Sect Affairs Hall.
Basically everyone who could come had arrived.
San Dong with her envious and expectant expression, and the green snake leaning against Qing He, constantly asking curious questions.
And Xie Ling Yu with her head lowered, sipping tea in relative silence.
Li Ying Ling leisurely sipped tea, her gaze languidly falling on her Shi Fu beside her, her expression seeming to say—cultivation? Isn't that just a casual matter?
Because the commotion from Li Ying Ling emerging from secluded cultivation was quite significant, both Li Xing Tian and Lin Luo Yu, who were still striving in their cultivation, had felt that powerful spiritual energy fluctuation. Thus they had all stopped their cultivation and gathered together early.
Li Ying Ling set down her teacup, her gaze shifting to Li Xing Tian as she spoke with seemingly earnest concern:
"Junior Brother, cultivation requires a balance between work and rest. Blindly cultivating bitterly can easily lead to slow progress."
Li Xing Tian looked at his Eldest Senior Sister. For some reason, he felt that there was no encouragement for a junior brother in Eldest Senior Sister's gaze—there was only: little brother, all your hard work isn't working out either.
"My natural talent isn't as good as Senior Sister's, so naturally I can't compare." Li Xing Tian answered with a peaceful state of mind.
This wasn't entirely just humoring his senior sister.
After all, he had taken the pills his Shi Fu refined just to improve his cultivation, and even then he couldn't match Eldest Senior Sister.
Other than sighing that even among geniuses there were still greater geniuses, there was nothing to say.
Cui Hao felt his Foundation Establishment cultivation and thought for a moment before immediately speaking:
"Eldest Senior Sister is right. Cultivation is about harmonizing with the Heavenly Dao. Realization is especially important. One cannot rush cultivation."
Li Ying Ling looked at Cui Hao upon hearing this: "You're different. If you don't work harder, even San Dong's cultivation will surpass yours soon."
Cui Hao was startled by these words, his gaze shifting to San Dong beside him.
San Dong's gaze also met his.
Cui Hao's eyes held a hint of disbelief, while San Dong's held—the confidence that having Li Ying Ling's recognition meant she would definitely surpass Cui Hao.
Li Ying Ling looked proudly at her Shi Fu again—such a cultivation genius as her eldest disciple, surely bringing honor to you as a Shi Fu, right?
However... Li Ying Ling discovered that her Shi Fu's eyes seemed to be looking at her with some hesitation.
Or rather... it seemed like he was looking at her, but also not quite looking at her.
Li Ying Ling felt a chill run down her back and asked quietly: "Shi Fu? What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
Chu Xing Chen's gaze returned, then he looked at the system prompt above Li Ying Ling's head [Upgradeable Attribute].
This was likely the reward for a disciple breaking through to the Nascent Soul realm's attribute.
And this time when the disciple broke through the realm, there was no direct cultivation boost either.
However, Chu Xing Chen could understand this. After all, this was an attribute upgrade—this level of reward was somewhat overpowered.
Li Ying Ling's golden attribute [Cultivation Genius] already made people's jaws drop with her current cultivation progress. If this moved up another tier...
[Target: Li Ying Ling]
[Cultivation: Nascent Soul Early Stage]
[Golden Attribute: Cultivation Genius]
[Purple Attribute: Strong Luck] [Upgradeable]
[Blue Attribute: Beautiful] [Upgradeable]
[Blue Attribute: Quick-witted] [Upgradeable]
[White Attribute: Confident] [Upgradeable]
[Recommended Upgrade Attribute—Strong Luck]
Chu Xing Chen's expectant mood instantly faded by half... this golden attribute actually wasn't within the scope of upgrades.
However, this eldest disciple had also gained two brand new attributes beyond the initial ones.
The Quick-witted attribute went without saying—after his own careful guidance, Li Ying Ling as Eldest Senior Sister was bound to learn it.
As for the [Confident] attribute, what Chu Xing Chen felt most was the word "relief."
Chu Xing Chen still remembered the period when Li Ying Ling was at Qi Condensation and Foundation Establishment. Because she hadn't seen much of the world or encountered many cultivators, she often held a skeptical attitude toward her own talent.
Especially during the time when Li Xing Tian had absorbed blood energy and his cultivation shot up, directly surpassing Li Ying Ling as Eldest Senior Sister.
Not understanding blood energy, Li Ying Ling had also been skeptical about her own talent for a period. During that time, she truly took cultivation to heart.
Aside from sleeping and handling affairs, she also put great effort into cultivation—at least she could match Li Xing Tian.
Li Xing Tian was a cultivation maniac—if he wasn't on the path of tempering himself, he was in the rituals of cultivation.
That once skeptical and sensitive young girl who felt her talent was mediocre had now truly come to believe she was inferior to no one.
The birth of the [Confident] attribute meant far more to Chu Xing Chen than the birth of the [Quick-witted] attribute.
At least this was an attribute Chu Xing Chen wanted Li Ying Ling to have.
What was strong wasn't Chu Xing Chen as the Shi Fu—it was Li Ying Ling herself.
A genuine smile appeared on Chu Xing Chen's face, but he didn't immediately click on these so-called upgradeable attributes. He said with relief:
"Then congratulations to my eldest disciple for advancing to the Nascent Soul realm, becoming the backbone of the sect."
Truly, watching that once-young girl grow step by step to her current state really made one happy from the bottom of one's heart.
A playful smile appeared on Li Ying Ling's face: "How am I just the backbone? I should at least be the towering tree of the sect—the protecting tree!"
"Then what am I as your Shi Fu?" Chu Xing Chen's expression showed slight displeasure.
Li Ying Ling answered naturally, almost instinctively: "Then probably like the sun?"
The words had barely fallen before, before Chu Xing Chen could react, Li Ying Ling herself felt embarrassed by how cheesy it sounded. She quickly stood up and announced with delight:
"To celebrate my successful advancement to the Nascent Soul realm, and to reward myself for working hard at cultivation, the ninety-seventh Sect Grand Gathering officially begins registration tonight. Those who wish to participate, contact me!"
A smile appeared on Chen Bai Qing's face as she quickly raised her hand.
Following her were Cui Hao and an excited Qing He.
Qing He not only raised her hand but even started making suggestions: "Can we play the illusion version of Monopoly tonight? We only played once at Zhu Ji Peak! Qing He hasn't played yet! Qing He has wanted to play for so long!"
Li Ying Ling glanced at this gluttonous flood dragon and readily agreed with a smile:
"Of course! Tonight I'll be the referee!"
Those present now were naturally all their own people. Even Bai Xuan Ling would have unhesitatingly participated if she were here. Soon, almost everyone in the great hall had raised their hands.
Only Chu Xing Chen and Xie Ling Yu hadn't raised theirs.
Xie Ling Yu had actually wanted to raise her hand too. Although having her cultivation realm caught up to by Chu Xing Chen's disciples wasn't anything particularly glorious, this didn't mean she wasn't happy for Li Ying Ling.
Although Li Ying Ling was often complained about by Chu Xing Chen for having a leaky cotton-padded jacket, hadn't she also had her heartwarming moments?
Xie Ling Yu had always understood—Li Ying Ling had always been a very good child.
However... Chu Xing Chen had raised an eyebrow at her and started chatting with her, the intention to hold her back quite obvious.
Xie Ling Yu figured that Chu Xing Chen probably wanted to give Li Ying Ling some surprise, so she didn't raise her hand either. She simply started casually chatting with Chu Xing Chen.
Chu Xing Chen just loved doing this—on the surface not cooperating, but actually having everything prepared long ago.
However, a certain eldest disciple had also learned the essence of someone.
Li Ying Ling turned around, her face full of smiles:
"Shi Fu, Xie Shi Shu, don't think that just because you didn't raise your hands you don't have to participate."
"This is the Sect Grand Gathering. You all must come."
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