Chapter 19: Second Senior Brother and Third Senior Sister Are Back

A cultivator’s oath is bound by the Heavenly Dao’s laws, and breaking it would result in punishment, even affecting their Dao heart. Therefore, cultivators generally do not make promises lightly.

Mu Chihua’s words, though seemingly playful, had actually triggered the Heavenly Dao’s laws. However, it wasn’t just him; the entire Mu family was implicated.

Tantai Ming nudged his arm. “What are you blabbering about? You talk as if you’ve already become the family head.”

“That position will be mine sooner or later,” Mu Chihua said without a trace of modesty. As the most gifted disciple in the Mu family’s hundred-year history, he had the confidence to back it up.

“If your elder brother heard you say that, he’d probably be furious.”

The four of them left the secret realm, said their goodbyes to Shen Rufei, and went their separate ways.

Upon returning to Lingqing Sect, Mu Chihuai immediately went into seclusion to refine pills, while Chu Sang took Tantai Ming to the rear mountain to work on the abandoned fields. They planted the spirit herbs they had obtained from the secret realm, making sure to handle them with care.

In line with their sustainable development strategy, they were careful when picking spirit herbs. Some were used for pill refinement, while the rest, complete with roots, were carefully dug up. Despite the bumpy journey back, Chu Sang’s meticulous care using her Wood Spirit Essence^[1]Muxi Spirit ensured a survival rate of over seventy percent. They planted a total of five acres of spirit fields.

The spiritual energy on the rear mountain was much weaker than in the secret realm, so Chu Sang had to use Wood Spirit Essence to nurture these delicate spirit plants every day.

After half a month, her Wood Spirit Essence had advanced to the second layer, allowing her to accelerate the growth of the herbs – turning newly sprouted ones into ten-year-old herbs, and ten-year-old ones into century-old herbs.

Once the spirit herbs matured, they could harvest seeds and replant them. Tantai Ming was in charge of digging, planting, watering, and harvesting, requiring him to work efficiently. Through this process, his movement skills improved, showing signs of breaking through.

The harvested mature spirit herbs were given to Mu Chihua to refine into pills, which Chu Sang would then sell in the city, earning a substantial amount of spirit stones. However, they were still far from being able to afford a sect-protecting spirit vein.

As the sun set, crimson clouds billowed romantically like a raging fire across the horizon as the sun set behind the mountains. A massive demonic beast shadow crossed the peaks, with two figures riding on its back.

The man wore a white robe, with a slender build and long, flowing hair tied back with a blue ribbon. He held a rolled-up map, looking puzzled.

Holding a scroll map in one hand, his handsome, gentle face showed a hint of confusion. “To the left… to the right… no, maybe southwest?”

Beside him, a young woman sat cross-legged on the beast’s back. Her light yellow dress was unlike the attire seen in the central continent. Bells dangled from her wrists and ankles, chiming melodiously with her movements.

She tossed a thick, long braid over her shoulder and snatched the scroll map from his hand, clearly exasperated. “Second Senior Brother, did you get lost again? Forget it, let me do it!”

Wen Renyue had made a mistake by relying on Second Senior Brother, who was notorious for getting lost.

The two had originally planned to return to the sect two months ago, but Ling Yu had taken a wrong turn, leading them astray by a thousand miles. They had stumbled into a secret realm in the Western Region, spending a long time trying to escape. And now…

They were lost again.

Ling Yu said reassuringly, “We definitely won’t get lost this time.”

Wen Renyue rolled her eyes, pointing at the lush mountain below, “Second Senior Brother, look at that mountain – the spiritual energy is dense, and you can even see demonic beasts roaming in the forest. There are even a few acres of thriving spirit fields. How could this possibly be our sect’s cursed back mountains that not even ghosts would visit?”

“Cursed back mountains” was the nickname she gave to that barren place, since not even a single blade of grass could be nurtured there. It was truly a place that would make even ghosts despair.

She picked up the map scroll and studied it for a while. “Huh… we didn’t take the wrong path.”

Could it be that the map was wrong?

The two of them were still hesitating when a voice came from a distance, growing closer. “Second Senior Brother! Third Senior Sister! You’re back!”

Tantai Ming had just finished watering the spirit plants when he saw a large shadow pass overhead. Looking up, he recognized it as the mount of his Third Senior Sister. Flying up on his sword, he saw that it was indeed the two of them.

The Lingqing Sect adopts a free-range policy for its disciples, with elders and the sect leader having fled, leaving the disciples to their own devices.

In fact, the senior brothers and sisters weren’t particularly close to one another; they just recognized each other by sight.

The two of them had heard that this sect, which hadn’t recruited new disciples in a decade, had finally accepted a new junior sister, so they had brought along some small gifts, curious to meet her.

Unfortunately, they got lost along the way, wasting so much time before finally arriving. Would their junior sister hold it against them?

“Junior Sister, come over here! Second Senior Brother and Third Senior Sister are back.”

Chu Sang heard the voice and stood up from the edge of the field. From a distance, she could see Tantai Ming accompanied by two unfamiliar figures approaching.

She put on a polite smile and said, “Greetings, Senior Brother, Senior Sister!”

A girl with a long centipede braid came running up. She was tall, with delicate eyebrows and rosy lips, her features fair and elegant. However, she had a bit of a cool demeanor.

Her eyes swept over Chu Sang, sizing her up before she whistled. “Oh, so this is the new junior sister who joined the sect. You’re quite the beauty! Hello, I’m your Third Senior Sister, Wenren Yue!”

“Hello, Third Senior Sister.”

Standing next to Wenren Yue was a man around twenty years old. Dressed in a flowing white robe, his figure was slender, and his features were gentle and refined like the tranquil waters of spring. His long black hair was tied back with a simple blue ribbon, giving him an aura of scholarly elegance, as if he had stepped out of an ancient painting. A serene, ethereal presence surrounded him, almost like an immortal being exiled to the mortal world.

His appearance was gentle and beautiful, yet it carried an indescribable hint of danger.

Chu Sang frowned slightly, puzzled by why she would feel such a thought arise in her heart.

“This is your Second Senior Brother, Ling Yu.” Tantai Ming, noticing her distraction, patted her shoulder. “What are you thinking about? Second Senior Brother just spoke to you, but you didn’t respond.”

“Second Senior Brother… Ling Yu?”

Chu Sang gasped, wondering if she had misheard.

Ling Yu?

Could he be the same Ling Yu from the original story—the one who had cultivated from a ghost infant into a human form? The one who went undercover in the cultivation world, eventually destroying his entire sect, and even led the Ghost Clan to invade the cultivation world during the war with the demon clans? 

That major antagonist?

However, the man before her didn’t exhibit any of the usual signs of a villain. His demeanor was gentle and agreeable, devoid of any sinister ghostly aura.

…Perhaps she was overthinking it. Maybe it was just someone with the same name.

Reassuring herself inwardly, she put on a smile. “Hello, Second Senior Brother. My name is Chu Sang.”

Ling Yu gave her a warm smile and handed her a Xumi jade ring^[2]spatial ring. “This is a gift from your senior brother. Please accept it.”

Even his voice was very pleasant to the ears.

The Xumi jade ring was a high-quality spirit artifact, with a storage space of over a hundred cubic meters, much larger than that of an ordinary storage bag. It was equipped with special formations inside, allowing it to preserve the freshness of demon beast meat and spiritual fruits for an extended period.

Only top-tier artifact refiners could craft such a ring, and it was a rare and precious gift.

Chu Sang accepted the ring in surprise and delight. It shrank to fit the size of her index finger perfectly. When she opened it, she found it packed full of various spiritual fruits and spirit stones, piled up like little mountains.

Wow!

Chu Sang’s fondness for this Second Senior Brother soared.

“Your Senior Sister has a gift for you too.”

Wen Renyue pulled out five eggs from her beast bag, “These are spirit beast eggs I painstakingly obtained. Junior Sister, pick one that catches your eye; it can be your contracted spirit beast.”