Chapter 3: Little Junior Brother, Want Some Fish?

Soon, the main hall echoed with the Sect Master’s courteous greetings, thanking all the senior brothers for coming amid their busy schedules to attend Xiao Liu’s initiation, especially for the gifts they brought.

The peak masters laughed and replied, “Where, where,” “We’re all family,” “We’ve already met the child…”

Zhou Qing felt delightfully pleased, for he had just heard another prompt.

He truly wanted to hide, but “hiding” and “being ignored” were two entirely different things.

After a while, from the side door, the senior disciple Li Daoxuan entered, leading Lu Yaoyao.

Lu Yaoyao began greeting each peak master anew; below, many male core disciples tiptoed, gazing up at the graceful figure, grinning broadly.

What a beautiful little junior sister.

I still remember years ago when the peak master of Yunmeng Peak took on a female disciple—back then, it was just as lively, but there weren’t nearly so many core disciples.

That senior sister had an ordinary face, even a pig-snout nose; some even whispered among themselves, “Your wife, your wife…”

But now, looking at this quiet yet mischievously clever little junior sister, everyone’s mouths stretched nearly to their ears.

“Hm?”

Just as Zhou Qing had just scanned three “ignore points,” he suddenly noticed the senior brothers around him glancing everywhere, as if searching for someone.

He looked over curiously and only then noticed Lu Yaoyao, standing beside the Sect Master on the steps, scanning the crowd intently.

When she spotted Zhou Qing in the corner, her eyes instantly lit up.

At that moment, Zhou Qing felt a bad omen.

Sister, even if I were divinely gifted, you wouldn’t dare publicly stir up hatred against me in front of so many people, would you?

And if you’ve already noticed me, how am I supposed to keep scanning ignore points?

How can I reduce my presence any further?

Soon, following Lu Yaoyao’s gaze, everyone turned sharply toward Zhou Qing, faces filled with confusion.

Seeing this, Zhou Qing feigned not noticing, subtly shifting forward to stand behind a massive white jade pillar in the hall.

He began pretending to stroke the pillar, as if examining something closely.

Unable to see Zhou Qing, Lu Yaoyao leaned sideways again, barely catching a glimpse of his sleeve—but soon, that sliver of fabric was yanked back.

She pouted and stood upright again.

Everyone was puzzled: Did this beautiful little junior sister know Zhou Qing?

That couldn’t be right—could it be that last night’s shameless act made her curious to see what this peeping tom actually looked like?

Great, one rotten apple spoils the whole basket—now how will the little junior sister ever view us core disciples again?

Facing the collective looks of “how could you let this happen,” Zhou Qing continued stroking the white jade pillar.

He acted as if he saw nothing, heard nothing, utterly unconcerned.

Third senior brother was right: beauty brings disaster. This girl must be watched carefully from now on.

“Huh~~”

At that moment, Zhou Qing suddenly noticed something moving inside the white jade pillar before him.

Was he imagining things?

He rubbed his eyes and stared again.

The next instant, a tiny white worm, no bigger than a grain of rice, flashed briefly within the pillar.

This time, Zhou Qing watched with absolute clarity, his heart pounding wildly.

If he hadn’t misseen it, that worm was the extremely rare Lingyin Worm.

The Lingyin Worm has incredibly strict habitat requirements, existing only within specific minerals.

It feeds solely on the purest energy; once refined, it nearly returns that energy intact to the cultivator, aiding breakthroughs in cultivation base.

Zhou Qing suppressed his excitement—he never expected to stumble upon something so valuable by accident.

No wonder this is the Sect Master’s reception hall; the pillar material must be rare. Looking around, there were exactly ten such pillars.

He cleared his throat, confirmed no one was watching, and hurriedly searched for the wormhole.

Soon, in a hairline crack, he found an inconspicuous tiny spot.

He casually leaned against it, pressed his middle finger onto the wormhole, and with a surge of spiritual power, sucked it out directly.

“Six of them!”

Along the worm’s path, six Lingyin Worms were drawn out; before they could struggle, Zhou Qing slipped them silently into a jade vial in his sleeve and sealed it with a Spirit-Blocking Talisman.

“I’m rich! I’m really rich!”

Zhou Qing’s heart pounded with excitement, then he quietly moved toward another pillar.

Unfortunately, he found nothing after checking around, then the next pillar, then the next…

After inspecting all ten jade pillars, Zhou Qing had collected a total of twenty-seven Lingyin Worms.

At this moment, he felt a strange gratitude toward Lu Yaoyao above—had she not pushed him, he would have missed these treasures entirely.

Besides, I’ve essentially saved this hall—if I hadn’t discovered them early, once these worms consumed the pillars entirely, such a magnificent hall would’ve been ruined.

The banquet began shortly after; seizing the occasion, the peak masters gathered to catch up, while core disciples chatted and laughed, discussing recent events—like last night.

Some glanced at Zhou Qing, sitting quietly in the far corner, eating silently, sighing and shaking their heads.

Especially the female disciples, whispering among themselves, already branding someone as disgraced.

“Ignore them—let’s just eat!”

Yan Xiaohu, his third senior brother, comforted him.

He truly wanted to stand up and explain, but once suspicion took root, the accusation was already settled.

What good would an explanation do? Would these people believe him?

It would only make things worse.

Especially since the two of them had a prior record.

As for the Discipline Hall, the truth no longer mattered—even if revealed, everyone would just think: How powerful are the core disciples? They peeped at women bathing and forced the outer disciples to retract their statements.

Zhou Qing nodded—he didn’t care what others thought.

But why was Lu Yaoyao’s gaze like that? She was eating, yet kept sneaking glances at him—didn’t you see Li Daoxuan’s face turning as long as a donkey’s?

No, no—she’s not falling for me; she’s trying to ruin me!

After subtly meeting her gaze, Zhou Qing suddenly sensed something was off.

Especially that fleeting emotion hidden in her eyes.

“She’s deliberately flirting with me to make me the target of everyone’s hatred!”

Zhou Qing immediately lowered his head, trying to recall if he’d ever met her before—or offended her.

But that didn’t make sense—he’d stayed on Xiao Ling Peak almost his entire life, rarely leaving.

“Could it be Master?”

Zhou Qing glanced again at Mo Xingjian, eating obliviously over there, and his mind raced with possibilities.

Perhaps one day, Master had killed her family, believing he’d eradicated all traces—only to discover she’d survived by sheer luck.

She’d endured humiliation, bided her time, learned of her enemy’s location, changed her identity, and used some scheme to become the Sect Master’s disciple.

She planned to slowly torture her enemy, but as a peak master, he was too powerful to kill directly.

So she’d start by eliminating his disciples one by one, letting him feel the agony of losing all loved ones.

The more Zhou Qing thought, the more plausible it seemed—he was the weakest among the senior brothers, perfect for her first target.

“What’s wrong? You’re sweating so much,” Yan Xiaohu asked, puzzled.

Zhou Qing immediately said, “Third senior brother, this place is suspicious—we should leave now.”

“But I haven’t finished eating yet?”

“There’ll be plenty of chances later!”

Then Zhou Qing pulled Yan Xiaohu and quietly slipped out the side door, finally letting out a breath of relief.

If he stayed any longer, and she pretended to blush and glanced his way a few more times, the first to confront him would be Senior Disciple Li Daoxuan.

His gaze at Zhou Qing had already been clearly suspicious.

Of course, this was only his suspicion—but better safe than sorry.

After returning to Xiao Ling Peak, Zhou Qing quickly forgot about the incident and, with excitement, took out the jade vial, watching the Lingyin Worms glide within, and grinned.

Carefully extracting one, he began refining it.

In an instant, a massive surge of spiritual power erupted within him—its purity shocked Zhou Qing.

Without wasting a moment, he activated the Taiqing Xuanyi Jue, guiding the energy through countless circuits.

Over the next five days, Zhou Qing remained in his room; after refining the final Lingyin Worm, he slowly opened his eyes, a faint green light flickering momentarily in his pupils.

His entire aura underwent a dramatic transformation.

Then, with a thought, a panel appeared.

【Name: Zhou Qing】

【Age: 19】

【Cultivation Base: Qi Condensation Ninth Layer】

【Cultivation Technique: Taiqing Xuanyi Jue】

【Talent Skill: Reduce Presence】

【Level: LV1 (39/100)】

【Skill Fragments: 1/3 (Unobtainable)】

In five days, he broke through two layers—unbelievable.

“If I could get a few more of these, maybe I could even reach Foundation Establishment!” Zhou Qing said, still hungry for more.

Of course, right now it's crucial to focus on grinding ignore points.

Suddenly, the token on the table glowed blue, and then a line of characters began to appear.

"Little brother, are you home? I've got great news to tell you!"

This was a message from Third Senior Brother. Zhou Qing, puzzled, immediately replied.

After concealing his aura of imminent breakthrough, Yan Xiao Hu arrived carrying two fishing rods.

He burst through the door, his small eyes gleaming: "Little brother, want some fish?"

(End of chapter)