Nangong Yu’s expression grew increasingly solemn. To anyone watching, she looked as if she were carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders.
“Little Yu, don’t worry.” One of the senior sisters put an arm around her. “Senior Brother Chen can be a little harsh sometimes, but things aren’t as serious as you think.”
She assumed Chen Zhi had just been scolding Nangong Yu.
Glancing toward the formation, she continued, “He may have extraordinary talent, but he’s the one in the wrong.”
It was only drawing qi into his body, wasn’t it? If Junior Sister Little Yu hadn’t kicked him, he might not have succeeded at all!
The senior sister already had a poor impression of Mo Jiuyou, so in her eyes, Nangong Yu’s “rebellion” was hardly a serious matter.
She even took out a spiritual fruit and stuffed it into Nangong Yu’s hands. “Here, eat this.”
Nangong Yu looked up at her with heartfelt gratitude. “Thank you, Senior Sister.”
What a well-behaved child! The senior sister liked polite children and gently ruffled her hair. “It’s all right.”
Her eyes shifted as she leaned close to Nangong Yu’s ear and whispered, “If anything happens, go find Wang Hezheng.”
“Why?” Nangong Yu asked curiously.
The senior sister lowered her voice even further. “He’s the son of one of the elders. Just keep that in mind, and don’t tell anyone else.”
Nangong Yu’s pupils trembled as realization dawned on her. “No wonder he’s so rich!”
He had stuffed more than a hundred thousand spirit stones into her hands just to break through.
Back when she had taken down Zhou Yun, she had obtained only a few hundred spirit stones. It had been pitifully little.
Meng Yanqing could be considered wealthy, but his entire fortune amounted to only a few tens of thousands of spirit stones—and he had to hide them away here and there.
Wang Hezheng, on the other hand, carried more than a hundred thousand spirit stones with him as if they were nothing more than pocket money.
“You little wretch! I’ll kill you!”
A haughty voice thick with fury charged toward Nangong Yu.
Nangong Yu looked over and saw purple lightning dancing at the tips of the Little Brat’s fingers. He flung it straight at her!
“You’ve already succeeded in drawing qi into your body?” Nangong Yu exclaimed in surprise. “Your aptitude is terrible!”
Mo Jiuyou, who had been rushing toward her, came to an abrupt stop and frowned. “What did you say?”
“I said your aptitude is terrible.” She shook her head and said regretfully, “As everyone knows, people with narrow meridians need less spiritual energy, so they can draw qi into their bodies faster. You finished so quickly, which means your meridians are no good.”
She delivered the explanation with such solemn conviction that it almost sounded authoritative.
Mo Jiuyou stopped in his tracks. The purple lightning at his fingertips flickered on and off, looking extremely unreliable.
“Is that true?” His brows drew tightly together as he turned to Chen Zhi.
Chen Zhi sighed. “Don’t listen to her nonsense.”
These were only mortal meridians, not yet tempered by cultivation. How broad could they possibly be?
Everyone’s meridians were more or less the same. The speed at which one drew qi into the body depended entirely on how quickly one could guide spiritual energy.
The faster the guidance, the faster the first meridian could be opened, and the faster spiritual energy could complete one circulation through the body.
Mo Jiuyou had succeeded in drawing qi into his body in such a short time. He was absolutely a genius.
“Come here. Let me take a look at your condition after drawing qi into your body.” Chen Zhi beckoned to Mo Jiuyou.
As a Golden Core cultivator, he was already qualified to accept disciples based on his seniority.
Offering guidance to a young cultivator who had only just drawn qi into his body should have been well within his abilities.
Mo Jiuyou, however, refused to take him seriously. Now that he knew Nangong Yu had been talking nonsense, his old and new grudges surged up together. Even more violent lightning flared from his fingertips.
“I’ll make you beg for death and beg for life!”
Chen Zhi: “!!”
Did he have any idea who she was?!
Earlier, all of them had looked down on her and ended up suffering for it, despite being Golden Core cultivators.
Chen Zhi also disliked the excessively arrogant child. He split off a strand of divine sense to keep an eye on Mo Jiuyou’s safety, then stopped trying to dissuade him.
“I’m so scared,” Nangong Yu said, pulling out an electric baton and thrusting it toward him. “Let me charge you up.”
Wasn’t he a lightning spirit-root cultivator? What difference was there between lightning and electricity, anyway?
Nangong Yu had never even finished high school. After wandering through infinite-flow worlds for countless years, her cultural knowledge had long since regressed to the level of kindergarten.
She only wanted to use the electric baton to charge up this little uncanny NPC, but Chen Zhi couldn’t bear to watch.
“Stop!”
What was this pitch-black stick?
Chen Zhi didn’t recognize it, but he knew that anything Nangong Yu produced was no ordinary object.
Mo Jiuyou had only just drawn qi into his body and entered the first level of Qi Refinement. How could he possibly withstand her bizarre methods?
He swept out a sheet of spiritual energy that formed a barrier in front of Mo Jiuyou.
It blocked the attack.
That was hardly surprising. Chen Zhi was, after all, a Golden Core cultivator.
“A lightning-type magic treasure?” Feeling the faint electric currents filling the spiritual-energy barrier, Chen Zhi was astonished.
It could make a person’s eyes ache so badly that they temporarily lost the ability to fight. It could make people blurt out everything without restraint, including their fortunes, magic treasures, and secrets.
And now she had even produced a lightning-type magic treasure specifically suited to deal with Mo Jiuyou?
Who exactly was she? Why did she possess so many treasures? Why had someone as mysterious and unfathomable as her approached the Ziyang Sect? What was her purpose?
“You…” Mo Jiuyou was protected, but his tense little face was now filled with wariness. “Who are you? How can you use a mustard-seed space?”
Nangong Yu’s clothes were by no means shabby, but mortal clothing was distinct from that worn by cultivators.
Mo Jiuyou clearly understood the difference. He knew that Nangong Yu was a mortal; otherwise, he wouldn’t have dared order her to apologize or threatened to tame her into becoming his maidservant.
But now…
“I’m not telling you.” Nangong Yu narrowed her eyes and smiled as she casually put away the electric baton.
What kind of composure was this? What kind of self-control?
As Chen Zhi watched her, the wariness in his heart deepened. He slowly withdrew the spiritual-energy barrier and said to the people behind him, “She is your senior sister. You must treat her with respect.”
He hadn’t acted like this a moment ago.
When Mo Jiuyou had ordered Nangong Yu to become his servant, he hadn’t said a word.
“Hmph.” Mo Jiuyou refused to accept this. “Within three months, my cultivation will surpass yours! And when that happens…”
He was still young, but his hostility was already intense. He was clearly the sort of person who never let go of a grudge.
Chen Zhi could only shake his head helplessly from the side.
He was already a Golden Core cultivator, yet he couldn’t see through her at all.
Still, Mo Jiuyou’s talent was extraordinary. Once he entered the sect, he would certainly take a powerful master, gain access to abundant resources, and rise swiftly through the ranks. Nangong Yu could not compare with him.
Cultivation required talent, luck, and opportunities. Not one of them could be lacking.
Even if Nangong Yu had some confidence in herself, in the eyes of Nascent Soul and Divine Transformation cultivators, she was still insignificant.
“Senior Sister Little Yu.”
The other two newly accepted disciples obediently stepped forward to greet Nangong Yu.
Although Mo Jiuyou looked incredibly impressive, in the eyes of the other two, he was still just a child.
Nangong Yu was different. She was about the same age as them, yet she was so powerful.
“Hello,” Nangong Yu replied amiably, looking over the two plainly dressed NPCs before nodding at them.
Mo Jiuyou, having failed to tame Nangong Yu, shifted his attention to the other two newly accepted disciples.
That had nothing to do with Nangong Yu.
She had grown bored after squatting around to help with recruitment, so she returned to the city once more.
Could there be other side quests?
Just as the damn system had hidden her key, perhaps it had concealed other clues too, afraid she might stumble upon them?
She wandered around for two days without triggering any clues. Instead, Senior Sister Ling Xue found her and said, “Come on. I’ll take you home to have a look.”
“Huh?” Nangong Yu was surprised. “The recruitment is over already?”
Senior Sister Ling Xue replied, “The sect sent word and told us to return ahead of schedule.”
“What happened?” Nangong Yu’s eyes instantly lit up at the words. Why else would they be ending things early for no reason? Something must have happened!
Ling Xue rubbed her head. “What could have happened? Leave the worrying to the adults.”
Then it must be something serious, Nangong Yu thought. Serious enough that they couldn’t even tell her.
Since she couldn’t get an answer, she stopped asking. She climbed onto Ling Xue’s flying sword and left Sunset Cloud City.
The flying sword shot into the air. Sensing something, Nangong Yu looked back and met Chen Zhi’s gaze.
His face was rapidly shrinking into the distance, but before his features became indistinct, Nangong Yu still gave him a meaningful smile.
The flying sword was incredibly fast. In the blink of an eye, Chen Zhi’s figure had become no larger than a grain of sand, merging with the other people at the city gate until they were nothing more than tiny black dots.
Nangong Yu withdrew her gaze and began humming a cheerful tune.
At the city gate, Chen Zhi stared blankly in the direction the flying sword had gone. Ling Xue’s voice echoed in his mind:
“Senior Brother Chen, rest assured. I’ll bring her back safely.”
He was a Golden Core cultivator, with exceptionally keen senses. Even from a great distance, he could clearly see the expression on Nangong Yu’s face.
And even if he couldn’t, he could always send out his spiritual sense.
He had seen the girl turn around and give him an evil smile. His heart had immediately lurched, and he had sent Ling Xue a message at once:
“Be careful. Something may be amiss.”
The girl was far too strange. Chen Zhi had never been able to let down his guard around her.
Ling Xue was taking her back to Xiaoyan Village today because Chen Zhi had told Elder Lu about what happened the previous day. Elder Lu had then said, “Then let’s see for ourselves.”
Nangong Yu was a mortal and could not fake such things.
The strange abilities she possessed were most likely the result of some fortuitous encounter.
Cultivators who had benefited from such opportunities were always more tolerant of other people’s peculiarities—after all, who among them had not had their own lucky break?
And so, today’s scene had come about, with Ling Xue taking Nangong Yu back.
They wanted to see for themselves whether she really came from Xiaoyan Village—and whether Xiaoyan Village had fallen into the hands of evil cultivators.
The Ziyang Sect was not afraid of such petty tricks.
“Senior Brother, have you seen Senior Brother Zhao You?” A disciple hurried over, interrupting Chen Zhi’s thoughts.
Chen Zhi came back to himself and turned to the disciple beside him. “No. What is it?”
“Senior Brother Zhao You is missing.” The disciple looked anxious. “When everyone assembled, they were all there except Senior Brother Zhao You.”
Chen Zhi frowned. “He isn’t in his room?”
“There’s no one in his room,” the disciple replied. “No one has seen him these past few days. We thought he was meditating in seclusion, but his room is empty, and his disciple token can’t be reached either.”
For some reason, Chen Zhi’s heart sank when he heard this.
Nangong Yu had returned to Xiaoyan Village once again.
She didn’t know the way, but Ling Xue had a map. Every place that a disciple of the sect had ever visited was marked on it.
Xiaoyan Village was a known settlement, and the sect came here to recruit disciples every dozen or so years. Naturally, it appeared on the map.
“There it is!” Nangong Yu was the first to spot Li Xiufen working in their own courtyard below. She cried out happily.
Ling Xue glanced at the map, confirmed that this was the place, then put away her flying sword and carried Nangong Yu down.
“An immortal has come!”
“An immortal is here!”
The villagers who were out and about saw the rainbow light descending from the sky and were startled.
The village chief hurried over as well, leaning on his cane and supported by his grandson. He looked toward the place where the rainbow light was coming down.
“I’m back!” A clear, ringing, joyful, and triumphant young girl’s voice carried from one end of the village to the other.
