Su Tingyun soaked in the lake until the sun went down, but when she returned, she found that the bamboo house was already occupied by someone else. Just as she was wondering where to go, she heard a childâs voice say: âGrannie, you can sleep over here.â
The child who spoke was actually the one who had given her directions this afternoon, and by his side were a girl and boy that looked slightly older. They were currently making a simple hut underneath the big tree, in it they laid out three grass mats.
Out of those coming to become disciples, the wealthy were able to stay in a bamboo house, while the poor could only set up camp themselves.
Su Tingyun did bring a small box of jewelry, but the currency here was in spirit stones which she had absolutely no idea where to get. She had nowhere to go, so hearing the boyâs invitation, she quickly agreed and went over with an overly sincere word of thanks.
âGrannie, my father also wanted to cultivate to become a celestial, but he always said that he was too old and refused to come with me.â The little boy was very cute, when he spoke his long eyelashes kept on blinking just like a pair of small fans, âI really admire you. Later when I go back, Iâll tell my dad about you and let him learn from you.â
When Su Tingyun heard that she didnât know what to say, and could only let out a wry chuckle.
âGrannie, you cleaned yourself really well, thereâs no more bad smell on you, and it even smells a little nice.â It would have been better if the little boy didnât mention that, because when he did, he reminded the other two by his side of the very unpleasant scent, causing their facial color to darken by several degrees, and also made Su Tingyun feel very embarrassed.
âZhang Zhizi, stop talking.â The girl who looked about twelve angrily gave the boy a glare, and then she squeezed her body a bit to the side to create a little space. âElder, you can sleep here tonight.â After saying that she closed her eyes to meditate. The other teen silently swept his glance over them. In the end, he didnât say anything, only hugged his sword and withdrew into a corner of the hut.
Su Tingyun was tired from the past two days. Now she carefully laid down, and while looking at the glittering starlight that penetrated the ceiling of the hut she quickly entered dreamlandâŚ
Then. Then she began snoringâŚ.
When it comes to old people, especially those that did a lot of heavy menial work when they were young and also ate lavish meals with generous amounts of meat and fish, once they fall asleep exhausted, their snores are like rumbles of thunder, causing the three children in the same hut to be unable to sleep as they tossed and turned like burning pancakes.
âZhang ZhiziâŚâ The girl frowned as she looked towards the youngest boy and rolled her eyes. Meanwhile the sword boyâs face turned dark as the bottom of a pot. As he watched the deeply sleeping old woman, his brows started to wrinkle more and more until there were deep creases everywhere.
Su Tingyun was very tired, and she had already fallen asleep, but the strange thing was, though her physical body seemed exhausted, her mind, strangely, was able to see everything going on around her. However, at the moment, she couldnât tell whether what she was seeing was real or not since it felt similar to the sleep paralysis that she used to experience, but at the same time also felt completely different.
Her body was not uncomfortable at all as she was sleeping like a dead pig, but her consciousness was crystal clear, clear enough to even see the expressions on the threeâs faces and also hear the contents of their conversation.
âI didnât know that sheâd snore!â Zhang Zhizi grumbled as he scratched his head, feeling slightly wronged.
âThis isnât just snoring, this is snoring thunder!â After saying this, the cold-faced boy who hadnât said anything until now gave a cold humph, âTomorrow we still have to hunt spirit beasts for the registration fee, if we canât meditate now how are we going to fight the beasts!â
Zhang Zhiziâs face showed deep embarrassment and he said sorry again and again. Only after that did he carefully ask: âBrother Xu, should I just wake her up?â Who would have thought that the girl who had been rolling her eyes unhappily would frown and say: âForget it, she must be really tired to be like this, sheâs already so old.â Then she took out a few oval stones from her cloth bag.
âIâll set up an array for you to isolate her noise.â
âDidnât I already say that we needed to save our energy? Li Xinmei, why are you wasting your spiritual power for something like this?â The cold faced boy called Brother Xu fiercely gave the snoring Su Tingyun another glare before closing his eyes once again. Zhang Zhizi and Li Xinmei looked towards each other with helpless expressions, then closed their eyes too, in hopes of getting to a state of rest. No one spoke anymore, with the surrounding silence, Su Tingyun felt even more strongly that the sound of her snoring was truly too scary, and she tried to wake herself up but couldnât. At her witâs end, she could only continuously apologize in her heart.
At first, her awareness could only view the inside of the hut. She didnât know how much time passed, but now she could also seem to see the situation outside the hut. She saw a few shadows approaching the hut under the big tree and was alarmed. She wished she could shout: âThere are people with ill intents coming!â
However, right now she couldnât do a thing.
Then Su Tingyun heard an angry shout: âNot letting people sleep, who is it that keep snoring, this daddy is going to kick you out of Wuliang mountain!â
Su Tingyun had thought that the cultivation world was just like that of the novels, that these people wanted to kill and plunder, she never thought that the main offendent would actually be her snoringâŚ
âItâs actually this old woman. Sh*t, what bad luck!â The dragon-bearded man finished speaking, spat out a mouthful of spit, then aimed a kick towards Su Tingyun. But right at that moment, Li Xinmei instinctively stretched out her hand. In the end, Li Xinmei let out a stifled groan while holding her own arm, trembling.
Zhang Zhizi had been madly shaking Su Tingyun in a panic this whole time, Su Tingyun felt her consciousness suddenly return to her body. After coming to, she quickly sat up, turned towards the girl and asked: âLittle miss, what happened? Are you okay?â
âD*mn old woman, not letting other people rest. Scram now, go somewhere far away from here to sleep, if you donât see whatâs Iâll do!â Seeing that Su Tingyun woke up, the bearded man gave a few loud threats, then ripped apart the small hut, kicking the four young and old people out, forbidding them from approaching the area of the bamboo houses.
Su Tingyun felt guilty to death, all this mess was because of her, and she even dragged down three kids.
âWuliang mountainâs foot, the safest area is here where there are disciples on duty. If we are kicked out of thereâŚâ If Zhang Zhizi didnât say that, it was still fine, but when he did, it was like pouring oil on fire. The cold-faced Brother Xu pulled his sword out of its scabbard : âThis is because of you old woman, us getting kicked out, Li Xinmeiâs arm breaking. Why donât you just go die!â
The sharp sword tip was barely three inches away from Su Tingyunâs face and blade reflected Su Tingyunâs old frightened face.
It was this moment that she realized that the cultivation world was a truly ruthless world that ate people whole without even sparing the bones. Even a little child can easily point a sword at somebody, and here she was, without power, her existence here was like that of an ant.
She felt a bit of regret, giving up being a shrouded wealthy old grandma just because of the desire to experience the world of a young girl again. To have come to the cultivation world to be an old woman whom anyone could kill. But, is it even possible to turn back now? She doesnât even have the chance to regretâŚâŚ
That small Brother Xuâs eyes were cold, his sword was even colder. She could feel his killing intent and that made her instinctively feel that he has killed before.
He took his sword out not just to scare her, but really to kill her.
âXu Wei, what are you doing? Itâs not like she was the one who hurt us, how could you vent your anger out on an old person?â At the critical moment, it was Li Xinmei who spoke to stop him.
âIf not for her, we wouldnât be kicked out. Youâre hurt, and gathering spirit stones from now on will be even harder! Wuliang mountain discipline recruitment takes place once every ten years, will you be able to wait another ten years?â Xu Wei was not one who talked much, but now he was practically shouting out lines, and his sword moved forward again, the tip pricking Su Tingyunâs throat.
She didnât dare to move even a step, as the palm of her hands and feet dripped cold sweat.
âWhat are you roaring at me for? If youâre so great you should just go and yell at those people from before.â Being yelled at by Xu Wei, Li Xinmei also angrily shouted back at him. Next to them, the little Zhang Zhizi ruefully cried: â Brother Xu, Sister Li donât argue anymore, it was me, itâs all my faultâŚ.â
At this time, the culprit Su Tingyun was not so scared anymore, her heart was filled with guilt as she said in a small voice: âUm, is there anything I can help with? Little miss, I think you should first bandage your hand.â
Both the boy and girl just snorted with a humph and even Zhang Zhizi accusingly rolled his eyes at her.
To clarify, the order of age is Xu Wei as the oldest, Li Xinmei, then Zhan Zhizi as the youngest since brother and sister in English doesnât reflect who is older or younger.