In the secluded courtyard.
The main room.
Pei Ling sat cross-legged on the Cloud Bed, his eyes closed as he watched through Mo Lilan's perspective from afar.
He watched as Grandmaster Su Ji completed her ascension, only for the True Immortal Will to suddenly take out a crimson talisman as a congratulatory gift and present it to her. Pei Ling's brow furrowed at once.
The Twilight Fire Remnant Branch had been a cultivation resource he'd obtained only after countless hardships. Even among his treasures, it ranked among the very best. And yet the True Immortal Will had simply given it away...
He was still lamenting the loss of his cultivation resources when he saw events take an increasingly strange turn.
First, Grandmaster Su Ji flatly refused. Then the True Immortal Will insisted that accepting it was only natural, pressuring her to take it...
Finally, to avoid accepting the crimson talisman, Grandmaster Su Ji burned her robes in front of everyone, sat down naked, and faced her opponent without a shred of embarrassment...
Only then did Pei Ling finally realize that the two of them were discussing the Dao!
Moreover, the True Immortal Will had maintained an overwhelming advantage throughout, using nothing more than "offering congratulations" as its pretext!
The exchange seemed calm and harmonious on the surface, with host and guest in perfect accord. Beneath that, however, undercurrents raged. It had been a truly heart-stopping contest.
If Grandmaster Su Ji had made even the slightest misstep just then, her thousand years of cultivation would have gone up in smoke.
Still, Su Ji truly lived up to her name as a Grandmaster of Wushi Villa!
That way of breaking the deadlock was something he could only admire...
At the thought, Pei Ling breathed a quiet sigh of relief. But immediately afterward,