Chapter 293: Apprenticing to Yao Qingxuan

"What? Tang Wanzhou?"

Li Youyi was bewildered, not understanding why she would ask this.

Yao Qingxuan saw that Li Youyi was truly completely in the dark, and her willow-leaf brows immediately furrowed, her gaze filled with suspicion.

For the past two months, Li Youyi had been hiding in the Southern Clarity Palace, cultivating in seclusion, peaceful and at ease. She, however, had been playing a game of cat and mouse with Tang Wanzhou in the outer regions of the main altar. Although she held the upper hand, suppressing Tang Wanzhou tightly and catching up to and wounding him several times, she had never been able to capture him.

A thousand years ago, the catastrophe that erupted in the Lingxiao Life Realm left the land unrecognizable; mountains collapsed and rivers changed their courses.

It was during that time that the Twin Rice Sect accidentally discovered the entrance to the underground Immortal Mansion, opened this immortal secret realm, and obtained the boundless treasures left behind by the ancient Pogaluo Sect.

Because Chan Hai Guan Wu had always forbidden the planting of Benevolent Rice in the Lingxiao Life Realm, the Rice Sect was weak at the time and could only hide and survive, slowly excavating the secret realm, exploring the treasure vaults, and battling the fierce insects, departed spirits, and unknown anomalies within the underground Immortal Mansion.

This matter was of great importance, and they dared not let too many people know.

The process of exploration and excavation was the process of the Twin Rice Sect growing stronger step by step.

But the underground Immortal Mansion was too vast, like a hollow sphere with a diameter of several thousand li, built by the ancient Pogaluo Sect for at least twenty or thirty thousand years. It contained countless dangers and mysteries, and treasures and resources emerged one after another.

The Twin Rice Sect had spent a thousand years exploring and building, yet they had only cleared, renovated, and constructed the area within a few hundred li of the entrance. In terms of volume, it occupied less than one percent of the entire underground Immortal Mansion.

The giants within the sect naturally had traveled further, but various dangers emerged endlessly, requiring them to set up defensive arrays step by step, subsequently expanding and digesting the area.

They dared not cause too much of a commotion, creating tremors that might be detected by the transcendent beings of the Lingxiao Life Realm.

The speed of renovation and construction was countless times slower than mere exploration.

There were places that even the Rice Ancestor was extremely wary of and needed to bypass.

Of course, the entrance the Twin Rice Sect used to enter the underground Immortal Mansion was not the one blasted open a year ago by the supreme artifact used by Born Qilin Zang. Rather, it was located elsewhere.

In reality, the Twin Rice Sect was completely unaware of the entrance Born Qilin Zang blasted open; it happened to be in the furthest reaches of their explored area.

It was precisely because they were played by Born Qilin Zang that the Twin Rice Sect was forced to gradually show its fangs from hiding, reveal itself to the public, implement their plans ahead of schedule, and increase their activities.

Normally, they were prepared to wait for the Snow Sword Tang Ting to head south, the Zuoqiu Sect to head north, and the righteous armies of the world to destroy the Lingxiao Palace before emerging to clean up the mess and pluck the final fruits of victory.

Because of Born Qilin Zang's interference, all the forces in the Lingxiao Life Realm, both overt and covert, saw their plans spiral out of control.

These past two months, the pursuit between Yao Qingxuan and Tang Wanzhou had taken place outside the arrays in this area of the main altar that had already been developed.

Array after array, layer upon layer, like a thousand-layer cake, had been built over a thousand years to shroud the entire main altar.

But it was not impenetrable; Yao Qingxuan suspected that Tang Wanzhou had already found a gap and escaped inside.

Seeing the peerless beauty before him with an uncertain gaze, Li Youyi tentatively asked, "Did Tang Wanzhou escape from the Divine Prison, or was she never captured in the first place?"

"Why? Are you happy in your heart to know she is on the run?" Yao Qingxuan said.

"Tang Wanzhou is my friend."

Li Youyi did not deny it; offering low-level excuses before a Longevity Realm giant would only make her look down on him.

Yao Qingxuan said, "You care so much about your friend, but do you know that your other two friends might be suffering inhuman torture at this very moment? Can you even afford to care?"

Li Youyi's expression tightened: "Who is Senior Yao referring to?"

Yao Qingxuan and An Xianjing were both dressed in plain white, unstained by dust, but their personalities were one clear and one quiet, one cold and one gentle.

This wonder woman who once captivated the world had long, straight, beautiful legs just like Yao Yin, a very high waistline, and firm breasts. Her grace was even more superior. Walking in front, she was filled with fragrant wind, her immortal skirt fluttering as she stepped into the light gauze of the rice fields.

Li Youyi followed closely behind, pursuing the question: "Is Senior referring to one of the two people among the group captured two months ago?"

Although he always addressed her as "Senior," he was often dazed, feeling that she was simply an older Yao Yin; they were truly too similar.

Of course, now that he was in a perilous situation and the other party was a ruthless figure, Li Youyi naturally dared not offend her.

In the blood fields, the Golden Rice was growing astonishingly.

From the three-foot height of two months ago, it had grown to over three meters, increasing several times over.

The golden light it emitted was even more brilliant, with over a dozen leaves possessing a golden texture, sharp as sawteeth, and filled with vigorous life energy inside.

It was completely different now; it felt as though it could truly grow extraordinary geniuses capable of crushing all human experts.

On Yao Qingxuan's cold, jade-like face, a charming, faint smile appeared at this moment, expectation rising in her heart, before she stopped the smile: "You didn't use your own blood to water it, did you?"

"No, I used the light and shadow of the Fusang Divine Tree to provide it with illumination. I used magic power to help it breathe better."

"It is the lifeblood of you and Hall Master An. For me to use my blood to water it would be a desecration of you two."

Li Youyi took the opportunity to mobilize a wisp of magic power, which flew from his fingertips and transformed into clouds and mist, shrouding the Golden Rice.

Following this, the Golden Rice began to breathe at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"You are thinking too deeply and bringing trouble upon yourself. On the path of cultivation, there are countless times you will bleed, whether it stains the earth or is collected by others. If watering a plant makes you this conflicted and wary, then your state of mind must be a tangled mess. When will you ever reach clarity and transparency?"

Yao Qingxuan cut her slender, jade-white wrist and sprinkled blood into the rice field.

She then had Li Youyi take out a cold jade bottle, filling it up to be used for watering over the next two months.

On her wrist, brilliance flickered, and the wound disappeared without a trace.

"The person you asked Hall Master An to help find—there is a major event happening outside, and she has no time to help you. Before leaving, she asked me to help you find them, saying that only if you have a weakness can you better help her raise the rice."

Yao Qingxuan continued, "That person was imprisoned in the Divine Prison. When the people I dispatched reached the Divine Prison, he had already been taken away by the Fourth Divine Son, Wang Shu. Taken away at the same time was that successor of the Tuoba clan from the Northern Region."

Li Youyi's eyes narrowed slightly.

He naturally knew of the grudge between himself and that Fourth Divine Son.

There was no need to guess; Wang Zhi and he were definitely Rice-man brothers; the two looked exactly the same.

"He doesn't dare to break into the Southern Clarity Palace, so he is using my two friends to try and force me to walk out."

Li Youyi looked at Yao Qingxuan's indifferent demeanor: "Soldier against soldier, general against general. I suspect that puppet scarecrow, even if it comes from the Heavenly Principle Hall, is not being controlled by an elder figure. It is highly likely Wang Shu. In order to deal with me, he hasn't even put you, a Venerable, in his eyes."

Yao Qingxuan looked up slightly, looking at Li Youyi, who was half a head taller than her, and gave him a cold glance: "Is this the level of the Divine Hidden Person of the Nine Li Hidden Sect? Using such a straightforward way to utilize a Longevity Realm giant?"

Li Youyi hurriedly explained: "Senior throwing the sword was certainly powerful. But isn't that also bringing the potential conflict out into the open?"

"Seeing one spot, one knows the whole picture. Inside your Rice Sect, it is definitely not a monolith; there must be struggles for profit and power."

"This time, the other party suffered no losses and will only be suppressed for a moment. It can be anticipated that before long, they will definitely test your bottom line again to dismantle your dignity as a Venerable."

"Once this precedent is set, will the seven great elders of the Southern Region who take orders from you, as well as the people below, feel that you are strong on the outside but weak on the inside, and develop disloyal hearts? And will the people above in the Divine Sect feel that you lack ability?"

With Yao Qingxuan's status, since she sent people to find Qi Xiao, how could the people she sent out not go to Wang Shu to demand the people?

There was only one explanation.

They went, but Wang Shu did not give them face.

Yao Qingxuan had previously deliberately said "your friends might be suffering inhuman torture" to actually provoke Li Youyi's nerves, wanting to push him out to spar with Wang Shu.

Li Youyi naturally listened and followed her line of thought.

Yao Qingxuan stared straight into Li Youyi's eyes, her pupils like two cold stars.

Li Youyi met her gaze for a moment, then hurriedly bowed and saluted: "With Senior's status, you naturally disdain to deal with a mere Wang Shu. Give this junior an identity, and I will resolve your worries and make the provocateur pay the price."

"What identity do you want?" Yao Qingxuan said.

"I am as close as a brother to Yao Yin; I can be Senior's disciple."

Li Youyi knew very well that to escape the main altar, he had to take it one step at a time.

The first step was to obtain an official identity that allowed him to walk freely in the main altar; otherwise, being trapped in the Southern Clarity Palace was equivalent to sitting and waiting for death.

Yao Qingxuan said, "Are you trying to join the Divine Sect?"

"The Divine Sect has done nothing to wrong me. Hall Master An and Senior Yao are even more benevolent, making my impression of the Divine Sect change greatly, and I have developed a desire to follow."

Li Youyi spoke clearly and roundly, reciting in a clear voice: "The Twin Rice Sect is invincible in battle. The Ancestor of the Rice Sect is accomplished in literature and martial arts, for a thousand autumns and ten thousand generations, unifying the world."

Yao Qingxuan was dazed for a moment: "It seems you took what I said before to heart! But if I ask you where the Nine Li Hidden Sect is hiding, how will you respond?"

Li Youyi said, "I will not betray the Nine Li Hidden Sect."

"Then where is your sincerity in joining the Divine Sect?" Yao Qingxuan said.

Li Youyi was just about to say some high-sounding words to highlight his integrity and pride.

Yao Qingxuan spoke first: "If those old guys in the sect ask, just push it onto me. If you can't push it past them, just tell them directly."

"Lizhou has always been a peripheral area of the world. The Divine Sect currently does not have the spare energy to target the Nine Li Hidden Sect. The direction of the world's situation—in Lingxiao City, the Far West Ash Region, the Demon Clan, the Zuoqiu Sect, the Snow Sword Tang Ting, the Lei Xiao Sect, the Zhu Men, the Longmen... the Nine Li Clan and the Nine Li Hidden Sect, which have always been in decline, have to be ranked after the tenth."

"With the character of the clan leaders of the major Nine Li tribes, who are good at enduring and willing to shrink back, it is also a way of self-preservation."

Li Youyi was completely stunned, his eyes flickering; he really wanted to ask the question that had been lingering in his heart.

You must know, the first time Li Youyi heard of the "Twin Rice Sect" was from the Hidden Lord.

He claimed that a Hidden Person elder had sent back news that he had been targeted by the Twin Rice Sect. He also claimed that the Hidden Person elder was investigating the reason, wanting to resolve the danger in advance.

It can be seen that there must be a Hidden Person elder lurking within the Twin Rice Sect.

And if the person targeting him was An Xianjing, how could the Hidden Person elder know the news so quickly?

It must be because they were very close to An Xianjing.

So Li Youyi had long been guessing: could Yao Qingxuan be that Hidden Person elder?

He had never dared to ask. Firstly, when Yao Qingxuan first appeared, she was very intimidating, ruthless in her actions, with corpses all over the ground. Li Youyi was very wary of her at the time, viewing her as a female demon.

Secondly, her talent was too high; Li Youyi felt that Old Li might not be her match. Even if she were truly a member of the Hidden Sect, it should be the Hidden Lord of the previous cycle.

Thirdly, Li Youyi was very worried that after asking, he would instead expose the secret that the Twin Rice Sect was hiding a Hidden Person elder, bringing danger to the Hidden Person elder.

Fourthly, if Yao Qingxuan were a Hidden Person elder, why not avoid suspicion?

Logically speaking, she should have sent Li Youyi directly to the Divine Prison, or immediately thrown him to An Xianjing, trying her best not to get involved.

Li Youyi asked, "Is Senior Yao not curious about where the Nine Li Hidden Sect is hiding?"

"Not curious!"

Yao Qingxuan added, "Taking you as a disciple is equivalent to me having to bear all the consequences of your actions."

"I want to plant a Death Spirit Fire in your body. If you dare to do anything detrimental to the Divine Sect, I can make you vanish into ashes with a single thought. Even if you flee to the ends of the earth, I can find you."

Li Youyi could not be certain of Yao Qingxuan's identity, but he could be certain that his Dao-Protecting Wife should be able to block her Death Spirit Fire.

Therefore, he said, "Senior, rest assured, this junior knows the gravity of the situation."

"Still calling me Senior?"

Li Youyi followed Yao Qingxuan out of the Southern Clarity Palace, preparing to head to the Spirit Valley Hall to participate in the assessment for true disciples.

Having a Venerable-level figure lead him personally was equivalent to vouching for him. Coupled with the relationship between Yao Qingxuan and the Hall Master of the Spirit Valley Hall, the assessment was naturally just a formality to confirm he had the cultivation of a Spirit Intent Master.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 294 =====