Chapter 1

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Chapter 1

“Actually, I have always disliked you.”

When Lin Aoshuang said these words, her earlier gentle smile had yet to fade.

Behind her, a Paper Person floated up slowly, raising its cut-out paper hands, manipulating Lin Aoshuang to grab Gong Wu’s collar.

“Senior sister, you…”

Gong Wu had not finished her sentence when her center of gravity suddenly shifted backward, and in an instant, her senior sister threw her over the railing.

She fell uncontrollably, crashing into the thick and murky Wan Shi Pool below, and in the next moment, all exposed skin began to rot and dissolve.

Senior sister—Senior sister!!

Gong Wu strained to look up at the only person who could help her, but Lin Aoshuang’s eyes were glazed over as she was pulled away by the Paper Person.

The girl sank deeper into the thick, foul Wan Shi Pool, her consciousness fading with the excruciating pain.

How did I… suddenly get killed…

She barely had time to process everything when only a white light remained in front of her.

Then she fell into an abyss of nothingness and breathed her last.

“…”

So noisy.

After an undetermined amount of time, Gong Wu managed to wake up, faintly sensing a large creature circling and rolling beside her.

What… was I doing before?

Her five senses had not fully recovered, and her consciousness was struggling to piece together fragment-like memories. A sharp ringing in her ears finally faded away.

I was taking out the trash.

Yes, I was helping my senior sister dispose of the medicine dregs, and we had agreed to make a rabbit tail flower crown on our way back.

The Wan Shi Pool is north of the Moonfire Valley, where a large poisonous salamander has lived for who knows how long, eating everything in sight, and over the years, it has devoured all the medicine dregs boiled in the valley.

Not only the disciples from the valley but also nearby villagers often come to throw in rags and rotten meat. To prevent accidental falls into the pool, sturdy railings have been built here.

In her restless thoughts, she gradually felt her limbs regaining sensation, and the searing pain from the toxic pool began to rise again.

Gong Wu could not swim, but instinctively, she struggled to grab onto floating wood and dry branches. Just as she was about to surface, she reached up with her hand in a desperate attempt to catch something—

From afar in the valley, something rushed through the air, swiftly colliding into her outstretched hand with the sound of the wind.

She didn’t have time to think too much; she grabbed onto the hard object and struggled to climb up, looking quite a mess as she soaked through, her robes drenched in the filthy, stinking muck.

As her hand touched something, it felt like there was a long, rough object she could reach—could it be… a broom?

The bamboo broom obediently hung in midair above the swamp, as if it were fixed in place, allowing her to climb out.

How could this happen…? How could a broom fly all the way from Tianhua Palace just like my senior brothers and sisters use their sword flight? It even seemed to respond to commands?!

The poisonous salamander flipped and popped its head out of the murky water, its six eyes shining brightly as it stared at her, bubbles escaping from its mouth.

Gong Wu sensed the danger and struggled to lie flat on the broom, taking a long, deep breath.

So painful. The remaining poisonous water was still eating away at her skin, and she could see centipede-like red marks spreading across her arm.

Gong Wu furrowed her brows in pain and tentatively focused her thoughts on the long broom in her arms. To her surprise, it obediently moved side to side.

How did she suddenly learn to ride a broom?!

In life, many things come out of nowhere and crash into your mind, and whether you want to accept it or not, you have to swallow it down.

Just like after she gradually learned to speak, she noticed her junior brothers and sisters memorizing texts quickly, with some even advancing to the Hidden Element at ten, reaching Insight at seventeen, and flying with swords in their early twenties.

But she just couldn’t learn; she couldn’t see the traces of spiritual energy that most disciples could glimpse after five or six years of cultivation.

Her Master taught her patiently for ten years, but eventually, even he found it puzzling; he diagnosed her roots and sensed something was off.

Most people in the world actually have some spiritual roots; it’s just a matter of when they awaken.

But she didn’t have any—not a trace at all.

Gong Wu struggled to accept reality, working diligently for sixteen years in menial tasks like sweeping and cleaning windows, continually lowering her expectations of herself.

Then, she was suddenly tossed into the poisonous swamp by her usually loving senior sister, meeting her demise.

Gong Wu lay on the broom, deep in thought, wondering why she died just from taking out the trash and how she suddenly came back to life.

Perhaps the Wan Shi Pool wasn’t as terrifying as everyone thought; maybe she just fainted from the pain earlier.

But what about the broom?

The little girl, who had a fear of heights, clung to the broom and glanced at the hiccupping six-eyed poisonous salamander, recalling her Masters’ teachings about sword flight.

If she wanted to fly, she had to follow the rules; she couldn’t just cling to the broom in a clumsy, fearful way.

Should she sit more steadily or stand in a more graceful manner?

First, Gong Wu lay flat on the broom, guiding it to float her back up to High Up, and when her feet finally touched down, she felt a wave of relief.

Her plain blue robe was stained beyond recognition, and the long wind blew, making her shiver.

The bamboo broom obediently hovered nearby, ready for her command.

Gong Wu cautiously found her balance, flying up and down a bit, gripping tightly with her hands, afraid of falling.

She could actually fly!

The girl slowly stood up, positioning herself in the middle of the broom, shifting her weight downward.

… It felt like she wasn’t steady.

Gong Wu uneasily moved a step toward the center, feeling that sitting down seemed safer. Just as she was about to change her position, her feet slipped.

The familiar weightlessness returned; the broom seemed to sense her and bumped into her palm to help her grip it, but it was already too late!!

Once again, she found herself submerged in the poisonous swamp, the familiar searing pain as her flesh dissolved, and then the familiar loss of consciousness in a blur of darkness.

She had died again.

It proved that sword flight carried certain safety risks.

Cultivating had its dangers; taking out the trash required caution.

When she regained consciousness once more, Gong Wu raised her hand and saw that half of her white bones were still smoldering.

The little girl calmly stared for a few seconds.

“Ah, it hurts so much—”

She died so often that she began to doubt if she had ever truly died at all.

But the flesh slowly restoring on her bones, and the hair that hadn’t yet returned to its former state, partially clarified the situation.

She once again leaned against the half-rotting broom to crawl back to the shore, catching a glimpse of her reflection in the swamp and glancing up at the sun.

When she set out with Senior Sister Aoshuang, it had still been early morning, and now it was already afternoon.

The bony fingers finally regrew skin, and her nails slowly began to grow back as well; the scars from chopping wood had all faded away.

Gong Wu realized she had new skin and looked for the burn mark on her elbow and her old birthmark.

Except for the birthmark, all the scars were gone, even the acne on her face.

She didn’t know whether to cry or laugh; she just felt she needed a bath and to quickly change out of her tattered clothes.

Gong Wu waved again, and a rush of water flowed from a distant spring.

Unaware, she stood with her back to the oncoming water, puzzled about why the broom wasn’t moving, and was suddenly drenched.

In the cool spring of April, Gong Wu quickly turned around and saw more water flowing toward her, clear and pure, like a flying swallow.

The large, clear spring came rushing toward her, sensing her intention from ten miles away.

To control water, wood, earth, and fire required mastery that could only be achieved after entering the Yaoguang realm!

In a flash, she understood everything.

At that moment, a distant, clear voice called out her name.

“Little Wu?”

“Little Wu, are you over there—”

“Senior Brother Ji Yang!” Gong Wu grasped the broom, standing on the shore and shouting, “I’m here!”

At that moment, willow branches danced in the wind, and a young man with his hair tied back with a green ribbon, dark eyes, and bamboo-like brows appeared before her.

Upon seeing her, Ji Yang paused slightly, raised his hand to remove his outer robe, and wrapped it around her.

“Come back with me first,” he gently touched her forehead with the back of his hand, attempting to check her pulse, but felt it was inappropriate: “Take a hot bath and change your clothes; we can talk later—are you hurt?”

Gong Wu was still small, tightly wrapped in the large robe, leaving only her eyes exposed; she habitually shook her head.

Ji Yang didn’t believe her, frowning as he picked a dead leaf out of her hair and murmured, “Senior Sister Lin said you got lost and couldn’t find you along the way. I just heard the news and came back to report.”

Gong Wu nodded lightly, feeling hesitant and unsure whether she should mention what had just happened.

But Senior Brother’s robe smelled so nice.

As a higher-ranking disciple, his robe was woven from cloud satin and infused with the fragrance of fern flowers both inside and out; even draping it around herself felt warm and cozy.

“Today, Senior Sister Lin is acting a bit strange,” she whispered. “It’s as if she suddenly became a different person.”

After all, she was a disciple from another palace, and Gong Wu didn’t know when she might have offended her to such an extent.

When they met again, if she realized she hadn’t actually died, Gong Wu wondered what expression she might show.

At that moment, Gong Wu was already helped by Ji Yang to his sword, rising into the clouds together with him.

She leaned against his back, tightening the outer robe around her and feeling a bit downcast.

Though Ji Yang kept his focus ahead, he was also listening to her breath, checking to see if she had sustained serious injuries.

After a visit to Wan Shi Pool, she became hard to find; when he finally located her, she was at the edge of the Poisonous Swamp, her clothes damaged, clearly a victim of bullying.

He didn’t turn back, his voice cold.

“She pushed you down?”

Gong Wu paused for a moment before quietly acknowledging with a soft “mm-hmm.”

“A perfectly good person suddenly went crazy.” Ji Yang sneered, “The Tianhua Palace has only you as a Junior Sister; it’s a joke if they can’t protect you.”

Even if Master forbade it today, he would still seek justice for her.

Gong Wu noticed they were nearing their destination and suddenly remembered something, tugging at the corner of his robe.

“Senior Brother Subei, could you pause for a moment?”

Ji Yang glanced sideways and asked, “What’s wrong?”

“There’s something I haven’t had the chance to tell you.”

Gong Wu thought for a moment, feeling she couldn’t explain it well, and waved her hand to summon the neglected broom from the Poisonous Swamp.

They sat on the extended green sword, and an abrupt bamboo branch broom flew over, almost greeting them as it swayed its tail.

“I’m not quite sure what’s going on,” Gong Wu stated sincerely. “To put it simply, I died twice in the Poisonous Swamp, and then it seems I became enlightened.”

She waved again, bringing the broom closer as it floated and rolled, moving smoothly as if flying like a sword.

“Since it followed me because I didn’t have a personal sword, do you think… I should give it a name?”

Ji Yang was initially surprised, then he covered his face and smiled.

“Oh, you.”