Since I was there, I listened to my band members individually and corrected them on our battle songs. Also, I made doubly sure everyone could play the song that melts faces correctly. After that, I had promised to meet up with my little students.

Three Drops Silent Toxin had moved into a courtyard with Shadow Panther so they could practice together. When I flew there, they were doing their own things.

The first thing I did after I landed was check Three Drops’ body cultivation progress using my divine sense. Thanks to the cure I’d found, he’d reached the equivalent of the sixth layer of Qi Condensation. That was shockingly fast.

“Keep up the good work, and you’ll be joining the inner sect in a year or two.”

He looked excited. “Thank you, senior!”

Next, I went over to the massive table outside to check on Shadow Panther. Bone pieces and spiritual silk threads were spread all over the surface. She was in the middle of creating a second human-shaped puppet based on the first one we’d put together. She proudly held up a joint.

“Take a look at this.”

“You need to shave off a couple of micrometers right here so it can move easier.”

“H-how can you tell?!”

I grinned. “Divine sense, and many years of practice.”

She marked the section I pointed to with a stick of charcoal and frowned intently at it.

“Alright, you two. Pick up your instruments!”

While I waited for them to set up, I threw a handful of formation flags into the air and used my spiritual energy to send them flying. They landed in a near-perfect soundproof formation around my students.

When they looked at me, prepared to practice, I grinned.

“I already told you about the battle of the bands.”

“Yes, senior.” They looked nervous.

“Are you ready to fight for your teacher’s honor?”

They glanced at each other, then shook their heads.

I expected a more enthusiastic response, but... “That’s fine. We still have a week to prepare. Now, let’s hear why you’re not ready and see if we can’t solve those issues.”

Shadow Panther cautiously said, “Senior Linlin, we just started learning. How can we possibly go up against musicians who’ve been practicing for decades?”

Three Drops nodded like it was obvious.

If we went by their logic, then a Xianxia protagonist with a year of training and cultivation shouldn’t be able to beat a young master with a decade of practice and the best pills. But it happened all the damn time. Including in this fucked up universe.

With my hands behind my back, I began walking around them. “Age doesn’t matter. Experience, while important, doesn’t matter.”

They both looked at me like I was crazy. These fuckers.

I stopped and pointed toward them. “What matters is that you have immense talent and the ability to play the best songs in the Dao of Rock! Ones that will outshine anything musicians at your level can perform.” I grinned. “Can you trust me?”

“Yes, Senior!”

I knew I could count on these two!

***

The rest of the week passed in a blur. I did not have a single moment to rest or meet up with Little Spring. Instead, I had to spend every waking minute preparing. I concocted various pills, checked on my badass band, and used my knowledge of my past-past life’s technology while applying it to the spiritual tools I developed in this one to create a super kick-ass hologram.

Oh, I also checked in on my student’s two-man-two-puppet band from time to time. They weren’t perfect, but they were steadily improving.

It was a wild fucking week.

The few times I did see Little Spring, he was busy with his own war preparations. From what I saw, that was mostly practicing the sword techniques I taught him, and working with Xiao Bai to become a better beast trainer. Or something.

Actually, I wasn’t too sure. While heading to another practice session, I’d seen him playing fetch, so I assumed that was what he was doing.

Once Xiao Bai had returned with the big stick Little Spring commanded him to sit, which the dog did while looking heart-stoppingly adorable. After feeding him a treat, Little Spring pointed to where Ghosty chatted with the gold dragon. The not-beast ran up to him and bit his arm.

Well, it was more accurate to say he attempted to bite his arm and instead just flew through his projection a few times before getting grumpy and trotting back to the kid while sulking from his perceived betrayal.

Just a normal boy doing normal things with a completely mundane pet. It had been nice to see.

Wait! Goddamn it! The not-dog was getting into my head again!

Aside from the fact that the puppy was definitely not normal, I couldn’t help but feel like I was forgetting something. Well, whatever. I was sure I’d figure it out later. I wasn’t too worried since I’d already completed everything on my ‘Lin’s Badass List of War Preparations For a Safe-ish Time.’ It only took hard fucking work and a week with absolutely no sleep or rest.

***

On the morning of the festival everything that we could do at the last minute was done. At that point, there was only getting through the day and doing our best before a goddamn war started. Because even if the Wild Hoof managed to trade the evil-ass scroll for the cure, we knew it wouldn’t end so simply. Especially once they found it locked inside a box that they couldn’t open.

We had a reason to believe that the scroll was on the second floor of the treasure pavilion. Rather than focus on following the junior sect leader — who might not have the damn thing — Little Spring and I decided to pick up our recording tool and check to see if someone was caught taking the evil thing out. That meant we had to pull it out from under everyone’s noses.

It was time to spy!

We walked up the stairs together toward the second floor of the pavilion.

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::Sister Lin. The security here is no joke. We won’t be able to call it to us and expect no one to notice.::

::Don’t worry. I’ll distract them. You just need to grab the tool.::

::How are you planning on distracting them?::

I straightened my spine. ::That’s easy. My existence is enough of a distraction.::

::... Uh, Sister Lin, I don’t think it works that way.::

::Just stay behind me and call for the tool when everyone least expects it.::

He nodded, and I took the lead.

A Golden Core cultivator stood between me and the second floor. She crossed her arms and glared down at me as if she dared me to come up. So I did. I didn’t stop until I was two steps from the top.

“The only ones allowed up here are those with approval or with a token. Do you even have one?”

I grinned. “No. But I’m working with Poison Master Noxious Fangstrike. You wouldn’t prevent his assistant from entering the second floor, would you?”

She glared down at me and scoffed. “I haven’t heard anything about that.”

“Impossible! Everyone knows I fixed the sect’s Beast Blood Bath.”

“Not me.”

“Well, if you weren’t stuck up here, then maybe you would.”

Her eyes narrowed on me. “Yeah. No. I think you’re that girl who hurt our Little Teasing Mouse’s feelings.”

“Are you saying one child’s emotions are more important than the entire sect’s wellbeing?!” With how they protected that girl, it was like the genre switched to a damn Otome Isekai novel. Was I going to encounter a psychotic Duke of the North with black hair and red eyes or something?

That rat girl certainly had the halo for it.

“What I’m saying is that you can’t come up here until you have approval or until you get a token!”

“I see. So you really want to upset Senior Noxious Fangstrike?! Do you know how furious he’ll be?”

Crack! A loud noise sounded from the doorframe as a tiny ball the size of a bead flew through the wood and into Little Spring’s hand.

Fuck!

I punched the door frame, causing it to shatter even more and hide the path of the tool.

Little Spring tugged on my robes. “Junior sister Linlin! Please calm down! We can just talk to Senior Noxious Fangstrike! They’ll have to let us in then.”

The Golden Core cultivator pulled out a whip. I formed several hand seals, creating a shield that glimmered like a thousand interconnected stars shining within a blue nebula. The whip struck, causing it to shatter.

image [https://i.imgur.com/8QLn2pM.jpeg]

[Image Link]

My stomach dropped as I fell backward down the stairs. My back slammed into the kid and we plummeted to the bottom floor. My bony elbow must have struck his diaphragm because he groaned.

Everyone in the pavilion turned towards us with wide eyes.

Awkwardly, I rolled off him and jumped to my feet. While straightening my robes, I yelled, “You’ll be hearing from me again!”

Little Spring stood, and I grabbed his arm. ::Let’s get the fuck out of here before they make us pay for damages.::

The Golden Core woman started casually walking down the stairs. Her eyes filled with rage and her hands clenched into fists.

She absolutely planned to beat us up if we didn’t leave.

Motherfucker. If we were going to save this sect, then we didn’t have time for this shit.

::Sister Lin, let’s run!::

We both used Impossible Leap to reach the pavilion’s door in a flash.

The woman followed us like a serial killer who knew she could catch us at any moment. She didn’t even bother running.

Gold String suddenly entered the crowded pavilion. The kid and I shared a look, silently agreed, grabbed the bassist under both arms, and ran out.

His eyes went wide. “Wait. Sister Linlin! What’s going on?!”

“Now’s not a good time to buy a spiritual tool,” Little Spring said. A few yards outside, we released him and hopped onto our flying swords.

I pointed to Gold String. “Hey, I’ll see you before the concert. Get ready to kill it out there.”

“Sister Linlin. We’re playing healing music. That is the opposite of killing it!”

Goddamn it. That was just slang!

I waved him off as both Little Spring and I raced towards my immortal cave before the Golden Core cultivator decided if she wanted to run after us.

***

We entered the space right in front of Fairy Lake. Since there was no time to lose, I held out my hand. The kid placed the recording tool on my palm.

I used a hand gesture to stop the recording and increase it to a reasonable size. With another gesture, I had the video play in reverse.

I saw the two of us fly backward towards the pavilion. We stepped off our flying swords, grabbed onto Gold String, and pulled him toward the door where we released him. Then we suddenly appeared in the stairwell.

The kid grimaced as the image on the sphere showed us fumbling awkwardly on the ground. Yeah, that could have gone better.

“Isn’t there a way to make it go faster?”

“Not if we don’t want to miss the person picking up the scroll.”

In the video, we floated upwards towards the top of the stairs. A whip attack struck, causing the Starfield Shield to form around it and solidify before vanishing. I formed the seals in reverse.

Damn, I created those perfectly.

“Here, watch this.”

I played it forward and in slow motion so he could see how beautifully I completed the shield and learn from it.

He gave me a look I couldn’t figure out. “Sister Lin. We need to find the guy fast.”

“Sure, but you can still learn from me. Really, I should use these videos in your training sessions more often.”

“Sister Lin, please?” He looked at me with his big eyes and slightly flattened puppy ears.

The kid used an adorableness attack. It was super effective.

“Alright, let’s keep going.” I reversed the video.

Its perspective moved as it slammed through the wood of the doorframe and embedded into the wall. Then we waited several boring minutes until someone with blue hair walked backward onto the upper floor. He reached the counter, where he pulled a giant spiritual fan out of his bag and placed it on the countertop. The short guy acting as a clerk picked it up and brought it to the back room.

“I guess that’s not him.”

I nodded.

The video kept playing in reverse and the man left.

Shortly after that, the security guard jumped behind the counter and gazed lovingly into the eyes of the small clerk. His face turned a deep red, then he hugged the tall Golden Core woman and... I shielded Little Spring’s eyes.

Seriously? They were a couple?! Scandalous. Not that I gave a shit or was actually offended. I just wasn’t big on watching a private moment between loving partners.

“Sister Lin, why can’t I watch?”

“Because this shouldn’t be spread around.”

After the gratuitous make-out session, the two separated and returned to their posts.

I lifted my hand off the kid’s eyes right as a black-haired man walked in holding onto a long thin box.

I paused it.

Why was someone carrying something out and not putting it inside their spatial ring? That was just asking for someone to steal it.

I kept playing until I reached the part where he came in. Then I played it and used a twisting knob gesture to turn the volume up.

He placed a gold token on the counter with a clack. The little clerk glanced down at it and paled.

“I thought the sect decided not to take this out? What about—”

“As you can see, the junior sect leader changed his mind,” the man’s cold voice echoed through the room with finality.

“Y-yes. I’ll...” He licked his lips. “I’ll bring it out right away!” The clerk rushed into the backroom.

I focused on our target’s back and memorized what he looked like from behind. Since Little Spring needed to know this too, I pointed out the odd way the man stood and the way he tapped two fingers on the counter as he waited impatiently.

A few minutes later, the clerk returned holding the same box I saw earlier and set it down while picking up the special token. He bowed deeply, and the suspicious man turned to leave. I paused it to get a better look at the guy’s face.

He had black hair, cold yellow eyes, and panther ears on top of his head. I memorized his face which was fairly generic and not very attractive. As he walked away, every step held so much power that I was sure he was a Golden Core cultivator, at least.

I focused on the box. We had to grab the right one because there was no way I was letting this thing get into the hands of the demonic sect.

Little Spring leaned down and also studied the image. “Hey, Sister Lin, does this have an enchantment on it that prevents it from entering a storage bag?”

I smoothed a strand of his white hair. “Good work noticing that! It does, which means that this guy will have it on him right now.”

“If that’s the case, then we just have to find him before the handoff and steal it!”

“Of course!” I grinned. Though that would be easier said than done.

“Actually, can we go have fun at the festival while we look for him!”

Well, it would be nice to take a break before the shit hit the flying spiritual fan. It had been a long fucking week with no time for rest.

“Alright, let’s do that.”

The kid jumped in excitement and accidentally bumped into my hand, causing it to move slightly. The video played again.

“This is bad... this is really bad,” the small clerk said while biting his nail. “Even if we give the demonic sect that scroll, there is no way they’ll let us go. And in the off chance they do, we won’t escape from the wrath of those stupid righteous sects...”

“Hush, I know. But don’t worry. I’ll be here to protect you.”

“Oh, Senior Sister!” They embraced.

And that was enough of that. I turned it off.

We both pretended that we hadn’t seen that last part.