PID Chapter 64

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Fenxiu’s face instantly darkened several shades.

 

In major sects, there was a difference between inner disciples and core direct disciples. Outer disciples mostly did miscellaneous tasks and attended general outer sect lectures. Inner disciples handled inner sect affairs, attended inner sect lectures, and occasionally received guidance from elders and seniors. They wouldn’t formally take a master and were loosely ranked by entry time in the disciple register, not strictly.

 

Core disciples were different. They would be formally recorded in the sect’s genealogy, clearly documented, and receive additional resources. For example, the spirit veins and magical tools Changdaozi promised Chu Jinglan all had regulations to follow.

 

According to the rules, the top ten from the competition would be accepted at least as inner disciples, but their status and position were vastly different from core disciples.

 

Fenxiu, focused on infiltrating for fun, truly forgot that even without taking a master, he had nominally found himself a bunch of ancestors.

 

Fenxiu’s expression instantly became unpredictable due to Chu Jinglan’s words. But after a while, thinking of something, he licked his teeth: “It’s fine, all my ancestors are dead anyway.”

 

Chu Jinglan lowered his gaze to examine the flute in his hand carefully: “Now you have new ones.”

 

You son of a—

 

Fenxiu now not only wanted to curse but also to attack directly.

 

But it took less than a second for his brain to suppress this impulse.

 

With his current Nascent Soul cultivation, it was impossible to kill Chu Jinglan in front of so many Divided Spirit cultivators.

 

He had just found this new amusement; he couldn’t end it so hastily.

 

Fenxiu laughed coldly in his heart. Chu Jinglan, was it? He’d remember that. Just wait.

 

The feather demon on the stage couldn’t help but look at this demon called “Alie” who had chosen one of the Cloud Peak Six Sects. Could he also be someone secretly following orders?

 

The Lord’s actions were indeed beyond their guessing.

 

With the award ceremony over, the competition officially concluded. Some would return home, some had gained fame, some had won prizes, and the top ten from each group could go to the upper realm to enjoy better resources and environment.

 

It’s worth noting that while going from the lower realm to the middle realm only required spirit stones and sect affiliation, going from the middle realm to the upper realm required passing multiple screenings. The conditions could fill several pages; it wasn’t something that could be solved just with spirit stones.

 

Even for the passage in the demon realm, demons wouldn’t easily allow just any demon to go up.

 

Although fierce, the middle realm competition was indeed a good opportunity to stand out.

 

It’s really like the college entrance exam, Xiao Mo thought momentarily, recalling various scenes of his exam preparation.

 

He hadn’t recalled modern scenes for a long time. Using modern terms didn’t equate to remembering the past; it was just applying knowledge. Only recalling things he had done and experiences he had gone through counted as reminiscing.

 

Although the images were still clear, it felt like a lifetime ago.

 

A lifetime…

 

Xiao Mo suddenly felt the clear images blur for a moment. Just as he frowned, Chu Jinglan’s voice sounded beside his ear: “How do you find this flute?”

 

Xiao Mo came back to his senses. The new jade flute in his hand was smooth and delicate. Chu Jinglan was waiting for his answer. Xiao Mo smiled: “It’s very good.”

 

The indescribable feeling vanished in an instant. Xiao Mo dismissed it as just zoning out.

 

Chu Jinglan: “Then let’s use the refining stone to temper it into a heaven-grade magical tool.”

 

“Alright,” Xiao Mo waved the flute, pointing at its end. “I also want to carve a night-blooming cereus on it.”

 

Chu Jinglan was giving the flute to him, so naturally, it was up to him to decide: “Then carve it first before tempering. We can ask a tool refiner in the Yingyue Sect for help.”

 

By now, they were on the Yingyue Sect’s flying ship, which had already risen from the celestial valley and was heading towards the realm gate to ascend to the upper realm.

 

The flying ship, like a city fortress, rose higher than small flying boats. As it broke through the clouds, it seemed to emit a whale-like long cry. Xiao Mo stood on the deck enjoying the beautiful scenery. Whenever he and Chu Jinglan paused their conversation, Yingyue Sect disciples would approach.

 

Some just came to greet them and become familiar, some wanted to chat more, and some even had intentions of currying favor. But as soon as they recalled Chu Jinglan’s status announced by Changdaozi, they instantly felt he was truly unreachable.

 

Two Yingyue Sect inner disciples whispered: “I still can’t figure out whether I should call him great-grand uncle or great-great-grand uncle based on my entry year.”

 

The other disciple slapped his thigh: “Exactly! But the core lineage and ours are basically two separate genealogies. Those direct disciples should really confirm if he’s a great ancestor or an even higher generation. Before he takes an official position, I think we can just call him grand-uncle master, which shouldn’t be wrong.”

 

The disciple had a sudden realization: “You’re right, you’re so clever.”

 

After all, they’ve met many high-ranking people in the sect and called them Pavilion Master, Elder, and such. Only this young grand-uncle master Chu Jinglan was too special, being so young and not yet holding an official position.

 

Fenxiu, listening from not far away, felt his teeth ache. Bored, he entered the cabin and slammed the door shut.

 

Most disciples just paid their respects to Chu Jinglan and, finding nothing to say, left on their own. Changdaozi’s disciple, however, came to chat with him a bit more.

 

When he arrived, he found Xiao Mo laughing uncontrollably beside Chu Jinglan, while Chu Jinglan looked at Xiao Mo helplessly. Curious, he asked: “Is there something amusing? Mind sharing it with me?”

 

Xiao Mo smiled: “I just find it funny that he’s so young yet suddenly became everyone’s ancestor. Oh my, he’s been turned into a little old man.”

 

Indeed, the term “master ancestor” usually conjures images of white-bearded old men, not a handsome young man like Chu Jinglan.

 

The disciple also laughed.

 

The disciple was now 300 years old, at early Divided Spirit stage. Chu Jinglan bowed to him and addressed him according to seniority: “Uncle Master.”

 

The disciple came to give some advice: “In the sect’s six pavilions, you belong to the Sword Inquiry Pavilion. The current pavilion master is Daoist Cangyuan. You can call him Pavilion Master.”

 

Xiao Mo and Chu Jinglan knew he meant well and listened attentively.

 

“Nascent Soul stage disciples don’t need to attend lectures at the study peak daily, but every five days, as long as you’re in the sect, you’ll receive a message for a study session. You must attend then.”

 

“Don’t worry, your fellow disciples are all easy to get along with. There’s only one child you might need to pay attention to…” The disciple realized that in front of Chu Jinglan, that person’s age couldn’t really be considered a child. “Uh, not a child to you. His name is Yue Ming. He entered Nascent Soul at sixty and is proud and unwilling to admit defeat.”

 

Entering Nascent Soul at sixty indeed gives one reason to be proud in the cultivation world, but in terms of cultivation speed, it’s still in the first tier. Prodigies like Chu Jinglan are one in a million; we need to recognize the normal cultivation standards of the cultivation world.

 

For example, Mu Jian is at Nascent Soul, but he’s almost a hundred years old. Counting back, he and Dai Zisheng have a seventy to eighty-year age gap, which is normal for fellow disciples in the cultivation world.

 

Changdaozi’s disciple continued: “He loves to challenge others. If you go, he’ll probably seek you out. If he loses, he’ll persistently challenge you again. His temper isn’t good, but he doesn’t mean harm. If you find him annoying, tell me, and I’ll chase him away for you.”

 

Chu Jinglan: “Thank you.”

 

Yue Ming, ah, Xiao Mo knew him, one of the cornerstone characters.

 

His greatest strengths were his confidence and fearlessness of losing. Within the Yingyue Sect, he would be at odds with Chu Jinglan, unilaterally considering Chu Jinglan his destined rival.

 

The reason it was one-sided was that he never won when he came to spar.

 

Repeatedly defeated but never giving up, when others asked Chu Jinglan’s opinion of Yue Ming, Chu Jinglan never said he was any kind of destined rival, only calmly stating: “His perseverance is commendable.”

 

Indeed, as long as Yue Ming didn’t think defeat was the end, he’d shake off his feathers after losing and be a proud fighting rooster again. Nothing could break him.

 

Until he encountered matters of love.

 

Yue Ming originally thought love would naturally flow like water and harmonize like music, but after getting entangled with Su Baimo, he learned that the word “love” contained a hundred flavors.

 

After Changdaozi’s disciple finished speaking and left, the celestial ship steadily advanced through the sky.

 

Now that the competition had ended, even with a Demon Lord nearby, he showed no intention of causing trouble on the ship. This meant the surrounding environment was very stable. On this night, Chu Jinglan finally took out the long-shelved novel and placed it in front of him.

 

Xiao Mo was meditating and cultivating in the room. Chu Jinglan looked at him, then at the novel. After his gaze lingered on the cover for a long time, he finally raised his hand to open the book.

 

He read two pages and found… he couldn’t continue.

 

The reason was that one of the main characters in this book was a black wood snake beast that had taken human form.

 

Beast demons couldn’t actually transform into humans. Chu Jinglan understood that novels would have fictional exaggerations, but when he saw the two main characters meet, his mind automatically turned it into a person facing off against a snake.

 

No good, too strange, couldn’t read on.

 

When Xiao Mo opened his eyes, he found Chu Jinglan frowning at the novel with a serious expression. Puzzled, he asked: “What’s wrong?”

 

Chu Jinglan slowly put down the novel: “Do you have any other novel recommendations?”

 

Xiao Mo glanced at the barely-read novel: “Yes, but haven’t you not finished this one yet?”

 

Chu Jinglan explained his reason for not being able to continue.

 

Xiao Mo was stunned: “Spirit beast novels are very popular, and even if it’s a snake, in a romantic novel, you’d definitely imagine it as either beautiful or cute—”

 

Chu Jinglan sat upright and said: “Black wood snakes have rough, uneven scales like flesh lumps, narrow eyes, not only is their tongue black, but when they open their mouth there’s a foul odor.”

 

Xiao Mo: “…”

 

Xiao Mo: “Please stop.”

 

He was starting to feel unwell just hearing about it!

 

Some people might be born romantically challenged. Xiao Mo took out several more books from his collection, guaranteeing that both main characters were normal human forms, with no species issues.

 

Chu Jinglan continued his research.

 

The first book: The two protagonists were an old married couple, clearly very loving, but it wasn’t clear why they fell in love initially. Passed.

 

The second book: No romance, just a story about a lucky protagonist who found treasures everywhere and defeated enemies. No reference value. Passed.

 

The third book: About childhood sweethearts. When it started with the two arguing and fighting, Chu Jinglan thought of his initial arguments with Xiao Mo and finally became interested, continuing to read.

 

Then, after a few chapters, he saw that one family wanted to arrange a marriage for their child, and the other youth immediately jumped out, took his childhood sweetheart’s hand, and loudly declared: “We’re in love, I’ll marry him!”

 

Chu Jinglan: ?

 

He was confused, suspecting he had missed something. Otherwise, how had they suddenly fallen in love?

 

So he flipped back and read the previous parts several times, especially their interactions after reconciling and the things they did for each other. He felt it didn’t even compare to Xiao Mo’s companionship with him, yet the book’s characters were already together.

 

Moreover, the person whose hand was held blushed.

 

You didn’t blush when holding hands or embracing on the previous page, why are you suddenly blushing now?

 

Chu Jinglan closed the book.

 

Meanwhile, Xiao Mo was once again in deep meditation. Chu Jinglan didn’t want to disturb him, so he decided to read all the novels Xiao Mo had left with him, regardless of whether they were worth recommending, hoping to gain insights through quantity.

 

Unfortunately, by the time they reached the Yingyue Sect, Chu Jinglan still hadn’t found a novel worth learning from. He could only continue reading in his spare time later.

 

Entering the upper realm, the spiritual energy in the air was even more abundant than in the middle realm. Auspicious clouds often appeared in the sky. The Yingyue Sect’s gate was as grand as the gates of heaven, majestic and imposing. An ancient and solemn aura hit them, exuding authority from afar, ancient yet not lacking in prestige, awe-inspiring.

 

One mountain is higher than another; seeing the true great sects of the upper realm made clear the difference between sparrows and wild geese.

 

As expected, the Yingyue Sect leader personally thanked Chu Jinglan, welcoming him into the sect with great fanfare and offering many good things. The Sword Inquiry Pavilion’s master, Daoist Cangyuan, also appeared kind and benevolent.

 

The Sword Inquiry Pavilion oversaw dozens of mountain peaks. Daoist Cangyuan directly allocated the Tianshui Peak to Chu Jinglan as his residence. With white cranes guiding the way, Xiao Mo and Chu Jinglan arrived at their new home, a compound halfway up Tianshui Peak.

 

The area was rich in spiritual energy, with a waterfall and two freely growing spirit fields behind the mountain. From the peak, one could observe a sea of clouds, inspiring a grand feeling. Both the cultivation environment and scenery were top-notch. If not for being busy familiarizing themselves with the place, Xiao Mo felt he could watch the sea of clouds from the mountaintop all day.

 

Such arrangements were truly thoughtful.

 

On their first day at the Yingyue Sect, the two were busy getting familiar with the new environment. On the second day, which happened to be the study time for core disciples, Chu Jinglan went to attend the lecture while Xiao Mo went to the management office to collect the account books.

 

Yes, account books. Don’t forget that Chu Jinglan now had a spirit vein.

 

The manager at the affairs office was very polite to him, smiling as he handed over the account books: “This spirit vein is quite good. After deducting annual consumption and pay for the guards, it can produce at least 500,000 medium-grade spirit stones and 50,000 high-grade spirit stones. Among the spirit veins available to early Nascent Soul cultivators, this is already top-tier.”

 

Xiao Mo sensed his goodwill and was also very polite: “Thank you for informing me.”

 

The man beamed: “If you have any questions, feel free to ask me.”

 

Holding the account books, Xiao Mo felt like he really had become a steward, responsible for checking all the household finances.

 

Xiao Mo smiled as he put the account books into his storage device. After walking a few steps, he suddenly stepped lightly, dodging something thrown at him.

 

But unexpectedly, that thing exploded, spraying out some powder. Xiao Mo had to dodge to a distance, but his skin still got a bit on it. The smile on his face disappeared.

 

He used a cleaning technique to brush off the powder, then coldly looked at the culprit in the tree, Fenxiu.

 

Fenxiu tilted his head: “Foundation Establishment stage, yet quite alert.”

 

Xiao Mo sneered: “If I wasn’t alert, you’d hit me for fun? What was that? Aren’t you afraid I’ll report you for trying to harm me?”

 

Fenxiu also smiled, unrestrained: “To drive me away, the Yingyue Sect would need a convincing reason for outsiders. Otherwise, they’d be disheartening those demons currently leaning towards humans. In the current human-demon situation, they have to be cautious.”

 

He raised his chin: “That’s not something harmful, feel free to check.”

 

Xiao Mo had the system scan it. The system said: “It’s a powder made from several ingredients. When it touches the skin, it can expose the scent of hidden charm demons and reveal the ear feathers of feather demons.”

 

“So that’s how he wanted to test,” Xiao Mo scoffed. “Let him try. Even if I used demonic energy, his demon eyes wouldn’t match the characteristics. He can’t identify me, it’s all futile effort.”

 

Xiao Mo pretended to collect some powder in front of Fenxiu, acting as if he would take it back to check. Fenxiu raised his hand: “Don’t worry, when I really want to harm you, I’ll just kill you directly.”

 

Xiao Mo coldly asked: “You’d really kill me?”

 

Seeing that he wasn’t frightened or scared, and dared to ask directly, Fenxiu smiled at him: “Perhaps including your master.”

 

If this were someone else, it might just be a joke, but he was Fenxiu. Xiao Mo knew he meant it.

 

On his way back to Tianshui Peak, Xiao Mo pondered: Could he find a way to simply take down Fenxiu on Yingyue Sect’s territory?

 

If someone wanted to move against him and Chu Jinglan, they couldn’t just sit and wait for death.

 

Xiao Mo had confirmed that Fenxiu had completed all his plot points; his death wouldn’t affect world stability.

 

Fenxiu was right about one thing: in the current situation, for the Yingyue Sect to expel or punish him, they’d need evidence convincing to the cultivation world.

 

In terms of combat power, the Yingyue Sect leader was at peak Great Perfection stage, as was Fenxiu’s true strength.

 

As Xiao Mo was thinking, he returned to the compound. At this time, a young-looking man carrying a sword was shouting outside: “Chu Jinglan, I’ve brought what you wanted, open the door!”

 

Xiao Mo approached with a puzzled look: “I am Mo Lan, attendant of Tianshui Peak. May I ask who you are?”

 

Hearing this, the man said: “I am Yue Ming. Good, you open the door.”

 

So this is Yue Ming, coming to fight Chu Jinglan?

 

It should be just after class, how enthusiastic.

 

Appropriate sparring is beneficial for progress. Xiao Mo opened the door and invited him in. Chu Jinglan walked from the house to the courtyard. Yue Ming strode forward confidently, raised his hand—

 

With a “whoosh,” a pile of novels half as tall as a person landed on the stone table in the courtyard.

 

“You said if I found novels, you’d be willing to spar with me again,” Yue Ming excitedly gripped his sword hilt. “The things are here, come on, let’s go!”

 

Xiao Mo: ?

 

Exchanging novels for sparring opportunities? He looked at Chu Jinglan in surprise: Has my cultivation maniac become addicted to novels and can’t stop??

 

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1 Kofi = 1 Extra Chapter