Murim's Weakest Princess-Chapter 92: Yan Ping’s Departure

Several months later, when Yan Ping finally emerged from her isolated recovery, Anji could not wait to see her teacher.

"Shifu!" Anji greeted clumsily after barging into her father’s study. Lizi informed her that morning that her teacher had finally emerged from her isolated recovery and was meeting with her father before Anji’s usual morning lesson commenced.

In the past few months, even without the physical presence of her shifu, Anji always felt Yan Ping’s presence in the lessons with her father. Zhao Mingfeng might be a slightly better teacher than his wife. However, he was terrible at thinking out of the box for students with a special disposition. Although he had the right mindset and direction for what Anji needed to learn, his lesson guidelines were messy. If not for the messages Yan Ping passed to her father through Gu Ying, Anji might have ended up as the zookeeper of all basic martial arts. Apart from the Mudskipper Breathing Technique and the Rolling Panda Art of Falling, her father had introduced the weirder martial manuals in an attempt to improve her stamina and balancing skills, such as the Taunted Rhinocerous Stomping Charge and One-Legged Flamingo Meditation Method.

Eventually, Zhao Mingfeng used Yan Ping’s traditional teaching methods from the Mystical Qilin sect, and Anji benefited from the simplistic but effective lessons. At first, Zhao Mingfeng thought the blind woman was simply ordering his youngest daughter to perform chores in preparation for the bullying famous in her sect.

Unlike other sects, which respect seniority based on the order of acceptance into the sect, the Mystical Qilin Sect only respected contributions. All new disciples of the Mystical Qilin Sect practised the tradition of bullying the youngest disciple until they proved to have more contributions than others. Seniority promotion was based on academic and cultivation contributions. No amount of nepotism would spare Anji from the fate of becoming the chores girl.

However, after witnessing how Anji improved over time after learning how to carry buckets of water by strengthening her body with qi, Mingfeng was finally convinced it was an unusual but practical method. At the very least, it was more practical and a tad easier than learning how to row a bamboo raft.

The other training method of folding paper cranes with only emitted energy took Anji longer to understand. The girl took almost a month to manifest a strand of qi from her body and control its movement with her will. It was a long process to even move the paper. However, with the energy imbuing secret training she did with the persimmon plant in her room, Anji eventually succeeded in controlling her energy enough to fold the paper. However, she often ran out of stamina to finish folding a crane within a day. Zhao Mingfeng was still impressed by how far her daughter had come along.

Compared to before, Anji had grown a little taller. The maids reported that Anji also needed new clothes and shoes because she had started to outgrow them. It had been a long time since the sect spent any money on Anji’s wardrobe because the girl had not grown. Apart from the new year, Anji barely needed new clothes. Now, they had more excuses to celebrate her success.

"You’re here," Yan Ping nodded in acknowledgement.

Anji immediately noticed how her father and teacher were drinking her persimmon leaf tea. She smiled brightly. According to Grandpa Jin, her father would take a long time to recover from his previous cultivation base. However, as long as the persimmon plant she was taking care of successfully evolved into a spiritual tree, her father could constantly make persimmon leaf tea to drink even when she was away. If she continues to improve her cultivation, she should be able to finish helping her potted persimmon plant evolve into a spiritual tree.

Going up to her teacher, who beckoned her over, Anji came up close enough to secretly use her Heavenly Eye. Her teacher’s aura was now finally back to a lighter shade of blue. She had barely managed to regain her Radiant Core cultivation level but had already emerged from seclusion. Anji deduced that the matters back at her sect must be very important for the blind prophet to abandon her personal recovery after reaching the bare minimum cultivation base required as the figurehead of a powerful sect. On the other hand, her father had a deeper purple aura. The tea he drank must have helped him, and he was now close to the Heavenly Core. However, Grandpa Jin warned Anji that the higher the cultivation base, the less efficient the persimmon leaf tea will become. Anji did not mind. Every little bit helped.

Without a word, Yan Ping reached for Anji’s wrist and checked her student’s progress.

Anji did not flinch when she felt her teacher’s energy enter her body. If anything, she tried to feel the strength of her teacher’s recovery. Grandpa Jin’s energy was asleep in her golden core at the moment. Unless her teacher stepped into the Supreme Core level again, she would be unable to sense him.

Unlike Anji, who had many secrets to hide, Yan Ping openly sighed. Anji might have a Celestial Root with potential that surpassed most others. However, her progress was many times slower than usual. Given Anji’s talent and hardworking attitude, there was no way she would not improve in the last few months. However, her cultivator core remained at the same level, barely budging. The Initial Core vibrated slowly, almost as if it were still hibernating. However, Yan Ping could also tell how hard her student had been working. All twenty meridians remained very smooth. She must have put in at least ten hours of meditation each day to achieve this level of smoothness. Every core and valve were charged with qi that did not feel stagnant.

"Very good," she approved. "Keep doing what you’re doing now. Don’t think too much about your core’s cultivation progress. Having a unique root and meridian creation will knock you down a few notches from ordinary cultivators. Remember that the most important thing you need as the successor to the Mystical Qilin Sect’s secret technique is fine control. Don’t just train the body. Remember to also train the mind."

Anji listened to every word her teacher said. She had a feeling this was their last time meeting for a while.

When Yan Ping finally handed her two rewritten books that Gu Ying helped to transcribe, Anji knew her teacher had to leave now.

"You should grow a thicker skin while you are here," the blind prophet advised, reaching for her hat. "Not all your senior sisters and brothers in the Mystical Qilin Sect will treat you kindly. Even if you are the successor to the sect, you will not receive such treatment until you’ve proven yourself. I cannot show outward favouritism nor interfere with how they treat you when you arrive after your sixth birthday. It’s tradition for the newest sect disciple, who has no contributions to the sect, to be treated as a servant. You’ve been warned."

Looking at the two rewritten books, Anji realised these were the same books with more advanced spell-weaving techniques and a special cultivation technique that her teacher recommended for her cultivation advancement.

"If you practise this method earnestly for a year, there is a chance you’d be able to break through to the Strengthened Core stage. Continue exploring how to use your body and qi simultaneously in the most practical tasks. Forget about learning any martial arts or sword techniques for now. You can learn the self-defence arts your father teaches you, but nothing offensive in nature."

Nodding, Anji promised to work hard to sharpen her mind while toughening her body. She was not afraid of the bullying that would happen eventually. If anything, Anji did not mind doing chores. She enjoyed spending time with the servants and helping them. Recently, she learned how to cook porridge from the uncle cook. If possible, she wanted to learn the old Wang couple’s chilli dumpling noodle recipe as well.

Exchanging a few more words of advice with Anji, Yan Ping picked up her staff and nodded at Zhao Mingfeng, who offered to escort her to the sect’s entrance. However, the blind prophet declined.

"Your wife has already made arrangements," she explained. "I will write to you again to send Anji to my sect once her sixth birthday has passed. Until I’ve tied all the loose ends, you’re in charge of her education."

Reassuring Yan Ping that he would teach Anji well, the Celestial Dragon Sect Leader stood up and bowed lowly as she left. Anji and the servants followed her father’s example, expressing their gratitude for how much she had done for them.

After Yan Ping finally left, Zhao Mingfeng had a complicated look in his eyes. However, he smiled at his daughter and commented about how cute she looked in her new clothes.

Distracted, Anji beamed and thanked her father for buying such wonderful clothes. Before she forgot all about it, she made a request Mingfeng had been expecting.

"Could I spend the afternoon learning how to do various chores from the servants? You heard shifu. I won’t be living the life of a pampered young mistress in the Mystical Qilin Sect. It’s better to be prepared and learn how to be self-sufficient in advance."

With a pained smile, Mingfeng gave his daughter the green light.

"Ask the head steward to guide you along," he suggested. "I’ve given instructions for them to teach you how to do various chores and help out around the sect for about two hours each day after lunch. Don’t overdo it, alright? You still have to practise the meditation method and spell weaving techniques your shifu entrusted you."

Two hours sounded reasonable. Anji thanked her father, and they commenced the lesson, forgetting all about Yan Ping’s departure to the best of their abilities.