An Unexpected Encounter

Li Yunjing immediately stopped and turned to look.

He saw a woman jogging toward him.

She was young, only around twenty years old.

She wore a plain white robe, and a beauty mark at the corner of her eye left a striking impression.

"Junior Sister Shui!"

Seeing her, Li Yunjing smiled as well.

He spread his arms and embraced her.

Immediately afterward, a man approached.

"Senior Brother!"

The man had sword-like brows, starry eyes, and a prominent nose.

He was about the same age as Li Yunjing, also in his early twenties.

When Li Yunjing saw him, he gave him a hug too.

"Junior Brother Mo."

These two were Li Yunjing's junior brother and junior sister.

The man was named Mo Xuan, and the woman was named Shui Yao.

All three had joined the Luozhen Sect in the same year.

However, Li Yunjing had joined the Luozhen Sect a little earlier.

As a result, Li Yunjing had become the eldest senior brother.

The three were very close.

If their master had not died of illness,

all three should still have been cultivating together in the Luozhen Sect.

"Junior Brother Mo, have you two been well lately?"

Li Yunjing released Mo Xuan and asked with a smile.

Mo Xuan nodded with a smile. "Don't worry, Senior Brother. Xiao Yao and I are both doing well."

As Mo Xuan spoke, he took Shui Yao's hand.

Li Yunjing was immediately surprised.

"You two... became dao companions?"

Mo Xuan nodded, while Shui Yao blushed, feeling a little shy.

"Don't be jealous, Senior Brother," Mo Xuan said with a smile.

Li Yunjing burst out laughing.

"You brat, you actually ate the grass by your own nest."

Li Yunjing gave Mo Xuan a light punch in the chest.

"When did this happen? And you didn't even tell me."

Mo Xuan made a show of rubbing his chest.

"It happened a month ago. If we hadn't been held up by trivial matters, Xiao Yao and I would have come to see you long ago, Senior Brother.

"As soon as we finished dealing with them, we came straight back to Xunxian Town.

"We were planning to buy a few things before returning to the Luozhen Sect, but we didn't expect to run into you here."

Li Yunjing nodded with relief.

As for Mo Xuan and Shui Yao becoming dao companions,

Li Yunjing was quite happy about it.

Shui Yao was his junior sister, and if the dao companion she found were not good enough, Li Yunjing would not be happy either.

Mo Xuan was his junior brother, and the two knew each other inside and out.

It was good for them to become dao companions.

"Come on, let's go back to the Luozhen Sect. We have to celebrate this properly."

Li Yunjing spoke to the two of them.

"Don't rush, Senior Brother. We still need to buy a few things for you." Shui Yao immediately grabbed Li Yunjing's hand.

Li Yunjing shook his head. "There's no need. Let's just go straight back to the Luozhen Sect."

"No, Senior Brother. Don't make things difficult for me," Mo Xuan refused.

Seeing that, Li Yunjing could only smile.

After agreeing to meet at the north end of White Cloud Long Street,

Li Yunjing let the two leave.

After they left, Li Yunjing also went to purchase other supplies.

First were the living supplies he would need for the next month, such as rice.

Although he had kept thirty jin of Golden Jade Rice,

he could not eat it at every meal.

Generally, Li Yunjing steamed Golden Jade Rice together with ordinary rice.

Only occasionally would he make a meal entirely of Golden Jade Rice.

There was no helping it. He could not afford to eat nothing but Golden Jade Rice at every meal.

Not just Golden Jade Rice, but other First-Rank Spirit Rice was the same.

Unless it was the worst First-Rank Spirit Rice.

But eating the worst First-Rank Spirit Rice

was not as effective as mixing Golden Jade Rice with ordinary rice.

Although the ordinary rice Li Yunjing bought was merely a mortal product,

it was top-quality rice among mortal products.

It contained fewer impurities.

If it were further cultivated and improved,

it might become First-Rank Spirit Rice.

After buying rice, Li Yunjing bought some vegetables and meat.

The vegetables were ordinary vegetables. Spirit vegetables were expensive, so he only ate them occasionally.

As for the meat, it was all from early first-tier Demon Beasts.

The early first tier was equivalent to Early Qi Refining.

Demon Beasts of this kind were extremely numerous.

Like wild grass, when one batch was killed,

a new batch would soon spring up.

Thus, this kind of Demon Beast meat was inexpensive.

If cooked properly, it tasted decent too.

If I can add a new building, I wonder if I could build a spirit beast farm?

Li Yunjing thought as he collected the Demon Beast meat.

Once he had bought everything,

Li Yunjing went to the northern exit of White Cloud Long Street.

After he had waited for a while, Mo Xuan and Shui Yao arrived.

The three walked out of Xunxian Town together.

"Senior Brother, my cultivation has improved quite a bit recently. How about we do as we did before and race to see who can get back to the Luozhen Sect first?"

As they walked, Mo Xuan suddenly gave a sly smile and spoke to Li Yunjing.

Li Yunjing raised an eyebrow.

"Oh? Then you're asking for trouble."

Seeing this, Shui Yao immediately acted as the referee.

At her third count, the two shot out like arrows loosed from their bows.

At first, Mo Xuan was far ahead.

He looked back at Li Yunjing behind him.

Mo Xuan was immensely pleased with himself.

After all this time, he was finally going to win once.

He could take advantage of this victory

to persuade Senior Brother to give up on the Luozhen Sect

and go elsewhere with him to seek another path.

But just as Mo Xuan was gloating,

he discovered that Li Yunjing had suddenly accelerated.

In the blink of an eye, Li Yunjing overtook him.

The Qi coming from Li Yunjing left Mo Xuan dumbstruck.

"Qi Refining Completion!"

Mo Xuan froze on the spot.

Only when Shui Yao caught up did Mo Xuan come back to his senses.

"Xiao Yao, Senior Brother... he's already at Qi Refining Completion!"

Mo Xuan's face was full of bitterness.

He had thought his cultivation had improved quite a bit

and had wanted to show off in front of Senior Brother.

He had not expected to have Li Yunjing's prowess rubbed in his face instead.

Shui Yao was helpless too.

She patted Mo Xuan on the shoulder.

"Brother Xuan, you and I both know how talented Senior Brother is. We only have Third-Rank Root Bones, while Senior Brother's talent is far greater than ours.

"If he hadn't stayed at the Luozhen Sect, Senior Brother would have soared into the sky long ago."

Mo Xuan sighed and let out a helpless laugh.

Shui Yao was right.

"Let's go."

Before the Luozhen Sect's mountain gate,

Li Yunjing had arrived long ago and was waiting for the two of them.

After a while, Mo Xuan and Shui Yao finally arrived.

"Not bad. You took much less time. You've improved a lot since before."

Li Yunjing smiled at them.

Mo Xuan looked at Li Yunjing resentfully.

"Senior Brother, your cultivation broke through, and you didn't even tell us. You deliberately made a laughingstock of me."

Li Yunjing laughed heartily.

"Haha, it was just a cultivation breakthrough. It's nothing important."

"Come on, let's enter the Luozhen Sect."

Mo Xuan and Shui Yao nodded.

Looking at the familiar mountain gate,

both were overcome with emotion.

The mountain gate was as dilapidated as before.

It stirred up their memories.

They followed Li Yunjing into Serene Valley.

The scene in the valley was the same as before.

The Luozhen Sect buildings in the distance had not changed either.

"Hmm, something's different!"

Sharp-eyed Mo Xuan, however, noticed something amiss.

The Sect Grand Hall was different from how he remembered it.

"Xiao Yao, look at Luozhen Hall. Doesn't it look different?"

Mo Xuan pointed at Luozhen Hall and spoke to Shui Yao.

Shui Yao looked over and examined it carefully, then nodded. "It seems so."

The two looked at Li Yunjing in unison.

Li Yunjing smiled. "I repaired it a little. It is the Sect Grand Hall, after all. It wouldn't look good to leave it all run-down."

The two were still a little curious.

It was not so much that Luozhen Hall's outward appearance felt different,

but rather its bearing.

If Luozhen Hall had been a beggar before,

it should at least be the chief of beggars now.

The two did not dwell on it.

They thought perhaps it was because they had been away for too long.

That might have been why they felt this way.

Just then, Zhang Hanpeng came out of his residence.

Upon seeing Li Yunjing, Zhang Hanpeng immediately came over and bowed.

"Greetings, Sect Master."

Mo Xuan and Shui Yao looked at Zhang Hanpeng, utterly bewildered.

This man called himself a disciple. Had their senior brother accepted him into the Luozhen Sect?

Zhang Hanpeng was also curious about the two of them.

Li Yunjing smiled and explained everything.

When Zhang Hanpeng learned that Mo Xuan and Shui Yao were the two elders of the Luozhen Sect, he immediately bowed.

Mo Xuan and Shui Yao exchanged a smile, looking quite helpless.

Elders of the Luozhen Sect-that title had long since ceased to matter to them.

Li Yunjing told Zhang Hanpeng to go back to cultivating.

Then he led the two of them to Luozhen Hall.

As soon as they entered Luozhen Hall, Mo Xuan said:

"Senior brother, with the Luozhen Sect in this state, why are you still accepting disciples?

Not only will this harm him, it will also drag you down."