Three days had passed since then.
Quite a lot had happened during this interval.
With the help of the Sanqing Fairy, the group successfully cleared the Secret Realm, but the massive Immortal Secret Realm yielded no rewards whatsoever.
It was only after the Green Mountain Town Secret Realm incident concluded that everyone discovered the mastermind behind it all was a follower of the Yiqi Cult. They weren’t disappointed by the lack of loot; instead, they felt relieved to have unexpectedly thwarted a demonic cult conspiracy.
After that, it was time for farewells. Everyone headed back to their respective homes and mothers.
As for the two individuals like Shi Yan, Lin Shu took them back to the Tianque Sect for interrogation. If they could get any leads on the Yiqi Cult, that would be for the best.
Upon parting, everyone promised to meet again in the future. Wang Zhia planned to perfect his “Special Pill,” striving to make the consumer’s avatar a perfect replica of the original, ideally capable of communication. Ye Qing planned to return to his sect for closed-door cultivation, intending to avoid seeing other cultivators, especially older female ones. As for Tong Yao…
“Senior Sister Lu… that Record Stone…”
In response, Lu Zhiyun spoke with heavy, heartfelt words: “Junior Sister Tong, a cultivator should prioritize their cultivation. If you care too much about external, illusory things, how will you ever grow?”
“Waaaah… Senior Sister Lu… you’re right!” Tong Yao said through gritted teeth.
In short, the Green Mountain Town incident had ended perfectly for the four of them, even if the process was a bit strange and unexpected.
According to the stories Lu Zhiyun usually read, shouldn’t she have been the one to slay the tiger demon, then discover the servile ghosts, step forward to solve the Secret Realm incident, logically drag out the mastermind, and finally successfully conquer the realm and stop the demonic cult’s plot?
Wasn’t that the standard template for a satisfying story?
Why did she feel like she hadn’t really done anything during this Secret Realm trial?
“Little Lu, Little Lu! Come here quick! The hotpot is almost ready!”
On the immortal boat, the Sanqing Fairy was crouching next to a steaming hotpot, smacking her lips, terrified her drool might fall in.
On the other side of the hotpot was the head chef, Senior Brother Lin Shu, wearing an apron and ladling out the soup base to taste for freshness.
“Exactly! Why did it turn out like this!” Lu Zhiyun sighed gloomily.
Ever since she had shared her ambitious goal of defeating her Senior Brother with the Sanqing Fairy, the fairy seemed like a changed person. How could she describe that feeling?
It was like… like someone who brags about how they can fight three hundred rounds before entering the field and handle their opponent easily, only to lose at lightning speed in less than fifteen minutes, turning into a shriveled mess who couldn’t get back up…
Afterward, the Sanqing Fairy explained it like this—”Little Lu! My immortal soul is currently incomplete, my strength is greatly reduced…” “The spiritual energy in the cultivation world has been thin lately; it’s not suitable for fighting…” “For an Immortal like me to bully a junior, where is the dignity in that…” “The weather is bad today…” and so on.
Looking at it this way, the task of defeating the greatest evil cultivator, Lin Shu, still fell to her, Lu Zhiyun!
Now that she had the Fairy as a safeguard, her path of cultivation would surely be smoother. But what she couldn’t understand was that the Sanqing Fairy… she had actually exposed herself voluntarily.
She appeared directly in front of Lin Shu!!!
When Wang Zhia and the others were still there, the Fairy wouldn’t come out. But once they were on the immortal boat, she showed herself immediately!
Moreover, after a brief moment of surprise, her Senior Brother had accepted it decisively!
And so, they had the current harmonious scene of everyone eating hotpot together.
“Senior Brother, aren’t you curious… how the Fairy got here?” Lu Zhiyun asked cautiously.
Lin Shu dropped two pieces of tofu into the pot and said casually, “Not really. If you clear an Immortal Secret Realm, it’s normal for the reward to be an Immortal, right?”
Ah?
Is that right?
Although Lu Zhiyun hadn’t cleared many wild Secret Realms, it felt like something was wrong!
“Oh! Little Lu! Don’t sweat the details!” The Sanqing Fairy grabbed a fishball and stuffed it directly into Lu Zhiyun’s mouth, winking at her. “Isn’t it good for everyone to be happy?”
The outer layer of the fishball was made from a special spiritual fish from the South Sea, while the core was harvested from a century-old Oyster Cow from the Tianque Sect’s spiritual beast fields.
It melted in her mouth, tender and delicious!
Lu Zhiyun couldn’t help but chew a few more times, but at the moment the fishball hit her stomach, she seemed to realize something.
Why would the Fairy give her a fishball for no reason? Why not tofu, lettuce, or duck blood, which cooked faster?
Could this be a message telling her to stay calm?
And most importantly—the fishball had two layers!!!
What did that mean!!!
The Fairy was telling her that she already knew about Lu Zhiyun’s concerns!
She, Lu Zhiyun, was like the fish core—vulnerable, weak, and lacking a thick outer skin! But now that the Fairy had arrived, she had support! She had a “thick skin”!
This was equivalent to declaring to Lin Shu: “This little girl is covered by an Immortal! You’d better be careful what you do!”
Yes! That had to be it!
The Sanqing Fairy meant for her to steady herself, slowly gather evidence, and then confirm Lin Shu’s identity as an “evil cultivator.” By appearing voluntarily now, she was reminding Lin Shu that if he wanted to move against Lu Zhiyun, he had better be wary of the Sanqing Fairy!
In this way, Lu Zhiyun could investigate Lin Shu even more boldly!
In the future, she only had to wait for the Sanqing Fairy’s cultivation to recover, and then they could move directly to capture Lin Shu and continue the glory of the Great Gan!
In that case, why not be a little willful for once? To experience the thrill of having someone backing her up?
Thinking of this, the corners of Lu Zhiyun’s mouth curled up. She gave a faint smile and said to Lin Shu, “Senior Brother! I want tofu! Get some for me!”
In the past, Lu Zhiyun would never have dared to order Lin Shu around like this.
“Alright, alright, alright!”
Lin Shu smiled and picked up a piece of freshly cooked tofu, placing it in his Junior Sister’s bowl.
He felt that his Junior Sister was much bolder now compared to before, and he silently shed “old father” tears in his heart.
His Junior Sister finally knew how to act spoiled!!!
That damn sense of closeness!
From Lin Shu’s perspective, it was basically: Lu Zhiyun used [Act Spoiled] on Lin Shu. It was super effective!
She really was worlds apart from those troublesome juniors back on Qingluan Peak!
“Senior Brother! Put some of this lettuce in!” Lu Zhiyun smiled.
“You got it!” Lin Shu put in some lettuce.
“Senior Brother, can you help me mix the dipping sauce?” Lu Zhiyun asked, holding her small dish.
“Let me do it, let me do it!” Lin Shu began working on the dipping sauce.
“Senior Brother~ help me get that piece of meat at the bottom of the pot~” the Sanqing Fairy said, her voice high and cutesy.
“Get it yourself!” Lin Shu said crossly.
“Oh!” The Sanqing Fairy pouted in dissatisfaction.
A perfect hotpot session came to an end.
After lunch, the immortal boat reached the outer sea area of the Tianque Sect. They were only about an hour’s journey from returning to the sect.
Currently, Lin Shu was talking to the Sanqing Fairy about various current conditions in the cultivation world, while also introducing their Tianque Sect.
“Our Tianque Sect only recently promoted to a Super-rank Immortal Sect. Our current strength is still considered at the bottom among Super-rank sects,” Lin Shu said.
“Super-rank Immortal Sect? Then there must be many Immortals?” the Sanqing Fairy asked curiously.
“…”
“Uh, let’s change the subject. The Tianque Sect currently has eighteen main peaks…”
“So many? Then every main peak must have an Immortal, right?”
“…”
“That… our Qingluan Peak…”
“Does Qingluan Peak have Immortals? Are there many?”
“Fairy! Can we still have a pleasant conversation?”
Lin Shu rubbed his forehead helplessly. People say three years makes a generation gap, but these three hundred thousand years… it was the Mariana Trench!
The Sanqing Fairy scratched her head and gave a cheeky laugh. “Ah! I… I was just asking!”
“How about we change the subject? For instance, let’s talk about the cultivation arts of your current cultivators?”
Lin Shu thought for a moment and introduced, “The Tianque Sect has a foundation technique called the Three Purities One Qi Art.”
“This technique is exquisite beyond compare. It has given countless multi-spiritual root disciples who had difficulty cultivating the chance to reach higher realms!”
The Sanqing Fairy sat cross-legged, swaying from side to side. “Three Purities One Qi Art? I think I have some impression of that! Wait! Let me think!”
Lin Shu actually wanted to ask about this too. The Tianque Sect’s Three Purities Daoist, the Yiqi Immortal, the Yiqi Cult…
These things couldn’t be a coincidence. Moreover, the Sanqing Fairy had said her cultivation technique involved avatars…
Immediately, Lin Shu called to Lu Zhiyun, asking her to take out a copy of the Three Purities One Qi Art.
Lu Zhiyun thought about it and then pulled out the annotated version of the Three Purities One Qi Art by Lin Shu.
The Sanqing Fairy flipped through the manual and fell into deep thought. “This technique… I really did write it…”
!!!
Expected!
His guess was correct! There really was a connection! This meant the Three Purities Daoist was very likely one of the Fairy’s avatars.
The question then was: was this manual written by the Fairy herself, or by her avatar, the Sanqing Immortal?
Lin Shu spoke again, seriously, “Did the Fairy write this manual personally?”
“Yes! With handwriting this ugly, it definitely has to be mine!” the Sanqing Fairy said proudly.
Hey! Is that really something to be proud of?
Lin Shu’s heart skipped a beat. Looking at it this way, the biggest problem had now surfaced!
That’s right! The copyright of this technique seemingly didn’t belong to the Tianque Sect anymore!
Should he remind the Fairy to crack down on piracy and get Elder Chen Xin’s liquor money back?
Lin Shu was just about to ask when, unexpectedly, the Sanqing Fairy shouted in rage in the next moment:
“No! Which bastard wrote these annotations! This is a total distortion of my meaning!”
“This is! This is! Nothing but alarmist nonsense!”