Chronicles of Heaven's Chosen - Chapter 11

Yuan Yao was speechless.

She limped toward the youth.

The passage was so dark that Cang Li could not make out her face. All he could see was a figure walking with a limp.

He narrowed his eyes and pressed his palms together. “Who are you? State your name at once! I am the third disciple beneath the Sacred Buddha of the Ninth Continent—Cang Aotian!”

The figure did not answer.

But the closer she came, the more she resembled his lazy little junior sister.

Impossible!

That lazybones could never appear in a place like this.

It had to be an illusion.

Who would have thought this rotten place even contained an illusory realm? Truly…

“Third. Senior. Brother.” Yuan Yao deliberately bit out each word.

Cang Li stared. “Damn, even the voice is identical…”

Yuan Yao gave him a flat look. “Third Senior Brother, what nonsense are you imagining now?”

Cang Li gave a proud little snort. “I know this is an illusion. You counterfeit won’t deceive me! Watch me smash you apart with one punch!”

He whirled his fists like the arms of a windmill and charged straight at her.

Yuan Yao ground her teeth. “Cang Li, you bastard! Can you act normal for once? You don’t even recognize your grandaunt Yuan Yao!”

“You will not beguile me!”

His fist was about to slam into her.

Left with no other choice, Yuan Yao said, “Wildfire cannot burn it all.”

“Spring winds blow, and it grows again!” Cang Li stopped abruptly and gaped at her.

“Wait. You mean it’s really you?”

He grabbed Yuan Yao by the shoulders and inspected her from one side, then the other.

“Why are you here? Aren’t you supposed to be sleeping in your room?”

Yuan Yao knocked his hands away. “I came out to temper myself with Eldest Senior Brother. Someone else came with us too—a new disciple Master accepted named Lu Xiangxiang. She’s our junior sister now.”

“Huh?” Cang Li stared blankly.

What concerned him was something else entirely.

“You actually agreed to come out and train? Have you been possessed? Or did something fry your brain?”

He reached for her forehead.

Smack!

Yuan Yao slapped his hand away without mercy. “I’ve turned over a new leaf. From now on, I intend to be diligent and ambitious.”

She looked so serious that Cang Li still could not help asking, “Yuan Yao, are you sure you’re all right?”

Yuan Yao looked at him in exasperation. “What do you think?”

Cang Li sighed. “Yaoyao, you’re all grown up now. Your senior brother raised you from infancy with his own two hands. It wasn’t easy. You must be properly filial to me in the future.”

Yuan Yao said nothing.

His drama-queen sickness was acting up again.

Cang Li was only two years older than her. He was seventeen.

Something occurred to him, and he looked around. “Where’s Eldest Senior Brother? Don’t tell me you were separated.”

“I was separated from Eldest Senior Brother and Junior Sister Lu.”

“Who’s Junior Sister Lu?” Cang Li blinked. The name sounded completely unfamiliar.

Yuan Yao sighed helplessly. “I just told you. Lu Xiangxiang is the personal disciple Master accepted today.”

Cang Li frowned. “Why would Master take another disciple at his age?”

And after waiting ten years, no less.

Ten years ago, Master had reluctantly accepted the six of them as personal disciples.

Why *reluctantly*?

Because at the time, he had wanted nothing to do with teaching children who were shorter than the grass.

Unfortunately for him, the forces backing each child had badgered and cajoled Qian Jueshan until he accepted them.

Who could blame them? Qian Jueshan was the foremost swordsman on the Ninth Continent.

Even ten years ago, he had already been a mighty cultivator in the Soul Transformation Realm. Now, his strength was more unfathomable still.

Of the six disciples, Yuan Yao alone possessed no powerful background. Her parents were dead, and her only remaining relative was an aunt.

After that aunt entrusted Yuan Yao to Master, she vanished without a trace.

“I didn’t ask Master,” Yuan Yao said.

Cang Li found the situation increasingly odd. “Master accepted her today, and she followed you into the Wuduan Secret Realm the same day?”

His words reminded Yuan Yao of everything System 250 had told her.

She still could not be sure the system was telling the truth. But if Lu Xiangxiang showed any sign of moving against them, Yuan Yao would never stand by and watch.

The thought that Eldest Senior Brother might currently be alone with Lu Xiangxiang made unease coil inside her.

“You’re hurt?!” Belatedly, Cang Li noticed the bandage around Yuan Yao’s ankle. His expression changed.

He crouched at once to inspect the injury.

One glance, and he began nagging. “How did this happen? And this bandage is loose. How can you be so stupid?”

Yuan Yao bent and stopped his hands. “I’ve already treated it. We need to leave and find Eldest Senior Brother and the others.”

Cang Li looked up. “Which one of us is a physician?”

Yuan Yao choked. “You are.”

Third Senior Brother was not only a third-grade physician but also a fourth-grade alchemist.

He had no love for sword practice. He preferred sabers, spears, and every other sort of weapon.

Master had been helpless. He found Cang Li the best alchemy instructor in the Xiaoyao Sect, then personally learned to wield sabers and spears so he could teach Cang Li himself.

In the end, Cang Li cleaned the wound and bandaged it again.

The ugly injury drew his brows together until they resembled two caterpillars. Moisture misted his eyes.

“You were perfectly safe at home, yet you insisted on coming out to suffer.” The ache in his voice was impossible to hide.

Yuan Yao had never suffered since she was little.

The greatest hardship she had ever endured was tripping over her own feet, rolling down a slope, and cracking her head open.

Cang Li turned his back to her and crouched. “Get on.”

“No.” Yuan Yao refused. “I can walk.”

“You think I want to carry you? I’m only afraid Eldest Senior Brother will scold me. Hurry up!”

Yuan Yao patted his shoulder and smiled. “Don’t worry, Third Senior Brother. I won’t tell on you.”

Cang Li’s lips moved.

That was not what he meant at all.

Before he could answer, Yuan Yao had already swaggered down the passage.

Cang Li frowned, rose quickly, and followed.

Yuan Yao took three second-rank beast cores from her storage space as she walked. “Third Senior Brother, these are for you.”

“Where did you get them?”

“I reached in and dug them out myself.”

Cang Li stared at her.

Yuan Yao placed the three beast cores in his palm. “I have lots. Keep these.”

“You killed the beasts yourself?” Cang Li was deeply skeptical. He knew exactly what a second-rank beast core represented.

Yuan Yao lifted her chin with pride. “That’s right. Thanks to the heap of high-grade artifacts Master gave me, I kept my life and even managed to kill those leech monsters.”

The beast cores in Cang Li’s hand suddenly felt very heavy.

“Were you hurt anywhere else?”

Yuan Yao smiled. “No. Master’s Myriad Wards Robe kept the rest of me safe.”