An Unexpected Offer

Lien Hua had mixed emotions when she saw the letter in her hands: curiosity, a little fear of what might be in it, and a little anxiety about what might happen if it became known that a sect elder had written to a common girl in the outer sect.

Looking around to see who had knocked and then left the letter on the floor, Lien Hua saw nothing, only a few people who were curious about the fact that she had poked her head out of her door were looking at her.

Noticing this, Lien Hua, a little embarrassed, immediately closed the door and put the letter, which was no bigger than 15 centimetres, inside her tunic, hiding it without being seen by Chen Huang, who was currently trying to peek from behind her to see what had happened.

"Lien Hua, who was that?"

"I don't know, probably someone who wanted to play a joke on me... What a bad time to do it, but whatever."

Chen Huang was a little suspicious and looked over Lien Hua's shoulder again to see what had happened, but not noticing anything strange, he turned around and walked over to the bed where Lin Yue was lying on it.

Lien Hua, with a sigh of relief at noticing that Chen Huang was not suspicious of what had happened, calmed down, but immediately thought, 'Why am I so nervous? How strange...'

Shaking her head to remove these thoughts, she turned towards the direction where Chen Huang had moved, and raising her hands towards her cheeks, she slapped her face twice to recover.

So Lien Hua and Chen Huang spent several hours in front of the bed, alternating between themselves to keep an eye on Lin Yue, who was slowly getting better, until they were certain she was doing better and took a moment to eat together.

Lin Yue felt strange at that moment. It was as if she had dreamt that she had returned home to her mother who was holding her because she was sick and she had relaxed a lot, however, she didn't remember anything clearly other than the fact that she suddenly felt an immense pain in her belly and then nothing.

Trying to open her eyes that had become heavy, Lin Yue found it difficult to do so, but after a few seconds she managed to do so. Raising a hand in front of her eyes that were still seeing things as a bit blurry, she thought, 'Did I fall asleep? What happened?' That was until she remembered what had happened and the immense pain that came with it and quickly touched her stomach.

Meanwhile, Lien Hua and Chen Huang, who were talking at the table and had their backs to Lin Yue, heard the movement of fabric and turned their heads to the noise, seeing a bewildered Lin Yue, who was tapping her stomach with a strange face.

"Lin Yue, are you alright?" The first to come out of the shock brought on by Lin Yue's awakening was Lien Hua, who asked in a gentle and reassuring voice and stood up to stand beside Lin Yue, followed by Chen Huang.

"Right Lin Yue, after you fainted you gave me a fright. Are you alright?"

Lin Yue, still a little disoriented, looked towards her two friends, and as if all of her disorientation had disappeared, her eyes that were a little blurred before immediately became sharp and alive and she looked at her two friends inquisitively.

"Fainted? What happened? I don't feel anything strange except a little numbness."

"Hmm... just numbness, thank goodness... What happened is simple: while training in the Ocean Wave Palm, you got distracted and exploded a strand of spiritual energy inside your body, the weakest part of a human."

Lin Yue, hearing these words was shocked, 'I got distracted... it's not possible. Something like this has never happened before... All these things are only bringing me harm.' Lin Yue tried to stand up with a deep sigh, but was immediately stopped by Lien Hua promptly beside her.

"Are you sure you want to get up and not rest for a few more hours? In my opinion, you can also stay at my house for the whole night." Lien Hua was still anxious about her.

"Don't worry, I'm sure I'm fine. Anyway, thanks for the offer."

Lin Yue was sure that she wanted to go to her house and reflect on what had happened. She didn't want to be a burden for her friends again. 'Everything that happened today was my fault...'

So, refusing Lien Hua's invitation, Lin Yue stood up and immediately a stabbing pain hit her lower abdomen, but she didn't point it out with either a facial expression or a cry; only her eyebrows had crossed for a millisecond, which was however noticed by Lien Hua's developed eyes.

Noticing that her friend was still in pain, Lien Hua was about to speak but stopped herself. 'It's her decision... I must not interfere too much. I will only interfere if the situation is something she cannot bear, but tomorrow I will give her some advice." With these answers, Lien Hua looked at Lin Yue, who stood up and started walking towards the door where she was stopped by Chen Huang's voice.

"Are you sure? Don't you need help?"

Lin Yue, hearing Chen Huang's harsh yet worried voice, with eyes as cold as ice and an impassive face, turned to him and replied, "Don't worry, I don't need any help."

Lin Yue turned around and didn't see Chen Huang's sad and hurt face looking at her as she walked out of Lien Hua's house.

Chen Huang, exhausted and hurt by what had happened and the rejection of his best friend, turned to Lien Hua who was looking at him with understanding in her eyes and began to talk to him.

"Lien Hua, I guess it's also my time to go home, good night."

"Don't worry, everything will work out for the best, and good night to you too."

Chen Huang, hearing those words regained his smile for a few seconds prior and then turned around as he left Lien Hua's house.

Remaining alone in the house, Lien Hua first let out a turbulent sigh and lay down on the bed after cleaning the sheets and put a hand on her face, dragging it down.

"Sigh... what a stressful day today has been. Too much drama is being created for my poor old bones, or, heh... mind at least."

But then she remembered something. 'Ah right, the letter!'

Leaping off her bed with agility and landing on her feet on the floor, Lien Hua walked over to the table where a small lantern was lit, pulled out the hidden letter that Shi Yueh had sent her from her tunic, and placing it on the table, she opened it and read it:

["Hello dear Lien Hua,

How are you? I hope all is well.

I wrote to you today to give you some news, but first of all I would like to congratulate you.

You are a very apprehensive and modest child, but above all mature and empathetic.

You have an outstanding talent for cultivation and when you add that to your willingness to work hard, it makes you a unique person.

In these few days that I have been able to get to know you, I have understood many things which you may be trying to keep hidden, so I will not go into detail about your privacy.

Seeing how you entered the Spirit Crystal Body rank today, the first of the 3 body ranks, I still became more certain, I couldn't pass on an opportunity such as yourself.

Thank you for consulting with me that day; you made me understand so many things.

After consultation with a good old friend of mine, I managed to come to a conclusion: that of taking you as a personal disciple.

But don't be frightened by this news because I don't want to force you to do anything.

I already know what you're thinking: it's all too sudden.

But don't worry, it won't be an obligation. Of course you will be able to choose whether to accept it or not and above all you will be able to say what you want or don't want to do.

We could talk about this after tomorrow's lecture, don't you think?

Thank you for reading this sudden letter.

Kind regards,

Shi Yueh."]

Lien Hua was so shocked that she dropped the letter in her hands on the table where she was sitting.

"This is a joke right? Ahaha, but this is great, I'm not worried at all! I know what this means; I will have a backing in this sect and this world, how lucky! Thank you very much Shi Yueh! Ahahah!" The sudden shock she received from the contents of the letter caused her to momentarily become hysterical.

It may have seemed strange that Lien Hua was happy at such sudden news, but she understood that in a world of cultivation, having more connections with strong people was essential to living a peaceful life without anyone bothering you.

However, right after this moment of euphoria, certain details came to Lien Hua's mind. 'The point though is that if it's like the usual pact between disciple and master, I should go and live in the same mountain as my master, but I can't. I don't want to leave everything I have here, and most importantly they still need me here, especially Lin Yue. When I fix everything, I can go.'

Lien Hua wasn't so selfish as to think that some of the blame for what had happened today wasn't hers as well. She knew that and so she didn't want to leave until she had solved all the problems she had created and above all she wanted to stay here as well because she had created solid relationships here with Lin Yue and Chen Huang, even if she didn't want to admit it aloud.

Getting up from the table and placing the open letter on it, Lien Hua, still a little shaken by what had happened today and with hands still shaking, sat down on the cultivation mat in the middle of her room that she had washed yesterday, and trying to cultivate with much difficulty because of her unclear mind, she spent the whole night like this until the next day.