She Dominates the Immortal Realm with Her HP Bar

"Ahhhh—"

No one could have expected that Jiang Tingbai, who was always so gentle and reasonable when explaining things, could be so decisive and bold when it came to taking action.

The moment Jiang Tingbai grabbed Sang Ji's arm and threw him off the flying sword mid-air, not only did Sang Ji scream, but even Yan Gan, who was standing steadily on the ground, couldn't help but let out a startled cry.

They were all students at the Qi Refining Stage and hadn't yet learned how to control flying swords.

Moreover, before taking action, Jiang Tingbai had specifically inquired about Sang Ji's background and knew that his true form was that of a black-snouted crocodile.

Like turtles, crocodiles are amphibious creatures without wings.

In other words, even if Sang Ji wanted to switch to his demon form to save himself, it would be completely impossible.

Sang Ji plummeted downward under the force of gravity.

The fierce wind whistled past his ears, and the cold air rushed against his face, distorting the handsome features of the young man.

In the sudden grip of fear, he screamed so hard that his voice cracked, though he wasn't even aware that he was shouting.

In Yan Luoyue's view, Sang Ji was initially just a tiny black dot in the sky. But as he fell rapidly, the dot grew closer and closer, its outline becoming clearer and clearer.

Beside Yan Luoyue, Yan Gan instinctively took a few steps forward.

Although he had just had a conflict with Sang Ji, his nature was still mostly kind-hearted. At this moment, Yan Gan stared wide-eyed at Sang Ji, his arms hesitantly lifting, perhaps still hoping to catch him.

Knowing the dangers of gravity and acceleration, Yan Luoyue quickly grabbed Yan Gan's sleeve.

The next second, a gentle breeze rose from the ground. The soft willow-like wind brushed against their faces without any chill, gently pushing the siblings back.

When the breeze dissipated, Yan Luoyue opened her eyes to see Jiang Tingbai retracting his flying sword and landing steadily, with Sang Ji in hand.

After releasing Sang Ji back onto the ground, Jiang Tingbai took his time, even leisurely patting the back of his student's collar to smooth out the handprint left from being grabbed.

"How did that feel?"

Having just narrowly escaped death, Sang Ji's face was pale, and he was drenched in cold sweat, as if he had just been fished out of water.

His chest heaved a few times before he managed to regain his composure, still stubbornly retorting:

"It felt great, really thrilling. Next time, Master, you might as well throw me even higher."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Tingbai immediately reached out to grab him again.

Panicked, Sang Ji quickly took three steps back.

Only after escaping Jiang Tingbai's grasp did Sang Ji realize that the other man had merely been making a gesture to scare him.

"..."

Facing Jiang Tingbai's knowing gaze, Sang Ji felt both embarrassed and flustered, his neck burning with shame.

In this moment, this situation, and this scene, if the roles were reversed, it was eerily similar to how he had teased Yan Luoyue earlier.

Jiang Tingbai had thrown him from the air without warning, just as he had tossed the little turtle-sized Yan Luoyue high into the air without any prior notice.

Jiang Tingbai had been completely confident in catching him, just as Sang Ji had been absolutely sure he wouldn't let Yan Luoyue hit the ground, thinking it was fine to toss her a few times.

But this was someone else's little sister, not one of the young ones from his own clan who were used to roughhousing.

Sang Ji wasn't one to shy away from admitting his mistakes. Wiping the cold sweat from his face, he straightforwardly apologized.

"Do not do unto others what you do not want done unto yourself. Master, I fully understand your lesson now."

Jiang Tingbai nodded slowly. "That's exactly the point—even though she's just a child, if you didn't have her consent, it wasn't a joke or a game."

"Understood." Sang Ji shed his usual prickly demeanor and turned to Yan Luoyue, offering her a proper apology.

"I'm sorry, Luoyue. I shouldn't have used you as a tool to provoke your brother, nor should I have done something so dangerous without explaining it first."

Yan Luoyue raised her small hand and patted Sang Ji's arm.

"It's okay, I forgive you."

When you're young, everyone acts out a little. As long as you admit your mistakes, you're still a good kid.

Sang Ji, who had been deep in reflection, had been feeling a bit heavy-hearted.

But when he heard Yan Luoyue's high-pitched childlike voice speaking in such a mature tone, he couldn't help but laugh.

He poked a dimple into the little girl's rosy cheek, and, well, it was soft and bouncy, with a surprisingly pleasant texture.

And then there was her round, utterly adorable appearance, which was leagues beyond the scruffy boys in his clan.

Sang Ji belatedly realized: even after being teased like that, the little girl hadn't cried or made a fuss.

Sure, she had immediately pulled a "play dead" move...

But looking at it another way, didn't that just show how clever the little sister was?

Just think about his own rough-and-tumble cousins.

Those boys were already four or five years old, and their favorite pastime was still peeing in the mud.

At this thought, Sang Ji suddenly had an epiphany.

The way he had played with his crocodile cousins, using those same tricks on the little turtle girl without asking, was clearly inappropriate.

Once he realized the difference, Sang Ji, who had always been the big brother, felt a surge of responsibility.

"If you don't like being tossed in the air, I can play safer games with you. Have you ever ridden a crocodile-drawn sled? Or I could teach you how to spin a top on ice."

—To be honest, Yan Luoyue had never ridden a crocodile-drawn sled, and she really wanted to try it.

Sang Ji: "You want to, don't you? Call me 'big brother.'"

"Big Brother Sang Ji!"

"Hey!"

Seeing how the two of them had not only reconciled but were also quickly building a sibling-like bond despite being unrelated, Jiang Tingbai lightly cleared his throat as a reminder.

"This matter is settled. But the classroom is a place of learning, and the conflict between you and Yan Gan in the study room still needs to be addressed."

Sang Ji and Yan Gan, now thoroughly convinced, simply said, "We'll accept whatever punishment you decide, Master."

After a moment of thought, Jiang Tingbai took out a jade slip from his sleeve and pointed to a small patch of withered trees nearby.

"Starting today, you and Yan Gan will come to the classroom half an hour early and leave half an hour late. Use the technique recorded in this jade slip to clear away these dead trees until the task is complete."

Yan Gan and Sang Ji had no objections and nodded in agreement.

"As for Yan Gan," Jiang Tingbai's gaze lingered on his shoulder for a moment, "your sister wants to study, and that's a good thing. But she's still too young to hold a brush. You'll write a petition to your family elders on her behalf, explaining everything that happened today in detail."

Yan Gan was still nodding foolishly, but Yan Luoyue had already seen through Jiang Tingbai's cunning plan.

—Silly child, is this really a petition?

No, this is a confession letter that's just one step away from getting you a beating!

The next second, Jiang Tingbai glanced at Yan Luoyue with a smile:

"If your family agrees, I'll make an exception and allow your sister to join the classroom as an unofficial student."

Yan Luoyue: "!!!"

What? She could actually get an exception to join the class?

Alright, no problem, she was switching sides now.

As everyone knows, older brothers exist to be teased and tricked.

Yan Gan, with his thick skin, and Yan Yu, who has always been gentle and kind, would at most give a couple of slaps on the hand when angry—certainly nothing that would cause any real harm.

Jiang Tingbai stood quietly in place, running through the entire sequence of events in his mind to ensure his approach was flawless, and then he drifted away without a sound.

Of course, before leaving, Jiang Tingbai didn’t forget to reach into his sleeve and hand each of the three students a piece of malt candy wrapped in oiled paper, a small gesture to soothe the spirits of the punished trio.

As the moon-white figure disappeared into the distance, Sang Ji squeezed the soft candy in his hand and murmured to himself,

"Among the teachers the Guiyuan Sect has assigned to us, not all of them are rigid rule-followers."

Sang Ji, quick to forget past grievances, soon concluded that Jiang Tingbai was not only reasonable but also a skilled cultivator, given his mastery of sword flight.

As for Yan Gan, his focus was entirely different from Sang Ji’s.

He had already unwrapped and eaten his piece of candy, his teeth now sticky and his lips struggling to part as he mumbled,

"Hmm, this candy... it seems to be the cheapest kind from the market..."

Yan Luoyue, who had already experienced the stickiness of this candy earlier, decided not to eat hers this time.

She had been pondering whether Jiang Tingbai was a straightforward spellcaster or a mild-mannered swordsman.

But after hearing Yan Gan’s comment, Yan Luoyue quickly solidified her conclusion.

"I see now, he’s definitely a swordsman."

Neither personality, magical tools, nor methods could definitively determine a cultivator’s background.

—But poverty could.

Someone so poor that they could only afford the cheapest candy? That had to be a swordsman, no doubt about it!

That evening, Yan Luoyue’s family dinner menu featured a new dish: bamboo shoots stir-fried with turtle claws.

Yan Yu had sternly criticized Yan Gan for his impulsive decision to carry his sister off to school that morning without consulting anyone.

However, Yan Yu also felt that Yan Luoyue’s desire to attend school wasn’t entirely unreasonable and could be accommodated to some extent.

Over a dinner table filled with the aroma of fish soup, the spicy scent of stir-fried mussels, and the sweet comfort of fruit juice, Yan Yu convened the first family meeting.

The consensus reached during the meeting was that Yan Luoyue could try attending school for half a month.

After all, Yan Luoyue was still very young. If, after half a month, she found that school life didn’t suit her, they could politely thank Jiang Tingbai for his kindness and gracefully withdraw her from the academy.

In reality, Jiang Tingbai’s arrangements turned out to be even more considerate than Yan Luoyue had anticipated.

The school schedule was divided into "literary classes" and "martial classes."

Generally, mornings were reserved for literary classes, while afternoons were dedicated to martial classes.

Yan Luoyue, well aware of her own fragility, decided to avoid all martial classes to prevent any accidents.

And it seemed Jiang Tingbai had no intention of making her participate in them either.

On her first official day of school, even before the lunch break was over, Jiang Tingbai came to the Zhen Class and personally escorted Yan Luoyue to a bamboo hall.

In Yan Luoyue’s understanding, this place served as a shared teachers’ lounge.

Jiang Tingbai had clearly prepared in advance. After setting Yan Luoyue down, he spread out several colorful picture books in front of her.

The other cultivators in the lounge, seeing their senior brother Jiang bringing in such an adorable child, generously dug into their pockets and produced an assortment of snacks for the little one.

Fruit candies, orange cakes, rose syrup, beef jerky...

A small mountain of treats piled up before Yan Luoyue’s eyes.

Yan Luoyue carefully examined the variety of snacks, and after a moment, she couldn’t help but cast a look of pity toward Jiang Tingbai.

—It wasn’t just her imagination; from the packaging alone, it was clear that the malt candy Jiang Tingbai had given her earlier was the cheapest and most humble of all the snacks.

So he really was a swordsman, wasn’t he?

Misinterpreting the meaning behind Yan Luoyue’s gaze, Jiang Tingbai paused for a moment and then rummaged through his sleeve once more.

But this time, he couldn’t even produce that cheap malt candy.

"..."

After a moment of contemplation, Jiang Tingbai calmly walked over to the desk, smoothed out a high-quality sheet of paper—provided by the school for the teachers’ use—and picked up a brush.

With a gentle smile, he softly said to Yan Luoyue, "Do you still want that candy from yesterday? Let me draw one for you."

Yan Luoyue: "..."

Tragic. Absolutely tragic. So tragic it was almost unbearable.

Yan Luoyue slowly raised her hand and covered her eyes with her palm.