During the events of the night, Zanxing remained completely unaware.
With Mimi by her side, she felt a bit more at ease when sleeping. Even if Hua Yue had some mischief in mind, Mimi could at least play a role in guarding the household. With sufficient sleep at night, she could devote herself wholeheartedly to the cultivation of immortality during the day.
Moreover, whether it was her recent illusion or not, Zanxing felt that her mental state had improved a lot compared to when she first arrived at the Taiyan Sect. Every time she circulated her qi through her meridians, it flowed smoothly. Zanxing estimated that if she continued to work hard, she would not be far from breaking through to the next realm.
Inside the Miaokong Hall, there were a few people sitting at the moment.
Cui Yufu, Li Danshu, Zhao Mayi, and Daoist Yueguang were all present. Xuan Lingzi walked out from behind the hall and glanced outside. “Has Seventh Junior Brother not arrived yet?”
“He’s here,” Zhao Mayi gestured towards the door, and they saw Gu Baiying walking in from outside.
Each of the seven disciples of Shaoyang Zhenren had their own hall. However, whenever Shaoyang Zhenren was not around and there was a need for regular discussions, the seven disciples still preferred to gather in Xuan Lingzi’s Miaokong Hall.
For example, Cui Yufu’s Dharma Hall was filled with various talismans and formations. If you accidentally stepped on the wrong one, your cultivation would regress for ten years, which was quite miserable. Li Danshu’s alchemy furnaces of all sizes were placed everywhere. He was also stingy. Even though he himself did not refine the pills well, he would blame it on outsiders coming in and causing the air to be wrong. The other disciples had compensated him several times and did not dare to come again. Zhao Mayi was not in the hall for many years, and bamboo shoots grew batch after batch in the hall. Occasionally, the disciples of the sect would go to pick two to fill their stomachs in the middle of the night. Not to mention Gu Baiying, he had such a bad temper that if anyone dared to sneak into his hall, they would be in for trouble.
Come to think of it, Xuan Lingzi had a gentle nature and his hall was full of delicious food, so it was suitable for discussing important matters. After all, sometimes if the discussion was late, they could still eat something and continue.
Daoist Yueguang cleared his throat and said, “I called you all here today to discuss the matter of the Li’er Country’s secret realm.”
The Duzhou Continent was scattered with secret realms. These secret realms were not easy to find. Some grew spiritual herbs and immortal grasses, while others contained secret techniques and cultivation methods… In short, it took great luck to find them.
Twenty years ago, in the great battle between the human and demon races, the secret realms of Duzhou were destroyed by the demon cultivators. The secret realm in Li’er Country could only be considered a small secret realm. It had been opened once ten years ago, and the Taiyan Sect had also sent disciples to it. The opportunities they obtained were not very precious, but they were better than nothing.
“Li’er Country? Didn’t Ziluo go to that secret realm last time? It’s a bunch of garbage, what’s so special about it?” Cui Yufu said viciously.
Cui Yufu was sixty-eight years old this year, but he looked like he was in his early forties. He was muscular and had fierce eyes. His hair was shaved off, and even though he was wearing a white gauze robe, he looked like an evil monk. His rolled-up sleeves revealed his arms, which were covered in black talismans.
It was said that these talismans involved piercing the skin with needles and spreading it from the arm to the entire spine. If an enemy attacked Cui Yufu, the talismans on his body would activate the formation.
“That being said,” Li Danshu had adjusted his hat and said, “Finding some flowers and herbs and coming back to refine pills would also be very good.”
Daoist Yueguang spoke slowly, “Indeed. This time, the major sects of the cultivation world were all interested in the Li’er Country’s secret realm. The Li’er Country’s secret realm had existed for hundreds of years, and most of the spiritual herbs and immortal medicines had already been picked. The major sects all wanted to send the outstanding disciples among their new disciples to this secret realm, pretending to want opportunities and spiritual herbs, but the real purpose was to temper their minds in the secret realm.”
“Why go to Li’er Country to temper?” Cui Yufu had frowned. “Our sect has other ways to temper our disciples.”
“By taking exams?” Li Danshu had glanced at Cui Yufu and sneered, “The disciples of the sect didn’t think that way.”
Cui Yufu looked like a fierce monk who only knew how to fight, but he was actually a test maniac. Unlike Li Danshu’s constant innovation in alchemy, talismans relied entirely on rote memorization. There were many types of talismans on the Duzhou Continent, and there were thousands of types of cleaning talismans alone. However, Cui Yufu’s exam questions were always very obscure, and the passing rate was very low. The disciples were most afraid of him.
“Compared to being reduced to alchemy like you, exams are of course much better,” Cui Yufu retorted.
As soon as these two got together, they started arguing. Xuan Lingzi quickly came out to smooth things over, “Since the other sects are doing this, let’s just go with the flow. But, for this trip to the secret realm, do any of you senior brothers have any candidates?”
Daoist Yueguang spoke slowly, “A total of six quotas have been given. Ziluo has already been there once, so there is no need for her to go again this time. Men Dong has the ‘Spiritual Immortal Aperture’, which is convenient for picking spiritual herbs and fruits. Meng Ying is also about to leave seclusion, so she can use the secret realm to test her swordsmanship. As for the rest, you can choose from among your disciples.”
“My disciples?” Xuan Lingzi was stunned.
“Aren’t you going to take on personal disciples?” Daoist Yueguang smiled faintly. “Those who perform outstandingly in the inner sect assessment will become your personal disciples.” After a pause, he said, “The qualification to go to the Li’er Country’s secret realm will be the reward for this assessment.”
Xuan Lingzi: “…”
He twisted and turned, looking at the fruit plate in front of him: “Senior Brother, I’m afraid this will make our sect look a bit stingy…”
“It doesn’t matter,” Daoist Yueguang continued, “The shopkeeper of Hua Jin Pavilion said that he will also provide other rewards for this assessment.”
Xuan Lingzi breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this.
Zhao Mayi looked at Gu Baiying and suddenly asked, “Junior Brother, why aren’t you talking?”
Gu Baiying had been absent-minded these past few days, and no one knew what he was thinking about.
Gu Baiying stood up, his expression unchanged, and said, “I heard everything you said just now, I have no objections.” He picked up a spirit fruit from the table and took a bite, still looking nonchalant. “I have something else to do, I’ll go first.” With that, he walked out of the hall without another word.
“What’s wrong with him?” Xuan Lingzi nudged Zhao Mayi. “He seems to be preoccupied.”
Zhao Mayi pondered, “I cast a divination for him yesterday.”
“What’s the situation?” Li Danshu also leaned over.
“The Red Luan Star is moving, and peach blossoms are blooming all over the courtyard.” Zhao Mayi tugged at his beard, his face unfathomable. “It seems that Seventh Junior Brother is about to have some romantic luck.”
*
Gu Baiying was oblivious to the nonsense being spouted by the group in Miaokong Hall.
He returned to Elysium Hall, where there was no one else. The young man sat down, clenched the spirit fruit in his hand, and only felt a sense of irritability in his heart.
The matter of the Qinchong seeds had not been resolved yet, and not to mention anything else, if Shaoyang Zhenren found out about it when he came out of seclusion… he was afraid that he would be greatly distressed.
Just as he was thinking about this, there was knocking outside. He raised his head and saw Men Dong running in.
Gu Baiying didn’t speak, and Men Dong ran to him in one breath and gasped, “Senior Uncle, I’ve found a way!”
“What way?”
“To get the Qinchong seeds back into your body, you just need to…”
The young man’s eyes lit up, and he asked eagerly, “Just what?”
“…Just have dual cultivation with her!” Men Dong replied loudly.
Snap. The spirit fruit in Gu Baiying’s hand split in two.