Chapter 47

Heavenly Origin Hall, Azure Tide Sect.

The Sect Leader sat in the center of the main hall, while Xia Jue stood to one side with his hands behind his back. Before them, a man bowed his head as he delivered his report.

This man was the leader of the enforcement team that had gone to Bai Su's residence earlier.

Once the man had explained the whole sequence of events, the Sect Leader dismissed him.

Only master and disciple remained in the hall.

"Xia Jue, tell me what you think."

Xia Jue pondered for a moment, then shook his head. "Without seeing the actual circumstances, I can't say for certain."

"But according to what Yi Zheng just said, he couldn't detect any demonic qi at that black hole. It probably wasn't the work of a demonic cultivator."

The Sect Leader nodded. "After all, demonic cultivators aren't the only things in this world capable of evil."

Although Xia Jue knew it was wrong to suspect a disciple of the Azure Tide Sect, with only his master present, he still voiced his thoughts. "According to those Outer Gate disciples, the female cultivator was suddenly sucked into the cavern, yet somehow returned afterward. Could there be something suspicious about her, too?"

Just then, a woman in red walked in and casually settled into a seat to the side, her posture rather languid.

"Suspicious? That hardly begins to cover her."

"You two really do shut your ears to everything beyond your window. She's famous in the Outer Gate for throwing money around, and she's already keeping a whole flock of followers. Two promising disciples have fallen at her feet already. At this rate, she might eventually have no fewer male favorites than I do."

The Sect Leader frowned. "What do you mean?"

Hong Ling grinned. "Even these scraps of news came from my little disciple's follower."

"This woman once competed with my little disciple over a jade pendant at the market. Do you know how much it cost?"

As though recalling something, Hong Ling's expression took on a faint air of nostalgia. "Two thousand spirit stones."

"Neither of you rose through the Outer Gate, so you might not understand what two thousand spirit stones means. An Outer Gate disciple might not save that much in five years, let alone splurge two thousand spirit stones on a jade pendant at the market just because it looks pretty."

"Afterward, I did a little digging into this female cultivator named Bai Su."

"She comes from the Bai Lineage in Peace City, a concubine's daughter with little standing in her lineage. In other words, her household wouldn't provide her with large quantities of spirit stones. To put it bluntly, that entire Bai Lineage might not even have two thousand spirit stones."

The Sect Leader said thoughtfully, "Perhaps Bai Su has some skill in pill, artifact, formation, and talisman crafting. After all, if a low-level cultivator has enough aptitude in one of those fields, earning two thousand spirit stones shouldn't be particularly difficult."

Hong Ling nodded and glanced at her long nails, offering no objection to his words. "You're right, so I also had someone watch for whether she knew any of those crafts."

"Speaking of which, I discovered something else." Hong Ling paused.

"That Bai Su really is learning pill refining, but her aptitude isn't very good. She hasn't successfully refined a single batch of pills yet. Still, all the spirit herbs she produces have some age to them, even the most basic ones."

"But her spirit herbs, just like her spirit stones, seem practically inexhaustible. Where do you suppose all those things came from?"

Hong Ling smiled. "No wonder an Outer Gate disciple has the confidence to challenge a Personal Disciple. I suspect she obtained some special inheritance."

Xia Jue and the Sect Leader were thinking the same thing.

But nothing unusual had happened in the sect in recent years. In other words, Bai Su had most likely obtained this "fortuitous encounter" before joining the sect.

Those of the Sect Leader's generation were clear-minded and had long since learned to take other people's opportunities in stride.

Still, he couldn't help sighing. "It seems we have another person favored by the Heavenly Dao."

At his master's words, a small figure surfaced in Xia Jue's mind, and he couldn't help wondering whether Bai Su truly was the one favored by the Heavenly Dao.

When Lu Tianqi was still in the Inner Gate, Bai Su had often come over as well, so Xia Jue had met her a few times. Yet her cultivation had been piled up with pills and seemed quite unstable. Compared with that person, she fell short by far more than a little.

In the end, they reached no definite conclusion about the black cavern's sudden appearance and disappearance.

Hong Ling wanted to question Bai Su directly, but Ning Hai stopped her. Bai Su hadn't been injured, and her attitude after returning made it clear that she didn't want to say much. If this was an opportunity belonging to Bai Su, forcing her to speak would indeed be inappropriate.

In the end, Ning Hai chose a compromise: have someone secretly keep an eye on Bai Su in case she did anything that might harm her fellow disciples.

Meanwhile, Bai Su shut her door tightly the moment she returned to her room. She now had a room to herself.

She pressed her right hand over her chest, feeling as though her heart was about to leap out of it. Still uneasy, she peered through the crack in the door and found nothing unusual outside.

In a panic, she took out a formation that blocked divine sense. However, it was a fairly low-level one and could only block the divine sense of Qi Refining disciples.

Bai Su gritted her teeth and whispered, "Just what are you?"

At that moment, a pitch-black stone appeared in her palm. It was irregularly shaped and looked little different from ordinary coal.

"We agreed from the start that you couldn't ask what I am."

"I already told you I wouldn't harm your Azure Tide Sect disciples. I only want freedom. Why are you so nervous? See, no one noticed me on the way here, did they?" It was a young woman's voice.

To Bai Su, the voice in her sea of consciousness was undoubtedly more like a ticking time bomb.

Reluctantly, she tossed the stone into her storage bag and transmitted her voice through divine sense. "This is the Azure Tide Sect. I suggest you don't cause trouble, or we'll both be finished."

A trace of disdain colored the woman's voice. "Those Outer Gate disciples of your Azure Tide Sect? I could kill a whole swath of them with a wave of my hand. But since I gave you my word, I won't cause any trouble."

"But you must keep your end of the bargain, too!"

Bai Su bit her lip, feeling somewhat aggrieved. "I know!"

The woman scoffed. "Look how unwilling you are. Anyone who didn't know better would think I'd forced you into something. You showed no reluctance when you took all those magical artifacts and treasure artifacts from me. Who are you putting on this face for now? I have no sex, and I don't understand that male impulse to cherish fragrant flowers and precious jade. I suggest you put away those little schemes of yours. You took my things, and now you don't want to work?"

Bai Su drew a deep breath and let it out. "It's not that I don't want to work. I'll do as you wish, but I've only just reached the fifth Qi Refining layer. Even reaching Foundation Establishment will take several years. I only ask that you don't suddenly speak in my sea of consciousness while I'm cultivating."

Only then did the woman sound somewhat satisfied. "That's more like it."

It was only a few years. She had already endured a thousand; these few years made little difference.