A Challenge

"What is an inner demon? I only know that if you give me more time, my cultivation will definitely catch up with yours." Xuanyuan Haoyue raised her delicate willow-leaf eyebrows at him and said confidently.

"Impossible! My cultivation is definitely faster than yours! How about we have a competition?" Mo Yuanjiao challenged him.

"Alright, let's go! I'll definitely catch up with you within five years!" Xuanyuan Haoyue accepted the challenge.

Everyone else quietly gathered in a corner, silently watching the two bicker, occasionally whispering to each other, "This is what childhood sweethearts are like."

After entering the sect and breaking free from worldly marriage obligations, the two would bicker almost every time they met. However, since they had different affairs in the sect and didn't interact much, such scenes were rare.

Whenever they had a moment of free time during this Immortal Cultivation Realm Summer Camp, they would inevitably exchange a few sarcastic remarks, which everyone had grown accustomed to.

Han Weishu, who was eating sunflower seeds in a corner, transmitted her voice to Tong Jialiang: "Haoyue is usually a dignified, polite, and meticulous person. I'm afraid she herself doesn't realize that she's only so lively when she's with Elder Mo."

Upon hearing this, Tong Jialiang asked her in confusion, "Is Miss Xuanyuan not lively with you guys in private?"

Han Weishu said, "That's quite lively, but we sisters wouldn't argue like that."

Tong Jialiang, as if remembering something, asked her telepathically, "If that's the case, why did you ask Miss Xuanyuan to be in our group before the group assignments?"

After Lin Xiao assigned the second round of tasks, they discussed that the exploration of the secret realm could be carried out in groups.

Since there were eight of them, if they were divided into groups of two, there might be too few people and accidents might happen. If they were divided into groups of three, the number of people would not be evenly distributed. So they decided to divide them into groups of four first, and then adjust according to the specific situation of the secret realm.

Since Mo Yuanjiao and Yuan Jinsheng were the most powerful among them—one being a young Late Golden Core and the other having reached the Golden Core Great Perfection realm and was about to break through to the Nascent Soul realm—they were assigned to the position of group leader.

When the teams were being formed, Lin Xiao had privately told Mo Yuanjiao about Tong Jialiang's special physical condition before leaving, asking him to take extra care of Tong Jialiang. As a result, Mo Yuanjiao put Tong Jialiang in his team.

Tong Jialiang was in a group with him, so Han Weishu also asked to Mo Yuanjiao's team, and she also called her good friend Xuanyuan Haoyue over.

Thus, Mo Yuanjiao's group of four was decided, while the other three, who didn't care about being grouped, naturally joined Yuan Jinsheng's group.

Han Weishu used magic to destroy the sunflower seed shells in her hand, then blinked her bright eyes and replied, "Don't you think it's fun to watch them bicker?"

Tong Jialiang:...

Is it fun?

He turned to look at the two who had finally stopped bickering, not quite understanding what Han Weishu meant.

The recruitment ceremony below was still ongoing. Yuan Jinsheng watched with great emotion, "Back in the day, our Mortal Realm also recruited disciples in this way. I participated when I was a child, and later I even brought Yingzi to participate. Thinking back now, it really feels like a lifetime ago."

Bai Zhu turned to look at him and asked, "Senior Brother Yuan, so there are sects in our Mortal Realm that accept disciples like this?"

Yuan Jinsheng found his words somewhat amusing and said, "As far as I know, this is how most sects in the Mortal Realm accept disciples. Only our Lingxian Sect is completely different. We don't look at Spirit Root, we only ask about one's true nature. I originally thought that the Immortal Cultivation Realm might be different from most sects in our Mortal Realm, but now it seems that's the case. It turns out that only our own sect is different."

Han Weishu asked curiously, "Senior Brother Yuan, since you participated in the sect selection back then, why did you follow Ruler Zhao and not join the sect?"

Yuan Jinsheng shook his head. "My Yuan Family was originally a guard of the Zhao Clan royal family of Huanyou Nation. Later, the Zhao Clan lost power due to a coup by villains. We were short of Cultivation Resources, so we sold many things that we didn't urgently need. We also sold our family's Spirit Testing Stone. When I participated in the sect selection, it was just to use the sect's Spirit Testing Stone to test my Spirit Root aptitude. I didn't really want to join the sect."

Gu Yuxiao also leaned in and asked, "Senior Brother Yuan, why is Senior Brother Shen's surname different from yours?"

Yuan Jinsheng told her with a gentle look in his eyes, "Yingzi takes his mother's surname, Shen, because his mother couldn't cultivate back then, but I have at least several hundred years of life. We agreed before Yingzi was born that he would take his mother's surname."

"I see!" Gu Yuxiao's doubts were resolved, and she was satisfied.

Although the others remained silent, they all listened intently, not missing a single piece of gossip.

Seeing that the recruitment meeting below was nothing more than a repetitive process of testing Spirit Root, with nothing interesting happening for the time being, Xuanyuan Haoyue took out a small notebook and a smooth, soft jade pen and asked Ling Hui, who was examining the Lock Ring ring on his hand, "Did Elder Liu give you a message?"

Those seemingly ordinary little notebooks and jade pens were actually small Law Artifact she had crafted herself. The pen didn't need to be dipped in ink, and the little notebook was just in the shape of a notebook. In reality, the things she recorded on it were like Jade Slip, which could store a lot of information. The content that could be recorded on a single page of the notebook was far more than that of ordinary objects.

Ling Hui nodded. "Master said the Yuan Household agreed, saying they're willing to try selling these new products we brought."

This time, they came out not only because Lin Xiao assigned them homework, but also because they were tasked with selling and promoting the sect's latest products.

The Yuan Household was already very familiar with the Lingxian Sect and had a high level of trust in the quality of their products, so the two sides had always cooperated very well.

However, because their sect had brought out too many new products at once, and many of them were for low-level Qi Refining cultivators or even mortals, and were cheap, Lingxian Sect was unsure whether the Yuan Household was willing to sell them. So they asked Liu Chun to take samples to inquire about the Yuan Household's intentions.

Ling Hui was Liu Chun's disciple, so he was the one who contacted Liu Chun.

Han Weishu leaned closer to Xuanyuan Haoyue and looked at her writing in the small notebook, asking, "Little Yue'er, why didn't the Yuan Household agree to our new product as readily as before? Why have they hesitated for so long?"

After quickly making notes and preparing a list of goods to give to the Yuan Household for testing, Xuanyuan Haoyue closed the notebook and replied, "Because we've brought out so many varieties this time, almost covering all the needs of basic agriculture, this is different from occasionally launching one or two new products before. The Yuan Household really needs to consider this carefully."

She didn't know much about the Immortal Cultivation Realm, but she had been learning to manage a household from her mother since she was nine years old, helping her mother handle the affairs of various shops and farms in the family. She was very clear about the ins and outs of it. Now, combining what Senior Liao had talked about in his classes about the Immortal Cultivation Realm, she figured that applying the various ins and outs to the Immortal Cultivation Realm wouldn't be too difficult.

Not only Han Weishu, but most of the others also looked puzzled.