Leaving Lanyue Hall, Jian Chou walked back along the path she had come. When she reached the cliff pavilion outside, she saw Qu Zhengfeng’s figure standing in the pavilion.

Jian Chou walked over: “Junior Brother Qu.”

“Eldest senior sister, congratulations.”

Qu Zhengfeng had seen the medium-sized mirror in Jian Chou’s hands and knew the sect master had probably given her a meeting gift, so he smiled.

Jian Chou also looked down at the mirror in her hands, quite curious: “The sect master said it was a meeting gift called the Liwai Mirror, but I don’t know how to use it yet.”

“The sect master should have also given the eldest senior sister a jade slip—you can study it another day.” Qu Zhengfeng noticed the patterns on the edge of the ancient mirror and suddenly made a soft “eh” sound. “Wait, what did senior sister just say this mirror was called?”

“Liwai Mirror.” Jian Chou was puzzled. “Is there something wrong?”

At this moment, Qu Zhengfeng shook his head and smiled.

“I just realized eldest senior sister mentioned it was the Liwai Mirror, but I didn’t pay attention…”

Jian Chou’s eyes showed confusion.

Qu Zhengfeng explained: “Weapons used by cultivation world cultivators are collectively called magical artifacts, generally divided into three major grades: Magical Treasures, Spiritual Treasures, and Mystical Treasures. Each grade is further divided into upper, middle, and lower quality, corresponding exactly to the nine realms of cultivator practice. This Liwai Mirror is an upper-quality Magical Treasure—even when the senior sister reaches the Golden Core stage, it would be completely suitable for use. It seems the sect master invested considerable resources.”

Of course, Qu Zhengfeng silently thought, it must have been Master pressing his head down before the sect master was willing to give it.

He knew exactly how stingy the sect master was.

As for Jian Chou, learning more new things about the cultivation world, hearing that this Liwai Mirror could be used even by Golden Core cultivators, she suddenly felt that even the faint bronze rust around it seemed to glow.

Her face showed genuine pleasure without any pretense or coyness, appearing frank and open.

Qu Zhengfeng had seen many new disciples enter the sect, most showing some embarrassment, but this was the first time he’d seen someone as naturally gracious as Jian Chou.

She truly had something different about her—otherwise, she wouldn’t have caught their master’s eye, someone with such high standards.

Thinking this, Qu Zhengfeng smiled and asked Jian Chou: “Does eldest senior sister want to return to her dwelling?”

“No.”

Shaking her head, Jian Chou put away the Liwai Mirror and looked at Qu Zhengfeng: “The sect master said yesterday there were messages from Wuwang Studio and Fengmo Sword Sect for me. I wonder…”

As she spoke, Qu Zhengfeng immediately remembered: “There is such a matter. Please follow me, senior sister.”

He summoned that Sea Light sword again and invited Jian Chou to board.

Jian Chou skillfully mounted the sword and went with Qu Zhengfeng.

“The sect master and elders have many affairs, so messages between sects are handled by designated people. Of course, there’s also the situation where someone knows their target is in a particular sect but can’t deliver the message directly to that person, so they send it to the sect instead. Your message, senior sister, is probably the latter.”

Cultivators transmitted messages using wind, thunder, rain, snow, and lightning, inscribing messages into these elements through special techniques, borrowing the mysterious rules between heaven and earth to let specific people receive the messages.

The messages from Fengmo Sword Sect and Wuwang Studio this time were both addressed to “Yashan’s Jian Chou.”

Jian Chou understood—Li Sui and others wanted to send her messages, but didn’t know how to contact her directly, so they had to send them to the sect.

She thought Qu Zhengfeng would take her to some place like a courier station to retrieve messages, but unexpectedly, Qu Zhengfeng rode the wind downward like flowing light, landing steadily beside Returning Crane Well.

At this moment, all of Yashan was bathed in sunlight.

Many disciples on Lingzhao Peak were sparring and practicing, creating a lively scene.

Seeing Qu Zhengfeng and Jian Chou arrive together, many people respectfully greeted them.

“Greetings, Master Uncle Jian Chou. Greetings, Master Uncle Qu.”

Qu Zhengfeng nodded slightly in acknowledgment.

Jian Chou found it strange, not knowing why Qu Zhengfeng had come here, but she didn’t ask, just watched him.

Qu Zhengfeng smiled: “Please wait a moment, senior sister.”

As his words fell, he raised his hand and waved. His sleeve brought up a breeze that swept across Returning Crane Well’s not-narrow water surface, creating gentle ripples.

In that instant, light suddenly appeared!

Above the Returning Crane Well’s surface, sparse silver light appeared.

Each ray of silver light was like a thin needle, standing upright on the water surface, rising and falling with the undulating ripples.

Seeing this silver light, Jian Chou’s mind suddenly flashed with an image.

Qingfeng Nunnery, cliff top, fierce winds howling, Fudao Shanren’s finger pinching something needle-like from the invisible wind, then crushing it to receive his “letter.”

In that instant, Jian Chou’s eyes showed a strange radiance.

“Cultivators’ methods are truly wonderfully mysterious.”

Qu Zhengfeng hadn’t expected Jian Chou to seem to know what this was and be so calm about it, causing him to think even more highly of her.

He gently beckoned, and from that mass of needle-like silver gleams, standing upright, two flew out and landed in his palm.

“The technique of transmitting messages through wind, thunder, rain, snow, and lightning—we only know how but not why, able to use it but not understanding the reason, like teleportation arrays. So it’s not that wonderfully mysterious. If senior sister wishes, you could probably learn it in no time.”

Qu Zhengfeng slightly closed his right hand and handed the two silver gleams in his palm to Jian Chou.

“Returning Crane Well is our Yashan’s message distribution center. All messages not directly delivered to sect elders and disciples automatically collect in the Returning Crane Well, and someone will handle them later. Senior sister’s letters specified that senior sister must read them, so they’ve waited until now.”

Those two silver gleams in Qu Zhengfeng’s hands were like two small silver fish.

Jian Chou reached out to receive them, but they seemed to have spiritual intelligence, gently arching their bodies and leaping from Qu Zhengfeng’s hands into her palm.

She paused for a moment, then couldn’t help smiling charmingly: “Can they recognize their master?”

“They can probably distinguish who’s supposed to read them.”

After all, these two letters specified that only Jian Chou could read them.

Qu Zhengfeng was already used to such things.

He was just curious—Fengmo Sword Sect and Wuwang Studio, sects that previously had no contact with Yashan, rarely exchanged messages with Yashan. Unexpectedly, their first contact was because of Jian Chou.

What could be in the letters?

Jian Chou didn’t know what Qu Zhengfeng was thinking. She just gently reached out and pinched one silver gleam, remembering Fudao Shanren’s method, and squeezed hard.

The silver light remained motionless, not transforming into a light screen.

Jian Chou paused, thought for a moment, then channeled the meager spiritual power from her body into her fingertips and gently crushed it.

“Whoosh…”

The silver light at her fingertip seemed to instantly change from hard bronze-iron quality to fine silver sand and powder, immediately scattering into the void, then combining into simple text, line by line.

The first letter she crushed came from Wuwang Studio, but the tone didn’t seem like Nie Xiaowan’s.

“Respectfully to friend Jian Chou of Yashan. Xiaowan is this poor nun’s beloved disciple, taught as my own. In the Qingfeng Nunnery hidden realm incident, Xiaowan suffered villainous harm, and friend Jian Chou’s assistance was greatly appreciated. The details have been reported to all of Wuwang Studio by friends from Fengmo Sword Sect, and this poor nun is extremely grateful. Xiaowan is now in secluded healing to preserve her cultivation. Wuwang Studio will never forget Yashan’s kindness and will certainly repay it wholeheartedly in the future. Wuwang Studio, Yuxin.”

This should be a message from Nie Xiaowan’s teaching master at Wuwang Studio.

From between the lines, Jian Chou detected an unusual undertone.

It seemed Zhou Kuang and Li Sui had indeed smoothly found Wuwang Studio people and sent Nie Xiaowan back to Wuwang Studio, which had now begun treating Xiaowan. However, the phrase “to preserve her cultivation” cast a shadow over this good news.

With careful thought, since Wuwang Studio phrased it this way, the possibility of preserving her cultivation was probably extremely low.

The silver light in mid-air began gradually dissipating after some time.

Seeing Jian Chou still standing in place without any reaction, Qu Zhengfeng reminded her: “Senior Sister Jian Chou?”

Only then did Jian Chou come back to herself, looking down with a smile, though somewhat melancholy.

“It’s fine—at least it’s relatively good news.”

She could only say “relatively.”

She calmly looked up at the second silver gleam remaining in her palm.

Pinching it with her finger, the silver light automatically leaped to her fingertips and was gently crushed.

The silver light scattered again, gradually forming the second letter.

This one naturally came from the Fengmo Sword Sect.

“Senior Sister Jian Chou, greetings. After parting at Deng Tiandao, we two delivered Senior Sister Nie Xiaowan to Wuwang Studio as promised. Master Yuxin of Wuwang Studio has begun treatment—please rest assured, senior sister. We also learned that Xu Lan’er has safely returned to Jianzhu Sect and is well protected. We two are indignant, but being of low status and weak voice, we cannot harm her in the slightest. We only hope that in three years at the Central Domain’s Left Three Thousand Minor Assembly, we can clear this shame and repay today’s grievances.”

Reading this letter, Jian Chou became increasingly silent.

She stared at those lines of text, feeling absurd.

Xu Lan’er had first taken advantage of others’ misfortune to provoke Tao Zhang’s wrath, then tried to drag Nie Xiaowan, Li Sui, and others down with her, and finally attacked Nie Xiaowan while escaping. If not for the Nine-Section Bamboo she held then, Nie Xiaowan would have faced grave danger.

Afterward, Xu Lan’er seemed injured and fell to the sea surface, but Tao Zhang’s search yielded nothing.

Like this, she escaped unscathed and returned to Jianzhu Sect?

Jian Chou couldn’t help but laugh coldly.

She clapped her hands as if something dirty had stuck to them.

“Shijiu Zhou is a strange place…”

“Senior Sister Jian Chou, is there some troubling matter?”

Though he’d only known Jian Chou briefly with limited contact, Qu Zhengfeng felt she wasn’t someone who liked cold laughter. But that smile that had just appeared on her lips carried extremely realistic sarcasm.

What exactly was written in the letter to make Jian Chou show such an expression?

Jian Chou smiled: “On the way to Shijiu Zhou, I befriended several people, but unexpectedly, they were ambushed by villains. Now my friends have sent letters back reporting developments. The friend who was ambushed and seriously injured can now preserve her life, but her cultivation may not be preserved. Yet the instigator escaped unscathed and returned to her sect. Junior Brother Qu, doesn’t Shijiu Zhou have the concept of seeking revenge?”

Qu Zhengfeng was startled.

He hadn’t expected Jian Chou to reveal everything so openly.

Considering recent movements from Fengmo Sword Sect and Wuwang Studio, Qu Zhengfeng immediately thought this was probably about the Qingfeng Nunnery hidden realm incident.

He considered carefully: “Quite contrary to what Senior Sister Jian Chou feels. Revenge seeking is everywhere in Shijiu Zhou, but between sects, they must consider reputation. Those who can avoid openly breaking relations rarely seek direct revenge.”

That made sense.

She had momentarily gotten stuck in a dead end.

Taking a deep breath of Yashan Lingzhao Peak’s cool morning air, Jian Chou laughed aloud: “I understand.”

Li Sui’s letter mentioned being “of low status and weak voice”—probably referring to a disciple conflicting with an entire sect’s interests. His whole letter’s tone was unusually calm, only mentioning wanting to clear their shame at the Central Domain’s Left Three Thousand Minor Assembly.

It seemed Fengmo Sword Sect wouldn’t get involved in this matter.

Thinking further about Qu Zhengfeng’s words, Jian Chou could deduce the situation’s ins and outs.

Speaking broadly, it was about the two sects’ reputations. Speaking narrowly, it was just personal grudges settled personally.

Wuwang Studio’s letter also didn’t mention seeking justice for Nie Xiaowan, but who knew…

What would Nie Xiaowan’s feelings be?

Perhaps Master Yuxin also couldn’t let personal positions affect the entire sect.

“If you have the ability, you could slaughter all of Shijiu Zhou and no one could control you.”

Fudao Shanren’s words echoed in her ears again.

Jian Chou shook her head and laughed softly. She said no more, only asking Qu Zhengfeng: “I’m new to Shijiu Zhou and don’t understand many things. Does Yashan have relevant texts I could read?”

“There are indeed.” Qu Zhengfeng nodded. “Not only about Shijiu Zhou’s customs and people, but also some basic cultivation methods. Well… since Master’s teaching style has always been quite casual… so…”

Casual?

Jian Chou was suddenly stunned: “Speaking of which, Master hasn’t returned to Yashan for three hundred years. What about your cultivation…”

Qu Zhengfeng’s temple veins twitched as he sighed: “Basically self-taught.”

“…”

Jian Chou understood.

No wonder when mentioning reading texts, Qu Zhengfeng mentioned basic methods and had to bring up Master’s casual teaching style—it was because even after taking a master’s, they were mostly self-reliant!

While walking forward, Qu Zhengfeng sighed: “Master is unreliable most of the time. Though Zhengfeng’s cultivation isn’t high, I’m about to enter Soul Separation, currently at Nascent Soul peak. If the eldest senior sister has cultivation questions, asking me might be more reliable than asking Master.”

For a disciple to say such words…

Jian Chou couldn’t bear to imagine how irresponsible Fudao Shanren was.

She looked at Qu Zhengfeng: “Then I thank Junior Brother Qu—I’ll surely trouble you frequently in the future. But this sounds strange somehow…”

As a Qi Refining eldest senior sister, Jian Chou had no confidence in speaking.

Qu Zhengfeng naturally knew the reason. He just smiled like a spring breeze: “Before Master took you as his disciple, I was Yashan’s eldest senior brother.”

Uh…

Jian Chou couldn’t help laughing softly, wondering if Qu Zhengfeng, though appearing unconcerned on the surface, might have collapsing thoughts inside.

Speaking of which, she still didn’t know about Master’s other disciples.

“By the way, Junior Brother Qu, I remember Master took eight disciples total.”

“There are eight, but counting you, the eldest senior sister, only six are currently at Yashan. I’m now ranked second. You’ve met Fourth Junior Brother—he’s habitually the most unreliable among us.”

Qu Zhengfeng had accompanied Jian Chou onto the Yashan path. Standing above, he lightly stomped his foot.

Wind and clouds surged, instantly condensing into a cloud ladder that appeared before Jian Chou and Qu Zhengfeng.

This cloud ladder led straight up the cliff to Jian Chou’s dwelling.

Having witnessed this miraculous method yesterday, though Jian Chou’s eyes showed amazement today, it was no longer surprising.

She followed him up.

“So three others remain at Yashan.”

“Exactly. One is Third Junior Brother—he’s a sword fanatic, always in seclusion and rarely emerges, currently still secluded. Of the remaining two, one’s an idiot and one’s a fatty.”

Qu Zhengfeng laughed: “They’ve been at the Administrative Hall these days. Though they know you’ve arrived, eldest senior sister, and are dying to meet you, they can’t. I estimate that after they finish today’s work, it won’t be long. You won’t have many peaceful days left, eldest senior sister.”

Yesterday’s Shen Jiu was not quite normal, somewhat like a playboy from the mortal world, but when truly calm, he was unrestrained in a way that made him hard to dislike.

As for Qu Zhengfeng, he was like a bright moon and clear breeze—a graceful gentleman, perfectly described by such terms.

However…

Jian Chou secretly pondered—seeing Shen Jiu’s arrogant nature, yet not daring to provoke Qu Zhengfeng at all, he was probably scheming inside, not as white as his surface appeared. Cut him open, and his heart might be black—she’d need to be careful in the future.

As for the other three she hadn’t met, hearing about this sword fanatic, idiot, and fatty, they seemed to pose no great danger.

But…

Thinking carefully, were there any normal people among her master’s disciples?

Jian Chou suddenly remembered Sect Master Zheng Yao’s puzzled comment in Lanyue Hall: How did such an abnormal Fudao Shanren end up taking her as a disciple?

This wasn’t just Zheng Yao’s question, but also Qu Zhengfeng and others’ question.

Jian Chou seemed completely out of place with all of Yashan!

Both harboring their thoughts, they soon ascended the cloud ladder.

Shen Jiu was still standing in place, holding a pitiful flower from who knows where, plucking petals: “Ask, don’t ask, ask, don’t ask, ask, don’t ask…”

“Junior Brother Shen.”

Jian Chou stepped onto the flat ground carved into the cliff—this was her “doorstep.”

“Eldest senior sister, you’re back!”

Hearing the voice, Shen Jiu suddenly startled and straightened up, looking at Jian Chou.

If he’d been a mechanical puppet before, now he seemed infused with spiritual energy and vitality.

Jian Chou found it strange—what exactly did he want from her?

“I just went with Junior Brother Qu to meet the sect master, and I remember Junior Brother Shen saying he had matters to discuss with me.”

Shen Jiu opened his mouth to speak.

However, from the corner of his eye, he glimpsed Qu Zhengfeng standing aside with arms crossed, watching him with a half-smile.

The words on his lips suddenly seemed to turn into knife after knife, stuck in Shen Jiu’s throat.

Shen Jiu opened his mouth but couldn’t speak.

Jian Chou became increasingly puzzled, glancing at Qu Zhengfeng.

“Is Junior Brother Shen looking for Junior Brother Qu?”

“No!”

Shen Jiu immediately denied it, his expression becoming extremely collapsed.

He looked at Qu Zhengfeng, then at the completely clueless Jian Chou. The wound in his heart that had been torn open since last night suddenly split wider. Now it wasn’t just blood flowing—it was like opened floodgates with water roaring out!

“Well, Second Senior Brother, I need to speak privately with the eldest senior sister. Could you step aside?”

“Oh…” Qu Zhengfeng stood with arms crossed, pacing two steps in the air. His gaze, examining Shen Jiu, became strange. “What can’t be said that requires privacy? I didn’t know you had so much to chat about with Senior Sister Jian Chou.”

The teasing and sarcasm in that voice could be heard by a pig, let alone the self-proclaimed genius Shen Jiu.

“Crack, crack, crack…”

This was the sound of Shen Jiu grinding his teeth.

He glared at Qu Zhengfeng and finally couldn’t stand it.

Flames of hatred burned fiercely. Shen Jiu pressed his hand to his waist, his voice seeming to grind from between his teeth: “Draw—swords!”

The mischievous smile on Qu Zhengfeng’s face suddenly froze.

He slightly narrowed his eyes, staring at Shen Jiu’s hand pressed against his waist, saying softly: “Really draw swords?”

“Of course it’s—”

Shen Jiu suddenly raised his head, showing a brilliant smile.

“Real!”

Vast, overwhelming silver light erupted skyward the instant his words fell!

A two-zhang battle disc appeared out of nowhere on this cliff, with surging spiritual power inside rushing skyward like a storm!

At this moment, all of Yashan seemed to hear the clear sound of a sword song!

The instant the silver light burst forth, Qu Zhengfeng had already flashed away with dark blue flowing light beneath his feet, completely avoiding it. He laughed loudly: “Just for a small Heavenly Fire Bowl, you’d draw swords against me—senior brother is truly heartbroken!”

“Bullshit!”

Shen Jiu now wished he could chop Qu Zhengfeng into eight pieces and throw them out to feed the dogs.

A dignified man absolutely couldn’t bring himself to ask Eldest Senior Sister Jian Chou for the Heavenly Fire Bowl back in front of others!

Yet this culprit was standing aside, causing trouble and making sarcastic remarks!

If this could be tolerated, what couldn’t be?!

Shen Jiu’s head heated up, thinking: Fight him! Draw swords if we’re drawing swords!