Chapter 215

Ye Qiao, feeling indignant after being warned by the cultivators, continued to browse the forum. The other personal disciples usually didn’t pay much attention to these things, and she had forgotten about it since the individual competition ended.

After being away for a few months, she found that the forum had new features.

She studied it for a while and finally sighed, thinking that people shouldn’t be too idle.

In the personal disciples’ courtyard, everyone was very surprised.

“They have rankings too?”

“Let me see.” Ming Xuan deftly hooked the jade slip, swaying left and right as he stepped on the stool, laughing. “There are cultivation rankings, strength rankings, and appearance rankings?”

Ye Qiao leaned in, “You’re first?”

Ming Xuan winked at her.

Although everyone has their own preferences, Ming Xuan’s looks had a more striking impact. The cultivation world mostly had people with cool, aloof looks, but Ming Xuan was different.

The boy’s vivid features attracted a lot of female and male fans.

Xue Yu wasn’t interested in the rankings and snatched the jade slip back. “So what is this CP ranking?”

Mu Chongxi stuck his head in, showing his fluffy hair. “I want to see too! Let me see! Don’t you know how to take care of your junior brother?”

Ye Qiao slapped the table, annoyed. “Why are you all grabbing my jade slip? Don’t you have your own?”

“Maybe the stolen one feels better,” Zhou Xingyun said seriously.

Ye Qiao was speechless.

The CP ranking was even more lively, with all sorts of bizarre pairings. Xue Yu shivered when he saw someone pairing him with someone from the Chengfeng Sect and felt it was outrageous. “These people have nothing better to do. Going to prison would be better than spreading these rumors about us.”

“There’s nothing we can do. In the cultivation world, there are only a few people to compare. Those who have ascended are gone, and the other strong ones are mostly old men. Only the personal disciples are left for gossip.”

They couldn’t spread rumors about the elders of the five sects, right? What would the rumors be?

A group of sage-like sect masters starting sunset romances? Who would want to see that?

Mu Chongxi wasn’t interested in the appearance rankings. He opened the cultivation rankings, “In the same realm, they’re sorted by breakthrough time. The first is Ye Qinghan. Then the second senior brother…”

“Strength ranking is still Ye Qinghan.” Ming Xuan couldn’t help but complain. “What? He took first in everything?”

There were only a few rankings, and Ye Qinghan took first in two of them.

Ye Qiao flipped through the rankings, her eyes turning slightly as she smiled, “Who’s first on the beauty rankings for female cultivators?”

“They haven’t decided yet.” Ming Xuan raised an eyebrow. “Do you want to take first? Wait a minute, I’ll get our idle direct disciples to vote.”

Ye Qiao stood up, “No, no, I’m not interested in that.”

“But we can push Ye Qinghan to the top of the beauty rankings.”

She had been annoyed with Ye Qinghan for a long time, and Ye Qinghan felt the same about her. After all, Ye Qinghan valued cultivation and martial prowess, and he thought Ye Qiao’s conduct was always too improper.

To make him truly convinced, they’d have to fight fairly without using any talismans or pills, but their cultivation levels were too different to fight.

Ye Qinghan had a reputation as the righteous number one. Since that was the case, Ye Qiao thought it wouldn’t hurt to give him some additional titles.

She rubbed her chin, “Imagine this, when people see Ye Qinghan, the first thing they say is ‘Are you the legendary number one beauty in the cultivation world, Ye Qinghan?'”

“……”

How devious.

“We’d be hunted by the Wenjian Sect.” Mu Chongxi rubbed his arm, “But it seems feasible? Although little sister destroyed the recording stone, someone probably recorded it, right? We could find a scene of him in disguise and put it up.”

Ming Xuan immediately got excited, “Come on, you vote, I vote, Ye Qinghan debuts tomorrow.”

They aimed to make Ye Qinghan the top beauty in a short time.

“……”

It turned out people really shouldn’t be too idle. With the Changming Sect fanning the flames and stirring things up, Ye Qinghan’s rank actually made it into the top ten, even reaching the ears of the Wenjian Sect.

“Ye Qinghan competing with female cultivators for the top beauty spot?” The Wenjian Sect’s leader was sipping tea, and the next second, he spat it out, “He’s gone mad?”

Chu Xingzhi’s breakthrough to the Nascent Soul stage was supposed to be a joyous occasion, but his happiness didn’t last long after hearing such shocking news. The sect master, after pondering for a moment, decided to call Ye Qinghan over for a talk. No matter what, the reputation of the Wenjian Sect couldn’t be tarnished. It was well known how important reputation was, as evidenced by the lack of new disciples when Changming Sect’s reputation suffered.

However, the conversation needed to be tactful. The Wenjian Sect master, hands behind his back, maintained a serious expression but spoke in a gentle tone, “Qinghan, did you gain anything from your journey to the ghost realm?”

Ye Qinghan frowned slightly. “Not cautious enough.”

“Still not strong enough. Otherwise, you wouldn’t need to consider so many things.” He hated having to overthink matters.

“Do you know why the Ghost King Tower disappeared?”

Ye Qinghan shook his head. “I don’t know.”

“But it might be related to Ye Qiao.”

Ye Qinghan lowered his eyes in thought for a moment, then spoke calmly, “Find an opportunity to test her. She likes to exploit loopholes.”

“She has learned a lot,” the Wenjian Sect master said with a touch of envy. “If only you all could be as resourceful.”

Ye Qinghan’s lips curved down, feeling a bit annoyed at his master’s envious tone. With a cold, expressionless face, he said, “Eventually, when she reaches the Nascent Soul stage, I’ll have a proper duel with her.”

He couldn’t act against her now; it would be an unfair victory.

“And about Zhou Xingyun…” Ye Qinghan’s brows knitted together. “His domain, if I’m not mistaken, is called Nihility, or Return to Nothingness. The moment you step into it, it feels as if nothing exists, not even your own existence.”

Besides these two, there was Qin Huai from the Chengfeng Sect.

They were all tough opponents, and Ye Qinghan could feel the pressure. He pursed his lips. “I will work hard and not disappoint the sect.”

The Wenjian Sect master nodded repeatedly. “Now that you and Xiao Chu are both at the Nascent Soul stage, focus on strengthening your righteous path and enhancing your cultivation. Never be misled by external distractions.” Like competing with female cultivators for the title of the number one beauty.

“And about certain hobbies,” he coughed twice, looking at his most outstanding disciple with a gentle tone, “you might want to restrain yourself a bit. Or, for the sake of our sect’s image, if you really can’t resist, keep it private.” Don’t wear women’s clothing in public.

It was too damaging to the Wenjian Sect’s esteemed image as the number one sword sect.

Ye Qinghan felt his master was hinting at something. He frowned but could only comply and took his leave, “Yes, I understand.”

…

Ming Xuan, Su Zhuo, and Miao Miao returned, all at the peak of the Golden Core stage, just one step away from the Nascent Soul stage. Ye Qiao, however, remained inactive, lagging behind by two stages. She wasn’t in a hurry; she wasn’t saving the world, so rushing was pointless. She preferred to focus on refining pills.

For several days, the courtyard was filled with the fragrant scent of durian.

“Ah, ah, ah! Quickly throw away your pills.”

“Don’t disregard our well-being, Ye Qiao.”

Having recently broken through, they were fearless. Seeing them idle, Ye Qiao handed them a piece of paper and taught them how to play modern entertainment games. While she refined pills, they got engrossed in the games.

Ming Xuan, holding a figurine, announced the rules, “You ate Ye Qiao’s pill and got knocked out for three seconds! Move back three steps. Hurry up!”

Xue Yu protested, “How can you speak about little sister’s pills like that?”

“Alright, alright.” Ming Xuan reluctantly changed it, “Your senior brother scared you to death for three seconds, okay? Move back, move back.”

Zhou Xingyun also complained, “I’ve never scared anyone to death.”

Ye Qiao wasn’t easily influenced by her surroundings. They continued their commotion while she focused on refining multiple types of pills at once, aiming to reduce failure rates. The Heavenly Dao was pleased with her high-difficulty pill refining and occasionally rewarded her with two blessings.

Her cultivation also slowly increased, but the progress was minimal. Zhou Xingyun pondered for a moment, “Bottleneck?”

Ye Qiao massaged her aching temples, “I don’t know.”

“I’ve taken pills, and eaten spiritual fruits.”

“The spiritual roots don’t seem to need much more watering at the moment.”

If it was indeed a bottleneck, continuing wouldn’t be much help.

Ye Qiao stopped refining pills, and they finally ceased their game to discuss serious matters. They summarized their experiences in the ghost realm, with Ming Xuan roughly recounting their adventures on other levels.

It wasn’t surprising that Ye Qinghan was furious enough to seek explanations from the higher-ups in the cultivation world. No one expected the Ghost King Tower to be a domain-type spiritual artifact.

At least the provided information didn’t mention it.

If they hadn’t encountered Ye Qiao and had the Feixian Sword transform to help, Chu Xingzhi would have been doomed.

Ye Qiao swung the Feixian Sword, which had been lethargic since its brief transformation. The sword wasn’t at its peak spiritual energy in the sword cave, and forcing it out had a significant impact. She hadn’t even clearly seen its form.

Mu Chongxi pouted, “No wonder Ye Qinghan wants to confront the higher-ups.”

If his fellow disciples were nearly killed due to false information, he’d want answers too.

“Which sect released the false information?” Ye Qiao genuinely couldn’t understand. Even if it was meant to train them, such mistakes shouldn’t happen.

“Yueqing Sect,” Xue Yu replied.

“Tsk,” Ming Xuan sneered, “them again.”

“But if they were deliberately hiding it, why didn’t they inform their own disciples?”

It seemed unlikely they’d be so ruthless as to eliminate their own disciples too.

Xue Yu, hands clasped, supported his chin and speculated, “Yueqing Sect has the most comprehensive intelligence network. Maybe the Ghost King Tower was hidden so well that even they were unaware.”

Ye Qiao, hearing this, pinched the tower spirit in her consciousness hard, causing it to howl in pain, “It’s not me! It’s not me! Bad guy Ye Qiao is pinching me again!”

“Hmph, clearly if they’d just sent someone to investigate, they’d know the tower was strange. But they didn’t.”

Ye Qiao also thought that if the tower spirit really wanted to hide, it wouldn’t have been so reckless in the ghost realm. It was clearly intentionally concealing information, causing them to take unnecessary risks.

As for who might die? That would depend on their luck.

The more she thought about it, the more upset she became. Ye Qiao asked, “Which elder from Yueqing Sect is responsible for providing intelligence?”

Each sect had many elders. For Changming Sect alone, there were seven or eight elders. She was most familiar with Elder Zhao and Elder Duan; the others were just acquaintances.

Xue Yu blinked, “The Seventh Elder.”

Mu Chongxi flipped happily and jumped down, catching Ye Qiao’s implication: “Then let’s go pay him a visit.”

…