"S-sister Min Ji, you are using the same chopsticks that touched my lips. Should I consider it an indirect kiss?" Mu Jin murmured in a low voice.
"K-k-k-k...kiss!???" Min Ji blurted, her face flushing once again. "I-I didn't think that deeply about it."
"Hehe, she really is quite cute when she is flustered," Mu Jin grinned inwardly. "It's fun teasing her."
The duo spent a few more minutes together, Min Ji gobbling the food while Mu Jin teased her.
"You have changed, Mu Jin," Min Ji said in a soft voice. "You couldn't stop stuttering or even look me in the eye when you talked to me before. But now you have become so bold that you even tease me."
A bright smile appeared on her face as she continued, "I'm really glad that you have become more cheerful. Please stay like this from now on."
"Don't worry, the Mu Jin you know is dead," Mu Jin declared before murmuring inwardly,
"Like literally."
After talking for a few more minutes, the duo returned to the sect, separately of course, since the abodes of the third-generation and second-generation disciples were located in different areas.
Before she left, both of them decided to have dinner together from now on beneath the shade of the apple trees under the starry night. Of course, she would bring extra food so she would not embarrass herself in front of him.
---
"Although I have visited this place in my previous life and seen it in Mu Jin's memories, it still manages to amaze me," Mu Jin murmured, his gaze fixed on the Emei Sect before him.
The Emei Sect was built upon the towering slopes of Mount Emei, one of the Four Sacred Buddhist Mountains of China. Layers upon layers of peaks pierced through the clouds, their edges covered in calming mist. Each peak had pavilions built upon it, belonging to the elders of the sect, while at the central mountain stood a massive hall with wooden pillars clad in intricate patterns.
Surrounding the hall were smaller pavilions and open training grounds for the disciples to train beneath the sky. The third-generation disciples lived outside the main sect, separated by a large wooden wall. Only one large hall and a common training ground were built for the third-generation disciples.
After savoring the scenery for a few seconds, Mu Jin passed through the training ground and entered the hall.
"Look, he is here."
"Is it really true that he beat Seok Jin?"
"Just look at his frail body. He would faint from a single punch. There is no way he could beat Seok Jin."
"But Seok Jin and his friends are admitted to the Medicinal Hall, and they told the physician that Mu Jin was the one who injured them."
The hall was filled with murmurs, their gazes fixed on Mu Jin. They did not bother to lower their voices even when the subject of discussion was right before them.
Mu Jin ignored their whispers and went straight to the carpet at the corner of the hall. He tried to sleep but failed because of the curious gazes of the other disciples. Frustrated, he left the hall and climbed the tree at the corner of the training ground.
A lot had happened to him in just a single day. Until a day ago, he was being chased by the empire's army, poisoned, exhausted, and helpless. Now he was young again, and a disciple of an orthodox sect. Not to mention that it had already been fifty years since he died as the Sex Demon.
All the enemies and lovers he had back then must have either become unimaginably strong if they had continued breaking through to higher realms or grown old and died if they had not.
He did not hold much grudge against his enemies. He did not want to waste his new life on revenge. Tae Rin was the only person he would have taken revenge on, but alas, he had died with him.
However, he did want to see some of his old lovers, but he decided not to.
He was no longer the Sex Demon. He wanted to leave his past behind and start anew.
"I will make sure not to repeat the mistakes of the past again," Mu Jin murmured, slowly closing his eyes.
.
.
.
"Ughh, I can't sleep," Mu Jin muttered after remaining still for a few minutes.
The excitement of a new life was keeping him from falling asleep.
"I should train this weak body," Mu Jin decided and jumped off the tree. He almost broke his bones due to the height between the branch and the ground.
"Ughh, so embarrassing," he muttered and began running around the training hall.
Only five minutes had passed, and his breathing had already become ragged. His golden eyes were barely open, and each step he took forward felt as if he were pushing mountains.
After ten minutes, he could no longer feel strength in his legs. His senses had grown hazy, yet he continued running through sheer will.
Only after completing a hundred rounds around the training ground did he stop running, which took him thirty minutes to finish.
He rested for five minutes to catch his breath before beginning push-ups.
It took only fifty push-ups for his arms to completely give out. He thanked the heavens that no one knew his true identity or saw him in this state. How embarrassing it would have been if his old enemies saw him, one of the greatest martial artists of Jianghu, struggling to do fifty push-ups that even an average person without cultivation could manage.
He shook his head, pushing aside those useless thoughts, and continued tortu—ahem, training his body.
He made sure to work every muscle, until every inch of him screamed from the strain.
After six hours, barely conscious and completely drenched in sweat, with his robe clinging tightly to his body, he somehow forced himself into a lotus position.
"Now it's time to reap the fruit of my labor," he murmured with a grin.
"Aghh—even smiling hurts my face muscles."