sister Huang?”

“Y-Yes! I will feel better this way!” Huang An nodded.

“Don’t let Zhao Yunxiao bully you!” Gu Qiansi chided.

Even then, Gu Qiansi thought that this was for the best as well.

This way, both of them would be able to get what they needed.

Zhao Yunxiao would get his injuries properly treated, while Huang An would get some tips for her upcoming hunting trip.

Having come to an agreement, Huang An treated the duo one after another.

Just as she was done patching them up, Lu Zhiying arrived at the Medicine Pavilion.

“My turn!” Lu Zhiying raised her hand proudly. “I have sect points to pay with too!”

She might not have earned much, but it was still enough to pay for her own treatment.

After all, it would not make sense for the sect to set the cost of healing at too high a price.

If it ended up causing all disciples to avoid seeking treatment, then it would only have the opposite effect on the prosperity of the sect!

Therefore, considering the rather low cost, only people like Zhao Yunxiao would still be reluctant to get their injuries looked at.

“Wow, you already have sect points? That’s amazing, Junior Martial Sister Lu!” Huang An clapped for her. “Come, sit here and let me have a look.”

“Sure!” Lu Zhiying sat down obediently in the patient’s seat.

In fact, the Medicine Pavilion was rather quiet right now, with almost no other patients around. However, the trio still decided to queue for Huang An’s services.

“Oh, right! Congratulations on earlier, Junior Martial Sister Lu!” Huang An said while looking at her wounds. “Everyone’s talking about how amazing you are right now!”

“Hehe, thanks Senior Martial Sister Huang!” Lu Zhiying answered with a grin.

“So, what did Senior Martial Sister Tu say to you just now?” Zhao Yunxiao took the chance to ask. “Have you agreed to join the Black Rose?”

“Of course not! Didn’t I tell you that I would be turning them down?” Lu Zhiying asked with a pout.

“Well, I was expecting Senior Martial Sister Tu to convince you otherwise...” Zhao Yunxiao let out a helpless sigh.

This naive junior martial sister of his did not seem to understand just what kind of golden opportunity she was turning down right now!

“So, what did they say to you just now?” Gu Qiansi asked.

“Nothing much, just the usual stuff,” Lu Zhiying shrugged.

“Really...?” Gu Qiansi looked at Lu Zhiying doubtfully.

“Really!” Lu Zhiying nodded without batting an eye.

“You really are amazing, Junior Martial Sister Lu...” Huang An softly muttered.

Never in her wildest dreams would she have imagined witnessing a day when someone would voluntarily turn down an invitation to join the Black Rose!

While Huang An was treating Lu Zhiying’s injuries, Zhao Yunxiao started sharing everything he knew about hunting.

From common best practices to the tricks that he had found useful personally, he held nothing back from Huang An.

After all, sharing this information did not harm him in the slightest.

By the time he was done, Huang An had already finished with Lu Zhiying’s treatment long ago.

“That’s about it,” Zhao Yunxiao finally said. “Come look for me tomorrow, and I will pass you some items that you might find useful. Among them will be some array flags, so I will teach you how to use them as well.”

“Thank you so much, Senior Martial Brother Zhao!” Huang An said. “It really was the right decision to ask you!”

“Can I also learn how to use the array flags?” Lu Zhiying interjected at this point.

“Of course, just make sure that you are there when Junior Martial Sister Huang comes over,” Zhao Yunxiao shrugged.

It did not matter if he was teaching one person or two.

On top of that, it would be good for Lu Zhiying to start learning about these auxiliary methods as well.

“That reminds me,” Zhao Yunxiao flicked his wrist, and his bamboo backpack appeared in his hands. “Here, as promised.”

“Oh yay!” Lu Zhiying excitedly received the bamboo backpack. “Is it mine now?”

“Yes, it is yours now,” Zhao Yunxiao nodded with a smile.

Back when they were on the sect mission, he had promised to give his old bamboo backpack to Lu Zhiying since he did not need it anymore.

Even so, Zhao Yunxiao had been apprehensive about actually following through on his words since Lu Zhiying had explicitly mentioned that it was ugly. Because of that, Zhao Yunxiao thought that perhaps Lu Zhiying was just being greedy when she said that she wanted it.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

But looking at the excited look on her face right now, Zhao Yunxiao realised that his worries were for naught.

Indeed, it was a backpack that he made with his own hands, so how could it be ugly?

As he suspected, Lu Zhiying was probably just joking when she said that earlier!

Now that their injuries had been tended to, the trio bade farewell to Huang An and left the Medicine Pavilion.

Their next destination – the Hundred Puppets Array.

Zhao Yunxiao and Gu Qiansi had brought Lu Zhiying here in the past, so this was not a place that was unfamiliar to Lu Zhiying. And since their last visit, a month had already passed, so they now had a free attempt at it once again.

The cute Tian Luoyang was not on duty this time, but that did not change anything.

After registering their disciple tokens, the duty disciple immediately got ready to assist with the activation of the training array.

Zhao Yunxiao had gone first the previous time, so Gu Qiansi volunteered to do so this time.

“All the best, Senior Martial Sister Gu!” Lu Zhiying cheered from outside the fences.

“Activate the array,” Gu Qiansi instructed, and the array immediately sprang into action.

Just like the last time, while all of the puppets began to move the moment the array was activated, none of them were actually headed towards Gu Qiansi.

Gu Qiansi remained calm and carefully extended her spiritual sense, making sure that she was fully aware of every movement around her.

And with a keen grasp of every puppet’s movements, Gu Qiansi started to manoeuvre around the puppets with relative ease.

Level 1 was not a problem, and neither was Level 2.

Using the movement techniques from the Xuanwu Movement Art, Gu Qiansi was able to dodge around the puppets despite their speed and unpredictability.

Next came the troublesome Level 3 – the level that had proven to be the limit for Zhao Yunxiao and Gu Qiansi.

This was when Lu Zhiying started to pay greater attention as well.

Back then, the puppets of Level 3 had appeared as a blur to her when they were at their fastest.

So, now that she had the ability to sharpen her senses with the use of world origin energy, Lu Zhiying wanted to see if she could finally keep up.

As expected, Gu Qiansi was no longer able to completely avoid the Level 3 puppets with just movement techniques alone.

But this time, Gu Qiansi had more than just the Xuanwu Fist Art to fall back on.

[Vine Whip]

A thick vine shot out from the ground and entangled around one of the puppets, holding it back from slamming into Gu Qiansi.

It was only able to stop the puppet for a short period of time before it forcibly broke free, but that small window provided just enough time for Gu Qiansi to move out of the way.

This repeated itself multiple times, allowing Gu Qiansi to avoid danger time and again.

“Level 4!” Gu Qiansi shouted after a few minutes, surprising both Zhao Yunxiao and Lu Zhiying.

“Level 4 incoming!”

Under everyone’s watchful eyes, the puppets sped up once more.

“Shit!” Gu Qiansi could not help but curse.

This was the first time that she was attempting to challenge Level 4, and the speed of the puppets was far beyond her expectations!

Bang-!

It did not take long before a puppet slammed into her from behind, causing her to stumble to the ground.

This was all the impetus that she needed.

“Stop!” Gu Qiansi hurriedly called out.

The emblem of light on the ground dissipated, and the puppets stopped almost instantly.

She had not lasted even ten seconds at Level 4, but Gu Qiansi was still rather happy with her result.

After all, this was still a milestone that marked the first time that she had ever managed to go past Level 3!

“Not too bad,” Zhao Yunxiao stretched his fingers as a warm up. “My turn now...”

“Level 4,” Gu Qiansi reminded him of her achievement as she walked out of the array. “If you can’t do that, then it’s my win this time.”

“If you are always concerned about competing with others, it will be difficult to learn the true essence of cultivation,” Zhao Yunxiao shrugged.

“Tch! Always choosing the narrative that fits you,” Gu Qiansi clicked her tongue. “This is not what you said when you compared our timings down to the second in previous months!”

Zhao Yunxiao conveniently ignored her comment and walked into the array.

“All the best, Senior Martial Brother Zhao!” Lu Zhiying cheered once more.

She did not take sides when it came to the competition between her two senior disciples.

Zhao Yunxiao responded with a thumbs up sign before calling out to the duty disciple, “Activate the array!”

As the instruction was given, the array instantly sprang into action.

Up to this point, there was nothing amiss about the situation.

However, Gu Qiansi and Lu Zhiying quickly furrowed their brows as they watched from the outside.

That was because Zhao Yunxiao did not take a single step from his spot despite the activation of the array.

Even though the movement of the puppets at Level 1 was still considered manageable even without the use of movement techniques, that was provided they watched the puppets carefully, thereby constantly positioning themselves at a safe distance.

If they were to simply remain stationary, it was only inevitable that the puppets would collide with them eventually.

And despite being at Level 1, the impact of being struck by a puppet was not a joke!

“What are you doing?” Gu Qiansi shouted.

“Stop commenting so much and just watch!” Zhao Yunxiao complained.

At this point, one of the puppets finally came charging in his direction.

Even then, Zhao Yunxiao refused to move his legs.

Instead, he did the complete opposite and dug in deep with his heels to stabilise his stance.

As the puppet got into range, Zhao Yunxiao gathered his essence energy in his fist and punched out with all his might.

There was no technique behind the punch – just pure physical strength imbued with essence energy.

This was going to be a contest of strength between Zhao Yunxiao and the puppet!

Bang-!

The wooden puppet trembled as it was stopped dead in its tracks.

However, that only lasted for a moment before it started to move forward once again.

Bang-!

Another punch landed on the puppet, causing it to halt and tremble once more.

This time, it no longer continued forward and changed directions instead, as though having registered that there was no way forward.

Zhao Yunxiao then turned around to face another oncoming puppet.

Bang-! Bang-!

In the exact same manner, the next puppet changed directions as well.

But while it seemed to be working, anyone could tell that this method required far greater effort than simply getting out of the way of the puppets!

“Why are you just standing there and taking hits?” Gu Qiansi felt the corner of her lips twitch. “Are you trying to trick the puppets into recognising you as one of them, thereby leaving you alone because of that?”

“Oh? Does that work?” Lu Zhiying asked curiously.

“Of course not,” Gu Qiansi rubbed her temples with a sigh. “That idiot is just going to get flattened even before reaching Level 3.”

“Oh, then I guess I can start warming up for my turn!” Lu Zhiying answered cheerfully.

Zhao Yunxiao: “...”

Even if you people can’t be supportive and encouraging, can you at least not put me down like that?

You might not be able to tell, but I am genuinely trying to do my best over here!