Chapter 140: Low-key, but Never Bowing

Xu Chen followed Lan You away from the mountain peak, and very quickly cast all the messy matters to the back of his mind.

The matter of the Soul Beast mutation was originally what he had been most worried about on his way here.

However, it seemed that the two True Monarchs were also very concerned, so there was no need for him to worry about this matter.

The two rode a Spirit Sparrow, first circling the entire Cuihua Mountain to tour the core area of Yuqing Hall for several hundred miles, and his heart was filled with endless envy and jealousy.

Yuqing Hall was not just large, and it was not just that there were many people; these several hundred miles were filled everywhere with palaces and pavilions, standing tall upon the continuous, rugged mountain ranges, hidden amidst spirit flowers and jade trees, surrounded by clouds and mist with brilliant spirit light, which truly opened his eyes.

Compared to it, the Taiyuan Sect was not even as good as a small, minor office of the Yuqing Hall's outer sect.

This huge psychological gap also made him feel extremely frustrated.

At dusk, the two rode the Spirit Sparrow back to Cuihua Peak, landing in front of a stretch of magnificent palaces on the mountainside on the southeast side.

After tossing a Spirit Pill to the Spirit Sparrow, Lan You blushed and said softly:

"This is the residential area for inner sect disciples of Yuqing Hall, and I also live here. If Daoist Friend Xu does not mind, you may stay at my Dao Courtyard for a few days!"

Xu Chen had wanted to refuse, but thinking of what he had seen and encountered during the tour just now, he agreed quite readily.

For those who cultivate the Dao, eating and living are very simple; having a small room to stay in is enough. As for sleeping, that is even simpler; usually, it is just meditation, and a few days pass by very quickly.

Although it was indeed not very convenient for a lone man and woman, this was exactly the effect Xu Chen wanted right now.

He had been given a show of force the moment he arrived at Yuqing Hall today; if not for his own sufficient strength, he feared he would already be lying somewhere unconscious.

And Lan You's attitude toward him also made all the male cultivators in Yuqing Hall feel jealous.

The two of them arriving and departing together, riding the Spirit Sparrow as a pair, and their intimate appearance further ignited the anger of many young disciples of Yuqing Hall.

However, with Yi Zhen having suffered a setback earlier, there was not a single person who openly provoked him, but everywhere he went, he was met with group mockery and eye-rolling from young disciples, and there were many who were secretly gnashing their teeth, wishing to tear him into ten thousand pieces.

Xu Chen turned a blind eye to these cold words and eye-rolls.

He had been an orphan since he was small; let alone eye-rolls, there were many times he had nearly starved or frozen to death, and he even had the experience of being pressed into a pile of cow dung by the landlord's foolish son.

But so what? Now he was already an Immortal, while the landlord's foolish son was still a fool in the countryside.

Therefore, his creed was to just live his own life well; whoever was good to him, he would be good to them, and whoever was not good to him, he naturally would not give them a good look.

Although Yuqing Hall was large and had many people, he was now completely unafraid.

He just wanted to see these so-called genius disciples of high-status families look at him with that frustrated expression of being unable to look down on him yet unable to kill him.

He did not believe that after he had defeated Yi Zhen and successively visited the Five Elders and the two True Monarchs, there would still be anyone in Yuqing Hall blind enough to come and pick a fight.

If there really were, he would not mind truly establishing some prestige.

After all, the Taiyuan Sect was not what it used to be; it was now a large sect with a Spirit Realm Great Cultivator and Danyuan Realm Elders. As a disciple visiting Yuqing Hall, he naturally had to have the dignity and prestige of a disciple from a large sect; at the very least, he could not lose face for his sect.

Being low-key was fine, but one must absolutely never bow one's head.

Therefore, as Xu Chen followed Lan You through halls and courtyards, passing through several layers of palaces and Dao Courtyards, the sight of the two chatting and laughing also made the inner sect disciples living here both shocked and angry, and one by one, like enemies, they used their Divine Sense to demonstrate and provoke him, expressing their anger.

However, Xu Chen turned a blind eye, his powerful Divine Sense rolling over all the palaces and Dao Courtyards along the way like a tide, provoking those with ill intentions in return.

Among them, most naturally lost in this clash of Divine Sense, and one by one, they grunted and hurriedly withdrew their Divine Sense.

Of course, there were also a few powerful Divine Senses that stubbornly resisted him several times before slowly fading away.

The owners of these Divine Senses were mostly young cultivators in their twenties or thirties, at the True Essence Late Stage, and any one of them, if placed in other immortal sects of the Great Song Immortal World, would be an absolute core figure among the younger generation.

Lan You could naturally feel this unusual atmosphere, but she did not care at all. She held a near-worshipful attitude toward Xu Chen, believing that Xu Chen's strength among her group of young peer senior brothers and sisters was absolutely overwhelming.

Moreover, she herself had a cold personality; apart from the few fellow disciples under Yulong Zhenren with whom she had close daily contact, she actually did not have very deep feelings for other peers.

And with such thin fellow-disciple ties, combined with Xu Chen's repeated life-saving grace and the more than a month of intimate time spent together, there was no longer any shadow of other men in her heart, including the fellow disciples she spent every day with.

The two walked forward for several hundred feet, and ahead, leaning against the mountain and cliff, appeared a not-too-large Dao Courtyard, surrounded by a large number of exotic flowers, strange grasses, spirit trees, and jade trees, which, under the light of various Arrays, looked both luxurious and serene.

A thick, gnarled ancient vine climbed the cliff behind the Dao Courtyard, its branches and leaves lush like a waterfall, and a stream flowed down along the cliff, the rising mist churning and flowing under the shroud of the Clear Wind Returning Cloud Array, resembling a silver dragon rolling between the cliffs.

As the clear breeze blew, a refreshing, cold, and chilling fragrance was carried within the coolness.

This cold fragrance was like orchids and plums, making one's spirit tremble.

"Daoist Friend Xu, this is Lan You's residence!" Walking into the Dao Courtyard and standing in the courtyard paved with green jade, Lan You was slightly hurried and uneasy.

Xu Chen withdrew his gaze from the surroundings and swept his eyes across the courtyard, indeed discovering that there were many Su Xin Plums planted around, blooming sporadically in this cold environment, filling the courtyard with fragrance.

"Daoist Friend Lan's place here is truly a good place to eat and live!" Xu Chen could not help but exclaim.

Lan You shook her head gently and said: "Although it is also very quiet here, everything is restrictive. I actually like the small cliffside cabin where Daoist Friend Xu lives; it is simple and natural."

Xu Chen laughed: "Then next time Daoist Friend Lan visits the Taiyuan Sect, I will let you stay in my house for a few days, and you will find it is not just ordinarily noisy—tigers and wolves howling at night, rats squeaking at midnight, and birds chirping in the morning; there is no peace all day long."

Lan You covered her mouth and smiled: "That is the very reason why Lan You likes it—it is close to nature, unlike here, which is like a deep mansion; apart from loneliness, it is just stifling."

Xu Chen waved his hand: "Daoist Friend Lan, let's not talk about this for now. Let's brew a pot of tea to quench our thirst; from arriving at Yuqing Hall until now, I haven't even had a sip of hot water."

Only then did Lan You hurriedly take Xu Chen into a side room and brought over several types of Spirit Fruit, placing them on the wooden table: "Daoist Friend Xu, please sit for a moment; Lan You will go brew some tea."

Xu Chen sat cross-legged and, without standing on ceremony, picked up a Spirit Fruit and began to gnaw on it. Lan You went to light a fire and boil water, but seeing her disorganized movements, Xu Chen knew that she was usually a host who did not pay much attention to the details of life, much like himself.

However, this was also a common trait of all young people.

Drinking tea, playing chess, playing the zither, and painting—those were things that old fellows who had cultivated for decades or centuries liked to do.

Young people would spend more time on cultivation and gaining experience.

After all, from the moment one stepped onto the immortal path, one's life goals underwent earth-shaking changes, and one gradually cast aside mundane matters like eating, drinking, and enjoyment.

Especially in a large immortal sect like Yuqing Hall, where internal competitive pressure was extremely high, young disciples were even more so. In order to compete for cultivation resources and rankings among peers, everyone was caught in a cycle that made it impossible to stop. Only those whose cultivation realm had reached a certain level and were truly in a state where they could no longer advance further could truly be leisurely enough to do some things they liked.

Lan You was busy for a quarter of an hour and finally brewed a pot of tea and brought it over. Xu Chen had also finished a plate of Spirit Fruit by then and felt somewhat full.

Seeing Xu Chen rubbing his stomach, Lan You wanted to laugh but also felt a bit ashamed, and she hurriedly poured a cup of tea and placed it in front of him: "I have neglected Daoist Friend Xu today; drink a cup of hot tea to quench your thirst first, and I will go get some food later!"

Xu Chen smiled and shook his head, not minding at all: "Daoist Friend Lan, there is no need to be so busy. Eh, is this tea brewed from Su Xin Plum?"

Smelling the curling steam and the clear fragrance emitted by the tea, Xu Chen's eyes lit up.

"Exactly. When Lan You has nothing to do, I pick some plum blossoms in the courtyard and dry them. If Daoist Friend Xu likes them, I will prepare some for you to take back and drink slowly."

After Xu Chen thanked her and tasted a sip, he nodded repeatedly: "Not bad, not bad. This tea has a fragrant aroma and the Spirit Qi does not dissipate; it is indeed good tea. I might have to ask Daoist Friend Lan to help me get some every year in the future. Our Taiyuan Sect is so poor we only have wild grass and thorns; we usually can't drink such good Spirit Tea."

Lan You covered her mouth and smiled: "How could it be as good as Daoist Friend Xu says? This plum blossom tea is just ordinary. There are still several tea gardens in the sect, with both Second-Tier and Third-Tier Spirit Tea. When you leave, I will help Daoist Friend Xu get some of each; after you drink them, you won't think so anymore."

"That is truly wonderful, I shall thank you in advance!" Xu Chen immediately grinned from ear to ear.

Just as the two were drinking tea and chatting, a crisp female voice suddenly rang out from outside: "Senior Sister Lan, Junior Sister Yun Xi has come to visit!"

Lan You was taken aback, her expression showing a hint of hesitation.

Xu Chen smiled and said, "Daoist Friend Lan, since a fellow sect member has come to visit, you likely have matters to attend to. You don't need to worry about me; I shall just drink my tea."

Only then did Lan You stand up, offer an apology, and head out, but she soon returned with a beautiful young girl in a light blue long dress by her side.

She appeared to be about sixteen, with delicate, porcelain-like features, a waist as slender as a willow, and hair like a waterfall; as she walked, her jade ornaments clinked together, and a faint, fragrant breeze wafted toward them. If not for the fact that her clothing was the inner-sect Disciple attire of Yuqing Hall, with a very conspicuous golden lotus on her chest, Xu Chen would have mistaken her for a princess or noble lady from some royal palace in the mortal world.

Although the young girl was quite young, similar in age to Xu Chen, her cultivation was not low; she was actually already at the late stage of the Kaiyuan Realm, and the surging Yuan Qi she could not conceal carried the distinct aura of a child of the immortals.

"Wow, you must be Daoist Friend Xu Chen of the Taiyuan Sect, right? You are so amazing! I heard that as soon as you arrived, you beat the Second Senior Brother until he was left in a sorry state!" As soon as the girl entered the room and saw Xu Chen, she exclaimed with wide-eyed excitement.

Xu Chen nearly spat out a mouthful of hot tea, but he managed to force it down and chuckled dryly, "No, no, Senior Brother Yi Zhen has profound cultivation; it was I who was beaten into a sorry state. If he hadn't shown mercy, I fear I would be lying there unable to move with my skin torn and flesh mangled right now."

Lan You awkwardly introduced her from the side, "Daoist Friend Xu, this is the youngest initiate Disciple of the Third Elder, Huayang Zhenren, named Yun Xi. She is a bit young and ignorant of the world, so I hope Daoist Friend Xu will not take offense."

The young girl, however, was quite familiar; she gathered her skirts and knelt down right beside Xu Chen, saying with a grin, "Daoist Friend Xu, there's no need to be modest. Although I didn't see it, many senior brothers and sisters said you defeated the Second Senior Brother. That guy is usually so arrogant, and I've long found him unpleasant. Now that he's been beaten into a sorry state by Daoist Friend Xu, let's see what face he has to lecture me in the future."

(End of this chapter)