Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“Master, I want to learn sword techniques.” Chef who just finished cooking suddenly started talking.
“Ah?” The chopsticks in Shen Ying’s hands stopped. How did Chef suddenly have such a dangerous thought.
“Lou Tao and others are also at Qi Refinement, but they have all started learning sword techniques.” His little face was stiff and serious.
Who is Lou Tao?
“I’m the disciple of Master. I don’t want to lose to them. Master, can you teach me sword techniques?”
Shen Ying thought for a moment. The disciple is hardworking and it’s a good thing, she should encourage it. So she nodded, “Okay.” Isn’t it just sword dharma, she had experience with that.
Chef’s eyes brightened, as he jumped down from the chair immediately.
“As the saying goes, all martial arts in the world…”
“Shut up!” Before she finished, Lonemoon beside her suddenly stuffed a piece of meat into her mouth. “You don’t know it, don’t teach it any way you like!”
“In the past I…” Shen Ying opened her mouth to explain.
“The past is past!” Lonemoon stared at her. Chef lacked wisdom, not cultivation. With her talks of epiphany, wouldn’t she be a negative influence? Each of them made life harder for him.
He rubbed the center of his brows, and turned to look at Yi Qing, who wasn’t much taller than the chair, and felt a bit awkward for a moment. Chef’s sword dharma was self-invented, and it complemented his sword dharma. Not only could Shen Ying not teach him, he himself could not. If they taught him regardless, it might be counterproductive. “Che- Yi Qing, the Sword Dao depends on one’s own understanding, sword techniques… would have to be figured out by yourself. We can’t really teach you.”
His small brows wrinkled. Being a child after all, he made no effort to hide the disappointment in his eyes, and only after a long while did he look up and say, “Then what do I have to do to understand it?”
“Through battle, of course…” He stopped short, as if he had suddenly thought of something. “How yeah, maybe I will set several sword arrays. If you can break out of them, you might be able to gain some understanding.”
“Okay,” Yi Qing nodded hard. Excitement shone in his eyes.
“I will set an easy one first and increase the difficulty level gradually after you have succeeded.” He took out a spirit sword, handed it over to him and explained, “However, you do not have any foundation in sword techniques, and your cultivation is only Qi Refinement. It is rather dangerous for you to enter the sword array rashly, and there may even be the danger of suffering serious injuries. Are you sure?”
Yi Qing turned to look at Shen Ying, and his eyes were full of determination, “Yes! I’m not afraid.”
“Then from tomorrow onwards, you will go to the practice field at the main peak. I will set up a sword array there. You enter the array at six in the morning, and the array will only be pacified at 9pm.”
“Okay.” He nodded. After a while he thought of something, and asked with some anxiety, “Then can I come out for a while at noon?”
“For what?” Lonemoon glanced at him. Giving up so easily? This is not like Chef.
“Noon is the time that Master has lunch, I…”
“I get it!” Lonemoon’s mouth twitched. Even with his memories gone, he had not forgotten about his job. “I will fetch you out of the array at that time.”
He felt relieved, cupped his fists and said respectfully, “Thank you, Supremacy.”
Lonemoon stiffened. A hint of awkwardness went across his face. Having gotten used to Chef’s looks of contempt or disregard and discrimination, he felt rather strange being thanked so seriously.
“Master, master!” Yi Qing turned his head, and looked straight towards Shen Ying with a star-like brightness in his eyes. He said excitedly, “I will work hard to understand sword techniques and become better than anyone. I’ll also be able to protect Master in the future.”
Shen Ying paused.
A while later…
“I know.”
—————
Lonemoon seemed to have indeed started devil training with Chef. Every day, before the sun was up, Chef disappeared, leaving behind only a table full of dishes. At noon and in the evening he would return, before disappearing again. His small body which previously only had SpiritQi started to show some Sword Qi as well. It seemed that Lonemoon’s method worked indeed.
The figure which used to follow her around every day calling “Master” suddenly disappeared, and Shen Ying was actually a bit unused to it.
This continued for a couple months. Chef traveled between the practice field and the kitchen every day. The Sword Qi on his body thickened, and even his character matured. He became ever more like the Chef in the past.
Until one day, he said, “Master, I broke out of the sword array today.” His little body had grown taller. He gave Shen Ying a big smile.
She was stunned for a moment, looked him up up and down, before nodding, “Hmm.”
“Master, I suddenly understood three sword techniques.”
“Hmm.”
“Master, I realized that sword array was really hard to break out indeed.”
“Hmm.”
“Master, I will understand more in the future.”
“Hmm.”
“Master, I’ve returned late today, are you hungry?”
“… No.”
“That’s… that’s… good!” With that said, he seemed finally unable to bear it, swayed a few times, and fell straight down.
Seeing that he was dropping to the ground, Shen Ying grabbed him and held him up in her arms directly. Perhaps because of the sword in his hand, he was much heavier than usual.
Shen Ying sighed, turned into the house and put him on the bed. Within an instant, the bed sheet turned red. Blood stains were all over Yi Qing. His Dharma clothing was torn in many places, and lots of sword marks could be vaguely seen.
She subconsciously turned to look at the person who followed behind.
“Why are you looking at me? I didn’t hurt him!” Lonemoon stared at her, “And he didn’t let me treat him before coming back. I was still wondering why was he learning in such a haste that he broke out of my array within less than eight months. It was as if he couldn’t wait to improve himself. I don’t know what he’s trying so hard for?” Apparently even if he didn’t learn anything, once the time comes and his memory is restored, his cultivation would all come back.
Shen Ying frowned and looked at the bloody little person on the bed. Her directly pointed a finger in the air, and a light screen appeared on top of Chef. Her fingertips pointed and adjusted the data on there. Instantly, the injuries on Chef all disappeared. Not only the blood stains were gone, even the tears on the Dharma clothing returned to its original state, as if it had never been torn.
The pathetic child on the bed from a moment ago turned back to the clean, jade-like child.
“Holy shit! You used the manager authority to directly adjust his data.” Lonemoon’s eyes opened wide. “Your treatment is a bit too high level, eh?”
Shen Ying turned and looked at him. “Can’t I use it?”
Lonemoon’s mouth twitched. “You can, of course you can. Besides, he’s your man. How’s that my business!” Hmph! He had actually chased after him back all the way, worrying. Lonemoon put back the treatment elixirs in his hand and turned to leave. “I’m returning now. You keep an eye on him and let him rest a bit longer today. He’ll be entering a new array tomorrow.”
Shit! He still had to return to make an array in the night. He didn’t know what he owed to this pair of master and disciple.
“Oh.” Shen Ying nodded. Suddenly she seemed to have remembered something. “Father Niu.”
“What?”
“I’m so hungry. I haven’t eaten dinner yet. Do you have food?”
“Go away!” Lonemoon stared at her. “There’s limited feed today!”
With that said, he waved and left a few plates of pastries on the table, before turning out of the house.
“…”
Sigh, Father Niu just had to be tsundere all the time.
