Don't Cause Trouble Chapter 27: Invitation Slips

Quan Jiaying stood at the base of Qianji Sect’s mountain, gazing up at the grand, timeworn gate before him. Despite the countless years that had passed, its ancient splendor and majesty were still clearly visible.

The gate towered three zhang high. Its stone ridge was topped with white jade tiles, and two ornamental roof beasts gripped the ridge with open jaws, each pierced by swords.

A plaque in the center bore the characters "Qianji Sect" in bold, sharp script. The only flaw was the faint air of desolation; without spiritual energy to nourish it, the gate had lost its former luster.

It was Quan Jiaying’s first time at Qianji Sect. He had only ever heard about it in casual conversation. In truth, he wasn’t even sure why he had come.

Half a month ago, just a day before submitting his artifact for the Baiqing Rankings, he had impulsively added an additional repaired rune to the blade.

The elders all advised against it—one mistake, and the entire artifact would be ruined. Reforging it would mean missing the ranking deadline.

"If it fails, I’ll just submit again next month," he had said, recalling how indifferent Ye Su and her group were toward the rankings. For the first time, he ignored the elders’ warnings.

A few of them shook their heads. "It’s not the same."

"If we wait until next month, Zhanjin Sect will mock us again for having no one worthy."

But Quan Jiaying insisted. "If we submit it now and still place below those two, that’s even more humiliating."

The elders were about to protest further when the sect master stopped them. "If this is what you want, then go ahead."

Quan Shen, his father, had only agreed to let him attempt the new rune.

Unexpectedly, not only did Quan Jiaying successfully inscribe it, but he was so moved by his father’s support that he had a bit of an emotional epiphany. After several days of reflection, he made a bold decision—he left the sect altogether.

Whatever tantrum his father might have thrown was now irrelevant. Standing at the base of Qianji Sect, the young man’s face showed undisguised curiosity and wonder.

A young disciple in a black robe spotted him loitering near the gate and came out to investigate. After sizing him up, the disciple said, "Silent Sect is in the next town. You’ve got the wrong place."

Over the years, plenty of people trying to join Silent Sect had taken the wrong path and ended up here. Somehow, they always missed the massive characters on the plaque.

The disciple figured this guy had made the same mistake.

But Quan Jiaying, seeing the familiar robe that matched Ye Su’s, knew he was in the right place. "I’m here to see Ye Su."

"Senior Sister?" The disciple turned back toward the mountain and sent a message up to Jiuxuan Peak, then said, "Wait here. She’s on her way down."

"Thank you." Quan Jiaying gave a polite bow.

As he waited, several shadows suddenly zipped past overhead, their swords whistling through the air.

He looked up. For a moment, he thought he was standing at a sword sect’s gate, not an artifact refinement sect.

Leading the group in midair was Ye Su, flying so fast she shot right past the gate.

Xia Er followed close behind, shouting, "Senior Sister! Charge!"

He looked like he should be waving a battle flag. Anyone who didn’t know better might’ve thought he was chasing someone down.

Xiyu, flying a bit slower, looked down and noticed the people at the gate. She tried to make a graceful landing.

But Ming Liu Sha, swooping in behind, lost control and crashed into her midair. Spiritual energy scattered as the two of them tumbled to the ground.

"Again?" the young disciple exclaimed. Quan Jiaying thought he heard the kid mutter, Second time today.

He turned to see the disciple rush forward with a pained expression to help his senior siblings up, fussing over them.

The first thing Xiyu did after standing was pull out a mirror to check her appearance. Then she glared at Ming Liu Sha. "You still can’t brake properly!"

Ming Liu Sha retrieved his fallen sword. "You’ll get the hang of it after falling a few more times. Didn’t Senior Sister crash a bunch too?"

"Yeah, but she was carrying three of us at the time!" Xiyu huffed. His sword flying really was terrible.

Quan Jiaying listened to them bicker and almost blurted out that artifact refiners typically didn’t fly on swords—they used teleportation arrays or spirit beasts. Then he remembered these people couldn’t even scrape together a few thousand spirit stones, let alone buy a mount.

"Daoist Quan, what brings you here?" Ye Su’s voice came from up the steps. She walked toward him.

"You all mentioned wanting to exchange techniques," Quan Jiaying said seriously, looking into her eyes. "So I came."

Ye Su gently reminded him, "This place isn’t ideal for sparring. We don’t have spiritual energy or materials to refine artifacts."

"That’s fine," Quan Jiaying said. "We can still talk. I have a few questions."

He was clearly determined to stay. The others couldn’t very well turn him away—especially after borrowing resources and energy from his sect. Sure, they’d won those fair and square, but there was still some obligation.

"On Jiuxuan Peak, aside from the meeting hall and the sect master’s quarters, there are only five disciple rooms," Ye Su said as she led him inside. "If you want to stay, you’ll have to live at the base of the mountain."

"I don’t mind." Quan Jiaying’s gaze swept over the grounds. The Qianji Sect still had vast trial fields, much larger than those at his home sect. But everything here was old and depleted. Even the weeds were sparse.

He’d heard that, at its peak, Qianji Sect had dominated every artifact refiner ranking. The Baiqing Ranking used to be filled entirely with their names. Month after month, new rankings, but always the same people—Qianji disciples.

Back then, the Baiqing Ranking was the Qianji Sect’s leaderboard. Now...

"Did you submit your artifact for the rankings?" he asked Ye Su.

"We did," she answered, walking ahead.

Quan Jiaying quickly pulled out his communication jade and checked the rankings. His heart raced—not for his own placement, but to see where Mistflower Fang had landed.

He scanned it again and again, but never found Ye Su’s or her artifact’s name.

Xia Er noticed his expression and thought he was disappointed in his ranking. "Don’t worry—it’s just one artifact. You can always refine another."

"Why?" Quan Jiaying asked.

"Huh?" Xia Er was stunned.

He walked faster and called out to Ye Su, "Why didn’t you submit Mistflower Fang? If it’s a matter of spirit stones, I can lend you some."

Ye Su smiled faintly. "We had our reasons."

Quan Jiaying gripped his jade tightly. Her ranking meant more to him than beating those two from Zhanjin Sect. Yet she hadn’t even entered the competition.

"Oh, by the way," Ye Su turned around, "how long does it usually take to start receiving invitation slips for commissions after making it on the Baiqing Ranking?"

"Every month when the list updates, people are watching. As soon as it's out, offers start pouring in," Quan Jiaying said, glancing at the two names Qianji Sect had near the bottom. "But your rankings are low—you won’t get many."

"Even a few is good," Ye Su replied. This time, she just wanted to dip her toe in.

Still hoping to change her mind, Quan Jiaying pulled out his jade in front of everyone and showed them the wave of invitations he’d already received.

"Top-ranked refiners are always in demand," he said to her. "If you submitted Mistflower Fang, you wouldn’t need to worry about commissions. You could make real money."

"It’s not urgent." Ye Su changed the subject. "Did you modify your blade again?"

"I added a lightning rune," Quan Jiaying said, then turned to Xiyu. "Your wind rune repair is actually better than mine. If you submitted it—"

"Stop right there!" Xiyu made an "X" with her arms. "Are you in cahoots with the rankings? Why are you so eager for us to spend money submitting entries?"

Quan Jiaying: "…"

"Actually," Xia Er chimed in, "if we’re talking rune repairs, Senior Sister is the real expert. She even taught Xiyu. Six months ago, Xiyu didn’t even know rare runes existed."

"Really?" Quan Jiaying looked skeptical. He’d never seen Ye Su use rare runes.

Xia Er leaned in and whispered, "She’s just modest. She can refine anything."

Quan Jiaying’s doubt lingered. "Do you guys even have materials?"

Not that he didn’t believe them—but Ye Su hadn’t even been able to gather 2,000 mid-grade spirit stones. Where would she get materials?

Xia Er stood straight. "I mean in theory. She’s a fast learner. Once Qianji Sect gets back on its feet, with enough resources, she’ll be able to refine any artifact. We’ll crush Poyuan Sect and stomp on Zhanjin Sect!"

Quan Jiaying: "…"

"Cut it out," Ye Su called from ahead. "Hurry up."

Xia Er ran after her. "Senior Sister, should we tell Master there’s a guest?"

"I’ll let him know. You show Daoist Quan around."

Quan Jiaying lowered his eyes and put away the jade, ignoring the flood of messages still coming from his sect.

……

Ye Su went to find the sect master, while Quan Jiaying was taken to visit their living quarters.

"This first room used to belong to Senior Sister, but since a new junior disciple joined recently, she gave it to him," Xia Er explained as they walked.

"Then where is Ye Su living now?" Quan Jiaying was puzzled. In the Po Yuan Sect, the senior sister would never have to give up her residence.

"In... the... cave... behind the mountain," Ming Liu Sha replied slowly.

Quan Jiaying frowned. "That’s a bit much for a new disciple. Isn’t your master being unfair?"

"You don’t get it," Xiyu cut in flatly.

Since it was clearly an internal matter of their sect, Quan Jiaying didn’t press further. Instead, he changed the subject. "I recently repaired a thunder pattern. Maybe you could take a look and offer some suggestions."

"Let’s see it first," Xiyu said, sitting down at the stone table in the courtyard. "After we look it over, we can ask Senior Sister to make some improvements."

Quan Jiaying joined them and handed over the drawing of the thunder pattern he had worked on.

The pattern was complex, with missing sections that involved rare components. Staring at it too long could give anyone a headache.

The four of them gathered around the table, sketching and discussing for a long while. Xiyu was the first to complete the missing portion. When Xia Er and Ming Liu Sha finished their versions, the three quickly launched into a heated debate.

Quan Jiaying looked up at the three arguing passionately, deeply conflicted inside. What’s with the people of Qianji Sect?

"Senior Sister is back!" Xia Er, spotting her, pointed excitedly at the courtyard gate. "She can tell us who got it right!"

Ye Su was used to scenes like this and walked over slowly. "What is it this time?"

"Fourth Brother insists his thunder pattern reconstruction is the most accurate, but it clearly doesn’t follow the original’s flow in several places," Ming Liu Sha jumped in quickly. At this moment, he was talking so fast, he could probably make a name for himself as a debate master in the cultivation world.

"Let me see," Ye Su said, taking the papers covered in reconstructed patterns from the table, along with Quan Jiaying’s original drawing.

She stood at the table, scanning the designs, not yet sitting down.

Just then, the door of the outermost room creaked open from the inside.

Ye Su instinctively turned her head. The new junior disciple had changed into a dark gray robe. His tousled black hair was loosely draped over his back—it was obvious he had been woken by the commotion. Even with a slight frown between his brows, his face was stunningly handsome.

He stood inside the doorway, gazing in their direction. His eyes swept past Ye Su, past Ming Liu Sha and the others, and finally settled on the only person still seated in the courtyard—Quan Jiaying.

With a faint hint of disdain, he asked, "Are you Yi Xuan?"

—Ugly—