But negligible was better than none…..
There were seventeen more days till the fifteenth next month, when Jun Wu Xie waved goodbye to Jun Xian and Jun Qing and stepped onto the horse drawn carriage heading to the Qing Yun Clan’s peaks. To see her off, the largely recovered Mo Qian Yuan came to the city gates and looked on cheerlessly as the Jun Family members sent Jun Wu Xie on her way out of the city.
With this parting, he did not know when he will see her again. Mo Qian Yuan was solemn as he watched the carriage slowly shrink and finally disappeared from his sight.
Within the carriage, sat a delicate and pretty youth, quietly carrying a docile little black cat in her arms.
Before she had left the Lin Palace, Jun Wu Xie had changed her appearance. She had changed herself to become the youth that had gone into Ghost City. She had only brought the little black cat, Little Lotus, and lugged a few jars of Jade Nectar onto the carriage to allow her to continue to develop her spiritual powers throughout the journey. Before she left, she had wanted to bid Jun Wu Yao goodbye, but there had been no sign of him, and she gave up on it.
[Mistress, you’re really going to that funny clanny place? To become their disciple?]
The little black cat asked as it snuggled deeper to find a comfortable position. Although it was aware of Jun Wu Xie’s purpose for going to the Qing Yun Clan, the thought of its mistress having to pretend to call some quack her teacher made it feel uncomfortable nevertheless.
In this world, a teacher capable to school Jun Wu Xie in medicine had not been born yet!
“Qing Yun Clan.” Jun Wu Xie reminded.
From the intelligence from Bai Yun Xian, Jun Wu Xie had decided to set her target for this trip to the Qing Yun Clan was to be admitted to Mu Chen’s Cloud Treading Peak. The enemy of her enemy would be a friend, and Jun Wu Xie did not mind having an ally.
The horse drawn carriage rumbled on further gradually, and the carriage was no longer visible from the Imperial City.
Outside the city gates, Jun Wu Yao’s eyes stared fixedly at the point where the carriage had disappeared, his jet black eyes thoughtful.
A shadow formed and a man in black knelt by the foot of Jun Wu Yao, his eyes puzzled. His Lord had known that the Miss would depart on her journey today, but he had stayed hidden. Only after the Young Miss had left, he had come to stand outside the city gates for a long time. Having served His Lord till now, he knew His Lord would have wanted to accompany the Young Miss on her journey.
“Ye Sha” Jun Wu Yao called out suddenly.
“Right here.” The man in black, Ye Sha, answered promptly.
“Follow her, and protect her well.” Jun Wu Yao narrowed his eyes. If he did not still have unfinished business here, he wouldn’t have allowed his little darling to leave on her own.
“Your command will be carried out.” Ye Sha acknowledged and had expected as such.
“If she is in no danger, do not reveal your presence.” Jun Wu Yao added, his voice cold as ice.
The tiny Qing Yun Clan was an insignificant speck before his eyes. If it was only the Qing Yun Clan, he believed his little darling would be able to deal with them herself, what caused him concern was the hidden powers behind the Qing Yun Clan.
One of the palaces among the twelve, no matter which palace it was, was not something the present Jun Wu Xie could handle on her own.
Volume 3
Chapter 254: “Cloudy Peaks (1)”
The fifteenth of every month was the busiest time the Cloudy Peaks of the Qing Yun Clan were most lively, always bustling with activity. The Cloudy Peaks bordered a few countries but belonged to none and was independent. The Cloudy Peaks were steep and treacherous, and had a total of twelve peaks. However, there was only one lone path from the foot to the summit.
The Cloudy Peaks were revered not for their majestic peaks, but for the Qing Yun Clan occupying the entire twelve peaks!
Famed for their medical skills, the mightiest clan across the lands opened their doors to the mountains, to recruit talents who were medically inclined through a series of tests. For those who passed, they stand a chance to be admitted into the Qing Yun Clan as a disciple.
The Qing Yun Clan sat upon vast tracts of lands, had centuries of history behind them, and had exceptionally skilled Elders overseeing each peak.
There were countless sacred medical writings and records hidden within the Qing Yun Clan, and was a sacred haven for any in their pursuit of medicine. Anyone accepted into the Qing Yun Clan, had their status quickly escalated, and if they were admitted into the Inner House, their status immediately shot into the skies.
Countless people would give anything to secure a position within the Qing Yun Clan, and on the days they opened their doors for recruitment, the wide road leading towards the summit was always jam packed with people from all across the lands.
A nondescript horse carriage stopped at the foot of the mountain and a scholarly looking youth with delicate features dressed in plain and simple clothes stepped out. After a few words with the coachman, the little youth set off towards the Cloudy Peaks.
The main thoroughfare towards the Cloudy Peaks was packed with people heading into the mountains. There were all not too old in age, eighteen years of age at the most, and fourteen years at least.
The Qing Yun Clan had a hard and fast rule in their recruitment. They would only accept youths between the ages of fourteen to eighteen years. Anyone who were older than eighteen years or younger than fourteen years, no matter how prodigious, would be turned away firmly.
The rule did not seem like much to others, but Jun Wu Xie looked at it differently.
From the age of fourteen to eighteen, it was when a person underwent the most critical four years after their ring spirits are awoken. It was also the period that the youth were the muddled in consciousness and thinking on their path to maturity and adulthood. The Qing Yun Clan had wanted to recruit disciples of that age to better manage them by brainwashing and easily instilling in them the principles and philosophies of the Qing Yun Clan.
Within the bustling crowd, many youths confidently assured their family members and strode onwards, putting up a brave front.
Only the youths who were applicants themselves can go up towards to Cloudy Peaks, and their family members could only wait at the foot for news. If anyone were to breach the rule, they would be promptly thrown out by the Qing Yun Clan disciples who stood guard at the mountain’s foot.
Many were also spotted pulling at their hair, their heads buried deep into medical books at the mountain’s foot in a last minute’s futile attempt to cram every single word in the books into their brains.
Jun Wu Xie looked indifferently, observing the various hilarious sights around her. She could not figure out why, a clan with such mediocre skills in medicine, would attract so many people to clamour and fight just to be granted admission into the clan.
Jun Wu Xie’s unperturbed calm, had also attracted the stares from many of the other nervous hopefuls. They cast their eyes upon the small youth who stood apart from the others, noticed that she was dressed in plain clothes without any adornments, and scoffed at her young age. They all then broke in sneering laughter.
“A young brat like you wants to get into the Qing Yun Clan?”
“No, he’s just here to see the world. Look! Don’t you see he came empty handed?”
“That’s right, after you get rejected by the Qing Yun Clan, you would have at least opened your eyes to the might of the largest clan….. Sigh, I must say, the Qing Yun Clan’s threshold for new recruits are too low, even the stray cats and rabid dogs have come to join in the fun.” The several finely dressed youth who boasted from having come from a lineage of medical practitioners put down their books and started mocking and pointing their fingers at Jun Wu Xie, who had stuck out conspicuously.
Little did they know, the youth that they mocked at, would soon have their highly revered mightiest clan throughout the lands, smashed into oblivion.
Volume 3
Chapter 255: “Cloudy Peaks (2)”
Squeezed within the crowd, Jun Wu Xie frowned deeply. Having broken her spiritual powers through to the orange level had heightened her five senses. Every single mocking word fell into her ears but she ignored them all.
These children were beneath her notice.
Due to the overwhelming number of applicants, the Qing Yun Clan could not assess every single one of them individually or it would have taken them weeks. Hence, the Qing Yun Clan had prepared a simple test as the first round of screening.
It was a most basic test, identification of herbs.
At the halfway point up the mountain, two long rows of a hundred tables lined the sides of the path, and heaped upon the tables was a mess of grass, herbs and a variety of plants. Every single applicant, had five minutes to identify and pick out the herb the Qing Yun Clan had set as the question for the test from the mess.
It was not difficult to identify specific herbs, but if they were mixed up in hundreds of other kinds of herbs, it was a different level of difficulty all together.
The herbs heaped on the tables were obviously freshly picked and many still had mud clinging on their roots and none of them were whole, like they had been roughly yanked out and many had broken into pieces. The various candidates who had been brimming with confidence when they received their questions had now paled visible when they saw the weed filled tables.
To identify herbs, they must first and foremost recognise its outward shape and appearance. But the herbs in the heaps had been broken and badly ravaged, how were they expected to identify them?
The first seemingly easy test, had left a great number of applicants stumped.
For a youth in their teens, even if they had come from a line of medical practitioners, and had been exposed to herbs from a young tender age, it was impossible for them to remember and commit to memory all the different and myriad varieties, not to mention, identify and pick them out from these badly ravaged and broken tiny pieces of herbs and other plants.
The smug looks of confidence soon turned to dismay as they stared at the mess of plants before their eyes and they buried their heads deep inside trying to locate the right herb as time was fast running out.
In the meantime, Jun Wu Xie walked unhurriedly to stand before a table. When she had reached the midpoint of the mountain, the Qing Yun Clan disciples had passed her a tag indicating the name of the herb she was supposed to locate.
Identification.
To locate a commonly used herb that appeared closely similar to weeds. A few youths that had come at the same time as Jun Wu Xie received the same task and when they saw the name of the herb they were supposed to locate, their faces had lit up with joy but were now quickly replaced with a look of helplessness.
“How do they expect anyone to find it?” A sobbing youth held his tag so tight he crushed it in his hand.
With many of them scurrying around different tables in all directions, Jun Wu Xie walked past a table and grabbed at a small piece of herb just half a finger’s length and proceeded onwards without a moment’s hesitation.
A few youths who were behind her noticed that Jun Wu Xie had picked her herb quickly and was proceeding to leave, and they stood stunned watching her walk away.
Jun Wu Xie had just taken a few steps when two other youths stood before her, blocking her way. She raised her head to look at them and recognized them to be the finely dressed youths who had criticised her earlier from head to toe at the foot of the mountain.
“Move.” Jun Wu Xie said coldly.
The two youths had no intentions of letting Jun Wu Xie pass, and their eyes were locked onto the herb held within Jun Wu Xie’s hand. It was a small piece, but it was enough for them to ascertain that the piece she held was genuine.
How this the little brat manage that? They had received their tags at the same time, and in the blink of an eye, before any of them could make head or tail of the task they were given, the little brat had managed to locate the herb without thinking?
Volume 3
Chapter 256: “Cloudy Peaks (3)”
Was she that lucky? Or good?
The Qing Yun Clan gave them very limited time,and they did not think they could locate the named herb within that allocated period. When they saw that Jun Wu Xie had managed it, they began to have other ideas.
The brat before their eyes wore simple clothes, and did not seem to come from a rich family. This brat’s family background must be lowly.
In the eyes of the other youths who yearned to join the Qing Yun Clan, Jun Wu Xie looked to be very weak and made an extremely good target.
The Qing Yun Clan had only tasked them to locate the named herb, but did not say anything against snatching or thieving.
“Brat, hand over the herb you have in your hand to us. Since it’s so easy for you, you can just grab another one.” One of the youths eyed Jun Wu Xie with an evil smirk, intending to resort to snatching if she refused.
In fact, things like this happened at every monthly recruitment within the mountain. If the youngest happen to locate the herb first, they were often snatched away by the older youths. The Qing Yun Clan disciples turned a blind eye to all these atrocities and did not interfere. Many fourteen and fifteen year olds had been victimised before Jun Wu Xie when older and bigger applicants had even ganged up to bully the younger and smaller ones to give up their herbs, and to give up their chance to enter the Qing Yun Clan as they were forced to leave in dejection when they failed the first test.
They were helpless, they were younger, and powerless. They could only suffer in silence when faced with blatant extortion.
The two youths before Jun Wu Xie, were of the same mind.
It was no wonder why they had targeted Jun Wu Xie. She was just fourteen and she had a small stature. She might have changed her looks to resemble a youthful boy, but her bone structure was plain for all to see. Among all the teenagers who came for the recruitment, there wasn’t any as petite as she was, and she was dressed commonly which made her look to be from humble birth. That had made her the perfect target in the eyes of the bullies.
Jun Wu Xie frowned as she stared at the two youths as she raised an eyebrow.
They dared to snatch from her!?
Jun Wu Xie was about to open her mouth when a figure suddenly whizzed to stand before her. Before she could react, a slender arm suddenly stretched out towards one of the youths and like a lightning bolt, the youth was thrown over the figure’s shoulder and flung far away from where they stood!
“You snivelling lowly worms, are you tired of living?! This is daylight robbery! Don’t make me kill you!” A boyish teen dressed in patched up clothes challenged gallantly in front of Jun Wu Xie, his finger pointing at the dishevelled youth he had just thrown, and the other youth who stood flabbergasted by the sudden attack on his partner.
“……..” Jun Wu Xie’s expression froze.
After he gave them a piece of his mind, the figure turned around and a slightly intelligent face but with distinctive features appeared before Jun Wu Xie.
“Heh heh, what a coincidence! Imagine meeting you here! Don’t worry, from now on, I will be your protector! If anyone were to bully you, I will beat the lights out of them!” The spirited youth grinned as he looked at Jun Wu Xie.Hmm…there was a familiar air about him.
Jun Wu Xie’s brows furrowed as she studied the figure before her. She searched her mind throughout, but could not link the figure to any in her memory.
“You’ve got the wrong person.” Jun Wu Xie finally said.
The youth paused in thought and his wide grin twisted into a grimace. He scratched at his head in frustration and looked agonizingly at Jun Wu Xie before his face lit up as if enlightened. He squatted on the ground and wiped his hands on the dusty ground. He smeared his dusty hands all over his face and picked up a blade of grass and dangled it from the corner of his mouth before he stood in front of Jun Wu Xie again to ask: “Think again.”
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Volume 3
Chapter 257: “Qiao Chu (1)”
Peering at the scruffy looking youth before her, Jun Wu Xie’s memory was jolted. Wasn’t this the unkempt youth she had met in Ghost City that sold her those dilapidated books?
With his face cleaned up, she could not recognize him at all.
“Remember me now?” The youth blinked his eyes in anticipation.
“It’s you?” Jun Wu Xie remarked calmly.
The youth wiped off the dust from his face and said: “You remember me at last.”
Jun Wu Xie nodded slightly. She had gone to the Ghost City only once, and she had changed her looks then only once like she had now. She had not expected that after so many months, the unkempt youth had recognised her at once.
“I did not think you would come to the Qing Yun Clan, I would not have thought they have anything that you might need.” The youth said as he continued to wipe his sleeve across his face. He had spotted Jun Wu Xie from afar earlier, and had hesitated not because he did not dare approach Jun Wu Xie, but was wondering why a kid who could concoct far better elixirs and medicine than the Qing Yun Clan come such a long way to apply to enter the Qing Yun Clan as a disciple.
Jun Wu Xie looked at the youth, with her eyes showing no intention to reply.
As though conscious of the fact that he was prying, the youth scratched vigorously at his hair and hurriedly tried to explain: “I am not trying to pry, but was just happy to see a familiar face here, and got a little too excited.”
Jun Wu Xie raised an eyebrow. Were they already familiar with each other?
The unkempt youth seemed oblivious to Jun Wu Xie’s cold and distant eyes and in fact became more and more enthusiastic.
The other youth who had been thrown unceremoniously had already gotten to his feet holding his bottom and stared angrily at the unkempt youth who had rudely poked his nose into his business out of the blue.
Genius Doctor: Black Belly Miss Volume 3 Page 14