Besides those two, there was another young cultivator dressed in plain daoist robes.
Xiao Bo'an thought these three were up to something serious.
But he did not intend to act rashly. He planned to wait until the Floating Light Summit Dao Inquiry ended, then return to Mirage Palace.
At that time, he would make a full report and see if the elders within the sect could find out anything.
Chang Yongfeng looked at Chen Yan standing in the center of the arena platform, a few strands of his innate true energy stirring in his eyes as he probed Chen Yan’s current cultivation.
There was no true energy fluctuation at all.
In this situation, either he was a mortal, or his meridians had been completely shattered.
As for the possibility that the other’s cultivation was far above his own, Chang Yongfeng didn’t even consider that route.
Then again, most people would never think in that direction.
Chang Yongfeng asked Chen Yan.
“Yes, senior, that is so.”
Chen Yan bowed toward Chang Yongfeng.
“How did this happen?”
Chang Yongfeng continued.
“A few months ago, I passed through a swamp and accidentally inhaled miasma. My true qi became chaotic, and the violent energy tore my meridians apart. I’m lucky to have survived,” Chen Yan said, showing a look of lingering fright.
“What is your name?”
Chang Yongfeng asked again.
“…Si Chen.”
Chen Yan answered.
Si Youyou looked up and glanced at Chen Yan twice.
So he shares my surname?
The little girl thought to herself.
“You have a fine little sister!”
Chang Yongfeng praised:
“A six-year-old Martial Spring Realm prodigy is unheard of. Once this spreads from Floating Light Summit, your sister’s name will be famed across the Chenping Continent!
“If Fusheng City hadn’t been isolated from the world for seventy thousand years, I might even think this little girl came from Fusheng City!
“As for the Nine Revolutions Chaos Heaven Tempering Meridian Pill matter, that is a small issue. I will order people to fetch it from the valley. There is one more thing: I just checked the roster, and both of you are currently rogue cultivators?”
“Yes.”
Chen Yan answered honestly; there was nothing to lie about.
“In that case, how about both of you joining my Wind Ravine Valley?”
Chang Yongfeng said:
“With your sister’s talent, if she continues as a rogue cultivator, she will likely face many unimaginable dangers. It’s much safer under the protection of a sect.”
Protection from a sect?
Chen Yan still remembered how, when he was at Kongshan Sect in his early cycles, he showed talent and ended up dying horribly.
He didn’t think the internal struggles in the other four great sects would be much kinder than those at Kongshan Sect.
Although someone like Huo Mu, that kind of lunatic, might have been unique to Kongshan…
Maybe?
Chen Yan was not sure.
However, facing a direct invitation from a peak elder of Wind Ravine Valley, he found it hard to refuse.
So Chen Yan flicked his gaze toward the watching crowd, toward Mr. You, hoping he would come to defuse things for him and Youyou—
He was gone.
Chen Yan did not see Mr. You’s figure.
One step at a time.
If it comes to it, run.
Chen Yan recalled again what Mr. You had once said.
Was he really on his own to run?
Shocked, Chen Yan lifted his head and looked at Chang Yongfeng on the viewing stand. Unintentionally, his eyes met those of Cheng Ziying sitting beside Chang Yongfeng for a moment.
“…It would be an honor for my sister and me to join Wind Ravine Valley!”
Chen Yan did not know exactly what game Chang Yongfeng was playing.
But at that moment he had no choice and could only answer that way.
…
Chenping Continent, Kongshan Sect.
A few immortal cranes rose from the bamboo grove beside Kongyuan Mountain, then pierced the clouds, their feathers dyed golden by the sun.
Inside the Alchemy Hall of Kongyuan Mountain, a man wearing a loose crane cloak with graying temples, looking about fifty, sat before the pill furnace.
Beside the furnace stood two young disciples clad in gilded cloud-crane daoist robes.
“I’ll say this plainly to you first.”
Lin Qifeng said to the two young disciples with a grave tone:
“If this pill furnace explodes again, the loss will be deducted from your salaries. Do you hear me?”
“…Yes.”
The corners of the two young disciples’ mouths twitched slightly.
Lin Qifeng was indeed very displeased. The person who irked him most right now was his Second Senior Brother, who was currently the Kongyuan Dignity Elder, Yue Chi.
Seven years ago when that old man was promoted from the Alchemy Hall to Dignity Elder, he took all the seasoned alchemists from the Alchemy Hall with him.
He left Lin Qifeng with a bunch of rookies.
By the way, Lin Qifeng himself was also a rookie when it came to alchemy.
This caused Kongyuan Mountain’s Alchemy Hall to suffer annual losses, and it was even hard to support the sect disciples’ demand for pills. They had to purchase pills from other peaks’ Alchemy Halls.
Lin Qifeng could always beg and borrow the funds to buy those pills from his master, Yun Yichen.
But every time the Alchemy Hall had an accident, Lin Qifeng had to pay from his own pocket.
Lin Qifeng had gone to Yue Chi many times, hoping his Second Senior Brother would transfer some veterans back to the Alchemy Hall, but was always fobbed off with excuses.
Later Lin Qifeng discovered that after every Alchemy Hall mishap, the people who were paid to repair and reforge the pill furnaces were Yue Chi’s people.
As for the spirit stones, they naturally flowed into Yue Chi’s pockets.
Whenever he thought of it, Lin Qifeng gnawed his teeth in anger.
“Elder Lin.”
A young disciple’s voice came from outside the pill room.
“What is it?”
Lin Qifeng replied somewhat sourly.
Clearly, the young disciple was taken aback by Lin Qifeng’s unfriendly attitude, but he soon calmed down.
He had long since grown used to it.
“Elder Bai is waiting for you in the first-floor hall of the Alchemy Hall.”
The young disciple said.
“Elder Bai?”
Lin Qifeng frowned slightly:
“Which Elder Bai?”
“Elder Bai of Qingchan Peak.”
Bai Qiming.
After learning the other’s identity, Lin Qifeng waved his hand and then stood up from in front of the pill furnace.
Before walking out of the pill room, Lin Qifeng turned back and pointed at the two young disciples beside the furnace:
“Try blowing up the pill furnace again and see what happens!”
Then he swept his sleeves and left.
Bai Qiming was seated in the first-floor hall of the Alchemy Hall.
“Elder Lin.”
Seeing Lin Qifeng approach, Bai Qiming greeted with a smile:
“I came to thank you for what happened last time.”
Saying that, Bai Qiming slid a storage ring from his sleeve and dropped it onto the table in front of them.
Lin Qifeng said nothing, merely picked up the storage ring and probed it with his spirit sense.
Inside were twenty thousand high-grade spirit stones and several mid-grade magical instruments.
This was not a small amount.
For a peak elder’s status, twenty thousand high-grade spirit stones and several mid-grade magical instruments could certainly be produced.
But few peak elders would casually hand over twenty thousand high-grade spirit stones and mid-grade magical instruments as a token of thanks like Bai Qiming did.
And Lin Qifeng had only helped Bai Qiming by persuading Cheng Ziying.
This was a trivial matter.
The reason Bai Qiming was so generous was simple.
He was now a Supreme Pivot Elder of the Pivot Court, a man aligned with Qi Yi.