Fanzhou.
Northern Borders.
Wendao Sword Sect.
The night Xu Xian returned, Zuiwan Residence was filled with laughter and joy.
Xu Xian treated everyone to meat and wine, making for a very lively atmosphere.
After a year of travels and many twists and turns, returning to the sect felt as if nothing had changed.
A year had passed.
Tu Kongkong was now at the late stage of qi refining.
Xia Chu Yi was at the mid stage of qi refining.
Zhang Yang and Lin Qianqian still remained at the core formation stage...
Sixteen years of bitter cultivation had proven to be a difficult journey, and even with the best resources of the Wendao Sword Sect and the extra help Xu Xian had given them, progress slowed once they reached core formation.
Every breakthrough in a sub-stage was like trying to gain an extra inch at the top of a hundred-foot pole.
It was hard.
In Zhang Yang's words, cultivation was truly difficult.
This only highlighted how lucky Yao Xiaoxiao was to have reached the sixth stage in a single thought after her misfortune.
While the others' cultivation levels had not increased significantly, Lu Yuan had quietly broken through to the seventh stage, reaching the same level as Xu Xian.
Xu Xian was not surprised by this.
Lu Yuan's cultivation was different from others, and Xu Xian guessed that he was simply recovering his previous power.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have been so fast.
Besides, the man was born as a peak sixth stage being, so it was only reasonable for him to reach the seventh stage after a few years.
If he hadn't spent those two years using his essence blood to treat Yao Xiaoxiao, Xu Xian thought he might have been even faster.
They drank under the moon as a gentle breeze blew.
Li Qingshan showed up uninvited once again, looking quite displeased, thinking that he really should make Xu Xian move out.
His reason was that Xu Xian often ate and drank without calling him.
It didn't matter if he wasn't invited to eat, but being left out of the drinking... that was unacceptable!
This was his home.
Who does that?
Xu Xian was annoyed the moment he saw him and didn't want to pay him any mind.
Seeing him shamelessly drinking the God-Demon Drunk he had brought back only made his mood worse.
"Don't drink my wine," Xu Xian said.
"Don't live in my house," Li Qingshan countered.
"I'm staying," Xu Xian snapped.
"And I'm drinking," Li Qingshan replied stubbornly.
Two grown men were bickering like children...
Li Qingshan told Xu Xian not to be so stingy and to learn from him about being generous, saying that with so many people staying and eating at his place for free, had he ever said a single word of complaint?
One must have some sense of propriety.
Xu Xian was so angry he laughed, pointing at the two little girls squatting by the pot and devouring food.
"You really have some nerve. Look at how hungry you've made these two children."
Li Qingshan's eyes flickered as he brushed it off. "What does that have to do with me?"
Xu Xian cursed loudly, "Don't play dumb with me. You think I don't know? I left them each a million merit points. Did you trick them out of it? How could you even bring yourself to do that? You're a real piece of work."
Li Qingshan corrected him, "Let's get the facts straight. What do you mean by 'trick'? I won those. One must accept their losses in a bet."
Betting against two children?
You really have no shame.
The more Xu Xian thought about it, the angrier he got. It was one thing to be a harsh teacher, but this was too much. He could tolerate Li Qingshan messing with his own disciple, as that was somewhat part of the Wendao Sword Sect's tradition.
But why the hell was he messing with Xu Xian's disciple?
"I shouldn't have left my niece with you."
Li Qingshan corrected him again, "Be clear about it. None of you wanted her at the time, alright? Hurry up and take her away."
He had suffered quite a bit himself.
It wasn't the stubbornness of a jerk that was scary, but the shamelessness of an honest-looking man. Xu Xian didn't want to waste any more words and reached out his hand.
"Stop talking nonsense. Give the money back, or get out. Don't drink my wine."
Li Qingshan said calmly, "No money!"
"Where's the money?"
Li Qingshan said slowly, "Go ask your senior sister for it."
"What?"
Li Qingshan took a swig of the wine, suddenly looking sorrowful.
Xu Xian asked tentatively, "Did you lose again?"
Li Qingshan rubbed his nose and didn't speak.
Xu Xian continued to ask, "All those merit points... you lost them all?"
He remembered that when Lu Yuan joined the sect, he had given Li Qingshan a significant amount of merit points.
Was it all gone?
Li Qingshan's silence gave him the answer.
"You really are a waste!" Xu Xian said, speechless.
Li Qingshan got defensive and retorted, "What do you know? She cheated!"
"Then why didn't you just stop gambling?"
"You think I wanted to gamble?"
The two of them started arguing again.
Xu Xian was truly at a loss for words.
He seriously suspected that Ye Xianyu was the one behind the scheme to trick the two little ones as well.
"I'm truly done with this. What kind of freaks and weirdos populate this sect? Everyone is a damn gambler."
Lu Yuan found the whole thing hilarious and was laughing so hard his stomach hurt.
Xu Xian glared at him. "What are you laughing at? I told you to watch the kids, and look how hungry they are. Couldn't you have kept an eye on them?"
"Just because you wear a cloth over your eyes, do you really think you're blind?"
Lu Yuan was offended.
What does this have to do with me? I don't need to eat.
Besides,
he thought drinking porridge was perfectly fine.
It was easy to digest.
And,
by the standards of the beast race, it wasn't a bad thing for juniors to suffer a little during their cultivation.
Those raised in luxury,
never grow into towering trees.
He felt that the educational philosophy of the Wendao Sword Sect suited his taste quite well. Everyone worked for themselves and relied on their own abilities.
They truly lived by the principle that while a master leads you through the door, cultivation depends on the individual.
He stopped pretending and reached out his hand with a dark expression. "Give me back my cloak."
Xu Xian laughed it off. "Drink, drink!"
Lu Yuan was speechless.
Xu Xian pulled Li Qingshan aside to discuss how they could trick some points back from Ye Xianyu, and Li Qingshan was very enthusiastic.
He felt that this matter couldn't be delayed and should be done as soon as possible.
The more they talked, the more excited they became.
Meanwhile, Ye Xianyu spent the entire night sneezing over at the Peach Blossom Immortal Abode...
Xia Chu Yi and Tu Kongkong ate until their bellies were round, sitting back-to-back on the grass and looking at the star-filled pond with happiness written all over their faces.
Xia Chu Yi said, "Now that my uncle is back, our hard days are finally over."
Tu Kongkong said, "My master is the best."
Xia Chu Yi replied, "Of course. Just look at whose uncle he is..."
Zhang Yang and Lin Qianqian left halfway through the party.
Zhang Yang was thick-skinned and praised Xu Xian the whole way, saying how impressive it was for him to reach the seventh stage before even turning thirty. Lin Qianqian, however, was a bit melancholy.
The gap between them was widening.
They had entered the sect together and promised to work hard for longevity together.
Now,
they had been left behind.
"Yangyang, we really need to work harder at our cultivation."
"Am I not working hard enough?"
"Then work even harder."
"Uh..."
If hard work was all it took, why would there be any mediocre people in the world?
After the party ended, Xu Xian first went to find Yao Xiaoxiao and gave her the Spirit-Sealing Seal, along with the instructions on how to use it.
Yao Xiaoxiao tried to activate it and found that it really worked. With Xu Xian's help, in less than the time it takes to burn a stick of incense, she actually managed to suppress the fluctuations of the yin qi.
And she,
could finally speak.
The yin qi had taken a nap, and when it woke up, its world had collapsed.
Yao Xiaoxiao was moved.
Her heterochromatic eyes shimmered with tears.
Like the young girl she once was, she sobbed, "Wu wu, Little Grand-Uncle, you're too good to me. I don't even know how to repay you."
Xu Xian said very seriously, "If you want to repay me, do you think it's possible to fill my remaining eight acres of spirit herb fields with immortal plants?"
Yao Xiaoxiao froze for a moment before nodding heavily. "I can!"
Xu Xian was gratified. "Keep it up!"
"Okay!"
The fourth floor of the Sword Tower was not easy to build, so he couldn't let those around him off the hook.
He had to take action when the time was right.
After everything was settled, Xu Xian finally returned to his own room. Just as he entered and prepared to sit in meditation, Lu Yuan chased him in.
"Xu Xian,"
"Give me back my cloak..."
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