After killing the Shadowwind Wolf King, Su Xiaomo and Xia Shuiyun returned to the Taixuan Holy Sect.

After submitting the task and receiving the reward, Xia Shuiyun gave all the pills and spirit energy array time cards to Su Xiaomo, saying: “Don’t ask why. This is what you deserve.”

“Uh.”

Su Xiaomo collected all the rewards, smiling foolishly: “Thank you, Senior Sister.”

In front of Xia Shuiyun, he had to pretend to be an ambitious person. In the sect, he still had to pretend to be a lowly-born, socially adept little schemer.

Sigh.

This really tested his acting skills.

“In the future, spend less time with Sun Yingquan.”

Xia Shuiyun said: “If there are any tasks, I’ll call you to go together.”

“Mm!”

Su Xiaomo nodded.

“Oh, right.”

Before leaving, Xia Shuiyun paused and said: “Soon there will be an outer sect disciple assessment. I hope you can achieve good results and make the elder council look at you differently.”

“This… I’ll do my best.” Su Xiaomo said.

Next.

He focused his mind on cultivation.

Because he had merit points and rewards from the task, frequently appearing in cultivation areas didn’t arouse fellow disciples’ suspicions.

During this period.

Xia Shuiyun would also often appear, taking him to do tasks.

Su Xiaomo knew that after the Yinshan Ridge incident, this woman was clearly proactively helping him obtain more martial path resources.

“Dog Sheng, you’ve been getting very close to Xia Shuiyun lately. Could it be you really have that kind of relationship?”

On the way to the dining hall, Sun Yingquan asked in a low voice.

Not just him—many outer sect disciples were gossiping, because the usually cold Senior Sister Xia was calling for Su Xiaomo too frequently. Anyone with eyes could tell something was off.

“What kind of relationship could Senior Sister Xia and I have? We’re just doing tasks together.” Su Xiaomo quickly denied it.

He was quite depressed now.

Because Xia Shuiyun was helping too obviously, it was easy to cause gossip.

Moreover, as a beautiful woman, there was no shortage of admirers and suitors in the sect. Getting too close to her might cause some trouble.

Sure enough.

Just as he arrived at the dining hall about to get food, a tall, handsome fellow disciple blocked his way, saying indifferently: “Kid, I advise you to stay away from Junior Sister Xia.”

This person was called He Zongying.

A disciple with relatively strong strength in the outer sect. It was said that in the year-end sect competition, he was very likely to advance to the inner sect.

There were many disciples in the Taixuan Holy Sect’s outer sect, but there were divisions.

Su Xiaomo, Sun Yingquan, and Xia Shuiyun entered the sect relatively late and belonged to the same cohort. Other disciples who became outer sect members earlier belonged to upper cohorts or even earlier.

To put it simply.

It was like school divisions by grade.

If you compared the Taixuan Holy Sect’s outer sect disciples to junior and senior high school, Su Xiaomo had just entered first year of junior high, while He Zongying became an outer sect disciple early, so he could be considered a senior in high school now.

“Surnamed He.”

Sun Yingquan walked over, holding his head high: “Who are you trying to scare?”

He Zongying didn’t take Elder Sun’s son seriously at all. He merely glanced at Su Xiaomo indifferently before turning and leaving.

“Senior Brother He has admired Junior Sister Xia for more than just a day or two. Brother Su has been getting a bit close to Junior Sister Xia recently, so trouble was bound to happen sooner or later.”

In the dining hall, outer sect disciples gossiped in low voices.

“Dog Sheng.”

Sun Yingquan placed his hand on Su Xiaomo’s shoulder, saying: “Don’t be afraid. With Senior Brother here, that guy won’t dare bully you!”

“Thank you, Senior Brother.”

Su Xiaomo carried his food tray and found a seat, then intentionally or unintentionally looked toward Xia Shuiyun in the distance who was eating with her head down. He thought despairingly: “Is she doing this on purpose or not!”

…

“Old Man Juntian?”

At the Eternal Sect, Jun Changxiao leaned back in his chair, murmuring: “My new identity?”

Li Luoqiu smiled: “Xiaomo also said that Elder Xia’s granddaughter Xia Shuiyun has been pestering him recently. Because of this, he was warned by an outer sect senior brother, asking the Sect Master what he should do.”

“Having established a foothold in the Taixuan Holy Sect, to climb higher, he must use strength to impress the higher-ups.”

Jun Changxiao thought for a moment: “Tell Xiaomo there’s no need to keep a low profile all the time. When the time is right, he can explode a bit to gain the higher-ups’ attention.”

In traditional novels, don’t protagonists who join sects go from initial restraint to showing brilliance, then to killing in all directions, step by step reaching the peak of life? So he planned to have Su Xiaomo play it this way.

“Mm.”

Li Luoqiu withdrew and sent out the message.

Jun Changxiao stroked his chin: “If a high-level expert’s disciple joins the Taixuan Holy Sect, once known, it should receive sufficient attention, right?”

His fingers lightly tapped on the armrest: “After the planar battlefield matter is settled, this seat must use the Old Man Juntian identity to do some things, making Xiaomo’s lies more realistic and three-dimensional.”

The system said: “Is the host planning to have Su Xiaomo advance to a higher position, rather than just obtaining information about Lu Qianqian and Fang Lingyu?”

“If my disciple has the ability to infiltrate a great sect and hold an important position, that’s actually quite good.” Jun Changxiao said.

…

Taixuan Holy Sect.

After receiving Hall Master Li’s voice transmission, Su Xiaomo pondered: “How can I explode at the right time?”

This “right time” was very particular.

He couldn’t suddenly release his realm to Wuwang level, then go viciously beat up He Zongying.

Thrashing him was fine.

But there had to be rationality. He had to prevent others from finding fault.

“Go to the Technique Pavilion and use merit points to exchange for martial techniques.”

Su Xiaomo stood up, then entered the Technique Pavilion designated for outer sect disciples. After selecting a movement technique and a fist technique, he registered and left.

“This kid used 500 merit points to exchange for two of the most difficult martial techniques to cultivate?”

The Technique Pavilion elder glanced at the registration book. Seeing the names of two high-level yet difficult-to-learn martial techniques recorded, his eyes immediately showed surprise.

After returning to his quarters, Su Xiaomo began focusing his mind on cultivation.

With his Saint-grade spiritual root aptitude and Wuwang cultivation, comprehending this kind of superior martial art was extremely easy.

“Let’s go.”

Xia Shuiyun called from outside: “Go do a task.”

“Okay, Senior Sister.”

Su Xiaomo stood up, continuing to interact with this woman, continuing to do tasks and earn martial path resources that gave him a reason to become stronger.

“He Zongying is an outer sect disciple qualified to become an inner sect member.”

On the way to do the task, Xia Shuiyun said: “If you can defeat him, you’ll definitely be valued by the higher-ups.”

Su Xiaomo’s mouth twitched: “You come looking for me to do tasks every day—is this deliberate?”

“I’m helping you fulfill your dream.”

Xia Shuiyun stopped and looked back at him.

As expected, this woman came looking for him so openly on purpose, deliberately letting others cause trouble!

Although he didn’t know her exact intentions, Su Xiaomo also knew that if he could defeat He Zongying under reasonable circumstances, he would definitely gain great recognition.

“Here.”

Xia Shuiyun casually tossed over a spatial ring: “Inside are fifty natural spirit stones.”

“This…” Su Xiaomo was shocked.

Fifty natural spirit stones weren’t a small amount. Outer sect disciples of the Taixuan Holy Sect might not earn that much in several years.

“Don’t ask why.”

Xia Shuiyun said: “I just really dislike He Zongying.”

Su Xiaomo understood.

That guy probably often came to pester her, so she deliberately got close to him to use him as a shield!

Su Xiaomo smiled: “Senior Sister’s enemy is my enemy. If Senior Sister dislikes the entire world, I’ll be the enemy of the world.”

Xia Shuiyun’s expression froze. She said quietly: “Big idiot.”