The fireworks rose up into the sky.

From the opposite shore, they seemed too far away. From the bridge they were on, all they could see was the faint glow of the bursts and hear the sounds.

Hearing the sounds was nice too. Lin Zhusheng leaned against the railing and looked down, seeing the reflected lights in the water, swaying along with the ripples.

He was focused on watching the fireworks in the water, while the person next to him was watching him. The gaze slowly moved down, and Wen Baizhou looked down at his wrist, which he was holding, and the hand that hung loosely below it.

With slender fingers, there were gaps between them, completely unguarded, and he could easily wrap his hand around them.

The hand that was holding his wrist gradually moved down; first, it loosened, then it moved towards the fingers.

“Lin Zhusheng!”

A sudden voice came from afar, breaking the quiet atmosphere. Just before the fingers were about to be clasped, that hand that had been hanging down lifted, waving in the air, and the voice followed: “Over here!”

It was Gao Yu and a few others who had come looking for them. They didn’t know how they managed to regroup, but somehow they were back together again. The five of them standing together felt quite substantial. Lin Zhusheng waved his hand while moving his legs to run over there.

Suddenly, half of the space beside him was empty, and the hand that was so close slipped away from his. Wen Baizhou watched as the figure beside him ran off into the distance.

He reflexively wanted to reach out and grab him, but the night breeze over the river brought him back to his senses. He stood still for a moment, then picked up the things he had set aside and followed after.

The five of them miraculously ran into each other while wandering around. Not long after they met, they noticed a familiar figure on the bridge. Although Gao Yu had shouted loudly with great momentum, he wasn’t sure if the person on the bridge was who he thought it was. Only after hearing a response did he dare to relax.

Once they were together, he slapped his forehead and said, “It really is you!”

Another person came up behind, and he leaned forward to ask, “Is this your friend? Hello, brother… wait!”

The person who came out of the shadows, although not wearing the usual Daoist robes, had a face that was unmistakably recognizable. The casual wave he had intended to make suddenly froze, and he obediently bowed, saying, “Hello, Senior Brother.”

Suddenly encountering the sect leader’s first disciple, although the others were confused, they quickly greeted him.

Song Ming didn’t greet him but scanned the item in the other’s hand, eventually being pressed by the person next to him to bow together.

They all seemed to have an impression of the Senior Brother, so Lin Zhusheng skipped the introduction and simply introduced his good fellow disciples to the Senior Brother.

Thus, quite naturally and miraculously, in the latter half of the lantern festival, six elementary school students and the rarely seen Ling Xujun came together.

Ling Xujun was as taciturn as rumored, and when they first met, he seemed to be in a bad mood, his face somewhat cold. However, he surprisingly seemed quite nice, and although he spoke little, he responded to their fellow disciple Lin Jujun.

After the fireworks were over, the streets were much less crowded, and there was finally no risk of being jostled apart. Lin Zhusheng ran around, taking advantage of his bulging wallet to buy some seeds he hadn’t seen before.

The seeds were also carried by the Senior Brother, very light, and once added, there wasn’t much difference from before.

“…”

The action of him taking them looked natural, while the others looked at Lin, who hadn’t noticed anything wrong, with twitching lips.

So it turned out he was carrying his things.

Daring to let the Senior Brother do the heavy lifting, he was indeed the first to take the lead.

Not noticing anything else that caught his interest, Lin only bought seeds and then ran to the stall selling lanterns before heading back.

He looked quite interested, and a few of them squatted down with him.

Zhang Jing scanned the colorful and uniquely shaped lanterns and asked, “What are you buying this for?”

If he remembered correctly, the little lantern in this person’s room should still be alive, not broken to the point where it couldn’t light up the room and needed another light source.

With his light-colored pupils reflecting the various lights, Lin Zhusheng turned his head and smiled, saying, “For someone else.”

Wu Qi couldn’t come out to play right now, so he at least had to bring back a gift.

If the person was happy, maybe they could turn into their original form and let him touch their fur, rolling around in the fluff.

One was for the Grand Elder; he carefully selected and finally picked a lantern that looked like a cat’s head and a very exquisite flower-shaped lantern, whose petals could turn, which was quite interesting.

Zhang Jing, watching, felt a twitch at his temples, focusing his gaze on the flower lantern, and asked, “… Who are you giving this to?”

“For the Grand Elder,” Lin Zhusheng said as he handed over the money and received the lantern, “I mentioned I’d buy him one when we chatted today.”

“…” For the Grand Elder.

His mind immediately conjured up the serious square face he had just seen today, and his gaze fell back on the exquisite flower lantern. The few good fellow disciples fell silent together.

In the end, it was Gao Yu who reached out and made a stopping gesture, saying in time, “Why don’t you think about it some more!”

His eyes scanned over the various lanterns, and he pointed to a very ordinary square lantern, saying, “How about this one?”

It looked quite similar to the Grand Elder’s face, and in every aspect, it was very fitting.

In the end, Lin Zhusheng still bought the flashy flower lantern, and as he carried it back, he received many glances from passersby along the way.

The lantern festival ended late at night, and before it concluded, they returned to the sect.

Since they lived in different places, upon returning to the sect, the six elementary school students dispersed. Because he needed to find the Grand Elder, Lin Zhusheng headed in the same direction as the Senior Brother returning to the inner sect, walking together for a while.

Last time he had said it wasn’t time to give flowers, thinking today might be the right time, he took them out to give them again.

Great, the Senior Brother still didn’t accept them, but instead gave him a small snack he had bought at some point today.

With a big bag and a small bag, Lin Zhusheng went to find the Grand Elder.

There was no one on Elder Peak; the Grand Elder mostly stayed in the Quiet Contemplation Hall, and he was the only Elder who could be found directly without entering the inner sect.

It wasn’t yet deep into the night when Lin went to deliver the gift, and he hadn’t gone to sleep yet, reading in the main hall.

Without beating around the bush and quickly, Lin Zhusheng jogged up and placed the lantern on the table.

Surprised that he actually came, the Grand Elder looked up, his gaze landing on the flashy flower lantern.

Lin Zhusheng even turned the petals of the lantern, indicating that this part could move.

The Grand Elder’s brow twitched; it was hard to tell if he was moved or startled. After thinking for a moment, he said, “… What is this?”

Lin Zhusheng reached out and gently tapped the lantern’s surface, saying, “The lantern I promised to get for the Elder.”

The Grand Elder thanked him for his kindness and politely declined with a stern face.

This little old man. Lin Zhusheng didn’t back down at all, ready for a long tug-of-war, and sat down at the table, casually throwing out a line, saying, “I originally wanted to buy a different style, but I went late and only this was left. Elder, please make do with it.”

Unexpectedly, there was no tug-of-war; the Grand Elder changed the subject and said something else: “As long as you don’t get into trouble, you won’t come here to be punished in the future. Even if you give me these, it won’t bring any benefits.”

Lin Zhusheng had known from the start that there were no benefits; he nodded and said, “That’s true.”

He wasn’t here for benefits; he just simply wanted a bit of favorability to complete the achievement.

Even without benefits, he came. The Grand Elder didn’t understand him; when he looked over, he only saw a pair of clear eyes half-lowered and a hand quietly fiddling with the flower lantern’s petals.

Noticing his gaze, that hand that was quietly fiddling stopped and casually withdrew.

“…”

His expression couldn’t hold, and the beard at the corner of his mouth twitched, hiding the quivering corners of his mouth.

In the end, Lin Zhusheng managed to chat for over an hour in the Quiet Contemplation Hall. After feeling comfortable, he left, his steps light and joyful on the way back.

A flower lantern added 5 points of favorability; just chatting for a while also added, inexplicably gaining 5 points. Coming here to chat and earning 10 points of favorability, he was the happiest person tonight.

He left behind the flashy lantern that clashed with the Quiet Contemplation Hall and the Grand Elder, who hadn’t talked for this long in a while and was now parched from chatting.

The next day was a beautiful day. No matter how late they slept the night before, they had to get up to practice swordsmanship.

Guessing that they had all gone out to play the night before, the fellow disciples looked like they hadn’t slept well, almost swinging their swords for real in a physical sense.

As if in a race against time, after the lantern festival just ended outside the mountain town yesterday, today the sect also started bustling, preparing something.

A disciple, half-asleep, made some noise while swinging his sword, but this noise couldn’t compare to the sound of the person in charge setting up the stands at the edge of the training ground.

Everything seemed interesting while practicing swordsmanship; mechanically moving his body, Lin Zhusheng swung his sword while glancing at the busy people outside the training ground, noticing a few inner sect disciples mixed in, and vaguely saw the boss’s figure, as if directing something.

During the break, he finally understood what they were busy with.

Unknowingly, it was already time for the sect’s grand competition. This year’s main venue was at Tianzong, and the competition arena was right beneath their feet in the training ground.

The sect’s grand competition didn’t concern them much; it was the inner sect disciples who participated. However, the benefit was that during the competition, they didn’t have to practice swordsmanship and could wander around the sect or choose to watch the competition.

The grand competition was a major event in the cultivation world; wanting to participate was extremely difficult, and watching was also the same. They could watch freely thanks to the sect’s support, and it just so happened to be the main venue.

This matter was important, but what was more important now was something else. During the break, the six elementary school students gathered again. Someone caught Lin Zhusheng, who wanted to sneak off to watch the stands, and asked the question they had wanted to ask since last night: “How did you end up walking with Ling Xujun yesterday?”

Song Ming, who was quietly playing with his jade pendant, looked over.

With fate grabbing him by the nape of his neck, Lin Zhusheng took two steps but couldn’t escape, so he could only stay and honestly answer, “We just happened to run into each other.”

Then he briefly explained the situation at the time, saying, “He was left behind by the others who went out to play, and it was too pitiful to wander alone.”

The others objectively felt that no one would dare to invite Ling Xujun out to play and then abandon him halfway, and they thought that when they met, he didn’t look that pitiful either.

They formed a circle to chat, and a figure walked over from a distance, waving and calling out, “Lin Xiaoyou!”

It was the boss. The one who had abandoned the Senior Brother halfway had come, looking like he had something to say, smiling as he pulled Lin Zhusheng away from the group of elementary school students, waving to the others, saying, “Lin Xiaoyou, lend me a moment. I’ll return him soon.”

Lin Zhusheng was borrowed away.

The speed of this back and forth was too fast; the others hadn’t even had time to react to what had happened before the two had already walked far away.

Not as tall as the Senior Brother and the boss, Lin Zhusheng was unfortunately treated as a support stand, with an extra hand on him.

Fortunately, he was very generous; being a support was fine too. After walking a distance, he stopped and asked, “What brings you here, boss?”

“I know a bit about construction, so I was brought in to set up the venue.”

Mentioning this matter made him feel troubled; the boss scratched his head vigorously, skipping the topic and asking about other things, “Didn’t you guys get to go out to play yesterday? Was it fun?”

“Yeah, it was fun, and I even ran into the Senior Brother,” Lin Zhusheng recalled something and asked, “Did you solve the urgent matter last night?”

Not on the same wavelength, the boss pointed to himself, saying, “Urgent matter? Me?”

He had spent the whole night idly, wanting to find Wen Baizhou to go out to play but was directly rejected, so he could only practice swordsmanship all night.

“… Oh, wait,” realizing something in the brief silence, the boss quickly retracted his previous statement, saying, “It’s been resolved.”

After all, they were long-time friends; he quickly guessed how he had gone out to play and then left halfway through Ling Xujun’s mouth.

Although his attitude was a bit strange, it was good that it was resolved. Lin Zhusheng then asked, “What did you want to talk to me about?”

“Oh, this.”

The boss withdrew his hand from Lin Zhusheng’s shoulder, straightened up, and turned in place a couple of times, beginning to ponder his words, saying, “Your Senior Brother asked me to tell you that in a few days, there will be a grand competition in the sect, and many people from outside the sect will come, so be careful. If possible, it’s best to avoid too much contact with strangers.”

Lin Zhusheng raised his eyes, “Hmm?”

“Hmm, what I mean is, you see, people from outside the sect are not like us; they can be quite cunning,” the boss’s eyes darted around, and he scratched his head until it almost broke, saying, “With so many people, you can’t be sure if someone is thinking of something bad, like trying to extract information from you.”

He blinked quickly and continued, “Like from the Qi Sect, for example.”

Sorry to all the friendly sects, sorry to the Qi Sect.

Early this morning, he was suddenly approached by someone asking him to pass on a message, and the content of the message was simple: to remind him not to let this person have too much contact with the people from the Qi Sect.

It sounded simple, but in reality, expressing it was tricky. Aside from this way of saying it, he couldn’t think of how to make people avoid contact with the Qi Sect.

Moreover, he hadn’t figured out why they should avoid contact with the people from the Qi Sect.

“I’m actually quite tight-lipped.”

After listening, Lin Zhusheng felt that the probability of him being used to extract information was low, so he set that aside and asked, “What about the Senior Brother? Does he have something to say?”

For such messages, if the person himself had nothing to say, he should come directly to say it face to face.

The boss then replied, “The Lord of Guiyu City has urgent matters to discuss with the Sect Leader, but the Sect Leader has to oversee the grand competition, so he went. This was decided just this morning, and he’ll be back after the competition ends.”

Deciding to leave this morning, that person probably hadn’t even gotten up yet.

Lin Zhusheng nodded to show he understood.

He wore all his emotions on his face, but sometimes it was hard to tell what he was thinking in his mind. Not sure if he had remembered the previous reminder, the boss dutifully emphasized it again.

The construction task was heavy and busy; just after saying a couple of sentences, someone came to find him, asking him to take a look. He hurriedly said goodbye and quickly left, saying, “I’m coming.”

It seemed that the matter was over, so Lin Zhusheng turned back to the group of elementary school students.

His fellow disciples still had some camaraderie, showing him a bit of concern, asking what he had just talked about.

“Nothing, just some common safety tips.”

Lin Zhusheng stroked his chin, sitting cross-legged and pondering, “By the way, do you guys know about the Qi Sect?”

The Qi Sect, like the Medicine Sect and the Tian Sect, was a top-tier sect. He hadn’t paid much attention to it and had forgotten about its existence. Just now, the boss had repeated it several times, and he suddenly had an impression, a sense of familiarity that was different from other sects.

But he couldn’t remember where that familiarity came from. After arriving in this world, he had only seen the Qi Sect in books, and most of his time in the game had been spent in the Tian Sect, with no special connection to other sects.

… A special connection.

Great, Lin Zhusheng finally had some impression. The faces and names of a bunch of people quickly flashed through his mind, and he finally matched a face with a name, saying, “Chen Jinghao.”

He asked, “Do you know Chen Jinghao?”

“I know a bit.”

The first to speak was Song Ming. Growing up in a big family, he knew not only about the Medicine Sect but also had some knowledge about other major sects, saying, “He’s the young master of the Qi Sect, and his nature… um, he’s quite sociable.”

“Sociable” was the more tactful way he put it.

Although the others hadn’t seen the young master of such a major sect in person, they had heard various versions of rumors about him.

The young master of the Qi Sect had an extraordinary talent for crafting, living a smooth life since childhood, and as he grew up, he began to flirt around, supporting many storytellers and writers with his romantic escapades. He had very clear preferences, favoring pretty faces, while others barely got a glance from him, and he rarely showed a good expression.

Zhang Jing turned his head, “Why are you suddenly asking about him?”

Lin Zhusheng waved his hand, saying, “It’s nothing; I just happened to remember.”

“He’s the young master, and he should be coming for this grand competition. That Senior Brother just wanted to remind you not to get too close to him, right?”

Gao Yu leaned over, patting his shoulder, saying, “After all, people like us won’t get a good face from him if we get too close.”

He was quite good at self-comforting, adding, “That’s fine; at least we won’t be targeted by him. Those pretty disciples should be careful.”

To be honest, Lin Zhusheng hadn’t looked in the mirror for a long time and had forgotten what he looked like. Hearing this, he patted his own face and casually replied to the previous statement, saying, “Yeah, I guess so.”

Feeling the texture was quite nice, he patted it again.

Although he was naturally categorized into the non-pretty face range and no one refuted it, he actually quite liked this face he had molded himself—well, although it was ordinary enough that he had forgotten what it looked like.

Thinking he was concerned about his image by patting his face, Zhang Jing comforted him, patting his shoulder, “You can perfectly blend into the crowd; that’s a kind of strength too.”

“Ah?” Trying hard to recall what his face looked like, Lin Zhusheng, who wasn’t really listening, absentmindedly responded, “Mm-hmm.”