Have You Sorted Out the Spirit Stones?

To get ahead in the cultivation world, a silver tongue was indispensable.

When cultivation fell short, emotional intelligence could make up the difference.

Chu Xingchen wore a smile as warm as a spring breeze.

"You're too modest. After exchanging a few words with you, I can tell that your speech and bearing have all the grace of a lady from a distinguished family."

Just as the young woman was about to pursue the conversation, Chu Xingchen abruptly turned, his gaze falling on Li Xingtian, who was walking toward him.

Chu Xingchen immediately rose. This disciple of his was hopelessly obsessed with cultivation.

He would never come out without a reason. Something had clearly happened.

Li Xingtian stepped forward and, after glancing at the courtesan, quietly told his master:

"Senior Sister said a cold-looking but very pretty woman came to the door asking whether you lived here. She wasn't sure whether the woman was an enemy of yours."

A cold-looking woman?

Chu Xingchen's eyes instantly lit up. It had to be Yaoqin.

He hadn't expected her to come herself. He had thought she would send her maid, A-Ling, to fetch him.

Chu Xingchen breathed a sigh of relief. "It's fine. She's someone I know. Let's head back together."

Seeing Chu Xingchen turn to leave without the slightest reluctance, the courtesan grew anxious. It was rare to meet a man so like an immortal.

In the end, her affection compelled her to speak. "Young master, my name is Wanyun. May I ask your name?"

Chu Xingchen paused and glanced back, looking almost reluctant to part. But in the end, he sighed.

"We are both wanderers cast adrift at the ends of the earth. Must we have known each other before to meet?"

With that, he turned and left without hesitation.

As far as Chu Xingchen was concerned, he had only come to exercise his long-unused gift of eloquence.

It seemed he hadn't lost his touch.

Don't pine for me. These days, I'm only a legend.

Only Wanyun remained, frozen on the spot, clutching her pipa and murmuring:

"To meet... must we... have known each other before?"

Off to one side, unnoticed by either of them, a young man in white had also heard those two lines.

More precisely, he had listened from beginning to end, utterly engrossed.

At those closing words, his eyes suddenly lit up as he watched Chu Xingchen and Li Xingtian leave together.

An unrestrained, delighted smile spread across his face. Holding back his excitement, he said, "Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful..."

Chu Xingchen soon returned to the rented courtyard house with Li Xingtian.

But as they reached the front gate, they heard Li Yingling's slightly ingratiating voice coming from inside.

"Big Sister, why would I ever lie to you?"

Then came Yaoqin's deeply suspicious voice.

"I've felt you were lying to me ever since we were at the gate."

Chu Xingchen stepped through the entrance and saw Yaoqin sitting on a stone chair in the courtyard, while his eldest disciple stood beside her, smiling as she poured tea.

Neither man concealed his footsteps or presence, so Li Yingling and Yaoqin both turned toward them.

Seeing her master return, Li Yingling promptly breathed a sigh of relief.

At least their visitor hadn't come seeking revenge.

Yaoqin, however, abruptly stood upon seeing Chu Xingchen. In a flash, she appeared before him, then reached out and caught his hand.

Her spiritual sense surged straight toward the inside of his body.

Chu Xingchen looked at her in confusion as his golden core automatically resisted the invading spiritual sense.

"What are you doing?"

Yaoqin's expression was icy, and she spoke without ceremony. "Let me look!"

"...Isn't that a little inappropriate? With so many people here."

"Then consider the matter you entrusted to me finished!"

Under her overbearing threats, Chu Xingchen yielded and allowed Yaoqin's spiritual sense into his body.

Li Yingling stared blankly at the scene before her. What was going on?

Li Xingtian silently watched for a moment, privately dismissing it as tedious romantic entanglement.

His master was admirable, but it was a pity he had yet to see through such attachments.

Once Chu Xingchen lowered his golden core's defenses, Yaoqin's spiritual sense entered smoothly.

Then Yaoqin froze.

The spiritual power flowing within him was exceptionally pure, superb in quality, and upright and harmonious in its aura.

His spiritual energy circulated at tremendous speed, and his golden core's cycles of drawing in and releasing energy were incredibly rapid. Only a supreme golden core could reach such a standard!

And judging by his spiritual power, he had to be at least at late golden core, didn't he?

Still, Yaoqin examined him carefully. After confirming that he had none of the blood qi found in the talisman and spirit stones, she breathed a sigh of relief and released his hand.

At least Chu Xingchen genuinely hadn't become an evil cultivator.

That was a matter of fundamental importance.

Chu Xingchen asked in bewilderment, "Why are you acting so strangely today?"

Yaoqin took out the talisman Zhao Wanqing had given her and handed it straight to Chu Xingchen. "Look at this talisman. Its blood qi is essentially identical to that of the Blood Qi Spirit Stones you gave me."

Taking the talisman, Chu Xingchen activated it slightly. Blood qi gushed out, but this blood qi...

"Did... the Demon-Suppression Bureau give you this?"

"How did you know?" Yaoqin gave him a suspicious look.

"I fished the man from the Demon-Suppression Bureau who fell victim to this out of the Yuzhou River outside the city. You could say I saved his life."

Chu Xingchen suddenly felt that every world was one enormous makeshift troupe muddling through its performance.

How had fishing someone out of the river led, after a whole circle, right back to him?

"You fished him out?!" Yaoqin found it hard to believe.

Chu Xingchen sighed and briefly explained again how he had fished up that lucky fellow, then helped the young man who had been about to kick the bucket, saving his life.

Yaoqin said nothing, but Li Yingling, who had listened attentively from the side, spoke first.

"Master, take me with you next time you go fishing."

Li Yingling had originally thought her master had simply fished someone out of the water.

She hadn't expected there to be such a story behind it.

She had also thought fishing meant nothing more than holding a rod and waiting in boredom for a fish to bite.

Who would have thought it could lead to a story like this? Wasn't that far better than wandering the streets herself?

At that, Chu Xingchen gave his eldest disciple an exasperated glare.

On the receiving end of that look, Li Yingling merely smiled sheepishly.

"Master? These two are your disciples?" Yaoqin's brows furrowed slightly.

Chu Xingchen shrugged with a trace of helplessness. "Yes... two tattered cotton-padded jackets that let the wind through."

"Master!" Li Yingling protested with a pout.

Calling Li Xingtian a drafty cotton-padded jacket was fair enough. He was always quiet and seemed not to care much about their master.

But she was completely different. Most of the time, she listened to her master, and she even took the initiative to help him with whatever she could.

What did he mean, a tattered cotton-padded jacket? I'm clearly a gorgeous, luxurious eighteen-layer down coat!

Chu Xingchen reached out and ruffled Li Yingling's little head by way of consolation, then turned to Yaoqin.

"You didn't come just because you suspected I was responsible, did you? Have you sorted out those Blood Qi Spirit Stones?"

Yaoqin froze at his words. Her previously icy expression faltered, and her eyes unconsciously drifted aside.

One look at Yaoqin's expression told Chu Xingchen everything.

She really hadn't sorted it out.