Take the senior sister away together.

Before planting the trees, Cui Huai was brimming with confidence. She believed she could excel at anything and everything in this world. She had listened to the stall owner’s advice on planting trees—dig the hole, place the sapling, cover it properly—and it all seemed straightforward.

Cui Huai should have finished quickly if it weren’t for that chattering Third Senior Brother beside her.

When she dug the hole, he said it was too deep.

When she placed the sapling, he insisted on backfilling, separating the fertile soil from the yellow earth.

When she finally finished covering it, he told her to straighten the sapling and lift it upright.

Cui Huai was thoroughly exasperated. “Senior Brother, I have a copper coin that’s very effective for divination. Before leaving this morning, I cast a lot. It told me to speak little today, avoid quarrels, or I’d invite jealousy and disaster. Surely you don’t want misfortune to cling to you either?”

After only two days together, Fu Qin’s eloquence had improved greatly, and he blurted nonsense: “What a coincidence! I also cast a lot today, and it says I should speak more for my fortunes to flow smoothly. So, Junior Sister, you speak less and listen to me.”

He then urged again, “The wind’s strong these days; the saplings might be blown over. Junior Sister, why not build a support frame to shield them from the wind?”

After Cui Huai toiled to set up the frame, Fu Qin leisurely took out a magical artifact shimmering with a blue light from his storage ring. It resembled a set of chime bells. He chanted an incantation and placed it in the center of the grove.

As soon as the artifact was set, the wind ceased instantly.

Cui Huai recognized it as a mid-grade earthly-level treasure from the Wanbao Pavilion—the Serenity Bell, which dispels external disturbances, enhances spiritual energy, and maintains a comfortable environment. It was an indispensable treasure for secluded cultivation, living, or traveling.

Artifacts were divided into four ranks—Heaven, Earth, Mysterious, and Yellow—each with upper, middle, and lower grades. Fu Qin’s ability to deploy a mid-grade earthly-level artifact for a small grove showed he was wealthier than Cui Huai had imagined.

“Since you have a treasure to resist the wind, why did you trouble me to build the frame first? There are nearly ten phoenix tree saplings; it’s not difficult, but it did take me some effort,” she asked.

Fu Qin replied, “For some reason, my memory wasn’t sharp today. Only after you finished building the frame did I remember I had this artifact. There are countless treasures in my storage bag, unlike you, who has fewer items and remembers everything clearly.”

Staring at Fu Qin’s serene but aggravating face, Cui Huai’s desire to complete system tasks surged to its peak.

Putting aside her conflict with the system for now, she decided to complete some harmless missions to regain strength and earn some spirit stones. She vowed to thoroughly crush that annoying Fu Qin in all respects!

***

Finally, Cui Huai agreed to take on a strategy mission. The system gratefully released the first task:

[Common Language: Quickly develop a common language with the male lead, making you two the world’s only pair who can truly communicate. Completion 0/1]

[Reward: Decrease of one spiritual root; 100 lower-grade spirit stones]

Reading this, Cui Huai thought it was a piece of cake. Although Jiang Xuan’s sword skills were mediocre, he was still a sword cultivator. Sword cultivators could easily find common ground by discussing sword techniques, right?

The system promptly doused her enthusiasm with a cold splash: “This common language refers to a single language.”

“What do you mean?” Cui Huai didn’t understand. She and the system had no common language, always talking past each other.

“Like I said before, Jiang Xuan comes from another dimension—the twenty-first century Earth. He feels out of place and lonely in the cultivation world. If you master a language unique to Earth and unknown in the cultivation realm, wouldn’t you and Jiang Xuan be the two with the most common language in all the cultivation world?”

The explanation was a stretch, full of nonsense. The system claimed to be an advanced intelligence, but in Cui Huai’s eyes, it was a high-level dunce.

However, the reward of losing a spiritual root was tempting. After completing this, she should be able to utterly defeat that scoundrel Fu Qin. This was quite appealing.

After confirming that the task was unchangeable, Cui Huai asked, “Specifically, which language must I learn?”

“Of course, the most widely used universal language on Earth—”

“English!”

Cui Huai: ?

She had never heard of it.

What nonsense was it spouting now?

***

The tree-planting project was progressing steadily. The wayward youths had successfully resumed lessons, and the five disciples rarely gathered together.

Master Qingyan had yet to arrive. Jiang Xuan, sitting calmly on the ground, couldn’t stay still for a moment. Hearing a noise at the door, he turned his head and saw Cui Huai enter. He exclaimed, “Fourth Junior Sister, why are your dark circles so bad? Is planting trees that exhausting?”

He said this while leaning close to Fu Qin, scrutinizing him before concluding, “That can’t be right. Look at Third Junior Brother; he looks normal.”

Seeing Jiang Xuan, Cui Huai felt the redness in her eyes throb. This was all his fault!

She had stayed up all night studying the “twenty-six English letters” and “phonetics.” At first, she couldn’t get started; for every quarter-hour spent learning, she spent twice as long cursing the system and Jiang Xuan.

Unable to grasp it, she forced herself to believe that this strange language was like incantations and magical formulas—all just crooked lines and awkward pronunciations.

Calming her mind, she barely made a tiny bit of progress.

Second Senior Sister Zhao Zhixu also looked worried: “Junior Sister, are you uncomfortable in some way?”

Even Fifth Junior Brother Zhu Yu, who barely spoke with her and only met once, said, “Fourth Junior Sister, if you’re sleepless, I can try acupuncture. I’ve done it on people before, and even a 300-pound pig in the village that wouldn’t sleep got cured by me.”

Cui Huai was touched but promptly declined the idea of being treated alongside a pig, then explained the reason for her pale complexion: “I’m not naturally gifted and feel anxious, so only diligence can make up for my shortcomings.”

Her companions were amazed. What a true workaholic!

Just then, Master Qingyan entered. “Compared to Ah Huai, you’re all lazy. Learn from her. As for Ah Huai, cultivation shouldn’t be rushed; rest is important too.”

She wanted to rest, but as long as some people refused to die, she couldn’t escape this state. Cui Huai couldn’t help but glare fiercely at Jiang Xuan.

Jiang Xuan’s heart pounded and his hair stood on end. Could it be that his junior sister thought he wasn’t trying hard enough?

Indeed, he had vowed to read the sword manual for two hours every night, then gradually reduced it to one, and now only half an hour.

He was failing as a senior brother!

***

Fifth Junior Brother Zhu Yu went to study medicine with Second Senior Aunt, while the other four sat down to listen to Master Qingyan’s lecture.

“The world was once chaotic, and cultivation draws from its clarity...”

The master was expounding above, while below some nodded off, some whispered, and some drifted into thought.

Master Qingyan turned a blind eye; forcing them was useless. When it came to philosophy, if they understood, good; if not, so be it.

If not for the fact that major sects had all started formal lectures, he would have been the first to cancel this class—

Cultivation depended on one’s own affinity and path; cramming them together for lectures had little effect.

Cui Huai was one of those dozing off. The system anxiously shouted in her mind, “Look, Jiang Xuan is whispering with your Second Senior Sister again. How can you win over the male lead like this? Don’t let the male lead’s child be running around while you’re still memorizing vocabulary!”

Cui Huai sneered, “With Jiang Xuan’s foolishness, does Second Senior Sister even fancy him? Once I regain my strength, if she wants a partner, I’ll find her the best one within the Four Seas to match her.”

When she first arrived at the Carefree Sect, Cui Huai had only cared about a certain Huagai tree. Over time, Second Senior Sister had always shown her concern. Before, she was surrounded mostly by male cultivators and had little experience with senior and junior sisters. Now, this senior sister was very good, and she intended to keep her close!