Chapter 29: Secretary Lu Has Something to Say!

After Secretary Lu Zhiyun, the temporary town secretary of Qingshan Town, finished delivering her work guidance, Student Lin Shu raised his hand with a question:

“Question! Little Senior Sister! What do you mean by blowing up the Secret Realm?”

Wang Zhiya, Ye Qing, and Tong Yao all fixed their gazes on Lu Zhiyun, hoping to hear her unique insight.

Secretary Lu waved her hand and chuckled, “Although I said to blow up the Secret Realm, that doesn’t mean literally blowing up the Secret Realm!”

“To be precise, it’s about blowing up the venue where the Flower Festival is held!”

“Then what’s the point of doing that?” Ye Qing adjusted his glasses, puzzled.

“There are two reasons for doing this! First, it will extend the duration of the Secret Realm.”

Lu Zhiyun crossed her hands and rested them under her chin, continuing, “Everyone, a Secret Realm always has a time limit. The only information we have right now is the key time point—the ‘Flower Festival’.”

“And before this crucial event, the ‘Flower Festival,’ whether we need to meet certain conditions or grasp some vital information—we simply don’t know.”

“So, the best way is to prolong the time until the ‘Flower Festival,’ and use the extra time to investigate the strange places in Qingshan Town.”

At this point, Lu Zhiyun paused, then continued, “As for the second reason! Naturally, it’s to see if we can draw out the Spirit of the Secret Realm!”

Spirit of the Secret Realm!

Wang Zhiya slapped his forehead, realizing he’d forgotten that every Secret Realm ought to have a Spirit of the Secret Realm.

“Secretary Lu… ahem! Little Senior Sister Lu is right! From the very beginning, this Secret Realm hasn’t displayed any tasks, nor has the Spirit of the Secret Realm guided us—how strange!”

He didn’t know why he’d suddenly blurted out “Secretary Lu” when calling Lu Zhiyun, but somehow, it just seemed right.

Even the most ordinary Secret Realm would have the presence of a Spirit of the Secret Realm, but this immortal Secret Realm of Qingshan Town surprisingly had none. No wonder they hadn’t noticed when they first entered.

Blowing up the venue for the Flower Festival would surely cause a big commotion. As long as the noise was loud enough, maybe they really could lure out the Spirit of the Secret Realm!

“Then, there’s still one more problem!” Tong Yao raised her hand, “Little Senior Sister Lu, aside from all that, we can’t just blow up the Flower Festival’s venue, right?”

“That festival is clearly very important to the people of Qingshan Town. If you say you’re going to blow it up, there’s no way they’d agree!”

Lu Zhiyun glanced at Tong Yao and said, “Junior Sister Tong, don’t worry. We can definitely blow it up, but we’ll have to put it a different way!”

“We can tell them that we’re helping them design a better venue for the festival, free of charge!”

Tong… Tong Junior Sister?

Wang Zhiya and Ye Qing both sensed a subtle change in the atmosphere and shifted their attention to Lin Shu.

Lin Shu pointed at himself and whispered, just loud enough for them to hear, “Why are you looking at me?”

“Senior Brother Lin! Did you teach her this too?” Ye Qing asked in a hushed tone.

“For example, is this some kind of demonstration tactic?” Wang Zhiya pondered.

Maybe, in a few days, they’d all be called “Junior Brother Wang” and “Junior Brother Ye.”

“This really has nothing to do with me!” Lin Shu said, half amused, half exasperated.

The Qingshan Town Four Little Ones quickly wrapped up their second meeting. This meeting cemented Lu Zhiyun’s leadership position, and under her guidance, the Four Little Ones now had a clear objective and decided to follow her direction in their subsequent actions.

Because the Flower Festival venue in Qingshan Town was held at an Ancient Altar, Wang Zhiya stayed up all night drafting a new Blueprint of the Altar.

The next day, they went to see Mayor Shi. At first, when they brought up “blowing up the altar,” Mayor Shi refused repeatedly.

He explained that the altar in Qingshan Town had thousands of years of cultural heritage, and the foundation of the altar absolutely could not be destroyed!

Secretary Lu understood the critical issue perfectly and immediately promised that during the demolition and reconstruction, the whole town would be compensated with five pieces of Lower Grade Spirit Stone per day.

During the Era of Great Shang, a single Lower Grade Spirit Stone covered the entire town’s daily expenses!

Mayor Shi happily agreed and promised to actively cooperate.

Tear it down! Tear it down however you like! He said he would always be on the front line of the demolition, working alongside Secretary Lu.

With that matter settled, all that remained was to collect information and investigate special conditions. This task mainly fell to Wang Zhiya and Ye Qing.

As for how they would investigate, that was up to them—Secretary Lu only cared about the results.

Tong Yao originally intended to investigate as well, but Lu Zhiyun sought her out and hoped she could use her “Niuyou” fusion training, combined with Duanyao Mountain’s unique cultivation method, to help construct the Flower Festival’s altar.

Tong Yao refused outright! Waving her hands, she declared that she was a maiden in her prime—how could she turn into a muscular Niuyou to move bricks? How would she maintain her reputation if word got out?

But after Lu Zhiyun pulled her into her boudoir for a deep conversation, Tong Yao immediately pledged to support everything Secretary Lu said, without a single complaint.

“Little Senior Sister Lu! From now on, I’ll listen to you, so that thing about leaving—”

Lu Zhiyun raised her hand to stop Tong Yao’s next words. “Little Tong, we’ll talk about that later. For now, the priority is to get out of the Secret Realm as soon as possible!”

“Yes… Little Senior Sister Lu!” Tong Yao sobbed.

The above sums up what Lin Shu saw and heard today.

He felt that his adorable Little Senior Sister might have done something extraordinary, but as the most upright eldest senior brother of the Heavenly Gate Sect, he always believed his Little Senior Sister would never stray down the path of evil cultivation.

As the one who protects the way, all he had to do was keep watch, letting the Four Little Ones explore with peace of mind and ensuring no one disturbed them.

At midday, right after lunch, Lin Shu received new options from the system.

【Go back to your room and nap. Do nothing. Random Attribute +1】

【Go inspect Qingshan Town. Random Attribute +1】

【Cultivators should practice diligently. Today, decide to train! Root Bone +10000】

Lin Shu nearly chose the third option again! Good thing he was a cautious man.

Although this was the first time there were two choices that both gave【Random Attribute +1】, he knew exactly what to pick—as long as he didn’t pick number three.

Compete? Competing is impossible, not in this lifetime!

But what’s the difference between one and two? Lin Shu thought it over but couldn’t figure it out.

He decided to pick number two!

If he just went back to rest, that’s all he’d do, but if he went out, he might trigger more options!

So, slipping on his straw sandals, Lin Shu began his inspection of the town.

Qingshan Town was actually quite small. Judging by its area, it was probably smaller than the foothills of Azure Luan Peak.

Lin Shu’s first stop was a stage, where Ye Qing from the Stepping Cloud Immortal Sect was standing.

He was very curious—why would such a small place have a stage? What was it for?

Right beside the stage was a sign with four large characters: “Martial Arts Contest for Marriage.”

On the stage, Ye Qing’s opponent was a young man in the early stages of Qi Refinement, barehanded, looking a few years older than Ye Qing and about the same age as Lin Shu.

For a rogue cultivator, managing to draw in spiritual energy was already an achievement, but this duel was still completely one-sided.

As a disciple of a top-tier immortal sect, even aside from his identity, Ye Qing was an exceptional cultivation genius. Late-stage Qi Refinement against early-stage Qi Refinement—there was no suspense at all.

What’s more, Ye Qing possessed a cultivation technique that gave him brief glimpses of the future; his opponent couldn’t possibly land a hit…

Yet, in the next moment, under Lin Shu’s shocked gaze, the early Qi Refinement youth struck Ye Qing squarely with his palm, knocking him back several steps and almost making him fall.

“Amazing! Brother, it looks like I’ll have to hand over the champion’s seat!” Ye Qing spat out a mouthful of clotted blood.

The youth opposite immediately collapsed to the ground, convulsing. “What a powerful counterattack! Even spiritual energy rebounds—no wonder you’re an immortal sect expert!”

“No, don’t! Brother, don’t die!” Ye Qing rushed forward to save him.

“The winner! Stepping Cloud’s Ye Qing! Thirty-two consecutive victories!”

When Ye Qing came down from the stage, Lin Shu crowded over. “What’s going on?”

“Sigh, Senior Brother Lin! That move from Azure Luan Peak is just too outrageous!” Ye Qing sighed heavily.

“It wasn’t me! I didn’t teach her! Little Senior Sister figured it out herself!” Lin Shu replied almost instantly, then realized, “Wait, what’s that got to do with us?”

“You don’t know! Yesterday when we discussed the investigation plan, Little Senior Sister Lu said we should start by helping the villagers, so they’ll trust us and we can get closer to the task.”

“Who could have guessed that today I’d be assigned a Martial Arts Contest for Marriage, and I’ve already won thirty-two rounds!”

“But with your strength, isn’t it only natural to win?” Lin Shu asked.

“The problem is I don’t want to win! You don’t know—the event organizer, he…” Ye Qing was so anxious he could barely speak.

“Is it that the organizer’s daughter is too ugly?” Lin Shu stroked his chin and asked.

That sort of thing does happen! If the contest’s prize is too ugly, someone like Ye Qing would definitely end up in this situation; dramas often show it that way.

Ye Qing looked completely baffled and scratched his head. “She’s not ugly at all, actually she’s very pretty!”

“Then what are you unsatisfied with?” Lin Shu thought Ye Qing was just being greedy.

“But the problem is, this Martial Arts Contest for Marriage isn’t about marrying his daughter at all! It’s to marry his six-hundred-year-old Golden Core Ancestor!!!”