Chapter 107: Open Provocation—So What If I Offend You?

“It’s nothing, just went out to have some fun for a while,” Lian Mu said. “I saw you weren’t around at the time, so I didn’t call for you.”

Xu Xianxing kept his mouth shut and didn’t say a word. Sometimes, he couldn’t keep up with Lian Mu’s random chatter, and speaking too much would expose him.

Bai Li Que stared at them for a while, as if deep in thought, and then finally let go.

“How did you sneak out?” Bai Li Que asked. “The Azure Profound Sect’s barrier isn’t easy to break. Even I can’t secretly undo it without the Azure Profound Sect Elder noticing. You’re both an Artifact Refiner and a Sword Cultivator, so it’s even more impossible for you.”

Bai Li Que had always been sharp-minded, not easily fooled. He said, “Xu Xianxing, you’re covered in dust, you must’ve rolled on the ground. And you, Lian Mu, you don’t smell like alcohol at all.”

Lian Mu: “I just went out to eat, didn’t drink. I thought it was the Elder earlier, so I just made up a quick excuse.”

“You can come up with excuses to fool the Elder, so you can fool me as well,” Bai Li Que said, looking at her with a deep gaze.

Lian Mu: “…”

“I’ll let it go this time,” Bai Li Que said flatly. “But next time, if you go out to play, remember to call me.”

Lian Mu: “No problem, I’ll definitely call you.”

Xu Xianxing asked Bai Li Que for a glowstone to light the way. He finally realized just how dirty he was, his fox fur cloak was filthy with stains, as if he had just crawled out of the mud.

Lian Mu noticed this too, and shook her head. There was nothing she could do; after all, it was his choice to sleep on the ground.

“You’ve been gone for too long. The Elder was trying to find you earlier to discuss the next illusion realm, and almost discovered that you’d sneaked out. Luckily, I found out first and stopped it.” Bai Li Que glanced at Lian Mu. “When I came to find you, I knocked on the door but got no response. I checked elsewhere and saw you weren’t there, so I got worried and took it upon myself to go inside and take a look.”

“It’s fine,” Lian Mu said. After all, her room was empty, and she trusted Bai Li Que’s character.

“Elder Murong has tried to contact you three times,” Bai Li Que added.

Lian Mu: “?”

She suddenly felt a bit guilty but kept her face calm. “What did he want with me?”

If he found out she’d snuck out again, this time with a weak chief Artifact Refiner, Lian Mu couldn’t imagine how tough it would be when they returned to the Returning Immortal Sect.

“It’s nothing serious, just wanted to remind you about the next illusion,” Bai Li Que said. “The next illusion realm is in the West of the White Tiger. The environment in that realm is much more complex than the previous two, but its corresponding elemental vein is fire. Elder Murong remembered that one of your Three Spirit Roots is fire, so he wanted to remind you to take advantage of that in the next trial.”

Lian Mu nodded, signaling that she was listening. She remembered that each of the seven illusion realms would enhance the corresponding spirit root, and she was curious to see how the fire root would be boosted in the next trial. If it was anything like the illusion crystal water she’d seen in the first trial, it would certainly be interesting to use.

“I’ll go look for him later,” Lian Mu thought for a moment and asked, “When are we leaving for the West of the White Tiger?”

She was eager to upgrade Wealth Bringer with the flame beast crystal core.

Xu Xianxing was also somewhat familiar with the situation. “It’s not far. Brother Guan is already on his way back, and Ji Mingyue will be returning soon. Once they’re back, we’ll head to the West of the White Tiger.”

Lian Mu was also waiting for Ji Mingyue to return; she had a question she wanted to ask her.

“Looks like we’ll have to wait a little longer.”

“One more thing, I found out that the Azure Profound Sect’s chief Sword Cultivator is investigating you.”

Lian Mu paused for a moment, then asked, “What’s he investigating?”

Bai Li Que said, “I’m not sure. One of the talisman experts in our team got the news that their chief has been investigating the second-in-command of various sects, especially you.”

Xu Xianxing furrowed his brow. “Ying You wouldn’t investigate others casually. He doesn’t like prying into other people’s business. This must be the will of the Azure Profound Sect Elder. But why would they go through the trouble of investigating the second-in-command? If they’re going to investigate anyone, it should be the chief of the team…”

“How do you know he won’t investigate others? Maybe he’s just curious,” Lian Mu’s opinion of the Azure Profound Sect’s chief Sword Cultivator dropped a few notches.

Lian Mu added, “I’ve met him before, in the library. He used Wealth Bringer to spy on my thoughts.”

She didn’t have any secrets to hide, but she didn’t like people investigating her in the dark.

Bai Li Que: “…You’ve been cultivating your body and mind in the Azure Profound Sect’s library? I remember it’s full of Artifact Refiner books.”

I hope you weren’t just looking for bedtime reading material.

Lian Mu played along with his joke. “Yes, I did want to read books and find some fun, but that’s not why he was there.”

Xu Xianxing shook his head. “It’s not that simple. He’s the disciple of the Azure Profound Sect’s second elder, so at least his character is reliable. Before the Immortal Sect competition, when I was staying at Azure Profound Sect, everyone tried to pry information out of me, except him. He didn’t care about that and would even voluntarily talk to me about the Azure Profound Sect.”

Although it was all trivial stuff, Xu Xianxing genuinely thought the man was a good person, someone he could befriend outside the competition.

Lian Mu wasn’t so sure. “You trust people too easily. No matter who gave him the instructions, he still saw the information. Whether it was voluntary or done under someone’s orders doesn’t really matter.”

Bai Li Que, being from a prominent family, had seen his fair share of the world and agreed with her. “Some things can’t just be judged by the process. You have to look at the outcome.”

Xu Xianxing: “…Alright.”

“But what’s the point of him investigating my past?” Lian Mu didn’t think her past had anything worth targeting.

Before entering the Immortal Sect, she had spent years sweeping the three thousand immortal steps, day in and day out, doing the same repetitive tasks.

“Maybe it’s because you were the first to get the wood core flower when you entered. Your luck is too special.”

“Anyway, be careful around Ying You,” Bai Li Que said. “He’s not a good guy.”

Lian Mu frowned slightly. “I understand. I’ll be careful if I run into him.”

After their conversation, the three of them made their way back to their rooms in the dark. Xu Xianxing went into Lian Mu’s room to grab his things, and for some reason, Bai Li Que mysteriously followed them.

It wasn’t until they sneaked into the inner courtyard of Qinghe Garden, crouching behind the wall to avoid the Azure Profound Sect’s night patrol, that Bai Li Que finally realized: “…”

He was supposed to catch them, but in the end, he had become the one sneaking around.

He silently blamed Lian Mu and Xu Xianxing for their serious, sneaky behavior, which had influenced him too.

Once Xu Xianxing had grabbed his things, he couldn’t stand how dirty he was and immediately returned to his place to wash up.

Bai Li Que gave Lian Mu some final instructions before returning to his room.

The three of them agreed that next time they encountered Azure Profound Sect’s people, they would be extra cautious and avoid giving them any chance to pry into their plans.

However, the next morning, the chiefs of the Four Great Sects were sparring in the Azure Profound Sect’s competition arena, and for the second time, Lian Mu made an unprecedented appearance.

She found the Azure Profound Sect’s chief among a group of Sword Cultivators waiting for their turn to fight and boldly walked over to him, sitting down beside him.

Soon after, Xu Xianxing also came over, strolling confidently to Ying You’s side and plopping down beside him.

The other members of the Azure Profound Sect’s chief team: “?”

Suddenly surrounded on both sides by Returning Immortal Sect’s two members, Ying You blinked and gently asked, “Fellow cultivators, is there something you need?”

It seemed this was also his first time at the competition arena, as the other Sword Cultivators hadn’t yet had a chance to declare war on him.

Guan Shize had just arrived at the competition arena and, upon lifting his head, saw this bizarre scene and almost thought he was seeing things.

It wasn’t until Lian Mu waved at him that he realized what was happening.

Guan Shize fell silent for a moment: “…”

Then, another person came and sat down behind Ying You, surrounding him on all three sides.

No one could understand what Returning Immortal Sect’s members were doing, only Ying You raised his brows slightly. The four of them remained in a stalemate for a long time, and finally, he spoke slowly, “It seems that you fellow cultivators have some misunderstanding with me.”

The other chiefs of Azure Profound Sect didn’t know what was going on and stared at Returning Immortal Sect’s members with confused expressions. Since the other side wasn’t making a move, they didn’t know whether they should.

Guan Shize didn’t understand, but he still followed Lian Mu’s instructions and sat behind her without moving.

Lian Mu remained silent, and the other two did as well. Ying You seemed to have an inkling of why they were here and softly said, “Please don’t misunderstand. Azure Profound Sect holds no ill intentions.”

That was all he could say, with no further explanation.

Lian Mu, who didn’t bring her sword today, smiled at him: “If Chief Ying wants to understand something, you can just ask me directly. No need to go through all this trouble.”

Ying You’s fingers, resting on his lap, twitched slightly: “Lian Mu, you…”

He couldn’t find the words to explain and swallowed them back down, his Adam’s apple bobbing.

The chief Body Cultivator of Azure Profound Sect, Gu Qingyu, was getting angry: “What do you mean by this? Blocking our leader for no reason, do you think we Azure Profound Sect are easy to bully?”

Lian Mu stood up, smiling. “I’ve heard of Chief Ying’s reputation for a long time, I’m just here to meet the rare genius I’ve heard so much about. A talent like you should be standing in the spotlight, not doing shady things behind people’s backs.”

Everyone: “!!!”

Though they didn’t understand what was happening, that was certainly a direct and mocking insult, wasn’t it?

Has the Returning Immortal Sect gone mad?!

Sure enough, as soon as Lian Mu finished speaking, the expressions of the Azure Profound Sect disciples turned ugly.

No one had ever dared to challenge Azure Profound Sect so openly, especially not their chief Sword Cultivator leader.

Even Shen Wuxie from Clear Thought Sect, who was known for stirring up trouble, was shocked: “…Tch, this Lian Mu has some guts. With just Three Spirit Roots, she dares to provoke a Heavenly Spirit Root. She’s only relying on Ying You’s good temper not to get angry.”

Tang Wuxun, hearing this, immediately kicked him: “What’s it to you about someone else’s sect?”

The two of them had completely fallen out, no longer caring about each other’s face.

Shen Wuxie was furious: “Hah, you only know how to bully me because of your position as the leader!”

With that, he tossed a talisman in the air and stormed off.

The atmosphere in the arena immediately froze, with everyone staring at Ying You, watching for his reaction. The Azure Profound Sect disciples around him were ready to make a move at any moment.

After a long pause, Ying You slowly lifted his gaze and looked directly into Lian Mu’s eyes: “…Thank you for your correction, Fellow Cultivator Lian.”

His tone was neither cold nor warm, calm and composed, making it hard to detect any emotion.

Lian Mu didn’t say another word, and along with Xu Xianxing and Guan Shize, she left the arena and returned to her sect’s competition area.

This brief conversation had no physical confrontation, but judging by the expressions of the Azure Profound Sect disciples, everyone knew that this feud had been established.

Meanwhile, high up in the sky.

Several sect Elders had witnessed everything, including the Elders from both Azure Profound Sect and Returning Immortal Sect. Neither side spoke a word.

The Elder of Crimson Sky Sect smiled: “Well… it seems your Returning Immortal Sect is becoming more and more impressive.”

The Elder of Azure Profound Sect didn’t say much, riding his silver kite over to the chief team.

Murong Yi, with a calm expression, said, “It’s normal for young people to cause trouble.”

“Causing trouble isn’t a big issue, but don’t offend the wrong person, or you’ll end up harming yourself,” said the Elder of Clear Thought Sect coldly.

Murong Yi remained silent, but his gaze turned to the Returning Immortal Sect disciples. He focused on Lian Mu in the crowd, closed his eyes briefly: “…”

He wasn’t angry at her openly provoking Azure Profound Sect. Given the current state of Returning Immortal Sect, this day was bound to come sooner or later.

“Our disciples are no worse than anyone else,” Murong Yi said slowly.

“So what if we offend them?”