Little Junior Brother, Want Some Fish?

Soon after, the Sect Leader's polite pleasantries came from within the hall, thanking his various junior brothers for taking time out of their busy schedules to attend Little Six's apprenticeship ceremony, especially for the many gifts.

The various peak masters laughed and replied with "Not at all, not at all," "We're all family," "We've already seen the child," and so on.

Zhou Qing, meanwhile, was feeling quite pleased with himself, because he had heard the notification sound again.

In truth, he really wanted to hide, but "hiding" and "being ignored" were two completely different concepts.

After a while, from the side door, Chief Eldest Brother Li Daoxuan entered with Lu Yaoyao.

Lu Yaoyao began to greet the various peak masters anew, and many of the male Core Disciples below stood on tiptoe, gazing up at that graceful figure with beaming smiles.

What a beautiful Little Junior Sister.

They recalled that years ago, when the master of Cloud Dream Peak took on a female disciple, it had been just as lively as today, but there hadn't been nearly as many Core Disciples back then.

Because that Senior Sister had been rather plain-looking, even sporting a pig-like snout, and some had even whispered to each other on the spot, "Your wife, your wife..."

But now, looking at this Little Junior Sister, who was both serene and mischievously clever, everyone's smiles stretched nearly to their ears.

"Hm?"

Just as Zhou Qing had brushed up three "Ignorance Points," he suddenly noticed that the fellow disciples around him were constantly looking around, as if searching for someone.

He glanced over in confusion and noticed Lu Yaoyao, standing beside the Sect Leader on the steps above, scanning the crowd.

When her gaze landed on Zhou Qing in the corner, her eyes immediately lit up.

At that moment, Zhou Qing's heart sank with a sense of impending doom.

Big sister, even if I'm the most heaven-defyingly talented person around, you don't have to publicly paint a target on my back in front of so many people, do you?

And now that you've noticed me, how am I supposed to farm Ignorance Points?

How am I supposed to lower my presence?

Soon, following Lu Yaoyao's gaze, everyone turned in unison to look at Zhou Qing, their faces full of confusion.

Seeing this, Zhou Qing pretended not to notice, casually shifting his body forward a bit to stand behind a massive white jade pillar in the hall.

He then began to feign interest, running his hand over the jade pillar as if examining it.

Unable to see Zhou Qing's figure, Lu Yaoyao leaned to the side, barely catching a glimpse of the edge of his robe, but that too was quickly pulled back by a hand.

She pouted and straightened up.

Everyone was puzzled—did this beautiful Little Junior Sister know Zhou Qing?

That shouldn't be the case. Could it be that his shameless behavior last night made her want to see what this peeping freak actually looked like?

Great, one rotten apple spoils the whole barrel. How is Little Junior Sister supposed to view us Core Disciples now?

Facing the looks of disappointment from the crowd, Zhou Qing continued to stroke the white jade pillar, acting as if he saw and heard nothing.

Third Senior Brother was right—beauty is a disaster. He'd have to be wary of this woman in the future.

"Oh?"

Just then, Zhou Qing suddenly noticed something moving inside the white jade pillar before him.

Was he seeing things?

He rubbed his eyes and looked more closely.

The next moment, a tiny white bug, no bigger than a grain of rice, flashed by and disappeared inside.

This time, Zhou Qing saw it clearly, and his heart began to race.

If he wasn't mistaken, that bug was an extremely rare Spirit Hidden Worm.

A Spirit Hidden Worm—this creature had extremely strict requirements for its living environment, existing only in specific minerals.

Moreover, it fed on the purest energy, and once refined, it would almost completely return that energy to the cultivator, helping them break through their cultivation.

Zhou Qing barely contained his excitement. He hadn't expected to stumble upon such a treasure by accident.

No wonder this was the Sect Leader's reception hall—the material of these pillars was definitely rare. Looking around, there were as many as ten such pillars.

He cleared his throat softly, made sure no one was watching him, and quickly searched for the wormhole.

In no time, he found an inconspicuous little spot in a crack.

He casually leaned against it, pressed his middle finger over the wormhole, and with a surge of spiritual power, sucked the worms out directly.

"There are actually six!"

Following the worm tunnel, six Spirit Hidden Worms were drawn out. Before they could struggle, Zhou Qing discreetly slipped them into the Jade Bottle in his sleeve and sealed it with a Spirit Sealing Talisman.

"I'm rich, I'm rich—this is really it!"

Zhou Qing's heart pounded with excitement as he quietly crept toward the next pillar.

Unfortunately, after searching that one, he found nothing. Then the next, and the next...

After checking all ten jade pillars, Zhou Qing had harvested a total of twenty-seven Spirit Hidden Worms.

At that moment, he actually felt a bit of gratitude toward Lu Yaoyao up above. If she hadn't forced his hand, wouldn't he have missed out on all these treasures?

And I suppose I actually saved this hall—if it hadn't been discovered early, and these Spirit Hidden Worms had gnawed through the support pillars over time, such a fine hall would have gone to waste.

The banquet began not long after. Taking advantage of today's occasion, the various peak masters gathered to catch up, while the core disciples chatted and laughed, discussing recent events, like last night.

Some people looked toward Zhou Qing, who sat silently eating in the corner, and sighed with a shake of their heads.

Especially the female disciples—whispering among themselves, they ruined someone's reputation.

"Don't mind them, let's just eat!"

Third Senior Brother Yan Xiaohu comforted him from the side.

He really wanted to step forward and explain, but once suspicion took root, the crime was already established.

What good would explaining do? Would these people believe it?

It would only make things worse.

Especially since the two of them had a record.

As for the Discipline Hall, the truth didn't matter anymore. Even if it were made public, everyone would just think the core disciples had too much authority—peeping on someone bathing and then forcing those Outer Sect female disciples to change their story.

Zhou Qing nodded. He didn't care about others' gazes at all.

But what was up with Lu Yaoyao's eyes? She was eating her food, yet she kept sneaking glances at him from time to time. Hadn't she seen that Li Daoxuan's face was already stretched as long as a donkey's?

No, no—this wasn't her falling for him at first sight. This was damn well setting him up!

When Zhou Qing met her gaze without leaving a trace, he suddenly felt something was off.

Especially the fleeting emotion in her eyes.

"She's deliberately creating ambiguity with me, making me a target for everyone!"

Zhou Qing immediately lowered his head, racking his brain to recall if he'd ever met her before and offended her.

But that shouldn't be—he'd always stayed on Little Spirit Peak and rarely went out.

"Could it be Master?"

Zhou Qing glanced over at Mo Xingjian, who was eating without a care in the world, and his thoughts ran wild.

Maybe one day, Master killed her family for some reason, thinking he'd wiped them out completely, but she survived against all odds.

After that, she endured humiliation and hardship until she found out where her enemy was, changed her appearance, used some scheme, and became a disciple of Sect Master Martial Uncle.

She wanted to torment her enemy bit by bit, but the other party was too strong as a peak master—she couldn't kill him yet.

So she'd take his disciples one by one, making him taste the pain of losing all his loved ones.

The more Zhou Qing thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. Among the fellow disciples, he had the weakest cultivation—of course she'd start with him to practice.

"What's wrong with you? You're sweating so much?" Yan Xiaohu asked in confusion.

Zhou Qing said immediately, "Third Senior Brother, this place isn't right. Let's leave first."

"But I haven't finished eating yet."

"There'll be plenty of chances later!"

With that, Zhou Qing pulled Yan Xiaohu and quietly slipped out through the side door, finally letting out a sigh of relief.

If he stayed any longer, and she pretended to be shy and glanced at him a few more times, the first to attack him would be that chief disciple Li Daoxuan.

The look he'd given Zhou Qing earlier was already clearly off.

Of course, this was just his guess for now, but better safe than sorry.

After returning to Little Spirit Peak, Zhou Qing quickly put the matter out of his mind. Then, with excitement, he took out the Jade Bottle, watched the Spirit Hidden Worm swimming inside, and chuckled.

Carefully extracting one, he began to refine it.

In an instant, a vast surge of spiritual power erupted from within his body, its purity so intense that Zhou Qing was stunned.

Not daring to waste a bit, he quickly activated the "Taiqing Mysterious Qi Art," guiding this energy through cycle after cycle.

For the next five days, Zhou Qing stayed in his room. As the last Spirit Hidden Worm was refined, he slowly opened his eyes, a flash of cyan light flickering through his pupils.

His entire aura had undergone a earth-shattering transformation.

Then, with a thought, a panel appeared.

code
[Name: Zhou Qing]
[Age: Nineteen]
[Cultivation: Qi Condensation Ninth Layer]
[Cultivation Method: Taiqing Mysterious Qi Art]
[Talent Skill: Reduce Presence]
[Level: LV1 (39/100)]
[Skill Shard: 1/3 (Unobtainable)]

Five days, breaking through two layers directly—it was simply unbelievable.

"If I could get a few more, I might even step into the Foundation Establishment Realm!" Zhou Qing said, looking as if he still hadn't had his fill.

Of course, the priority right now was to farm Ignorance Points.

Suddenly, the token on the table glowed with a cyan light, and lines of text began to appear.

"Little Junior Brother, are you home? I have great news for you!"

This was a message from Third Senior Brother. Zhou Qing was puzzled and replied immediately.

After concealing his breakthrough aura, Yan Xiaohu came rushing over, carrying two fishing rods on his shoulder.

He burst through the door with a gust of wind, his small eyes gleaming. "Little Junior Brother, want to eat some fish?"