Only after a long while did Lan Yue notice that a dark shadow had appeared overhead at some point.
"Hey, you people from the Alchemy Pavilion! What are you doing here? You're not welcome at our Spirit Artifact Hall!" Two elders from the Spirit Artifact Hall hovered in midair, shouting at the people ahead.
"This is the Four Arts Hall. The entire Four Arts Hall belongs to the sect. What's wrong with us coming over for a stroll?" an elder from the Alchemy Pavilion retorted indignantly, standing atop an alchemy furnace flickering with blue-white flames.
"Leave at once, or don't blame the Spirit Artifact Hall for getting rough!" The master of the Spirit Artifact Hall waved his little fan, sending a massive whirlwind sweeping toward them in an instant.
"Why so fierce? Fine, we'll leave. But before we go, we're taking our Pill Pavilion disciple with us."
"The Sect Master already told us that this child has exceptional talent for alchemy and wanted her to come study it. She just happened to wander into your Spirit Artifact Hall by mistake. Of course we have to take her away. Who knows what schemes you might have brewing here?"
The elder standing on the alchemy furnace was named Fang Ding. He was enormous, with a deep, rough voice, and looked nothing like someone who regularly practiced alchemy. Rather, he looked like someone who had spent years tempering his body.
"Schemes? What schemes could our Spirit Artifact Hall possibly have? Your Alchemy Pavilion, on the other hand, has trouble every other day, doesn't it? Either a disciple gets assassinated or someone's Dao heart gets destroyed. Tell me, is that any place for a person to stay?" The master of the Spirit Artifact Hall refused to yield an inch.
This was a prodigy who could repair an Immortal Artifact! Yun Xi had never even studied artifact refining before this. If she started learning from childhood, she might one day forge a genuine Immortal Artifact herself.
An Immortal Artifact! Who cared about ninth-tier pills? Unless they were immortal pills, he wouldn't spare them a glance!
"Don't just talk about our Pill Pavilion. Your Spirit Artifact Hall is hardly a nice place either, is it? I remember someone mysteriously disappearing a while ago. Word has it they might have offended your nephew. Tell me, if someone staying here accidentally offended your nephew, wouldn't another person have to disappear?"
Fang Ding's tongue showed no mercy whatsoever.
Before a ninth-tier alchemist, nothing else counted for anything!
Given the chance, he could drag out every last musty grain and rotten scrap of the Spirit Artifact Hall's dirty laundry!
"You-you're spitting blood with those accusations! My nephew had nothing to do with him! Those are nothing but rumors!" The master of the Spirit Artifact Hall was beside himself with anger.
"If we can't settle this, let's fight. Whoever wins gets to take her!"
"Fine, we'll fight! We'll see who wins in the end!"
The elders activated the Four Arts Hall's Protective Array with fierce determination, then launched into a ferocious battle above it.
Down below, Li Bai watched, utterly dumbstruck. "The elders really are going all out for Junior Sister Yun."
This was on a completely different level from when his master had fought to claim him!
Back then, his master had only fought one-on-one. Now these elders were having an all-out group brawl!
"So it's over Yun Xi. No wonder." Lan Yue finally understood too.
She had been a little confused by what she'd heard earlier, but now it finally clicked.
*[Lan Yue: As expected of the female lead! The moment my Nü E shows her talent, people fight over her wherever she goes. Hmph, this is nothing!*
*In the original novel, several major sects even fought each other, all to claim my Nü E!]*
Lan Yue's smug little inner voice made the lips of the elders brawling overhead twitch.
Their hands did not slow down, however. They kept fighting just as before, each exchange fiercer than the last.
"You old geezer Yuan, why do you insist on fighting our Pill Pavilion for her? She's a ninth-tier alchemist! The entire Cultivation World has only seen one, and that was ten thousand years ago!" Fang Ding was so furious his teeth ached. He could only question the other man through voice transmission.
"I don't care about your ninth-tier alchemist! Do you know what an Immortal Artifact is? Do you know how incredible someone must be to repair an Immortal Artifact without ever having studied artifact refining? You blockhead Fang, you're nothing but a lump of elmwood! I'm telling you, I won't give up. If you have the guts, we'll go see the Sect Master together!" The master of the Spirit Artifact Hall was not intimidated in the slightest and replied through voice transmission as well.
The two fought from one mountain peak to another, from the sky down to the ground, turning the entire Southern Spirit Sect upside down. They even startled quite a few elders out of secluded cultivation.
After those elders emerged, they flew over to ask the people of the Four Arts Hall what was happening. Once they got their answer, they flew up and joined the battle.
Below, Lan Yue was utterly dumbfounded. Although she knew this fight within the sect was only a minor affair, actually witnessing the scene still left her stunned.
"How about we do dual cultivation?" Lan Yue poked Yun Xi and suggested.
"Cough, cough, cough, cough!" Li Bai coughed until his face turned bright red, nearly choking himself unconscious.
What kind of scandalous words were coming out of his junior sister's mouth? Was it really all right to make an invitation so openly?
Most importantly, the person she had invited was Yun Xi!
Before you continue