"Just leaving like that?"
Yunxiao watched Chu Xingchen leave without a shred of reluctance, still unable to understand.
He'd specifically ditched Daoist Yuyang and Xu Jin to come to Jiangyue City—a place practically in the middle of nowhere for cultivators.
He'd said there was something important, but in the end he just found a bumbling monk and drank all night.
Dawn broke, and he left. Didn't take the monk. Didn't take the mortal the monk had raised either.
Honestly, Yunxiao was starting to think Chu Xingchen was just messing with him.
Chu Xingchen looked refreshed, his gaze sweeping to the far distance—this Tribulation Transcendence cultivation was no joke. Everything felt completely different.
Having leapt nearly an entire major realm, Chu Xingchen still didn't fully understand his own power yet and needed some time to adjust.
Also, the system that used to be stingy as anything had been shockingly generous this time.
He'd have been grateful to make it to Late Mahayana, let alone praise the system for being generous. But the system had jumped his cultivation reward all the way to Tribulation Transcendence.
Honestly, given what Chu Xingchen knew about this system, without Tribulation Transcendence cultivation he probably wouldn't have been able to withstand Xu Linglong's final gambit.
"What's the point of taking a Golden Core monk with you? So he can recite heart sutras for you?" Chu Xingchen walked with a light step. "The thing I wanted was what the monk was hiding. Got it, so I can leave."
Chu Xingchen's reasoning made sense, but the chance he was just making things up was equally high.
Yunxiao had no way to verify, so he honestly shut his mouth and didn't ask further. If he was being messed with, so be it—it was still better than watching Chu Xingchen charge into danger.
But this comfort didn't last long.
Chu Xingchen suddenly spoke: "Today counts as a rest day. Last time we confirmed a location where Xu Linglong had appeared. When we get back, I'll personally lead a squad to hunt her. Any trace, I'll chase directly."
"If today doesn't count as rest, how about we go back and have another drink with that monk?"
"Right now he's in the middle of a family drama—there's probably tears everywhere. Going over without shedding a couple drops would be embarrassing, and there'd be no point anyway. Hunting Xu Linglong is more interesting."
"That's a bit too interesting for comfort."
Yunxiao sighed helplessly, but didn't argue.
First, Chu Xingchen basically never listened to advice. Second, he could never win a debate against Chu Xingchen.
The summary was this: Chu Xingchen knew he was wading into danger, but the reason he'd risk death to do so was called—the common people.
Those four words out, and any persuasion seemed petty.
Two streaks of hidden light shot out from an unremarkable corner of Jiangyue City.
Eastern Divine Continent.
Ye Antao stared frantically at the pile of jade tokens on her desk, feeling like her brain was about to sprout a second growth.
This was nothing like what she'd imagined.
Wasn't it supposed to be a clash of blood and flesh, a collision of divine arts and wicked sorcery?
How had she ended up in a battle against a pile of jade tokens?
It wasn't that no one was helping Ye Antao process messages—it was that only the urgent-decision jade tokens made it to her desk after being filtered.
The less critical and marginal messages had already been screened out earlier.
And these messages had already been specially condensed based on Ye Antao's level. But when things truly got urgent, there wasn't much time to condense, so they were passed along as-is.
You could ask Ye Antao to go fight, sure. But ask her to deal with this stuff? She'd rather die.
Ye Antao clutched a jade token, too drained to probe it with her consciousness. She asked:
"Any news from Senior Brother Yunxiao? Why hasn't he come back yet?"
"No news for now." Someone replied.
Ye Antao sighed softly again.
"It seems Fellow Daoist Ye needs help."
A new voice came from outside the hall. Ye Antao looked up and saw a woman of almost breathtaking beauty—even she had to admit the woman was gorgeous—standing at the door in a white dress, exuding an aura of pure goodness. One look and you'd think "good person."
She searched her memory for a moment but couldn't recall who this woman calling her "Fellow Daoist" was.
And if someone this memorable still didn't ring a bell, she'd probably never met her.
But anyone who could make it here was clearly someone with connections.
Ye Antao asked, half embarrassed and half suspicious: "And you are?"
"Bai Qing. My master is Chu Xingchen. I'm his third disciple—you may have heard of me." Chen Baiqing stepped in, her gaze sweeping over Ye Antao before landing on the jade tokens on the desk. "You don't seem too skilled at this kind of thing. Shall I help?"
Ye Antao didn't respond immediately—she looked to the side, and soon got confirmation that the woman before her really was Chu Xingchen's third disciple.
Though Ye Antao really wanted to hand everything off, these clearly weren't small matters. She hesitated:
"These matters are top secret. You're not on our roster."
Chen Baiqing lowered her eyes, produced a Tianyan Token from her chest, and said softly:
"Guess who sent me here? And what my purpose is?"
Ye Antao's expression cleared—it was Chu Xingchen who'd arranged this. She extended her hand:
"In that case, please go ahead, Fellow Daoist."
Chen Baiqing smiled lightly, then reached for the jade tokens without a shred of politeness.
She hadn't lied—she'd only asked Ye Antao to guess.
The answer Ye Antao guessed just happened to be wrong—nobody had sent her, and her purpose wasn't for these matters.
As for what Ye Antao had misunderstood, that didn't really have much to do with her, did it?
Her luck was decent today—Master wasn't around.
Chen Baiqing didn't expect to get a straight answer about what Master was really up to. But these jade tokens could. So many clues, all converging on Master's true objective.
The jade tokens in hand, Chen Baiqing's gaze turned somewhat ruthless.
Clearly, Chen Baiqing had experience handling this sort of thing.
Compared to Ye Antao, who'd read a jade token, then seek opinions, then hesitate and hesitate before making a decision, Chen Baiqing was far more decisive.
Ye Antao, just to be safe, picked up the jade tokens Chen Baiqing had processed and reviewed a few. After that, she was completely reassured.
As expected of Chu Xingchen's disciple—everything was handled in perfect order, all by the book, and far better than she could manage.
While processing these matters, Chen Baiqing was also piecing together the bigger picture.
Soon, she roughly understood what her master was doing.
Xu Linglong had set up some great formation, apparently scheming something. Her master had sensed the danger and planned to strike first—at the very least, he wasn't going to let Xu Linglong have an easy time.
But…
The way he was striking first…
It looked like Master was gambling recklessly with his life! Why was Master's danger assessment mixed in with all these jade token intelligence reports?
The warm expression on Chen Baiqing's face drained completely, her eyes betraying a hint of anger.
This master of hers.
Truly the most worrisome person in the world!
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