Chapter 172: Fleecing a Sheep Until It's Bald

A moment later, Xu Chen landed and saw Xuanhe Zhenren standing in the small courtyard holding a horsetail whisk. He hurriedly put away his sword and bowed, saying, "Master, this disciple has just successfully achieved Foundation Establishment and has not yet had the chance to come and report it."

Xuanhe Zhenren nodded with a kind face and smiled, "Disciple, there is no need for such formalities. Both the Supreme Elder and I saw it when you were undergoing Foundation Establishment. I am truly very happy that you have achieved such success today."

Xu Chen immediately blushed, lowered his head, and stammered, "Master, it is not that this disciple was hiding it, but in truth, this disciple does not know what exactly happened. I ask for Master's forgiveness!"

Xuanhe Zhenren laughed aloud and said, "That is not important. What is important is that you have achieved something. In cultivating the Dao, while aptitude is important, opportunity is even more so. Do not overthink other matters; I will not pry. In the future, practice diligently and strive to reach the Golden Core stage as soon as possible. That way, it will not have been in vain that I brought you up the mountain to embark on this path of quiet cultivation and bitter endurance. However, remember this: no matter how good the opportunity, you must never act recklessly. You must always guard your Dao heart and never lose your true nature."

Xu Chen hurriedly bowed, "This disciple will strictly follow Master's teachings!"

"Good!" Xuanhe Zhenren nodded with satisfaction and continued, "Your Seventh Senior Sister has something weighing on her heart and cannot let go of what happened back then. If she does not go, she will not be at peace, and I cannot stop her. Let her go; if the Dao heart is obstructed, the path of the Dao will not be smooth. I hope she gains something from this trip. I summoned you here to speak of this matter. You need not worry too much; Yelang Ancient City is on the border between the Southern Border and the Shu Kingdom and is not a particularly dangerous place. You should cultivate well on the mountain recently to stabilize your realm, lest your foundation be unstable in the future."

"Yes, this disciple obeys!" Xu Chen could only answer with a bow.

"Then you may go first. In your daily life, please take more care of the affairs of the Danyuan. You can also visit the two great arrays and the several properties of the outer sect when you have time. After all, the Taiyuan Sect is not what it used to be, and our family business has grown much larger. These senior brothers and sisters of yours are not diligent people; I hope you can shoulder more responsibility in the future."

Xu Chen was between laughter and tears, but he could only respectfully accept the order and then take his leave.

"Master is really trying to fleece a sheep until it's bald. I've only just returned, and I haven't even had a cup of hot water yet!"

Xu Chen felt indignant but helpless. He hadn't walked more than a few steps toward the Danyuan when he saw Jiu Shixiong flying over on his sword as if chased by a dog. Upon landing, he grabbed Xu Chen's arm and asked urgently, "Is it true that Seventh Senior Sister is going to Yelang Ancient City?"

Xu Chen nodded and said, "Yes, the Sect Leader just summoned me to speak of this."

Jiu Shixiong let go of his arm, stunned, and said, "Seventh Senior Sister's heart ailment is hard to cure; she still hasn't been able to let go after all these years. No, I have to go tell Eldest Senior Brother about this."

Xu Chen asked in surprise, "Why tell Eldest Senior Brother?"

Jiu Shixiong immediately looked at him with a strange expression, "You don't know?"

Xu Chen said, "Know what?"

Jiu Shixiong smiled bitterly, "It seems you really have become stupid from picking up manure. Eldest Senior Brother has always liked Seventh Senior Sister!"

Xu Chen was shocked and said, "There is actually such a thing? Could Eldest Senior Brother have lost his mind..."

But having said this, Xu Chen hurriedly covered his mouth, looked around, and whispered, "Seventh Senior Sister has such a temper, and Eldest Senior Brother is so dull; the two of them clearly aren't a match!"

Jiu Shixiong gave him a strange look and said, "Whether they are a match or not isn't for you to decide. Haven't you heard of a crooked pot matching a dented stove?"

Xu Chen immediately pointed at Jiu Shixiong and said, "Fine, so you like to gossip about your senior brothers and sisters behind their backs."

Jiu Shixiong's face turned black instantly, "What nonsense are you spouting? Be careful of getting a beating. I saw Seventh Senior Sister already left, and I don't know what Spirit Pills she took from the Alchemy Hall. You had better go check quickly, lest she move the entire storeroom away. I'm going to tell Eldest Senior Brother first!"

Saying this, Jiu Shixiong took off into the air and flew away again.

Xu Chen scratched the back of his head and hurried to the Danyuan, only to see Su Zhao alone, rushing back and forth amidst a floor full of Spirit Medicine. The Spirit Grass and Spirit Medicine that were initially scattered and chaotic were now mostly organized and piled separately, looking much neater.

"Junior Uncle Xu!" Seeing Xu Chen enter, Su Zhao hurriedly bowed.

"Mm, you go ahead with your work, I'm going to check the storeroom!" Xu Chen waved his hand.

Su Zhao hurriedly handed over a Jade Slip and said, "Junior Uncle Xu, Seventh Senior Aunt left this Jade Slip before she left, saying it is a record of the Spirit Pills she took!"

Xu Chen hurriedly took it, probed it with his Divine Sense, and his face twitched violently. He strode into the storeroom and found that many of the Spirit Boxes on the shelves had been opened, and the pills inside were empty.

It was clear that Seventh Senior Sister had robbed the Alchemy Hall before leaving.

This was in line with the consistent, barbaric style of Taiyuan Sect disciples: wherever they passed, not a blade of grass remained; they would never leave behind anything they could take.

Furthermore, Xu Chen could also feel Seventh Senior Sister's determination in going down the mountain this time; she was likely prepared to die, vowing not to return until her goal was achieved.

Although he had never heard the senior brothers and sisters speak of the matter between Fourth Senior Brother and Seventh Senior Sister, nor had he ever heard the detailed account of their encounter back then—he was even hearing of Yelang Ancient City for the first time—this did not prevent him from seeing the impact this matter had on her through such simple actions of hers.

Although the affection between the senior brothers and sisters of the Taiyuan Sect was deep, and they would save each other between life and death without the need for words or communication.

But the affection between Seventh Senior Sister and Fourth Senior Brother was likely far beyond the bond of fellow disciples.

However, Fourth Senior Brother had been missing for so long, and Eldest Senior Brother, that dullard, still hadn't broken through Seventh Senior Sister's emotional defenses. This showed that Eldest Senior Brother was quite stupid, and at the same time, it showed that Seventh Senior Sister had never forgotten Fourth Senior Brother.

This was also the reason why Xuanhe Zhenren chose not to intervene.

For those who cultivate the Dao, being too entangled in romantic feelings is extremely detrimental to refining one's character. The higher the cultivation, the more these flaws in character will be magnified, until distracting thoughts arise during breakthroughs, the Dao heart is lost, and the effort is ultimately wasted.

As the saying goes, heart ailments require heart medicine. Qu Mei's heart ailment must be solved by herself; outsiders cannot help. If she cannot break through this emotional barrier herself, her future cultivation will become extremely difficult.

Compared to the simple affection between the brothers and sisters of the Taiyuan Sect, the camaraderie among the disciples of the Yuqing Hall was much more indifferent. Even when they sought a Daolu, it was often with a utilitarian motive, aiming to improve cultivation or seize resources.

When feelings are no longer pure, there is naturally no concern, and thus there are fewer such flaws in character, making cultivation smoother.

Perhaps this is also why large Immortal Sects are more powerful!

Xu Chen slowly figured it out, but he always felt something was not quite right.

He was still ignorant about romantic feelings and had no concept of relations between men and women. He was still at the "middle-school" age of an ordinary young cultivator, more interested in cultivation, alchemy, artifact refining, treasure hunting, fighting monsters, and even farming. As for women, he was indifferent; at most, he felt a bit shy and bewildered when these things were mentioned.

Just as he was coming out of the storeroom, Eldest Senior Brother's Divine Sense Transmission suddenly sounded in his ear: "Junior Brother, I am going down the mountain for a trip. Please help me look after the Qi Hall when you have time. I will help you refine the Array Disk when I return."

Xu Chen:...

But immediately after, he breathed a sigh of relief. Eldest Senior Brother was already at the True Essence Late Stage and was considered quite powerful in the Immortal World. With him accompanying Seventh Senior Sister, he thought the safety would be greatly increased.

In the days that followed, Xu Chen's life slowly returned to a relatively peaceful state.

However, the idea of being as leisurely as before, staying in the small wooden hut to meditate and cultivate, and taking Xiaobai the fox to look at the Medicine Garden, was already a pipe dream.

Third Elder had thrown the Alchemy Hall to him to look after, and Eldest Senior Brother had also thrown the Qi Hall to him to help manage. Additionally, he was an Elder of the outer sect, and the branches at Wild Wolf Valley and the several cultivator gathering places built at the foot of the mountain needed regular inspections, which gave him a painful feeling of being unable to be in two places at once.

Fortunately, the other senior brothers and sisters were also assigned tasks, and after a few days of sorting things out, the chaotic situation improved a lot.

Because Seventh Senior Sister had taken away most of the daily-use Spirit Pills, especially the Buqidan, Xu Chen had to step up the refining of a batch of Spirit Pills for backup. As for the affairs of the Qi Hall, he was not familiar with artifact refining, so he basically left it unattended, recruiting two outer sect disciples who knew a little about artifact refining to learn while managing it. Refining Magic Treasures was basically out of the question, but at least it was not in complete chaos.

Time flew by, and more than ten days passed in the blink of an eye.

Xu Chen meditated at night to stabilize his realm, refined pills during the day, and in his spare time, he engraved various Jade Slips of pill formulas, artifact formulas, arrays, and Spirit Talismans learned from the Yuqing Hall. His life slowly entered an orderly state.

With his successful Foundation Establishment, his Soul became much stronger again. His Divine Sense, comparable to that of the early Danyuan Realm, made him more adept at alchemy. In the past, when refining Great Origin Pills or Gathering Qi Pills, most of the Spirit Medicine had to be refined separately, but now, whether it was a first-grade or second-grade Spirit Pill, he could almost put all the Spirit Medicine into the furnace and refine it all at once. Moreover, the abundant True Essence ensured the success rate of alchemy, and he almost never failed.

Previously, he needed half a day to refine a batch of Great Origin Pills, but now he could finish it in about an hour. Therefore, as long as he didn't slack off, he could refine seven or eight batches a day.

The second-grade Gathering Qi Pill, which used to take at least a day, was now compressed to half a day.

Most of the disciples currently recruited to work as beasts of burden in the outer sect were in the early or middle stages of the Kaiyuan Realm, with very few in the late stage, so the Spirit Pills were mainly Small Yuan Pills and Great Origin Pills.

Xu Chen was already too lazy to refine Small Yuan Pills; there were still quite a few left in the storeroom, and Seventh Senior Sister didn't look down on such low-grade Spirit Pills, so there were dozens of bottles left, which could last for a while.

However, he still grabbed Jiu Shixiong to be his laborer. After all, with the order from the Sect Leader, Xuanhe Zhenren, Jiu Shixiong dared not refuse. Plus, with his current True Essence Realm cultivation and a large amount of inexpensive Spirit Grass and Spirit Medicine to practice with, his alchemy success rate had reached seventy or eighty percent after a period of time.

Thus, under the constant, tireless efforts of the two brothers working as stokers all day long, the Danyuan storehouse was soon replenished with a good number of ordinary Spirit Pills, and only then did Xu Chen have more time to attend to his own affairs.

(End of this chapter)