Starting My Cultivation With Time Management

Chapter 425: Chapter 58: The Unyielding Character of Ling Yunpo
 

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Despite their intense anticipation, day after day, night after night, the disciples of the Shushan Sword Immortals finally saw the day of the grand tournament at White Jade Capital arrive amidst their eager expectation.

As time came, the various peaks convened a rallying assembly, and then countless sword lights soared into the sky like a resplendent glow stretching tens of thousands of feet, all heading toward the east.

Because Qingluo Peak had no mentor, there was no such assembly or speeches by the peak master; it was merely An Zhisu who got a pot of wine and poured a cup for herself and her junior, Ling Yunpo, as a send-off.

After finishing the wine, Senior Sister An tossed the cup aside and, with a flick of her finger, the Flying Smoke Sword shot out from behind her, instantly shattering the wine cup.

“Let’s go, junior brother,” she said with boundless heroism.

Ling Yunpo nodded slightly and then rose on his sword with his sister, following the direction of the main Shushan force.

At a glance, there were approximately two to three thousand disciples of the Foundation Establishment Realm from Shushan, slightly more than those from Kunlun.

However, he felt that the strength of most of these disciples was not very impressive.

Compared to loose cultivators, naturally, they were all formidable, but by Ling Yunpo’s current standards, they were genuinely of mediocre level.

The ones I truly have to confront are but the top five or six individuals from various factions!

Upon arriving at the White Jade Capital Secret Realm, they saw that the vicinity around Mount Tianmu was already full of orthodox sect disciples, riding sword lights and flying back and forth.

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Those in plain robes and high caps were Kunlun Cultivators, those in blue clothes with swords were Shushan Sword Immortals, and those in brocade were disciples of Penglai, all easily recognizable.

Before wandering for long, they saw a stream of cyan sword light flying toward them—it was Bi Sheng, ranked seventh on the Immortal Sword Ranking, who said to the sibling disciples:

“Shushan disciples, please follow me; I will take you to your lodging.”

“Senior Sister Bi Sheng,” Ling Yunpo asked with a smile, “why do we need to find lodgings? What exactly is the procedure for this grand tournament at White Jade Capital?”

“Adding up the disciples from all sects in the Foundation Establishment Realm, there are almost over eight thousand people,” Bi Sheng replied. “To save time, the tournament will use a single-elimination system.”

“Everyone will draw lots to determine their opponents, with the losers being eliminated and the winners advancing.”

“Once the advancing contestants number less than twelve, they will begin head-to-head matches to arrange the specific rankings.”

“Inside the White Jade Capital Secret Realm, a maximum of nearly a thousand battles can be accommodated per day, so the tournament is expected to last at least half a month.”

“Therefore, each sect has demarcated areas within Mount Tianmu for everyone to lodge and rest, to maintain their strength after the competition is over.”

“I see, thank you for clarifying, senior sister,” Ling Yunpo said with a laugh.

“You’re welcome.” Just as Bi Sheng politely responded, she saw An Zhisu slightly frowning, seemingly displeased.

What’s up with Senior Sister An? Why did she seem a bit hostile just now? Or am I imagining it?

After observing for a while and seeing that An Zhisu’s expression was normal, Bi Sheng then led the two to the resting place allocated to Shushan—a spot on an open mountaintop.

“The lot-drawing will take place every day at the third quarter of noon, at the entrance to the White Jade Capital Secret Realm, which is beneath that stretch of mountain rock in the distance.”

An Zhisu and Ling Yunpo were of course aware since they were the ones who discovered the secret realm initially.

“Below here are temporary huts built by our sect; you can just find an unoccupied one for yourself.”

After briefing them on some matters, Bi Sheng left, knowing when to take her leave.

An Zhisu chose a house and, turning around, saw Ling Yunpo lingering, so she curiously asked:

“Junior brother, why don’t you go choose a room?”

“I will stay with senior sister,” Ling Yunpo said with a bashful face.

“How could that be appropriate?” Although An Zhisu felt shy, she still subconsciously put on the sternness of a senior sister and seriously said, “Be good, go pick a nearby unoccupied house; stay close, and senior sister will practice swordsmanship with you every day, all right?”

“Okay.” Ling Yunpo hadn’t expected to persuade his senior sister in just a few words, so he pushed the door and left.

An Zhisu looked around the room and cast a few spells to clean up the surroundings.

Even as a Sword Immortal specializing in swordcraft, she knew some simple Daoist techniques.

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After nearly an hour, Ling Yunpo returned with a wry smile and said,

“Senior Sister, all the nearby houses have been chosen.”

“Chosen?” An Zhisu asked in surprise.

As she went out for a walk, she discovered that the three closest cottages had just been taken by Lin Duanshan, Duan Fenhai, and Guan Shanyue.

“Seeing that Senior Sister An and Junior Brother Ling had chosen this place, I thought it would be nice to pick somewhere close for easier interaction,” Lin Duanshan said with a smile as he came out of his house.

An Zhisu: ………..

I don’t mind if you want to live closer, but could you leave a place for my junior brother to stay?

In the past, the candid Senior Sister An would have directly frowned and made sarcastic comments.

Thanks to Ling Yunpo’s tireless, disdainful guidance day after day, she had increased her emotional intelligence, learning not to offend people with thoughtless remarks.

So, An Zhisu could only hold herself back, staying silent with a tight face.

Ling Yunpo, who stood by her side, heaved a sigh of relief.

Despite his senior sister’s nearly limitless tolerance for him, if she had actually questioned Lin Duanshan and he unconsciously admitted that it was Ling Yunpo’s own suggestion to invite him to stay nearby, his little scheme would have been instantly seen through by his senior sister.

Luckily, his senior sister did not inquire further. With the nearest three cottages occupied by Lin, Duan, and Guan, their junior siblings also took up residence around them, leaving Ling Yunpo to look for an extremely remote place to live—if his senior sister could bear to let him go so far.

An Zhisu walked around with Ling Yunpo and, finding indeed no vacancies, could only touch her forehead and concede,

“Alright, then junior brother may as well temporarily stay in my room.”

Upon reflection, living together in the same room didn’t seem too inconvenient.

After all, cultivators do not need to eat, nor do they need to excrete, nor do they sweat or get dirty, thus there’s no need to change clothes, and no situation would arise requiring the junior brother to step out to avoid embarrassment.

The only issue would probably be the impact on a woman’s reputation if word got out.

However, An Zhisu’s personality, similar to Su Jian’s, was such that she did things her own way.

Even though she might pay more attention to the opinions of others, she wouldn’t become so concerned as to be “honorably” referred to as the Weed-Cutting Sword Immortal, so she did not pay much attention to these concerns.

What’s there to criticize about the pure camaraderie between us, a fellow brother and sister of the sect!

Having brought her junior brother Ling Yunpo back to the room, she found a spot on the wooden bed and began to sit cross-legged, practicing her breathing techniques.

An Zhisu’s routine originally did not include breathing and Qi Refining, because the Refining Mansion phase Qi Refining Technique she received from Su Jian’s closed-door cultivation was incomplete, not allowing her to routinely nourish her Purple Mansion.

However, it was during her last visit to the White Jade Capital Secret Realm that Ling Yunpo obtained the complete “Supreme Sun and Moon Primordial Classic,” enabling An Zhisu not only to practice her breathing and Qi Refining but also to cultivate Daoist True Yuan that was more vigorous and to perfect her Jade Mansion.

Therefore, An Zhisu became especially diligent in her cultivation.

Ling Yunpo turned towards the wooden bed and noticed that his senior sister had left a place for him as well.

But he didn’t rush to the bed, instead, he took great interest in admiring the face of his senior sister so close at hand.

An Zhisu, despite being from Yangzhou’s Guangling County and corresponding to the gentle women of the “Jiangnan Water Town,” was neither gentle in appearance nor in temperament; she was typically the kind of person who had a gentle exterior but firm interior.

It was her extremely protective nature that kept her as gentle as water with her junior brother but, once Ling Yunpo crossed her limit, she would subconsciously become strong-willed.

Thankfully, through persistent trial and error, Ling Yunpo had roughly determined the boundaries of Senior Sister An’s tolerance.

For example, holding hands was okay in everyday interactions, a hug wasn’t a problem either, but a kiss would push the boundaries and lead to her forcefully pushing him away and sternly reprimanding him.

So, what he needed to do was to keep wandering close to the line, getting her gradually accustomed and slowly yielding.

From “How can we live together?” to “No choice but to live together for now,” and finally “Living together isn’t really a problem,” that was Ling Yunpo’s ultimate goal!

What does it mean to have an “unyielding character”? Unyielding means relentlessly progressing towards one’s goal without ever stopping!