Chapter 142: If You Can't Swallow It, Then What

The four female disciples had left, but the turmoil they brought was even greater.

At this moment, the young male disciples in the dozen or so nearby Dao Courtyards were on the verge of a complete outburst.

Not only had this piece-of-shit Xu Chen moved into Lan You's small courtyard, but so many high-cultivation female disciples had also gone together to visit him; this was simply stabbing a knife into the lungs of every young male cultivator in Yuqing Hall.

Several dozen feet away from Lan You's small courtyard stood a magnificent Dao Courtyard, the residence of Second Senior Brother Yi Zhen. At this moment, he was pacing back and forth in his room, panting like an angry bull, completely unable to focus on meditation or cultivation.

Today's probing had been instigated by him, yet he had ended up defeated and disgraced.

Although the outcome appeared to have him holding the upper hand, from start to finish, he hadn't even managed to harm a single hair on Xu Chen.

A half-step Danyuan Realm expert failing to defeat a piece of trash in the Kaiyuan Realm meant he had lost completely and utterly. The eyes of everyone in Yuqing Hall were sharp; they would absolutely not think he had won this duel, and instead, there was a chorus of secret mockery.

Yet, he was completely helpless.

Right now, he didn't even have a chance for revenge, because the Council of Elders had issued a decree: no disciple of Yuqing Hall was to make things difficult for Xu Chen, much less provoke a conflict, or they would be severely punished.

Moreover, as if to appease Xu Chen's dissatisfaction, Yi Zhen had also been ordered by the Law Enforcement Hall to be confined to his Dao Courtyard for a month, and the Alchemy Hall had reduced his three-month supply of medicinal pills.

Although these punishments were not heavy—to him, they were like a mere itch—he had lost face to the point of no return. He didn't know how many core Personal Disciples were laughing at him in private.

At that time, there were several other young disciples in the room, each with robust auras and not-low cultivation levels; these were all Yi Zhen's fellow junior sect brothers or close peers who associated with him regularly.

"Second Senior Brother, this Xu Chen is too arrogant. We cannot swallow this insult!" a young cultivator in white robes shouted, his face flushed red.

"That's right, this Xu Chen has come to our doorstep to bully us, yet the Elders won't let us touch him. If this gets out, where will Yuqing Hall's reputation go?"

"The most hateful thing is that he actually moved into Senior Sister Lan's Dao Courtyard just like that. It's simply shameless."

"I don't know what the Elders are thinking. One Senior Sister Lan would have been enough, but they even arranged for four more Senior Sisters to go and cook, serve water, and help him refine pills. This is simply incomprehensible. Did the Elders take the wrong medicine?"

"Shh, why are you being so loud? If the Elders hear you, they'll drag you to the Law Enforcement Hall and beat you to death!"

"Let them beat me to death, what is there to fear? This whole thing was arranged wrongly to begin with. Can we not even speak of it? What kind of people are our Senior Sisters, and what kind of person is this Xu Chen? A piece-of-shit sect member running to our Yuqing Hall to show off—this is unbearable, it's simply infuriating."

"Exactly, let's go find the Elders together and drive Xu Chen away as soon as possible."

The group of disciples clamored, their words filled with anger toward Xu Chen, and they even showed clear dissatisfaction toward the Danyuan Realm Elders.

"Forget it, this matter isn't something the Elders can decide. It is the will of the Supreme Elder, Baiyun Zhenjun. I've heard there's an inside story..."

A young cultivator wearing black robes with a golden lotus embroidered on his chest said slowly while sipping tea.

"What inside story? Senior Brother Song, speak quickly, don't stutter." A white-robed disciple urged.

The young man in black set down his teacup, looked around, and lowered his voice: "I heard that the Supreme Elder promised to open up all of Yuqing Hall's Scripture Pavilions, allowing Xu Chen to view and study all of our scriptures and cultivation techniques at will."

"Whoa—"

Once these words were spoken, the entire room was in an uproar. Even Yi Zhen, who had been pacing back and forth with his hands behind his back, stopped abruptly. He looked at the man in black with eyes like knives and said in an icy voice: "Song Qingzhi, are you telling the truth?"

The young man in black smiled slightly: "I heard this with my own ears outside the Elder Hall; how could it be false?"

The room instantly became even more agitated. Someone rolled up their sleeves and jumped up, face flushed red: "Absolutely not! If this happens, won't all of Yuqing Hall's techniques be leaked?"

The young man in black curled his lip slightly: "What use is it for you to say 'no'? This is the arrangement of Supreme Elder Baiyun Zhenjun. If you have the ability, go oppose it."

The person who had jumped up instantly wilted. He stood dazed for a long while, then sat down dejectedly, slammed his fist onto the tea table, and said hatefully: "How could it be like this? What is so special about this Xu Chen that he receives the reception and support of two Supreme Elders and all the Elders? He is nothing but a piece of trash in the Kaiyuan Realm."

Yi Zhen's anger seemed to have subsided quite a bit by now. He sat down, downed a cup of tea in several gulps, and then looked at the young man in black: "Junior Brother Song, you went to Black Wind Ridge to suppress the Soul Beasts last time. What was the situation really like? Did this Xu Chen really save the Third Elder and Xu Wen and the others?"

The young man in black shook his head: "I'm not clear on that, but it was indeed extremely dangerous at the time. The Five Elements Array was shaking violently and could have collapsed at any moment. I was guarding the Fourth Elder; if it had been even half a cup of tea later, I fear the Fourth Elder would have been backlashed by the array. If the Five Elements Array had truly collapsed and the Spirit Qi had gone out of control and exploded, I doubt I would have made it back alive."

The mood in the room suddenly calmed down significantly.

Although the incident at Black Wind Ridge had passed for over a month, the impact it caused could be called unprecedented.

Especially for those cultivators who were inside the array; at the time, almost all of them felt that the great array was on the verge of collapse. The Spirit Qi was chaotic and rampant, and many low-level cultivators were injured by the array's spiritual light, unable to even fly.

And that moment was precisely when the casualties were highest.

The major casualties suffered by Yuqing Hall also occurred at that time, with a total of eight elite inner and outer sect disciples in the Zhenyuan Realm dying. After the news spread, it shocked almost the entire Immortal World.

These reports naturally returned to the sect along with the large number of returning Yuqing Hall disciples, and everyone in the inner and outer sects had heard them countless times.

But only those who participated truly felt how dangerous it was.

"Then, Junior Brother Song, how do you think we should handle this matter?" Yi Zhen asked with a grave expression.

The young man in black smiled: "No matter how high Xu Chen's participation was, he must have contributed quite a bit to maintaining the Five Elements Array, otherwise the True Monarchs wouldn't be so indulgent toward him. Perhaps visiting the Scripture Pavilion is some agreement reached privately between the three Supreme Elders and Xuanchen Zhenjun, but even the Elders likely don't know the details, otherwise, today's incident wouldn't have happened."

Upon hearing this, everyone's emotions calmed down even more, and some began to nod in agreement.

However, the white-robed cultivator who spoke first said indignantly: "Even so, are we just to stand by and watch Xu Chen run wild in our Yuqing Hall? I cannot swallow this insult."

Song Qingzhi glanced at the young man in white and said: "Your Master, Yulong Zhenren, has swallowed it, and your Senior Sister Lan You is practically crawling into someone else's bed. So what if you can't swallow it?"

The white-robed cultivator's face turned red with anger, his fists clenched tight, but he dared not retort.

Song Qingzhi curled his lip and continued: "He can go toe-to-toe with Senior Brother Yi Zhen; his strength, surpassing a major realm, is indeed unmatched. Right now, unless the Elders take action, it's impossible to suppress him. Furthermore, I'm afraid you don't know what that unfathomable Magic Spell was that Xu Chen used to dodge Senior Brother Yi Zhen's attack at the end, do you?"

"What was it?" someone asked hurriedly.

"That is the secret technique created by Supreme Elder Baiyunzi: Cloud Flow Without Trace!"

"What?!"

As soon as Song Qingzhi said this, the whole room was shocked, followed by a deathly silence. Everyone's mouths hung open, unable to close. Even the tea in Yi Zhen's mouth flowed down the corner of his lips and soaked his lapel without him even realizing it.

Song Qingzhi stood up and said: "Alright, I knew that since the inner sect junior sisters came over, everyone would be unwilling to let this go. I was afraid you would cause trouble that would be hard to clean up, so I came to offer a few words of warning. The hour is late, I'm heading back. Senior Brother Yi Zhen, stay home and reflect on your mistakes, haha!"

Watching Song Qingzhi's departing back, Yi Zhen's temples throbbed. He raised his fist, wanting to smash it down, but ultimately forced himself to endure. Then, with a *crack*, he crushed the teacup in his hand into powder.

In every Dao Courtyard where young disciples gathered across the inner and outer sects of Yuqing Hall, which numbered over two thousand, the same scene was playing out.

Of course, those who knew the inside story had to force themselves to endure, while those who didn't know the inside information were filled with righteous indignation, rolling up their sleeves and preparing to teach Xu Chen a lesson.

But after discussing it over and over, apart from being angry and furious, they found there was nothing they could do.

Meanwhile, Xu Chen, Lan You, and Yun Xi, who had returned from stealing Spirit Flower Dew, were already in the side room of Lan You's courtyard. They had laid out a table full of fragrant, delicious, and spirit-rich wine and dishes, and were feasting away, eating with great relish and delight.

A nourishing soup made from First Stage spirit bird, the white-bellied Spirit Sparrow, slow-cooked for two hours with over ten types of Spirit Medicine.

Ribs of a First Stage Demon Beast, the snow deer, slow-roasted over green spirit fruit wood.

Pastries meticulously crafted from five types of Spirit Material, including yellow essence, yam, and poria.

Immortal wine carefully brewed from several types of Spirit Fruit and Spirit Medicine.

Of course, there were also a large number of fresh vegetables and fruits rich in Spirit Qi.

There were more than a dozen varieties of food in total, and Xu Chen had never eaten a single one of them before.

And every bite made Xu Chen feel as though his eyes had been opened.

These foods were not only rich in Spirit Qi and unique in taste, but could also be called perfect in color, aroma, and flavor.

He felt as if he had lived his previous dozen or so years in vain.

Moreover, such a generous reception by Yuqing Hall completely shattered his long-held inherent thinking regarding reclusive cultivation.

Previously, he had always felt that delicacies and gluttonous feasting were vulgar, unbearable things that only those Prince and Noble and filthy rich people among the common folk would do.

But now he felt he was wrong, and dead wrong; given the status and conditions of Immortals, when they wanted to be extravagant, it had absolutely nothing to do with the common people of the mortal world—it was truly what could be called luxurious.

Not to mention the massive industries of Yuqing Hall spread across a radius of a thousand miles and the various Array everywhere, even these basic daily necessities were beyond the reach of any mortal emperor, completely beyond their ability to even imagine.

Back when he was still an orphan, he had also listened with great interest to some stories about Immortals, and had heard of those immortal fruits and immortal wines—that smelling one would grant a long life of a hundred years, and eating one would grant eternal life.

But after entering Taiyuan Sect, these hearsay myths and fantasies all turned to dust, and he could only honestly sit in meditation, practice Qi, eat dry rations, and drink cold water every day, thus believing that such asceticism was what cultivation was.

But as of today, he realized that he was indeed too young; some myths were simply not fantasies at all, it was just that he had not reached that level, had not stood at that height, and lacked broad experience.

The main reason was still that poverty had caused his cognitive impairment.

The luxury of Yuqing Hall was something he could not imagine at all.

After finishing this meal, Xu Chen felt that he would be able to brag about it for a long time after returning.

(End of this chapter)