Gu Baiqing snapped back to himself, brushing it off as just a passing moment of attention—not overly dramatic.
It was just… Li Xiuran seemed a little strange. How to put it… There were plenty of outstanding young talents present—each with their own strengths in appearance, cultivation, or background. But when Li Xiuran appeared, it was as if everyone else’s appeal dimmed.
Handsome? Yes, but Mo Xuanli was no less so—in fact, Gu Baiqing, biased as he was, thought Mo Xuanli looked even better.
Strong? He seemed only at mid-stage Foundation Establishment. If not for his immortal weapon, he probably couldn’t have broken Mo Xuanli’s sword so easily.
Everything else was hard to judge. Thinking it over, Gu Baiqing figured he was just being sensitive—probably because Li Xiuran would one day like Mo Xuanli, making him stand out in Gu Baiqing’s mind.
On the other side, He Zixuan ignored her younger brother’s whining. Instead, she smacked him on the back of the head in public. “Always slacking off and causing trouble for the sect! Don’t think I don’t know—you must have provoked them first. It’s one thing to pick a fight with the Bailis, but why mess with Zixiao Sect?”
She then immediately offered a proper bow to Gu Baiqing and Chu Fei on the other side, apologizing politely for the disturbance.
“Hey, He Zixuan, it’s because you teach your brother like this that he’s always causing us trouble,” Baili Jingzhan mocked.
“So what if he causes you trouble?” He Zixuan’s face turned cold at once.
This He Zixuan—beautiful, poised, and strict—treated Zixiao Sect reasonably enough. But when facing the Bailis, she was exactly like her younger brother.
Gu Baiqing found it amusing. It was said Tianyuan Sect and Tianzhao Sect were originally one, but in some past generation, a pair of senior brothers fell out. Equal in strength and unwilling to acknowledge each other as sect master, they split into two sects. Since their founding techniques were nearly identical, they constantly clashed and competed at every opportunity.
But in the previous generation, when the Baili family produced Baili, the first-ranked immortal in the cultivation world, Tianyuan Sect began its path to dominating the immortal sects—completely suppressing Tianzhao Sect and others. Even though Immortal Baili was no longer around, Tianyuan Sect still held first place among the Four Great Immortal Sects, with this generation’s strength still surpassing Tianzhao Sect’s.
This pair of siblings were the son and daughter of the Sect Leader of Tianzhao Sect, their status roughly equal to that of the Baili brothers. The elder sister was here to see her younger brother into the secret realm, but in the blink of an eye, the boy had already stirred up trouble.
Jingzhan seemed unwilling to quarrel with a woman, so he chose to simmer down and keep quiet.
Since He Zixuan had stepped forward to smooth things over, it would be difficult for them to keep pressing the matter. Mo Xuanli was about to lead Nan Zhi away, but Nan Zhi was still glaring at He Jing, who was hiding in the crowd.
Just then, He Zixuan suddenly blocked their path again.
The two women were about the same age, and when their eyes met, neither yielded in momentum.
“Miss Nan Zhi, my younger brother provoked you first. You struck him, and I have no objection to that—he deserved such a lesson, and I even thank you for it. But since He Jing is already a disciple of our sect, we cannot simply stand by and watch something happen to him. I ask that Miss Nan Zhi refrain from seeking private revenge here.”
At this point, Mo Xuanli also stepped forward to pull on Nan Zhi’s sleeve. “Senior Sister.”
“You’re stopping me too?” Nan Zhi’s gaze sharpened.
Mo Xuanli lowered his voice. “Senior Sister, it’s not appropriate to fight in public.”
Nan Zhi didn’t know exactly what he meant by the reminder, but she thought it over and decided he had a point—better to wait and act inside the secret realm.
Thus the conflict was more or less defused.
Before leaving, Nan Zhi glanced at Li Xiuran. “You’re quite skilled—let’s spar sometime.”
Li Xiuran blinked, a little surprised, then said, “Miss Nan Zhi’s skills are formidable. I’m probably not your match, so I’d best pass.”
Nan Zhi’s expression shifted slightly—she knew at once that was just an excuse. Clearly, he didn’t want to fight her because she was a woman. She gave a cold laugh and turned away.
Nan Zhi and Mo Xuanli returned successfully.
But, as usual, the cannon fodder still had to shout something.
“Baili Jingzhan, Mo Xuanli, I’ll remember the both of you. Once we’re in the Void Spirit Secret Realm, we’ll settle this!”
He Zixiao had barely gotten the words out before his sister gave him another solid smack on the back of the head, dragged him by the ear, and hauled him back into the cabin to prepare for entry into the secret realm.
Li Xiuran shook his head helplessly, then deliberately turned back to bid Mo Xuanli goodbye before leaving. Clearly, he felt the most affinity with Mo Xuanli—so much so that Mo Xuanli was momentarily stunned.
“We’ll be going as well,” Jingcheng said, clapping Gu Baiqing on the shoulder. “Once they’ve gone in, I’ll come find you, and we’ll share a drink.”
“Alright.” Gu Baiqing didn’t dislike Jingcheng, finding him very easy to get along with.
Mo Xuanli had just returned to Gu Baiqing’s side, and at this, he frowned slightly.
Jingzhan spoke to Mo Xuanli and Nan Zhi: “If we meet in the secret realm, let’s get along, alright? I don’t like fighting.”
“That depends on whether you provoke us or not,” Nan Zhi replied flatly.
Jingzhan, being naturally flirtatious and disinclined to quarrel with women, simply gave Mo Xuanli a few more glances. “I hope we won’t have the chance to cross swords.”
Mo Xuanli only smiled and said nothing.
Actually, the two of them had already exchanged one blow in midair earlier, and each had a rough sense of the other’s strength.
Jingzhan held the advantage in cultivation—he was in the Golden Core stage—so he could completely overpower him, but if it really came down to a fight, crossing realms to challenge wasn’t impossible.
Just as the Baili brothers were about to head back, Jingzhan suddenly said with a grin, “Brother, I’m going out to play for a bit. I’ll be right back.”
“No.”
“But I’m afraid some young ladies might come looking for me.”
Jingcheng froze for a moment, and Jingzhan seized the chance to slip away in another direction—only to bump into someone standing in the corner of the flying vessel.
“Oh! My apologies, young lady, are you all right…” Jingzhan stopped halfway, then broke into his trademark charming smile. “Beautiful lady, I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
Yun Yue stood rigid, head bowed so her expression was hidden, as if she hadn’t even heard him.
Jingzhan, feeling tender toward beauty in distress, was about to press further when Nan Zhi came up and pushed him aside.
She supported Yun Yue and gave Jingzhan a cold glance.
Jingzhan was about to apologize again when Yun Yue’s voice trembled: “It’s not related to you, young master. Please don’t mind it.”
Nan Zhi didn’t wait for Jingzhan’s reply before leading Yun Yue away.
Jingzhan shrugged and flew off.
“Yun Yue’s injured? Go check on her,” Gu Baiqing said to Mo Xuanli, having noticed that Yun Yue was unsteady on her feet and leaning on Nan Zhi for support.
But Mo Xuanli shook his head. “She’s not hurt—that’s not the reason.”
Gu Baiqing looked at him in surprise. He could tell without even going over to check?
“Ah, I think I remember now,” Chu Fei suddenly spoke up beside them.
But his gaze had shifted toward the Tianzhao Sect’s flying vessel. When Gu Baiqing looked over, he happened to see the furtive figure of He Jing, who seemed to be whispering something to a companion.
Chu Fei, apparently hearing something as he focused, suddenly said coldly, “Truly incorrigible.”
Gu Baiqing was full of question marks. Could someone please explain to him? He was very curious, but given his identity, it wouldn’t be proper for him to lower himself to gossip. All he could do was throw Mo Xuanli a questioning look.
Ever the thoughtful disciple, Mo Xuanli explained the whole story, and only then did Gu Baiqing learn that there was so much happening behind the scenes outside the main plot.
His expression grew darker and darker, and he finally understood why Nan Zhi had been so furious she wanted to kill.
He Jing had originally been a disciple of Zixiao Sect’s Chunyang Pavilion. He was distantly related to the He family of Tianzhao Sect. With some background, decent talent, and good looks, he was quite popular among the disciples of his generation.
He was also somewhat familiar with Nan Zhi, since they were of similar cultivation and often sparred. Once, when he accompanied Nan Zhi to Flying Crane Pavilion for treatment, he met Yun Yue, who was very close to Nan Zhi.
At that time, Yun Yue was also extremely well-liked—she was practically the ideal image of Zixiao Sect’s beauty and gentleness, and many male disciples tried to court her. He Jing fell for her at first sight and begged Nan Zhi to help him pursue her with great fervor.
Nan Zhi couldn’t be bothered with such matters, but she didn’t refuse when He Jing tagged along with her each time to seek Yun Yue’s medical care.
Over time, rumors naturally began to spread. He Jing even confidently boasted everywhere that he could definitely win Yun Yue over.
But in reality, after a long time of pursuing, he still made no progress. Yun Yue’s heart was wholly focused on studying the medical arts; she had no interest at all in romantic matters between men and women. In order to save face, He Jing began bragging and spreading lies—starting with saying they were already in a relationship, then fabricating that they had dual-cultivated, adding all kinds of made-up details, even claiming Yun Yue had asked him to take responsibility and marry her. He went on gratifying his vanity by telling everyone this.
The rumors about Yun Yue gradually became indecent. No matter how she tried to explain, no one listened. After all, who would believe He Jing would fabricate Yun Yue’s chastity out of thin air? They only thought she was shyly denying it.
Even once, when Yun Yue summoned all her courage to confront He Jing in person, he still put on a “don’t make a fuss” attitude and bit back at her instead.
“I just haven’t agreed to marry you yet—do you have to lie about it? Our dual cultivation—everyone knows about that.” And as he spoke, he even pulled and hugged her, as if coaxing a sulking lover.
Yun Yue had always been soft-tempered and unable to speak out her grievances. After this incident, she felt completely hopeless. In a moment of desperation, she jumped off a cliff, hoping this would prove her innocence. Fortunately, she was caught by vines and later rescued.
Up to that point, everyone still thought Yun Yue was simply thin-skinned, unable to get what she wanted, embarrassed, and thus acted rashly.
Nan Zhi had entered seclusion before the rumors exploded and didn’t know the details. When she emerged, she saw Yun Yue lying unconscious, which made her immediately sense something was wrong. She seized He Jing to confront him on the spot, but He Jing still stubbornly claimed he had been with Yun Yue and that they had dual-cultivated. No one could prove he was lying, and the matter naturally alarmed the elders.
After a round of investigation, He Jing became afraid, and everyone learned that everything spread outside had been entirely fabricated by him. At first, he had just wanted to create public opinion to make her feel it was romantic; he thought Yun Yue’s resistance was simply a case of “playing hard to get,” and that if she still didn’t agree, she was failing to appreciate his kindness. Later, he wanted to use public pressure to force Yun Yue into being with him—her reputation was ruined anyway. Unexpectedly, Yun Yue was so fierce in spirit that she tried to take her own life.
When the truth came out, He Jing even said he was willing to “take responsibility” and marry her. Nan Zhi was so enraged she struck him on the spot; if not for the elders holding her back, He Jing would have died in Zixiao Sect that day.
The matter was indeed serious, but by the rules, his life couldn’t be taken. In the end, everyone could only watch as He Jing was given a certain corporal punishment and expelled from Zixiao Sect. The other disciples who had joined in malicious rumor-mongering and serious verbal insults against Yun Yue were also expelled.
Of course, many who had spoken against Yun Yue remained. They all went to apologize to her in turn, and in the end, Yun Yue accepted the apologies and went on living her life. But this incident remained a thorn in the hearts of both Yun Yue and Nan Zhi.
Yun Yue simply didn’t want to see such a terrifying man again. Nan Zhi, on the other hand, felt she bore half the responsibility for what happened—especially since she had been used—so she swore that the next time she saw He Jing, she would kill him. That was what had led to the earlier scene.
Gu Baiqing was stunned after hearing all this. Since his original body had been in closed-door cultivation all this time, keeping entirely out of worldly affairs, he had no idea that the gentle and soft-spoken Yun Yue he saw in daily life had actually gone through something so dreadful. No wonder she had just frozen up completely—she must have seen the man from her nightmares.
Gu Baiqing frowned and asked Chu Fei, “What did you just hear?”
Chu Fei said coldly, “He was explaining to his sect-mates why Nan Zhi wanted to kill him. He said Yun Yue was the woman in Zixiao Sect who pestered him. Unable to get him, she ‘played the victim’ and tried to commit suicide to frame him. He claimed he didn’t want to argue with a woman, so he admitted fault and was expelled from the mountain. Nan Zhi, having misunderstood, now wants to kill him to avenge her junior sister.”
Gu Baiqing was stunned again—and disgusted. This man had almost caused a girl’s death, yet he had no remorse at all, and was still fabricating stories about her behind her back. Just now, had he not also been boasting to his sect-mates about Yun Yue? Her reputation… Gu Baiqing was furious, but at the moment his position meant he could do nothing. Truly, a pest that clings on.
He suddenly turned toward the cold-faced Mo Xuanli beside him and said directly, “When we enter the secret realm later—listen to your senior sister.”
Mo Xuanli’s eyes lit up.
Chu Fei also said, “That’s right, listen to your eldest senior sister.”
Mo Xuanli curved his lips into a smile and nodded in agreement.
…
Not long after, the secret realm’s teleportation array appeared. The perimeter immediately grew noisy—apparently conflicts had already broken out, mostly among small sects and rogue cultivators. After all, when it came to quota allocation, no one was happy, but they didn’t dare voice discontent toward the great sects.
Though this was a wild secret realm, it had been developed for a long time and was now half-wild. Several major powers forcibly divided up the pie: of one hundred slots, the lower sects naturally got fewer, and the free slots for rogue cultivators were even rarer. So scuffles often broke out at the entrance.
The great sects each occupied their own teleportation arrays, and no one dared get close. Each array had a limited number of people, so the remaining arrays were crowded with flying vessels—and naturally, conflict erupted.
But these were not matters that concerned the great sects.
On Zixiao Sect’s side, Fu Zhiyi finished his pep talk, then had everyone line up to enter the teleportation array. Everything proceeded in perfect order.
Gu Baiqing gave Mo Xuanli a few last reminders—nothing more than not to show off, and to focus on survival no matter what happened. But Gu Baiqing also knew that in the cultivation path, frequent life-and-death struggles were inevitable if one wanted to improve.
Mo Xuanli listened patiently with a gentle smile. As he listened, he caught sight of Tianyuan Sect’s group entering the teleportation array not far away.
After thinking a moment, he couldn’t resist asking, “Does Master drink?”
“Huh?” Gu Baiqing didn’t know why Mo Xuanli suddenly asked this.
“Just now, this disciple heard Young Sect Master Baili say he wanted to come find Master for a drink later. This disciple was worried Master…” Mo Xuanli lowered his head as he spoke.
Gu Baiqing thought for a moment—he hadn’t drunk in the sect, but when traveling outside, his original body probably had. His tolerance was normal, not often drunk. However… in the original text, after master and disciple ended up together, that wicked disciple had often found ways to get his master drunk. The text even said that after drinking, the master became especially clingy and soft. To indulge himself, the disciple had even brewed special intoxicating wine just for his master, and had once done something outrageous—pulling his master into a bath barrel full of wine, both of them drunk to the point of mental fog and losing all self-control.
Just thinking about the time he recorded that scene made him shiver. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t meet the director’s requirements. In the end, they actually made him drink until drunk before recording. He never expected that he really would get hammered. After sobering up, when he heard the dubbed voice, he could hardly believe it had come from him—it was an instant social death. Afterwards, his colleagues couldn’t hide the amusement in their eyes whenever they saw him.
Gu Baiqing shivered all over, hastily shaking the memory from his mind. Seeing Mo Xuanli lift his head and look at him, Gu Baiqing suddenly felt very uneasy. “No drinking. Not with him.”
Absolutely not drinking. Perhaps Baili Jingcheng had also seen him drunk before—too dangerous. Better not.
Mo Xuanli’s eyes lit up, but he said no more.
When it was time to enter the array, Three Bean ran over, anxious, rubbing against Mo Xuanli.
Mo Xuanli took the opportunity to pick up Three Bean and leaned close, whispering into its ear: “While I’m gone, watch over Master. Master… doesn’t like to be touched. If someone comes too close, warn them.”
Three Bean looked puzzled. “Master doesn’t like that?” The master often held him, and didn’t seem to avoid others… it seemed he only avoided Xuanli.
“Mm, he doesn’t like it. Sometimes he tolerates it out of courtesy, but you’re a cat—you can extend your claws to protect Master,” Mo Xuanli said seriously.
Three Bean was confused, but trusted Xuanli, nodding: “Don’t worry, I will.”
The array glowed, and Mo Xuanli stepped into the secret realm. Three Bean jumped down and padded over to Gu Baiqing.
Gu Baiqing smiled. “Not going over to Second Senior Brother? He has more dried fish treats there—I can’t afford that.”
Three Bean wagged his tail. “No, I’ll stay with you.” Just then, Baili Jingcheng walked over.
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