Chapter 6 : Su Wantian
“I’m really cursed with bad luck.”
As night fell, the young scholar, soaked to the bone and sitting by the river, sighed deeply.
Hearing this, I, sitting beside him, got worked up:
“I’m the unlucky one! If not for you, troublemaker, I’d be cozy in an inn with Immortal Lady Yun right now! You provoked that beast—why couldn’t you just die alone?”
“Don’t say that to others,” the scholar said lazily.
“I’m too tired to hit you now, but others won’t care that you’re a kid.”
“Who’re you calling a kid!”
“See? Only kids get riled up over stuff like that.”
“Ugh…”
I gritted my teeth, wanting to argue, but I knew I’d lose a verbal spar with a literate, scheming guy like him.
I awkwardly changed the subject:
“Hey, troublemaker, what’s your na?”
“My heavens, you finally deigned to ask my na,” the scholar said casually.
“Su Wantian, courtesy na An You.”
“…Sounds girly,” I muttered.
I didn’t know the literary significance or hidden aning behind a scholar’s na, just going by first impressions.
“You were carrying a box of books earlier. Your family must be well-off. Why’re you alone in the mountains?”
Su Wantian, past caring, had walked the line between life and death.
Things he once valued now seed aningless.
Still looking half-dead, he said.
“Naturally, I failed the imperial exams. Too ashad to face my parents and elders, I planned to hide in the mountains for a couple of years. By then, they’d think I t with an accident. When I return, they won’t care about my failure.”
“…You’re such a coward.”
“Then what should I do?”
“Go back, throw yourself at your parents’ feet, and beg forgiveness. If they don’t forgive you, don’t get up!”
“That’s even more cowardly!”
Su Wantian felt utterly exhausted.
“How could I calmly throw away my pride and talk to my parents like that? Just thinking about it makes want to die of sha…”
“Tch, I don’t get you people with parents,” I said, puzzled.
“But if they’re family, just explain clearly and sincerely ask for forgiveness. That usually works, right?”
“What kind of logic is that? Can murder or arson be forgiven so easily…? Wait, what did you just say?”
Su Wantian caught on late.
“Uh… you’re an orphan?”
“Pretty much,” I thought for a mont, my expression serious.
“But I still have friends.”
Su Wantian felt a pang of guilt, understanding where my carefree, heartless personality ca from:
“Sorry… So, your friend, is that the immortal lady?”
“Nope, it’s the big yellow dog from my hotown street!”
“That’s basically the sa as having none!” Su Wantian couldn’t hold back, shouting.
“I’m talking about people! People! Don’t you have any human friends?”
“Why’re you yelling…”
I rubbed my face:
“Nope. People in town don’t like . They toss scraps sotis, but they don’t want their kids playing with … Sigh, I’ll tell you, even Big Yellow only ward up to after I fed it for a whole month!”
“That’s too pathetic…”
Su Wantian had thought failing the exams three tis was tragic enough, but hearing my story, he realized his happy family and upbringing weren’t so bad.
As long as soone’s worse off, you can hold your head high.
Thinking of the plain-dressed immortal lady from earlier, likely my “Immortal Lady Yun,” he asked, lost in thought:
“So, you’re following Immortal Lady Yun to cultivate the Dao?”
I shrugged:
“Sort of… But she wants to join Tai Xuan Sect…”
“*Tai Xuan Sect*?!”
Su Wantian bolted upright, grabbing my shoulders, his reaction startling.
“For real? You’re joining Tai Xuan Sect? The head of the twelve sects, the orthodox Daoist lineage, the True Martial heritage?”
I hadn’t heard all those titles, but it didn’t stop from puffing up proudly:
“What, is it that surprising for a peerless genius like to join Tai Xuan Sect?”
Su Wantian looked up and down, saying seriously:
“Are you a girl disguised as a boy?”
“…?”
I had no clue how his two statents connected, but Su Wantian wasn’t expecting an answer.
He just thought if I were a disguised beauty, today’s events would be straight out of a cultivator tale’s protagonist arc.
But that seed too far-fetched, so he lay back down.
“What a coincidence. I’m also heading to Tai Xuan Sect to cultivate.”
Now it was my turn to be incredulous:
“You?”
“Yup, . I crossed mountains to get to Tai Xuan Sect,” Su Wantian said.
“What I said earlier wasn’t entirely false, but think about it—hiding from my parents in the mountains versus discovering I have cultivation talent and pursuing immortality. Doesn’t the latter sound better? Even if I find out I’ve got no talent, it still works as a hideout.”
“Troublemaker, you really are a coward.”
“So why’d you even ask my na…”
We chatted until night deepened, both growing drowsy.
We should’ve lit a fire to dry our clothes and avoid catching cold, but neither had the energy, and a fire might attract beasts.
So, we slept with the sky as our blanket and the earth as our bed.
Whether by luck or soone’s help, we woke the next morning without colds or being torn apart by beasts, our spirits and strength sowhat recovered… enough to leave the forest, at least.
As for where to go, naturally, I’d follow Su Wantian to his ho.
Though he wasn’t entirely over it, last night’s talk had lessened Su Wantian’s concern for his fleeting pride.
He realized he wasn’t cut out for scholarship and resolved to try his luck with at Tai Xuan Sect.
This trip ho was for farewells.
I was happy to have company.
First, I didn’t know Tai Xuan Sect’s exact location, and in my current state, I couldn’t make it alone.
Second, I doubted Yun Qingping had truly left.
She was probably watching sowhere, and at the very least, she’d deliver the dicines for my body reconstruction.
It took us the morning to descend the mountain, arriving at Su Wantian’s hotown, Xinyang City, by afternoon.
Yun Qingping had described the cultivation world and the Five Continents and Four Poles as vast beyond imagination, each continent dwarfing countless nations.
But for mortals, a single city was grand enough, especially for a bumpkin like .
Seeing Xinyang’s walls, bustling streets, and vibrant scenery, I couldn’t stop exclaiming, exhausting Su Wantian.
We didn’t head straight to the Su residence.
Following my gut, we found an inn and asked if a woman who looked like an immortal had stayed there… and she had.
Though it wasn’t wise to share such things, Su Wantian leveraged his family’s local influence.
After proving his identity, he learned in a few words that Yun Qingping had booked a room last night and even got the key.
He felt no guilt.
Against an immortal like her, what harm could he possibly do?
We found the room the innkeeper ntioned.
It was empty, with a letter and a small jade bottle on the bed.
Su Wantian glanced at them and handed the letter, but I passed it back without looking.
“What, you’re not reading it?”
“No,” I said bluntly.
“I can’t read. You read it to .”
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