Hospitality Wei Xuan Dao

This shows how unpopular Fan Yang and Fan Zhi are. The disciples of Lingxiao Sect get along very well with the murderer Xu Shulou and have no intention of speaking up for them at all.

Xiao Ya did mention it a few times. When they were eating and drinking in Xu Shulou's yard, they happened to talk about Fan Zhi.

"Since she's gone, I can't say much," Xiao Ya said, holding a bowl of beef noodles that she had brought from the mortal world. "In fact, I'm not the only one in the sect who doesn't like her and Fan Yang, but the sect master trusts them both."

Xu Shulou stretched and leaned against the maple tree behind him: "Have you ever thought about why?"

"They need to handle some secrets, I understand." Xiao Ya met Xu Shulou's surprised look and smiled. "There's nothing to hide from you. As a big sect, there will be some things that are not easy for outsiders to know. It was the same in the palace before. There were always such people around my father and mother. Once they are involved in power, not many people can stay out of it."

Xu Shulou lowered his eyes, and Xiao Ya suddenly remembered that the last emperor of the previous dynasty seemed to be a person without any secrets. She sighed and changed the subject: "I didn't expect that you and I can get along so well. In fact, I have never had any true friends in the valley. Those outer disciples below are a little afraid of me."

Xu Shulou smiled at her: "I don't see what's so scary about you."

"Come on, don't try to coax me. I have a bad temper sometimes." Xiao Ya looked at her while holding the bowl of noodles. "But they are not afraid of you. Those two kids knew that you killed Fan Zhi, but they were trembling with fear in the first two days. Now they dare to snatch the fish balls from under your chopsticks and eat them."

Xu Shulou spread his hands: "I don't like others to be afraid of me."

Xiao Ya looked at her as if she were a saint, and smiled after a while: "Come to think of it, when I met you in Yuankong Secret Realm, if it was someone with a bad temper, he might have fought with me on the spot."

"Let's have a fight sometime," Xu Shulou suggested, "I also want to see your swordsmanship."

Xiao Ya raised her eyebrows, her eyes eager to try: "Okay, I've wanted to try it for a long time."

———

While they were chatting, Wei Xuandao was scolding Lu Beichen.

Wei Xuandao's forehead was already bulging with veins when he found his third disciple and youngest disciple in Xu Shulou's courtyard. When he saw Lu Beichen, his beloved disciple whom he had high hopes for, he was so angry that he said with a straight face: "Is the copper pot hot pot delicious?"

Lu Beichen said truthfully: "Not bad."

"..." Wei Xuandao raised his voice, "Not bad? As the eldest disciple of Lingxiao Sect, it would be fine if you didn't dissuade him, but why did you hang out with your junior brothers and sisters in Xu Shulou's courtyard and eat from a copper pot?"

Lu Beichen was very depressed: "I don't want to go either, but everyone is going, and I will seem out of place if I don't go."

“…”

"How many times has your master told you? As a cultivator, the right way is to find ways to improve your strength!" Wei Xuan said earnestly, "Although our Lingxiao Sect is currently very powerful in the cultivation world, but in recent years, some elders have ascended to high altitudes, while others have fallen. If you cannot keep up, you will fall back to where you were. You are the eldest disciple of this generation of Lingxiao Sect, and you must always bear in mind the responsibility on your shoulders!"

When he said this, Lu Beichen was always unable to refute and could only lower his head: "Yes, Master, I dare not do it anymore."

Wei Xuandao breathed a sigh of relief when he saw his respectful attitude: "Alright, go down and practice. Help me call Xu Shulou over."

"yes."

Perhaps because he felt that Xu Shulou was living too happily, or perhaps because he couldn't stand the fact that she just ate and did not work in Lingxiao Sect, Wei Xuandao finally couldn't resist and assigned her a task.

"My dear nephew..." As soon as he opened his mouth, Xu Shulou couldn't help but shudder.

"I heard that you have been fighting demons and defending the way in the mortal world over the years, and have captured many people and brought them back to the Punishment Hall of Wuchen Island. It must be hard work." Wei Xuandao greeted her.

"It's my job, why do I say it's hard?"

"I have always admired your character," Wei Xuandao stroked his beard and smiled, "Beichen is lucky to meet you. Those cute girls can only catch his eye for a short time. As your master, I hope to see your wedding soon."

Xu Shulou pricked up his ears, gave a sweet talk first, said something nice, and then it was time for the main event.

As expected, Wei Xuandao said solemnly, "I heard that some time ago, you captured a vicious monk who made a soul-calling banner? Such a sinister magic weapon is terrifying and chilling just by hearing about it. It must have been extremely dangerous for Miss Xu to go and capture him."

"fine."

"After the soul-summoning flag was brought back to your Wuchen Island," Wei Xuandao asked, "I wonder if it has been destroyed?"

Xu Shulou shook his head: "Not yet."

This magic weapon is difficult to refine, and it is also very troublesome to destroy. It needs to be placed in a secluded place where no one is around to dry it for a full hundred days to dissipate the negative energy inside before it can be processed further.

"I have an unwelcome request," Wei Xuandao pondered, "I would like to borrow the soul-summoning flag to study it, but I don't know how to start the conversation, for fear that people will misunderstand that I want to practice some evil magic."

“…”

Seeing Xu Shulou remained silent, he quickly explained, "My dear nephew, please don't misunderstand me. I just want to study how to restrain the soul-summoning flag. This thing came from the demon world. Demons still appear frequently in the mortal world. If they come back one day, we don't want to see the chaos of a thousand years ago in the cultivation world. It is my lifelong wish to destroy the demons. It is always better to be prepared."

Xu Shulou nodded: "I understand."

"What do you think?"

"Since it is for the purpose of restraining the demons, I shall do my part for the elder."

"Then I'll have to trouble you, nephew," Wei Xuan said happily, "but don't let anyone know. Just take the things and I'll study them for a while, then I'll return them. There's no need to let others know. After all, if it gets out, I'm afraid that others will misunderstand me. It's okay for me personally, but if it affects the reputation of Ling Xiao Sect, then I will be blamed for it."

"I understand. Don't worry, I'll take care of it," Xu Shulou smiled sweetly. "You are Beichen's master. I will definitely handle this matter properly for you and will not affect the reputation of Lingxiao Sect."

Wei Xuandao was a little nervous. Although he asked Xu Shulou to steal the soul-summoning banner, he was not sure how much the love poison could affect her. He just didn't want to miss this opportunity, so he asked to test her. Seeing her confident and responsible appearance, he was reluctant to feel relieved.

However, on the first day after agreeing to help retrieve the soul-calling banner, Xu Shulou was still chatting with the disciples of Lingji Valley in her small courtyard.

The next day, the pheasants and grape wine that Huang Yinghe's steward father had promised to help buy arrived, so everyone roasted chicken and drank wine in the yard again.

Wei Xuandao, after all, needed help from others, so he did not interfere. He just waited patiently for Xu Shulou to set off back to Wuchen Island to steal the soul-summoning flag for him.

On the third day, an outer sect disciple cautiously asked Xu Shulou for a sword move. She carefully observed the loopholes in his moves and patiently gave him guidance.

It is not easy to be an outer disciple in such a big sect. The resources here are given priority to those disciples with good talents. There is no master to teach them on weekdays, so these people can only seek advice from others whenever they have the chance.

Wei Xuandao always forbade them to disturb Lu Beichen and others, and they had no one to ask, so they could only figure it out on their own. It was a rare occasion for them to meet a generous cultivator like Xu Shulou, so they all gathered around them.

Wei Xuandao felt that this was a good thing. Although he did not care much about the outer disciples, it was a benefit for Lingxiao Sect after all, and it was good for Xu Shulou to make the best use of his resources, so he nodded with satisfaction.

Then on the fourth and fifth days, Xu Shulou took Xiao Ya to the back mountain and chopped down a bunch of spiritual wood. It is said that the spiritual wood would make the roasted pig more fragrant, crispy and flavorful.

On the sixth day, Xu Shulou and Xiao Ya were fighting with swords. Xiao Ya's weapon was a frost sword, which was dignified and her sword energy was like ice and snow. Xu Shulou used a folding fan to fight the enemy, which was quite dashing. Both of them were from famous families and were taught by famous teachers. The fight was very exciting, and a scene of swords and sabers woven in the courtyard attracted several people to watch. Xu Shulou wore a light red and emerald green dress today. When the frost sword was wrapped around her, she looked like a butterfly flying in the ice and snow, which was very beautiful. What made the onlookers regretful was that the two of them stopped fighting in the end without a winner. Then, at the request of the people who hadn't seen enough, Xu Shulou performed a set of sword moves in the courtyard with a boning knife, which attracted cheers.

Wei Xuandao watched for a while and saw that Xu Shulou was at ease. He felt quite uncomfortable. Why didn't their Lingxiao Sect have such a good seedling?

If he had noticed it back then, he would have snatched the apprentice from Pei Changyu.

On the seventh day, an oven was built in Xu Shulou's yard.

Wei Xuandao couldn't understand it. Was he not going to leave? Was he going to stay here permanently?

On the eighth day, Xu Shulou, Xiao Ya and others rode on the black-tailed cranes of Lingji Valley, throwing balls to each other in the air and counting the wins and losses.

Wei Xuandao had spent a large sum of money to buy these cranes, and had kept them in a pond in the hope that they would bring a touch of otherworldly elegance to the Lingji Valley.

But no one knew how these black-tailed cranes, which were usually arrogant and unsociable, were persuaded by Xu Shulou.

The third disciple, Xiao Ruzhuo, was hit in the face by a ball thrown by Xiao Ya. He thought the crane was flying too slowly, so he simply carried the crane on his back and threw the ball. The crane was so angry that it pecked him.

Xiao Ya shouted, "Third Brother, you are not allowed to cheat with your body skills!"

Xiao Ruzhuo burst into laughter.

Wei Xuandao frowned in disdain, feeling that in the short time since Xu Shulou arrived, he had made his good disciples' hearts go wild.

On the ninth day, Wei Xuandao let his pet red wind bird out for some fresh air. Unexpectedly, this creature gave one of its most beautiful tail feathers to Xu Shulou after going out.

Wei Xuandao looked at the spirit bird's butt with a small bald spot and took a deep breath.

On the tenth day, everyone was playing dice, and everyone was scrambling to use their spiritual powers to cheat, making it difficult to tell who was winning.

Everyone rolled full points, and I don’t know what the fun of this game is.

After a day of cheating, I have made further progress in controlling the subtle spiritual power.

Wei Xuandao was already a little numb. He wanted to see what tricks Xu Shulou could come up with in this Lingji Valley.

On the eleventh day, Xu Shulou took the initiative to find Wei Xuandao and told him that the matter had been accomplished.

Wei Xuandao was puzzled: "But you haven't been back to Wuchen Island yet?"

"I sent a letter to the headmaster, which stated that Elder Wei wanted to borrow the Soul Summoning Banner to study," Xu Shulou made a gesture of "please trust me when I do the work", "He generously invited you to go to Wuchen Island to study with him."

Wei Xuan Daoping tried to calm down for a long time before he could speak. However, his voice was slow and he sounded like he was gritting his teeth: "...Didn't I tell you not to make it public?"

"Yes, I specifically told the headmaster not to spread the news in the letter," Xu Shulou counted on his fingers, "Look, I have fulfilled your two requests. First, to get the soul-summoning flag in person to study it, and second, to keep the matter secret and protect the reputation of Lingxiao Sect."

“……”Is this how you understand it?

"Elder Wei, why are you shaking?"

Wei Xuandao, who was almost shaking with anger, managed to force a smile: "...Nothing."

"You can go to Wuchen Island to study the Soul Summoning Banner without any worries and take the first step towards realizing your lifelong wish. I will take care of everything here."

“…”

Wei Xuandao was silent for a long time, and suddenly asked: "By the way, when did you say you were going to leave Lingji Valley?"

Xu Shulou smiled innocently: "I didn't say that. I'm very happy here every day. I have my brothers and sisters to play with me. Elder Wei is very hospitable and even offered to help me get rid of the love poison. I don't want to go back for the time being."

Wei Xuandao’s eyes went dark.