The Southern Spirit Sect's Four Arts Hall was as bustling as ever, and everyone who spotted Lan Yue and her companions greeted them with incredible enthusiasm.
Fang Ding, the elder of the Alchemy Pavilion, was especially delighted. His grin nearly stretched from ear to ear.
Such a promising youngster, capable of refining a Ninth-Rank Pill, belonged to their Alchemy Pavilion now! No one could snatch her away!
"Senior Sister Qing Zhu!" The moment Lan Yue arrived, she spotted her senior sister's graceful figure and excitedly waved her little hands.
"Junior Sister Lan Yue, are you choosing the Spirit Artifact Hall? That's a good choice too. Not only can you earn spirit stones through Artifact Refining, but you can also forge your own Life-Bound Spirit Artifact."
Li Bai thought it was a pretty good choice. Many newly admitted disciples chose the Spirit Artifact Hall, and before long, they could make decent Spirit Artifacts for themselves. That made the Spirit Artifact Hall the most popular place in the entire Southern Spirit Sect.
Neither of them noticed the boy's gaze dimming behind them.
Lan Yue shook her head mysteriously. She walked up to her beautiful senior sister, who was holding an oil-paper umbrella. "Senior Sister, have you been at the Four Arts Hall this whole time?"
Qing Zhu nodded without the slightest hint of guilt.
That made Lan Yue feel a little guilty for asking. She scratched her head. "Senior Sister, I've decided to go to the Formation Pavilion after all."
"What made you suddenly think of Formation Arts again?" Qing Zhu led them toward the Formation Pavilion, her voice gentle.
"Because I think Formation Arts is what I like best!" Lan Yue declared clearly and firmly, without a trace of hesitation.
[Lan Yue: Of course not! I just suddenly remembered that refining Spirit Artifacts means swinging a hammer at least ten thousand times in one go. How could that possibly be what a girl who wants to laze around and enjoy juicy gossip is after?]
Qing Zhu's smiling expression stiffened slightly. She did not know whether to laugh or cry.
She had thought that after several days of consideration, her junior sister had finally found her true calling. It turned out she simply wanted to slack off!
But her little junior sister was still being too naïve. The Four Cultivation Arts were known as the four great skills of the Cultivation World, and not one of them was easy!
Artifact Refining might require swinging a hammer all day, but that was actually the simple part. The path of formations was far more profound and mysterious. Some people could not even find a way in, however much they wanted to memorize everything by rote.
[Lan Yue: When I run into formations I don't understand, I'll just have the system record them and play them back for me later! Won't that make memorizing all these formations easy? I really am a little cultivation genius!]
Everyone: "..."
Damn it! Why didn't they have an Immortal Artifact to help them cheat?
Never mind them-even the system fell silent. It probably had never imagined it could be used that way.
"Of course, you should choose whatever you like, Junior Sister." Qing Zhu paused for only a moment before rubbing Lan Yue's head.
She turned to look at the others, her gaze lingering briefly when she saw Yuan Shuo.
"Junior Brother Yuan." She gave a slight nod.
Yuan Shuo merely nodded back.
"Since you want to study Formation Arts, Junior Sister, I'll take you to the Formation Pavilion. What about everyone else?" Qing Zhu was ostensibly asking everyone, but she was actually looking at Yuan Shuo.
She felt somewhat guilty about what had happened in the Spirit Artifact Hall. After all, she counted as the senior sister here, yet she had failed to discover the reason behind those disciples' disappearances in time.
Yuan Shuo pondered for a moment and looked toward the Spirit Artifact Hall, conflict in his eyes. Whatever had crossed his mind, he finally made his choice.
"I'll stay at the Spirit Artifact Hall."
[Lan Yue: Look how badly this experience scared the poor kid. He doesn't even dare look toward the Spirit Artifact Hall. What's there to fear? Your uncle is the hall master! When you come here from now on, you can lord it over everyone. Who would dare disobey you?]
Hearing that inner voice, the silent Yuan Shuo could not help smiling.
"Come on, come on! Let's look around the Formation Pavilion first, then we'll all go to the Spirit Artifact Hall to back you up!" Lan Yue tugged him along.
Lost in the crowd, the Deputy Hall Master of the Spirit Artifact Hall wanted to cry but had no tears. Their hall's reputation was truly ruined this time. Even the hall master's own nephew needed people to back him up.
The hall master had previously asked him to look after his young nephew. Now it seemed he was the one who needed looking after.
The deputy hall master nearly shed tears of sorrow.
Lan Yue and the others toured the Formation Pavilion, then made a round of the Spirit Artifact Hall.
In the end, Yun Xi stayed at the Alchemy Pavilion, Yuan Shuo stayed at the Spirit Artifact Hall, and Li Bai went off to learn Talisman Drawing. Only Lan Yue returned to the Formation Pavilion.
After registering her name, Lan Yue planned to sneak off somewhere to test her idea.
If she really could use the system that way, she would be raking it in from now on!
Yet just after collecting the basic theory material and the Basic Formation manuals, she spotted a familiar baby face.
"Lan Yue! It really is you! You've come to study Formation Arts too!" Luan Ning ran over in delight. "Who would've thought we'd meet at the Morning Cultivation Hall and then meet here too? This must be fate!"
Luan Ning held her arm, utterly delighted.
Those words sounded oddly familiar to Lan Yue. Hadn't she used the same line before to scam-cough, cough, cough-help someone?
Could there really be some unspoken bond of fate between them?
"Speaking of which, do you have any more gossip about Elder Whitebrow? After I went back that day, there wasn't any more news about him." Luan Ning was bursting with curiosity.
"Elder Whitebrow?" The sudden mention of that name left Lan Yue a little bewildered. It took her two seconds to remember who he was.
"Yes, Elder Whitebrow! The one you said was going through Pursuit-of-Wife Hell!" Luan Ning held her hand and swung it back and forth.
Plop.
A spirit herb was shaken onto the ground. It immediately sprang up in fury, scrambled back onto Lan Yue's shoulder, and glared at Luan Ning.
It was just about to bare its teeth and flail its claws to frighten her when a fluffy white tail pinned it down.
At some point, Silver Snow had taken the form of a white cat and was now sprawled lazily across Lan Yue's right shoulder.
That little look seemed to say, You little punk, your cultivation still has a long way to go! You think you can compete with me for affection?
Luan Ning found the sight wonderfully novel, but under Silver Snow's cold stare, she did not dare keep looking and could only draw her head back.
*[Lan Yue: Elder Whitebrow... I don't think I've seen him in a while. I wonder if he managed to escape the Scarlet Moon Sect.*
Huh, it looks like Elder Whitebrow was ransomed by his lineage. But Elder Lu actually sneaked back in the middle of the night and chained himself up again.
Apparently, the Lu Household had barely carried him away when Elder Lu disappeared on his own, without the slightest hesitation! He really moved fast! He's going all out for White Moonlight. I wonder if the people of the Lu Household will be furious enough to drop dead.
*Hahaha, I'm dying! Those people from the Lu Household probably never imagined that it wasn't the Scarlet Moon Sect's Sect Master refusing to release him-Elder Lu simply didn't want to leave!]*
Before you continue