Murim's Weakest Princess-Chapter 81: Abstinence From Food

The shrimp dumplings were delightful. After spending most of her days with her teacher eating nothing but rice and buns, having something different lifted Anji’s mood.

"Thank you, Uncle Cook!" Anji cleaned her mouth and hopped off the stool. "I’ll help with the dishes today."

After living with Yan Ping in isolation, Anji had gotten used to doing several chores. Although she did not do them often, she could now bathe herself, wash her dishes and fold the laundry. Lizi still did most of the labour-intensive chores, but they were little steps to independence.

Uncertain about letting Anji do the dishes, the cook was about to stop her when Lizi gave her nod of approval. Surprised that the most protective personal maid allowed their youngest mistress to do the menial chores of a servant, the middle-aged man stood with his jaw agape.

Although it was a clumsy attempt, Anji seemed to know what she was doing. The plates were soaked in a basin of water and ashes were poured into it as Anji scrubbed the food remains off the surface. Then, she poured the dirty water again and had some help from Lizi to refill the basin with clean water before rinsing the clean dishes and wiping them with a dry cloth, returning the small stack of cutlery to the cook.

"It’s done," Anji beamed. "Thank you for the meal, even while studying with shifu!"

Tearing up, the cook received his washed dishes and wondered how appropriate it would be to store them in his family’s ancestral hall with a specially carved stone tablet to commemorate this precious milestone. Part of him did not want to put them away in proper storage. However, Anji was already gone before he could decide. With Gu Ying accompanying the child, Lizi was left to snap the cook back to reality.

"Could you help to prepare a tea set? The young mistress wants to make persimmon leaf tea for her teacher and father. Gu Ying is escorting her to check on the persimmon sprout."

Placing the washed dishes aside, the cook got busy as Anji noticed the difference in the sect after two months of isolated training. Every step of the way, people who saw her would bow their heads with teary eyes. Anji’s cheeks started cramping up from smiling so much and greeting this many people. The disciples from the inner sect greeted her with eyes of gratitude, but Anji could not understand why.

"Why are they greeting me like this?" Anji finally asked Gu Ying when they escaped the long corridor to the privacy of the main courtyard.

Smiling a little, the Manchurian lady explained how everyone was worried about Anji’s training.

"On the night we saw the seven comets fly by the sect, there was a revelation that you would overcome your ill-fated destiny. However, rewriting the destiny is sometimes harder than surviving a tribulation from the heavens. When nobody heard any progress from your training after a week, which soon turned into a month, everyone started to pray for your success. We can visit the sect’s shrine later to see how many incense sticks they burned for you today."

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Anji had no idea about the flying comets or the fortune-telling incident. She also had no idea how many people prayed for her while cultivating under her shifu and golden dragon’s guidance. Hearing how concerned everyone was, Anji felt guilty for not working even harder and taking too long to succeed. However, Gu Ying pulled her along to the spot near the weapon rack in the courtyard.

"The Madam had the servants plant the persimmon seeds here," she pointed to the group of little sprouts. "Of the seeds that were sent, only these few germinated. I think the weather was unsuitable for the rest of the seeds. However, the gardener has been taking good care of these few survivors. You can check the leaves for yourself. There should not be any caterpillars trying to eat them."

True to her claims, Anji did not find any caterpillars. The remaining persimmon plants looked healthy, thanks to the dedicated gardener. Anji wanted to thank him too. However, she had a request first.

"Gu Ying, where is the gardener? I want to bring one of these plants back to my room to be placed beside my bed. I’ll take care of it personally."

Surprised that Anji wouldn’t immediately harvest some leaves for the tea, Gu Ying studied her young mistress. These persimmon plants were rare in the Celestial Dragon Sect. It was difficult for them to germinate, and their growth rate was exceedingly slow. If Anji had one of them uprooted, there was no guarantee it would survive the transfer to her room. Moreover, persimmons need a lot of sunlight. Anji did not have much sunlight filtering into her room as it was designed to be facing away from strong winds.

"Are you sure?" she asked. "It might not survive the transfer because persimmon plants are difficult to grow on this mountain. Your room does not have enough sunlight for it to thrive."

It was a logical explanation. Anji thought about it. According to the golden dragon, life energy can strengthen any living thing. It was partially why she did not require much sustenance when sleeping for a week. Her body was absorbing the energy of nature and releasing negative qi through her breath circulation. It was unusual for Initial Core cultivators to reach the level of abstinence from food. Usually, only those who have mastered the pinnacle of cultivation with mastery over energy in themselves and nature could do it. Not even her mother practised the art of abstinence from food and sleep. Her father could do it. However, he preferred not to, as he preferred to spend more time with his family in whatever way he could.

In theory, Gu Ying was right. However, Anji had a secret that she wanted to test out. For the sake of her experiment, she had to sacrifice one persimmon plant.

"But I really want it," she sighed. "I think it would make the room feel better with it around. Don’t worry about the plant dying. I’ll take very good care of it!"

Giving in to Anji’s rare childish whims, Gu Ying agreed and called the gardener to help transport the plant to Anji’s room. With a potted persimmon sprout acquired, Anji relaxed a little. She had to be careful about the next few things she wanted to do.

"Let’s return to the kitchen to get the tea set," Anji smiled. "I also want to borrow some medical tools from Doctor He’s storage. Before that, we could stop by the sect shrine to tell everyone of my safe return. Oh! And maybe get a few more charcoal pencils. I forgot to bring them back from the hut in the mountain. Maybe we can go back tomorrow to retrieve them. I still have all my charts and books that shifu left for me to study."

Ah, Gu Ying knew she had forgotten to inform Anji about something important.

"About that," she began hesitantly. "The hut was accidentally destroyed, so we won’t be able to retrieve anything from it now. I’m sorry."

Eyes bulging, Anji refused to believe her shifu’s protective spell would be destroyed so easily. How could that be?

Remembering the story that she coordinated with the sect master, Gu Ying confidently informed her young mistress that the hut was caught up in a landslide because she triggered a heavenly tribulation on her Initial Core breakthrough.

Although it sounded suspicious to Anji, she believed it might have happened. After all, Grandpa Jin had a hand in this. According to the golden dragon, her Initial Core foundation was probably the most complicated thing ever created. Anji was warned she would be much slower than a regular cultivator in her progress, but it was fine if she remained an Initial Core cultivator her whole life. Anji was happy that she could now live to celebrate many more birthdays with her family and watch her parents grow old.

But first, she had to secure the persimmon leaves.