Chapter 105: Actually Treating Me as Family

Yan Liang was from the Daoling lineage. Wei Yuning had a great grudge against the Daoling lineage—their Elder Taifeng had even had his tongue cut off by Daoist Master Daomin over the demon-assassination matter. But strangely, Yan Liang seemed to have no impression of Wei Yuning at all. It seemed that regarding the demon-assassination matter, only the upper echelons of the Daoling lineage or those involved knew about it. Clearly, this Yan Liang was not among them.

The cultivation world reveres strength; a hero's origins are never questioned.

Although Cloud Concealment Sect was a relatively exclusive sect, once you entered Cloud Concealment Sect, you were one of their own.

Among the upper echelons of Cloud Concealment Sect, the position of sect master was definitely held by the Daoheng lineage, but most other positions went to the capable. With Wei Yuning's aptitude, after several hundred years, he would surely become a figure of real power in Cloud Concealment Sect—no one would overlook him.

Qing Fei was a newly promoted alchemy disciple, and Man Niu was an earth-spirit-root cultivator with divine strength. Even against Yan Huaiyu, who had built his foundation through body cultivation, he would not be inferior in the slightest.

Not to mention Chang Fei and other old friends, even Qing He, Yan Liang, Yan Huaiyu, and the others had not the slightest contempt for Qing Fei and Man Niu.

After a round of eating and drinking, both host and guests were thoroughly delighted.

At Flowing Cloud Plaza, everyone bid farewell one after another.

"You all go first! Yuning, wait a moment—I have something to say to you!" Qing Ling said suddenly.

After everyone had left, Qing Ling quietly looked at Wei Yuning and suddenly asked, "Regarding the matter of a Dao companion, what are your thoughts?"

"Senior Sister, it's all a misunderstanding, all a misunderstanding!" Wei Yuning said hastily.

Toward Qing Ling, he had always maintained a heart of respect. If not for her back then, whether he could have survived in this world would have been in question. So in his eyes, Qing Ling was a fairy—someone to be admired, not profaned.

"I know it's a misunderstanding. Uncle Master Hongzhi already told me. I just want to ask your thoughts!" Half of Qing Ling's face was hidden in darkness, the other half of her exquisitely beautiful face gleaming under the bright moonlight, like a beautiful sprite.

A trace of stirring arose in Wei Yuning's heart. Come to think of it, although Qing Ling's looks were a bit cold, she was truly very beautiful—every line and curve of her face gathered the spiritual elegance of the earth. Especially those pure, righteous, and resolute eyes of hers made her as noble and lofty as a saintess.

"I absolutely have no such thoughts toward Senior Sister Qing Ling. I see you as... as my own family!" Wei Yuning said with unusual earnestness. When he said these words, his emotions went out with them too. For a moment, even he was a little moved, as if suddenly Qing Ling had truly become his own family.

Qing Ling's expression froze for a moment, then she suddenly burst into laughter: "Hahaha, look how frightened you are! But you're not bad—you passed my test! My only goal is the Great Dao; romance between men and women cannot exist! If you truly had such thoughts, I... I wouldn't pay attention to you anymore! Alright, you may go!"

"... Alright, then—Senior Sister Qing Ling, I'll be going!" Seeing that Qing Ling had returned to her cold expression, Wei Yuning left in confusion.

"Yuning, when there's no one else around, you can call me Shang Ling, or Ling'er! Go on back now!"

Qing Ling's voice came from behind him.

"Alright!"

Watching Wei Yuning gradually recede into the distance, Qing Ling revealed a complex expression on her face and murmured to herself: "My 'Sword Heart Clear Illumination' shouldn't be wrong—he didn't lie. In his eyes I'm actually family? Hehe, what a strange feeling—family!"

The night passed without incident.

The next morning, Wei Yuning had just finished making moon beast insect sauce and was about to head to the Secret Medicine Pavilion when Hongle's flying bird message arrived.

"The purchase price for Hundred Flower Garden's spiritual herbs remains the same. I will naturally get in touch with that girl Fengming!"

"Many thanks, Uncle Master!" Wei Yuning didn't mind the waste and replied with just one sentence using talisman paper. Talisman paper wasn't free either—the cost of a single short-distance flying bird message was about one-tenth of a low-grade spirit stone. However, Wei Yuning was now wealthy and imposing, so he didn't care about this small expense.

When he arrived at the Secret Medicine Pavilion, Qing Fei was there too. Seeing Wei Yuning arrive, she called out a greeting from afar: "Hello, Junior Brother Qingmo!"

After learning that the Dao companion matter was a misunderstanding, Qing Fei had returned to her usual attitude toward Wei Yuning.

"If you hadn't come, the Secret Medicine Pavilion would have had to change its name!" Wei Yuning said with a laugh.

Qing Fei pouted and said, "You think I wanted to? The brothers and sisters in the pill room have also urged me several times—they've piled up a bunch of pills they can't sell!"

"There are times when pills can't be sold?" Wei Yuning said in surprise.

"Of course they can be sold, but the sect disciples are too stingy, while outside cultivators are more generous. Besides, many low-level pills that disciples practice making are only bought by mortals in the secular world, so they can only come to the Secret Medicine Pavilion to move them!" Qing Fei said with a laugh.

"Don't forget that you're also a shop owner—you get a cut from selling pills. You must think of every possible way to hand over the alchemy room's surplus and unused pills to us!" Wei Yuning urged in a tone full of enticement.

"As if I need you to tell me?" Qing Fei said impatiently. "Of course I like spirit stones too. But most of the disciples in the alchemy room only like to cultivate and don't need many spirit stones. Aside from sect missions, they'd rather sit in meditation than refine pills!"

Wei Yuning nodded in understanding and said, "It seems our senior brothers and sisters haven't yet realized the importance of spirit stones. I must lend them a hand."

"Lend a hand—how?" Qing Fei asked curiously.

"This mountain man has his own clever plan!" Wei Yuning lightly stroked an invisible beard and said mysteriously.

The news that the sect was about to dispatch disciples to the Outer Realm Battlefield had thoroughly spread among the disciples. No matter where you went, disciples were discussing it.

All sorts of seemingly true and seemingly false information circulated among the disciples. This time, the Outer Realm Battlefield combat was ultimately classified by the sect's upper echelons as an adventure mission, of a voluntary nature.

Originally, this kind of mission—dangerous in process and long in cycle—would rarely have disciples willing to take it on even if the reward was generous. But this time, in addition to material rewards, the sect also offered a precious identity reward: the chance to become an inner sect disciple. This greatly increased the disciples' enthusiasm.

With the status and treatment of a Cloud Concealment Sect inner sect disciple, even with the same aptitude, there was more than a fifty percent chance of advancing one major realm.

Most disciples in the sect who successfully built their foundation could reach the Opening Light stage. Starting from the Fusion stage, the number of disciples who successfully advanced dropped sharply.

If a disciple who was originally supposed to be at the Opening Light stage advanced one realm, that would be the Fusion stage—genuinely adding a full hundred years of lifespan.

A hundred years could bring about too many things. With a bit more luck, advancing another step wasn't impossible either—and that would be the Golden Core stage, adding another two hundred years of lifespan. For a cultivator, the more time, the more opportunities. There was no shortage of cultivators whose early-stage cultivation was slow but who suddenly had a breakthrough in the later stage. So on the surface it was only a possible hundred-year difference, but how great the ultimate impact would be, no one could be certain.