Weirdo

"Tut tut, is this east? Or, is that east?"

A melodic voice chirped and hummed from time to time behind the ancient Chinese plums. A little girl in pink robes could be seen playfully hopping down a winding stone path that weaved past those trees.

Of course, that little girl was no other than the ghostlike existence that confounded those poor naive disciples.

Yin was sure that her lie would not hold for long. Therefore, before those youngsters realized the flaws in her words, she escaped towards the direction that they pointed at.

East.

To have the Sect Treasury placed inside a pocket dimension, that meant that it had good things stashed in there, probably many sealed treasure weapons, divine artifacts from old and heavenly medicines that needed continuous spiritual nourishment from a dense concentration of qi.

Using Ming Yue Sect as a comparison, the Ye Sect's Treasury ought to have more good stuff in it, since it belonged to an entire sect and not just one person.

However, right now, Yin was facing a dilemma. In front of her, the stone path forked into two.

Which one should she choose?

Ah, it would be nice if she has someone she could ask around here. Only, it seemed that because of last night's incident, everyone had been advised to keep their guards up and stay at home.

Yin really, really did not have a mind to rob Ye Sect; she only wanted to check things out, say, just in case of an emergency and she needed to access the sect treasures.

What if the model of the new manor she's planning to build for Ye Mo and Zhi Ruo didn't have enough construction materials? What if the rare rocks and wood she wanted to use could not be bought in bulk?

What if the steward in charge forgot the inventory? What if he or she is away and no one knew the number of treasures inside?

Would it not be prudent to personally check if those materials, or their alternatives, are available inside the pocket dimension?

Yin is being extremely thoughtful, right? Right?

"Ehh, I feel the old fogey's aura from this direction." Tilting her head to the side, she crossed her arms as she murmured, "It might be too much of a coincidence if he's in the Treasury right now. Could it be he had guessed ahead of time what I'm planning? Maybe he's taking inventory already..."

She narrowed her eyes at the fork in the road.

"When those kids said east, they must mean to go right, but must I always go right?"

She remembered Ye Mo's earlier warning before he had set off. He told her, again and again, to not cause trouble. He said that demonic cultivators like the one killed last night might be coming to seek revenge.

Not that Yin was afraid; she was not a greenhorn when it came to the matters of the jianghu.

However, what if Ye Mo finds her loitering around?

"I must not be caught!"

Instead of going right, she went left... only to arrive at a dense forest with trees so huge, their canopies covered the sky. Some even had trunks wide enough to be hugged by ten adults.

Seemed like Yin went full circle and reached the rear part of the Ye Sect's territory, a mountainous region used as training grounds by stronger disciples to steady their cultivations and hone their martial skills.

All right. She's not lost. She simply... fine, time to retrace her steps.

However, she realized that there was no stone path behind her.

Uh-oh.

True to its name, the Ye Sect (1) is completely a blanket of green. From a distance, it could be seen that the manors, buildings, and pagodas might be large and luxurious, befitting a great sect, but they were few and far apart.

Ye Sect seemed more like a gigantic forest instead of an influence that majors in cultivation.

Majestic spirit trees lined the stone paths, tall divine grasses waved with the wind, and fragrant treasure blossoms dotted the bushes, bringing a pleasant and refreshing sensation to those walking outside.

Together with the rich spiritual qi that came from the underground spirit veins, it was as if inside the Ye Sect, vitality is everpresent. Flowers would never wilt. It was an eternal springtime.

To any mortal, the elegance and beauty of the entire Ye Sect might be their definition of a paradise in heaven and earth.

However, to Little Yin, even if she was facing a brick wall or facing a cherry tree, no matter which is more expensive, they all looked the same. They were just part of the scenery and had no practical value to her. Why would she deign to pay attention?

Even when she's facing important people, as long as they were not ones she wanted to play with, why would she bother with them? Would that not be a waste of time?

"East side, east side, I'm going to the east side... why is it so friggin' far?"

As she spread her divine sense to carefully scrutinize her surroundings, she realized that although it appeared like she had ventured deep into the forest, she was actually only at its fringe.

Using her normal speed, she could probably get back to the stone path in less than two minutes.

However, she did not leave. Instead, she went further into the forest... because she found something that piqued her curiosity.

On top of the root of a giant tree sat a bruised and bloody body of a boy wearing the standard white robe of a Ye Sect disciple. However, his robe looked like it had been used for too long and was washed way too many times; even the luster of the cloth itself and the runes engraved on it had faded.

The boy's breathing was weak, his heartbeat slow. He looked like any second now, he might pass out. Or worse, die.

Hearing Yin's approaching footsteps, the boy slowly peeled open one swollen eyelid.

"L-Little sister, go leave, quick," a hoarse voice came out from the mouth of the boy around ten- or eleven-years-old. "If they find you here with me..."

However, he was unable to continue his words as he had coughed out blood.

Yin simply blinked, as if she did not quite understand his words nor his actions. Nimbly, she stepped around the broken twigs and dried leaves to stand in front of him.

"Weirdo, why you shooing me away? Don't you want me to call for help?" she asked with a lilt.

"Go now..."

"I don't wanna. To be honest, you look awful."

The boy had already closed his eyes, as if he wanted to sleep and never wake up.

Yin raised her hand and tapped her finger on the heart of his brows.

"I'm right. You are a weirdo. You have three immortal souls, but you're missing one mortal soul. Did you have a problem reincarnating?" (2)

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(1) Ye 叶 means "leaf"

(2) Hun 魂 literally: "cloud-soul" and Po 魄 literally: "white-soul"; the Chinese believe that each person has 3 immortal souls and 7 mortal souls

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AUTHOR'S NOTE (because it can't fit in the box lol)

We have reached about 1/2 of the entire Volume One! All the characters named in the story will reappear again (unless they're dead). After introducing the last two important characters, I will have to hasten the pace of the story. There'll be a series of info dumps soon, with a high chance Yin wouldn't be listening coz it's about history. She doesn't care about history. Just saying.