Chapter 26: The Worldly Troublemaker Returns to Yuanqing

Lingxiang spent a long time bustling about, and only after much effort did she manage to settle her pile of precious Spirit Plants, but just as she was fretting over how to move them to Yuanqing, she saw Maidong emerge from the room carrying bags large and small.

Do not let this girl's thin and weak appearance fool you; she seemed to possess natural-born strength, moving back and forth several times without showing the slightest hint of fatigue.

"I say, Seventh Senior Brother, your disciple's daily meals haven't gone to waste, have they? We are only going into the mountains to lie low for a while, yet with her packing, there isn't a single item left in my Youran Abode," Lingxiang said, wiping away sweat and fanning herself.

Fuyin the Perfected One shook his head with a faint smile, picking up a large bundle of books Maidong had just packed to place into a crate, but he could not help but frown—perhaps he should order his Maidong to eat a little less...

"Look at you, the message has already been sent back, and you have no shortage of disciples under your seat; you didn't even tell those wooden disciples of yours to come and help your Junior Martial Sister move and carry things. See if I don't give them a good lesson when I get back."

"Yuanqing has only just finished its reorganization, and the mountain gates are wide open; there are many things for them to do. I only informed the Senior Brothers; surely you didn't expect them to come over?"

Upon hearing this, Lingxiang thought for a moment and suddenly began to laugh.

"Forget it, forget it, a bunch of old bones; I don't want them to throw out their backs and break these treasures of mine." As she spoke, she took two pieces of Stone Milk from the Universe Bag at her waist and placed them with the Spirit Plants.

Seeing this, Fuyin could not help but feel worried—should this Junior Martial Sister of his be disciplined? She had not even half the decorum of a lady.

Lingxiang entrusted the items to the Pingchuan Escort Agency in the city. The head Escort Master had once received a favor from Lingxiang, so he immediately patted his chest, guaranteeing that her treasures would be delivered in one piece.

The Sect Leader and the Managers, along with several great Elders, all stood on the circular platform behind the Hunyuan Instrument. When Lingxiang followed Fuyin Zhenren into the Wuji Hall, the Elders' expressions varied as they all looked toward her, only Shangqing Zhenren and Qianyuan Zhenren kept their eyes closed, as if resting their minds.

"Hey, it's neither a holiday nor a festival, yet all you Senior Brothers have managed to gather so neatly; this is truly no easy feat!"

"You still have the heart to return? I thought you were so obsessed with the red dust outside that you had followed some demon away!"

The one who spoke was the Yuanqing Sect's Elder in Charge, Zhaoming Zhenren. The security of the Yuanqing Sect and the Mountain Gate Array were usually under his management; he was the fifth disciple of the previous Sect Leader.

"Look at what you're saying. Is there any 'having the heart' or 'not having the heart' when returning to one's own home? Besides, if I were truly snatched away by a demon, wouldn't I be acting on behalf of Heaven? Those demons would be tormented to death by me; didn't Fifth Senior Brother often say that when we were young?" Lingxiang did not take it to heart and wandered around the Wuji Hall.

"It's been so long since I've been back, even this Deliberation Hall has started displaying Spirit Treasures?" Lingxiang picked up a bead and said, "Yo! The quality of this shark bead is quite good; why not let me take it back to play with?"

The two Spirit-Controlling Elders, Danyang and Danzhu, were amused by Lingxiang—it had been a long time, yet this little girl was still so unbridled.

"Nonsense! What kind of decorum is this!" Elder Zhaoming hurried down from the platform of the Hunyuan Instrument and snatched the bead back from Lingxiang's hand—this was the anchor bead for the mountain-guarding Dharma Array; how could she just say she wanted to take it away? This little ancestor really knew how to cause him trouble.

"Yo, yo, yo! Fifth Senior Brother! You tell me, you want to show concern, yet you have a heart of tofu and a mouth of a knife; if someone didn't know better, they would think you didn't want me to come back!" As Lingxiang spoke, she picked up a sword from the side.

Elder Zhaoming had just returned the shark bead to its original place, and seeing Lingxiang do this, he hurriedly snatched the sword from her hand—this was the Star Sword used for setting up arrays; if any mountain array had a problem, it could not do without this treasure.

While Lingxiang was teasing Elder Zhaoming, Fuyin stepped onto the platform.

"It was inconvenient to say much in the letter, so I will now tell all the Senior and Junior Brothers the matter one by one."

He then recounted everything he had seen and heard at Youran Abode in great detail. After listening, Qianyuan Zhenren opened his eyes.

"You said a dual-blade cultivator?" He said, looking at Shangqing Zhenren, "Senior Brother, look..."

Shangqing Zhenren did not open his eyes, merely standing still.

"Afraid he's fallen asleep again?" Lingxiang stepped onto the Hunyuan Platform at this moment and stood at the end of the row.

"You little monkey, you are an Elder of a sect after all; you should restrain that temperament of yours. Speaking without thinking, how can you be so disrespectful to the Sect Leader Senior Brother?" The one speaking now was the Yuanqing Scripture Managing Elder, Donghui Zhenren, who managed the sect's scriptures and taught the Dao to the disciples.

"What kind of Elder am I? You all have profound cultivation, while I am only at Foundation Establishment, not even catching up to Shangqing Senior Brother's Head Disciple, Hanyang," Lingxiang said, pretending to cover her face affectedly: "In that case, I might as well follow their master to the afterlife; that would be better than suffering such humiliation..."

"Enough, enough, this girl hasn't been like this for just a day or two," Shangqing Zhenren said, still keeping his eyes closed: "Now that you are back, you shall continue..."

"Wait! Don't mention anything about being the Palm Furnace again. Is the sect lacking someone to watch a furnace, or are you Senior Brothers greedy and wanting to eat those roasted peanuts?" Lingxiang interrupted him before Shangqing Zhenren could finish, "I just came up to seek shelter; don't go pinning some title or other on me. I've grown accustomed to being idle down the mountain and am not fit to be an Elder of a sect."

"Don't be willful! Listen to Senior Brother's arrangements!" Elder Zhaoming stepped onto the Hunyuan Platform at this moment, and hearing her say this, he scolded her.

"The Senior Brothers in the sect all have their own duties; what else would you need me to do? I will just guard my Qingwei Peak and be carefree; wouldn't that be wonderful? Why must I be an Elder? Aren't you afraid I'll lead your disciples astray?"

Lingxiang said this, and it actually made Elder Zhaoming feel that her words made sense—in the past few years, his disciples had often been instigated by her to do wrong.

Elder Zhaoming could not help but stroke his forehead, hurriedly trying to persuade Shangqing Zhenren, saying that Lingxiang's temperament was not yet settled and that her seniority was too shallow to command respect, and so on.

Shangqing Zhenren heard this and frowned slightly—wouldn't this be rejecting Lingxiang's status? Although she was still young and her cultivation was not high, if he just let her have her way, how could he answer to their late master? It would also be difficult to explain to the outside world.

He opened his eyes and looked at Qianyuan Zhenren, intending for his resourceful Junior Martial Brother to come up with a strategy; he had no way to deal with this little Junior Martial Sister.

Having been fellow disciples with the Sect Leader for many years, Qianyuan Zhenren naturally knew what he was thinking and worrying about from a single glance, and he lowered his head to ponder for a moment.

"Why not make her the Peak Master of Qingwei Peak first? After Junior Martial Sister's temperament settles, we can make other plans..."

This method was not bad; it could settle her temperament, allow her to participate in relevant sect matters, and keep her protected within the mountains.

"Let it be done this way. But from now on, you are not allowed to enter or leave the Wuji Hall at will without a summons."

"Hey, I can't take away all the good items in this room anyway, so not coming is fine; there's nothing to regret!" Lingxiang waved her hand dismissively, but she heard Elder Zhaoming shudder. Seeing this, the Dharma Elder, Chengxin Zhenren, suppressed his laughter and patted him on the shoulder.