Zhenren Yingchen was the founding patriarch of Yunhua Sect. These few sentences were meant to tell him that Yunhua Sect had merman scales but was unwilling to give them to him? Last year when he wrote letters to various sects seeking merman scales, all the replies he received said they had none.

The letter paper was very ordinary—the kind that could be bought in many places in the Lingyou Realm. The handwriting was so neat that no personal characteristics could be discerned. The person informing from behind didn’t dare expose their identity, which meant this person was known to both their Liuguang Sect and Yunhua Sect, and also knew about his previous request for merman scales.

Someone from the ten major sects?

Jin Yue quickly rejected this speculation. With evil cultivators now stirring restlessly, the ten major sects could only prevent evil cultivators from making their move by working together in unity. Even if they knew Yunhua Sect had merman scales but wouldn’t give them to him, they would only find ways to intervene, then privately try to persuade Jin Yue to change his mind. They absolutely wouldn’t inform in such an underhanded way.

Could it be evil cultivators trying to sow discord?

“Outrageous!” Jin Yue slammed the letter paper heavily on the table. “Evil cultivators are so brazen!”

In these evil cultivators’ eyes, was their Liuguang Sect such an unreasonable sect? Merman scales were so precious—if Yunhua Sect was willing to offer them, that would be their good fortune. If unwilling, that was also human nature. Could they really bear a grudge against Yunhua Sect because of this?

Moreover, Daoist Heng Yan wasn’t someone who would refuse to save a life. He had already secretly sent them the merman scales and didn’t even make any demands. Yunhua Sect was so noble and righteous, yet there were still people scheming against them from behind. How could he just sit by and watch?!

“Come! Pass down my order to strictly investigate the traces of evil cultivators lurking in various places, vigorously publicize the various methods evil cultivators use to sow discord, and have cultivators and common people raise their vigilance.” The letter paper turned to ashes in Jin Yue’s hand, but this didn’t improve his mood. Anyone with a shred of conscience couldn’t just sit by and watch such things.

He had originally planned to enter seclusion to break through his cultivation level. Looking at the current situation, he temporarily couldn’t enter seclusion. Cultivation could be postponed, but this action by evil cultivators absolutely couldn’t be tolerated. Today these evil cultivators could sow discord between their Liuguang Sect and Yunhua Sect—tomorrow they could provoke conflicts between other sects.

Evil cultivators were truly a group of rats hiding in the gutters who couldn’t see the light, only capable of such despicable methods.

Song He had just finished teaching sword techniques to the inner sect disciples. On his way back to his cave dwelling, he saw a personal disciple hurrying out from the main hall. Thinking something had happened, he asked one more question: “What happened?”

“Martial Grand-Uncle.” The personal disciple bowed. “The Sect Master just issued an order to intensify publicity about the various underhanded methods of evil cultivators, having cultivators and common people raise their vigilance and pay attention to personal safety.”

“Having everyone be vigilant isn’t bad.” Song He secretly wondered—a few days ago the Sect Master was still talking about acting cautiously, so why did he suddenly change his mind today? Actually, he himself also agreed with this approach. What low-key behavior, hiding and concealing—it was better to let cultivators and common people all understand the truth of the matter, so they could have a defensive mindset.

The common people were living stable lives just fine—who would be willing to let evil cultivators destroy it?

Some people looked down on ordinary common people and cultivators with poor aptitude, but they forgot that this portion of people made up the vast majority in the Lingyou Realm. The power of the masses could sometimes be unimaginably great.

After instructing this disciple a few words, Song He entered the main hall to find Jin Yue and mentioned the disciple he had encountered outside.

Jin Yue didn’t hide it from him and told him about Yunhua Sect gifting the merman scales and evil cultivators sowing discord between the two sects.

“The letter?” Song He asked. “It would be better to inform Yunhua Sect about this matter early, so they can be prepared.”

“I destroyed the letter.” Jin Yue’s expression stiffened for a moment, then he quickly said, “Don’t worry, I will pass this matter along to Daoist Heng Yan.”

Looking at the angry Jin Yue, Song He thought of many years ago when he and Jin Yue both entered Liuguang Sect’s tutelage. Back then, the Sect Master was still a young man who showed his emotions openly. When encountering unjust matters, he couldn’t wait to draw his sword to stop them. As time passed, the Sect Master became increasingly composed, and it was already very difficult to see obvious emotions on his face. Today, he seemed to have regained a bit of his appearance from those years.

“If it’s destroyed, so be it. As long as Sect Master Heng Yan believes our words, that’s enough.” Song He said. “I happen to have business at Yunhua Sect, so why don’t I personally tell them about this matter?”

“That works too.” Jin Yue nodded, then asked puzzled, “What matter at Yunhua Sect requires you to personally rush over?”

“It’s nothing major.” Song He’s expression was normal. “Some time ago I made an appointment with Daoist Wang Tong to discuss the Dao. How could I go back on my word?”

“Then you should go.” Jin Yue knew his junior brother was someone who always kept his word, so he didn’t stop him. “Go early then, and remember to bring generous gifts.”

The square-faced sect master had long sent people to watch for Liuguang Sect’s reaction. After hearing that Liuguang Sect’s Peak Master Song He personally rushed to Yunhua Sect, he knew his plan had succeeded. Liuguang Sect was powerful, and sword cultivators had a clear sense of love and hate. With Yunhua Sect deceiving Liuguang Sect, how could Liuguang Sect easily swallow this insult?

“Tell the disciples below to all stay alert. If they discover suspicious people, they absolutely cannot let them commit evil acts.” The square-faced sect master emphasized. “If you can’t win, run and seek help from sects like Liuguang Sect, Zhaohan Sect, and Jiufeng Sect. Never seek out Yunhua Sect—this sect’s disciples can’t be relied upon.”

Striking down evil cultivators couldn’t wait, and pulling Yunhua Sect down from the ten major sects was also of utmost importance.

He couldn’t give up on either one.

The square-faced sect master didn’t know that after Peak Master Song He arrived in Yongcheng, the first thing he did was disguise his identity, order a whole table of food and wine at a restaurant in Yongcheng, eat until completely satisfied, and only then go to Yunhua Sect. He told Heng Yan about the “evil cultivator informing” incident, presented a large pile of generous gifts, and incidentally discussed the Dao with Wang Tong for half a day.

Wang Tong and Song He’s Daos didn’t have much in common. Wang Tong’s Dao emphasized following one’s heart, while Song He’s Dao followed principles and couldn’t be indulged.

The two sat facing each other for half a day and drank several pots of tea. Wang Tong finally couldn’t bear it anymore: “I already returned the spirit stones I borrowed from you long ago.” So why are you sitting here in my place and not leaving—what exactly are you after?

“Brother Wang Tong, where does this come from?” Song He put down his teacup. “You and I have known each other for many years. How could I come looking for you over such a small matter?”

Wang Tong raised his eyebrows and looked at him. Then what are you sitting here for? The two of them had indeed known each other for many years, but Song He was obsessed with the sword dao, while he, due to tight funds, mostly stayed on the mountain. To say their friendship was as close as brothers—that couldn’t be said.

“To be honest, because my cultivation has made no progress for a long time, I found an excuse to come out and walk around.” Song He’s tea-drinking posture was very elegant. His peaceful expression and flowing movements made it hard for people to tell he was a sword cultivator.

“I see.” Wang Tong nodded. “I’ve long said you sword cultivators push yourselves too hard. Cultivation is cultivating the heart—how can you just practice bitterly?”

Listening to Wang Tong’s words, Song He nodded repeatedly. When it reached noon, he suddenly said, “Does your esteemed sect eat at this time?”

Wang Tong: “…”

If not for the fact that Song He was a sword cultivator, he would almost suspect the other party didn’t come to seek methods for breaking through his cultivation level, but rather ran to Yongcheng to mooch food and drink.

On the first day Song He arrived at Yunhua Sect, the square-face didn’t wait for news of conflict between both sides.

On the third day Song He was at Yunhua Sect, the square-face still didn’t wait for news of conflict between them, but heard that Liuguang Sect had sent Yunhua Sect generous gifts.

On the seventh day Song He was at Yunhua Sect, the two sects still hadn’t had a conflict. It was heard that Song He and Wang Tong appeared together fishing and discussing the Dao on the lake, and the two even went to a restaurant together to eat the newly released charcoal hot pot meat.

On the tenth day Song He was at Yunhua Sect, Song He and Wang Tong ate roasted rabbit meat together that cost several spirit stones per serving.

The square-faced sect master waited and waited until the mountain flowers bloomed, but didn’t wait for the news he wanted. Instead, disciples under his sect captured several evil cultivators who were acting suspiciously.

He didn’t believe it. He didn’t believe the relationship between Liuguang Sect and Yunhua Sect was this good. This must be Liuguang Sect reluctantly swallowing this insult in order to unite with Yunhua Sect to resist evil cultivators.

Once the evil cultivator matter was dealt with, Yunhua Sect would definitely have bad luck. Definitely.

“Come!” The square-faced sect master said with a grave expression. “Have the disciples intensify their investigation of evil cultivators. Absolutely cannot let their conspiracy succeed.”

Nothing could stop his determination to bring his sect into the top ten rankings—not even the troublesome evil cultivators!

Lin Hu had visited many sects and interacted with many sect disciples, but a sect like Jixiang Pavilion was still too rare to see. They performed divination when getting dressed in the morning, divination for what time to sleep at night, and even which direction to sit when eating—someone would specifically divine for that.

However, it was also because of this sect that he finally knew there were things Kong Hou wasn’t good at.

Finger calculation and deduction were methods almost all cultivators knew. It was just that aside from diviners, other cultivators only relied on their cultivation level to calculate a rough idea. But someone as inept as Kong Hou was also rare to see. Yet she was interested in these things and held a set of turtle shells the Pavilion Master Sun had given her, calculating every day.

What was even more frightening was that the Young Master and Daoist Cheng Yi were very cooperative, pretending that Miss Kong Hou’s calculations were very accurate. Today when she said the Young Master would have a financial disaster, he would lose a jade pendant. Tomorrow when she said Daoist Cheng Yi should watch his step, Daoist Cheng Yi would “trip” on flat ground.

Such a good young lady—how could they indulge her like this? This was the worst strategy for educating juniors.

“Senior Lin.” Kong Hou held the turtle shells and walked up to Lin Hu, saying in a low voice, “You need to be careful today. The turtle shell divination shows you seem to have a blood disaster today, but you can get through it safely, so it shouldn’t be a big problem.”

Lin Hu: “…”

“Miss Kong Hou, you won’t take the divination path in the future, will you?” Lin Hu felt this question was very important.

“How could that be?” Kong Hou laughed. “I don’t have much talent in the divination path. If I entered the Dao through divination, I’m afraid I’d have no hope of ascending in this lifetime.”

Good, at least she still had self-awareness.

Lin Hu went out to handle business. On his way back, he suddenly remembered the divination Kong Hou had done for him this morning. Expressionlessly, he walked to a tree and rubbed his fingers on the trunk twice. The dry, hard bark scraped the back of his finger, causing tiny traces of blood to seep out.

There were so many people indulging the young lady—having one more… wasn’t much.

Lin Hu turned his head and saw the Young Master standing at the entrance of Jixiang Pavilion. He put his hands behind his back and walked up to Huan Zong. “Young Master didn’t go out with Miss Kong Hou today?”

“She’s learning how to transplant trees with Pavilion Master Sun.” Huan Zong glanced behind him. “Quickly go inside. The wind is strong outside.”

Lin Hu: “…”

Was the Young Master worrying about him the same way he worried about Miss Kong Hou?

“Don’t let the wound dry out from the wind.” Huan Zong said calmly. “Don’t forget you have a blood disaster today.”

Lin Hu: “…”

Men, oh men—they really would do anything for beauty.

“Some trees need root washing when transplanted, trimming away all branches. For example, these types all need root washing.” Pavilion Master Sun pointed at various trees in the garden. The spiritual energy in the garden was very rich, and much of this spiritual energy was emitted by these trees.

Kong Hou squatted together with Pavilion Master Sun, holding a small shovel in her hand with mud staining her skirt hem. One old and one young squatting in the grass—at first glance, they really did look a bit like fruit farmers.

“Is it the same for planting flowers?” Kong Hou watched Pavilion Master Sun transplant a seedling into another pit and water the small tree with a watering can.

“Flowers and trees are very different.” Pavilion Master Sun patted the soil and stood up. “Their only commonality is that they both grow in soil.”

Kong Hou: “…”

That was quite a lot in common.

“Come.” Pavilion Master Sun said quietly to Kong Hou. “I’ll take you to eat a type of fruit. It only produced two in five hundred years—we’ll split them, one each.”

Kong Hou looked around to make sure no other Jixiang Pavilion disciples heard. “Won’t this be improper?” She was an outsider eating the good stuff—what would the Jixiang Pavilion disciples think?

“My things—I can give them to whoever I want. What’s improper about that?” Pavilion Master Sun pulled out a fruit the size of a dove’s egg from his storage ring and placed it in Kong Hou’s hand. “None of my junior generations love planting trees, so these fruits definitely don’t want to be eaten by them.”

Don’t love planting trees, so the fruits from the trees won’t be given to them to eat?

Pavilion Master Sun… was quite willful.

“This fruit is so beautiful.” Kong Hou looked at the bright red spirit fruit in her palm. This kind of red was very pure, prettier than the most beautiful ruby. She was a bit reluctant to eat it.

“This type of fruit is called Xunyun Fruit, known as the spirit fruit that grows on cloud tops. Back when I entered a secret realm that only opens once every five hundred years, because my abilities were insufficient, I didn’t dare go deep inside. In the end, I simply collected some herbs and ores on the outside.” Mentioning what happened back then, Pavilion Master Sun found it quite amusing. “Obtaining these two fruits was purely accidental. Everyone rushed into the secret realm, and after one day, I was the only one left outside. When I was sitting on the ground performing divination, I discovered there was a cloud flying particularly low above the secret realm, so I flew up to take a look. Who knew this wasn’t a cloud at all, but rather a tree floating in mid-air. I had seen relevant records in ancient texts—there was a type of tree that grew in the clouds, blooming for a thousand years and fruiting for a thousand years, dying upon touching earthly soil. Do you know what this type of tree is called?”

Kong Hou thought of a possibility, her expression somewhat excited. “Could it be… a Xunyun Tree?”

“You guessed correctly—it’s the Xunyun Tree.” Pavilion Master Sun nodded. “This fruit is what I picked from that tree. With your current cultivation level, eating this is still a bit too much for you. Keep it and use it after you transform your golden core into nascent soul.”

“Pavilion Master, do you have branches from the Xunyun Tree?” Kong Hou couldn’t care about how to eat the Xunyun Fruit and instead asked about another matter.

“Xunyun Tree branches?” Pavilion Master Sun shook his head. “The Xunyun Tree is a plant with spiritual intelligence. Getting it to let me pick the fruit from its body was already not easy. How could it possibly let me break off tree branches?”

“Where is that secret realm? Will it still open?”

Pavilion Master Sun didn’t ask why Kong Hou was so interested in this, but simply smiled and answered, “Coincidentally, five hundred years have passed since the secret realm last opened. In another half month, the secret realm will open again.” He took out a map from his sleeve and handed it to Kong Hou. “This is the route map for finding the secret realm.”

Kong Hou took the map and looked at it. The location marked on the map was Kuicheng.

Kuicheng… that seemed to be under the jurisdiction of Yuanji Sect?

“Thank you, Pavilion Master. You’ve helped me tremendously.” Kong Hou straightened her body and performed a grand bow to Pavilion Master Sun.

Pavilion Master Sun’s smile was kindly. He shook his head and said, “No need to thank me. I’m doing this to curry favor with you.”

“Curry favor with me?” Kong Hou was stunned.

“You’re the disciple with the most talent in the main sect. Our Jixiang Pavilion isn’t particularly notable among the affiliated sects. Now that I’ve curried favor with you, it’s equivalent to currying favor with the main sect.” Pavilion Master Sun’s smile became even warmer. He took out a yellowed piece of sheepskin and handed it to Kong Hou. On the sheepskin was drawn what the Xunyun Tree looked like. Watching Kong Hou’s delighted expression, Pavilion Master Sun stroked his white beard. “I wonder if my method of currying favor is useful?”

“Yes, yes, yes.” Kong Hou smiled in agreement. “When I return, I’ll praise your sect to the heavens in front of my martial uncle.”

The two looked at each other and smiled, filling the entire bribery scene with a peaceful and cheerful atmosphere.

“No matter what, I’m very grateful to the Pavilion Master for telling me this news.” Kong Hou clasped her fists toward the Pavilion Master. “I just remembered I have some matters to discuss with Daoist Huan Zong. Please excuse me.”

“Please, as you wish.” Pavilion Master Sun watched Kong Hou’s hurriedly departing figure, the smile on his face unchanged.

In fact, he hadn’t lied—he truly was currying favor with Kong Hou. However, it wasn’t because of Yunhua Sect, but because of Kong Hou herself. As a diviner, the first time he saw Kong Hou, he discovered her physiognomy was extraordinarily peculiar. What should have been an early death fate had obtained new opportunities through a sliver of life force. From then on, it would be smooth sailing with fortune favoring her.

Cultivators with good fortune were favored by the heavenly Dao. Those who befriended them were also easily influenced by their fate and became better and better. If someone went against them and their own fortune was insufficient, their final outcome might not be good. Pavilion Master Sun had originally wanted to divine Kong Hou’s fate trajectory, but unfortunately, her fate had already changed. To calculate it, unless the Yuexing Sect Master Wang Su personally took action, otherwise no one could do it.

With his cultivation level and abilities, being able to calculate that Kong Hou had fortune favoring her was already the limit. He didn’t know if his calculation method was wrong, but aside from having fortune favor her, Miss Kong Hou actually also bore karmic obstacles. A young lady only sixteen years old who entered Yunhua Sect before age ten and whose hands hadn’t been stained with lives—how could she carry karmic obstacles?

Could it be… caused by her parents’ generation?

Originally he didn’t want to create trouble for himself and only planned to receive her well. But watching the young girl earnestly listen to him explain how to plant trees, even squatting on the ground with him to dig holes and plant trees, he couldn’t help but say a few more words.

Getting old, he couldn’t help but soften toward likable juniors. This habit needed to be changed.

“Miss Kong Hou…” Lin Hu saw Kong Hou come out and was just preparing to mention that his hand was injured and her divination this morning was truly accurate, when Kong Hou had already said to him with barely concealed excitement, “Senior Lin, I found a clue about the Xunyun Tree.”

Lin Hu was stunned. He hadn’t expected new clues to come so quickly. “Where is the Xunyun Tree?” In the Young Master’s medicine prescription, one ingredient was Xunyun Tree branches, but ancient texts had extremely few records about Xunyun Trees—not even leaving behind a single illustration.

“In Kuicheng.” Kong Hou said. “We need to hurry to Kuicheng to find where the secret realm will open.”

Lin Hu nodded. “Good, I’ll go prepare things right away.”

“Wait…” Huan Zong watched Lin Hu stride past him. He was just about to call him back when Lin Hu had already flashed away into the distance.

“Huan Zong.” Kong Hou ran up to him and placed the map and sheepskin in his hands. “Keep them safe. Don’t lose them.”

The two sheets of paper were very light, but Huan Zong felt they weighed more than a thousand pounds. To obtain this, how much effort had Kong Hou put in?

“Kong Hou…” Huan Zong’s voice was hoarse. “This was given to you by Pavilion Master Sun?”

Kong Hou nodded and teased, “Pavilion Master Sun said this was to curry favor with me.”

“Curry favor?” Huan Zong was still immersed in being moved and hadn’t come back to his senses.

“Yes, Pavilion Master Sun said I’m a genius of the main sect. For Jixiang Pavilion’s future, he must curry favor with me.” Kong Hou said with a smile. “Since I’ve accepted his gift, you must remember to remind me in the future to praise Jixiang Pavilion more.”

“Alright.” Huan Zong nodded, his eyes like spring water. “I’ll definitely remind you in the future.”

“So when do we set out?”

“No rush.” Huan Zong shook his head. “You and Daoist Cheng Yi haven’t seen each other in many days. Staying at Jixiang Pavilion a few more days won’t hurt. From here to Kuicheng doesn’t take much time.”

Kong Hou was worried. “But I’m afraid of missing the time when the secret realm opens.”

“We won’t.” Huan Zong said with certainty. “I’ve explored many secret realms.”

“Oh right.” Kong Hou suddenly realized. Huan Zong had built his fortune by exploring secret realms. In terms of secret realm experience, he was definitely more formidable.

Within a certain sect, a trusted disciple ran into the main hall with wild joy on his face.

“Sect Master, good news!”

“Did Liuguang Sect and Yunhua Sect fight?” The square-faced sect master stood up excitedly and asked, “No lives were lost, right?” Though he was ambitious, he still didn’t want too many deaths.

“No.”

The square-faced sect master’s expression turned cold as he sat back down.

“But Liuguang Sect sent gifts to Jixiang Pavilion, and they were generous gifts.”

The square-faced sect master’s spirits lifted. Liuguang Sect had actually started poaching Yunhua Sect’s affiliates? With Liuguang Sect taking action, how many affiliated sects could Yunhua Sect have left?

Tsk, they were still the Lingyou Realm’s number one major sect, yet they did things so shamelessly.