"Where did you go last night? Why didn’t you come back all night?"
Facing his disciple’s questioning, Chen Ye remained calm, having already prepared his excuses:
"Where else could I go? The sect was urging me, so I had to stay up all night opening the furnace for alchemy."
Upon hearing the word "alchemy," most of the suspicion in Qing Jun’s eyes dissipated.
After all, recently Master had indeed been working tirelessly on alchemy at Danxia Peak, she was always by his side fanning the flames.
"Oh... so you went for alchemy."
Qing Jun mumbled,
"But Master, why didn’t you call Qing Jun to go along? Master went secretly on his own... Qing Jun is not lazy; I would be willing to accompany Master, even just to fan you."
Seeing Qing Jun’s sensible demeanor.
Chen Ye’s heart couldn’t help but feel a slight sense of guilt.
However, this feeling of guilt quickly passed.
He reached out and affectionately ruffled Qing Jun’s head, smiling:
"You’re in a crucial period of growth now, staying up late won’t let you grow tall. This kind of hard task, I can bear it alone."
"I won’t not grow tall!"
Qing Jun defiantly stood on tiptoe to compare heights,
"I’ve grown a little bit! But Master, Qing Jun remembers you completed the sect task, right? How annoying of Lingyin Sect to assign more tasks to Master, treating him like a mule!"
Seeing the little girl about to cling to this topic again, Chen Ye decided to play his trump card to divert her attention:
"Okay, let’s not talk about this. Look who I’ve brought for you?"
Chen Ye slapped the Storage Bag, and a blue light flowed out, landing in the courtyard, transforming into a tall humanoid puppet.
"Ah! It’s Qingzhi!"
Qing Jun’s eyes widened in delight, exclaiming.
This puppet was the ninth-layer Qi Refining puppet that had been helping them guard their home—Qingzhi!
Since leaving Lisong Valley, Qing Jun hadn’t seen it for a long, long time.
"Wasn’t it guarding the house at Lisong Valley? When did Master bring it over?"
Qing Jun excitedly circled around the puppet, reaching out with small hands to poke its arm, full of nostalgia.
This puppet gave her so much security before.
Whenever Master wasn’t around, Qingzhi was there to protect them!
Seeing he successfully diverted the attention of this clingy little one, Chen Ye secretly breathed a sigh of relief and smiled:
"When I went back to Lisong Valley before, I specially brought it over. Uncle He is overseeing Lisong Valley, so it doesn’t need Qingzhi. Besides, Qingzhi’s current strength is too weak, only Qi Refining Stage, it’s probably even weaker than you, it needs more refining."
"Yes, yes! It needs to be strengthened!"
Qing Jun nodded repeatedly, overjoyed,
"We should equip it with a powerful flying sword! And give it a mouth that can spit fire!"
A fire-breathing mouth... doesn’t seem impossible?
Chen Ye silently pondered; his little disciple Lin Jin had Divine Fire accompanying him.
This Divine Fire has remarkable power and once severely injured a Venerable from Emotion Crossing Sect.
If he could find a way to utilize Jin’er’s Divine Fire, it could greatly boost the puppet’s combat strength!
The commotion here quickly attracted the attention of others inside the house.
The door opened.
Zhiwei led Jin’er, who was still rubbing her eyes, out.
Seeing Qingzhi, Zhiwei paused for a moment.
And beside her, Jin’er was now fully awake.
The little girl, who had been sleepy-eyed, lit up upon seeing the tall puppet in the courtyard:
"Such a big puppet... Is this the legendary Qingzhi?"
Jin’er let go of Zhiwei’s hand, trotted over with little steps.
She had a fondness for puppets and had studied many types of puppets at Ten Thousand Puppet Sect.
But within Lingyin Sect, high-tier puppets were rarely seen, at most just some low-tier ones used for hard labor.
Zhiwei smiled: "Jin’er, when you were at Lisong Valley, you rarely saw Qingzhi, right?"
"Yes!"
Jin’er nodded.
Back then, she was always at home, hardly ever seeing Qingzhi.
She stood before Qingzhi, looking up at this puppet, suddenly asking:
"Master, can Jin’er take it apart and have a look?"
"Take it apart?!"
Before Chen Ye could speak, Qing Jun was already flipping out.
She hugged Qingzhi’s leg protectively, puffing her cheeks,
"No way! This is Qingzhi! It’s our partner! How can you take it apart?"
Chen Ye shook his head, separating the two little ones, and spoke gently:
"Alright, it’s not about destroying it. It’s about modifying it. Qing Jun, didn’t I say it needs more refining?"
"Oh... that’s true." The little girl pouted.
She suddenly thought of a question,
Is the Qingzhi after the remake still the original Qingzhi?
But this question is too philosophical for a little girl to figure out.
Next.
The sound of the morning bell came from the direction of Baopu Hall.
Chen Ye looked up at the sky, the morning light was already bright.
He restrained his smile and gently knocked on the little head of Qing Jun, who was still circling the puppet:
"Alright, stop looking. The puppet is right here, it’s not going to grow legs and run away. The morning bell has rung, the morning lessons are about to start."
"Ah?!"
Qing Jun’s little face fell, turning into a bitter melon face,
"Master, can I skip the lessons..."
Thinking that she, Xu Qingjun, is a descendant of the True Dragon, destined to shake the entire Cultivation Realm in the future, and maybe even make Master her mount—if the Human Race can take the Demon Race as mounts, then why can’t a dragon take humans as mounts?
Someone like her doesn’t need to attend classes at all!
Thinking of this,
The little girl clenched her fists, deciding to resist from today!
Chen Ye, with a blank expression, also clenched his fist, which was the size of a sandpot: "Qing Jun, Master seems to feel you don’t want to go to class..."
The little girl’s fist, in front of her master’s fist, looked just like a white steamed bun!
Qing Jun was startled, quickly retracted her fist and said sheepishly: "Eh? How could it be! Qing Jun loves lessons the most..."
...
Meanwhile, on Danxia Peak.
Zhao Yushuang was sorting Spirit Grass in the Pill Room.
As the Guardian of Danxia Peak and also known as the Alchemy obsessed in the Lingyin Sect, she rarely cared about other matters apart from Alchemy.
But today, she was somewhat unsettled.
"Have you heard? The eldest daughter of Divine Mist Valley moved into Baopu Peak yesterday."
"Really? Hasn’t she always been meditating in Divine Mist Valley, with a big family and business, she doesn’t even need the instructor’s salary? Why would she be willing to go to Baopu Peak?"
"You don’t know? It’s said that Guardian Chen has deep ties with the Mao Family, and..."
The two little children responsible for cleaning were whispering outside, and upon hearing this, Zhao Yushuang couldn’t help but rub her eyebrows.
No wonder they are talking about this.
Chen Ye was no longer the Spirit Plant Cultivator of the past, now, he is undoubtedly a prominent figure in the sect.
In terms of fame, he surpasses some True Inheritors.
And Mao Qingzhu has long been renowned, being one of the most famous Fairies of the Lingyin Sect back then.
Now that the two are together, it’s hard for disciples not to discuss.
"Mao Qingzhu..."
She whispered this name, her expression complicated.
Although she didn’t have much interaction with Mao Qingzhu, as both were well-known female cultivators in the Cultivation Realm, they had heard of each other more or less.
Mao Qingzhu comes from a prestigious family and has a gentle and dignified nature, the dream companion of countless male cultivators, but unfortunately, she later married into the Xu Family.
Unexpectedly, she also went to Baopu Peak.
"Hm? Xu Buhui that person... is he really so cowardly? He is nominally Mao Qingzhu’s husband after all."
Thinking of this,
Zhao Yushuang’s hand paused slightly in sorting the Spirit Grass, and a crease suddenly appeared on the neat Spirit Grass leaves.
She was secretly annoyed.
How can such a man endure this?
If the Dao companion stays at her maiden home all the time, that’s one thing, but now there’s another man tangled up with her!
It’s a loss considering he’s a major figure in the Xu Family!
"All of you, shut up! Aunt is still refining pills, how dare you whisper around!"
Suddenly, Zhao Tong’s voice came from outside.
"Senior Brother Zhao... we were just..."
"Get out!"
Zhao Tong shouted sternly, pushed the door in, and looked upset,
"Hmph! These kids, more and more rebellious!"
"Enough."
Zhao Yushuang frowned slightly and interrupted him coldly.
Looking at the talkative nephew in front of her, she couldn’t help but sigh inwardly.
In fact, the reason she had been staying in Danxia Peak, not even visiting Chen Ye when he refined pills,
Was to take care of Zhao Tong’s feelings.
But now...
She couldn’t tell why, but Zhao Yushuang always felt uneasy in her heart.
"Maybe... I should go see Instructor Chen? It’s not for anything else, but Instructor Chen is highly regarded by True Inheritor Bai, if True Inheritor Bai gets angry at the Mao Family because of this, it won’t be good. Although the Mao Family is a big clan, how can it compare to the Bai and Zhao families?"
She thought to herself.