Chapter 97 Lu Yingqi:

Under Shen Bingsi's persistent harassment, a slight noise finally came from the quiet room.

Shen Bingsi straightened up from the door of the meditation room with a sense of accomplishment. Just then, an old man shouted angrily from outside the room: "Shen Bingsi! You have trespassed into this forbidden area. What are you trying to do!"

A beam of white light pierced through the doorway and landed on the open ground in the middle of the quiet room. The ground trembled a few times, and when the white light dissipated, a tall old man with white hair and beard, dressed in white, was glaring angrily at Shen Bingsi.

Seeing this, Shen Bingsi had no choice but to come down from in front of Lu Yingqi's meditation room. However, he was already certain that even if he hadn't woken Lu Yingqi up, Elder Bai's actions would have certainly done so.

Not only Lu Yingqi woke up, but it's estimated that the other Ruthless Path disciples who were in seclusion in the Black Gate around here also woke up.

"Ahem, I just smelled a rose fragrance and thought there was a flower demon causing trouble here," Shen Bingsi said.

Elder Bai's face darkened as he stared intently at Shen Bingsi: "A flower demon?"

"Hmm, so it's the scent of Fellow Daoist Lu Yingqi. Fellow Daoist Lu is a meticulous person; he even brings his own scented dew into his secluded cultivation." Seeing that Elder Bai seemed about to explode, Shen Bingsi quickly pointed to the black door behind her. "If Elder Bai doesn't believe me, you can smell this door and you'll know I'm telling the truth."

"Shen Bing Si—" Elder Bai did not forgive Shen Bing Si because of this. Instead, he became even more furious, and the withered old man's figure seemed to grow much larger in an instant.

"Since no evil spirits were found in the Dao Palace, I consider my mission complete. Elder Bai, farewell!" Shen Bingsi picked up the Shengxie Sword, cupped her hands to Elder Bai, transformed into a golden light, and shot out of the quiet room like lightning, passing through the door and flying into the darkness.

After Shen Bingsi left, the quiet room returned to silence.

Elder Bai glared angrily at the gate, the very place from which Shen Bingsi had just escaped.

Two disciples, panting, ran to the door, leaned against the doorframe, and looked around.

"Stop looking, the person is already gone." Elder Bai's face darkened.

"Master! We failed to stop them, please punish us!" the two disciples said at the same time, bowing to Elder Bai.

"Hmph." Elder Bai flicked his sleeve. "You two useless things think you can stop him?"

"..." The two lowered their heads even further.

Elder Bai looked up at the sky, his anger vanishing, replaced by a gloomy expression: "Did he really come here because of the Mirror Palace mission? Or does he have another purpose? Elder Lingjing, could it be that you can't sit still on the Supreme Immortal Mountain and want to come and seize control of the Central Continent...?"

One of the disciples looked up and said, "Master, Shen Bingsi just asked me if Senior Brother Lu Yingqi was here. I suspect he's here for Senior Brother Lu."

"Hmph, he is indeed wary of the strength of our Ruthless Dao Palace, and Ying Qi is one of its best members..."

Elder Bai's figure flickered, and when he reappeared, he was already standing in front of Lu Yingqi's meditation room.

The barrier on the door was not broken. Although Shen Bingsi went too far, she knew that some taboos should not be violated.

Elder Bai's expression softened slightly, but he frowned the next moment.

A very faint rose scent wafted in the air.

Shen Bingsi was not lying; there was indeed a floral fragrance on the door. How could there be the scent of roses on a mountaintop in the dead of winter?

Lu Yingqi doesn't use these things, and other disciples in seclusion won't bring anything other than cultivation items in either. So where does this rose fragrance come from?

Could it be that there really is a monster in the Taoist temple?

A low, hoarse voice came from the quiet room, as if he hadn't spoken for many years: "Master...?"

Elder Bai was taken aback, and the gloom on his face vanished instantly: "Ying Qi? Did I wake you up? There's nothing wrong outside, it's just that some troublesome brat from the Spirit Mirror Sect came."

“Master, don’t worry…it’s almost time for me to emerge from seclusion.” The voice was hoarse as it spoke, its pace gradually returning to normal. “The person who came just now, was he the adjudicator from the Mirror Palace? He said…there was some kind of monster?”

"He's talking nonsense. There are no monsters at all. I think he's just here to show off. Ying Qi, are you really not going to take a trip to the Mirror Palace? Once the Heavenly Mirror sees you, do you think it will need any other adjudicator? You are the chosen adjudicator!"

A voice inside the door chuckled softly: "Master, why should we fight over such empty fame?"

Elder Bai choked, then sighed, "That's why I said you are the most suitable person to be the adjudicator. You have no desires or wants for anything, so it would be most impartial for you to be the adjudicator. It's a pity that it's also because you have no desires or wants for anything and don't want to get involved in trouble. Never mind, just focus on your cultivation and ascend to immortality as soon as possible; that is the right path. Then no one will dare to say that our Xuan Tian Sect's Ruthless Path is just a human wave tactic."

"..." There was a moment of silence inside the door, then someone said, "What others say doesn't matter."

"Yes, yes," Elder Bai readily agreed with his beloved disciple. The master and disciple exchanged a few more pleasantries, mainly Elder Bai asking Lu Yingqi when he would officially emerge from seclusion and what he needed to prepare. Finally, he casually asked, "Yingqi, did you take rose-scented dew with you when you went into seclusion?"

"What?" Lu Yingqi reacted for a moment before answering, "This disciple didn't bring it, so it should be the incense that Xiaozhi was carrying."

"Xiaozhi?" Elder Bai asked blankly.

“He is my disciple’s page,” Lu Yingqi said.

"Oh..." Clearly, Elder Bai still didn't remember this person. He was in charge of all the important affairs of the Xuan Tian Sect and didn't have the leisure to remember the names of unimportant people. "He likes to use rose-scented dew? He certainly knows how to enjoy life. He almost became Shen Bing Si's handle. Just look at this, in the middle of winter, how could there be a fragrance of flowers, especially such a delicate flower as roses? Why didn't your servant learn from you to be so indifferent to desires?"

“He is not a disciple of the Heartless Path.” Lu Yingqi said dismissively. “Life in the Dao Palace is austere, and disciples are in seclusion for many years. It is only natural that he finds it boring. If he hadn’t come to bring disciples things and tell them about things outside, perhaps disciples’ seclusion and cultivation would not have been so smooth.”

Elder Bai suddenly remembered that his beloved disciple had a young servant boy who had come from their hometown with him. Lu Yingqi was indifferent to everything except for this young servant boy, for whom he was always willing to grant his requests: "Ah, so it was him..."

Elder Bai frowned, but said nothing.

Three days later, Lu Yingqi officially emerged from seclusion.

As per Lu Yingqi's request, the Xuantian Sect held only a small-scale welcome banquet to celebrate his further advancement in cultivation.

Now, looking at the entire Xuantian Sect, there are probably few people whose cultivation level is higher than Lu Yingqi's. Elder Bai's face was beaming with joy. The Xuantian Sect is full of factions, each occupying its own territory, and the disciple he brought out is the most powerful among them, which greatly enhances his prestige.

Who could have imagined that ten years ago, Lu Yingqi decisively gave up improving his swordsmanship and turned inward to seek improvement in his realm, which would lead to his success today?

At that time, most people in the Xuantian Sect could not understand why Lu Yingqi did not uphold the title of Xuantian Sword, continue to hone his swordsmanship, and become the number one swordsman in the three sects, or even the number one swordsman in the cultivation world, but instead went into seclusion, wasting his great momentum to improve some realm.

If cultivation levels were so easy to improve, everyone would be in seclusion. However, the reality is that the cultivation world hasn't produced a single Nascent Soul stage expert in a hundred years. In the last hundred years, cultivators have only broken through to the Nascent Soul stage at most. With everyone's level roughly the same and no hope of breaking through, people naturally want to develop other things.

Just like Shen Bingsi, he took advantage of Lu Yingqi's seclusion to improve his cultivation level and secured himself a position as an adjudicator, which immediately elevated his status in the cultivation world. As a result, the Ruthless Path of the Spirit Mirror Sect also surpassed the Xuantian Sect.

Elder Bai lamented this many times, but Lu Yingqi's will was unchangeable. He insisted on going into seclusion, and Elder Bai could only go along with him.

Who would have thought that this seemingly innocuous act would lead to the discovery of a powerful figure on the verge of breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage? Elder Bai was so happy he almost woke up from his meditation.

At the welcoming banquet, Elder Bai stole the show. Elders from various factions within the Xuantian Sect congratulated him and drank a lot of wine with him.

Therefore, when Lu Yingqi and Xiaozhi took their leave together, Elder Bai did not insist on keeping them. He waved his hand and let them come and go as they pleased.

Xiaozhi took Lu Yingqi back to the Dao Palace. In Lu Yingqi's courtyard where he lived alone, she prepared a bath for him and brought out clean and comfortable everyday clothes for him to change into.

Although Lu Yingqi didn't care about these things, he silently accepted everything Xiaozhi prepared for him and did everything accordingly.

The days in the mountains are short in winter, and soon it was sunset. As darkness fell, Lu Yingqi sat on the soft couch, and Xiaozhi turned on all the lights in the room before sitting down next to him to sew him thick, warm socks.

Lu Yingqi noticed the dark circles under Xiaozhi's eyes and knew that he hadn't rested much in the past three days. Xiaozhi must have put in a lot of effort to tidy up his place and prepare for his welcome banquet.

Although Xiaozhi didn't have a seat at the welcome banquet, Lu Yingqi could tell which dishes on the table were specially prepared by Xiaozhi according to his taste.

However, he had been fasting for a long time and had long lost his appetite. He only ate two bites of the dishes when the banquet started, and let Elder Biefeng eat the rest.

Xiaozhi always does useless things and is busy with these things. Like now, Lu Yingqi is not afraid of the cold at all. He can walk barefoot on the ground without any problem. But Xiaozhi insists on sewing thick socks for him by hand, even though she is not energetic and always makes mistakes in threading the socks.

These thoughts flowed through Lu Yingqi's mind like water, leaving no trace. Soon, they were covered by new thoughts. He thought that these were all Xiaozhi's feelings. If he interfered, it would only make her unhappy. He should let them happen and disappear naturally, and he just needed to observe.

"Brother Qi, three days ago, did someone break into the Dao Palace?" Xiao Zhi yawned, forcing herself to chat with Lu Yingqi.

“Hmm,” Lu Yingqi replied, “It’s the judge from the Mirror Palace who suspects there are monsters here.”

“…What?” Xiaozhi looked up, nervously glancing at Lu Yingqi.

It's best not to air your dirty laundry in public, especially since it's something baseless. When Shen Bingsi came to Zhilan Ridge that night, apart from a few people who saw it with their own eyes, everyone else was kept completely in the dark. Elder Bai forbade anyone to say a word and leak the matter out, so Xiaozhi didn't know either.

"Could it be that... judge surnamed Shen?" Xiaozhi asked tremblingly.

"It's him." Lu Yingqi noticed Xiaozhi's nervousness. "What's wrong?"

"Oh...it's nothing. His friend just contacted me the other day, saying he wanted to see you." Xiaozhi seemed relieved. "Because you're still in seclusion, I politely declined. I wonder if he's using this as an excuse to come? How could there be any demons in a place like the Dao Palace..."

"Hmm, no monsters." Lu Yingqi pondered for a moment. "The friend you mentioned, is his name Rong Xie?"

"Huh, how did Brother Qi know?" Xiao Zhi looked up from the lamp, her eyes sparkling as she looked at Lu Yingqi.

Lu Yingqi could read joy in his eyes. Did he have a crush on that person named Rong Xie?

“Shen Bingsi mentioned him at the entrance of the meditation room and asked me to come see him,” Lu Yingqi said gently. “When is it convenient for you to meet him?”