Tian Xiewen glanced at the three disciples huddled in the corner, before squatting down beside the counter. He knocked his knuckle against the table lightly until the female disciple, Wen Yi, looked up at him. She smiled gently with a hint of irritation, and set her book down.

“Shishu, is there something you need?”

“Tell Shishu again—who decided on this punishment again?”

“Yu Lan Sword Immortal did,” Wen Yi affirmed.

Tian Xiewen rubbed at his chin as he looked back towards the crowd of disciples. “Isn’t Yu Lan supposed to be coldblooded? What’s with this simple punishment? It’s like a teacher punishing their students.”

Wen Yi’s smile tightened. “This is how children learn, Shishu.”

Tian Xiewen looked up with a quirked brow. “What do you mean?”

“If you teach the children, they will learn better. If you punish the student, they will only listen out of fear,” Wen Yi explained.

“Who told you this?” Tian Xiewen asked. “Was it Yizhou?”

“Shishu, I look after the younger disciples more than you do,” Wen Yi said as she dipped her brush into the ink. “I also looked after the other kids on the street when I was younger. Of course, I would know how to raise children better than you do.”

Tian Xiewen nodded. It made sense. Ren Yizhou also didn’t know how to take care of children. If it weren’t for Wen Yi, who knows what would happen to half of the disciples that ran under Ren Yizhou’s care?

“Shishu, did you come here for something?” Wen Yi asked without looking up again.

“Where’s your shizun?” Tian Xiewen asked, finally cutting to the point.

“Out.”

“Out where?” Tian Xiewen asked curiously. “They didn’t go to Jasmine Fairies, did they?”

Wen Yi continued transferring records. “Shizun actually left you a message.”

Tian Xiewen straightened. “What message?”

“Shizun told me to tell you ‘What does it have to do with you where I go?’ if you were to ask about their whereabouts,” Wen Yi said.

Tian Xiewen fell down onto his butt and draped his arms over his knees. A look of displeasure covered his handsome face, making him look somewhat terrifying, but the young woman was unphased. “What’s with your shizun anyway? I just want to find them to play, but they’re always avoiding me.”

“Shishu, this answer can only be found through self-evaluation,” Wen Yi replied.

“You’re quite snarky.”

“Shishu seems to have a lot of free time on his hands,” Wen Yi noted.

“Trainings only happen on the last days of the week. Your shishu is very free right now,” Tian Xiewen said, tilting his head childishly.

“Shishu may have a lot of free time, but Wen Yi doesn’t,” the female disciple glanced at her shishu. “Perhaps you should go find someone else to converse with.”

Tian Xiewen let out a long sigh before slowly standing up. He dusted off his knees and threw one last glance at the three disciples huddling in the corner before leaving the library. His first thought was to find his own little disciple to bother, but he knew that silly girl had most likely snuck off to the city again. His mind drifted off towards any of the direct disciples, but ended up drawing a blank. Li Qing would be the freest, but Tian Xiewen didn’t necessarily want to play with a child right now. As for Su Han…it would be better to not talk to him while he was in a good mood. Tian Xiewen might get angered to death in the next second.

Tian Xiewen let out a loud sigh as he swung his arms and clapped his hands together. He tilted his head from side to side in an attempt to stretch out his neck. His sight wandered as he walked down the path away from the library. Of the disciples that he did see, they were all in the middle of errands and almost all of them avoided his gaze.

Tian Xiewen clicked his tongue. “Everyone’s no fun.”

His arms fell to his side as he reached the top of the stone steps. The green field was normally filled with disciples lazing around. Who knew what it was different about today, but everyone seemed to have something to do. No one laid out sprawled in the field as they usually would.

Tian Xiewen let out a sigh and made the decision to go down the mountain to the nearby city and head to a tavern. He turned his head to glance through the field one last time, not expecting much of anything, only to find a flutter of white fabric that caught his eyes. Tian Xiewen raised an eyebrow.

In the entire sect, no one bothered to wear white. It was a finicky fabric to wear and as cultivators who practiced the sword, it would be quite easy to get dirty when practicing. Fan Yi wore purely black while Ren Yizhou often wore a nice array of colors that stains wouldn’t easily show through. The disciples all had their own uniforms that ranged on the darker side of blues with a dash of gold. Even Tian Xiewen himself only wore earthy tones.

Before Tian Xiewen could stop himself, his feet had already carried him over to the bottom of the tree. He tilted his head back and looked up at the lean looking youth that sat on the branch of the tree. Tian Xiewen’s brows furrowed as he tried to remember who this person might be.

“Does Third Pillar need something?” a languid voice drifted down to Tian Xiewen’s ears.