“Do you have anything else to say?” the Elder asked coldly, staring at Mo Jiuyou.
Mo Jiuyou hung his head dejectedly. “Reporting to you, Elder, this disciple has nothing more to say.”
He blamed Nangong Yu for being useless, and was also somewhat disappointed by her performance.
He had originally thought she would make a decent whetstone. Who would have guessed that he had misjudged her?
She was arrogant and conceited, fond of playing little tricks, and lacked a sincere heart for cultivation. She had no future at all.
Among mortals, her cleverness might make people take a second look. But among cultivators, she was exactly the sort who would be eliminated first.
Mo Jiuyou knew all too well that cultivation required hard work and diligence every day. And that was precisely what Nangong Yu had cast aside.
After feeling disappointed for a while, he pushed those distracting thoughts away and listened attentively to the Elder’s lecture.
As for Nangong Yu, after being thrown out of the main hall, she flew straight toward the foot of the mountain.
Unfortunately, the Elder had clearly meant her harm. Just as she was about to crash into a sharp rock, she immediately slapped a Lightness Talisman onto herself.
She landed as lightly as a feather, exhaled in relief, then pursed her lips and whistled.
“Tweet—”
A spirit crane spiraled down and nuzzled Nangong Yu’s cheek.
“Take me to Outer Sect Peak.” Nangong Yu fed it a spirit fruit before climbing onto its back.
The spirit crane stretched its long neck and cried out. Then it spread its wings and flew toward Outer Sect Peak.
Quite a few disciples witnessed the scene.
“She’s just leaving like that?”
“She had to climb up the mountain herself, but she can ride a spirit crane down?”
“Do you believe that?”
Nangong Yu had offended an Elder. Who would dare imitate her?
Some disciples left when no one came to summon them. Hunger was one reason; if they waited too long, they would not reach the foot of the mountain until midnight.
As for summoning a spirit crane, it was not free. Each summon cost spirit stones. Although the sect had issued them a small amount, it was nowhere near enough to summon a spirit crane every day.
Others remained outside the hall, believing that the Elder had another arrangement for them.
Nangong Yu paid none of this any mind. They were all NPCs, each with their own circles. There was no way for a player to integrate into them.
She ran to the dining hall at Outer Sect Peak, packed up a huge amount of food, and finally sniffed around the Elders’ private kitchen before riding the spirit crane back to Hengxu Peak.
Before she even landed, she saw someone waiting outside her cave dwelling.
“What are you doing here?” Nangong Yu guided the spirit crane down, fed it a few spirit fruits, and then addressed the person at the entrance.
The person standing there was Chen Zhi. His expression was complicated.
“Greetings, Grand Martial Aunt.”
Nangong Yu entered the cave dwelling, placed the food she had packed from the dining hall on the table, and picked up her chopsticks.
“Let’s get one thing straight first. I’m not inviting you to eat.”
“This disciple wouldn’t dare,” Chen Zhi said. He sat down across from her after hesitating again and again, then waved his hand and released a barrier of spiritual power that blocked the entrance.
Nangong Yu took a mouthful of rice and cast him a sidelong glance.
“Something happened at Elder Fuyun’s Yuqing Peak,” Chen Zhi said quietly.
“Wow. Wonderful.” Nangong Yu looked away and buried her head in her meal.
She acted as though the matter had nothing to do with her.
But Chen Zhi did not believe that. Just last night, she had gone to Luwu Peak to find him and asked where Elder Fuyun lived.
“Was it you?” Chen Zhi asked softly.
Nangong Yu was rendered speechless. She raised her head.
“Great-grandson, take a look at me. I’m a mortal.”
Calling him her grand martial nephew’s grandson was too much of a mouthful, so “Great-grandson” rolled off the tongue much more easily.
“Don’t pin everything on me, all right?” She shot him a glance before lowering her head and continuing to shovel rice into her mouth.
Chen Zhi’s expression became even more complicated.
She looked completely natural. There was not the slightest pause or trace of nervousness as she ate.
Was the matter truly unrelated to her, or had her schemes and composure already reached an unfathomable level?
“Every plant and tree on Elder Fuyun’s Yuqing Peak disappeared overnight,” Chen Zhi continued. “All that remains are jagged rocks and bare mountain slopes.”
How astonishing was it? Even the moss growing in the cracks between the stones had vanished without a trace.
“Elder Fuyun was furious. He swore to find the culprit and pursue the matter to the death.” As Chen Zhi spoke, his eyes held a probing look.
Nangong Yu had already eaten half a bowl of rice.
“Who told him to be so lacking in virtue? I suppose this is retribution.”
Chen Zhi’s entire body tensed almost instantly.
He remembered that yesterday, when Xu Wanzhong had exchanged blows with Elder Xuanqing, she had also called Elder Xuanqing a bastard.
Elder Xuanqing had been left utterly humiliated by some method she had used.
Yuqing Peak had definitely been her doing as well!
But Chen Zhi had no proof.
Even if he did, he could never produce it. On the contrary, he had to pretend not to know anything.
“Elder Fuyun has already borrowed Elder Lu’s Retrospection Mirror,” Chen Zhi said, lowering his eyes. “They’ll soon find the culprit.”
A Nascent Soul cultivator’s cave dwelling had been stripped bare overnight, and Elder Fuyun had not noticed a thing.
It was not merely absurd—it was frightening.
Anyone capable of producing such an effect could not possibly have weak cultivation. Yet a Nascent Soul True Person would never use such an underhanded and petty method.
The case was so bizarre that many True Persons and Dao Lords throughout the sect were paying attention to it.
“Oh.” Nangong Yu nodded without the slightest hint of panic. “I wish them success.”
She knew about Elder Lu’s Retrospection Mirror. It could reveal events that had occurred recently.
However, if the scene had been interfered with by formations or other means, the image would become unclear.
In other words, the Retrospection Mirror could be distorted. If it showed Nangong Yu, she could simply claim that someone had impersonated her and framed her.
What was there to panic about?
Besides, the Sect Master still owed her a favor. She would not dare say she could settle something major, but dealing with a mere Elder would not be a problem.
And she still had her master!
“Where does Elder Xuanqing live?” Nangong Yu asked as if making casual conversation.
Chen Zhi did not hear her clearly. “Who did you ask about?”
“Elder Xuanqing!” Nangong Yu repeated. “What’s the name of the place where he lives?”
A chill immediately shot up from the soles of Chen Zhi’s feet, enveloping his entire body.
“W-why are you asking about him?”
“I was just curious.” Nangong Yu glanced at him and said casually, “You don’t know? Then I’ll ask someone else.”
Curious, my foot! Could Chen Zhi really believe her?
And who else was she planning to ask? Could news of this possibly leave Hengxu Peak?
“I know.” The words practically escaped his mouth. As soon as he said them, cold sweat streamed down from his temples.
He reluctantly pulled out a handkerchief and wiped it away before asking, “What are you planning to do?”
“What could I do?” Nangong Yu said, both amused and exasperated. “I’m a mortal. What could I possibly do? I’m just asking.”
Chen Zhi would sooner believe a ghost!
“Grand Martial Aunt, whatever grudge you have, you don’t need to handle it yourself.” Chen Zhi practically pleaded with her. “Whether it’s Grand Martial Aunt Xu or the Grand Ancestor, they’ll avenge you.”
She had already made an enemy of Elder Fuyun.
How much more trouble was she planning to cause for Hengxu Peak?
As the person who had brought her in, Chen Zhi could see nothing but darkness ahead of him.
“Grand Martial Aunt, please think this through!”
During the Heart-Questioning Trial, he had been struck three times by Elder Xuanqing.
If she continued acting recklessly, Chen Zhi felt that the Grand Ancestor, his grandmaster, his grand martial uncle, his master, his martial uncles—in short, everyone in the line above him—would each give him three strikes.
He was only a mere Golden Core cultivator, after all.
Nangong Yu glanced at him.
“I really wasn’t planning to do anything.”
It was the same line again! Would Chen Zhi believe her just because she said it three times?
He left in a daze.
Even the joy of breaking through a minor cultivation bottleneck—from the early Golden Core stage to the middle stage—had almost completely vanished.
Nangong Yu ate every last bite of the meal she had packed from the cafeteria. She rubbed her stomach, pulled out a massage chair, lay down on it, and closed her eyes to rest.
She needed to tidy up her space.
She had stuffed quite a lot of things into it yesterday.
Outside, things were lively beyond compare. Within a single day, the news that Elder Fuyun had been thoroughly humiliated had spread throughout the entire sect.
People were discussing it everywhere. Some guessed that it had been done by one of Elder Fuyun’s enemies, some suspected that a demonic cultivator had infiltrated the sect, and others believed that Elder Fuyun had offended an outer disciple and been retaliated against.
Everyone had their own theory. It was not until the night grew deep that the uproar finally quieted down somewhat.
Then, in the dead of night, a sudden scream shattered the silence.
“Ah—!”
One cry after another rang out, soon followed by furious shouts.
“What happened?”
“What is it this time?”
“This time it seems to be Mount Taixuan?”
The disciples flew out of their cave abodes one after another and hovered in midair, gazing toward Mount Taixuan.
In the darkness, countless masses of pitch-black shadows came crashing down from the sky like a torrential downpour, creating an enormous commotion.
“How could this be?!”
“Those are… trees?!”
“Is it raining trees on Mount Taixuan?”
Cultivators had remarkably sharp eyesight. Even in the dim night, they could still clearly see that what was tumbling down over Mount Taixuan was one tree after another.
“Wait! Wasn’t someone cutting down the trees on Mount Yuqing just last night?!”
Someone quickly recalled the incident and cried out, “Hurry! Catch him!”
If they caught the person making it “rain trees,” they could solve the case of Mount Yuqing being stripped bare last night!
Realizing this, the disciples all flew toward Mount Taixuan.
Such sinister, underhanded methods were not something that could withstand the light of day. Whoever had done this surely was not a righteous disciple. It might even be a demonic cultivator who had infiltrated the sect!
More and more figures flew toward Mount Taixuan.
On Mount Taixuan, Elder Xuanqing’s disciples had already flown out of their cave abodes, trying to find the person responsible for the rain of trees.
However, they found nothing.
“Who’s there, skulking around?!”
“Come out!”
“Get out here right now!”
An enormous number of trees came crashing down from the sky, even striking Elder Xuanqing’s secluded residence.
Or rather, the first place to suffer the impact was the grand complex of lavish halls built at the very summit of Mount Taixuan.
“What lowlife dares to run wild on Mount Taixuan?!” Elder Xuanqing flew out of the halls and shot upward.
No one noticed that, at the instant he flew out, a flash of golden light flickered in a corner.
With invisibility talismans, aura-concealing talismans, lightness talismans, silence talismans, and various others plastered all over her body—and with the title “Why Did You Have to Mess with Her?” equipped—Nangong Yu went unnoticed by everyone.
She pulled the Universal Key from around her neck. The restrictions on the immortal palace fluctuated, revealing a keyhole.
She shoved the key inside. The next moment, she felt the lock mechanism turn. Taking one step forward, she entered the halls.
“Woohoo!”
Elder Xuanqing was a man with quite a refined taste for life, and his residence was decorated in extraordinary luxury.
There were luminous pearls from the deep, gauze curtains woven from heavenly silkworm silk, ancient and elegant incense burners, Spirit-Nourishing Incense that cost tens of thousands of spirit stones for a piece no bigger than a fingernail, golden spirit fruits that were nearly ripe…
Nangong Yu did not recognize a single one of them.
But that did not matter. She took everything.
One item after another vanished rapidly from the immortal-aura-filled halls, which gradually became empty.
“Boom—!”
A tremendous explosion came from outside, causing the grand hall beneath her feet to tremble slightly. Nangong Yu paused for a moment and heard a furious roar.
She smiled faintly and began collecting the valuables even faster.
“What a wealthy man!” The more she collected, the more she found. There were still countless treasures that looked extraordinary wherever she looked, and Nangong Yu’s hands began to ache.
But her expression was full of excitement. She tapped her optical brain and operated it briefly.
“Boom—!”
Another enormous explosion sounded from outside.
That was one of the traps Nangong Yu had planted in advance to draw the cultivators’ attention.
But she did not want to cause any greater disturbance after the third explosion. Judging that enough time had passed, she slipped away decisively.
When she left, the restrictions did not obstruct her. Nangong Yu could not help touching the key around her neck.
[Universal Key]: A gift from Them. It can open all tangible and intangible doors. Its mystery surpasses your imagination; it has even made certain existences jealous. Yet you have obtained it once again. What a wondrous twist of fate.
(Note: It is a key without restrictions, but its number of uses is limited. However, because of the jealousy of certain existences, you have lost access to the detailed information.)
“Damn bastards!” Nangong Yu cursed.
She did not know who “They” were, but this key should have revealed all that information to her the moment she obtained it, and she should have been able to keep it.
Instead, the system had thrown it away. When she finally got it back, some vital information had been lost as well.
Her precious number of uses!!
She cursed furiously for a while before summoning a spirit crane and climbing onto its back.
The spirit crane supported her with its beak, helping her get on, then gave a soft cry before spreading its wings and flying into the depths of the night.
Nangong Yu thought the spirit crane was very clever. She stroked its neck and said, “I’ll give you something tasty later.”
“Coo.”
The spirit crane gave a soft cry.
Ever since Nangong Yu had summoned a spirit crane for the first time, this particular crane had stayed by her side. Every time she called one, it was always the first to dive down toward her.
At first, Nangong Yu had not cared which crane she rode. But since this one was so clever, she had grown very fond of it.
“Ah!!”
Behind her came Elder Xuanqing’s furious roar.
The next moment, the imposing palace atop the mountain exploded with a thunderous boom.
The one who had shouted was Elder Xuanqing, and the one who had blown up the residence in a fit of rage was, naturally, Elder Xuanqing as well.
“What a waste,” Nangong Yu muttered, curling her lips.
Her eyes shifted, and she patted the spirit crane’s neck. “Come on, let’s go back.”
Outside Mount Taixuan…
“What happened? Why did Elder Xuanqing’s palace explode?”
“I have no idea.”
“What kind of grudge could they possibly have?”
The disciples discussed the matter among themselves. Nangong Yu thought to herself, Players were innocent this time. It wasn’t me.
“Junior Sister, are you a new disciple?” Someone noticed Nangong Yu riding the spirit crane and said with a laugh, “This place isn’t safe for you. You should hurry back.”
Nangong Yu was still a mortal. Anyone who paid a little attention could tell that she did not possess even the slightest trace of spiritual energy.
“Thank you, Senior Brother.” Nangong Yu craned her neck to look toward Mount Taixuan. “What exactly happened? Why did Elder Xuanqing’s palace explode?”
The senior brother replied, “I don’t know. It seems Elder Xuanqing offended someone. Someone dumped all the flowers, plants, and trees that had been dug up from Elder Fuyun’s mountain onto Mount Taixuan.”
Speaking of the mysterious person’s spectacular feat, the senior brother sighed repeatedly. “I wonder which senior expert did it. What an incredible display!”
First, they had to strip Mount Yuqing bare without anyone noticing.
Then, they had actually thought of dumping everything on Mount Taixuan. It was a stroke of genius—simply divine.
After hearing this, Nangong Yu wore a solemn expression and said worriedly, “Senior Brother, could a demonic cultivator have infiltrated our sect?”
The senior brother was stunned for a moment before shaking his head with a laugh. “It isn’t a demonic cultivator.”
Seeing her puzzled expression, he explained, “Our sect has a mountain-protecting formation. No one can get in without a disciple token.”
Nangong Yu then said, “Can’t they just steal one?”
"That's not a bad idea," that senior fellow apprentice chuckled, "but which demonic cultivator would sneak into a sect just to pull weeds for Yuqing Peak and plant trees for Taixuan Peak?"
At the end of the day, this was just petty mischief.
All thunder and no rain.
No demonic cultivator could be so foolish as to go to all the trouble of infiltrating the Ziyang Sect, only to make such a big ruckus with barely any gain to show for it.
"Oh right, oh right!" Nangong Yu nodded as if she half-understood, and she gazed in the direction of Taixuan Peak. Seeing no more commotion there, she yawned and said, "Thank you, senior brother."
That senior fellow apprentice was also about to leave, and he waved a hand at her: "Go on back now."
That night, the spiritual light of Ziyang Sect glowed like scattered starlets, lighting up across all the peaks, clustering densely around Taixuan Peak like swarms of fireflies.
By the time Nangong Yu stumbled back to Hengxu Peak yawning, it was already three o'clock in the morning.
She hopped down from the spirit crane, and was not surprised to see a figure waiting right outside her cave dwelling. "What are you doing standing here? You scared me half to death!"
Chen Zhi looked at her with a complicated expression. "Little Ancestor Master."
Nangong Yu fed the spirit crane a few spirit fruits, then gave it a young dragon-patterned koi fish fry. When she heard the spirit crane chirp cheerfully, she patted its neck.
The spirit crane held the foot-long fish in its beak, flapped its wings, and flew off into the night.
"Where did you go?" Chen Zhi asked softly.
Nangong Yu blinked in surprise. "Went to watch the fun. Taixuan Peak was such a lively scene, didn't you go take a look?"
Watching the fun? She still had the mood to watch the fun? She was the one who caused that mess in the first place, wasn't she?
Chen Zhi said quietly, "Someone set up a mechanism thousands of feet up in the sky. Tons of trees fell like rain right onto Taixuan Peak. When Elder Xuanqing's disciples climbed up to investigate, they couldn't find a single trace of anyone."
Of course they couldn't find anything.
After Nangong Yu tossed all that trash out of her spatial storage, she immediately used a Teleportation Card. By the time they got to the spot, she was long gone.
"Wow, that sounds so cool!" She exclaimed, stepping into her cave dwelling. "I'm going to bed now. Do you have anything else to say?"
Chen Zhi turned to watch her walk in, but he didn't follow her inside.
"Was it you?" He whispered under his breath.
Was she the one who did it?
Last time he could forgive her and keep it a secret for her, because he thought the things she did — like making people's eyes hurt, or making them blurt out their private secrets against their will — were all just childish pranks.
Even making Elder Xuanqing fart nonstop was just a childish trick, a little nasty, but not malicious.
But this time, even as he asked the question, he wouldn't have believed it if she actually said "yes"!
How on earth could she have pulled that off?!
Nangong Yu met his gaze and said nothing, just looked him straight in the eye.
Yes.
She was the one who did it.
This NPC was far too persistent. He might be following a truth-seeking, upright path, and if she touched his forbidden lines, he could lose control. That was why Nangong Yu couldn't lie to him.
But she didn't need to lie. She could just stay silent.
In the end, it was Chen Zhi who looked away first. He almost flinched back as if fleeing the sight, and said in a flustered, embarrassed manner, "Little Ancestor Master, rest well."
His figure flickered, and he vanished without a trace.
"Tch." Nangong Yu shrugged, yawned, and walked into her cave dwelling.
Outside, the commotion was still going full tilt.
Taixuan Peak in particular had not calmed down all night long.
Nangong Yu paid all of it no mind. She was just a little ordinary mortal, what could any of this possibly have to do with her?
"Sister Ling?" The next morning, she walked out of her cave dwelling and was surprised to see her visitor. "Come in, please!"
Ling Xue smiled. "I asked Senior Brother Chen, and only then found out that Elder Ling Heng has taken you as his disciple."
She curtsied to Nangong Yu. "I'm Senior Brother Chen's peer, so I can't possibly accept you calling me senior sister." She looked at Nangong Yu and smacked her lips lightly. "Little Yu Ancestor Master, your seniority is so high."
That puts her on the exact same level as Yu Zhizhi.
Back in the day, Yu Zhizhi was taken on as a closed-door disciple by Dao Lord Chengfeng, all because her cultivation talent was outstanding.
But Little Yu junior sister — no, Little Yu Ancestor Master...
"Little Yu Ancestor Master, how did Elder Ling Heng end up taking you as his disciple?" Ling Xue asked curiously. "He hasn't taken on any new disciples for ages."
Nangong Yu dug out sunflower seeds, sesame candies, dried meat and other snacks from her interspatial ring.
Seeing that there were still a few boxes of spicy gluten left, she took out a pack, tore it open and poured it onto a plate.
"Who knows?" She shook her head. "Senior sister, eat. These are specialties from my home."
They looked clearly like mortal snacks, and Ling Xue didn't suspect a thing. After all, she had seen the villagers of Little Swallow Village stuffing all kinds of food into her hands herself.
"That day when you went off yelling and cursing right in the Heart Examination Trial, you scared me half to death!" Ling Xue said as she grabbed a handful of sunflower seeds, still looking shaken. "What did you go through? Why did you suddenly fly into such a rage?"
Back when Senior Brother Chen Zhi suspected her of murder and interrogated her, she only pretended to get angry and made them compensate her with some nice things to appease her.
But this time you were yelling at the heavens and pointing at the earth. "I almost thought you were going to die right there!"
It's a miracle the elders didn't swat you into a puddle of mincemeat!
"Alas." Nangong Yu sighed, her face drooping listlessly.
She didn't want to say a single word about what happened that day.
Seeing her looking so downcast, Ling Xue immediately dropped the subject. She started pulling things out from her own storage instead. "I came here to give you cultivation manuals."
"I promised you I'd find them after I got back to the sect, and here they all are."
One manual after another: Light Body Art, Heart Calming Formula, Fire Control Technique, Water Control Art, and many more.
Nangong Yu's face lit up with joy. It didn't matter if she ended up using them or not — these were items given to her by an NPC!
"Little Yu Ancestor Master, this Green Wood Art is something I traded for once," Ling Xue said, picking up one of the books. "It's a pretty decent cultivation technique. As long as you have plant seeds in your hand, you can make them grow rapidly, turning them into vines and branches to attack your opponents."
An offensive spell, Nangong Yu knew perfectly well, was extremely valuable.
She happily hugged the manual to her chest. "Thank you, senior sister! I happen to have a wood spiritual root!"
Before Ling Xue could say anything else, she added, "Seniority is seniority, but when it's just the two of us, we can still call each other the same way we used to."
The way she was holding the Green Wood Art, looking like she'd never let it go, made Ling Xue laugh. "Fine, then I'll still call you Little Yu junior sister."
The two of them started chatting.
Ling Xue had an outgoing personality and loved to talk, about everything under the sun. She talked about how when she got back to the sect, her master saw she had broken through to the next level and praised her a lot. She talked about how she'd had two straight nightmares after Nangong Yu yelled at all the people in the sect that day.
She said Elder Xuanqing got put in his place by Xu Wanzhong, and that he totally deserved it. She talked about the incident on Taixuan Peak last night, and how everyone was still running around in a frenzy today, casting all kinds of spells trying to track down the culprit.
"No one knows who did it," she sighed. "What a capable person!"
Nangong Yu rolled her eyes, and feigned a confused look. "Don't you think that person is hateful? And even terrifying?"
Ling Xue chuckled. "Little Yu, for us cultivators, nothing else matters — it all comes down to your own skill."
Her expression turned serious. "This incident is clearly a personal grudge. Since it's a personal grudge, then of course it's a matter of each side relying on their own abilities."
Got it.
Even the bosses in this cultivation game world were no different from that. Everyone looked out for themselves. If you beat up one of them, the rest wouldn't gang up on you right away.
Nangong Yu put on a look of being duly enlightened. "Thank you, senior sister."
Ling Xue felt sorry that she'd been scared so much right after joining the sect, and comforted her. "Don't you worry, no one can ever bully you on Hengxu Peak. Elder Ling Heng is a Nascent Soul Dao Lord, after all!"
As they were talking, Nangong Yu suddenly remembered something. "Oh right, senior sister, why were we called back to the sect early before? Back then I wasn't senior enough, so you wouldn't tell me."
Now that she's officially a disciple of the Purple Yang Sect, and a personal disciple of the Dao Lord at that, she's more than earned the right to know, hasn't she?
