Returning to the Silver Bamboo Sect

"This passage leads directly to the cultivation world?" Qi Yuan asked doubtfully.

"Of course! We'll miss you, my lord!" Yan Gui and Fu Yao shouted.

In the past month or so, in order to rectify the bad atmosphere in the Ghost Realm, Qi Yuan relied on her management experience in the Silver Bamboo Sect to establish more than two hundred rules in the Ghost Realm, successfully reducing the frequency of incidents.

"Well, I'm leaving now. You two take good care of yourselves." Qi Yuan glanced back before walking into the passage.

The blinding white light made her shield her eyes as she walked forward until she reached the end, where she found herself in a familiar world of cultivation.

Upon closer inspection, Qi Yuan realized she was currently near the Lingjian Sect. A thought struck her – it was a perfect opportunity to visit Pei Yin and Ning Ning.

"Knock knock knock"

"Who is it? Don't bother me if it's nothing." The voice from inside the room was muffled and impatient.

She said coldly, "It's me."

Several banging sounds suddenly came from inside the door, and then the door was flung open: "Senior Sister!!"

"It's me. Where's Ningning?" Qi Yuan peeked into his room, trying to see Ningning.

"Senior sister, don't you miss me at all? It's been two months." Pei Yin looked at her with her watery eyes.

"I don't want to at all! Tell me, where is Ningning?" Qi Yuan said irritably.

"Ningning is with Duan Yu today..."

"Then I'm leaving."

"No!" he said in a panic, grabbing Qi Yuan's arm.

Qi Yuan turned around and slapped his hand away, asking calmly, "Pei Yin, is there anything else? I just returned from the human realm and haven't even gone back to the Silver Bamboo Sect yet. Hurry up."

Pei Yin retreated to approach, and said in a low voice, "Senior sister, I just missed you. Who gave you that other jade pendant on your waist? Never mind, I won't disturb your private life. Senior sister, you... you should go back."

"Okay, then I'm leaving." Qi Yuan left without looking back.

He looked up in astonishment. This trick had always worked before, so why wasn't it working anymore? What had happened to her these past two months?

Qi Yuan didn't linger any longer and flew back to the Silver Bamboo Sect on her sword.

She wasn't worried about the ghostly energy within her being discovered, as only people from the ghost realm could see it; this was the cultivation world. With her rapidly increasing cultivation, she also sent Yan Gui to find a cultivation-suppressing pill and fused it into the jade pendant Mu Qinghuai had given her. To others, her cultivation level was still only at the early stage of the Nascent Soul realm.

"Senior Sister, you're finally back! The disciple-acceptance ceremony is in a few days, and everyone in the Silver Bamboo Sect is going to be incredibly busy." Ye Munian rushed to her side, his dark circles under his eyes particularly noticeable.

"Senior sister, do I look much more haggard? Oh my god, what did you go to do? Why do you look so haggard?" Ye Hanyun was startled as she approached.

The answer is simple: Qi Yuan was exhausted from managing the Ghost Realm, barely closing her eyes every night. Now that she's back at the Silver Bamboo Sect, she can finally get a good night's sleep.

"Now that I'm back, you've all worked hard. Leave the sect affairs to me, you can go and rest." Qi Yuan yawned and walked heavily toward the Internal Affairs Hall.

"Why do I feel like Senior Sister is the one who needs rest the most?" Ye Hanyun muttered softly.

After dealing with the internal affairs of the Ghost Realm, she deeply realized that handling the internal affairs of the Silver Bamboo Sect was so easy that it made her feel happy.

Qi Yuan finished all the internal affairs very quickly. When the outer disciples came in and saw the mountain of papers, they were surprised for a moment before saying, "Senior Sister, the Sect Master wants you to go to the main hall."

"Okay," she said, standing up.

Yun Xingjun was sitting in his seat flipping through a book when he saw Qi Yuan arrive. He closed the book and said, "Wei Shuang, the day after tomorrow is the Silver Bamboo Sect's disciple recruitment ceremony. Your master will need you to attend."

Qi Yuan knelt on one knee, bowed her head, and said solemnly, "I will remember what Master has said. But I don't know why I am chosen to go on stage?"

"This disciple-acceptance ceremony will not only accept outer and inner disciples. Yun Qing has defected, and Ju Xing has disappeared. As your master, I plan to take on a personal disciple," said Yun Xingjun.

"Junior sister is missing?" Qi Yuan looked up abruptly, controlling her tone and trying to keep her expression calm.

She said slowly, "Junior Sister, wasn't your puppet unable to move? How could you have disappeared?"

Yun Xingjun: "I suspect that the demons took Juxing away while Madam Ling was out. But let's not worry about that for now. My plan to take on disciples requires the help of you and Hanyun."

"Disciple obeys, everything Master says is correct," Qi Yuan said.

“You’ve been taking on outside commissions, so you probably don’t know about the change of leadership in the Ghost Realm. The original Ghost King is dead, and the new Ghost King is called Zhu Zhuo. I’ve never heard of him before,” he said.

Qi Yuan asked with a slightly shocked tone, "Who is Zhu Zhuo? If she were so capable, I wouldn't be unfamiliar with her."

"I've been thinking about this too. The Ghost Realm hasn't revealed who killed Di Ming, but I believe it was Zhu Zhuo. Judging from the name, he was a male ghost, and for his cultivation to surpass Di Ming's, he must be over a hundred years old," Yun Xingjun analyzed in detail.

"...This disciple believes that what Master said is true."

"Wei Shuang, tell Han Yun and the other person about the disciple-acceptance ceremony. Your birthday is next month, isn't it? I will prepare for it for you," Yun Xingjun said.

"It's normal for Master to occasionally make a mistake due to the busyness of sect affairs. My birthday is two months from now," Qi Yuan said expressionlessly.

Yun Xingjun showed no embarrassment and calmly said, "Alright. Wei Shuang, go and take care of your household affairs. I won't bother you any longer."

"Yes." Qi Yuan stood up, and as she turned around, her pupils contracted when she caught a glimpse of the book next to her seat.

She walked quickly, her body drenched in cold sweat.

How did "The Legend of the Wild Devil's Artifact" end up with Ruan Yiyun? He was the one who took this ancient book back then!

If Xie Juxing is missing, then the figure she saw on the street that night at the celebration might actually be real.

But if Xie Juxing was secretly taken away, he shouldn't be in a passive position. How could he be alone and have gone to the Ghost Realm? And how was the puppet technique broken?

Qi Yuan felt a chill run down her spine, completely baffled.

She tugged at Ye Hanyun's sleeve, frowned, and whispered, "Master said that the ceremony for accepting disciples requires the participation of the three of us who are his direct disciples. Please tell Ye Munian."

After saying that, she hurriedly ran up Honglin Peak. After closing the door, Qi Yuan sent a text message to Mu Qinghuai: "Xie Juxing is missing. Seeing her that night might not have been an illusion. The book recording the ancient ghost pearl is with Ruan Yiyun."

A breathless voice came from outside the door: "Senior Sister, may I come in?"

"Enter."

Ye Hanyun closed the door and sat down in a chair. He carefully observed Qi Yuan's expression: "Senior sister, is something on your mind? As your junior brother, I might be able to help you. I am, after all, a Nascent Soul cultivator."

“If it’s you, there’s no point in hiding it. I saw Juxing in the Ghost Realm, but I’m not sure if it’s real,” she said.

"Holy crap, you mean Juxing might be in the Ghost Realm? No way! Senior Sister, what are you doing in the Ghost Realm? Didn't you go to accept a commission?!" Ye Hanyun's eyes widened.

Qi Yuan sighed and asked helplessly, "Have you heard about the new Ghost King, Zhu Zhuo? I..."

Ye Hanyun interrupted her, "I know, Senior Sister. You're here to see what the Ghost King looks like and how powerful he is, right? I have connections, so I'll tell you. The information is true and reliable. Zhu Zhuo is a burly, fierce-looking old man, and his cultivation level is probably at the Refinement stage."

"Senior sister? Why aren't you saying anything?" he asked, puzzled.

Qi Yuan was silent for a moment, then rested her chin on her right hand: "Nobody would believe you. I'll be blunt, that Zhu Zhuo is me."

"Oh." Ye Hanyun hadn't reacted yet.

"Huh?! Holy crap, how is this possible? Senior sister, how could you possibly do this?" he exclaimed, dumbfounded.

Qi Yuan didn't answer, remaining silent even as he shouted. After a while, Ye Hanyun quieted down and also fell silent.

He finally calmed down and accepted the fact, because his senior sister wouldn't lie to him.

Ye Hanyun asked hesitantly, "Senior sister, how did you do that? So, you were the one who killed Di Ming?"

She said indifferently, "It's me. It's hard to explain from the beginning, but in short, I inherited the ghostly energy of the Underworld and became the Ghost King."

"Ah... um... that's it." Ye Hanyun spoke incoherently and unclearly.

"If you dare tell anyone, I'll kill you. But I know you won't. I need you to do me a favor," Qi Yuanyun said calmly.

"What kind of help?"

"During the seven-day apprenticeship ceremony, help me stall my master. He'll be outside the hall for most of the ceremony. I need to go to his room to get something."

"Senior sister, you're really daring! I'll take this job. No one has ever been inside Master's room before." Ye Hanyun was both scared and excited.

Qi Yuan waved her hand: "Alright, you can go back now. I'll give you the spirit stones you want after it's done."

"Hey—I don't care about these spirit stones. Senior Sister, you're a Ghost King, such an awesome status. All I want is for you to take me to the Ghost Realm. Are there many beautiful women in the Ghost Realm?" He suddenly turned around as he reached the door.

"Sure, sure. Beautiful lady, just feast your eyes and get lost." She replied without hesitation.

"Okay!" The door slammed shut.

Qi Yuan looked down and noticed that Mu Qinghuai had replied to her text message. She quickly checked the content.

Mu Qinghuai: Received. I want to tell you something: that brocade pouch and scroll belong to Xingguijun. The brocade pouch can be infused with spiritual power to fake demonic energy, and the scroll can be infused with demonic energy to enter an illusionary realm for training.

She took out the two items from her storage bag and infused them with spiritual energy. A familiar aura surrounded her, and she immediately stopped infusing the bag with spiritual energy.

Having spent a lot of time with Mu Qinghuai, she didn't dislike the demonic energy; in fact, she felt a sense of familiarity with it.

Qi Yuan revised and edited the message repeatedly before finally sending two words: "Received."

The disciple-acceptance ceremony was just one day away, and she was quite looking forward to it. This was the first time she had witnessed a disciple-acceptance ceremony in all her years at the Silver Bamboo Sect. The time Ye Hanyun came in before, she was undergoing secret training, and when she came out, she found that she had two more junior brothers.

Xie Juxing and Yun Qing were disciples whom Yun Xingjun took a liking to during his travels, and they did not participate in the disciple-acceptance ceremony.

She began to carefully observe the names on the shortlist; they were several well-known children who would also participate in the Silver Bamboo Sect's grand competition.

Nie Yi, male, 14 years old.

Liu Huaxu, female, 13 years old.

Jin Jin, male, 12 years old.

Wu Rongqiu, female, 14 years old.

These are four children who have garnered special attention in the cultivation world. Since she is to participate, she will definitely have to come into contact with these four.

What Qi Yuan was most interested in was the willow catkins.