Ling Luo never expected that her casual remarks would spread throughout the entire Tianji in such a short time.

Yun Shou Xi’s popularity in Eastern Island Tianji was truly impressive.

Yu Xiu frowned, still confused.

Ling Luo reached out her hands and said, “Second Senior Brother, let me take these.”

She took the dew and moon grass from Yu Xiu’s arms.

“Why is everyone suddenly collecting dew today?” Yu Xiu looked at several disciples hanging from trees ahead, puzzled. “And what does this have to do with Master?”

Ling Luo said with a straight face, “Perhaps they want to collect the essence of heaven and earth to show filial respect to Master. Second Senior Brother, let’s hurry, we’ll be late if we don’t go now!”

Shouxin Hall was where disciples practiced the sect’s core cultivation methods.

New inner disciples had to train there for at least a year.

During this time, senior brothers and sisters would accompany and teach their junior disciples.

Ling Luo spent the entire morning at Shouxin Hall, returning to Shen Tower with Yu Xiu for lunch.

Yun Shouxi sat behind the table, watching his two disciples return with dew and moon grass.

After careful consideration of his words, Yu Xiu said, “Master, these are gifts from disciples of the three sects for you.”

Ling Luo sat obediently to the side, eyes downcast without speaking, silently placing the bottle and basket on the table.

Yun Shouxi glanced at them, showing no irritation. He merely smiled at Ling Luo and said, “The Sect Leader and several hall masters also sent me quite a bit this morning.”

Ling Luo’s fingernails lightly dug into her palm as she tried to contain herself.

Yu Xiu heard this and was momentarily confused, not understanding the meaning.

Yun Shouxi continued, “Since others have all sent gifts, why haven’t I seen any gesture from my two disciples?”

Yu Xiu said, “Please don’t blame us, Master. It’s just that I don’t understand why Master would want this dew and moon grass?”

With a smile lingering at the corners of his lips, Yun Shouxi looked at Ling Luo and said, “Hasn’t your little junior sister told you?”

Yu Xiu was slightly startled and turned to look at Ling Luo.

Ling Luo knew she couldn’t remain silent any longer. She lowered her head and obediently admitted her mistake, “Master, I acknowledge my error.”

Yun Shouxi extended his hand, his fingers long and slender with defined knuckles. He flicked open the bottle cap and glanced at the clear dew inside.

“What error have you committed?” he asked gently.

Ling Luo said, “This morning when chatting with fellow disciples about Master, they asked what Master likes to eat. Because Master appears as an immortal in my eyes, I said that immortals eat moon grass and drink dew.”

Upon hearing this, Yu Xiu finally understood and couldn’t help but smile slightly, the corner of his mouth turning up.

Yun Shouxi poured a small cup of dew and took a piece of moon grass. True to its nature, nurtured at the peak of the immortal mountain, it had a bright color, resembled a moon, was thin and delicate, and carried a faint fragrance.

He placed the moon grass in the cup and handed it to Ling Luo, “Would you like a taste?”

Ling Luo couldn’t refuse, so she accepted it and drank. With a piece of cold moon grass in her mouth, she looked at him while inwardly complaining that she should never have accepted the invitation to join that jade listener discussion group. This hadn’t happened in her previous life.

Yun Shouxi reached out and made a gesture that seemed extremely intimate to Ling Luo.

His warm fingertip lightly wiped away the moisture at the corner of her lips, and he softly asked, “Does it taste good?”

Ling Luo: “…”

Pervert.

How dare he touch her like this in front of Second Senior Brother!

Yet Yu Xiu didn’t find anything inappropriate about it.

In his mind, his pure and elegant master would never have any low or dirty thoughts toward his little junior sister.

Ling Luo didn’t answer directly, only saying, “Disciple acknowledges her mistake and awaits Master’s punishment.”

Yun Shouxi smiled and said, “I haven’t had time to decide on a punishment, but Hall Master Fan has already decided for me.”

He withdrew his hand, his posture dignified and elegant, his words typically gentle: “According to the rules of the Discipline Hall, go and receive your punishment.”

“Disciple will go at once.” Ling Luo rose, bowed her head, and took her leave, heading toward the Discipline Hall.

Yu Xiu turned to look at Yun Shouxi, wanting to plead for Ling Luo, but stopped when he saw his master’s expression.

Ling Luo remembered that in her previous life, when she had first entered the inner sect, she had stayed by Yun Shouxi’s side, behaving properly, not causing trouble or making mischief, only cultivating all day. But now, with a completely different mindset, unexpected things are happening.

Both the outer and inner sects had Discipline Halls. Ling Luo went to the inner sect’s Discipline Hall and was punished by being sent to clean the Samsara Realm.

The Samsara Realm was located at the boundary between the inner and outer sects, a place where Tianji imprisoned disciples who had committed serious crimes and demons.

Some disciples, after experiencing the world, violated sect rules, committed heinous acts, or practiced forbidden arts of the immortal sects, allying with demons.

The sect leader would issue an arrest warrant for such individuals, either to bring them back to Tianji for imprisonment or execute them on the spot.

Ten years ago, the Second Sect Leader’s most beloved personal disciple had colluded with demons to wreak havoc in the mortal world, inciting public anger. The sect leader had no choice but to order his capture and return to the mountain, but the elders and disciples sent to apprehend him were all killed.

In the end, the three sect leaders went together to capture him and imprisoned him in the Samsara Realm.

He was originally to be executed, but the Second Sect Leader knelt and begged for mercy for his disciple. As a result, he was only imprisoned in a place without sunlight, suffering the consuming fires of karma, and never allowed to leave the realm.

With his beloved disciple straying from righteousness, killing fellow disciples, and incurring public wrath, the Second Sect Leader felt deeply responsible. He went into seclusion to atone for his sins and has not emerged to this day.

Ling Luo recalled this incident on her way to the Samsara Realm, the corners of her mouth curling into a faint smile.

That imprisoned disciple was named Qing Shun, one of the Twenty-Six Demons.

Ling Luo’s impression of him could be summed up in one word: wild.

His path was completely different from Tianji’s, but he had endured because of the Second Sect Leader. After leaving his master’s supervision when he went out into the world, he finally couldn’t hold back anymore.

Wild as he was, his strength was not to be underestimated.

Even after being imprisoned in the Samsara Realm for over ten years, suffering the torment of karmic fire, he could continue to cultivate, becoming tens of times stronger than before.

He was truly a monster.

Ling Luo felt no distress about her punishment and was rather pleased at the prospect of meeting this old acquaintance early.

The Samsara Realm lay between two mountain valleys a thousand meters high. On both sides were black stone walls, with a pathway in the middle. Looking up, it seemed impossible to see the top, and the stone walls were covered with densely packed small compartments and thousands of hanging iron chains.

Occasionally, wind passing through the valley would bring a terrifying moaning sound, along with the crisp sound of iron chains striking the stone walls.

Just as Ling Luo arrived at the exit of the Samsara Realm, she saw three people standing there, each holding a white broom, looking at each other in bewilderment.

All three were wearing inner disciple robes. Ling Luo recognized one of them, the round-faced chubby fellow who was Song Yuanyuan, the personal disciple taken by Hall Master Fan.

—

“Ahem, everyone, pleased to meet you,” Song Yuanyuan greeted awkwardly. “Fate has brought us together from a thousand miles away. Today we share hardship in the Samsara Realm; when we leave, our bond will surely be deeper than with other fellow disciples.”

“Pah! It’s all because you, you fool, let Hall Master Fan see the jade listener messages and discover it was us who spread the news!” The fair-faced young man, Chang Fei, next to him was furious, his pale face flushed with anger as he poked Song Yuanyuan with his broom. “Traitor, die!”

Song Yuanyuan parried with his broom, retreating while shouting, “It’s all because you resold this information to others, making the entire Tianji disciples know about it, which is why my master insisted on investigating!”

Ling Luo was speechless.

She glanced at Chang Fei, this overly delicate-looking young man with a name like a girl’s, who apparently didn’t worship Yun Shouxi but instead sold information about him for money.

Truly a business genius.

As the two fought with their brooms, another young man who appeared more steady, Xu Shen, handed a broom to Ling Luo and said, “Good luck. If we finish cleaning before sunset, we can still go back for dinner.”

Ling Luo rolled her eyes and said, “You’re dreaming.”

The four entered the valley.

Except for Ling Luo, none of the others had seen what the inside of the Samsara Realm looked like.

Now, seeing the tall, dark valley and the densely packed compartments on the stone walls, they were stunned into silence.

“This… we have to clean all of this?” Song Yuanyuan swallowed, on the verge of tears. “This place has forbidden spells; we can’t use spiritual energy or cultivation. It would take days just to climb up!”

After a moment of despair, Chang Fei swung his broom at him again, “I’m going to kill you!”

Ling Luo walked to the edge of the stone wall, looking at the row of compartments closest to the ground. They were small, just enough for one person, with iron doors facing the mountain path, but inside there was another sliding door inscribed with spells.

Behind the sliding door were various punishment formations and realms.

Xu Shen tucked up and tightened his robe, adjusted his trouser legs, and as he looked up, he heard a click. The sliding door in the compartment directly opposite him suddenly opened and closed with a whoosh, and a blood-soaked man flew out, hit the iron door, and lay down.

Blood splashed from inside onto his face.

Xu Shen raised his hand to wipe the warm liquid from his face, brought it before his eyes to look, and was dumbfounded.

Just as Ling Luo was about to lift the water bucket to go up, she saw Xu Shen plunge his head into the bucket, frantically washing his face with both hands.

Ling Luo: “…”

It was clear this person had severe cleanliness issues.

Looking at the other two who had abandoned their brooms and were now pulling hair and fighting in a heap, Ling Luo expressionlessly reached out to grab the iron chain for climbing, possessed by a dark mood, and said in an ominous tone, “If we don’t finish today, I’ll kill all of you.”

The two who were pulling hair and pinching faces felt a chill in the air and simultaneously stopped, looking at Ling Luo. The ominous feeling was too intense; they sheepishly let go of each other and silently stood up, picking up their brooms again.

Chang Fei casually fished Xu Shen, who was still washing his face, out of the water bucket.

Song Yuanyuan looked at the blood-covered man in the compartment on the mountain wall and said, “This unnamed senior brother is in such a miserable state.”

“Senior brother?! He violated sect rules and allied with demons. He’s no longer a disciple of our sect, and you call him senior brother!” Chang Fei rolled his eyes.

Ling Luo waved her hand and said, “Get to work.”

She took her broom and swept the ground, which was covered with leaves and fallen flowers blown in by the wind, as well as blood that had flowed and congealed in large clots on the ground.

Song Yuanyuan and Chang Fei looked up at the high mountain wall in despair. How long would this take to clean?!

It was impossible. They definitely couldn’t finish today!

After working hard for half a day, they managed to clean the blood-stained iron doors. Song Yuanyuan grabbed an iron chain and wailed, “Without being able to fly on a sword or use spiritual energy, how am I supposed to go up there?!”

Xu Shen, who had barely climbed a few meters high and whose legs were already trembling, pretended to be calm and said, “Climb up, you can do it.”

“Brother, you’re overestimating me. I can’t do it, I really can’t!” Song Yuanyuan hugged the iron chain and cried. “Is this something a human can do? Look at Chang Fei, whose movement technique is usually like a monkey’s, but here he’s just a motionless crawling shrimp!”

Chang Fei, who slid down a large section of the iron chain at these words, flew at Song Yuanyuan with a kick: “You’re the crawling shrimp!”

“Look at Xu Shen, his legs are shaking! Who could endure climbing a thousand meters high!” Song Yuanyuan hugged the iron chain and screamed, “Whoever can climb up and down without using spiritual energy or cultivation will be my father!”

Ling Luo chuckled and looked up, saying, “How pathetic. Where has all your physical training gone?”

“Training is one thing, actually doing it is another. Look, who can go up there!” Song Yuanyuan was still shouting.

Ling Luo shook her hand, about to show him how it’s done when she heard a series of crisp sounds from above—the sound of iron chains striking the stone wall.

The iron chain next to Song Yuanyuan was swaying. They all looked up at the stone wall along the chain.

Nearly a thousand meters up the stone wall, a small dot was sliding down. Gradually, they could make out the color of the dot, a dark green, and then realized the shape of this dot was a person.

This person moved steadily, sliding down a chain very stably, even wiping blood stains from the mountain as they descended.

Song Yuanyuan and Chang Fei, at the lowest point, were dumbfounded.

Ling Luo narrowed her eyes, and when the person had slid down to a certain height, she discovered it was a thin young man, also an outer disciple.

Her eyelid twitched; he seemed familiar.

As the young man slid down closer, they discovered the most shocking fact:

This person was sliding down so quickly and steadily that if he were using his palms against the iron chain, his skin would have been torn open. But as he slid down, he was relying on the smooth wooden handle of a broom!

Under the astonished gazes of Song Yuanyuan and the others, the young man made an elegant twist in the air, pulled the broom from the iron chain as he neared the ground, and landed steadily.

Ling Luo looked at Yue Liangze, who had landed facing her, her temple twitching violently.

Why are you being punished again?

And why is your wall-descending technique so practiced?

Yue Liangze saw Ling Luo and was slightly startled.

Before the two could say anything, Yue Liangze was grabbed by Song Yuanyuan, who seized both his hands. Turning to look, he met the other’s tear-filled eyes and heard an anguished cry: “Father!”

Yue Liangze: “?”