Chapter Fifteen: Poaching Talent

Wang Li had always known that his fighting strength might only be a measly “five” as Master Sheng had once said. What he hadn’t anticipated was that, the moment he found himself in actual combat, his battle power plummeted straight to zero—he never once landed a blow on his opponent, and his victory came only because the other party was even more hopeless than he was!

All the abundant spiritual power within him served no purpose at all.

Having such spiritual power was no different from having none!

The spectacle of two incompetents pecking at each other vividly illustrated what it meant to “beg for food while holding a golden rice bowl.”

After all, both were cultivators at the Foundation Establishment stage. By realm alone, they’d be more than qualified to serve as stewards or senior disciples even at one of the lesser sects. As for talent, to enter the Foundation Establishment realm in their teens marked them as true prodigies. Yet when it came to actual combat strength, even a random Body Tempering martial artist could probably thrash them soundly. The thought of it was mortifying.

Deeply chastened by this humiliation, Wang Li returned to his humble abode to carefully reflect upon the lessons of the duel.

Meanwhile, in the Hall of Sacred Healing, Master Liuguang was at his wits' end, coaxing his granddaughter.

The Great Wei Dynasty, with its endless string of peculiar political marriages, had given rise to a web of complicated relationships both in court and among the common folk. Even an exalted cultivator like Master Liuguang, standing atop the cultivation world, was not immune to such entanglements.

Though cultivators pursued longevity and freedom, claiming indifference to blood ties, who could truly sever the bonds of kinship? Even Master Liuguang, a mighty Earth Immortal, was no exception.

Jiang Yue’s father was not the Emperor of Wei, but the only daughter Master Liuguang had sired before joining the Pure Yang Monastery.

Jiang Yue’s father lacked talent; he barely managed to cultivate to the Golden Core stage, with a lifespan of only a thousand years. He lived a rakish life, only settling down a decade or so ago, marrying an ordinary woman. A few years later, they had Jiang Yue—at least, before his longevity ran out, he experienced the simple joys of family and left behind a bloodline, not passing through the world in vain.

Not long after he died of old age, Jiang Yue’s mother also passed away due to an accident. Out of respect for Master Liuguang, the Emperor of Wei adopted the five-year-old Jiang Yue as his foster daughter, granting her the title of princess and raising her together with his favorite daughter, Jiang Yu.

Later, when Master Liuguang returned to the royal capital Longcheng on business, he met his granddaughter and was utterly taken with her, so he brought her back to the Pure Yang Monastery, raising her within the sect’s secret realm.

Jiang Yue’s aptitude far surpassed her father’s; she was a true genius. Under the guidance of many senior elders of the Pure Yang Monastery, and with Master Liuguang sparing no effort or expense in nurturing her, she was forcibly pushed to the Foundation Establishment realm in just a few short years. The only thing she lacked was real combat experience.

What Master Liuguang hadn’t anticipated was that Jiang Yue would sneak out of the secret realm to play—and even go out of her way to provoke Wang Li.

When he first heard of this, he immediately suspected Wang Li must have some ulterior motive for laying hands on his granddaughter. But after asking Liu Wanjin and seeing the duel’s recording, he was finally reassured.

It was nothing more than a clichéd episode born of his own granddaughter’s willful mischief, and had little to do with Wang Li.

He wasn’t surprised that Wang Li had reached the Foundation Establishment realm so quickly, but one thing did puzzle him: why did a soul-reborn cultivator like Wang Li lack any combat experience, and why would he be drawn into a childish fight?

He was certain Wang Li’s inept performance in the arena was no act—he simply couldn’t control the power in his body, and his manipulation of spiritual energy was crude and unfamiliar, nothing like what one would expect from an old monster reborn.

“Could it be that my judgment was wrong, and Wang Li merely stumbled upon a fortuitous chance rather than being a case of soul possession?”

Master Liuguang’s mind was occupied with ways to probe Wang Li’s background, even as he continued to comfort his weeping granddaughter.

“Don’t cry, Yue’er. You did very well. Grandfather has long found that brat Wang Li disagreeable. This time it’s my fault for not teaching you how to fight.”

“So you lost this time—next time, we’ll win it back. I’ll teach you a divine art that’ll have that brat running for his life!”

Jiang Yue sobbed inconsolably, tears streaming down her cheeks. Never in her life had she been bested in a fight, and worst of all, so many people had witnessed her sorry performance. She was a princess of the Great Wei Dynasty, the Pure Yang Monastery’s head disciple—how could she possibly show her face now?

She had hoped to dominate the scene from the moment she appeared, to be the most dazzling figure in the Pure Yang Monastery.

Instead, her debut had been a disaster. She didn’t know how she’d ever face anyone again.

“Grandfather, can’t you send Wang Li away? She dared to hit me. Expel him from the Pure Yang Monastery! Jiang Yu is still waiting for Wang Li to marry her… I don’t want Jiang Yu to be alone for the rest of her life…”

Master Liuguang was baffled. “Why does Jiang Yu have to marry Wang Li?”

“Wang Li and Jiang Yu are engaged. She’s going to become the Saintess of the Five Elements Pavilion, but unless Wang Li marries her, she can’t take the position…”

Jiang Yue was still sobbing, her words barely comprehensible. It took considerable mental effort for Master Liuguang to piece together what his granddaughter was trying to say.

“You’re saying Wang Li and Jiang Yu are engaged, and for Jiang Yu to become the Saintess of the Five Elements Pavilion, Wang Li must become a disciple there as well. Is that right?” His tone was grave.

Jiang Yue sensed her grandfather’s shift in mood and quickly quieted down, nodding pitifully. “Yes. That’s what Jiang Yu wrote to me. She asked me to help bring Wang Li out of the Pure Yang Monastery.”

“So you provoked Wang Li in order to injure him and make it easier to take him down the mountain?”

Master Liuguang’s expression turned even sterner.

Jiang Yue grew a little fearful and blurted out everything. “Yes, yes! Jiang Yu said she wanted me to attend her wedding, so I thought I’d sneak out… There are people waiting for me at the foot of the mountain. They’ll take Wang Li to the Five Elements Pavilion…”

“Sigh…” Master Liuguang sighed deeply. “My foolish Yue’er, do you believe everything others say?”

“Are you saying Jiang Yu lied to me, Grandfather?”

Jiang Yue, though sometimes muddle-headed, possessed her share of cleverness. She immediately realized she might have been duped—Jiang Yu’s motive for having her bring Wang Li down the mountain was surely more than simply “stealing the groom.”

“Whether she lied to you is not certain yet. Never mind, now isn’t the time to pursue this. Tell me, Yue’er, who are the people waiting for you at the foot of the mountain?”

“I don’t know who he is—I only know he wears a bamboo hat and carries a basket full of purple mysterious flowers. Jiang Yu said he’d be waiting for me at Ox Rest Town at the foot of the mountain.”

“A bamboo hat and a basket of purple mysterious flowers?”

Master Liuguang immediately released his immortal sense, scanning Ox Rest Town below in an instant.

…

In Ox Rest Town, a crowd of young female cultivators surrounded a flower stall, clamoring to buy the purple blossoms on display.

“One at a time, everyone! We’ve had a bumper harvest of purple mysterious flowers—there’s plenty in stock, so everyone will get a share,” the vendor said with a smile, though inwardly he was growing anxious.

“I knew letting a child handle this was unreliable. Days have passed, the flowers are nearly sold out, and there’s still no sign of her. My little ancestor, if you don’t show up soon, my cover’s going to be blown…”

He was considering whether to have another batch of flowers sent over when someone called out:

“Shopkeeper, your purple mysterious flowers are quite nice. My Pill Cauldron Hall needs some to refine a batch of beauty-enhancing elixirs. I’ll take all you have.”

The vendor looked up to see the speaker approaching his stall. He quickly gave a polite bow. “Immortal, you flatter me. These purple mysterious flowers are lovely, but they’re all mortal grade and hardly worthy of true alchemists. If you wish, I can seek out some top-quality five-colored mysterious flowers for you.”

The newcomer replied, “It seems you’re quite knowledgeable! There’s no need for five-colored mysterious flowers. I’m here to ask you—who gave that old crone from Heaven’s Eye the nerve to poach from my territory without so much as a word?”

“You must be mistaken, Immortal—I’m just an ordinary merchant. I have no connection to a great figure like Master Tianmu…”

The vendor kept a smile on his face, but his hand slipped into his sleeve, retrieving a golden talisman.

The other said, “Did you grab the wrong thing? The Gold Element Talisman is for attack—if you want to escape, you should use a Burrow Talisman. Or do you, as a Nascent Soul cultivator, really think you can challenge an Earth Immortal with a mere external tool?”

The vendor was stunned, disbelief written across his face. “You… you’re… the Pure Yang Monastery’s head…”

Master Liuguang smiled. “For an Earth Immortal to come catch a Nascent Soul cultivator like you—consider it an honor.”

“Don’t even think about self-destructing your soul. Cultivation is hard, and rebuilding is even harder. The Five Elements Pavilion and the Pure Yang Monastery are allies; we’re not at the stage of life and death. I won’t make things too difficult for you…”