Chapter 13: Trinity of Cultivation
After dinner, Anji bathed and was immediately ushered back to bed by her worried mother, even though she spent most of the afternoon sleeping away. Zhao Wanting refused to let her youngest daughter out of sight and insisted on sleeping beside her that night. Unable to refuse, Anji had to postpone her plans to talk to Yan Ping till the next day.
As the night passed without an event, Anji woke up early as if she hadn't been spirited away last night. Zhao Mingfeng ordered all the servants to remain silent about Anji's collapse. The other sect leaders of the Rainbow Alliance still resided within the Celestial Dragon Sect, and he did not want to trouble them with his family's personal matters. There was still a martial arts exchange contest for promising disciple representatives from different sects to host.
While her father was busy attending to official business, Anji and her mother spent the morning eating breakfast and going to the garden for a walk after the family physician declared that the youngest princess was fit enough to walk.
During their leisurely stroll, Anji's eyes caught a figure in white, sitting at the pavilion. She instinctively pulled her mother towards her, her heart pounding with a mix of excitement and nervousness. Unaware of Anji and her mother's presence, Yan Ping sipped her tea, lost in her thoughts. The steam rose in delicate wisps in the same pavilion where she had met Anji yesterday.
"Anji greets Elder Yan!" the little girl greeted from a respectful distance excitedly before her mother could stop her.
Startled by the lack of presence and warning, the porcelain tea cup fell from Yan Ping's hand. It shattered into shards on the floor, startling Zhao Wanting, who immediately instructed a servant passing by to assist with cleaning up.
"Sect Leader Yan, would you mind joining me in another room while the servants tidy up? Anji has been eager to learn more from you since she woke up from a sudden coma. Could we impose on some of your time?" Wanting quickly offered a change of location to accommodate the inconvenience caused by her daughter's mistake.
Unfazed by the scalding tea she spilt, Yan Ping healed the minor burn using qi and thanked the heavens for arranging such a wonderful opportunity. Unlike the other sect leaders, who arrived with their prized disciples to engage in a martial exchange competition, the Mystical Qilin sect did not permit disciples to leave the mountain until they reached a suitable level of cultivation that Yan Ping approved.
Since last night, Yan Ping had been pondering about Anji's strange condition. She had no interest in attending the martial arts exchange competition and was looking for an excuse to escape official duties. Anji's presence made the perfect reason for skipping that meaningless event. In her opinion, those disciples would be better off using their spare time to improve their insight rather than travelling mountains just to show off.