43. Idle

"Sister!" Lin Jiuci's annoyance vanished instantly; her sister had come to pick her up. She ran happily toward Lin Jiuge.

"Jiuci, say goodbye to your friend," Lin Jiuge said, nodding toward Zhang Boyu.

"Goodbye," Lin Jiuci murmured reluctantly. Not wanting to disrespect her sister, she offered a perfunctory farewell before taking her sister's hand and walking away. Before they left, Lin Jiuge gave Zhang Boyu a polite nod.

After they were gone, Zhang Boyu saw the servant disciple from his grandfather's sect coming to collect him, and the frustration he had been bottling up finally erupted.

"Waaaaah!" Zhang Boyu sobbed loudly, feeling completely abandoned. It was his first day of school, and not a single family member had come to pick him up.

"Jiuci, your friend seems quite fragile," Lin Jiuge noted, weighing her words carefully.

"I suppose," Lin Jiuci replied, doubtful. Even though he had been constantly picking fights with her, the wailing was indeed coming from that bratty big brother.

"Jiuci, you shouldn't be like that. I can't guarantee I'll always be the one to pick you up. Sometimes it might be your senior brother, your master, or even your uncle," Lin Jiuge explained patiently to her younger sister.

"I know, but you must at least see me once a day," Lin Jiuci insisted. That was her minimum requirement; surely seeing her sister once a day wasn't too much to ask.

Thus, starting the next day, Zhang Boyu, having been comforted by his grandfather, began a daily routine of crying his way to school and crying his way home.

He looked at Lin Jiuci—whom he considered his nemesis—with resentment. In the mornings, he saw the Sect Leader’s head disciple, Zhou Yan, dropping her off, while the Venerable of Combat picked her up in the evening. Other days, her sister Lin Jiuge dropped her off, and Zhou Yan picked her up. Sometimes the Venerable of Daoism dropped her off and picked her up. He had even seen the Sect Leader himself.

Utterly demoralized, Zhang Boyu’s spirit shattered. He refused to go to school, leaving his grandfather, Zhang Geng, speechless.

"Grandfather, you always say you're busy! Is the Venerable of Daoism not busy? Is the Venerable of Combat not busy? Is the Sect Leader not busy? Why do they all have time to pick up Lin Jiuci? What exactly are you all busy with? What are Mom and Dad busy with? Why can't any of you pick me up?" Zhang Boyu argued through his tears.

What could Zhang Geng say? His work in the Artifact Pavilion was complex and involved many things, but he could hardly tell his grandson that the Sect Leader was essentially idle. Feeling that everything he had was inferior to Lin Jiuci’s situation, Zhang Boyu simply didn't want to go to school anymore; he felt crushed every single day!

"Master, is Zhang Boyu not coming to school?" little Lin Jiuci asked, frowning. Although she didn't like him, she knew that skipping school was wrong.

"He has some matters to attend to," Tian Ting replied, feeling speechless. It was too childish; the younger Lin Jiuci persisted every day, yet Zhang Boyu, who was a full cycle older, couldn't hold on.

***

One evening after school, Lin Jiuci was blocked from leaving.

"Senior Brother Zhao Yi, is something the matter?" Lin Jiuci asked, looking at the teenager blocking her path. Indeed, he looked even older than her sister.

"Lin Jiuci, do you live within the sect?" Zhao Yi asked.

"Doesn't everyone live in the sect?" Lin Jiuci asked, confused. Where else would one live?

"Then where exactly do you live? Can you take us to see it?" This was Zhao Yi’s true goal. He knew there were other children of similar age in the sect, but they didn't attend classes with them. Having finally encountered one, he had to seize the opportunity.

"No," Lin Jiuci shook her head. Her senior brother had told her their territory was intricate and dangerous, and she would get lost or lose her life if she went without a guide.

"Lin Jiuci, we've spent so much time together, what’s the harm in showing us?" interjected another boy named Wu Qingfeng. He understood exactly what Zhao Yi was planning, and he wanted in on it too.

Others who didn't fully understand the situation chimed in. Although Lin Jiuci wore the standard pale blue uniform of the school, the two small bells in her hair marked her as a child.

Surrounded, Lin Jiuci faced such a situation for the first time. Wailing, her cries grew louder and louder. Someone, in an attempt to cover her mouth, accidentally brushed against the bells in her hair.

The bells emitted a sound far different from their usual chime—a dull, heavy thud. Lin Jiuci, not understanding what was happening, cried even harder in her distress. All the students surrounding her collapsed, fainting instantly; those closest even had blood at the corners of their mouths.

Tian Ting and Tian Hao rushed over, but they couldn't intervene. It seemed as though something was separating them from the space around Lin Jiuci, who was too distraught to notice anything.

"What do we do?" Tian Ting asked anxiously.

"Send a message to the Elders, quickly!" Tian Hao, also frantic but managing to keep his composure, realized this was beyond their control.

"Jiuci!" A voice rang out like a savior. Lin Jiuge appeared out of nowhere.

She had been waiting at the usual spot for Lin Jiuci to finish school, but when she heard her sister's cries, she rushed over without hesitation.

"Junior Uncle, we can't get through. We have to wait for the Elders," Tian Ting said.

"No need," Lin Jiuge replied. She stepped through the barrier, picked up the inconsolable Lin Jiuci, and began to soothe her.

Slowly, Lin Jiuci’s crying ceased, the bells went silent, and the group of children remained unconscious.

"Sister, they bullied me," Lin Jiuci complained. From her tearful, tiny voice, Lin Jiuge and the arriving Elders roughly understood what happened. A group of boys, noticing Lin Jiuci was "different," had tried to force her to show them where she lived. When she refused, they surrounded her, frightened her into crying, and accidentally triggered the Demon-Yarn Phantom Bells in her hair.

"Jiuci, do you still want to attend this school?" Lin Jiuge’s aura was frigid. She had sent her sister here to learn, not to be bullied.

"No," Lin Jiuci replied, haunted by the memory of being trapped.

"We’ll go back, and I’ll have your Uncle teach you systematically. As for these students—not very old, but plenty of malice. Have they never walked the Path of Truth? Once they wake up, send them to walk the Path of Truth," Lin Jiuge said, her tone brook no refusal.

"Junior Sister, isn't that a bit extreme?" the Elder in charge of the new disciples felt it was overkill.

"After the recent incident with the Tiji, who can guarantee they aren't being used as conduits through the mortal realm? Elder Brother, can you guarantee that?" Lin Jiuge was blunt, dropping the heavy accusation squarely on him.

He could not guarantee it! In the end, he had to begrudgingly send the students to the Path of Truth, only to be slapped in the face by reality: there were indeed infiltrators among them, including Zhao Yi, who had been pushing to find Lin Jiuci's home, along with several others.

The Elder’s face turned green. He had no choice but to report the matter, feeling as humiliated as possible.

"Elder Brother, the values of these new disciples need to be corrected. They haven't learned anything yet, but they already know how to bully others in groups. If they actually learned some real skills, wouldn't they be deceiving their superiors and oppressing their peers?" Lin Jiuge spoke with severity; she was a woman who held a grudge!

"Junior Sister, I have noted it. I will educate them thoroughly," the Elder said, cold sweat on his brow. He knew this Junior Sister, famous throughout the sect for her "Swift Steps" technique, was not a woman to be trifled with.

"In that case, I suggest adding some physical training courses. If they have the energy to corner people, it’s purely because they are too idle!"