Sword Sect Little Demon Child, Three and a Half Years Old and Extremely Fierce

the next day.

I woke up.

My father is gone.

The candy is still on the bed.

A small pile was formed, gleaming sweetly in the morning light.

I rubbed my eyes, carefully collected the candies one by one, and hid them under my pillow.

One, two, three...

I counted them; there were twenty-three in total.

Three more than the last time my brother gave me.

My dad, though he's not good with words, is still willing to buy candy.

It's more worthwhile than underwear.

After hiding the candy, I got up and went next door to find Suning to braid my hair, ready to begin another day of hellish extra training.

Perhaps it's because Suning himself likes to wear braids.

Perhaps it's because he was the one who braided my hair on my first day in the clan.

So the job was welded to his body.

Suning is braiding her hair.

When he saw me come in, he waved me over: "Come here."

I walked over and sat down obediently.

"What hairstyle should I have today?" he asked.

I said, "Whatever. As long as you don't pull my hair."

He nodded and began to work.

At first, he was clumsy and pulled out a lot of my hair, which made me cry several times.

The crying was so loud that the entire sect could hear it, and Yan Chuan thought someone was killing a chicken.

That won't happen anymore.

He's now incredibly fast and skilled at stabbing, faster than Gu Chenguang at keeping accounts, and even more adept at scolding than the sect leader.

The comb glides from the top of the head to the ends of the hair, the movement very gentle, like stroking a cat.

"Did you sleep well last night?" he asked again.

I nodded, then shook my head: "I had a dream."

"What kind of dream?"

"I dreamt that my father came."

Su Ning paused for a moment, "...And then?"

"Then he gave me candy. Then he coaxed me to sleep."

I paused for a moment, then said, "It looks just like the real thing."

Suning didn't say anything and continued braiding her hair.

He divided my hair into two sections, braided them into two small buns, tied them with red string, and then patted my head.

"Alright. Today, we'll practice horse stance for one hour."

"Is 15 minutes less okay?"

"OK."

"real?"

"If you lose 15 minutes, add two more laps of mountain running."

"..."

I shut up.

This deal isn't worth it.

It's the same logic as Zhao Youqian buying my junk: on the surface, it seems like he made a profit, but in reality, he lost everything.

--------

They had just finished practicing their horse stance, their heads covered in sweat and their legs still trembling, when the three elders received a communication talisman from the Myriad Immortals Alliance.

Elder Wen Zhiya glanced at it and frowned: "Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance. Online meeting."

Elder Jingyuan was taken aback: "The person doesn't need to go?"

Elder Wen Zhiya explained, "No need. Those people went out to investigate the case and haven't returned yet. Not everyone is present, so we can't hold an offline meeting."

Elder Jingyuan thought for a moment and said, "That's quite convenient. No need to travel, no need to stay at inns, and no need to eat out."

Elder Wangji nodded: "It is indeed convenient. But the signal is not good."

I raised my hand and asked, "What is an online meeting?"

Elder Wangji explained, "It means that even if the person isn't physically present, the image and sound are transmitted via a communication array. It's similar to watching a recording bead, but in real-time."

Wen Zhiya added: "The difference is that the photo recorder is pre-recorded, while this one allows for arguing."

I tap.

Understood.

Gu Chenguang was summoned to the main hall to set up a communication array.

He arranged the stone spirits in a circle, with communication talismans covering the four corners.

Then take out a bronze mirror and place it in the center of the formation.

Then he drew a few simple lines in the circle, calling it a "signal enhancement array".

After finishing the last stroke, he stood up, examined his work, and nodded.

"Alright. In a moment, all the sects will connect with the Myriad Immortals Alliance, and then the Myriad Immortals Alliance will bring the image back. Theoretically, everyone should be able to see everyone else at the same time."

But judging from his expression, he himself wasn't quite sure.

Finally, he adjusted the position of the bronze mirror.

Shift left, shift right, lean forward a little, lean back a little.

The three elders straightened their clothes.

Elder Wen Zhiya straightened his collar.

Elder Jingyuan straightened his beard.

Elder Wangji polished his bald head until it shone.

Then they stood in front of the bronze mirror at the same time.

Then the faces of three elders appeared in the bronze mirror.

Elder Wen Zhiya was in the middle.

Elder Jingyuan is on the right.

Elder Wangji is on the left.

The faces of all three people were distorted.

Elder Wen Zhiya's face was stretched out, like a cucumber.

Elder Jingyuan's face was flattened, like a pancake.

Elder Wangji's bald head was magnified, resembling a giant light bulb.

"Why is it deformed?" Elder Wen Zhiya frowned.

Gu Chenguang glanced at it: "The array's precision is insufficient, which is normal. As long as it can identify who it is, that's fine."

Elder Wen Zhiya stared at the elongated face in the mirror, and after a moment of silence, asked, "...Who is this?"

Gu Chenguang paused for a moment, then said, "...You."

Elder Wen Zhiya remained silent.

Gu Chenguang stepped back and squatted down next to me.

Yes, my fellow students and I squatted down and watched the whole time.

It's not sitting, it's squatting.

Although I don't understand why we have to squat when there are so many chairs in the main hall?

But when I saw my senior classmates squatting, I squatted down too.

Herd mentality can exist even at three and a half years old.

Yan Chuan took out a bag of steamed buns.

It was packed in a cloth bag, all white and steaming hot, clearly freshly steamed.

He gave one to each of us.

Everyone took them and started eating them one by one.

But Gu Chenguang didn't eat it. He placed the steamed bun next to his notebook, ready to take notes at any time.

Shen Qingchen didn't eat any; he gave me his steamed bun. Then he stood to the side, sword in hand, expressionless.

With a steamed bun in my left hand and another in my right, I took a bite from the left and a bite from the right, feeling like the richest person in the Heavenly Sword Sect.

When the time came, the three elders activated the communication array.

The communication array connects to the Myriad Immortals Alliance.

The Myriad Immortals Alliance then brought the scene back to the present.

Then the faces of the various sects began to appear in the array above the main hall.

They form small squares, like a row of portraits hanging on the wall.

The difference is that the portraits don't move, but they do.

The best image quality ones, you can even see the eyebrows clearly.

The few with average image quality are still able to make out the nose.

The worst image quality... belongs to the Heavenly Sword Sect.

It's burnt.

It's not your average paste.

The faces of the three elders were distorted and deformed inside, their features squeezed together so that their noses and eyes were indistinguishable.

"Hey, Heavenly Sword Sect, can you guys be a little more composed? It's like you're having a meeting on a boat!"

The speaker was an elder from some sect, and his tone carried a resentment that seemed to say, "I've put up with you for a long time."

Then everyone joined in the complaints:

"It's so blurry and shaky, like watching a horror movie."

"What era are we living in? Still using communication arrays? Still using bronze mirrors? Is your Heavenly Sword Sect from the cultivation world or the antique world?"

"Even if you're really stingy, why not at least get a high-definition glass mirror?"

"Let's just use a different communication device; it'll save us the trouble!"

"Exactly, communication devices aren't expensive. Will buying one bankrupt you?"

Despite the arguments, someone discovered a blind spot.

"—Huh? You actually have a main hall? The Heavenly Sword Sect? That Heavenly Sword Sect that doesn't even have a mountain gate?"

"Nonsense, they've already taken in both the young master and princess of the Demon Realm. They could practically call it the 'Demon Realm's Office in the Immortal Realm.' It's definitely not the same as before."

"It's said that they even invited Gongshu Ge to build it. You all know how expensive Gongshu Ge is, right? One of his halls is enough to feed our entire clan for three years."

"—And yet they're still so stingy. They have money to build a grand hall but not to buy communication tools? What kind of consumerism is that?"

Elder Wen Zhiya remained unfazed: "You all know that Chaos Spiritual Roots cost a lot of money. We should save where we can. Spirit stones and communication talismans are much better—old tradition, old-fashioned approach, classic practice."

Elder Jingyuan added, "If you keep talking nonsense and gossiping, we won't add any more spirit stones once we've used them all up."

Elder Wangji added one last sentence: "Unless the Myriad Immortals Alliance reimburses us."

The grids fell silent.

Those people's expressions: They wanted to curse, but didn't know where to start.

If you say the picture quality is bad, well, they don't have any communication tools.

If you say the signal is unstable, it's because they're using the most basic transcribing array.

If you ask for reimbursement, the Wanxian Alliance certainly doesn't have a tradition of reimbursement.

"We'll talk about reimbursement later," the voice on the other end relented.

Elder Wangji pressed further, "When is 'turning back'?"

opposite:"……"

They stopped talking.

The grids fell silent again.

The host stepped in to smooth things over.

He coughed and recited a passage of scripture.

He read it quickly and unclearly.

But I vaguely understood that it meant something like: "Ugh, another meeting, and I'm in charge of it again. May Buddha protect us and keep us quiet today..."

After finishing reading, he cleared his throat, regained the composure expected of a host, and said in a normal tone:

"Gentlemen, the main reason I've gathered you all here today is to report on the progress of our respective investigations. Please report in turn, each of you."