Chapter 21

Mu Qingzhou quickly devised a plan: "Use the Prime Minister's residence as a breakthrough point to secretly observe Zhang Xuexin. We can't get into Lanxi Pavilion, but Zhang Xuexin still has a younger brother who knows something."

Shi Anxu raised a question: "They will definitely be on guard after this incident, and we cannot guarantee the authenticity of what we overheard."

Mu Qingzhou gave Shi Anxu a reassuring look, "There's no need to worry about this senior brother. I have my own way of distinguishing the real from the fake."

Shi Anxu believed that Mu Qingzhou had a way to distinguish between truth and falsehood, but it seemed that Mu Qingzhou had done everything by himself and he hadn't contributed much.

So he asked, "What do I need to do?"

Mu Qingzhou replied, "My senior brother and I observed in secret together."

Shi Anxu pursed his lips. Mu Qingzhou had asked him to observe secretly with him, which was no different from not assigning him any task at all.

No, he wants to add more tasks for himself.

Just as Shi Anxu was about to speak, Mu Qingzhou continued, "However, the 'harmony' I'm referring to is that my senior brother is at the Prime Minister's residence, while I am at Lanxi Pavilion."

Upon hearing about Lanxi Pavilion, An Xu couldn't sit still any longer. "It's too dangerous. I don't agree. Although Lanxi Pavilion can't compare to our Qingyun Sect, it is still a sect. There are many elders and immortals in the pavilion. If it is discovered, it will be a dead end."

Mu Qingzhou shook his head, "We simply can't complete this mission without going to Lanxi Pavilion. Someone has to go..."

Shi Anxu interrupted Mu Qingzhou, "Someone has to go, and it has to be me!"

Hearing Shi Anxu's words, Mu Qingzhou's tone turned cold, "No, my senior brother's cultivation is not as high as mine. He said that if I went there, I would be doomed, and my senior brother would be even more so."

Shi Anxu stopped arguing with Mu Qingzhou about who should go and asked seriously, "Can you guarantee you won't be discovered at Lanxi Pavilion? Do you know the cultivation level of the Lanxi Pavilion Master? Can you guarantee you won't get injured...?"

Mu Qingzhou's answer was unusually straightforward: "Yes, I can do it all."

Shi Anxu said, "Okay, I believe you, just don't let me see you injured."

Mu Qingzhou raised his hand and swore to the heavens, "Heavenly deities above, I, Mu Qingzhou, hereby swear that I will never let my senior brother see me injured, and I will never go back on my word! If I break this oath, I am willing to be annihilated, soul and spirit..."

Shi Anxu immediately covered Mu Qingzhou's mouth, "Pah, pah, pah, what kind of poisonous oath are you making? I believe you, quickly learn from me and say pah, pah, pah."

Mu Qingzhou mimicked Shi Anxu's mannerisms, saying, "Pah, pah, pah."

Shi Anxu looked at Mu Qingzhou earnestly, "You must prioritize yourselves. Whether the mission is completed or not, the sect leader won't do anything to us. At most, we'll leave a bad impression on him and be accused of incompetence. A bad impression is a bad impression. We don't need their approval; self-approval is the most important thing, understand?"

Mu Qingzhou's eyes were almost brimming with tenderness. "I understand. I never thought about wanting the sect to approve of me. It's enough that you, Senior Brother, approve of me." I love Senior Brother now, so I cherish my life very much. I won't let myself die.

Shi Anxu felt her face flush after Mu Qingzhou's words, and was a little embarrassed. "Don't think that just my approval is enough. You still need to gain recognition from the outside world."

Mu Qingzhou looked at him in the same way she had looked at Shi Anxu before, "I don't need it, as long as my senior brother approves of me, that's enough."

Having no other choice, Shi Anxu could only agree with Mu Qingzhou, saying, "Okay, as long as Senior Brother approves of you, that's fine. Senior Brother will definitely be the first person to support you, and I absolutely approve of you."

After saying that, he sighed again, "Sigh, my money-making plan has to be postponed again."

Mu Qingzhou said, "There's no need to postpone it. We don't need to monitor them 24 hours a day. We can just pick a few important time slots. We can still leave time to build the reading area."

Shi Anxu began to care about Mu Qingzhou's health. He looked Mu Qingzhou up and down and asked, "Junior brother, can your body withstand such high-intensity operation every day?"

Mu Qingzhou replied, "It can't be considered high-intensity operation. Observing in secret doesn't require much spiritual power or strength, while building the reading area only requires physical strength. My body can support this level of intensity."

Shi Anxu thought about it and agreed. Observing secretly only required concealing one's figure and sneaking around. Moreover, they started building the reading area today, so it should be completed soon without much effort.

He nodded. "Okay, I trust you. Now we can start building the reading area."

After they finished speaking, the two of them went to the library together.

Shi Anxu made a fist with his right hand, raised his thumb, and placed his hand at eye level, gesturing back and forth towards the library.

The best location for the reading area is near the library. It seems that the open space around the library is large enough to build a reading area right next to it.

Shi Anxu gestured to indicate a suitable location, then pointed to the spot to the right of the main entrance of the library and said to Mu Qingzhou, "How about we build the reading area here?"

Mu Qingzhou scanned the spot Shi Anxu pointed to from all angles; it was indeed a very good location.

"Yes, this is a good location."

Shi Anxu thought to himself smugly: Of course, look who chose the spot. As someone who has studied for twelve years, his intuition for choosing directions is quite accurate.

“Then let’s choose this location for the reading area. I remember that Master had a lot of materials left over from building the spirit dwelling, so we’ll just use those materials to build it. You wait here, I’ll go get the materials.”

Mu Qingzhou nodded and obediently stayed where he was.

Su Qinyi liked to store large quantities of things in the warehouse, so the building materials were unsurprisingly there.

The storehouse and library are not far away; just walk through the Fairy Fruit Forest and turn right.

Shi Anxu arrived at the warehouse door, opened it with his disciple token, walked to the area where building materials were stored, and put all the remaining materials into his spatial ring.

After finishing, he left the storeroom decisively and returned to the library.

Mu Qingzhou remained standing in the same spot where he had left, without moving an inch.

Shi Anxu took the materials out of his spatial ring, sorted them on the ground, and asked, "Junior brother, do you think these materials are enough? Is anything missing?"

Mu Qingzhou squatted down, picked up a wooden board, and swung it to smash it on the ground.

The moment Mu Qingzhou saw Mu Qingzhou's movement, he stepped forward to try and stop her.

Unfortunately, he was too far away to reach it in time; the materials had already been smashed to pieces on the ground.

He asked Mu Qingzhou, puzzled, "Junior brother, I asked you if there were any missing materials, why did you smash them?"

Mu Qingzhou waved his hand to clear away the fragments on the ground and replied, "It's enough, there's just one extra piece. I was just testing the strength."

Shi Anxu recalled the scene of the object shattering into pieces the moment it hit the ground, and said uncertainly, "That material didn't seem to be that strong."

Mu Qingzhou said calmly, "It's sturdy. I used too much force just now."

Shi Anxu breathed a sigh of relief, "As long as it's sturdy, that's fine, otherwise I'd have to go down to the mountain to make more purchases."

Mu Qingzhou said, "I won't let my senior brother go. If anyone's going, it'll be me."

Shi Anxu immediately shook his head, "That won't do. I should be the one to do this. Your task is to cultivate diligently."

Shi Anxu had told him so many times that his task was to cultivate diligently, so he couldn't help but wonder why his task was simply to cultivate diligently. Was it just because he had good talent?

No, that can't be. It must be that when I reach the pinnacle of my cultivation, it will benefit my senior brother in some way, but what kind of benefit that is remains unknown.

He tentatively asked, "Senior brother, why do you always say that my task is to cultivate diligently?"

Shi Anxu paused for a few seconds, opened his mouth, and replied, "With such talent, it would be a waste not to cultivate properly. Besides, the cultivation world needs people like you to protect all living beings."

Mu Qingzhou didn't believe it and asked again, "Is that really all there is to it?"

Shi Anxu didn't expect Mu Qingzhou to be so perceptive. He had told Mu Qingzhou to cultivate several times, and Mu Qingzhou had noticed something.

He looked into Mu Qingzhou's eyes and said, word by word, "That's really all there is to it."

Seeing that Shi Anxu still maintained this attitude, Mu Qingzhou stopped asking questions and said apologetically, "I'm sorry, senior brother, I shouldn't have doubted you."

Shi Anxu was magnanimous and forgave Mu Qingzhou directly, saying, "It's alright. It's just that Senior Brother always talks about cultivation, which made you misunderstand. Senior Brother was also at fault. Let's let this matter go and start building our reading."

Mu Qingzhou nodded and summoned Qingyuan to draw a rough outline of the ground.

Shi Anxu looked at the frame and used his spiritual power to lift the frame and assemble it.

With their collaboration, the basic shape of a house quickly appeared before their eyes.

The structure of the house has only been built so far; it still needs to be covered with panels before it can be fully completed.

Shi Anxu and Mu Qingzhou exchanged a glance and tacitly used their spiritual power to lift the board and complete the final work.

As the sun sets, the afterglow of the sunset shines on the reading area.

Shi Anxu looked at his and Mu Qingzhou's masterpiece with satisfaction, and said to Mu Qingzhou with a beaming smile, "I really didn't expect that we could build the reading area in just one day. I originally thought it would take at least five or six days, and I was worried that your body might not be able to handle it."

After saying that, he suddenly turned to face Mu Qingzhou and said with a hint of mischief, "You didn't know all along, and then you didn't tell me, did you?"

Mu Qingzhou turned her face away, her tone stiff, "No."

Shi Anxu then turned to Mu Qingzhou and said, "If you don't have one, you don't have one. Don't be so shameless, huh?"

Mu Qingzhou coughed softly, "I just feel that the distance is a bit too close."

Shi Anxu looked at Mu Qingzhou and then at himself, and said in confusion, "It's not close. There's enough room between us for me to throw a punch."

After saying that, as if he wanted to prove something to Mu Qingzhou, he clenched his fist and placed it between the two of them.

The fist landed perfectly between the two of them. Shi Anxu raised an eyebrow. "See, I told you so."

Mu Qingzhou looked at Shi Anxu's fist positioned between the two of them. "Yes, that's right. But I feel it's a bit too close."

Shi Anxu withdrew his hand and took a step back. "If you think it's too close, then I'll take a step back. If you think it's too far, please tell me, and I'll take a step forward."

Mu Qingzhou clenched his right fist through his clothes. He really couldn't bear to let go of his senior brother like this. He just wanted to hold his senior brother tightly in his hands.

"good."