Chapter 77 Another Invitation
Qi Qing delayed for another three days before pretending that his complexion had improved after taking purple ginseng, and leisurely went to the head of the Lingxiao Mountain.
The messenger actually waited until now, his patience is quite tricky.
Qi Qing secretly raised his guard, but the atmosphere on Lingxiao Mountain was unexpectedly relaxed.
When the old head of the sect saw him coming, he immediately arranged for an envoy to meet him.
The envoy from Yuqing Sect was wearing a long green gown with dark patterns on the cuffs, which looked luxurious and smooth. It was obvious at first glance that it was very expensive and the man was very wealthy.
Qi Qing looked down at the simple materials worn by himself and the old head of the sect, and couldn't help but feel a little bit unhappy.
He showed no sign of anger, and said humbly, "I'm sorry to have kept the envoy waiting for a long time."
The Yuqing Sect's envoy sat opposite him, smiling wryly, "It's hard to find a famous teacher, so I should have waited for a few days. I didn't expect that the Tiandu Sect actually has a master who can teach disciples to the Spiritual Transformation Stage. It's a real surprise."
This was said in a sarcastic tone, Qi Qing frowned slightly, and the old head of the sect smiled and said, "You are too kind, my disciple is just a little talented."
The man opposite him started playing with the gold and jade ring on his thumb, and glanced at Qi Qing meaningfully: "Although there are not many people with such talent, if it is just based on talent, I am afraid that even the geniuses of the big sects would feel ashamed of themselves. Why do you two have to be so modest?"
Qi Qing didn't respond, but poured him a cup of tea himself.
It would be fine to leave a big sect like Yuqing Sect alone for a few days, but if they really angered the other party, the consequences would be something that Tiandu Sect could not bear.
The envoy was obviously satisfied with his concession. He took the tea and took a sip. His expression lightened up a little. "Since Fellow Daoist Qi is injured, I will make it short."
The old head of the sect winked at Qi Qing, who sat down beside him and said in a neither humble nor arrogant manner, "I'd like to hear the details."
The messenger flicked his sleeves and a scroll flew out.
The scroll flew to the old head of the sect, and the messenger raised his chin, motioning him to unfold it.
The old head of the sect looked at it and was a little surprised: "Sect competition?"
This was obviously beyond his expectations. He handed the scroll to Qi Qing, who was also slightly stunned.
Before coming, he had already imagined the possible actions of the envoy - either questioning about the secret realm or testing the whereabouts of the Fire Lotus, but he did not expect that the other party would send him an invitation letter.
The scroll states that because there are many new talents in the world of cultivation and the last sect competition was more than ten years ago, the Yunxiao Sect has joined forces with several top sects such as the Yuqing Sect and the Xuantian Pavilion to restart the competition and invite all factions to attend the event.
Qi Qing glanced to the end. On the list of invited sects, the first few rows were all famous sects such as the Wanshou Sect and the Dan Sect, while the Tiandu Sect was surprisingly at the bottom, listed alongside a number of unknown small sects.
Is such a small sect worth the Yuqing Sect's envoy's personal trip? Interesting.
He sneered slightly. The big sect was willing to spend a huge amount of money and invited dozens of sects to act as a cover, but in fact it was just to test these monks who came out alive from the secret realm of the Mirage Clan.
Those sect leaders must have long suspected that there was something else behind the death of their elite disciples, but they were unable to determine who the murderer was, so they set up a trap to lure them into it.
Once he goes to someone else's territory, he has no say over life or death.
Qi Qing immediately closed the scroll, covered his lips and coughed twice pretending to be weak: "Sect Competition? It is indeed a grand event. The cultivation world has not been so lively for a long time."
"What do you two think?" the messenger asked casually.
"That's great." Qi Qing looked at the old man and suggested, "Master, why don't you select a newcomer from the sect to go there, so as to promote the reputation of our Tiandu Sect."
Hearing this, the old head nodded happily.
"That's right! If we talk about rookies, the Qianyuan Mountain lineage is the most outstanding. Qianyuan Sword Master has taught us well, so we will leave this matter to him."
The master and the disciple sang in unison, but the messenger narrowed his eyes and suddenly interrupted, "Wait a minute."
His sharp eyes fell on Qi Qing without any concealment, and he smiled and said: "My disciples have heard from the disciples of the Ten Thousand Beasts Sect that Fellow Daoist Qi and his beloved disciple performed quite well in the secret realm. Why don't you let Fellow Daoist Qi and his disciples come to participate in this competition, so that we can open our eyes and see the style of this genius in the God Transformation Stage, what do you think?"
Qi Qing's heart shuddered.
——It turned out to be aimed at Yue Ji!
A disciple of the Myriad Beasts Sect? Could it be that He Chong and Fu Ling... No, I'm afraid it's a plot to sow discord.
The young man's eyes dimmed, revealing a somewhat embarrassed look: "This... is unfortunate. My injuries have not healed yet, and my disciples have already returned home to visit their relatives. I'm afraid I won't be able to make it in time for the competition."
"Don't worry, Fellow Daoist Qi."
The messenger took a sip of tea and said, "The time for the competition has not been decided yet. We can discuss it after your beloved disciple comes back. In addition, if you think the purple ginseng and elixirs are good, the Yuqing Sect has a rich treasury. We can send some more for you to recuperate."
This made the old head of the sect smile a little: "...Although the Tiandu Sect is not as rich as the big sects, it is not short of elixirs, so I won't bother the envoy."
"No problem."
The messenger put down his teacup with a playful look, brushed off his sleeves, stood up and said, "Then it's settled. When Daoist Fellow Qi's beloved disciple returns to the sect, I will send a letter back to the sect to confirm the date for the sect's competition. This way, I will not let down the Sect Master's trust."
From what he said, it was clear that he was determined to force Master Qi Qing and his apprentice into their sight.
After the messenger left, the head of the sect looked unhappy and said, "Disciple, what do you think?"
Qi Qing sneered and said, "If he wants to wait, let him wait."
No matter what, there is no way to escape the suspicion of the big clan. If you refuse today, the next time you get attacked might be a hidden arrow.
His original intention was to leave the envoy alone for another ten days or half a month, but who could blame the Tiandu Sect for being so weak and making it difficult to confront them directly?
——Who would have thought that this wait would actually last two months.
Yue Ji had not returned yet. If Qi Qing had not received a letter on the way to report his safety, he would have almost suspected that the three major sects had plotted against Yue Ji behind his back.
He thought about it and decided to go to Jiang Chenqiu to find out the news.
Previously in the secret realm, Jiang Chenqiu took the initiative to stay in the Yuqing Sect as an insider. When he returned to the sect, he was slightly injured. He should have rested with the spiritual medicine elder, but he ended up returning empty-handed.
When Qi Qing asked, he found out that Jiang Chenqiu had been taken away by Ji Chunfeng to be taken care of.
——Didn’t these two have a fight before Jiang Chenqiu left? How could they still coexist peacefully?
He muttered something and went to Ji Chunfeng's residence. As expected, he saw the chief disciple of the Spiritual Medicine Garden leisurely reading a medical book. It was obvious that his injuries were no longer serious.
The young man walked straight in and sat down under the surprised looks of the two men.
"Yuqingmen?"
Hearing his intention, Jiang Chenqiu frowned and said, "When I left the secret realm, those people who traveled with me were indeed alive, but they were not able to enter the underground lava cave, and they did not know about the birth of the Fire Lotus."
Ji Chunfeng peeled a few spiritual fruits with cores and asked casually, "What are you doing?"
"Of course, he encountered a zombie that looked like a demon cultivator and was tripped by it... Brother, have you heard of the rumors about the demon cultivators in the secret realm?" Jiang Chenqiu asked.
"Demon cultivators..." Qi Qing said thoughtfully, "Indeed, there are rumors that the disciples of the three major sects were killed by demon cultivators."
But which demon cultivator would do such a thankless task?
They kill people but do not take away their treasures. They not only take care of the death but also bury the body, just like doing a good deed every day.
Jiang Chenqiu took the spiritual fruit from Ji Chunfeng, handed it to Qi Qing, and asked, "Brother, do you think...if there really is a demon cultivator, could he be hiding among those of us who made it out alive?"
Qi Qing frowned.
He thought for a moment and said, "Of course it's impossible for the four of us. Although the two people from the Myriad Beast Sect are a bit reckless, they act uprightly and don't have any evil spirit. As for the Pill Sect..."
He thought of Miao Zheng's cold face and the many times that Wen Lao had targeted her, and sighed, "Forget it, it's hard to say."
Jiang Chenqiu's eyes flashed with an ambiguous light, and he touched the teapot with the back of his hand and said softly, "The tea is cold."
Ji Chunfeng just sat down and immediately stood up again: "I'll go change a pot!"
When his footsteps faded away, the usually indifferent chief disciple of the Spiritual Medicine Garden suddenly raised his eyes and looked at Qi Qing intently: "What if the demon cultivator must be among us?"
Qi Qing asked in confusion: "...Ah?"
Did he miss some hidden plot?
He was sure that he and Yue Ji were not cultivators of the devil. As for his senior brother, although they had been separated for a while, judging from his stingy appearance, there was no need for him to go astray.
...Could it be that Jiang Chenqiu himself secretly became a demon cultivator and came to test him?
Qi Qing had all sorts of thoughts flashing through his mind, none of which were certain, and he finally shook his head: "Impossible."
Jiang Chenqiu retracted his gaze and his tone returned to normal: "Brother is right, the devil cultivation is indeed nonsense."
...something's wrong.
There's obviously something else behind his words.
Qi Qing wanted to ask more, but Ji Chunfeng had already returned with the new tea, and Jiang Chenqiu changed the subject as if nothing had happened, not giving him a chance to ask again.
After returning, Qi Qing simply changed a plot card.
He raised the corners of his lips in triumph and snorted.
The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. Isn't that the Riddler? He is the one who has the original novel!
"Yue Ji" in the original novel made rapid progress in his cultivation after returning from the secret realm. Not only did he obtain the Fire Lotus, he also became friends with the direct disciples of several famous families.
It happened that the cultivation world restarted the sect competition, and Dan Sect was invited, so Master Wen naturally sent his most proud disciple "Yue Ji" to attend.
Along the way, "Yue Ji" was accompanied by the fairy Miao Zheng, and reunited with the little sister of the Wanshou Sect halfway, and was very happy. He had performed well in the alchemy conference and the secret realm before, and made friends with many disciples of famous families on the way. He was in the limelight for a while and became a hot candidate for the championship.
Halfway through the race, "Yue Ji" met a special opponent - the daughter of the head of Xuantian Pavilion.
This person is gentle and intelligent. Although he fell into the hands of "Yue Ji", he secretly fell in love with "Yue Ji" because of his polite manner.
Later, she encountered an unexpected riot of spirit beasts, and "Yue Ji" saved her life again.
In order to repay the life-saving grace, Qian Jin told "Yue Ji" a shocking secret - his famous friend actually wanted to drug him on the eve of the final!
This person not only wants to inflict a crushing defeat on "Yue Ji", but also wants to ruin his reputation so that he can seize the Fire Lotus.
Upon hearing the news, "Yue Ji" was unexpectedly not very angry, but just sneered.
This person's dirty tricks... reminded him of an old friend he hadn't seen for a long time.
His senior brother, Qi Qing.
——And then it was gone.
Qi Qingzheng was worried about seeing his name, and the plot was interrupted here, which made him instantly very annoyed.
Although the original storyline may not be accurate, but after almost three hundred chapters, he is mentioned again as a cannon fodder - could he still have a role to play?
...I always feel that this is not a good thing.
Qi Qing took a deep breath and read the book over and over again, but the original book did not even mention a single word about demonic cultivation.
Forget it. Never mind.
Who cares if he has a role or not. He can’t beat Yue Ji in the book, but isn’t it easy to deal with the one in reality?
Perhaps because his name appeared in the original novel, or perhaps Jiang Chenqiu's remarks about magic cultivation had some influence after all, Qi Qing did not sleep very peacefully that night.
The young man tossed and turned, and was about to turn over when he suddenly felt his side sink.
A warm body lay quietly beside him.
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