Back when their master and sisters came to Moon Creek Lake District to look for their master, they had even called themselves the Black and White Double Evil... It had to be said, although the little girl hadn’t grown any taller, her skill at coming up with nicknames was, just barely, a bit better than before.
But the strange thing was, this time Qing Jun hadn’t given herself a nickname.
"This is what you meant by being too ashamed to fight for things?"
Mao Qingzhu added a jab from the side in a faint tone, looking teasingly at Brother Ye.
She wanted to see this always steady man show an embarrassed expression.
But who would have thought.
This man actually calmed himself very quickly, even nodding with a leisurely air:
"Indeed, worthy of being my disciple."
"Hm?"
Mao Qingzhu was slightly stunned. After hesitating for a moment, her brows knitted slightly as she softly advised,
"Brother Ye... but their conduct like this, forcibly seizing other people’s treasures, how is it any different from those vicious Tribulation Cultivators? ’The tree that stands out in the forest is sure to be blown down by the wind’—acting like this will definitely arouse strong hatred from all the sects, and for nothing they’ll set up countless powerful enemies."
In the Cultivation Realm, it was indeed common for people to come to blows over a bit of opportunity, but to blatantly intercept disciples of other sects like this was really too much of a hatred-magnet.
Chen Ye merely smiled dismissively:
"Sister Qingzhu, you’re only seeing the result, not the cause. Zhiwei has a steady nature and knows her limits, and today she’s being timid and well-behaved. As for Qing Jun... she may be a bit greedy and mischievous, but she listens very well to her senior sister. They would never, for no reason at all, go play the role of roadside robbing Tribulation Cultivators."
"For my disciples to act like this, they must have their reasons. For example... what if it was these Cultivators from the Spirit Treasure Sect who first made a move in the dark, coveting the opportunities on them?"
"They made the first move?" Mao Qingzhu said in surprise.
On the light screen there was only the miserable scene of these Heaven’s Proud Sons from the Spirit Treasure Sect being stripped clean; they really hadn’t seen the initial exchange.
Chen Ye nodded, expression composed:
"Sister Qingzhu, think about it. All the sects may have set rules on the surface, claiming that ’matters within the Grotto Heaven do not involve the outside world.’ But in this Cultivation Realm, when has it ever truly been possible to restrain people’s hearts with rules? These so-called rules are nothing more than an excuse to bind the weak."
"If it really were my disciples who started trouble, bullyingly seizing things, then the fault would be ours. As the local snake, would the Spirit Treasure Sect really swallow this anger and obediently abide by the rules? The elders of their sect would certainly have long since come in private to Heaven-Suspended Tower’s Listening-to-the-Wind Waterside Pavilion to find me, their master, to have a little talk and demand justice."
Chen Ye turned his head to look at Mao Qingzhu and asked gently,
"In this one month I’ve been in seclusion, has any elder from the Spirit Treasure Sect or any other sect come to accuse us?"
Mao Qingzhu started and carefully thought back.
Over this past month, on the plaza before the Heaven-Suspended Tower, the Guardians of the Spirit Treasure Sect had indeed been hopping mad, their faces darker one after another.
But...
Indeed, not a single person had dared to take even half a step into the Listening-to-the-Wind Waterside Pavilion to cause trouble in private.
Even Medicine King Valley, whose True Inheritor had been taken away, had actually observed the rules with exceptional strictness and hadn’t come to make trouble for the Lingyin Sect.
"No one has come," Mao Qingzhu murmured, still puzzled. "But how do they know what happened? How do they know who’s in the right and who’s in the wrong? I’ve been watching the light screen the whole time and only saw them fighting."
"Just as I understand my disciples, they understand their own. Besides, the process is simply not important; what matters is the result."
Chen Ye let out a cold smile,
"Within the Grotto Heaven, the situation is ever-changing, life and death shift from moment to moment... all grudges will only be settled after the Grotto Heaven is over. By then, if I am strong, the logic will naturally be on my side!"
He was already in the Late Period of Foundation Establishment.
In Hunyuan City, there was only that Lord of Hunyuan City whom he still needed to fear a little.
As for the teachers of other sects?
In Chen Ye’s view, they were no problem at all.
"..."
Mao Qingzhu was speechless.
She had almost been convinced by Chen Ye, and then this guy had to end by saying that fists were the only hard truth.
Heh.
Now she understood where those three little girls’ domineering streak came from—turns out they all learned it from their master.
...
Luoxiao Grotto Heaven, in a hidden valley deep within.
The fragrance of meat and the scent of medicine turned into curling cooking smoke, rising within the valley.
At the center of the valley, a large bronze cauldron was set up.
However, this cauldron, which was originally meant for refining Spirit Pills, was at this moment bubbling with milky-white meat broth.
"Wuu wuu wuu... my Thousand-Year Purple Leaf Orchid, my Jade Marrow Ganoderma... those are the perfect main ingredients for refining Second Tier Pills..."
Beside the cauldron, a beautiful Female Cultivator was squatting on the ground, covered in dust and ash.
She wiped her tears while humiliatingly tossing the prepared precious Spirit Grass into the cauldron.
This woman was none other than the famed True Inheritor of Medicine King Valley, Su Qingdai, Fairy Su!
"Su, the heat’s not enough. Senior Sister said you have to stew the Iron-Armored Earth Dragon’s meat until it’s softer, so Qing Jun can digest it better."
Beside her, Jin’er reminded her obediently, holding a clump of ghostly blue Red Lotus Divine Fire in her hands, ready to add fire at any moment.
Su Qingdai’s body trembled. Seeing that Divine Fire, which could even melt a Second Tier Magical Treasure, she was so frightened she hurriedly urged her Wood Element Spiritual Power to fan the flames, her face full of despair.
She was a dignified True Inheritor of Medicine King Valley—wherever she went, wasn’t she always surrounded by heavenly prides of various sects, treated like the moon among stars?
Yet just a few days ago, she had led her fellow disciples to hunt for treasures in a hidden Medicinal Garden, only to run into these three little girls—heaven knew how these three brats had found that garden; it was a secret ground handed down by Medicine King Valley’s ancestor.
She had planned to rely on their numbers and Medicine King Valley’s unique poison formation to force these three little girls back and monopolize the Spirit Grass.
Who would have thought these three were simply monsters...
Besides, Medicine King Valley Cultivators were never as good at Magical Battle as other sects; even when four of them joined forces, they still weren’t a match for the girls.
After they beat all the other Medicine King Valley disciples to the ground, that silver-haired little girl, upon learning they were Medicine King Valley Cultivators, actually became overjoyed and dragged her off to cook medicinal dishes!
"Crack! Crack!"
On a bluestone not far away, Qing Jun was hugging half a century-old Red Ginseng thicker than her own forearm, gnawing on it with relish like a giant carrot.
"Burp~"
The little girl let out a satisfied hiccup and patted her round little belly.
These past days, she had not only eaten all the Treasures of Heaven and Earth they picked up along the way, but had also treated the Spirit Pills in the Medicine King Cultivators’ Storage Bags like candy, gobbling them all up.
All of a sudden.
A muffled thunderous roar sounded from within Qing Jun’s body.
A vast and pure force of blood and qi surged through her limbs and bones.
On her fair, tender skin, faint, fine silver dragon-scale phantoms surfaced, and the Spiritual Qi around her body suddenly shot up by a large margin!
"Ah! Senior Sister! I got stronger again!"
Qing Jun leaped up excitedly and punched at the empty air, actually producing a sonic boom that blasted a huge boulder in the distance into powder.
Foundation Establishment Second Layer!
Over this past month, purely by relying on an ocean of Treasures of Heaven and Earth, high-tier Demon Beast meat, and the carefully cooked dishes of Medicine King Valley’s True Inheritor, Qing Jun’s terrifying physique had finally ushered in a breakthrough!
Not far away,
Zhiwei turned her head at the sound, a trace of a smile flashing in her eyes.
"Not bad."
She sighed inwardly.
This True Dragon physique was terrifying to such an extent; with the countless treasures Qing Jun had eaten over these days, they had only barely pushed her into the Foundation Establishment Second Layer!
Fortunately, it was Qing Jun.
If it were someone else, they would probably have long been crushed by this immense Spiritual Power.
"Many thanks, Fairy Su. With your help soothing the medicinal power and the ferocity of the beast meat, Qing Jun’s absorption really has become much faster, and her meridians haven’t suffered the slightest damage."
Zhiwei smiled lightly in praise.
Su Qingdai was on the verge of tears, her heart bleeding.
Nonsense!
How could it not be fast?!
The Spiritual Medicine she’d stashed in her Storage Bag for years, plus all the Treasures of Heaven and Earth they’d looted along the way these past few days—piled up, it’d be enough to stack someone into the Foundation Establishment Middle Period!
These three wastrels!
"Th-then... when are you going to let me go?" Su Qingdai asked timidly, her eyes red, her True Inheritor airs gone completely.
"Let you go?"
Qing Jun scooted over, blinking her big eyes as she stuck out her tender pink tongue and licked her lips.
"But Su’s cooking is so yummy, and you smell all nice; just smelling you makes me want to eat more rice. Qing Jun still wants to eat that, um... right, Dragon-Whisker Ice-Fire Carp! Didn’t you say that soup was the most nourishing?"
Su Qingdai’s vision went dark, and she almost fainted.
That had just been something she made up earlier to fool this little girl so she could live.
Only to see
The little girl narrow her eyes dangerously:
"Could it be... Su is lying to me? Well, you were so scared you peed yourself back then; of course you’d say anything without thinking. In that case..."