"So… this is what you do in your spare time?"
An unimpressed voice interrupted Chen Wentian's musings. He sat up from his reclining bamboo chair and cast a smile toward Zhou Ziyun. He had been in the middle of a daydream, a luxurious eagle-feathered fan hanging idly in one hand. His clothes were loose and messy. If could see himself, he looked more like a rich playboy than the master of an immortal sect.
"What? Something wrong?" He asked.
"Your disciples are all practicing diligently and yet their master is lazing around in the middle of the afternoon." She said with her arms crossed.
He shrugged, "I was taking care of some personal business. You know, have to keep my soul minions in line from time to time, the usual. Do you really want to know? I just finished with something quite interesting."
His expression must have given him away because she waved him off, "I don't want to know. Anyway, I wanted to ask what thoughts you had about our individual cultivation paths. Qingcheng and I are approaching the peak of the Spirit Initiate Realm and yet… let's just admit it. We don't really know what we are doing."
He frowned playfully and gestured to her, "Come here."
She was reluctant but he pulled her over with his spiritual energy. She neatly fell onto his lap and he laid back down on the recliner. Crossing his hands behind his head, he gave her a smile, "Ziyun, I will never believe that you don't know what you are doing at any time. So tell me, what are you thinking about?"
She snorted and shook her head. After gathering her thoughts, she looked at him with a serious expression and said, "This is my analysis of the current situation for all of your disciples. It is just my opinion but an honest one. First, the most obvious one, is Jasmine. Her cultivation is tied to her natural talents as a divine beast. Aside from the things you agreed to do for her with regards to the Beast God Sanctum and the three beast kings, there is not much for you to do except keep her fed and happy. There is no concern about her cultivation path."
"Agreed."
She nodded and raised five fingers, "The second easiest is the five ice sisters. Their Dao is pretty much set at this point as being the cultivation of a dual-attribute physique through the Summer and Winter's Eternal Sutra. They require your steady guidance and effort during dual-cultivation sessions but apart from that, there is little else to worry about in the short term for at least two or three years."
"Hey," He interjected, "What about that invitation from the Frostfire Nation? I was thinking that place might be interesting for them."
"I disagree, at least in the short term. We already have one sister entangled with the Order and the main continent. It is dangerous to bring five more there without proper preparation. In my opinion, we should wait until they have all stepped onto the immortal path and have reached the first lesser realm of Spiritual Growth. Ideally, we should wait until they reach the second lesser realm Spiritual Formation. Since their cultivation path is so clear and firm, we shouldn't take unnecessary risks."
Her words made sense and dissuaded his prior thoughts. There was indeed nothing good about the main continent. Although he was a Spirit King now, he could move freely or carelessly display his power. It was better to lay low for a while.
"Alright, you're right. Next?"
Zhou Ziyun spoke again, "Next is our new twelfth sister, Peng Lingxi. Her talent is tremendous and her ambition might be unmatched among us. Even if she didn't join us, I believe that she would have been able to continue cultivating the Lonely Sword Wanderer and reach the immortal realms. However, her potential should be much greater than merely the Spirit Lord Realm so she will require some effort on master's part to provide her with more powerful sword arts so that her path won't be prematurely cut off."
Chen Wentian nodded along, greatly impressed by her thoughts. He could see that Peng Lingxi's talent was far better than he had expected. If Zhou Ziyun could see that also at her cultivation level, it meant that her own talents were quite impressive as well.
Zhou Ziyun continued, "I feel that Sister Peng is a long-term project. She can get by with the Lonely Sword Wanderer and Dugu's Tenth Sword for the moment. Therefore, her cultivation does not need master's immediate attention."
"Mmm, I agree."
"Good, after her is Sister Wu. Although the limits of Sister Wu's innate abilities are still unknown, its nature and its relationship to the emotion of pain have been well-established. In essence, her way forward has been found though the path still remains foggy and filled with potential wrong turns. She will continue to need master's guidance but she can also explore some aspects independently given proper instruction. As such, in the short term, I believe that priority attention should be given to the other disciples that have yet to be mentioned and whose cultivation paths are still murky or unknown."
Chen Wentian stroked his chin and pondered the issue. Her evaluation of everyone's cultivation situation was quite accurate. The three disciples left over that she didn't mention yet urgently needed his attention.
"So… in your fair and balanced opinion," He said, "Out of you, Chengcheng, and Yingluo; which one of you should get my immediate attention? Who should I pick?"
Zhou Ziyun resisted his teasing and maintained a serious expression, "If we go by the lowest cultivation, it would be Sister Bei. If we go by urgency, Chengcheng and I might be a tie since we will soon reach the 10th Level of the Spirit Initiate Realm and we can't continue blindly. However, I think we should work on all three problems at the same time."
"We?"
"We, you and me."
"What do you propose?" He asked.
"We don't know what we don't know. We need more information, research, books, anything that can possibly help us, provide us a hint. And for all of that, I think we should take a trip to the Eastern Sanmu Metropolis."
He sighed, "Not the library again."
She punched his chest lightly, "Not just the library, large and small private book collections. There could be antique stores that might sell old tomes and worn-out scrolls. There might also be mortal cultivators that have encountered anything similar to our situations. With such a huge metropolis and so many people, the possibilities are endless. I'm sure we can find something!"
"Just you? And me?" He asked.
"Yeah."
He burst out laughing and pulled her into a hug, "Alright, let's go. It's a date!"
"It's not a date!" She protested helplessly.
---
A/N I wrote three special stories to celebrate IOAFD reaching one million words. They are a retelling of the side stories after the very first arc, with three brand-new smut scenes. They are free to read for a limited time!
https://www.patreon.com/posts/1-million-lin-95241918
https://www.patreon.com/posts/1-million-zhou-95242080
https://www.patreon.com/posts/1-million-wu-95242102
And as always, a tremendous thank you to all patrons that support this novel!