The house and the spiritual field were given to her by her master—they belonged to her, and she wouldn’t give them up to anyone.
But… since her master was the Supreme Elder, the other disciples wouldn’t really try to take them, right?
Just as she was nervously debating in her mind, Yue Qianchi, who was floating on a flying sword, smirked and teased,
“Little junior sister, why are you guarding the door like that?”
“Afraid we’ll take the door off your house and rush in to claim it for ourselves?”
The gathered disciples burst into laughter.
But the laughter was lighthearted—there was no malice in it.
Li Qingran, flustered that her worries had been completely exposed, blushed furiously and struggled to find words.
“You’re Dreaming If You Think I’d Plant It for You!”
“Li Qingran, was this house and the spiritual field arranged by your master?”
The speaker was none other than Su Qinian, the Pavilion Master of the Sword Pavilion.
Li Qingran hesitated briefly, then whispered,
“Yes… My master arranged it. He said I should live here alone, and the spiritual field is… also mine alone.”
“Oh?”
Su Qinian raised an eyebrow and glanced at the spiritual field. He was secretly astonished.
The fertility of these spiritual fields… was outstanding.
Even his personal medicine garden wasn’t much better than this.
Yet here were ten such spiritual fields, all appearing right under his nose.
“Just who is Li Qingran’s master?”
There was no way someone snuck into the Sword Pavilion without him noticing, right?
Even if her master had used a special artifact, this level of technique was far beyond ordinary.
“Master, Junior Sister Qingran is afraid you’ll steal her spiritual fields~” Yue Qianchi giggled.
Su Qinian realized he had been too focused on his thoughts and quickly responded, looking at Li Qingran’s wary expression.
He rolled his eyes and scoffed,
“You think I’d steal your spiritual fields?
“Why don’t you plant them yourself, and I’ll plant them for you instead?“
“Keep dreaming!”
The disciples burst into laughter again.
Li Qingran’s face turned even redder.
“N-No, Pavilion Master, that’s not what I meant—”
“That’s exactly what you meant.”
“No, really—”
“Then what did you mean?”
Li Qingran clamped her mouth shut.
She didn’t dare to speak anymore.
She had never seen a sect master who bickered with his disciples like this!
Seeing her speechless, Su Qinian stroked his beard, looking smug.
Then he said with a chuckle,
“You chose to live at the peak. However you cultivate your cave is up to you. No matter how beautiful it is, it belongs to you.”
“My Sword Pavilion may be poor, but we’re not so poor that we’d steal from our own junior sister.”
The disciples nodded in agreement.
“Yes, Junior Sister, we were just curious and came to take a look. After all, ten spiritual fields is no small matter.” Yue Qianchi’s eyes gleamed with envy.
If she had such a large spiritual field, she wouldn’t need to spend money on spiritual herbs.
She’d be completely self-sufficient—and might even make some money selling the extra!
A Mountain of Gifts!
“Senior Sister, if you need spiritual herbs, you can plant some here…”
Li Qingran offered hesitantly.
She trusted her senior sister and didn’t mind sharing.
“Junior Sister, it’s sweet of you to think of that, but you should keep your spiritual fields for yourself.” Yue Qianchi snorted lightly, then added with a proud smile,
“Aren’t you planning to become an alchemist or a healer? Your spiritual fields will be critical for that. Use them wisely!”
“Oh, right—this is for you.”
Yue Qianchi handed Li Qingran a small cloth bag.
“These are some basic spiritual herb seeds. I bought too many last time, so you can use them.”
“Senior Sister…” Li Qingran wanted to refuse, but before she could, Yue Qianchi cut her off with a wicked grin.
“If you don’t take them, I’ll plant dogtail grass all over your spiritual fields!”
Li Qingran: “…”
Next to Yue Qianchi, Xu An—the eldest disciple of Lingyun Peak—waved at Li Qingran from his flying sword.
“Junior Sister, I got you two pots of spiritual wine this morning. Make sure to bring them inside!”
Another disciple stepped forward.
“You’re the new junior sister, right? I’m Gongsun Sheng, the second disciple of Lingyun Peak.”
He took a small mechanical object from his robes and handed it to her.
“This is a self-made hidden weapon. When infused with spiritual energy, it fires 180,000 spiritual steel needles in an instant. Could save your life one day.”
“Junior Sister, I’m Zhen He, the eldest disciple of Cangjian Peak.”
A cultivator sitting on a crane handed her a small pouch.
“These are three Cangjian Pills. Each contains a condensed sword energy attack. They can kill Foundation Establishment cultivators and seriously injure Golden Core cultivators. Use them wisely.”
“Junior Sister, this is a crane I raised. I’m giving it to you.”
“Junior Sister, I don’t have much, so I’ll just give you a few pills, haha!”
“Junior Sister, my senior sister asked me to give you this hairpin. She says it suits you~”
One by one, gifts piled up in front of Li Qingran.
She couldn’t hold them all, so they began stacking into a small mountain beside her.
The Sword Box
“Here. This is for you.”
A calm, emotionless voice rang out.
Li Qingran, who was already half-buried under gifts, peeked over the pile.
It was the same senior brother who had been sleeping on a turtle’s back that morning—the one who practiced the Ruthless Sword Dao.
“I am Duan Feng, a disciple of Wuqing Peak.”
Duan Feng dragged a heavy black sword box and placed it in front of her.
“Since you’ve joined the Sword Pavilion, you should understand.”
“A sword is no longer just a weapon—it is a partner, a companion, and a family member.”
“Even if it’s a wooden sword, it should be used until it can no longer be used.”
“Almost all our resources go into sword maintenance and cultivation. This sword box can nourish and repair your sword, making it sharper. I’m giving it to you.”
Li Qingran’s head spun from all the gifts.
“T-This… I can’t possibly accept… It’s too expensive…!”
Duan Feng’s expression remained indifferent.
“It’s fine. These are just material things—I have better ones.”
Without hesitation, he balanced the sword box on top of the pile of gifts, found the perfect balance point, then turned and left without another word.
His sword hung at his waist, its brightly polished blade wrapped in a faint green glow.
Unlike the other disciples floating on their flying swords, he was the only one standing firmly on the ground.
An Unexpected Tradition
By the time everyone had finished giving their gifts, Li Qingran was completely buried beneath the pile.
The crane gifted by Senior Sister Zhao Le even helped carry some of the items.
This was far beyond anything she had expected.
She originally thought her senior brothers and sisters would demand something in return, but instead, after delivering their gifts, they simply left in groups, chatting and laughing.
They didn’t even linger.
Li Qingran was left in a daze.
“Why… why did they give me so much?”
She stood there, still in disbelief, watching the departing figures.
Under the Moonlight
With Yue Qianchi’s help, all the gifts were moved into her house.
Now, the two sat on the cliffside of Luoxia Peak, the night sky stretching endlessly above them.
Each held a jar of Xu An’s spiritual wine, the moonlight casting silver glows on the rocky edges.
“This is the tradition of our Sword Pavilion.”
Yue Qianchi tapped Li Qingran lightly on the head, a gentle smile forming at the corner of her lips.
“You’ll get used to it.”
“Why?”
Li Qingran, still puzzled, hugged the wine jar to her chest and murmured,
“Why did they give me so many things… Isn’t Sword Pavilion very poor?”
Some of the gifts weren’t just small tokens—one of her senior brothers even gave her his life-saving pills, keeping only one for himself.
Was this really something poor cultivators would do?
The True Cost of the Sword Pavilion
Yue Qianchi tilted her head up, gazing at the bright moon.
A trace of melancholy flickered in her eyes.
After a moment of silence, she finally spoke.
“Junior sister, it has been a long time since someone new joined the Sword Pavilion.”
“The path of sword cultivation is difficult—far more difficult than other sects.”
“It requires not only personal perseverance, but also countless resources.”
“We don’t want to see another Sword Pavilion disciple die again.”
Her voice grew softer.
Li Qingran clutched the wine jar tighter, heart tightening with an emotion she couldn’t quite describe.
A Sect That Values Its Disciples
The Sword Pavilion was not always poor.
It was once a prosperous, well-funded sect.
But every time a sword cultivator fell, it was a devastating loss—both emotionally and financially.
Unlike other sects, where resources were distributed by hierarchy, the Sword Pavilion treated all disciples equally.
Even the Pavilion Master’s direct disciples received no extra privileges.
Meanwhile, even the most ordinary disciple—as long as they needed resources—could submit a request. If approved by the elders, they would receive what they needed, regardless of the cost.
This meant that every Sword Pavilion disciple was essentially a bottomless pit for resources.
Cultivators nurtured with such immense effort—when they died, it was like losing a part of the sect’s own soul.
But in today’s world, who could guarantee survival?
“I Won’t Die.”
Li Qingran did not fully understand the history of the Sword Pavilion.
But she could see the sorrow in Yue Qianchi’s eyes.
Without hesitation, she reached out—her fingers intertwining with Yue Qianchi’s.
“Senior sister, I won’t die.”
“I will do everything I can to live.”
“And you can’t die either!”
“You’re the senior sister of our Sword Pavilion!”
“No One Can Hurt My Juniors!”
Yue Qianchi froze, momentarily caught off guard.
Then, a bright smile spread across her face.
“That’s right!”
She raised her head high, lifting her wine jar.
The moonlight glimmered in the rippling liquid.
“As long as I, Yue Qianchi, am here—”
“No one will harm the disciples of the Sword Pavilion!”
In that moment, she was radiant.
Her entire presence shielded Luoxia Peak, as if guarding the whole mountain.
She had suffered countless wounds.
But she would never stop protecting her sect.
The Sect Where Master Once Stayed
Li Qingran looked up at her senior sister, admiration shining in her eyes.
Because—
This was the sect where Master once stayed.
