Literacy Hall

On the first night in Emei, Lin Xiaolu did not sleep well at all. Although the house he and his sister stayed in looked magnificent and the bed was very soft, much better than the environment in their village, he just could not fall asleep. Perhaps it was because he was used to sleeping on straw mats in the village.

Fortunately his sister did not feel anything. She slept very soundly beside him, often giggling in her dreams. Lin Xiaolu held his sister in his arms with his eyes wide open until late into the night before he finally closed his eyes.

The next morning, melodious bells rang from somewhere, echoing through every corner of the peaks.

"Junior brothers and sister, wake up!" Li Miaoxin walked in wearing a green robe, but as soon as she entered the room, she saw the two little ones naked on the bed.

"Ah!" She screamed in shock and reflexively covered her eyes with her hands, jumping up and down with a flushed face.

"Good morning, senior sister!" Xiao Yuer rubbed her eyes and climbed out of bed, while Lin Xiaolu yawned and sat up too.

"You, you two, hurry and put on your clothes!" Li Miaoxin urged without daring to open her eyes.

Xiao Yuer blankly put on the little Daoist robe of an inner sect disciple, not really understanding why her senior sister was reacting this way. She could only ask Lin Xiaolu while getting dressed, "Brother, what's wrong with senior sister?"

Lin Xiaolu tilted his little mouth confidently and laughed, "She's probably overwhelmed by my masculine aura, hehehe!"

Hearing this, Li Miaoxin nearly spit out a mouthful of blood. You're only seven, what masculine aura!

Blushing, she hurried them, "Hurry up and get dressed, senior sister will take you to wash up and do your hair."

Soon, the two little ones were dressed in cyan Daoist robes and cloth shoes that fit just right. Then they rinsed their mouths with Cleansing Pills.

The Cleansing Pills were very magical. They looked like transparent water balls on the outside. When gently placed in the mouth and swallowed, the dust on clothes and body would dissipate on its own. Even the filth in fingernail crevices and hair would vanish.

After they washed up, Li Miaoxin carefully combed their hair.

Looking at Lin Xiaolu's and Xiao Yuer's reflections in the bronze mirror, Li Miaoxin was a little surprised. She didn't notice yesterday, but now that the two little ones were cleaned with the Cleansing Pill, she realized they were quite good-looking.

There was no need to elaborate on Xiao Yuer. Her whole body was like a cute pink dumpling, with bright eyes that seemed to speak, flickering between petulance and laughter. It was easy to see she would grow up to be a country-toppling beauty.

As for Lin Xiaolu, his features were also very refined. His rosy lips and white teeth were exquisite. At his young age, his eyebrows already showed the shape of sword eyebrows, giving off an aura of righteousness.

However, his eyes were very strange. The innocence of a child only accounted for 30%, while 70% was unruly arrogance. This meant that his righteousness was tinged with a hint of evil, and he would likely be a little mischievous in the future.

While chatting and laughing with the two of them, the girl combed their hair straight and tied it into little buns, inserting two cyan jade hairpins. This completed the looks of the two little Daoist novices.

"Come look, don't you think senior sister made you look good?" The girl held Xiao Yuer on her lap and smiled at the mirror.

"Wow! I'm so pretty, senior sister!" Xiao Yuer's eyes lit up as she narcissistically looked at herself in the mirror, making Li Miaoxin laugh until she was doubled over. This little beauty really didn't hold back when praising herself!

After putting Xiao Yuer down, Li Miaoxin opened her arms to Lin Xiaolu, "Come, let senior sister hug you."

Lin Xiaolu snorted disdainfully, "Hmph!"

Pouting, he slowly said, "What use is good looks? Us Jianghu children only care about honor. Whether you're good-looking or not are useless things."

The boy's serious appearance made Li Miaoxin laugh until her stomach hurt. Ignoring his objections, she pinched his cheeks and then took the two of them to the dining hall for breakfast.

At this time, it was just past the hour of Mao in the morning. Like yesterday, Li Miaoxin held them each by the hand, afraid they would get lost, and brought them to the dining hall.

Breakfast was very simple, a porcelain bowl of thin congee made from unknown ingredients, and two small dishes of pickles.

Seemingly wanting to nourish their bodies, Li Miaoxin also took out her own money to have Hou Saner bring two white jade eggs for them.

"These are spirit beast eggs, very nutritious. Eating them will be good for junior brothers' and sister's health."

Seeing the small white eggs in the dish, Xiao Yuer thought they looked so pretty and curiously asked, "Senior sister, what spirit beast are these eggs from?"

Lin Xiaolu was also curious and looked towards the girl.

Seeing the siblings were interested, Li Miaoxin proudly smiled, "Golden armored tortoise!"

Lin Xiaolu and Xiao Yuer fell silent, lowering their heads to quietly eat their meals.

...

After breakfast, Li Miaoxin took the siblings away from the dining hall and brought them to the Literacy Hall to learn to read and write.

The Literacy Hall was built on Emei's main peak, Emei Peak.

Of Emei's nine ridges and ten peaks, nine were smaller side ridges with a peak on each, while the tenth peak, Emei Peak, was where Emei's sect master lived and cultivated. On ordinary days it was also used for large events or to receive guests.

Emei Peak stood in the center surrounded by the nine smaller peaks. At the midpoint of each of the nine peaks was a Bridge of Seeking the Dao made of jade, connecting to Emei Peak for Emei disciples to travel.

At this time, Li Miaoxin was leading the brother and sister along one of the crystalline, translucent jade bridges.

The mystical jade bridge astonished the siblings. Especially Lin Xiaolu - he had heard adults in the village say jade was precious. Even the landlords and officials in the cities loved this rare treasure. A small piece of jade could be worth a commoner family's harvest for a year. He didn't expect Emei to be so wealthy they could build bridges entirely from jade, nine whole bridges!

"Wow, brother, come quick! It's so pretty here!"

Xiao Yuer excitedly yelled and shouted, leaning over the jade handrail of the bridge to look at the sea of clouds and mist below. Her little face was full of wonder.

Walking behind the two, Li Miaoxin had a gentle expression as she watched the siblings run back and forth on the bridge. For a moment, it was as if she saw herself coming to this Bridge of Seeking the Dao for the first time so many years ago.

Back then, she was about Xiao Yuer's size. The one accompanying her was her senior martial brother.

Soon, the three crossed the bridge and arrived at the midpoint of Emei Peak. Passing through a rocky stream with a waterfall, they came to the Literacy Hall.

"Li Miaoxin of the Plucking Stars Branch, bringing new disciples of Plucking Stars to see Teacher Yang."

Li Miaoxin adopted an respectful bearing. The old man sitting in a rocking chair drinking tea opened his eyes. He smiled at Li Miaoxin's etiquette, glanced at Lin Xiaolu and Xiao Yuer beside her, and chuckled, "So you two little ones are the new disciples Plucking Stars finally recruited after twenty years?"