conspiracy
Upon hearing this name, Qi Yuan felt her blood freeze, a strange chill ran down her spine, and her hair stood on end.
She drew her sword and turned around sharply, staring intently at Yun Qing in front of her.
This person looked exactly like her junior brother, even the smile on her face was identical, and she was holding a white cat in her arms.
"Senior Sister, it's been so long since we last met, and the first thing you do is point your sword at me. It really hurts Junior Brother's feelings." Yun Qing stroked the white cat's fur and said reproachfully.
Qi Yuan ignored her and asked in a trembling voice, "Who exactly are you? Why are you impersonating my junior brother!"
A token of a direct disciple appeared before her eyes; she could see it clearly and there was no doubt about its authenticity.
Yun Qing put the token away, walked naturally into the courtyard, and turned back to ask, "Senior Sister, why don't you come in and talk? I'll explain it to you properly."
Qi Yuan put down her sword, paused for a moment, then pursed her lips and followed him into the house. Wasn't Yun Qing in seclusion?
With a hand reaching towards the seat, Yun Qing placed two pots of tea on the table, gesturing for Qi Yuan to sit down.
She didn't touch her teacup, looked around suspiciously, and asked, "Junior brother, shouldn't you be in seclusion right now?"
"That's how it was originally, but some unexpected things happened. I left seclusion early because I was ambushed by the demons, and the sect leader and master were busy with the sect competition. I was afraid of implicating them, so I had to secretly return to this secret base to avoid trouble." Yun Qing answered fluently, gently stroking the kitten sleeping on his lap.
Looking at Yun Qing's gentle features, Qi Yuan softened her voice: "Junior brother, you should have told us if you encountered danger. Don't come to a place like this alone. How worried the elders would be if they found you were gone. And what's going on with this place?"
She had a good impression of this junior brother; he was neither as unreliable as Ye Hanyun and Ye Munian, nor as well-behaved and sensible as Xie Juxing.
Yun Qing's eyes curved into a tiny smile as she softly said, "In the early years, the Heavenly Bird Secret Realm wasn't dangerous at all; it could even be described as a place for outings and relaxation. When I was a child, I had a friend who loved maple trees and would often wander through the maple forest outside. He accidentally discovered this place and told me about it. From then on, it became our secret base."
"I never expected to have such a connection with my senior sister. She actually came in too." He let out a short chuckle.
Qi Yuan was taken aback. A name flashed through her mind, and she blurted out unconsciously, "Is that person Mu Qinghuai?"
Her expression changed, and she lowered her head, saying, "I was just asking casually; you don't need to answer."
Upon hearing this, Yun Qing's face showed a fleeting look of surprise, before she smiled and said, "Senior Sister is truly clever."
Both of them fell silent.
The white cat stretched, jumped onto the table, and slowly walked over to Qi Yuan, nuzzling against her.
Qi Yuan relaxed and stroked the cat. Yun Qing smiled and said, "It really likes Senior Sister. Its name is Ningning. It loves spiritual power. It seems to be attracted by Senior Sister's spiritual power."
"You should know I'm participating in the trial. There are still ten days left. Since you're staying here, I'll go out in a bit." Qi Yuan tickled Ning Ning.
“No need. Senior sister can stay and leave on the last day. I’m bored living alone, and there’s a spare room in this little house,” Yun Qing said.
"Thank you. When the competition ends, you can return to the sect and tell the sect leader the truth." She no longer refused.
"Senior sister, you can sleep here," Yun Qing said, her eyes crinkling with a smile.
He then pointed to the door next to him and said, "I'll sleep next to you."
Remembering that he had just said there was only one empty room left, Qi Yuan pointed to the door opposite in confusion and asked, "Is that... occupied?"
Yun Qing was stunned, but quickly responded: "My mother's urn is in that room."
"……sorry."
"It doesn't matter."
He showed no sadness or disappointment on his face; in Qi Yuan's eyes, he was forcing a smile. She felt a little guilty. Before she could speak, Yun Qing sat back down and smiled at her: "During the day, Senior Sister, you can play chess with me to pass the time, or we can go outside for a friendly match. However, I probably still can't beat you."
Qi Yuan reached out to probe his spiritual veins, but when she saw him instinctively withdraw his hand and then reach out again, she frowned without showing any emotion and placed her fingers on his hand.
She was startled and quickly withdrew her hand.
Yun Qing asked, "How was it, Senior Sister?"
"It's nothing. You've already formed your core after a year of seclusion. That's quite impressive." Qi Yuan maintained a calm demeanor, but her heart was churning with turmoil.
"That's good. How about trying this tea? It's tea I brought back from Longzhou." He handed over a cup of tea.
Qi Yuan drank it all in one gulp and said calmly, "Not bad, it's more fragrant than Guitian tea, but I don't like drinking tea, so you don't need to brew it for me anymore."
"Okay," Yun Qing said obediently, her eyes carefully observing the subtle expressions on her face, but she didn't notice anything.
"It's evening now, and I'm tired after a long day, so I'm going to rest first. You should go to sleep early too." She turned the doorknob.
As soon as she entered the room, she leaned against the door, trying to appear calm.
Her junior brother's cultivation level increased directly from the peak of Foundation Establishment to the peak of Nascent Soul. But that's not the most important thing. There is a demonic energy in Yun Qing's body that is concealing his cultivation level. People with Nascent Soul stage or below can only see that he is a Golden Core cultivator.
This junior brother, who was in seclusion, probably didn't know that she had broken through her cultivation level and was now at the early stage of the Nascent Soul realm. Therefore, she could see through the unusual things in his body at a glance.
Before she could even catch her breath, she frowned as she looked around the room, sensing something was amiss, but she couldn't alert the culprit.
Qi Yuan activated her divine sense and immediately spotted two inconspicuous image spirit stones in the corner of the room. They were irregularly shaped and quite small.
She pretended nothing was wrong, lay down on the bed, covered her head with the blanket, and pretended to sleep.
So it seems Yun Qing placed those two spirit stones here to monitor her. What exactly is going on with his cultivation level and the demonic energy within him?
The water might have been contaminated, so she didn't actually drink it; she just pretended to gulp it down while actually absorbing the tea with her spiritual power.
With nine days left, she wanted to see what kind of scheme this junior brother had up his sleeve.
*
Ningning, who was walking gracefully on the ground, ran to the opposite door as she passed through the corridor and kept rubbing against the wooden door.
Qi Yuan calmed herself down, stared at Ning Ning for a while, and only turned her gaze back when she saw Yun Qing.
Yun Qing quickly came over and took her arm to the outside: "Ningning rubs against the door or wall when she's itchy. Senior sister, come and sit down."
He gripped the teacup nervously and asked, seemingly casually, "Senior Sister, do you stay indoors all day without going out?"
"Of course not. Rather than staying cooped up inside, I'll naturally go outside to practice during the day. It wouldn't be good if I got rusty," Qi Yuan said, going along with his words.
Yun Qing breathed a sigh of relief and tentatively asked, "Senior Sister is really hardworking. Even with such a high level of cultivation, she is unwilling to slack off."
"But I've been stuck at the peak of the Nascent Soul stage. It's been half a year since I last broke through to the late Nascent Soul stage, and I don't know when I'll be able to break through to the Divine Transformation stage." Her tone was troubled.
"Senior Sister, don't put too much pressure on yourself. Only one person under the age of twenty can become a Nascent Soul cultivator in a hundred years. You are only seventeen. For ordinary cultivators, you are an existence that is unattainable." Yun Qing said softly.
Qi Yuan also praised, "You are not bad either. You are the same age as me and have already formed your core at a young age. You can be considered a prodigy."
She got up and walked outside, saying meaningfully, "I'm going outside to cultivate. Junior brother, don't slack off either."
Yun Qing quickly replied, "Of course."
Qi Yuan didn't return to the house until it got dark.
She heard a crashing sound coming from inside when she entered the room, but it quickly became quiet again.
Just as she was about to turn into the corridor to investigate, Yun Qing came out first, her forehead still sweaty: "Senior sister, you've worked hard. You must get some rest and recharge your energy."
"Thank you. Junior brother, where have you been? Why do you look so hot?" Qi Yuan asked.
"I exercise in my room by myself. It's cold and I'm physically weak, so I stay indoors," he said with a smile.
"That won't do. Junior brother, you still have to practice with me next time. You are not only a cultivator but also my personal disciple. You must overcome this difficulty." She said seriously, her tone leaving no room for refusal.
"I...disciple obeys." Yun Qing realized that Qi Yuan was using his status as the eldest disciple to command him, and after a pause, he still agreed.
Qi Yuan glanced at the door across the street supposedly containing the urn, a hint of suspicion flashing in her eyes, but she quickly went into her own room. The thought that Yun Qing would know everything she did, even if she just turned over, made her extremely uncomfortable.
There must be something strange about the room that Yun Qing wouldn't let him into; the reason he had to stay inside must be related to the things in the room.
The next morning.
"Junior brother, since you're free anyway, why don't I tell you about the sect's grand competition?" Qi Yuan suddenly said this without warning.
"Of course. The direct disciples of the Eight Sects are all very powerful." Yun Qing calmly drank his tea, feeling that the other party was acting strangely.
Qi Yuan smiled and said, "No, I don't want to talk about the direct disciples of the Eight Sects. I'll only talk about our Silver Bamboo Sect."
Yun Qing looked slightly surprised but remained silent.
She paused, then continued, "Of the five direct disciples of the Silver Bamboo Sect, only three participated. Do you know that Junior Sister Xie has gone missing?"
Yun Qing's pupils shrank suddenly, and her expression changed abruptly.
He looked away, his grip on the teacup tightening, a worried expression on his face: "Really? Senior Sister, you must be joking! How could Junior Sister have disappeared? Isn't she the daughter of Lingguang Pavilion?"
Seeing his reaction, Qi Yuan understood and sighed, "I heard Ye Hanyun say that before she ran away from home, she said she would participate in the sect competition. I didn't see her this time. It seems that she has really disappeared."
She looked at the sky outside the window and said, "Let's go. You must go out and practice your skills."
Yun Qing hesitated for a moment, then said, "Okay."
Qi Yuan kept a close eye on the time, and from morning until noon, Yun Qing showed no abnormalities.
As dusk approached and she was meditating, Yun Qing suddenly said, "Senior Sister, I have a spiritual plant in my room that needs watering at this time every day. Could you...?"
"Okay." Qi Yuan's decisiveness surprised him; she agreed so easily.
Her gaze as she looked at Yun Qing's retreating figure was inscrutable.
Qi Yuan had already noted down the approximate timeframe. How could the things in that room be limited to just spiritual plants? Junior Sister Xie's disappearance was also related to Yun Qing.
Disappointment welled up in her heart.
She didn't know when Yun Qing would make his move. Keeping her here was a pretense; what was his real purpose? She was forbidden from sending any messages during the trial, and if there was any real danger, she would crush the jade token.
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