He is Already a Hard-Working Young Master...

The next morning, everyone in the House of Jade learned the news of Su Yang’s decision to go into seclusion. 

Although the House of Jade’s rules were not strict, the younger generation, under the guideline of other shixiong and shijie were not allowed to visit other disciples’ residence at will. Of course, if the disciples wanted to switch pointers or to get together, they could meet at the open training ground or many garden pavilions located around the House of Jade.

However, Su Yang could no longer walk out of the courtyard once he handed in his jade bell to enter seclusion. Except for the ones living with him, no one else could see him.

Fan Xi, who appeared to be at a loss, returned to his own courtyard after eating his breakfast resentfully, and quickly handed over his jade bell, announcing he would also enter seclusion. 

At dinner that day, everyone heard that Luo Yin, the one Chi Tong took away who left zero impression, also went into seclusion. 

In this round of new recruitment, the House of Jade accepted eight new disciples. But after less than two days, three of them went into seclusion. 

“If that’s the case, it would make us appear as if we are the lazy and idle ones.” Xu Yunzhan poured a teacup half full and passed it to Gu Feidi, and said with a smile, “It’s a pity that the courtyard I’m staying in is not suitable for my martial art style. I need to practice in the open training ground daily. I’m afraid that I’ll never enter seclusion during my time training here.”

Pu Lingyun curled her lips and argued, “Su Yang went into seclusion, probably because he knows his identity is different and no one likes him. As for Fan Xi, who follows obediently behind him, he would, of course, go into seclusion to avoid being the target of public criticism when Su Yang isn’t coming out.”

Finishing that, she leaned forward and looked at Gu Feidi solemnly. “Xiao-Shixiong, you live together with that demonic spawn, be careful not to be led astray by him! And be careful not to fall for his schemes!” 

Smiling, Xu Yunzhan added, “From what I see, Su Yang’s loftiness is all pretend. But he is in fact someone who doesn’t carry heavy thoughts. Since the day at the stone forest array, I think he is far from scheming after Gu Feidi.”

Hearing this, Gu Feidi burst into laughter.

His right hand caressed his left arm wrist guard, warmth filled his gaze. Obviously, that was not the laughter of mockery, but as if something was really amusing. 

“Indeed, his methods are sometimes…” Gu Feidi said fondly, then he coughed softly. “...In other words, the rumours in the Jianghu about him are not credible. He is indeed simple-minded.”

Pu Lingyun rolled her eyes, obviously not convinced.

Xu Yunzhan questioned, “So, what do you think is the reason he fed you the Rejuvenating Pill of Fragrant Sorrow on that day?”

Gu Feidi’s eyes suddenly lost their focus, thinking something so deeply that no one could comprehend. After pondering for a moment, he intoned, “If he was not being threatened by the Evil Sect’s Leader, and if giving me the medicine is not of his own volition…instead, if it was really done out of his own will, I feel like...he was probably just trying to save my life.”

Throwing that on the table, he lowered his gaze and continued, “After all, once Oblivion is activated and the self-healing starts. In the eyes of outsiders, my life is no different from appearing to hang by a thread.”

Xu Yunzhan said, “If you could find Returning to the Nest, practice and complete the knowledge of Path to Home, then you can control when you use Oblivion and could stop its process anytime. No matter how serious the injury is, as long as you have time to find a safe location to heal, instead of suddenly fainting and being caught up in the perilous situation.” 

“Returning to the Nest…”

Gu Feidi’s voice was very low as if he was sketching using the lightest shades, but what came out of his mouth had the impact of a thunderbolt, “...I found it.”

“What?!” Xu Yunzhan stood up, a light of excitement burst out from his eyes. “How did you find it?”

Smiling, Gu Feidi revealed, “A complete coincidence. I found it flipping through a random manual in the Pavilion of Infinite Knowledge.”

Pu Lingyun pulled on Gu Feidi’s arm, eyes shone as bright as their other companion. “Xiao-Shixiong! If you can memorise the entire manual, you can write a copy for the Tengyun Pavilion. Master will surely be thrilled!”

Gu Feidi nodded. “I must master it before I finish my training at the House of Jade, I must gain a deep understanding of it. However, I have yet to make a breakthrough in Battlement, and it will take a period to practice Returning to the Nest. That’s why I also intended to enter seclusion soon to quickly achieve completion of Path to Home.”

Xu Yunzhan and Pu Lingyun both supported his decision. After they finished their tea, they each returned to their respective residences.  

Su Yang was honing his sword skill in the courtyard. 

The master of the House of Jade specially requested Di Ling to bring him to the Lively Spring Garden because the flowers and trees blooming all year round. Now it was early summer, the multiflora roses filled the flower trellis in the courtyard, and there were two lilac trees in the front courtyard. In the pool at the corner of the courtyard, lotus in the palest pink also opened to display their flower buds. Those small and pointed flowers, hidden among green leaves, swung gently with the breeze.

Although Su Yang had never practiced martial arts, he couldn’t perform his martial arts, which was the embodiment of flower just because of where he was training now. But the art of dancing was interlinked with nature.

He didn’t know if all the martial arts of the Evil Sect were like dancing, but judging from his Cherish Flower Step and the Divide Lotus Technique he had practiced, they were all inextricably linked with dancing. 

This was good news for Su Yang.

He was good at dancing, and right now, he had memorised all the Divide Lotus Technique’s moves, matching the movement with internal energy was the only step he is missing.

Fluttering flaming red clothes which appeared like a flowering crabapple海棠 [Malus spectabilis] is a species of crabapple known by the common names Asiatic apple, Chinese crab, and Chinese flowering apple. twirled with the wind.

“Your movement is getting smoother, but your internal energy control still leaves much to be desired.” Di Ling approached slowly after she put down the book in her hand. “It’s just that your strikes lack killing intent, they are too mellow.”

Su Yang stopped his training and wiped away his sweat. “I need to take care of incorporating internal energy into my strikes first, as for killing intent, it will naturally come out when I am fighting an actual opponent.”

However, Di Ling shook her head in disagreement. “If you don’t practice this daily, your movement will be full of weak spots when you fight against an actual enemy. If you don’t believe me, you can have a practice match with me.”

When Gu Feidi returned to the Lively Spring Garden, he saw two figures having an equal-friendly fight in the courtyard, one red and one white. 

No, using ‘equal-friendly fight’ was an overstatement. 

The slender sword in the red swordsman’s hand could not touch a single hair of the woman in white. However, this was not the same for the woman in white. Even with a manual in her hand that was shorter than a third of a meter long, she could land a deadly hit on her opponent from the forehead, the neck, and even his chest. If she were using a sword in this fight or inserting her enormous internal energy into her weapon that was just a manual, Su Yang would have been killed countless times.

She twisted her wrist and knocked the sword out of Su Yang’s hand by hitting his wrist, preventing him from holding the sword for the rest of the fight.

Su Yang let out a pained muffled sound at the same time as the thin sword fell to the ground. 

He stood back up, breathing disorderly and drenched in sweat. 

“When you practiced swords in the past, did you not have an opponent?” Di Ling questioned, “Why is your fighting style in such shambles?”

In Su Yang’s mind: ‘Since my Young Master’s persona had already collapsed into fragments since coming into the House of Jade, it should be no harm admitting it.’

So he nodded and admitted, “That’s right…I never fought with anyone before.”

As soon as the cat was out of the bag, not only Gu Feidi, who was spectating the fight, but Di Ling also showed a look of surprise.

After a long silence, Di Ling determined, “From now on, you will do a morning exercise at sunrise, and we will have practice matches. The House of Jade will not let those who have internal energy yet are unable to fend for themselves finish their apprenticeship.”

Internally, Su Yang was trying to figure out what time and how early sunrise was. While Di Ling continued, “Alright, since Gu Feidi has returned. Go practice your Blooming of the Nine Glacials with him. Regarding your earlier inquiry on narrow sleeved, form-fitting garments, I will inform the person of internal management to prepare them for you as soon as possible.”

Su Yang went back to his room, wiped away his sweat and changed into a clean outfit before he took out the first volume of Blooming of the Nine Glacials to the main hall. He sat beside Gu Feidi at the old-fashioned square table and listened to the younger man’s reading and explanation. 

This study session lasted until dark.

Gu Feidi’s daily routine was to sleep at nightfall. Once he returned to his room, Su Yang picked his manual and notes back up and sat back down at his desk, and continued to burn the midnight oil.

—He must understand unpunctuated writing and complex vocabulary that often appeared in mental skill manuals, and understand thoroughly where the meridians and acupoints were located specifically, so as to ensure that the internal energy inside won't become unbalanced when practicing this mental skill.

When the candle in the lamp burned out, making the entire room suddenly fall into darkness, Su Yang finally realized that he stayed up until midnight again. Remembering that he had early morning practice tomorrow, he washed his face in a hurry and went to bed.

Feeling that as soon as he closed his eyes, Gu Feidi called out.

“Su Yang, Ling Shijie had me come wake you up for morning practice.”

His voice wasn't too loud, but it felt like a sharp arrow that pierced through Su Yang’s ears. 

Su Yang reluctantly propped himself up from the bed and almost fell asleep when he was washing his face.

Gu Feidi reached out and patted him on the shoulder, frowning. “What’s wrong? Did you stay up late last night again? You made no movement from my long calling this morning. It wasn’t until I used my internal energy did you wake up.”

Now Su Yang knew where the ear-shattering sound came from.

He looked up at the stars that had not disappeared in the gray-blue sky and sighed. 

If every day in the future was this intense during his seclusion, he was really afraid that if this continued, he would surely die one of these days in the House of Jade.

However, if he wanted to finish his apprenticeship in two years, and keep up with the plot in the False Tomb of the Sacred Swords in the wasteland…He must not slack off, even for a tiny bit. 

Therefore, from this day on, Su Yang began his first day in seclusion. 

Every day before sunrise, Su Yang would train with Di Ling before the sky was bright. After breakfast, he would switch to practicing Six Night Flower Burial and meditation, then review what he read from the day prior in the Blooming of the Nine Glacials. After lunch, he would go into another meditative state before practicing sword techniques combining with his internal energy by himself. At night, he would study the next chapter of the Blooming of the Nine Glacials with Gu Feidi, and study the ancient literature style as well as meridians and acupoints late at night before bed.

This was his daily schedule, even during the rain. 

Weekend was a concept that didn’t exist in the House of Jade. They did have a day off every ten days, but that didn’t include Su Yang because of seclusion. 

And so, the height of summer ended, and autumn entered. The sweet scent of osmanthus flowers replaced the lilac, and clusters of chrysanthemum took over the multiflora roses.

During the Mid-Autumn Festival Celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month in the Chinese lunar calendar (around September). This holiday is also known as Moon Festival, as at that time of the year the moon is believed to be at its fullest and brightest. On this holiday, it’s traditional to eat mooncakes, a pastry that is filled with all sorts of things which includes but is not limited to egg yolk, cream custard, bean paste, etc.and Double Ninth FestivalAlso known as Chongyang Festival, is held on the 9th day of the 9th lunar month. In Chinese, nine is regarded as the number of Yang (which means masculine as opposed to Yin which is feminine). The ninth day of the ninth month is the day that has two Yang numbers, and 'chong' in Chinese means double which is how the name Chongyang was created. It is a day for people to eat Chongyang cake, drink chrysanthemum wine, climb mountains, and pay homage to chrysanthemums., Su Yang turned down Gu Feidi and his other disciple mates’ invitation to join their group gathering and the traditional activity of climbing a high mountainIn the past, it was said that by ascending to a high mountain, diseases could be prevented. Now, family relatives or good friends gather to climb mountains to enjoy the beautiful scenery and share the happiness of the holiday with each other.
. He hid in the courtyard and continued to study the Blooming of the Nine Glacials to death.

As autumn passed and winter came, the weather gradually turned colder.

Finally, on a sunny day after the snow, Su Yang’s study was interrupted by a little green bird carrying a letter and was forced to come out from his seclusion. 

—A new year was just around the corner.