Chapter 38

“Ah?” Ye Qiao’s topics jumped too quickly, leaving Ming Xuan momentarily unable to keep up with her thought process.

“…Acting dumb? How do I act dumb?”

Ye Qiao looked at Ming Xuan’s bewildered expression and gave him a mysterious smile. “You’ll find out during the Great Competition.”

Ming Xuan looked at her confidently and chuckled helplessly. “Alright.”

“Then I’ll take a nap first. We’ll talk later.”

Having been stuck at the peak of Foundation Establishment for so many years, he knew breakthroughs weren’t something that happened overnight.

After comforting Ming Xuan, Ye Qiao breathed a sigh of relief, returned to her residence, and began preparing the elixirs she might need for the upcoming competition.

Practice makes perfect. Having read so many scrolls, though not a professional alchemist, she was at least an amateur and intended to refine some Spirit-Replenishing Pills.

Initially failing a few times due to inexperience, Ye Qiao gradually became proficient. Her spiritual awareness controlled the spirit plants, and she increased the number of alchemical imprints.

The first time she condensed nine imprints, this time Ye Qiao wanted to see if she could make more.

Swiftly imprinting, golden patterns swirled around her, and after a moment, she changed her gestures again. Soon, the tenth imprint trembled into existence. Weaker than the first nine, it caused a brief stabbing pain in Ye Qiao’s spiritual awareness. Undeterred, she calmly continued, and with time, the imprints solidified.

Ye Qiao sighed lightly, lifting the lid of the large pot.

Ten oddly shaped pills lay quietly inside, their appearance and color still as unsightly as ever.

She didn’t plan to sell them this time, instead bottling them for future use.

After finishing, the result of excessive spiritual awareness consumption was blood trickling from Ye Qiao’s nose. She wiped it away and drowsily slept.

…

With the Grand Competition approaching, all five sects were busy training their direct disciples. Except for Zhou Xingyun, they all escaped the fate of being disturbed.

“I heard the new disciple at Yueqing Sect broke through to Golden Core,” Duan Yu casually remarked.

Qin Fanfan stroked his beard, having just received the same news. “Yes, that girl achieved Golden Core at sixteen. Her talent surpasses most direct disciples.”

Indeed, it was hard to fathom where Yun Hen found the luck to bring back such a talented disciple from the mortal realm.

Duan Yu narrowed his eyes, noncommittal.

After being hammered for over a month, Elder Duan Yu finally released his two beloved disciples. The night before the competition, he even gave them a day off to play, readying themselves for the journey to Floating Life City.

Rarely getting a day off, Ye Qiao hurried down the mountain to collect the pistol she had asked her boss to prepare earlier.

Its shape was unique, likely containing special materials inside, making it different from modern pistols.

Mu Chongxi couldn’t wait to try it, but after her previous incident involving a bomb and the sect leader, Ye Qiao didn’t dare to let him play with it.

She explained, “This thing can store talismans, like a kind of hidden weapon.”

Similar to Tangmen’s continuous firing of silver needles, this weapon had a similar concept. When designing the blueprint, the boss had marveled at its ingenious internal structure.

Ye Qiao demonstrated, storing the talisman inside and showing how it could be fired multiple times rapidly.

After a moment of silence, Mu Chongxi sincerely said, “It’s a pity you’re not practicing swordsmanship.”

Ye Qiao shrugged. “That’s not up to me.” She could only acknowledge the wisdom of her predecessors.

After testing the hidden weapon, Ye Qiao put it away in her mustard seed bag. Several senior brothers had gathered in the main hall of the peak, apparently engrossed in something.

“What are you all doing?” Ye Qiao naturally leaned over to look.

Xue Yu held a jade slip and shook it. “You’ve come at the right time. We’re reading about gossip.”

Gossip? Whose?

Xue Yu handed her the jade slip, indicating she should take a look herself.

Ye Qiao lowered her head to examine the jade slip. Like a mobile phone, it allowed communication and even contained a forum-like area where many cultivators left messages.

“It’s quite intelligent.”

Only wealthy cultivators could afford such intelligent jade slips. Mu Chongxi had just been about to show her how to use it in a friendly manner when he found Ye Qiao deftly tapping and browsing through it with unparalleled skill.

“Joking aside, after so many years of using smartphones, if I couldn’t handle this, I might as well go study purple clay.”

The forum posts were diverse, but the hottest and most discussed topic was speculation about the upcoming Grand Competition among the five sects.

Post One:

[Placing bets! Who will win this year’s competition?]

Post Two:

[Hey, I have Ye Qinghan from Sword Sect’s underwear here. Any takers? Starting bid: one hundred top-grade spirit stones.]

Post Three:

[I heard Longming Sect and Yueqing Sect are at odds?]

Various gossips kept coming up, leaving Ye Qiao wide-eyed. “Ye Qinghan’s underwear is worth that much?”

Ming Xuan rubbed his chin. “Apparently.”

“In that case, why don’t we buy it?”

Xue Yu couldn’t fathom it. “Why would we buy his underwear?”

“You just don’t get it,” Ye Qiao asserted confidently. “Underwear isn’t just something you sell for profit. During the competition, if we reveal Ye Qinghan’s underwear, it’ll mentally pollute both him and his enemies.”

Three birds with one stone.

Mu Chongxi silently gave her a thumbs-up.

She really dared to think outside the box.

Zhou Xingyun hadn’t planned to join their conversation, but Ye Qiao’s outrageous remark caught his attention anyway. He lowered his gaze, unable to suppress a chuckle.

Finally understanding why Mu Chongxi had insisted on making Ye Qiao, with her average talent, a direct disciple, it seemed only her personality could integrate so well with their junior disciples.

The five gathered harmoniously. Tomorrow, they would set off for Floating Life City to meet with the other four sects. Except for Ye Qiao, none felt sleepy. She yawned and decided to take a nap on the table.

Ming Xuan hadn’t slept all night. Seeing her awake with dark circles under her eyes, he handed her a set of red sect robes.

“Come on, Little sister, let’s change quickly. Otherwise, we won’t make it in time for departure.”

“Change into what?” She was a bit confused.

“Sect robes.” Ming Xuan, unusually talkative, continued, “During the Grand Competition, the entire cultivation world will be watching us. We definitely need sect robes.”

Ye Qiao opened her eyes to see three senior brothers enthusiastically around her. She tactically leaned back, asking sincerely, “Is this why you dress like little lobsters?”

“This is called handsome,” Mu Chongxi happily pulled Ye Qiao along. “Trust me, compared to other sects’ gloomy colors, our sect robes will stand out and blind them.”

This time, Ye Qiao didn’t deny it.

Red was indeed eye-catching. Among a sea of plain-colored sect robes, it would definitely make a statement.

“Big Senior Brother, aren’t you going to change?” Holding the clothes, she looked at Zhou Xingyun, the only one among them who hadn’t changed into sect robes.

“Big Senior Brother?” Ming Xuan hesitated, glancing at the dozing Zhou Xingyun.

Who among them dared to ask Zhou Xingyun to change?

Usually morose and aloof, he made many disciples avoid him. Even Xue Yu, with his good temper, didn’t dare to approach.

“Come on, change into it.” Ye Qiao didn’t hold the same reverence for Zhou Xingyun, boldly teasing him even when it came to Ye Qinghan.

She waved her hand, “Big Senior Brother, wear it with us.”

Zhou Xingyun was stopped by Ye Qiao, facing the eager anticipation of his little sisters, he softly refused, “No.”

“Big Senior Brother~” Mu Chongxi came over, “Just satisfy us.”

Ming Xuan also nodded, “We’re almost complete.”

The four pleading faces were pitifully neat. Zhou Xingyun looked complicated, forced to take the clothes and change.

Such a flashy color was hard for an ordinary person to suppress. However, even though the aesthetics of Changming Sect were high, the five stood out as a beautiful scenery.

Zhou Xingyun tugged and sighed, whispering softly, “Ugly.”

The robe’s lines weren’t aligned, making Zhou Xingyun, a perfectionist, want to draw his sword and cut it.

Mu Chongxi immediately flattered, “It’s okay. No matter how ugly the sect robe, it can’t hide Big Senior Brother’s handsomeness.”

Ye Qiao chimed in, “Agreed.”

Xue Yu added, “Same.”

Ming Xuan also said, “1.”

“…It’s a stretch.” Zhou Xingyun was nearly brought to laughter by the well-prepared statements of his junior disciples.

Floating Life City was the territory under Sword Sect. It was an unwritten rule in the cultivation world that whoever won first place would host the next competition. A hundred years ago, Sword Sect had won first place.

Accompanying them were not only the direct disciples but also Elder Duan Yu and Elder Zhao, along with Qin Fanfan.

Early in the morning, the five were called to the back mountain. Many curious disciples came to watch, eager to see the grandeur of the direct disciples.

In the midst of the bustling crowd, Ye Qiao even spotted someone familiar.

It was Du Chun, whom she had met on her first day joining the sect.

Seeing Ye Qiao looking over, he warmly waved at her. “Ye Qiao. Long time no see.”

Ye Qiao yawned, trying to look a bit more awake. She replied, “Long time no see.”

“How does it feel to be a direct disciple?” he asked, gossiping eagerly. “Enjoying it?”

Ye Qiao tilted her head. “It’s okay. If I had to say, being an outer disciple was better.”

She genuinely felt this way. At least as an outer disciple, no one watched her every move during training.

Other outer and inner disciples: “…” This is a humblebrag, right? It has to be a humblebrag!