A group of young children craned their necks, staring at Xu Ying without blinking as they listened with relish, even forgetting to eat.
This time, Lin Qi did not drag Luo Ci over to sit with her. Instead, she found a quiet place to eat.
After all, she had to care for her junior brother's physical and mental well-being.
After finishing her meal, Lin Qi bought some more food.
She figured she would be running back and forth between Zonglei Peak and Wind God Valley these next few days, so she probably would not have time to wander down the mountain.
When Luo Ci saw this, he bought the same food as Lin Qi without a second thought.
Lin Qi: ...Had she provoked Luo Ci too badly?
Just after they finished eating, Lin Qi and Luo Ci both received a message from True Monarch Qingyun, telling them to head directly to Wind God Valley.
At the thought of those dense, sturdy Swift Wind Divine Grass, Lin Qi's whole body began to ache faintly.
Luo Ci beside her wore a grim expression, as though he was not going to train, but bravely marching to his death.
Lin Qi reached out and patted his shoulder, feigning ease as she said, "Calm down. It's just training, isn't it? At worst, when our movement techniques reach Great Accomplishment someday, we'll go pull out every last one of those rotten grasses in Wind God Valley."
Luo Ci's eyes lit up, as if the door to a new world had been thrown open. "We can do that?"
"Of course!" Lin Qi answered with utter certainty.
Luo Ci clenched his fists, restrained fury lacing his voice.
"One day, I'll definitely pull out those rotten grasses!"
Lin Qi nodded beside him in support. "That's right, pull out those rotten grasses!"
"Little Sister Lin Qi! I knew I had just seen your silhouette—I wasn't seeing things after all!"
Xu Ying's bright laughter sounded from behind Lin Qi.
She lightly patted Lin Qi on the shoulder.
"Where have you been these days? I left so many messages on the jade token I gave you, but I never saw you reply."
Lin Qi turned around and saw Xu Ying smiling warmly.
She explained slowly, "I had some matters to deal with a while ago and didn't have time to check my messages. But as soon as I came out, I replied right away."
Lin Qi looked Xu Ying up and down, then leaned closer and asked, "Sister Xu, your eyes and brows are full of laughter. Could it be that something joyous has happened recently?"
Xu Ying pulled Lin Qi to a quiet pavilion to sit down.
"Come to think of it, I have you to thank for those two spirit fruits you gave me."
"I ate your spirit fruit the day before the assessment, and the bottleneck I'd been stuck at suddenly broke. That very night, I broke through to the second level of Qi Refinement. I've already advanced from Class C to Class B!"
"Congratulations, congratulations! But that was still thanks to your usual hard work in cultivation. Without the foundation you built every day, how could good fortune fall from the sky so suddenly?"
Xu Ying became even happier upon hearing that.
Without the slightest stinginess, she shared the new information she had recently gathered with Lin Qi.
"I heard Senior Sister Tan Yueqing just came out of the Lübing Abyss. She has only been in the sect for half a month, yet she is already at the third level of Qi Refinement!"
Lin Qi smiled and echoed her agreement.
She knew this matter quite clearly, since she had personally watched Tan Yueqing break through.
Xu Ying did not notice anything unusual and continued, "Senior Sister Zhao Qi also went through a round of training in Fire Dragon Valley and is now at the third level of Qi Refinement as well. I heard she has her sights set on the Spirit Cleansing Pill this time and is determined to take first place in the Sect Grand Competition."
Lin Qi asked in confusion, "The first-place prize is a Spirit Cleansing Pill?"
Xu Ying shook her head. "I don't know. But the higher your rank, the more choice you must have!"
"That's true."
Xu Ying added, "The Lu Family Siblings have already begun cultivating Remnant Snow Swordplay. I heard True Monarch Xiuzhe of Broken Sword Peak has praised their talent time and again. When the time comes, I simply must go witness the might of Remnant Snow Swordplay!"
"Didn't the Lu Family Siblings join Broken Sword Peak? Isn't Broken Sword Peak's peak master True Monarch Xiuyue?"
Who was this True Monarch Xiuzhe?
Lin Qi was nearly confused out of her wits.
Xu Ying wore an expression that said, You don't understand this, do you?
"At the disciple acceptance ceremony, True Monarch Xiuyue failed to win against True Monarch Tinghan, so she gave up on taking disciples. But Broken Sword Peak is one of the three great peaks, after all. A True Monarch had to come forward to accept disciples, so True Monarch Xiuyue's senior brother, True Monarch Xiuzhe, stepped out and accepted the Lu Family Siblings."
"So that's how it is." Lin Qi looked as though her horizons had broadened. "But were the Lu Family Siblings willing?"
Xu Ying quietly leaned close to Lin Qi's ear and lowered her voice. "Actually, the Lu Family Siblings came specifically for True Monarch Xiuzhe. True Monarch Xiuzhe used to be a disciple of the Lu Household. They were afraid others would say they used the back door, so they deliberately climbed the Immortal Ascension Ladder once."
Lin Qi looked at Xu Ying with admiration. "Sister Xu, your information network is truly impressive!"
After that, Xu Ying told Lin Qi much more about cultivators likely to contend for the top ten. Lin Qi listened with great interest, then gave Xu Ying two more spirit fruits and, this time, a bottle of Spirit Nurturing Pills as well.
Xu Ying did not refuse. She accepted them with a smile.
"Little Sister Lin Qi, remember to check your jade token! I'll notify you the moment I get any new information!"
"Got it."
Lin Qi smiled as she bid her farewell.
Luo Ci had listened silently from the side the entire time. Only after they parted from Xu Ying did he ask, "Did she guess our identities? Otherwise, why did she only talk about cultivators likely to contend for the top ten?"
Lin Qi and Luo Ci had never revealed their identities. Seeing two such tender little children, any normal person would only think it was already good enough if they made the top hundred. Who would talk to them about the top ten?
Lin Qi was not surprised.
"For someone like her, it isn't enough to have well-informed sources. The most important thing is being clever."
"Neither of us stated our identities outright, but neither did we hide them. It would be understandable if she could not guess the first time. If she still couldn't guess the second time, that would just be stupid."
When they first met, Xu Ying had immediately given her name and class, while Lin Qi and Luo Ci had never revealed any information about themselves.
They were in the same sect, so why had Lin Qi suddenly vanished for fifteen days because of some matter?
"From the fact that she didn't press me about why I hadn't replied to her messages for half a month, she must have already guessed my identity."
"She didn't expose it only because she wanted to befriend us and simply went along with what we wanted."
"I really thought you two had hit it off at first sight..."
Luo Ci's little mouth hung slightly open, his small head unable to sort through something so complicated for the moment.
He suddenly realized just how great the gap was between his intelligence and Lin Qi's.
Say, could intelligence be made up for through diligence?
Once the two arrived at Wind God Valley, they began training their movement techniques. In truth, they were simply beaten until they wailed for their fathers and cried for their mothers.
This time, True Monarch Qingyun had even brought over a brown tea table, with a tea stove and teacups placed atop it.
The fragrance of tea curled through the air, green ripples shimmered, and a gentle breeze brushed against their faces. It was all wonderfully pleasant.
This time, even the foolish Luo Ci realized the scheming darkness hidden beneath True Monarch Qingyun's gentle face.
After taking their beating, Lin Qi and Luo Ci dragged their exhausted bodies to Qingyun Palace to study movement techniques and swordsmanship.
Then they took another stroll through the Eight-Directional Flowing Wind Array.
Half a month passed in the blink of an eye. When Lin Qi underwent her fourth body tempering, she keenly discovered that her speed and strength had increased considerably.
When she sparred with Luo Ci, if she abandoned all martial ethics, she could send him flying with a single sword strike.
After noticing the change, Lin Qi immediately went to ask True Monarch Qingyun, only to run into someone from Pill Peak at Qingyun Palace.
Today's update was complete.
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