Chapter 20 Just Friends
Medical Peak.
Upon hearing that Yan Shuoyun was preparing things for Yan Er, Xu Jingjie immediately agreed.
If we were to say who Xu Jingjie could at least be considered a "human" in front of throughout the entire Xuanqing Sect, besides his own master and the sect leader, the only other person would be Xiao Yan'er.
When the latter was sent to Medical Peak, she was only a tiny little thing, sickly all day long, like a kitten whose survival was uncertain. Even if Xu Jingjie was a terrible person, he wouldn't have bothered with such a tiny child. As the years passed, watching that sickly little thing grow into a young girl, although he didn't worry about her as much as her older brother Yan Shuoyun, he still felt a bit like a younger sister to her.
Yan Shuoyun was aware of this as well, so he only gave a brief instruction and left Xu Jingjie to make arrangements as he saw fit.
After Xu Jingjie readily agreed, she casually took out a list she had managed to salvage when she ran out of there—a list densely packed with the names of the spiritual herbs.
He raised his hand and slapped the list in front of Yan Shuoyun.
The meaning is clear: the items on this list are the payment he wants.
Yan Shuoyun's eyes twitched.
This list was clearly prepared well in advance, but he hadn't said anything about it until now.
Even if Xu Jingjie had excellent connections, there was no way he could have known in advance, so how could he expect "reward"? This was clearly a scheme to swindle him elsewhere.
Yan Shuoyun finally understood why the other party had been talking about the spiritual herbs Xiao Hanzhou had sent these past few days. If eight parts of the regret was that he hadn't seen the two of them fight, then the remaining two parts were waiting for him here.
Yan Shuoyun only glanced at him twice and knew that this person had started to shamelessly throw his face on the ground and step on it. His skin was so thick that even a top-grade defensive magical artifact would be ashamed of itself!
However, Yan Shuoyun did not refuse outright. He simply put the list away and said, "I will keep an eye out for you once I enter the secret realm."
Whether you can find it or not depends entirely on fate.
Xu Jingjie didn't care. After all, there's a saying, "Ask the sky, then bargain." He was originally planning to "get whatever he could by extorting money." Now that Yan Shuoyun had asked him to help Yan Er, it gave him a legitimate reason to ask for money. In that case, Yan Shuoyun would definitely not come empty-handed, which was already an unexpected bonus.
Seemingly unwilling to be extorted like this, Yan Shuoyun paused and then said, "Prepare one more person for me."
Xu Jingjie immediately knew who the extra person was. He rolled his eyes and said, "Then I need to add more items to this list."
Yan Shuoyun gave him a cold laugh and turned to leave.
Xu Jingjie shouted from behind, "No! Let me add a few more things, and I'll let you cook the rice in the secret realm and get it done..."
Before Xu Jingjie could finish his last word, a blade of light grazed his ear, shaving off several strands of his hair before smashing the medicine hut from which the two people had just escaped.
Xu Jingjie blurted out a "f***" and, activating his Swift Wind Technique, took off running.
As he ran upwind, he made a series of hand seals, trying to disperse the spreading medicinal mist. But just before he could do it, he remembered that many of the bottles and jars inside him had a poisonous effect that could penetrate a cultivator's body through spiritual energy traces. So he quickly stopped and started throwing defensive magic items behind him.
No one knows how much he had ruined, but Xu Jingjie finally escaped death, lying on the ground panting. Even so, his mouth was still grumbling, "Isn't this just because his feelings were exposed, and he got angry out of embarrassment?!"
No one paid any attention to this, and he was getting tired of talking to himself. After cursing and swearing for a while, Xu Jingjie suddenly had an idea and muttered to himself, "You've ruined my medicine hut like this, it's not unreasonable for me to charge some interest, is it?"
As if affirming himself, he nodded quite confidently after he finished speaking.
Although Ren Yi gave the jade pendant to Yan Er, he was not finished with what he needed to do.
He gave the mark to someone, but he still had to seal his soul to distinguish his current identity as "Ren Yi" from his Sword Master disguise, so as to avoid the embarrassing situation of the secret realm recognizing him as its master as soon as he entered. You know, he went to the secret realm this time to quietly bring his own system back, and he didn't want to make a big scene at all.
Furthermore, the secret realm has a priority order for intruders. If the owner of the secret realm enters, he will likely be immediately judged as the highest priority. In this case, the effect of the divine soul mark on Yan'er's body will be negligible.
Covering the soul with a seal to disguise it as another existence is unprecedented in this small world, but for the Transmigration Bureau, it is already a fairly mature technology. As a tool department employee who often wears multiple aliases in one world, Ren Yi himself has used it several times and understands the principles of this technology.
However, when it comes to actually doing hands-on work, this is indeed Ren Yi's first time - before this, this task had always been done by the system's Xiao Yi.
As the time for action approached, Ren Yi felt a little uncertain.
Since the system wasn't with him, he couldn't even access the database; he could only rely on his vague memories from his onboarding training to manually copy data.
This should be how it should be?
...What should be done in the second step? Should we first construct a virtual state or first shield our own soul waveband?
...
Is the mental structure of the outer sea of consciousness Beta 3 or Gamma 9?
Forget it, let's just use a generic structure.
...
…………
Regarding his final result, Ren Yi could only be certain that he was definitely not the one who would be recognized as the master of the secret realm as soon as he entered.
Ren Yi has a very optimistic attitude.
That's enough to confirm. The rest will be easy. Once he finds the system, we can have the local authorities reinforce it a second time, and then we won't have to worry about any more problems.
The day before the secret realm opened, a huge flying boat took off, and the air currents it created, guided by spiritual energy, revealed the sect mark of the Xuanqing Sect.
The sheer size of the object and the sheer amount of spiritual energy it generated created a shock that was unforgettable even for cultivators.
Ren Yi remained relatively calm.
As a staff member of the Transmigration Bureau, he had far more experience than ordinary people. He had seen steel behemoths made entirely of human technology, witnessed the end of planets, witnessed the fall of gods, and even fought against a world-destroying demonic dragon... Such scenes were nothing to him. He only showed a slight surprise at the Xuanqing Sect's unexpectedly strong foundation before quickly regaining his composure.
Aside from Ren Yi, Yan Shuoyun was probably the calmest person present. As the senior disciple of the Xuanqing Sect and the leader of the group heading to the secret realm, he already knew about this, so he wasn't as surprised as the others.
He even had the leisure to smile at Ren Yi and whisper, "Master is probably still in the storeroom right now, feeling sentimental about the empty spirit stone warehouse."
Yan Shuoyun really didn't mince words when revealing his master's secrets.
Ren Yi: "..."
Whether it was the previous dispatch of disciples to guard the sect's emptiness, to the point that even the sect elders were conscripted, or this time, it was obvious that activating the flying boat would cost countless spirit stones each time, the Xuanqing Sect's sect leader was truly a very face-conscious old man.
However, in matters between two continents, face is often more than just a matter of face. Ren Yi could understand this point. He could only sigh in his heart for the sect leader who looked like a hermit, completely untouched by worldly affairs.
When the airship is large enough, being inside is almost no different from standing on the ground. However, it is still just an airship, and the space is limited. Many families are arranged to live together in a large courtyard, which is of course arranged according to the closeness of their relationships—after all, even the Xuanqing Sect does not want these people to fight on the airship—the Xiao family and the Bai family are both aristocratic families in Tianhuan City, and their relationship is so close, so it is only natural that they were arranged together.
A familiar Dongzhou native passed by and, seeing Xiao Hanzhou and Bai Jinliu walking side by side inside, couldn't help but joke, "I was wondering when your Xiao and Bai families would unite as one, but it's happened ahead of schedule... When are you two going to have your wedding ceremony? I'd love to come and have a drink at your wedding."
The speaker's words were meant to be sarcastic and witty, but the reactions of the two people involved were far beyond his expectations.
The man vaguely realized that something was wrong, but the people around him had already gathered in twos and threes after hearing that sentence and started to make a fuss. He wanted to say something more but didn't know how to speak.
The two people who were teased—
Bai Jinliu was taken aback for a moment, then quickly showed a surprised and troubled expression.
Xiao Hanzhou frowned and looked directly at the person who had spoken, "Brother Fan..."
Before Xiao Hanzhou could ask where the rumor had come from, he spotted a familiar figure on the outskirts of the crowd. His voice faltered, and his gaze instinctively followed the figure.
Ren Yi was also embarrassed at this moment. He did not expect that he would run into this scene when he just took Yan Er out for a stroll.
Ren Yi made up his mind that he would rather take a detour than pass through here again next time, but the current situation still needed to be resolved.
If it were up to Ren Yi, the best course of action would be to pretend he saw and heard nothing and quietly pass by, making himself invisible. That way, everyone would be happy. However, the Chosen One never intended to run away. Xiao Hanzhou's thoughts were clearly different from his. The other man's gaze was fixed on him. With a cultivator's heightened senses, Ren Yi couldn't ignore it even if he wanted to.
Realizing he couldn't escape, Ren Yi stopped and looked back.
Their eyes met, and Ren Yi smiled sincerely.
This expression made Xiao Hanzhou momentarily lose his composure.
It seems that after their reunion in Xizhou, A-Yi never showed him such affection again, and even his smiles were politely distant.
Seeing the other party's attitude again, Xiao Hanzhou couldn't help but feel as if he had been in another world. But before the joy of regaining what he had lost could rise in his chest, the other party's next words threw him directly into the Youbei Cold Pool.
He heard the man say with a smile, "Congratulations."
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