Don't Cause Trouble Chapter 28: The Vixen

As soon as those words were spoken, everyone in the courtyard froze.

Quan Jiaying didn’t even know who Yi Xuan was. He looked blankly at the person standing in the doorway—whose demeanor felt completely out of place in the Qianji Sect—and for some reason, felt a clear sense of distaste from the other’s gaze.

"He’s Quan Jiaying, a personal disciple of the Poyuan Sect," Ye Su said, looking up at You Fushi on the steps. "He’s not Yi Xuan."

Not him? Then... just ugly in general.

Hearing that, You Fushi instantly lost interest. His gaze slid off of Quan Jiaying as if nothing had been said at all.

"Who’s Yi Xuan?" Quan Jiaying asked, curiosity piqued.

"He’s our original junior disciple," Xia Er explained. "He’s still out traveling and hasn’t returned yet."

Quan Jiaying nodded in understanding, then suddenly recalled something. "Was Yi Xuan the one standing by the gate earlier?" He remembered seeing a young man in a dark robe at the entrance. That face had been hard to forget.

Xia Er nodded. "That was him."

"If there’s a chance in the future, I’d love to exchange insights with him," Quan Jiaying said, thinking that anyone from Qianji Sect must be talented in artifact crafting, just like Ye Su and the others.

Ming Liu Sha’s mouth twitched. "Let’s... not."

Quan Jiaying looked confused.

"Our junior disciple has no talent for crafting artifacts," Xiyu said as he sat down. "He can’t even control spiritual fire."

In the cultivation world, spiritual energy contains all five elements. While most cultivators simply absorb it and refine it into their own spiritual power, those in specialized paths—like artifact forgers and alchemists—must be born with the ability to separate those elements. Otherwise, they can’t advance.

Of the five disciples on Jiuxuan Peak, four could forge artifacts—a rare occurrence considering all of them were originally picked up by their sect master with no expectations of talent.

Quan Jiaying was stunned but managed to understand. "I see." In the Poyuan Sect, they only accepted disciples with innate potential. If someone couldn’t even produce spiritual fire, they wouldn’t be taken in.

"Ye Su," You Fushi suddenly called from the steps.

"...Call me Senior Sister," Ye Su corrected him.

Why is it that even with a new junior disciple, he still refuses to call me that?

You Fushi completely ignored her correction. He raised a slender, elegant finger and pointed toward his room. "There’s a draft in there."

Ye Su was surprised. "Wind?"

It had indeed gotten colder recently—strong winds blew more frequently up in the mountains.

"Senior Sister, maybe the wall wasn’t sealed properly?" Xiyu chimed in. "My room was chilly last night too."

"I’ll go check," Ye Su said. She took a few steps, then turned back to the table and picked up a brush. On a blank sheet of paper, she began drawing a thunder pattern.

Her hand moved with practiced ease, like someone who had drawn it countless times before. Within the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, an intricate pattern filled the page.

"You all take a look first. I’ll be back later," Ye Su said, then strode up the steps toward You Fushi’s room.

Quan Jiaying was so stunned by the ease and confidence of her movement that he couldn’t recover for a long moment.

Then he snatched up the paper, lowered his head, and examined the drawing.

This thunder pattern was missing nearly two-thirds of its structure—just the opening strokes remained. That was why Ming Liu Sha and the others had been arguing; the remaining framework could be interpreted in many ways.

Quan Jiaying had not only read books on rare patterns, but had also consulted with elders from other sects known for their skill in pattern carving. Even those two from the Gold-Cutting Sect couldn’t match his depth of knowledge in this area.

Opening, structure, finish.

He studied the drawing line by line, heart churning with a mix of heat and cold. Only after taking a deep breath did he manage to calm himself—but the veins on the back of his hand holding the paper were bulging.

She... really is incredible.

He had believed that the thunder pattern he restored was already optimized for functionality, though it lacked a certain aesthetic quality. But Ye Su’s version delivered the same effectiveness with a sense of grace and fierce elegance.

Most impressively, she had made a subtle change at the end of the pattern. At first, Quan Jiaying thought it was a mistake. Then he realized—it was because she had considered the other two patterns carved into the blade.

When you force three different patterns onto the same weapon, it’s easy for them to clash or feel cluttered. But with that single stroke, she resolved all the awkwardness and made the later-added thunder pattern feel completely seamless.

Quan Jiaying stared at the drawing in his hands, suddenly wishing he could take back the blade he had submitted—and redo it entirely.

……

By this time, Ye Su had already stepped into the room and stood in front of the wall she had previously patched up. After a moment, she did indeed feel a faint breeze drifting in.

"The seam might not have been sealed properly. You—" Ye Su turned around, ready to explain the issue to You Fushi, only to find him leaning lazily against a pillar. His jet-black hair cascaded behind him like silk, his long lashes half-lowered, veiling his dark eyes—he looked like he was about to fall asleep.

At least the new junior disciple isn’t a fox spirit, she mused. Senior Sister paused thoughtfully—she remembered that foxes don’t hibernate.

At this time of year, the town at the foot of the mountain didn’t have any mud suitable for wall repairs, so Ye Su went out and gathered some wood. She shaved it into planks and nailed them over the wall.

"All done. There shouldn’t be any drafts tonight," she said, quite satisfied with her work.

You Fushi glanced up. His gaze landed on the patched section—an uneven, somewhat shabby-looking plank—and he commented flatly, "…Ugly."

Does this mortal not worry he’ll go blind from how ugly that looks?

"Ugly?" Ye Su looked back at it. Admittedly, it wasn’t very pleasing to the eye. So she casually cast an illusion spell over the entire wall. "There—now you can’t see it."

You Fushi frowned at the wall. He still looked a little displeased, but in the end, said nothing more. He lazily got up and returned to bed, stretching out like he didn’t have a care in the world.

Ye Su noted that, aside from being forced to, he never seemed to cultivate or meditate at all.

But still… the new junior disciple was much easier to deal with than the old one.

……

Ever since Quan Jiaying arrived, peace on Jiuxuan Peak had become a thing of the past.

Although he looked the part of a prestigious sect’s direct disciple, he had no sense of shame. He climbed the mountain daily to corner Ye Su, insisting on "discussing" rune restoration.

"Just draw more," Ye Su tried to brush him off. "Find a book on rare rune patterns, draw a few dozen a day. After a few years, you’ll pretty much understand most of it."

"That’s how you learned?" Quan Jiaying stared at her, surprised.

Ye Su nodded. "Yeah."

The Qianji Sect had more books than they knew what to do with—most of them related to artifact forging. But they didn’t have enough materials to actually practice with, so out of boredom, Ye Su spent two years studying a book of rare rune patterns. She’d simulated every possible variation of the missing segments.

Maybe that’s why, the first time she drew a talisman, it went surprisingly smoothly.

After all, runes and talismans shared certain principles.

"I have another book on rune theory…" Quan Jiaying tried to keep the conversation going.

"Brother Quan, I have something to do," Ye Su said, clearly pained. This man was like he’d been injected with chicken blood—he’d already dragged her through days and nights without sleep just to finish an entire book of incomplete rune patterns.

"Where are you going?" Quan Jiaying tried to follow her.

Desperate to shake him off, Ye Su casually mentioned that Ming Liu Sha had a good grasp of crafting minor artifacts. Then she added, "Brother Quan, a true forgemaster must be well-rounded. Don’t let your family name down."

Quan Jiaying looked thoughtful, then enlightened, and finally inspired. "You’re right." He turned and headed off to find Ming Liu Sha.

Watching his retreating back, Ye Su finally let out a long breath of relief.

From that day forward, Quan Jiaying launched a campaign of relentless pursuit—not just of Ye Su, but also of Ming Liu Sha, Xiyu, and Xia Er. He took Ye Su’s offhand comment about "exchange and discussion" and turned it into a personal mission, draining every last ounce of energy from everyone on Jiuxuan Peak.

Still, Quan Jiaying gained a lot from their unique perspectives on artifact forging. The disciples of the Qianji Sect had surprisingly unconventional insights.

At one point, he even considered going after You Fushi—but after hearing that the new junior disciple knew absolutely nothing, he gave up. Still, he couldn’t help but think: Are Qianji Sect’s junior disciples just pretty filler? They sure get more handsome with each one.

……

"Any invitations?" Ye Su asked Ming Liu Sha and Xia Er.

It was a question she asked almost every morning.

Ming Liu Sha shook his head. "No."

Xia Er was a bit anxious. "Senior Sister, is it because we’re ranked too low, so no one’s contacting us?"

"No," Ye Su had overheard some chatter while buying materials in the city. "Some rogue cultivators who want decent artifacts actually prefer forgemasters near the bottom of the Baqing Rankings."

"But it’s been so long and we still haven’t received a single invitation," Xia Er grumbled. He checked the messaging jade every day, but still nothing.

"Should… we just wait longer?" Ming Liu Sha drawled.

"No need." Ye Su glanced in the direction of their sect master’s residence. "I don’t think we’ll be getting any invitations."

The day the rankings came out, because Quan Jiaying had visited, Ye Su had gone to see the sect master and had casually brought up her and Ming Liu Sha’s rankings.

The sect master’s teacup had stayed steady—but under the table, his leg had been shaking uncontrollably.

Every time Sect Master Zhang Fengfeng got stressed, he’d shake his leg.

So Ye Su didn’t press. There was no point. He wouldn’t say anything unless he wanted to.

The Qianji Sect was barely mentioned in the original novel. Ye Su had to rely on her own observations. Since arriving, the sect had felt like a declining giant—one running out of luck.

But after traveling outside the mountain, she began to notice something more troubling. The sect master wasn’t weak by cultivation standards, yet he never accepted commissions from other sects. No one traded with them either.

It felt more like… a silent, unspoken agreement.

The reason Ming Liu Sha and Xia Er weren’t getting any invitations was likely simple: They were from the Qianji Sect.

Everyone fell quiet. They had all likely reached the same conclusion.

In the end, Ye Su took them to find Quan Jiaying.

……

"They didn’t get a single invitation?" Quan Jiaying frowned. "That’s impossible. The previous last-place forgemaster on the Baqing Rankings was from our Poyuan Sect—she got over ten invitations the same day."

The Baqing Rankings only listed 300 names, but the cultivation world was vast, with countless practitioners. Any forgemaster who made the list was highly sought after.

"Brother Quan," Ye Su asked cautiously, "have you ever heard… rumors about the Qianji Sect?"

"I did hear something once... that your sect goes around mooching off others," Quan Jiaying admitted with a bit of guilt.

After spending time at the Qianji Sect, he had seen firsthand how hard life was for its disciples. Yet all of them trained diligently. Especially the ones on Jiuxuan Peak—their talent was in no way inferior to any top sect disciples. "If only you had access to proper spiritual energy, I’m sure the Qianji Sect would rise again."

"We originally thought," Ye Su said, "that getting onto the Baqing Rankings would mean we could finally take commissions and earn spirit stones—and refine artifacts in the process." She gave a small, bitter smile. "But now it seems like someone doesn’t want the Qianji Sect to survive."

"Actually, that reminds me…" Quan Jiaying suddenly recalled something. "The day you all finished selecting materials, my father—the Sect Master—gathered everyone in the main hall and specifically told us not to mention your sect’s name."

At the time, Quan Jiaying thought his father was just embarrassed and didn’t want their sect to be associated with the Qianji Sect. But now, he wasn’t so sure.

"Poyuan Sect only refers to you as rogue cultivators when speaking to outsiders."

Ye Su exchanged a glance with Ming Liu Sha. A few things had just clicked into place.

They were told not to speak of the Qianji Sect, but at the same time, the sect had allowed them to compete and even take materials. That meant the Poyuan Sect’s elders and sect master must know something.