When Pei Ling and Qiao Ranran returned, they found Ji Qingming and Duan Qiankun locked in a stare that sent sparks flying. They looked ready to come to blows at the slightest disagreement.
Ji Qingming glanced at Pei Ling and felt that this young man was extraordinary. His cultivation was ostensibly at the Deity Transformation Stage, but he seemed unfathomable, and the power of his Divine Soul was beyond measure.
"Not bad."
And so handsome, too. He has quite a bit of my old flair, Ji Qingming thought proudly.
Looking at Qiao Ranran, who stood graceful and radiant, Ji Qingming nodded as well. "You're doing very well, too."
The Profound Heart Sect had worthy successors.
Then he turned to Nie Gui. "Junior Brother Nie, what do you say?"
Without a word, Nie Gui tossed out his token. He looked so eager that he might have been waiting far too long for this day.
As Ji Qingming put it, "Junior Brother Nie is a strange one. He's wanted to leave the sect for ages, but he refused to take a disciple. If Pei Ling hadn't come knocking on his door, I reckon he'd have grown old and died alone on this mountain."
Nie Gui fixed him with a murderous stare.
The best way to handle a sniping menace like Ji Qingming was to ignore him. Nie Gui was used to it. He had never been talkative, and around Ji Qingming, he was even less inclined to say a word. Unlike Duan Qiankun, he had no gift for arguing back. It was enough that Ji Qingming hadn't angered him into fainting.
Pei Ling, however, did not take the token.
"Does the Profound Heart Sect have a rule requiring this?"
Ji Qingming raised a brow, curious about his reaction. "Hm?"
"I only remember