Chapter 52: Worries // Touring the Main Sect
"You see brother..."
Jingfei inched closer to Zed until her face was lying on the latter's chest.
Zed made a soft sigh before smiling and caressing her head. "Alright, hit me up. Brother is listening."
Zed felt Jingfei nod slightly from his chest.
Eventually, Jingfei began to speak.
"Brother... to be honest, Fei'er is quite worried..."
Making a bitter smile, Jingfei continued. "Fei'er is worried that she might get left behind..."
"Hm? I thought you were doing just fine?"
"Fei'er thought so as well but... after watching their fight again, Fei'er couldn't help but start doubting."
"Hmm..." Zed continued to silently caress her head while thinking of something to say.
After some time, he said. "To be honest, for me, what Fei'er is doing is already enough. Besides, you have a strong brother who will guarantee to take care of you for the rest of your life."
"..."
"But I know Fei'er wouldn't like that because just like your sisters, you want to grow up to be a strong and powerful cultivator."
"...yes." Jingfei softly nodded.
Zed said in a light-hearted tone. "If so, then there's no need to worry about lagging behind or being left behind."
Jingfei slightly trembled and faced her brother's face.
"You simply need to catch up."
Jingfei's eyes slightly grew wide as if she had just come to a realization.
Zed didn't mind her expression and continued, "The reason I can say, what Fei'er is doing is enough, is because I know Fei'er is always putting in 100% of her efforts.
Sometimes, she even goes overboard which makes me worry but nevertheless, I know that Fei'er is steadily making her way towards her goal."
Zed resumed caressing her head while making a gentle smile. "So if Fei'er is worried... Then Brother will tell you that it's fine to fall behind.
What matters the most is that you never give up because if you do, then I guarantee that you will live a life full of regrets."
Zed brought Jingfei's face closer to his while looking at her with a sincere and warm gaze
"I want Fei'er to live her life the way she sees fit so that in the end, you will be able to say that you have lived a satisfying life."
"...Truly?" Jingfei's eyes became slightly teary while her smile quivered.
Zed gently nodded. "Yes. A person who puts in effort is better than a person who puts in none at all.
If you don't even start working towards your goal, how do you expect to reach it?"
Making a small smile, Zed concluded. "This is why I know that Fei'er will be able to catch up.
No hard work remains unrewarded."
Jingfei snuggled closer to Zed's chest before saying in a small voice, "...okay. Fei'er will believe in brother..."
The two went silent while Zed continued to gently caress Jingfei's head.
After some time, Jingfei whispered. "Thank you... Brother Xin."
Zed made a smile and closed his eyes.
"Anytime."
-
Tok. Tok. Tok.
Zed woke up to the sound of someone knocking on the stone door.
Jingfei's small and warm body was still wrapped around him while releasing soft breaths on his neck.
Very carefully, Zed untangled Jingfei's arms from around his neck and gently got up from the bed.
Walking towards the door, he asked, "Who is it?"
"Your Senior Sister." An emotionless voice spoke from behind the stone door.
Zed opened the door to see a beautiful stone-faced woman who exuded a mature impression. She was wearing white hanfu robes that covered her deep green inner robes.
Zed cupped his hands and lightly bowed his head. "Junior greets senior sister."
He realized that seniority is an important etiquette especially in the sect which is why he maintained a respectful attitude towards his senior sister.
That and the fact that he feels like his senior sister strangely treats him colder than Meixiang and the others.
He figured that she must not see men in a favourable light and is holding some prejudice towards him.
But so far, she had not treated him unjust and unfairly so he remained quiet.
Still though, if possible, he would like to become friendly with his senior sister.
Keeping his thoughts to himself, Zed noticed that his senior sister was looking past him.
Han Qiuyue's brows slightly creased as she asked. "Is that Junior sister Jingfei?"
Zed nodded.
She seemed like she had her own thoughts but did not say anything. Instead, she faced Zed and spoke.
"Today must be the day you have finished learning the Jade Breathing technique. Therefore, I can now tour you into the main sect.
After all, you were the last one to finish learning the technique while your sister disciples had already learned it days ago."
She continued, "Fortunately, your sister disciples insisted on touring the sect together with you so I would only need to travel the sect once.
"U-uhmm... actually.." Zed made an awkward face.
How can he say that he still hasn't finished learning the technique? That he was still failing last night?
Looking at Zed's face, Han Qiuyue's eyes narrowed. "You... have still not yet finished learning?"
Zed hurriedly bowed. "This junior disciple apologizes for my incompetence."
Han Qiuyue closed her eyes and sighed.
"No matter... however, you must learn it soon so I may finally finish the task our master gave me."
Zed spoke. "This junior apologizes for causing inconvenience to senior sister."
Han Qiuyue slightly nodded and proceeded to return to her own room.
But after she opened the door, she glanced towards Zed and said, "Tell Junior sister Jingfei to sleep in her own room."
Zed nodded once more. "Will do, Senior sister."
With that, she entered her room and closed the door.
Zed sighs after closing the door into his room as well.
As it turns out, the Jade Breathing Technique was an important practice since there are various different qi in the Xianxia world including the main sect.
The only reason they were unaffected by the change in qi when they arrived there, was because Han Qiuyue protected them with her own Qi.
While returning to his bed, he thought to himself, 'I must finish the technique by tonight!'
But then he silently chuckled to himself.
'If it were only that easy.'
To be honest, he really finds all the martial art techniques challenging to learn. Despite knowing the concept, his qi refuses to follow the way he wanted.
When he asked the opinion of others, they said that Qi is very easy to control especially if it's your own Qi.
They say that it's as easy as breathing or moving your limbs.
Unfortunately, that isn't the case for Zed as he felt like a handicapped person trying to participate in a normal sport.
Not that he was intending to offend handicapped people but his point is that he finds it hard to improve and learn the same way as other people when he himself has some kind of disability or condition.
Of course, he only speculated as such since he wanted to find a reason for his lack of control with his own Qi.
He inadvertently looked at the peacefully sleeping girl beside him. She came to him to clear away her doubts and she greatly reminded him of how he was in his previous life.
Such a small child was doing her best and as the elder brother, how could he fall behind?
Caressing her soft and long hair, Zed muttered. "I need to do better..."
-
A day has passed and Zed was sitting in a lotus position in the middle of his room.
Jingfei, Meixiang, and Lan'er were sitting around him while remaining quiet, not wanting to distract their brother.
After five minutes passed, Zed breathed out from his mouth.
The three girls looked at his breath intently while subconsciously holding their breaths.
Sensing no qi from his breath, The group rejoiced.
"Brother, you did it!" Lan'er jumped and hugged Zed.
"You finally did it, Zixin." Meixiang smiled.
Jingfei was also smiling joyfully. "Congratulations, brother!"
"Thank you guys... It was all because of your help that I was able to accomplish this."
Zed couldn't help but remember the time when he was suffering from the effects of eating the main mana circuit.
At that time, his sisters helped him get through rehabilitation before, eventually, helping him make a full recovery.
He was deeply grateful to have such kind and caring sisters.
"It seems that you have finally learned it." An emotionless voice spoke.
Everyone turned around in surprise and saw their senior sister looking at them with an expressionless face.
"S-senior sister!"
All of them cupped their hands and lightly bowed to Han Qiuyue.
"Mhm.." The latter only nodded and did not say anything.
After receiving her junior disciples' greetings, Han Qiuyue spoke.
"Then I suppose you are all ready to tour the sect?"
The expressions of the four youths brightened while nodded excitedly in response to her question.
"Very well, then let us depart."
-
Zed, Meixiang, Lan'er, and Jingfei once again found themselves inside the large building filled with circular inscriptions to which they recall their senior sister calling them, "Arrays."
Just like the day they arrived, the building had numerous disciples coming and going, with them constantly materializing and dematerializing into particles of light.
Once they appeared, the noisy surroundings became tamed as the surrounding disciples bowed and greeted their senior sister.
Han Qiuyue ignored them as she led her junior disciples through the sea of random disciples until they exited the building.
The situation was the same from outside the Main Hub building since many disciples are exiting and entering the building.
The group ignored their surroundings while acting aloof.
They had talked about this before and decided to remain silent and follow their senior sister. They didn't want to be looked down on by other disciples after being amazed by everything they saw.
After they walked down the steps, Han Qiuyue used her qi to lift her junior disciple along with herself and began to fly in the mid-air.
Zed and the others didn't look surprised and simply let themselves be carried in the air.
And soon, they began to advance.
Han Qiuyue spoke. "This place is called the [Jade Peak Valley] where most of the sect's establishments are built."
She then pointed to the western side of the city. "That is where most marketplaces and tradings occur. If you wish to buy materials from other cultivators or sell your own materials, you may head there."
They passed through it and saw numerous store stands with various items. Some were herbs, others were beast meat and bones, while there were also weapons being sold.
As one would expect from a marketplace, the area was noisy even though they were flying from a relatively high place.
Cultivators were bargaining after one another while some were complaining about their dissatisfaction with the product.
Seeing them like this, Zed and the others couldn't help but even though they were cultivators, they still acted like normal mortals inside a marketplace.
"Moving on." Han Qiuyue flew them past numerous ceramic-tiled roofs and eventually arrived at the northern part of the sect.
There they found wide open fields surrounded by a large and wide building. The open fields seem like large courtyards and they saw numerous disciples training systematically. The buildings were like all the other structures in the city, which were made in sturdy polished wood, stone floorings, and ceramic-tiled roofs.
It had numerous windows, indicating that there were many rooms inside the wooden building.
Inside a courtyard was easily filled with 70-80 disciples with plenty of space to move around.
"This is the outer sect area where outer sect disciples lived. Elders are to teach every once a month and today is that day, which is why outer sect disciples are gathered there."
"I see..." Zed and the others nodded in understanding.
Once again, they dashed through the skies and eventually arrived at the eastern part of the city.
They arrived at a place where there were multiple houses, each having a standard design but was enough to accommodate a single person. The roads were well maintained and the overall area looked neat and clean.
They didn't need to guess which area this was but Han Qiuyue explained regardless.
"This is the inner sect area where as you can tell, the inner sect disciples lived. As you've noticed, the living conditions improved and by mortal's standards, this is what they would call the noble district."
Zed could see numerous cultivators enjoying their leisure time by sitting by their front porch and having tea. Some were practicing their techniques inside their small courtyard and others were hanging out with other cultivators in small pavilions inside a large garden with ponds and beautiful plantation arrangements.
"Do take note that there are several inner sect disciples that are over five hundred years old. The reason they remained an Inner sect disciple is that is the extent of what their talents could achieve.
As for why they couldn't be an elder, the minimum required cultivation base is at least middle nascent soul realm which cultivators who lacked in talent couldnnever reach."
To become an elder, one would also need ten reccomendation from other elders before being approved by the sect leader.
Of course, her junior disciples didn't need to know that yet so Han Qiuyue didn't tell them.