The Great Hand Looming Behind Lüyu

It was the same Fortune and Longevity Restaurant, but this time Jiang Wangxuan ordered a few more spiritual dishes. Last time, Jinyi had only been at Embryonic Breathing and couldn't eat much. Now that she was at the Qi Refining Stage, she could try a taste of everything!

Dig in, dig in!

Once all the dishes had arrived, Jiang Jinyi couldn't be bothered with anything else. She dug in with gusto, and the sight of her eating so heartily was enough to whet anyone's appetite!

Unfortunately, Jiang Wangxuan had never been interested in nourishing himself through food. Besides, he had already reached Foundation Establishment, and his cultivator's body had begun to transform into something inhuman. If he cultivated to the Foundation Establishment Late Stage, his body would be completely assimilated as the Immortal Foundation within him fused with heaven and earth!

To find food suitable for nourishing a Foundation Establishment cultivator, one had to look in a major city like Jixia. Many Xuantian that emphasized secluded cultivation didn't even have Hearth Fire cultivators in residence!

Speaking of Hearth Fire, Jiang Wangxuan thought again of that son of the Jixia Fang Clan, Fang Lin. There was far more to him than met the eye. He had most likely "foreseen" that Jiang Wangxuan might meet with disaster if he returned to Lüyu, which was why he had tried every means to hint that Jiang Wangxuan should seek refuge in Jixia while at the Jiang Household in Luzhou!

One ought to befriend a "talent" like that, but not grow too close. Such "foresight and insight" often attracted troubles that defied explanation!

His little sister was focused entirely on eating beside him, but her roommate, Junior Sister Suqiu, looked rather ill at ease. When they first met, this daughter of the Jialing Chen Clan had mostly been surprised; now she was mostly apprehensive!

People from great Lineages were all shrewd!

"Junior Sister Suqiu, I wonder what became of the Supreme White Metal-Tempering Pill Xue Renya gave you last time?"

Chen Suqiu hurriedly put down her chopsticks and tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "Senior Brother Jiang, this pill is precious. Though Senior Brother Xue and I come from the same hometown, I can't accept a gift I haven't earned. I could only put the pill away. Have you seen Senior Brother Xue lately?"

Jiang Wangxuan shook his head. "I only recently came out of seclusion and haven't contacted him. All I know is that after he returned to school for the opening ceremony last time, he immediately followed the senior back to the Thunder Palace."

"He should have been at the Thunder Palace's training camp for quite some time by now. I expect he'll reach Foundation Establishment in the next few years!"

Chen Suqiu's expression changed slightly. "He's only twenty, and he's already preparing for Foundation Establishment? Then I'm even less willing to take the pill!"

Awkward!

Jiang Wangxuan still remembered how awkward Xue Renya had been when he asked him to pass on the Supreme White Metal-Tempering Pill. He had looked nothing like the man who usually pressed forward without hesitation when practicing his sword!

Jiang Wangxuan had passed the pill on. Junior Sister Suqiu was already at the Qi Refinement Second Layer, and her true essence was fairly solid. As she continued cultivating, it was about time for her to take the Supreme White Metal-Tempering Pill.

Perhaps breaking through to Foundation Establishment had eased the urgency he used to feel, for Jiang Wangxuan spoke up, which was rare for him. "We cultivators travel through the world and are bound to make friends among our peers. A few pills as a gift are no great matter to Xue Renya!"

Chen Suqiu's expression turned slightly bitter. She wasn't someone who failed to appreciate kindness, but Xue Renya's pill really wasn't easy to accept. They were destined to belong to different worlds, so why stir up more ripples?

In the end, it was only a few childish words from when they were young. They couldn't be taken seriously!

"Senior Brother Jiang, since I don't intend to take this pill, I might as well return it to you."

Jiang Jinyi, who had been eating with her head down, looked up in surprise. She often saw Suqiu holding that pill and staring into space in the dead of night!

Jiang Wangxuan was taken aback, but for no particular reason, he smiled and said, "I didn't expect you to be so unencumbered and decisive, Suqiu!"

Chen Suqiu then bowed solemnly. "Though I began studying the Dao as a child and received guidance from my Lineage's seniors, my aptitude is limited after all. Foundation Establishment is beyond my reach. I cultivate Qian Metal, so I can see my own path clearly!"

Jiang Wangxuan was momentarily at a loss for words. Junior Sister Suqiu had a touch of a Qian Metal cultivator's bearing, and she had calculated her own prospects all too clearly!

He reached out and accepted the Supreme White Metal-Tempering Pill Chen Suqiu offered him. Suddenly, he felt that cultivators like them were no different from people in the mortal world; they were simply trapped in a larger, more elusive net!

Perhaps the more one cultivated, the more one saw, and apprehension and fear often welled up in one's heart. That was why they were so careful to avoid entanglements of cause and effect!

"Junior Sister Suqiu, what do you think of the Central Palace?"

Seeing that Senior Brother Jiang was willing to take the Supreme White Metal-Tempering Pill, Chen Suqiu had just begun to feel a sense of loss when his sudden question about the Central Palace caught her off guard.

Seeing that Junior Sister Suqiu hadn't understood him, Jiang Wangxuan smiled. It was his own fault for bringing it up out of nowhere. "Jinyi, Junior Sister Suqiu, I have a residence in the Central Palace. The spiritual influence there is abundant, and the surroundings are quiet and elegant. If you like it, you can move there to cultivate!"

"Huh?"

Jiang Jinyi's mouth fell open wide enough to fit an egg. "You mean you want us to move to the Central Palace? Then where will you live?"

Chen Suqiu was still reeling from the sudden bombshell when she heard her friend blurt out that question.

Come on, is that the important part? Shouldn't it be the Central Palace?

After True Lord Chengyue took charge of Yuanhuai Heaven, the great Xuantian clans that had occupied the Central Palace for centuries were all "driven" down into the mortal world. The Lüyu era followed, and all the property in the Central Palace belonged to Yuanhuai Heaven, with Lüyu managing it on its behalf!

Especially since Luyu Port had opened, owning a property in the Central Palace was something even many great Aristocratic Clans couldn't manage!

"The university recently assigned me another cave abode, so the dormitory I used to live in is vacant. Since you two live below Lüyu Blessed Land, I thought you might as well move to the Central Palace!"

Now Chen Suqiu understood. Senior Brother Jiang meant to submit a request to the university to change dormitories, and then she and Jinyi would move to the Central Palace. He made it sound as simple as Jinyi going out to buy red bean buns early in the morning!

"Senior Brother Jiang, that's against the rules. Luyu University has only a limited number of cave abodes and residences in the Central Palace. Many lecturers can't even get a dormitory there! It's even more impossible for first-year students like us!"

By rights, it was against the rules, but the rules were currently in his Eldest Senior Brother's hands. Jiang Wangxuan hadn't agreed at first either. It was too conspicuous, and that wasn't good for Jinyi!

But one sentence from Eldest Senior Brother had settled it. "Jinyi is your own sister. Do you think your Grand Yin fate won't involve her?"

"The paperwork has already been completed. I came today to let you know. You'll receive a notice from the academic affairs office shortly."

Jiang Wangxuan offered no further explanation, simply settling the matter in a matter-of-fact tone. Bringing Chen Suqiu along was also a token attempt to provide cover for his sister.

"Junior Sister Suqiu, if outsiders ask about this, can you step forward and take responsibility for it?"

Chen Suqiu, who considered herself knowledgeable and experienced, felt as though her brain had turned to mush. Could it be that your Jiang Household runs the academic affairs office too?

Moving two first-year students from the blessed land to the Central Palace-and the paperwork was all finished without us even knowing!

Chen Suqiu also understood now that this Jiang elder brother was pulling her out to take a bullet for his sister again, and she had no room to refuse. She was benefiting from it too!

She hurriedly asked, "Senior Brother Jiang, the dormitory in the Central Palace isn't at 'Where Clouds Run Deep,' is it?"

"Where Clouds Run Deep" was the finest complex of cave abodes Luyu University had built, and the vast majority of its senior professors lived there. If their assigned dormitory was there, even if Chen Suqiu wanted to step forward, it wouldn't be easy!

Even if the entire Jialing Chen Household pooled its resources, it couldn't get a single cave abode at "Where Clouds Run Deep"!

Jiang Wangxuan shook his head, and only then did Chen Suqiu breathe a sigh of relief. It should be one of the commercially developed cave abodes near Luyu Port, then. Land there was also worth its weight in gold, and a title deed was hard to come by.

But in the Jialing Chen Household's name, they could still grit their teeth and buy one!

"It's at the Wave-Gazing Residence!"

Senior Brother Jiang had revealed where they would live in the Central Palace for the next few years as casually as ever. Chen Suqiu, who had just been about to breathe a sigh of relief, was dumbstruck!

Listening to her brother and Suqiu's conversation leap from one thing to another, Jiang Jinyi gathered that this was something extraordinary. She asked cautiously, "Brother, do you mean you're transferring your dormitory at the Wave-Gazing Residence to us through the academic affairs office?"

It certainly sounded fantastical, but when she thought of her brother's teaching assistant, that great secretary-general Lin, it wasn't so strange. Still, wouldn't such a blatant backroom deal get Teaching Assistant Lin fired by the university?

This was outright abuse of private authority. There was something shady going on!

"That's right. You summed it up perfectly. It's just a matter of going through the procedures at the academic affairs office. Very simple. You'll receive the notice about your new dormitory by this evening at the latest!"

"Oh, I understand!"

Jiang Jinyi obediently agreed. It had been this way since she was little: her brother thought everything through in advance. As for whether there was anything shady going on-

Am I smarter than my brother?

From childhood, Jiang Jinyi had learned to lie back and let her brother carry her along. All she had to do was eat the pies he fed her, and that was the best way to repay him!

The Wave-Gazing Residence. Those words filled Chen Suqiu's mind. It had once been a gathering place for the great clans of the Central Palace, before Yuanhuai Heaven took it back.

Senior Brother Jiang-no, she should call him Senior. Had he been cultivating there before? Then where was he going to cultivate now?

Chen Suqiu thought of the likeliest possibility: Yuanhuai Heaven!

Only by entering Yuanhuai Heaven could Senior so openly break the rules. To the seniors of Yuanhuai Heaven, what was the Wave-Gazing Residence? Just a place to cultivate, and it would only be sitting empty otherwise!

Sure enough, Senior Jiang had already forged his Immortal Foundation. A twenty-year-old Grand Yin Foundation Establishment cultivator could support an entire great Aristocratic Clan on his own!

And now Senior was favoring her by letting her cultivate at the Wave-Gazing Residence. Though she was taking a bullet for his sister, there were plenty of people in Lüyu who would jump at the chance!

Chen Suqiu rose and bowed in thanks. "I'll follow all your arrangements, Senior. I'm deeply grateful!"

Senior?

Jiang Jinyi was bewildered. What was Suqiu saying? Why was she calling her brother Senior?

All of a sudden, the younger sister's face turned deathly pale. The heart in the left side of her chest pounded violently, and then came a feeling of terror, as though she were being pulled into a deep pool!

"Junior Sister Suqiu, just call me Senior Brother Jiang as you always have. You and Jinyi are roommates; there's no need to be so formal. Also, I'm sorry to trouble you to shield Jinyi from some public scrutiny. Please accept this Supreme White Metal-Tempering Pill!"

Smiling, Jiang Wangxuan held out a Supreme White Metal-Tempering Pill. He had originally saved it for Jinyi, but now it was just right for helping Chen Suqiu improve her cultivation!

Xue Renya, I've repaid our three years of friendship practicing the sword!

Chen Suqiu gave her roommate a long look, then accepted it respectfully with both hands. "When an 'elder' gives a gift, one must not refuse!"