Chapter 30 Departure (Part 3) New Year's Eve, releasing sky lanterns...

"The Path of Mortals?" Jiu Qu Chen was somewhat surprised. "Why would you want to cultivate this?"

Qingxing is usually too indifferent to worldly affairs, and doesn't seem like someone who would be involved with the "mortal world".

"That sounds beautiful." Qingxing picked up a withered leaf and wrapped it with her spiritual power. The withered leaf, starting from the stem, gradually turned back to green. Looking at the rejuvenated leaf, she said calmly, "Besides, aren't all things in this world born in the mortal realm?"

This withered leaf is, the big tree in Tingyu Garden is, the dust of Jiuqu is, and her green apricot is too.

"It seems you've already gained some insight, and I'm very pleased!" Jiu Qu Chen had just finished praising her when, as if remembering something, he suddenly became serious and stared at Qing Xing suspiciously, "You didn't actually figure it out while you were drunk yesterday, did you?"

Qingxing felt a little guilty: "...No."

She lost fewer times last night, so she didn't drink much. Otherwise, she really couldn't imagine how she would have ended up with only Duanmu left.

Jiu Qu Chen sniffed her sleeve, and only after confirming there was no smell of alcohol did he feel relieved and say, "You absolutely mustn't act so recklessly next time. You're all still young boys. What if you run into someone with ill intentions?"

Qingxing lowered her eyes, accepting the criticism: "Disciple understands."

Jiu Quchen didn't say anything more. He glanced at the sun, put down a pile of miscellaneous prescriptions, and left in a hurry.

Perhaps because the primordial spirit cannot leave the body for too long, when Qingxing went to Biyueyunju to look for him again, she could only see a lifeless rag doll. The ugly doll lay quietly on the grass, and Qingxing could still faintly feel the residual spiritual power of Jiuquchen.

She picked up the doll and looked at the blue lotus flower in its hand, feeling a little suspicious: Did Master come out all night just to look at those hoarded picture books?

But Jiuquchen couldn't tell her, and she had no interest in thinking about it—because the final assessment of the cultivation course was coming soon.

Having skipped so many classes before, Qingxing had no idea what those cultivation courses were actually about. But if she let herself fail the assessment, she would face the risk of having to retake the course. So after a lot of internal struggle, she could only pull Duanmu Tingzhu into forming a "study group" and begin the difficult life of preparing for the exam.

As for Shen Wan and the others, since the last time they got drunk at Xikelai, perhaps because they were punished by Jiu Chaoying, they have become much more restrained. They no longer wander around every day and have finally resumed their ascetic life. They only occasionally come to the Sutra Pavilion to visit Qingxing and Duanmu, who are studying hard.

"I can't take it anymore, we're out of supplies and reinforcements!" Duanmu collapsed onto the table with a thud, his voice filled with utter despair. "Can I choose to repeat the course...?"

“Okay.” Qingxing took a sip of tea, trying to wake her sleepy brain. She glanced at Duanmu and said calmly, “As long as you can accept not having any more classes for the next six months.”

Duanmu: ...

He angrily picked up a pen and paper and plunged headfirst into the sea of ​​books.

Although the review process was extremely painful, Qingxing was at least well-read, so she could barely cope with the various assessments. Therefore, when the assessment results came out, she took a closer look and found that, except for the history course, all the other courses were passed, and some even received "excellent" ratings.

"Wow, amazing, senior sister!" Shen Wan looked at the bark paper with her achievements carved on it and gave her a thumbs up. "You still managed to pass despite missing so many classes!"

“Absolutely.” Gudako looked at Duanmu’s share and said gloatingly, “It’s much better than someone else’s.”

Duanmu snatched the paper back and said irritably, "If you're so capable, why don't you go do it yourself? It's easy for you to talk when you're not the one experiencing it!"

Gudako continued her provocation: "Hey, you know what, I'm actually pretty good!"

"Hey, we finally made it through the training course, we should celebrate!" Wenren Xi pulled the two apart and said with a smile, "Don't argue."

Just then, Chen Mo came out of the house. She placed the osmanthus cake on the stone table, glanced at the noisy group, and said expressionlessly, "Celebrating?"

Xie Yuzhou was also taken aback. He looked at Wenren Xi and said in a cool tone, "I won't drink, and I won't go to Xikelai."

Unpleasant memories flooded everyone's minds at the same time. Qingxing shook her head, dispelling the dark clouds above her head.

"Let's not talk about that." Shen Wan shrugged. She counted the days on her fingers, then suddenly realized something. She exclaimed in surprise, "Hey, speaking of celebrations, isn't New Year's Eve almost here?"

Wenren Xi did some calculations and said, "It seems so."

The group sighed in unison.

Time flies.

Qingxing didn't speak. She picked up the pastry in front of her and took a bite. The osmanthus cake was fresh out of the oven, sweet and soft, reminding her of the plum blossom steamed buns her master had made during a festival one year.

Although cultivators are required to sever ties with mortal relatives, Mount Taihua holds celebrations every Lunar New Year's Eve to prevent disciples from forgetting their roots.

At that time, Qingxing didn't like to join in the fun, so whenever everyone was watching fireworks and releasing sky lanterns, she would always choose to stay in Tingyu Garden, washing up and going to bed as usual.

Strangely enough, her master, Jiuquchen, was clearly a playful person, but he was strikingly similar to Qingxing in that he didn't like celebrating festivals.

In the years before Qingxing became his disciple, they lived separate lives. But one New Year's Eve, Jiuquchen happened to pass by Tingyu Garden and discovered Qingxing sitting on a stone bench gazing at the sky.

"Good disciple, why are you here all alone?" Jiu Qu Chen walked over and sat down opposite her, pouring himself a cup of tea.

Qingxing replied, "To see the sky lanterns."

Jiuquchen laughed: "Why not let them come and play with them?"

Qingxing: "Just looking is enough."

Jiuqu Chen asked curiously, "Just to take a look?"

Qingxing: "Mmm."

"Aren't you lonely here all by yourself?" Jiu Qu Chen looked at Qing Xing's profile and took a sip of tea.

Unexpectedly, Qingxing suddenly turned to look at him, tilting her head and asking in confusion, "Isn't Master also a person?"

Jiuquchen chuckled silently.

From then on, every New Year's Eve, Jiu Qu Chen would come to Ting Yu Yuan to drink tea with Qing Xing, sometimes bringing plum blossom steamed buns he had made himself. Even though the master and apprentice didn't usually interact much, on this day they were exceptionally tacit, neither of them speaking, just silently appreciating the night of a thousand lanterns.

But there will only be four nights like this.

Qingxing looked at the darkening sky, where sky lanterns were already rising in the distance. Feeling rather bored, she tapped the table and thought: It's already New Year's Eve, when will Master come out of seclusion?

"Senior sister, come and release the lanterns!"

Shen Wan burst into Tingyu Garden with the sound of silver bells, and stuffed a large lantern-shaped object into Qingxing's arms.

"Slow down." Xie Yuzhou followed behind her, bent down to pick up the fallen lamp wick, and placed it on the stone table.

Qingxing glanced at the auspicious cloud pattern on the lamp: "It's not completely dark yet, should we set it off now?"

“Junior sister, you are mistaken,” Wenren Xi appeared with a smile, and he pointed vaguely to the distant mountain peak. “At this time of year, the best spots for releasing lanterns are already occupied.”

Chen Mo squeezed in through the door, her arms adorned with a bunch of sky lanterns of various shapes.

She placed the sky lantern on the ground with a clatter and said softly, "Choose for yourself."

Qingxing looked around, but perhaps because of preconceived notions, she still thought the cup that Shen Wan had given her was the most beautiful.

"I want the red one! What are you, a book spirit, doing releasing a sky lantern? Don't try to take it from me!"

"You're so rude, kid! I'm several times older than you, how could you take things from an old person?!"

Before Duanmu and Gudako even appeared, the commotion reached everyone's ears. Qingxing looked up at the two at the door and used magic to pull Gudako back.

"What?" Gudako couldn't resist her power and could only glare at her. "How can Master be biased! Aren't I your beloved Book Spirit anymore?"

Qingxing poked its cheek: "You've lived so long, and you still have the nerve to snatch things from a child?"

He scoffed and turned his face away, ignoring her completely.

In the past few months, Guda no longer followed Qingxing every day. Since the year of world destruction was still far away, it used the pretext of "supervising the male and female protagonists" to sneak over to Shen Wan and the others whenever it had free time. As a result, everyone had long been used to Guda's childlike nature and regarded it as the same as Duanmu.

Qingxing shook her head helplessly, chatted with the others for a while, then picked up the sky lantern and went out.

"All the good spots have been taken by others." Guda looked into the distance and saw the dense crowd on the hilltop. It said dejectedly, "I told you we should have come earlier."

Duanmu Tingzhu retorted, "You're just offering hindsight advice."

Guda was about to retort when Qingxing quickly covered its mouth, preventing another farce.

"Hmm, there really aren't any good places left," Wenren Xi said, perplexed.

"I know of one place, but there might be some issues..." Qingxing hesitated, "Are you going?"

"Go! Why not go?" Shen Wan's eyes lit up. She handed the sky lantern to Xie Yuzhou and took off on her sword. "Senior sister, lead the way!"

A moment later, the group stood at the entrance of the council hall, all staring at Qingxing.

Chen Mo spoke first, his tone low and languid: "I can't tell."

It turns out that Qingxing is such a rule-breaker, so bold as to climb the roof of the Qiyun Peak Council Hall.

“If I were a well-behaved person,” Qingxing said, jumping onto the rooftop and addressing the group below, “I wouldn’t have skipped class to go drinking.”

“That makes sense,” Wenren Xi shrugged and immediately followed suit.

Of the group, only Xie Yuzhou possessed a fire elemental root, so the task of lighting the lanterns naturally fell to him. He condensed a ball of spiritual fire in his palm, waved his hand slightly, and the flame flew into several sky lanterns, lighting them one by one.

"Won't we be caught by Master if we do this?" Shen Wan suddenly became worried as she watched the sky lantern floating in the air.

"No." Qingxing looked at the inflated sky lantern in her hand. "She's not here."

Wenren Xi joked, "Junior Sister seems to know her way around very well, she's like a repeat offender."

Qingxing spoke, her tone indifferent: "I found it by chance after wandering around a lot."

After all, she had been a wanderer since she could remember, and as a result, she did things in a somewhat "free-spirited" manner, and climbing on roofs and tearing off tiles was commonplace for her. Since the Qi Yun Peak Council Hall was built so high, it naturally couldn't escape her "investigation".

"Releasing sky lanterns, what are you talking about? Make a wish!" Duanmu Tingzhu muttered, interrupting their chaotic thoughts.

Seeing that the sky lantern had turned into a round ball, he let go and shouted, "I want to be the number one talisman cultivator in the world! I want to be the champion of the Immortal Trial!"

Shen Wan quickly let go, afraid of falling behind, and her voice was twice as loud as Duanmu's: "I will fight all the world's heroes and become the number one young hero of today!"

"How can you yell like that? Wishes won't come true if you say them out loud!" Guda's ears suffered greatly from this. It squeezed next to Qingxing in disgust and said in a voice that only she could hear, "I will definitely find that world-destroying villain."

"The Book Spirit believes in these things too?" Qingxing looked at it. "Weren't you created by the Creator God?"

Gudako hummed softly, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do, and let's wish for good luck."

Xie Yuzhou, who was standing to the side, tilted the sky lantern in his hand to a different direction, making it slowly float towards Shen Wan. He watched as the two sky lanterns gradually came together before saying, "I am the second person after Shen Wan, the second person in the world."

Chen Mo glanced at him and also released a sky lantern: "May Master and fellow disciples be safe and sound."

"Junior sister, aren't you going to say something?" Wenren Xi asked curiously, seeing that Qingxing's sky lantern had flown far away but she was just watching quietly. "Don't you have any wishes?"

Qingxing glanced at him: "Didn't Senior Brother also refuse?"

Wenren Xi smiled: "My wish can only be fulfilled by myself."

Qingxing fell silent, but Wenren Xi seemed to be just curious. Seeing that Qingxing didn't answer, he stopped asking and turned to chat with Xie Yuzhou.

The night was still, and the seven sky lanterns flew higher and higher, farther and farther away, gradually mingling with the countless disciples, and finally merging into the myriad wishes, becoming an ordinary yet shining point.

A glittering starry sky was reflected in Qingxing's eyes. As she listened to her friend's laughter, countless ripples spread across the calm waters of her heart.

A wish?

She does have it.

However… Qingxing lowered her eyes and looked at her palm.

She only believes that things can be accomplished by human effort.

After the lively New Year's Eve, it was time to start making arrangements for the trip to the Northern Wilderness Continent.

Without the training classes, Qingxing resumed her usual routine of running between the Sutra Repository and Tingyu Garden, but this state did not last for more than a few days before she added "Bishui Yunju" to her schedule—because Jiuquchen had left seclusion a month before her departure.

Qingxing was initially disappointed that her master didn't appear on New Year's Eve, but before this emotion could completely envelop her, she realized that although she and her master had reached an unprecedented level of familiarity in this life, according to the timeline, the two were still in a state of "celebrating the New Year independently." Even if Jiuquchen came out of seclusion at that time, they might not be able to meet.

Thinking of this, Qingxing wondered: What was she sad about?

It must be because she has been surrounded by so many people in this life that she has almost forgotten how she ignored social niceties in her previous three lives.

Jiu Qu Chen had no idea what his disciple was struggling with. His cultivation over the past few months had not been in vain. He had not only crossed the threshold of "late stage of Nascent Soul", but had also made the impressive progress to the early stage of Deity Transformation.

He was overjoyed that his boasts before his seclusion had not been in vain, and he even subtly showed off the results of his seclusion when teaching Qingxing.

In the end, Qingxing couldn't stand it anymore and gave him a perfunctory compliment: "Master is really amazing."

Unexpectedly, this praise made Jiuquchen feel as if he had wings, and he became even more arrogant.

Despite his carefree attitude, he didn't miss a single thing he was supposed to teach. With the added benefit of two mental cultivation manuals, by the time they set off, Qingxing had already reached the late stage of the Golden Core realm.

The Northern Wilderness Continent is far away, and Jiu Chaoying sent a total of three elders to accompany them. For the safety of the disciples, it was necessary to have an elder who cultivated medical skills. However, Qiao Su had been too busy lately, and Jiu Qu Chen was eager to compete for it. So, the sect leader waved his hand and gave the spot to Jiu Qu Chen as well.

The remaining two are Qinghe, the peak master of Qiyun Peak, and Xuanying, the peak master of Cailian Peak.

The farewell ceremony was extremely simple. Jiu Chaoying only had them pay their respects to the statue of Sun Buqiu, a former leader of Taihua Mountain, and then personally escorted them to the mountain gate to watch them leave.

Chen Mo followed Xuan Ying and chose the land route, while the rest of the group flew on their swords in a formation resembling swallows.

Jiu Quchen landed at the front of the group. He looked back at the rows of blue and white disciple robes behind him and muttered, "A bunch of pedantic little sticklers."

They don't even know how to dress nicely when they go out.

"Hmph, do you think everyone is like you?" Qinghe kept his distance from him, as if afraid of being provoked by his brightly colored clothes. He frowned and said disdainfully, "You're dressed like a flower butterfly."

"Your master is really conspicuous." Guda sat on Qingxing's shoulder and stretched.

Qingxing glanced in the direction of Jiuquchen. The person there said that "the first day should be festive," so he specially chose a pink robe and paired it with a pale yellow belt. Qingxing suspected that even if he were in a flower bush, Jiuquchen would be spotted at a glance.

So she nodded in agreement: "Indeed."

The flight was so boring that the group started chatting idly. Suddenly, Shen Wan and Duanmu Tingzhu started arguing about who was more powerful, Sun Buqiu or Duanmu Che. The two argued until their faces turned red, which made Elder Qinghe at the front of the group turn around and look at them.

“Of course, Senior Sun Buqiu is more powerful. He was the head of Taihua Mountain back then!” Shen Wan said logically. “In that war between humans and demons, he was the first to arrive at the battlefield and hold off Wang Yan!”

"So what if he's the sect leader? Duanmu Che was the head of the Duanmu family back then!" Duanmu Tingzhu retorted. "Besides, speed doesn't equate to strength. Look at Guda, it flies so fast, but is it powerful?!"

Gudako, who slandered someone without cause: ?

It hadn't wanted to bother with these two childish brats, but now that they were being used as a negative example, its anger flared instantly. It took a deep breath and went all out to join the battle.

"Shut up! Let me tell you, neither of them is any good!" Guda flicked their foreheads, first looking at Shen Wan and saying angrily, "Sun Buqiu is a stutterer! And Duanmu Che—"

It turned to face Duanmu Tingzhu: "You're colorblind!"

Shen Wan: ...

Duanmu Tingzhu: ...

They stopped rubbing their foreheads and, with perfect understanding, pinched Guda and rubbed it haphazardly for a while.

"If you can't win an argument, then fight!" Gudako struggled. "You've all been brainwashed by these history books. Everyone has flaws, okay!"

Shen Wan: "It does have flaws, but you're clearly making it up!"

Gudako: "I didn't!"

Duanmu Tingzhu: "Still being stubborn? How could a book spirit like you know these things? Do you even know them?"

Gudako: "I..."

The two made too much noise, so Qingxing had to look up from the array book. She couldn't bear to watch any longer, so she raised her hand and cast a golden light protective array on Guda, allowing it to escape.

"Hmph, let you talk nonsense!" Shen Wan made a face at Guda, then turned to Qingxing and asked, "Senior sister, tell me, who is more powerful, Sun Buqiu or Duanmu Che?"

Duanmu Tingzhu also turned around, staring at her with great anticipation.

After a long silence, Qingxing finally answered under the intense gazes of the two men: "...I'm the best."

Shen Wan and Duanmu both exclaimed "Eh!" at the same time, seemingly speechless at her.

Xie Yuzhou couldn't help but glance at Qingxing, thinking that while this person was indeed shameless, what she said wasn't entirely unreasonable.

After all, it's only been less than a year, and he's already close to the Nascent Soul stage.

They argued and made noise for half a day, and before they knew it, they arrived above a basin.

Shen Wan, who was lying on the sword, suddenly exclaimed in surprise when she saw something.

Following the sound, Qingxing looked and saw a thin mist dispersing, revealing a "sea of ​​blood" below. When the wind blew, the "sea of ​​blood" churned up waves, and countless petals drifted in all directions. If you smelled closely, you could also smell a strong stench of blood—this was the Blood Peach Forest, a remnant of the great war between humans and demons five hundred years ago.

"Ah..." Gudako frowned, seemingly lost in thought.

Qingxing looked at it: "What's wrong?"

“This place…” it glanced at the people beside it and whispered, “In previous lives, Duanmu Tingzhu died here.”

-----------------------

Author's Note: You wouldn't have guessed, would you? [Lower-eared rabbit head] has a past life connection with me.

Guess whose sword Duanmu is using this time?

New map tomorrow!