Chapter 158 Unexpected Changes:

“Senior Brother Lu.” Rong Xie paused.

Lu Yingqi said without looking up, "If you've come to beg me to let you go, then there's no need to say anything more."

Rong Xie choked, then smiled wryly, "I understand that I cannot disobey my master's orders. However, I still want to send a message to the people outside and ask them to help me find Elder Hong. This doesn't violate Elder Bai's orders, does it?"

“It doesn’t violate the rules,” Lu Yingqi said calmly, sheathing his sword. “This barrier won’t prevent the transmission of sound.”

"That's great." Rong Xie breathed a sigh of relief.

"Is there anything else?" Lu Yingqi asked, noticing that Rong Xie was standing still.

"Could you please ask Senior Brother Lu to go and check on Bing Si? I'm not in a position to check on him right now. If Senior Brother Lu can lend a helping hand, we will definitely repay you with all our might," Rong Xie said.

Lu Yingqi glanced at Rong Xie and said, "Okay."

"Thank you so much, Senior Brother Lu!" Rong Xie's face lit up with joy. Then, as if remembering something, he added, "Xiao Zhi is a lucky person... he'll be alright!"

Rong Xie himself felt that this consolation was very superficial. Lu Yingqi simply nodded, put away his flying sword, and walked towards the study.

Rong Xie used the communication jade pendant to contact Captain Zhao and Wang Mu respectively. The follow-up affairs of the Lu family in Qinghe had been dealt with, and the two adjudicators returned to the Mirror Palace. Captain Zhao also led his team back to the capital. They also needed to rest. Captain Zhao promised Rong Xie that he would help him find clues about the Hehuan Sect in his spare time.

Wang Mu had been staying at the Lan Yuan residence, and with the allowance Rong Xie gave him, he didn't have to worry about food. Rong Xie told him to go find Lu Yinglin, tell Wang Mu the contact information he had agreed upon with Lu Yinglin, and ask Lu Yinglin to take action and explore the Hehuan Sect's secrets again.

In fact, Rong Xie didn't quite believe that Lu Yinglin knew nothing about the Hehuan Sect. Perhaps he had some concerns or unspeakable secrets that he didn't want to tell Rong Xie. However, the situation was urgent now, and Rong Xie couldn't care less about that. He had to make the most of the connections he could first.

After contacting everyone I could, I waited for a response.

"Bang!"

A loud crash came from next door, as if something had fallen from a height. Then, a series of noises followed, and the door slammed open.

Rong Xie was startled and quickly looked outside the door, only to see a blurry figure dart out of the door and disappear.

Of the three people in the main house, only one could ignore Elder Bai's barrier.

Lu Yingqi ran out!

Rong Xie stepped across the threshold and into the main hall. He saw that the barrier on the door had a hole and was being repaired quickly. When Rong Xie arrived, the hole was almost completely repaired.

He only saw the courtyard gate wide open, and it seemed like there were many figures. The next moment, the hole was repaired and it became an airtight barrier again!

"What's going on?" Shen Bingsi peeked out from the study door, struggling to see what was happening.

"..." Rong Xie also looked bewildered.

With no more excitement to watch, Shen Bingsi straightened up.

"How...are you feeling?" Rong Xie asked cautiously, keeping his distance.

"That's good." Shen Bingsi reached out and grabbed at the air. Golden light flashed across his hand and disappeared. He said sullenly, "I might need to adjust my breathing for a while."

"No rush," Rong Xie said. "I've already sent someone to inquire about the Hehuan Sect."

"Um."

"Has Senior Brother Lu said anything about your situation?" Rong Xie asked.

"He's not a medical cultivator, what could he possibly see?" Shen Bingsi said dismissively. Then, he stroked his chin. "But, don't you think Lu Yingqi is acting strangely?"

"What?"

“Lu Yingqi is so concerned about his pageboy. According to Madam Mei, he and that pageboy have done everything except for not having the title of Daoist couple. Why doesn’t Lu Yingqi’s Daoist heart waver?” Shen Bingsi said with resentment.

"This... might be related to the cultivation methods of the Ruthless Dao Palace," Rong Xie guessed. "Their cultivation method is one that clearly separates emotions from cultivation... Come to think of it, didn't you used to be able to separate them clearly too?"

Shen Bingsi never expected that her casual remark would backfire and cause her to be stabbed in the back.

"I, that was... cough cough cough..."

Shen Bingsi wanted to explain, but upon closer reflection, he realized that he had indeed said some heartless and hateful things countless times when Rong Xie showed his true feelings, watching Rong Xie's expectant eyes gradually dim.

He recalled the night on the South Island, the tide surging in the darkness, Rong Xie standing in the water, looking at him with disappointment.

A stench of blood surged up, and the spiritual energy that had just been regulated began to surge wildly again.

"Sit back down now and stop thinking about it!" Rong Xie commanded.

Shen Bingsi retreated behind the door and stood there.

Rong Xie felt a pang of sadness when he saw Shen Bingsi's shadow cast on the ground.

“I wonder if something happened to his servant boy,” Shen Bingsi said after a moment, calming her inner energy and recalling Lu Yingqi’s reaction just now. “He was using his spiritual power to help me suppress the backlash, but suddenly his expression changed, and he rushed out without saying a word. I figured he had placed a wisp of his spiritual sense on that servant boy, so maybe something was wrong with the servant boy and he noticed it and rushed out to save him.”

“Rong’er, tell me, how can he maintain a stable Dao heart when he’s in such a hurry? I don’t think he’s any better than me…”

"Rong'er?" Shen Bingsi waited for a while, but Rong Xie did not answer, so she peeked out again.

Rong Xie was standing in the main hall with a dejected look on his face, seemingly lost in thought.

Shen Bingsi came out of the study and strode towards Rong Xie.

When Rong Xie heard the noise, he looked up and saw Shen Bingsi standing in front of him, staring at him with a serious expression.

"What are you doing out here? Go back now." Rong Xie quickly pushed him.

Shen Bingsi grabbed Rong Xie's hand: "What are you thinking about?"

“I…” Rong Xie’s heart relaxed, and he said blankly, “I don’t know either…”

Shen Bingsi stared at his face: "Then don't think about it. Didn't you tell me not to overthink it? There's no point in thinking about things you can't understand."

“But… if I hadn’t done anything… you wouldn’t be in this situation…” Rong Xie covered his face with his hands.

Shen Bingsi stepped forward and hugged Rong Xie tightly. Strangely, he did it instinctively without thinking, and did not suffer any backlash.

"What situation? The situation of not being a fool who buries his head in self-deception?" Shen Bingsi's voice carried a hint of self-deprecating laughter.

Rong Xie realized something, and he struggled to get up, gently pushing away Shen Bingsi's embrace, but was held even tighter.

"It's alright, holding him like this won't affect anything," Shen Bingsi's voice rang in Rong Xie's ear. At the same time, his hand covered Rong Xie's back, gently soothing him. "You've done very well. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have known there were so many ways to fight against the shattering of the Dao Heart. As long as there's a method, you can definitely get through this. That's how cultivation is, one hurdle after another. How can you get distracted by something so easy?"

"You still want to be distracted?" Rong Xie chuckled, quickly wiping away the tears welling in his eyes. "You'd be lucky if you didn't fall to the Golden Core stage..."

"So what if I fall? I can just start over," Shen Bingsi grasped Rong Xie's upper arms with both hands, straightened up, and looked into his eyes with a smile. "Even if I fall to the Qi Refining stage, I can still cultivate back to the Nascent Soul stage. What, you don't believe me? Then we can have a competition and see who reaches the Nascent Soul stage first."

“…Okay.” Rong Xie felt an empty space in his heart being filled with something hot.

Shen Bingsi's gaze lingered on Rong Xie's face. The two locked eyes for a long time before he raised his hand and tucked Rong Xie's disheveled hair behind his ear. As his fingers brushed against the cool, soft earlobe, a metallic scent wafted up again.

This time, Shen Bingsi coughed up several mouthfuls of blood before finally behaving herself.

He stood back behind the study door, which was secured with a wooden strip that Rong Xie had personally fastened, both to block Shen Bing Si and to remind Rong Xie not to lose control and lure the person out again.

"You just said... Lu Yingqi left because he heard about Xiaozhi?" Rong Xie washed her face with water and had completely calmed down by now.

"Hmm." Shen Bingsi's sullen voice came from inside the door.

"Could something have happened to Xiaozhi?" Rong Xie became anxious. He thought of going to the door to check, but the barrier blocked his view. "That Shang Gan looks like a tough opponent. Elder Bai suggested going to the Tianji Altar, but it didn't work?"

"Don't rush, wait until I've calmed down, then I'll break this damn barrier—"

Before Shen Bingsi could finish speaking, the barrier suddenly cracked.

Rong Xie stared in astonishment as the barrier before him burst forth with dazzling white light, shattering into thousands of pieces in an instant before vanishing with a deafening roar.

"This is..." Rong Xie's heart tightened, "Could it be that Elder Bai also..."

If a barrier shatters and disappears without being attacked, there is only one possibility: the person who set up the barrier did not have enough spiritual power to maintain it.

Could it be that Elder Bai has met with some misfortune?

This is Xuantian Sect's territory. Elder Bai is still an elder. Who would allow him to meet with misfortune?

Several thoughts flashed through Rong Xie's mind in an instant, and the next moment, a white figure floated into the room.

"What, are you hoping for my death?" Elder Bai's furious voice rang out.

Rong Xie felt a sense of relief. He had almost forgotten that the disappearance of the barrier could also be due to the person who set it up canceling it...

Elder Bai didn't give Rong Xie a chance to answer. He grabbed Rong Xie's arm and dragged him out: "Do you still remember the formations that were taught to you in the Zhengxin Hall?"

Rong Xie was taken aback: "You mean... the one that traps the soul?"

"Shh, be quiet!" Elder Bai glanced around, then turned back to Rong Xie with a dark look in his eyes. "Now, the time has come to use you. Didn't you want to see if our Dao Palace's secret technique is truly effective?"

"What?"

"Follow me!"

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Yes, it's in this chapter too. [Pigeon]