My junior sister sees everyone as a heretical cultivator.

Chapter 286 Returning to Qingxu Temple

Su Mansion.

Su's parents stood under the eaves not far away, watching the group of young people making noise in the pavilion, and their faces showed a look of satisfaction.

“Master, look, Ling’er has made so many friends,” Su’s mother said softly.

Su's father nodded, his gaze falling on his daughter's group of friends. The boy named Wang Xiedi was grabbing Lin Qingfeng's sleeve, accusing him of something, while Lin Qingfeng looked completely unfazed.

He couldn't hear these young people's words very clearly, and he didn't understand much of what they were saying. However, when his gaze fell on his son, Su Wenxuan, his brows furrowed involuntarily.

This kid is thinking about becoming some kind of "ninth-class" martial arts hero again... Sigh, the martial arts world... How easy is it to navigate the martial arts world? He wanted to cultivate immortality after reading some novels, and now he wants to be a hero. Why does a child like him always think about these things?
As ordinary people, they could read more books, pass the imperial examinations in the future, or at the very least inherit a few shops from their own family. Wasn't that better than what he dreamed of all day long? Father Su sighed inwardly.

He couldn't imagine what the real life of cultivating immortality was like. Would it really be like the stories in novels, where one could be unrestrained and roam freely between heaven and earth?
However, for a mere mortal like him, thinking too much would only add to his troubles. But... Su Ling'er...

This child, whom he thought would be frustrated on the path of cultivation due to his lack of talent, and would eventually face reality and return to his family after a few years of training on the mountain, actually joined some Guixi Sect... seemingly encountering a greater opportunity and getting to know a wider world.

But he always felt... that the paths of immortals and mortals are different... that Ling'er's future would become increasingly distant from them, these mortals...

It's hard to say whether this is a cause for joy or sorrow... If we really have to count, it should be more of a happy event, right? What parent doesn't hope their child will have a bright future? But deep down, he still hopes his daughter can come home more often and spend more time with them.

But then he thought again, and he was afraid... afraid that his mortal thoughts would hinder his daughter's cultivation and become a hindrance on her path to immortality.

"Sigh..." Father Su sighed deeply, and subconsciously looked up at the sky. "It's getting late. The food in the kitchen should be ready by now, but why hasn't Ling'er come back yet?"

……

On the other side, Qingxu Mountain, Qingxu Temple.

This place is completely abandoned. Su Ling'er stood in front of the mountain gate, remaining motionless for a long time.

Some fragmented images still lingered in her mind.

She remembered the first time she stood here, the stone steps beneath her feet were wet with morning dew, so clean that they reflected the sunlight.

There were always a few outer disciples like her, sweeping away the leaves that had fallen the night before, one sweep after another. Their movements were slow, but they made everything here seem very orderly.

The air should have a scent, the freshness of morning dew mixed with green grass.

And now... beneath her feet lay a thick layer of withered leaves that no one had swept away. Stepping on them made a "crunching" sound. There was no smell of fresh grass in the air, only a musty, rotten smell that filled her nostrils and made her feel a little stuffy.

Those familiar scenes seem like they happened just yesterday, but when I reach out my hand, they have vanished like smoke.

At this moment, she was the only one left, standing in front of the empty mountain gate, looking somewhat superfluous.

And so, she reached out and gently pushed open the half-closed mountain gate.

"Creak—creak—" The door hinges groaned under the weight. Behind the door was a familiar courtyard, yet it was strange... decay. Her gaze fell on the well in the corner of the courtyard. She remembered herself back then, a frail woman who hadn't yet cultivated any spiritual energy, gritting her teeth as she pulled the heavy buckets of water from the bottom of the well again and again.

Now, the well rope has long since rotted and broken, hanging limply over the well's edge. A spiderweb has even formed above the well opening, gleaming faintly in the light.

When did they leave... and how long have they been gone?

She walked through the courtyard toward the area where the outer disciples lived, to the woodshed where she and several other female outer disciples had once squeezed together. The door was half open, and the room was empty.

By the moonlight, you could see a thick layer of dust on the ground, cobwebs covering the corners of the walls, and a musty smell that had been there for a long time.

A night breeze blew by, and with a creak, a dilapidated window swayed back and forth as a dark shadow flashed by.

Su Ling'er subconsciously turned around to look.

Back then, she would have almost thought it was some mischievous junior sister playing a prank. Such silly tricks were not uncommon among the junior brothers and sisters who were struggling in the same predicament as her.

However, when she looked back, all she saw was an empty window frame and the swaying shadows of trees outside. The dark shadow that had flashed by was nothing more than a tattered piece of cloth being blown by the wind.

There really isn't a single person left here.

Su Ling'er's heart sank little by little. She continued walking forward, passing through the area where the outer disciples lived, and arrived at the residence of the inner disciples, which she had once longed for.

Once upon a time, this place was a place that was out of reach for her. Only when she was summoned by her senior brothers and sisters from the inner sect and they needed her to do something, such as serving tea and water or massaging her waist and legs, could she cautiously step into this place with awe and envy.

But she has never been able to walk here so freely as she is today, without needing anyone's summons or permission.

She walked and looked around, and finally stopped in front of the former residence of the sect leader.

She had imagined countless times what the room of the sect leader should be like, but when she pushed open the half-closed door, the scene before her completely stunned her.

Even though it has been emptied, judging from the traces left behind, the room can be described as... bare and desolate, not even comparable to the residences of inner disciples who have not yet completely detached themselves from worldly affairs and still plant some flowers and plants in front of and behind their houses, or carve some patterns on their door lintels.

Here, there is only the simplest furnishing.

In the center of the ground is a futon with worn edges, suggesting that its owner used to sit and cultivate here for many years.

In the corner was an empty pill shelf, with a faint medicinal fragrance still lingering in the air. Su Ling'er leaned closer to discern the scent, but it wasn't the aroma of any high-grade pills. It was more like the aftertaste of the lowest-grade pills, such as the Blood Coagulation Pill, and there seemed to be some mid-grade pills that she couldn't identify.

On the other wall, a small spirit-gathering array was engraved, but the array's patterns had long since faded, and the spirit stones in the grooves that formed the array's core had long been dug out, leaving only a few powdery spirit stones.

With Su Ling'er's current level of insight, she could easily tell that the powder came from some low-grade spirit stones of extremely poor quality.

A cultivator at the peak of the Core Formation stage, the leader of a sect... how could he live such a frugal life?
Qingxu Temple seems... to be far, far weaker than she imagined...

(End of this chapter)