"Xu Qingjun, sixteen years old, Foundation Establishment First Layer."
Chen Ye lifted his teacup, blew away the foam with his head lowered, and answered calmly.
If he counted from the time he picked her up, she was actually twelve.
But if he counted from this girl’s true origin... even the ancestral patriarchs of Huayue Mansion would have to call her "senior" when they saw her; she’d been alive in that egg for several hundred, if not a thousand, years.
Of course.
Chen Ye had always counted from the time he picked her up; this time he’d deliberately added four years.
He wasn’t worried that Gu Tangyin would see through it.
Although Qing Jun still looked like a tiny thing on the outside, in the Cultivation Realm, you couldn’t judge age by appearance.
Take Bai Susu for example—looking at her, who would know she’s already over twenty?
"Sixteen?!"
Ever since Chen Ye had stepped into the Wind-Watching Pavilion, Gu Tangyin’s expression had been cold and indifferent, but now she couldn’t hold it anymore.
Her fingers, which had been playing with the jade cup, paused slightly; she suddenly raised her eyes, utterly shocked.
After a while.
She looked at Chen Ye again, suspiciously:
"Could it be you’ve deliberately reported her age younger? Heh... or is it that, for the sake of fame, you had your disciple take an Appearance Stabilizing Pill early, just to manufacture a heaven-defying prodigy?"
Chen Ye heard exactly what she was implying.
This woman suspected that, to build momentum, he’d let some old monster who’d cultivated for decades pretend to be tender and young, all to gain an undeserved reputation.
After all, in the Cultivation Realm, shameless stunts like this weren’t rare.
For the so-called fame and profit, even knowing there were immense risks, people would still take desperate gambles.
He mused inwardly:
"Little girl, little girl, this is actually the first time someone’s accused you of pretending to be young... Hmph, but your master saw through you long ago. What normal little girl has that many wicked schemes in her head? This thing is definitely some great expert’s reincarnation. I must’ve owed karma in my last life, so she came in this life just to torment her master!"
He thought again of that little brat, who was still "running wild" inside the Grotto Heaven right now.
As her master, he was already annoyed, itching for her to hurry back so he could properly discipline her.
Of course, the girl absolutely mustn’t get hurt; otherwise her master would be too reluctant to discipline her...
Chen Ye looked at Gu Tangyin and smiled:
"I imagine Fairy has already investigated me in secret, so you naturally know I am not one to utter falsehoods."
Gu Tangyin impatiently arched a brow and gave Chen Ye a cold look, as if watching him put on a performance.
She quietly waited for Chen Ye to finish, then stretched out a hand and pushed a jade disc toward him, saying with a light laugh:
"Instructor Chen, it’s precisely because I investigated you that I began to doubt you."
Chen Ye kept his expression unchanged as he accepted the jade disc.
Just as he expected.
The jade disc recorded all sorts of information about him.
It also contained information about his three disciples.
It mentioned that Qing Jun was from the Xu Family and that twelve years ago, she was entrusted to Chen Ye by Mao Qingzhu.
It also mentioned that Jin’er was suspected to have a special constitution, some kind of Fire Spirit Body.
As for Zhiwei, only a few lines were written.
On a snowy night a year ago, Chen Ye had picked her up from the roadside.
He had to admit.
Judging from these records alone, Chen Ye really came across as a top-tier good person—the kind who practically overflowed with compassion, picking up abandoned children and taking them in without reservation.
Gu Tangyin said slowly:
"Heh, if the records are true, then your disciple is probably not sixteen, but twelve... A twelve-year-old Foundation Establishment Cultivator—there’s likely not a second one in all the world."
"Bai Susu is already a prodigy your Yan Kingdom only sees once in several centuries, but she only reached Foundation Establishment at nineteen. Mm, nineteen already is rare enough."
"As for me, a Hidden Dragon of Huayue, I only reached Foundation Establishment at twenty-two. And according to the records in Huayue Mansion, the earliest Foundation Establishment on record was at fourteen... Yet your disciple reached Foundation Establishment at twelve?"
What was a master supposed to do?
His disciple just happened to be a heaven-sent genius.
But he had already discussed this matter with Xu Henshan long ago.
As the saying goes, "The tree that stands out in the forest is the first to be felled by the wind." There was no way he and Xu Henshan hadn’t anticipated this.
Chen Ye smiled and said:
"Does Fairy truly believe someone could achieve Foundation Establishment at twelve? Even that Nascent Soul True Monarch of Duqing Sect who was said to be reincarnated would find it hard to do, no? Or do you perhaps suspect my disciple is the reincarnation of a Divinity Transformation Celestial Monarch?"
"Ah, what virtue or ability does Chen possess to have a Divinity Transformation Celestial Monarch as a disciple? If that were so, then I’d advise Huayue Mansion to never provoke Qing Jun under any circumstance. If she truly is a Divinity Transformation Celestial Monarch, then even if she’s only Foundation Establishment First Layer now, the backhand methods she left behind might be more than your Palace Lord could handle."
The Wind-Watching Pavilion fell utterly silent; one could hear a pin drop.
Gu Tangyin stared at Chen Ye for a long time, then let her gaze fall back onto the Grotto Heaven’s light curtain, her tone flattening out:
"That’s precisely why I don’t believe the recorded age, and had to come ask you... Forget it, sixteen it is."
The doubt in her heart dissipated.
In fact, the people of Huayue Mansion had also reported another piece of news, which she did not tell Chen Ye.
The message stated that
Mao Qingzhu had conceived in secret early on, which was why her relationship with Xu Buhui had been strained.
Later, when the Xu Family discovered Qing Jun, in order to cover up their family scandal, they claimed she had been born eleven years ago—one year after Mao Qingzhu married Xu Buhui.
"The reason should be just that simple... It can’t actually be a Divinity Transformation Celestial Monarch’s reincarnation, right? It has to be the Xu Family covering up a family scandal."
Gu Tangyin thought to herself,
"Besides, rumors were circulating in the Moon Rhinoceros Lake District long ago that Xu Qingjun wasn’t Xu Buhui’s child, but that of some other member of the Xu Family. Such talk doesn’t come out of nowhere. On top of that, Xu Buhui once let slip while drunk that he’s never had intimate relations with Mao Qingzhu... In that case, Xu Qingjun’s true age is highly suspicious."
With that, the logic all lined up.
The so-called "twelve years old" was just the Xu Family forcibly shaving four years off the child’s age to fool outsiders.
"Since it’s sixteen, then it all makes sense."