In the hall, several women in purple robes stood opposite several men in blue robes. The leading male cultivator wore robes embroidered with gorgeous dark patterns and held the hand of a woman in a green dress. His expression was somewhat displeased, but for some reason, he forcibly endured without losing his temper. The woman in green beside him, however, cried pitifully like pear blossoms in the rain.

The several purple-robed women ignored her and just kept mocking the blue-robed male cultivator, one moment saying he was shameless, the next saying his character was unstable. They suggested he should stop cultivating and return to the mortal world to become a wealthy young master and take several concubines—wouldn’t that be better?

“Fickle and greedy for beauty—Liuyan Sect can only teach disciples of this caliber.” A tall, thin purple-robed woman sneered coldly. “With such poor character, don’t be a cultivator. Don’t dirty others’ cultivation path.”

“Xianzi, if you have grievances, direct them at me. Don’t implicate all of Liuyan Sect.” The woman in green couldn’t listen anymore. “This is all my fault. If you want to blame someone, blame me. Don’t blame my young master.”

“If flies insist on crawling toward filthy stinking things, should we blame the filthy things for being in the wrong place?” The purple-robed woman looked at her sideways. “Miss, this is a grievance between our sect and Liuyan Sect. Please don’t interfere. Thank you.”

The purple-robed woman’s words were even more humiliating than directly cursing the woman in green. Her lips trembled, but she didn’t know how to respond. These past few days, to avoid people from Qingyu Sect, Young Master had specifically brought her to Yicheng, which was farther from Qingyu Sect, to relax. Who knew they’d be so unlucky as to still encounter Qingyu Sect’s eldest senior sister and her group?

This was Yicheng’s largest and most prestigious inn. There were certainly many cultivators staying here. If they made a scene here, who knew how many people would come to watch and laugh? The woman in green tugged at the blue-robed man’s sleeve and lowered her head.

“What exactly do you want?” The blue-robed man gritted his teeth. “Don’t go too far.”

“That day, you made my junior sister lose great face before all the guests and let many people mock our Qingyu Sect. Our sect master has already declared that where there is Qingyu Sect, there cannot be your Liuyan Sect.” The eldest senior sister summoned her life-bound magical treasure. “Either you leave now, or I’ll beat you until you leave.”

“Don’t think I won’t fight you.” The male cultivator drew his sword. “What happened that day was indeed improper of me, but if I don’t love her, I don’t love her. You can’t force me to marry her.”

“Who cares whether you love or not? Take a look at what kind of thing you are.” The eldest senior sister laughed harshly. “Do Qingyu Sect disciples lack men? It’s just that you sweet-talked my junior sister into agreeing to become dao companions with you. Who knew you were so insincere, secretly entangled with other women? If that’s the case, why didn’t you say so earlier? Why wait until the dao partnership ceremony day to say before all the guests that you didn’t love my little junior sister at all? Did doing this give you more of a sense of accomplishment, letting the whole world know that Bian Hong can have any woman and considers himself extraordinarily charming?”

The saying “any man can have her” was common, but “any woman can have him” was rare. The cultivators watching nearby were actually amused. Whether ordinary people or cultivators, hearts naturally lean toward the weak. Moreover, these several female cultivators from Qingyu Sect each had delicate features and explained the causes and consequences clearly. Who was right and who was wrong was already very clear. Everyone present had unconsciously sided with Qingyu Sect. Some of the bolder ones had already begun criticizing Liuyan Sect for acting improperly.

When Lin Hu chased after Kong Hou and came out, he saw her sitting in a corner, holding a plate of dried fruit, eating while watching with great interest. In the blink of an eye, she had already prepared snacks?

Seeing Lin Hu come out after her, Kong Hou waved at him. When he approached, she said quietly: “The angle here is better, and it’s not easy to be affected by the parties involved.” She pulled out a package of dried fruit from her storage ring and handed it to Lin Hu. “These fried goods are ones I specifically brought out. They’re fragrant and crispy. Take them and eat. When you finish, I have more.”

The steady, mature cultivator Lin Hu expressionlessly refused Kong Hou’s kind offer to share snacks. He stood silently behind Kong Hou, watching this farce unfold. Before leaving the sect, Liuyan Sect’s sect master had visited the sect many times, with words suggesting an intention to affiliate with Liuguang Sect. He didn’t know what the sect master thought about this matter.

“You!” Hearing the surrounding laughter and accusations, Bian Hong could no longer suppress his surging anger. He pointed his sword at Qingyu Sect’s eldest senior sister. “Your Qingyu Sect has greater power than our Liuyan Sect, but that doesn’t mean I’m afraid of you.”

The eldest senior sister’s willow-leaf eyebrows shot up. The weapon in her hand emitted dazzling dharma light. It looked like they were about to fight.

“Wait.” From the corner, a young lady in a waist-bound wide-sleeved flying immortal dress interrupted their impending battle. “The inn wasn’t easy to build. If you two want to fight, could you find a more spacious place?”

Hiding behind the counter, the innkeeper heard these words and was immensely grateful to the young lady. When these prestigious sect cultivators wanted to fight, he truly didn’t dare stop them. If things got damaged, even if these people compensated him with spirit stones, it would still take considerable time to restore the inn to its original state.

The young lady’s words were like pouring several cups of water on a raging fire. The battle intent on both sides instantly diminished considerably. Qingyu Sect’s eldest senior sister put away her magical treasure and cupped her hands toward the young lady: “Miss’s reminder is correct. This one was reckless.”

Destroying the inn was a small matter, but with things making such a big commotion, the City Lord’s Manor would definitely come investigate. Fighting in the inn, even if they were completely in the right, would violate Yicheng’s management rules. If word spread, it would only make uninformed people think Qingyu Sect was aggressive and overbearing, which would be counterproductive.

Seeing Qingyu Sect’s eldest senior sister put away her sword, Bian Hong secretly breathed a sigh of relief. In terms of cultivation, he was slightly inferior to this Qingyu Sect head disciple. With the low-cultivation Lüyao beside him, he really didn’t have much confidence he could gain any advantage from her.

He turned to look at the young lady who had spoken and put away his sword: “For the sake of this young lady, I won’t argue with you today.”

Seeing the two sides unexpectedly didn’t fight, some people were disappointed, while others felt relieved for the inn’s owner. Some male cultivators who harbored thoughts of playing the hero saving the beauty regretted missing this good opportunity. Everyone withdrew their attention—those drinking tea drank tea, those eating ate.

“You absolutely mustn’t say such things. I don’t have such great face.” Kong Hou stood up and patted the dried fruit shells on her clothes. “I have no friendship with male cultivators like you who act improperly.”

Some people laughed at Kong Hou’s words, feeling the young lady’s statement was truly satisfying.

“Miss, hasn’t anyone told you that when traveling outside, you should speak cautiously?” Not expecting even an unidentified woman whose cultivation was only at Foundation Establishment to dare not give him face, Bian Hong’s expression was very ugly. “Please don’t interfere in our two sects’ private matters.”

“Daoist misunderstands. I have no intention of interfering in the two sects’ private matters.” Kong Hou secretly rolled her eyes. She just purely couldn’t stand seeing this kind of man.

“It’s good that Miss understands this principle.” Bian Hong wanted to say a few harsh words, but he discovered the black-clad man behind the young lady looked at him coldly. He couldn’t see through the other party’s cultivation at all.

This was an expert.

Bian Hong’s heart tightened. He swallowed the words about to leave his mouth. His face turned green then pale as he led the Lüyao beside him and other sect members toward the door. Lüyao looked delicate and timid. When passing by Qingyu Sect disciples, she even curtsied to them before following Bian Hong’s steps and disappearing from everyone’s view.

Seeing this scene, Kong Hou said quietly to Lin Hu: “That woman in green has quite a few schemes.” It seemed polite but was actually provocation. She had seen this kind of look in quite a few women. Many women in Emperor Jinghong’s harem had played these little tricks.

Lin Hu looked at Kong Hou, waiting for her continued explanation.

“I can’t explain it to you. It’s a woman’s intuition.” Kong Hou glanced around. With so many people here, it wasn’t suitable to discuss matters without evidence. She led Lin Hu to the back courtyard before speaking: “I suspect that woman has problems.”

In this world, some men looked down on women, but often for such men, beauty traps worked very well. That woman’s dependent attitude toward the Liuyan Sect male cultivator was very obvious, as if he were her heaven and life. But Kong Hou felt she had no real feelings for that Liuyan Sect male cultivator. She had seen plenty of such affected posturing since she could remember and had long seen through such tactics.

But the world never lacked men and women who would sell their feelings to live a good life, so she didn’t know whether that woman in green had ulterior motives or simply wanted to rely on Liuyan Sect’s head disciple to live a comfortable life.

The door to Huan Zong’s room opened. Seeing Kong Hou and Lin Hu both in the courtyard, Huan Zong looked at Kong Hou: “Finished meditating?”

Kong Hou nodded and told him about what had just happened. Kong Hou was very self-aware. Her cultivation and knowledge were both limited. When encountering something she found suspicious, promptly telling those around her was the most appropriate method. Huan Zong was from Liuguang Sect, and Senior Lin’s cultivation was high. When considering problems, they would certainly be more thorough than her.

“Liuyan Sect?” Huan Zong recalled the flying message he received an hour ago. In the message, Shifu said Liuyan Sect intended to affiliate, and opinions within the sect were divided, so he was writing to ask for his view.

Although Liuguang Sect had the greatest power in the cultivation world, the sects and cities affiliated with Liuguang Sect weren’t the most numerous among the ten major sects. Whenever cities and sects had affiliation intentions, the sect would conduct strict evaluations. Sect strength wasn’t the focus of evaluation, but rather their philosophy for teaching sect disciples and their character. If these two points didn’t meet Liuguang Sect’s requirements, Liuguang Sect absolutely wouldn’t agree to let them affiliate.

“As a man to be confused by beauty shows unstable character. Doing things without considering consequences, only following one’s own wishes, completely lacking a sense of responsibility—for such a person to be the head disciple, when he becomes Liuyan Sect’s sect master, who knows how chaotic Liuyan Sect’s interior will become.” Huan Zong frowned and turned to Lin Hu: “Lin Hu, help me send a flying message to the sect master, saying I don’t agree with Liuyan Sect’s affiliation. Additionally, have the sect’s people investigate the grievance between Liuyan Sect and Qingyu Sect, especially check the background of that Qi Refining stage female cultivator clearly.”

“I understand.” Seeing Huan Zong sit down beside Kong Hou, Lin Hu very straightforwardly turned and walked out.

The topics discussed between Young Master, who didn’t know how to socialize with friends, and a young lady only in her teens were things that an old man like him couldn’t understand.

“Huan Zong, I just heard Lin Hu say your sect sent you some spirit stones. Are you short on spirit stones?” Kong Hou pulled out a storage pouch from her storage ring. “The sect elder sent me fifty thousand spirit stones. If you don’t have enough, I’ll split them with you half and half.”

Huan Zong was stunned, not expecting that in Kong Hou’s eyes, he had become a man who lived by borrowing spirit stones. Looking at Kong Hou’s serious, solemn appearance, Huan Zong laughed: “You misunderstand. I’m not lacking spirit stones.”

“Really?” Kong Hou looked at Huan Zong skeptically, worried he wouldn’t admit to lacking spirit stones for the sake of face.

“Really.” Huan Zong thought about the spirit stones he had accumulated over these years, but the quantity was truly too much. He could only count by piles and couldn’t state the exact number clearly, so he could only say to Kong Hou: “When I was at Core Formation, I accidentally entered a secret realm left by a Tribulation Crossing ancestor from several thousand years ago and obtained some things there. At Nascent Soul stage, I entered several more secret realms. Although I can’t compare to sect elders’ abundant assets, I can be considered to have a modest fortune.”

“Modest fortune…” Kong Hou swallowed. Coming out of several secret realms, who knew how many things one could obtain, yet it could only be considered a modest fortune?

“I’ve never counted these things. When you come to Liuguang Sect next year, I’ll take you to see my treasury.” Huan Zong carefully considered the feasibility of this matter. “There might be some magical artifacts suitable for you inside.”

Kong Hou silently covered her face. Where did she get the confidence to think Huan Zong lacked spirit stones? The one who was truly destitute was her. Thinking of how she had just offered to split spirit stones with Huan Zong, Kong Hou felt her face burning hot. So embarrassing.

Seeing Kong Hou covering her face without speaking, Huan Zong inexplicably felt she was extremely cute right now: “I’ve accepted this gesture of yours. Thank you.”

Last time when he went out to chase evil cultivators, he heard two men talking on the street. One man said that those willing to actively lend money to friends were definitely true friends. Looking at Kong Hou’s usual spending habits, she probably didn’t have many spirit stones. But even so, when she thought he was short on money, she still wanted to lend him money. How could there be a girl in this world so foolish yet so adorable?

“Let’s not mention this matter anymore.” Kong Hou covered her face, even her voice becoming weak. “How about we discuss which medicinal materials you still lack? I’m sending things back to my senior sisters tomorrow. I’ll ask the sect master in passing whether we have medicinal materials you need.”

Huan Zong smiled faintly. Shifu had long ago written to ask the ten major sects. If they had them, why wait until now? But seeing Kong Hou worrying for him, Huan Zong didn’t know what he was thinking—he actually wrote out the dozen or so missing medicines.

“Xunyun tree branches, Henggong fish, Fire Lotus pistils, thousand-year Butterfly Transformation grass, phoenix feathers…” Kong Hou felt these dozen or so medicines were simply the culmination of the hardest-to-find medicinal catalysts in the cultivation world. Whatever was hardest to find was what was needed. Things like phoenix feathers and dragon blood were almost impossible to find. Even though she had only been in the cultivation world for six years, she knew dragons and phoenixes almost didn’t exist in the world. Where could one find these?

But since such a prescription existed in the world, it meant these things had once existed—they were just now extinct. Whatever had existed always left traces. What if their luck was good and they truly found them?

One must always have hope.

Putting away this list, Kong Hou said: “We’ll search slowly. We’ll definitely gather them all eventually.”

Huan Zong smiled faintly. His handsome face was like a gentle breeze blowing over a clear spring—mild and peaceful.

The flying message Lin Hu sent out quickly reached Liuguang Sect. Seeing in the message that Huan Zong explicitly didn’t agree with Liuyan Sect affiliating with the sect, all the peak masters were very surprised. How could shizhi, who had never cared much about sect affairs, have such a firm attitude this time? Could it be he heard something about Liuyan Sect outside that made him very dissatisfied with them?

“I agree with shizhi’s view. The marriage between Liuyan Sect’s head disciple and Qingyu Sect’s personally transmitted female disciple ended as a farce, showing Liuyan Sect handled this matter poorly.” Song He shook his head. “For cultivators to value emotions isn’t wrong, but things shouldn’t be handled this way. More importantly, Bian Hong is still the head disciple who will inherit the sect in the future. With such a person as sect master, can the sect be managed well?”

“Although Bian Hong handled things improperly, Liuyan Sect’s sect master is a righteous cultivator, and his disciples all strictly follow sect rules and never commit evil. If we deny the entire sect because of Bian Hong alone, isn’t that somewhat inappropriate?” Another peak master said. “How about sending disciples to investigate before deciding?”

“Let this matter be shelved for now.” Jinyue put away the flying message. “Your shizhi also means this. That Qi Refining stage female cultivator is indeed somewhat suspicious. It’s better to investigate this matter clearly to be safe.”

The other peak masters also had no objections. For shizhi, whose character was so detached, to actually speak badly of them, Liuyan Sect’s head disciple definitely had problems.

Liuyan Sect’s sect master felt his heart had been somewhat anxious these past few days. He didn’t know if it was because he was upset by his personally transmitted disciple or nervous about soon affiliating with Liuguang Sect. Because of the matter eldest disciple Bian Hong caused at the dao partnership ceremony, Liuyan Sect’s sect master had been in a bad mood for many days, even generating thoughts of canceling Bian Hong’s status as head disciple.

As the sect’s head disciple, the most important thing was to lead by example. Otherwise, how would the disciples below view it? But thinking of how this disciple was raised by his own hands and had followed him for over two hundred years, the sect master’s heart ultimately softened.

“Sect Master, Liuguang Sect’s personally transmitted disciple requests an audience.” The disciple who came to relay the message made the sect master so excited he stood up. “Invite him to the main hall for tea. I’ll go right away.” The sect master changed his clothes before hurrying to the main hall. Walking to the main hall entrance, he saw a Liuguang Sect disciple in white brocade robes sitting upright in a chair, carrying from head to toe the solemnity unique to Liuguang Sect.

Seeing him enter, the Liuguang Sect disciple stood and bowed: “This junior greets the sect master.”

“Daoist has come from afar. You’ve worked hard. Please sit, please sit.” The sect master smiled and returned the greeting. After the Liuguang Sect disciple sat down again, he said: “I wonder what brings Daoist to our humble sect today?”

“This junior comes today under orders from our sect master and all the peak masters.” The Liuguang Sect disciple cupped his hands toward him. “Please forgive this junior for coming to your door so abruptly.”

Under orders from the sect master and peak masters? The sect master’s heart lifted slightly. Could it be about the affiliation matter?

“What abruptness? Daoist’s visit brings splendor to our humble sect.” The sect master smiled. “Please speak, Daoist.”

The Liuguang Sect disciple knew the sect master was upright in character and didn’t deliberately make things difficult. He said directly: “Regarding your sect joining our sect, the sect master and all peak masters have thought it over carefully and all feel this matter needn’t be too hasty. It would be better to discuss it slowly after the exchange conference.”

Hearing these words, the sect master’s heart sank. Previously this matter had been discussed almost to completion, just short of making it public and announcing it to the entire cultivation world. Why did they suddenly decide to discuss it later today?

“Daoist, why has this matter changed?” The sect master could barely maintain the smile on his face. He forced a smile: “Is there something our humble sect did poorly?”

“Please don’t overthink, Sect Master. Your sect’s teaching philosophy and sect conduct are both very good. It’s just that our sect has been busy preparing for the exchange conference recently and has no time for other matters.” The Liuguang Sect disciple stood: “Our humble sect warmly welcomes your sect to next year’s exchange conference.”

While saying they warmly welcomed them, this Liuguang Sect disciple’s face had no extra expression. It was really hard to feel how warm they were.

Seeing the Liuguang Sect disciple preparing to leave after delivering his message, the sect master tried repeatedly to persuade him to stay but couldn’t. He could only personally escort him to outside the sect gate, saying with a bitter smile: “Please tell this one where exactly our humble sect went wrong?”

Seeing him humbling himself, the Liuguang Sect disciple sympathized that his many years of effort were destroyed by an unworthy disciple: “Our humble sect not only values the present but also your sect’s future development.”

The sect master froze. Could Liuguang Sect be dissatisfied with Bian Hong?

Seeing the sect master understood, the Liuguang Sect disciple didn’t linger: “Farewell.”

“Daoist, take care.” The sect master’s heart was bitter. To join Liuguang Sect, he had worked hard since assuming the position of sect master. Who knew that at the critical moment, problems would arise with the disciple he raised?

The more he thought about it, the more distressed he became. The sect master actually coughed up a mouthful of heart blood with a “wah.”

“Sect Master!” The disciple following behind him saw this and was so frightened his face changed. He hurriedly stepped forward to support his arm: “Please take care of yourself, Sect Master. Since Liuguang Sect said to discuss this matter later, it means there’s still room for discussion. You mustn’t let this matter damage your mental state.”

Wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth, the sect master wearily waved his hand: “You needn’t worry. I can still hold on.”

“Sect Master…”

“Go invite all the peak masters, stewards, and elders to the main hall. Tell them I have important matters to discuss with them.”

“Yes.” The disciple left with a worried expression, his dissatisfaction with the head senior brother even greater. If he hadn’t been half-hearted, causing Qingyu Sect’s junior sister to lose great face, how could things have reached this point?

Three days later, Liuyan Sect announced to the entire cultivation world that because Bian Hong lacked private virtue, his status as head disciple was canceled. As soon as this news emerged, it sparked discussion among cultivators throughout the cultivation world. One must know that for sects, the identity of head disciple couldn’t be easily changed, as it could easily cause sect instability. Liuyan Sect making this decision now was undoubtedly giving Qingyu Sect an explanation.

Liuyan Sect’s attitude was too upright and resolute. Even Qingyu Sect, which had declared it would sever relations with Liuyan Sect, was shocked. They knew how important the identity of head disciple was, so upon hearing this news, their resentment toward Liuyan Sect dissipated by more than half.

Both sects were sects that had stood in the cultivation world for many years. If they opposed each other, many sects friendly with them would probably be dragged in. Now that Liuyan Sect had made this decision, it not only eased the conflict between the two sects but also eliminated this impending conflict in the cultivation world.

When Lin Hu heard this news and went to find Huan Zong to report, Kong Hou was learning artifact refining from Huan Zong. To prevent the true fire in the artifact refining furnace from burning her skin, she applied protective skin cream Elder Qiushuang had given her on her face before stepping through the refining room door.

Because she was just beginning to learn artifact refining, Huan Zong didn’t expect her to refine anything. He first taught her how to use spiritual power to control the size of true fire, and the effects various fire types like true fire and essence fire had on refined artifact finished products. Kong Hou and Huan Zong stayed in the inn courtyard’s artifact refining room for three days and only refined a low-grade dull gray bracelet.

“Artifact refining is so difficult.” Kong Hou wiped the sweat from her forehead and threw the bracelet emitting dim light on the ground. She pulled out a small mirror to look at her flushed face, then applied another layer of protective cream. Elder Qiushuang was so skilled at artifact refining yet her skin was so fair, showing the protective cream she used was good stuff. She should apply more.

“Don’t rush. Take it slowly.” Seeing Kong Hou’s face reddened by the true fire, Huan Zong waved his sleeve to extinguish the fire in the refining furnace. “I have an artifact refining furnace and essence fire in my storage ring. Next time let’s try using essence fire.”

“Using essence fire for practice—isn’t that somewhat wasteful?” With the true fire extinguished, Kong Hou felt much better. “After I can control the fire well, let’s use essence fire.”

“No matter. True fire and essence fire are meant to be used. I don’t cultivate the artifact refining dao. Keeping these things is useless. If you don’t use them, I’m just keeping them taking up space in my storage ring.” Huan Zong said. “Practice makes perfect. Using good materials to practice might lead to more obvious progress.”

Kong Hou stuffed the small mirror back into her storage ring and said with a bitter face: “I’m no good at divination, and I don’t seem too skilled at artifact refining either. I probably don’t have the protagonist’s luck from story books.”

Huan Zong laughed: “Story book protagonists don’t have smooth sailing either.”

“That’s true. The protagonists under Miaobi Ke’s pen sometimes encounter setbacks too.”

Standing at the door preparing to enter, Lin Hu heard their conversation shift from artifact refining to story books and suddenly felt Young Master and Miss Kong Hou might have some misunderstanding about talent. One must know that for someone who had only been in contact with artifact refining for three days to refine a complete magical artifact—for many cultivators, this was something they didn’t even dare imagine. Dreaming was easier than this.

Thinking of how Young Master refined a low-grade flying sword on his first day of contact with artifact refining, Lin Hu decided he’d better not speak up. Let them figure it out themselves. After they interacted with more cultivators in the future, perhaps they’d realize how shameful and hateful it was for Miss Kong Hou to refine a magical artifact after three days of artifact refining and still say it was difficult.

The hardships of ordinary cultivators—these two prodigal talents would never understand.