Tale of an Ordinary Cultivator

“You are back, Senior Martial Brother Zhao!” Huang An exclaimed in her signature soft voice. “Did your work trip go well?”

“I guess you can say that it went well, considering the end results,” Zhao Yunxiao sighed helplessly before passing her a root of the Blue Jade Lotus. “Here, this is a souvenir for you.”

“What is this?” Huang An asked in confusion.

“Root of a Blue Jade Lotus,” Zhao Yunxiao said.

“Root of a Blue Jade Lotus?!” Huang An looked at him in disbelief. “How did you get this?”

“...I got lucky and picked it up somewhere,” Zhao Yunxiao replied after a moment of hesitation.

“How lucky! Thank you, Senior Martial Brother Zhao! As a show of my gratitude, you can leave all of today’s work to me!” Huang An patted her chest in assurance.

As a physician, she had a decent understanding of spiritual herbs in general, especially those that had medicinal effects.

The moment she learnt that it was a root of the Blue Jade Lotus, Huang An knew exactly what to do with the root.

“I appreciate the offer but I’d rather not. We still have to rush for the practice later,” Zhao Yunxiao rolled his eyes. “You are slow enough on your own. If you have to take over my share of work as well, who knows what time it will be by the time you are done scrutinising everything?”

“I am just being careful!” Huang An retorted. “You guys need to be just as careful too!”

“Yes, yes,” Zhao Yunxiao shrugged. “Anyway, I heard that Junior Martial Sister Lu has already completed her dance routine. Have you seen it yet?”

“Yes! It’s amazing!” Huang An nodded profusely. “Words don’t even do it justice, so you really have to see it for yourself later!”

“Haha, is that so?” Zhao Yunxiao laughed. “I will look forward to seeing it during our practice later then!”

It was a rather slow day at the Medicine Pavilion.

There were not many visitors, which was a good thing considering the fact that usually only those who were suffering from problems would go to them.

Because of that, the disciples on duty were able to spend most of the day doing research on the second storey – something that most of them enjoyed much more in comparison to treating patients.

Zhao Yunxiao and Huang An were no exception, taking this opportunity to bounce various ideas off of each other and the other disciples on duty.

The administrative deacon Jin Shang came over to give them some pointers as well, enlightening them on certain issues that they had been confused about.

Since there were few patients that day, the administrative work at the end of the shift naturally did not take as long either.

Even though Zhao Yunxiao and Huang An ended up being among the last to leave thanks to Huang An’s habit of having to double check that everything was done properly, it was still considerably earlier than usual.

After bidding farewell to the rest, Zhao Yunxiao and Huang An left directly for the Lightwind Pavilion.

Zhao Yunxiao’s initial worry about being late seemed to be completely unnecessary, as the duo ended up being the very first to arrive.

The layer of snow covering the wide-open area in front of the pavilion was thinning by now, with the ground underneath being exposed at several spots.

“Shall we have some tea while we wait, Senior Martial Brother Zhao?” Huang An suggested.

“Of course, it is my pleasure to enjoy the tea made by our Tea Goddess Huang,” Zhao Yunxiao agreed immediately.

Apart from her expertise in the healing arts and the zither, Huang An also had a particular interest that only those closer to her knew about – tea making.

Because of that, her close friends had jokingly given her the nickname Tea Goddess, and Huang An did not seem to mind it either.

In fact, she appeared to take pride in being called as such.

“Haha, then let me make something nice,” Huang An said. “I recently received a bag of spiritual tea leaves from Senior Martial Brother Han Xuan after treating him at the Medicine Pavilion. Let’s have a taste today.”

“Oh wow, a gift from an inner disciple! Are you sure Senior Martial Brother Han Xuan is not using this as an excuse to try and court you instead?” Zhao Yunxiao teased.

Han Xuan was an inner disciple of the Black Tortoise Sect. That status alone should have been more than enough testament to his raw individual talent.

However, this talent of his was not what he was best known for.

Instead, most people identified and referred to him as the younger brother of the core disciple Han Xing.

This was the best proof that excellence was a relative concept.

No matter how good one was, it would be difficult to shine when those around them were even better in comparison.

Thankfully, that did not seem to be something that Han Xuan was bothered by.

Instead, he was usually the first one to go around advertising the various accomplishments of his elder brother.

Anyone who had interacted with him before would know just how much he admired that elder brother of his.

Perhaps that was only natural as well, considering the fact that Han Xing was someone who had managed to become one of the few core disciples of the Black Tortoise Sect.

“Stop joking around, Senior Martial Brother Zhao,” Huang An rolled her eyes in response. “This is purely a gift of gratitude, nothing more.”

“You don’t know that for sure,” Zhao Yunxiao continued to tease.

But at the same time, he knew that the truth was most probably just as Huang An had said.

After all, he knew just how many of such gifts Huang An received regularly thanks to her good work at the Medicine Pavilion.

On top of that, it would be extremely unusual for an inner disciple to pursue an outer disciple as their cultivation partner, especially someone with a background as strong as Han Xuan’s.

Huang An ignored Zhao Yunxiao’s comment this time, choosing to concentrate on her tea-making instead.

As a tea enthusiast, Huang An was extremely particular about the entire tea-making process, about just as much as when it came to her work at the Medicine Pavilion.

Each step in the process had to be observed with great care, so as to ensure that the flavour and aroma of the tea were brought out in full.

The entire process was complicated with numerous intricate steps but Huang An managed to complete everything somewhat effortlessly, a testament to just how many times she had done this in the past.

It did not take long before Zhao Yunxiao found himself with a cup of hot tea in his hands.

“Amazing,” Zhao Yunxiao said after taking a sip of the tea. “As expected of Tea Goddess Huang. This is just as good as the tea that was served at the banquet back at the Origin Lake Sect.”

Zhao Yunxiao had been seated at the core disciples’ table back then.

For this tea to be on par with the tea served to them at the banquet, it was either that this tea was extremely high quality or that Huang An’s skills were just exceptional.

Or perhaps it was both!

“After spending this much time on it, I have to be at least somewhat good at tea-making or I will really be useless!” Huang An laughed.

“Even without this, no one will say that you are useless,” Zhao Yunxiao replied. “Your attainments in the healing arts alone are enough to tell everyone otherwise.”

Huang An merely smiled in response.

Just like that, the two silently savoured the fragrant tea, basking in their tranquil surroundings as they awaited the arrival of their friends.

With good tea as company, the two of them did not mind the wait.

Even then, they did not have to wait long.

One by one, the other members of the Flying Shell Performance Group arrived after completing their day’s worth of work.

By the time the last member, Bo Fei, arrived, Zhao Yunxiao and Huang An had only waited for no more than two hours.

“Shall we begin then?” Bo Fei said as he settled himself in.

“Yes! Watch me closely, Senior Martial Brother Zhao!” Lu Zhiying answered excitedly.

“I’m just going to be brutally honest, all right?” Zhao Yunxiao replied. “Don’t be offended if my words are harsh.”

He could see just how eager Lu Zhiying was to show off her dance routine, but he was also afraid that she was getting ahead of herself.

However unlikely it was, if the dance happened to turn out badly, then he would not hesitate to give his honest opinion.

After all, someone had to be the bad guy if need be!

“You won’t be saying that soon enough!” Lu Zhiying seemed to be extremely confident nevertheless.

“All right, let’s start,” Bo Fei gave the cue.

“Okay!” Huang An answered.

With that, her temperament changed immediately. Her eyes sharpened like those of a hawk as she slowly lifted her hands over the zither.

The Flying Shell Performance Group was slated to perform three different songs during the celebration tomorrow.

– a song about an imaginary land of eternal peace.

This first song incorporated the soft tranquility of the lands with the violent nature of battles, assimilating them to portray a world where the lands themselves were capable of purging all semblance of evil.

– a calming song about the natural beauty of butterflies.

The second song was heavier on the melody than the vocals, and thus relied more on Huang An and Zhao Yunxiao to portray the organised chaos to which a group of butterflies would adhere when flying around in the wilderness. It told of how something that was in its simplest original form could still be ever so amazing.

– a powerful song about the arduous journey of cultivation.

As opposed to , this last song was much heavier on the vocals, giving Bo Fei and Gu Qiansi their chance to shine. It told of how no one could predict the future, and that one had to constantly give it their all on their cultivation path. Even if it was painful and did not yield significant results in the short run, the efforts would surely pay off one day.

Huang An slowly lowered her hands and made the first strum on her zither, signalling the start of the song .

Immediately, Zhao Yunxiao turned his eyes towards Lu Zhiying.

It was time to see just what she had prepared!

As opposed to Zhao Yunxiao’s expectations, Lu Zhiying did not rush into things.

Instead, she swayed gently from side to side through the first few bars of the song.

But there was still something about her that stood out during this time – her expression.

Lu Zhiying’s eyes glazed over and her earlier excitement was completely erased from her face, as though she had fallen under some sort of hypnotic spell and turned into an expressionless puppet.

And when Zhao Yunxiao entered the song with his flute, light suddenly returned to Lu Zhiying’s eyes, made especially obvious as she looked up and let out a gentle smile.

Zhao Yunxiao could not help but feel impressed.

There had been no exquisite dance moves involved so far. Even now, Lu Zhiying continued to simply sway from side to side, though her movements did appear a little more deliberate now in response to the sound of the flute.

All she did was a change in expression and a little adjustment to the movement of her body, yet it fitted their performance ever so well.

In this song, the rich sound of the flute was supposed to emulate an injection of life into the existing zither melody that symbolised the initial tranquil lands, transforming it by turning up the aspect of brightness.

In this song, the rich sound of the flute was supposed to transform the existing zither melody by turning up the aspect of brightness, emulating an injection of life into the initial tranquil lands.

And Lu Zhiying’s performance aligned perfectly with that.

It was at this moment that Zhao Yunxiao realised how he had grossly underestimated the depth and potential of the art of dance.

Prior to this, he had always thought that a great dance performance was all about including moves that were either elegant or powerful, all so that they could leave a lasting impression on the audience.

Who knew that even minute changes in expression like that could be used to accentuate the impact of a dance?

He did not know for sure if it was Leng Huiqi or Lu Zhiying who came up with this idea, but it was definitely a stroke of genius!

While he was lost in thought, Bo Fei started to enter the song with his vocals.

As though she had been waiting for this moment, Lu Zhiying finally stopped swaying from side to side and finally sprang into action.

Next, the beautiful scene that played out before his eyes almost caused Zhao Yunxiao to lose focus and stop playing on his flute for a moment.