Don't Cause Trouble Chapter 2: One Stroke Shocks the World

The next morning, Ye Su walked towards the Library of Scriptures, which was part of her daily routine.

Although Qianji Sect was poor, it had once been a relatively large sect, and it still possessed the necessary facilities. The Library of Scriptures had five floors, mostly filled with manuals on weapon forging.

As soon as Ye Su stepped through the Library of Scriptures’s entrance, a hoarse, rough voice came from beside her. "You've built your foundation." She turned her head to see a man with short hair and a thin build, pushing a cart of books with one arm. This was the gatekeeper of the Library of Scriptures, Yu Fenghai.

Yu Fenghai had more seniority than the sect master and was said to have reached the later stage of the He Ti (Fusion) realm. Over five hundred years ago, he had been guarding the Library of Scriptures. Because of his presence, no one dared to target the Library of Scriptures.

However, the sect master had mentioned that Yu Fenghai wasn't a member of Qianji Sect, and he stayed only to repay a debt of gratitude. When Qianji Sect was destroyed, Yu Fenghai was not present, as it was said he had gone to an appointment.

Yu Fenghai organized the books on the table beside the door and placed them into the cart. "Qianji Sect doesn't have enough spiritual veins, and in recent years, the last remaining vein is almost exhausted. In the future, your cultivation will become difficult."

The greatest advantage of a sect was having spiritual veins to support cultivation. Without them, one was no different from a lone cultivator who relied on spiritual stones for practice.

The cultivation realms in the cultivation world are as follows: Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Spirit Transformation, Fusion, and Great Ascension, with the final step being transcendence into an immortal.

Foundation Establishment requires an abundant supply of spiritual qi, which can only be provided by spiritual veins. Without them, one could not reach the Golden Core realm. The tiny spiritual vein of Qianji Sect could only sustain the operation of the sect, and it was now nearly unable to support disciple cultivation.

Spiritual veins were a crucial resource controlled by large sects. Even if the sect master’s weapon forging skills allowed him to reach the early Fusion stage, it would not earn spiritual veins.

Moreover, high-grade spiritual stones were monopolized by large sects. Only skilled lone cultivators could acquire a few, but most of them eventually sought to join large sects as guest elders, staying there to cultivate using the sect’s spiritual veins.

No matter how valuable spiritual stones were, they could not compare to the rich spiritual qi in spiritual veins unless one had an abundant supply of stones.

"Gatekeeper Yu, we will go down the mountain for trials in three days and visit other sects," Ye Su said with a smile. "By the time we return, maybe our cultivation will improve."

Yu Fenghai looked at Ye Su, who was speaking so casually, and his hand holding the books trembled slightly. "…" He was practically a witness to the entire fall of Qianji Sect.

He never expected that now, even the younger disciples of Qianji Sect had become so thick-skinned. Back then, he really shouldn't have voted for Zhang Fengfeng.

The sect master set the example, no wonder the disciples were acting like this!

"If you want to read, go inside. Don't loiter at the door," Yu Fenghai said coldly, waving his sleeve.

Ye Su, already aware of Yu Fenghai’s unpredictable temper, didn’t mind his earlier words. She immediately walked towards the fifth floor.

The first four floors of Library of Scriptures contained formal weapon forging books, but the fifth floor was filled with handwritten notes from the talented predecessors from over five hundred years ago. The handwriting was wild and eccentric, and many of the contents had become chaotic, no longer just about weapon forging.

Weapon forging required countless materials, but since Qianji Sect could barely even gather spiritual qi, their materials were scarce. As a result, Ye Su mostly read rather than forged. With her excellent memory, she had already gone through most of the books in the Library of Scriptures over the past ten years.

Now, only the fifth floor remained, where the shelves were filled with the handwritten notes of the predecessors. Many of these descriptions were unusual.

For example, the note Ye Su was holding now described how one could integrate talismans into a weapon before the forging process was complete. It didn’t mention exactly how this could be done. Starting from the next page, the predecessor began venting their frustrations on their own notes.

【...But I only secretly learned a little of the talisman arts that the Wuxing Sect didn't want, and helped them fill in the missing talismans. Yet they want to hunt me down? Ridiculous!】

Wuxing Sect, one of the Five Major Sects, specializes in talisman arts. This senior went to steal another sect's techniques—of course, they would want to chase her down.

Ye Su flipped to the next page, where the handwriting became even more chaotic. Hundreds of years had passed, yet the anger of the writer could still be felt.

【What a mess! Who doesn’t know that those talisman techniques are the ones that Wuxing Sect discarded, and they’re open for anyone to learn. The talisman technique I bought from a stall is actually more effective than what their own people can use. Can they blame me? Sigh, I had no choice but to offer them a jade tablet as compensation.】

It turned out it wasn’t a matter of stealing knowledge. Ye Su frowned. This senior had most likely been intimidated by the people from Wuxing Sect.

The books sold at stalls were often fake. Even if they were real, they were simply techniques abandoned by the inner sect. Some of these techniques weren’t even worth a glance from outer sect disciples.

Ye Su continued flipping through, and soon found that the rest of the book was a detailed illustration of a Mo Yu tablet, mixed with various modifications of a talisman technique.

This talisman was a low-level swift movement talisman. Originally, it was a useless talisman, capable of only providing a few miles of speed. To the people of Wuxing Sect, it was useless since they had much better talismans. But after this senior's modifications, the swift movement talisman was integrated into a weapon and suddenly became useful.

By wearing the Mo Yu tablet and infusing it with true qi, one's movement speed would increase rapidly. The higher the cultivation level, the faster the speed. Unlike talisman paper, which could only be used once, this could be used permanently.

Ye Su crouched on the ground, reading the entire note. She then realized that this senior had made several modifications to the original swift movement talisman later on.

On the last page, the swift movement talisman was fully perfected, with a note below: 【Improved version of the Swift Movement Talisman, applicable to all cultivation levels, effective for fifteen minutes.】

It seemed that the original version of the swift movement talisman could only be used by those in the Qi Refining stage. As everyone knew, techniques suited for Foundation Establishment and higher would never be found at stalls. At best, they would appear in a sect's exclusive Library of Scriptures.

Ye Su put down the book and turned to the next one. She read quickly, usually able to remember what she glanced at. By the time night fell, she had finished reading the entire row of books on the shelf.

When she walked out of the Library of Scriptures, Ye Su glanced at the table next to the door. Yu Fenghai, the guardian, wasn’t there—he must have gone to organize the books.

Returning to her residence, the image of the speed talisman continued to linger in Ye Su’s mind.

In her memory, the materials needed for low-level talismans were very simple: a piece of yellow paper, a brush, and cinnabar ink.

She already had the brush and cinnabar ink, but as for the yellow paper...

Ye Su stood up and walked next door, knocking on the door. "Second Junior Brother, are you there?"

After a while, the person inside slowly opened the door. "Elder... Sister..."

Ye Su casually glanced at the bundle on the table. "You’ve already packed?"

Ming Liu Sha slowly replied, "When... going out... bring... more... things."

"Last month, didn’t you buy a bunch of paper money? Do you have any left? Can I borrow some?" Ye Su asked directly.

Second Junior Brother was meticulous in everything he did, except for one thing: his extremely slow speech. He used to deceive people into thinking he had a stutter, and many sympathized with him, especially Third Junior Sister. It wasn’t until later that everyone realized he was doing it on purpose. In reality, he could speak fluently.

Last month, Ming Liu Sha's potted plant had died, so he went down the mountain and bought a bunch of paper money, claiming he was burning it for the dead plant. He burned it on the first day, and Third Junior Sister beat him up afterward.

This was because the window where Ming Liu Sha kept his plant faced Third Junior Sister’s room. When the wind blew, the burned paper money floated right into her room.

"Still... have," Ming Liu Sha slowly turned around and pulled out a box of flattened paper money from under the bed—this had been stomped flat by Third Junior Sister. "Elder... Sister, did... your... plant... die too?"

A few years ago, the sect master had brought back some plants and gave each disciple a potted plant.

"My plant died last year," Ye Su said, picking up the box of paper money and walking away. If she stayed any longer listening to Second Junior Brother speak, she’d lose her patience.

She took the box of paper money back to her room, sat down at her desk, and unpacked it. She cut the paper money into the shape of talisman paper, picked up the brush, dipped it in cinnabar, and paused over the yellow paper. The talisman diagram from the last page of the note flashed in her mind, and she began to draw.

The air in the room shifted, and countless rays of light gathered, flowing into the brush, moving down the tip, and transferring onto the talisman paper.

Ye Su immersed herself in the process of sketching the talisman diagram, unaware of the unusual energy gathering around her.

From start to finish, the strokes were smooth and continuous, and the talisman she drew was identical to the one in the note.

Ye Su didn’t understand talisman arts. She had merely heard of them and had some vague impression. What she didn’t know was that there was a saying among talisman masters:

"With one stroke, the heavens move. With two strokes, the gods are startled. With three strokes, the world is in balance. With four strokes, all beings are saved."

Not everyone could connect the spiritual qi of heaven and earth and transform it onto the talisman paper.

Only those with the talent to connect the spiritual qi of heaven and earth could embark on the path of a talisman master.

……

It seemed somewhat plausible. Ye Su picked up the talisman paper and examined it carefully, thinking to herself.

However, she knew her limits. If talismans were this easy, talisman masters would be everywhere on the streets.

Ye Su shook her head and casually tossed the drawn talisman aside, preparing to meditate and cultivate on her bed.

At that moment, a light breeze from the open window blew the talisman paper, which then adhered firmly to her back.

Just as Ye Su turned around and raised her foot, she suddenly felt a huge force coming from behind, pushing her forward, and she couldn't control herself at all.

The five direct disciples of the Jiu Xuan Peak all lived in a row of rooms. Counting from the eldest senior sister's room, all the way to the youngest junior brother's room at the end. In Ye Su's room, the bed was in the center, the desk was on the left, and the right side of the wall was where her second junior brother's room was.

Ye Su didn’t have time to react before the talisman paper had already propelled her out of the room.

Bang, bang, bang...

Damn—

She watched helplessly as she crashed through the wall on the right side of her room, all the way through until she slammed into the wall of her junior brother's room.

The walls of all five rooms were punched through, with human-shaped holes.

Ming Liu Sha slowly turned his head to look at the holes on either side of his room and muttered slowly, "How... how is there a hole?"

By this time, the third junior sister and the fourth junior brother had been startled and rushed out. They saw a familiar figure embedded in the wall of the youngest junior brother’s room. Inside, the junior brother was standing by the bed, his outer robe half removed, and he turned to look expressionlessly at the person stuck in the wall.

"Senior sister?" The round-faced boy who arrived first at the door asked in confusion. It was the fourth junior brother, Xia'er.

Ye Su, still dazed from the crash, struggled to free herself from the wall. After much effort, she managed to pull out her arms and legs, though her head remained stuck inside.

She used her hands to support the wall, trying to pull her head out.

"Senior sister, you're bleeding from your nose," Xia'er pointed at Ye Su’s nose from behind and kindly remarked.

"…Mm." Ye Su thought to herself. Not only was she bleeding from her nose, but she’d probably broken a bone as well.

However, she didn’t voice her thoughts because the next second, she collapsed straight to the ground, staring blankly at the ceiling and beginning to question the entire world.

At this moment, her second junior brother slowly walked to Yi Xuan’s room door. Looking at the person on the floor, he asked, "Senior sister, have you gone mad?"

"Your senior sister is dead." Ye Su’s first words came with a strong scent of blood.

Xia'er, the fourth junior brother, rushed over and helped Ye Su up. "Senior sister, are you alright?"

"I’m fine." Ye Su wiped her face, but the blood smeared even worse. She gave up using her hands and instead wiped it with her robe. "I’ll fix the room tomorrow. I’m going to go back and heal."

Ye Su limped out of Yi Xuan’s room.

At that point, Yi Xuan had already pulled on his outer robe and walked over. He picked up a half-burned talisman paper from the ground and asked, "What is this?"

Ye Su turned around and saw the corner of the familiar talisman paper. She finally understood what had happened. "...It’s the talisman I drew."

"A talisman?" Xia'er, leaning in with interest, asked, "Senior sister, where did you get the spiritual stones to buy the talisman paper?"

The poorest person in the entire sect was Senior Sister.

"Why does this talisman paper have a footprint on it?" Xiyu, the third junior sister, looked at the back of the half-burned talisman paper, and the footprint seemed oddly familiar.

Ming Liu Sha, the second junior brother, leaned in to take a look. "This... is the paper money that third junior sister stepped on and flattened."

The people in the room exchanged glances, then all turned their eyes toward Ye Su, waiting for an explanation.

Ye Su coughed and admitted, "...It wasn’t bought. I drew it myself."

"Senior sister, you can draw talismans?" As the person who admired Ye Su the most on Jiu Xuan Peak, Xia'er’s eyes immediately filled with reverence.

"I saw it in a book in Library of Scriptures. I just drew it casually." Ye Su tried to touch her nose but winced in pain, immediately putting her hand down. "I’ll head back now, and you all should rest early."

"Take your things." Yi Xuan, with an expressionless face, tossed the talisman paper toward her.

Ye Su quickly extended two fingers and caught the flying talisman paper. "Don’t worry, I’ll fix the walls first thing tomorrow morning."