Peak of One Big Happy Family.
Chu Xingchen slowly stretched his body in the courtyard, casually practicing tai chi. The recovery over the past two months had been excellent.
His depleted essence had been fully replenished, his scattered dao resonance completely restored, and his cultivation was climbing—currently from early Nascent Soul to around mid-stage.
At this pace, it wouldn't be long before he could consider returning to the Spirit Transformation realm.
Without cultivating, he had assumed his disciples were just exceptionally talented. Only when he actually cultivated did he realize just how heaven-defying this group of disciples truly was.
His cultivation was shooting up like crazy.
During this time, Chu Xingchen had also made various arrangements, mainly understanding the plans after the Western Niu Continent matter concluded.
The Buddhist Sect ultimately hadn't coordinated with the demons to attack, and had even assisted Chu Xingchen in a way.
Directly expelling them from humanity was unrealistic, of course.
Of course, the Buddhist Sect couldn't escape accountability for the Celestial Demon incident either.
But this process of accountability wouldn't be smooth sailing, even with Runan's full cooperation.
The process would naturally involve investigating the Buddhist Sect's secular Buddhas, which would undoubtedly shake the Buddhist Sect's foundations.
Moreover, Runan's stance was also unclear—seeming to want a thorough investigation while also blocking external pressure.
For now, the Buddhist Sect had only promised to conduct an internal investigation first, allowing individual immortal sects to participate in oversight, and then issue the Buddhist Sect's internal investigation results.
Without a long period of time, there probably wouldn't be any results.
Chu Xingchen knew at a glance that this would likely become a messy ledger.
But messy ledgers could always be reopened in the future.
Chu Xingchen didn't pursue it further, instead waiting quietly for events to develop.
Aside from the Buddhist Sect's messy ledger, the various immortal sects had also begun sharing intelligence and, according to past alliances, started large-scale pursuit and extermination of Celestial Demons.
The progress wasn't entirely satisfactory, but at least there was a start.
Coordinating major sects was an extremely complex matter, and this wasn't something Chu Xingchen could command respect for just by relying on his status.
Each faction had different interests, and among the Eighteen Immortal Sects, not all were willing to develop forces below them.
The resources and conditions required were also mostly entirely different.
Chu Xingchen's view on this was relatively positive. Although he couldn't expect everyone to work with one heart, at least nominally things were clearly divided. If anyone stopped acting human, there would be righteous cause to join forces.
At the very least, the possibility of being held back had decreased.
These major matters were far too complicated.
Chu Xingchen naturally didn't want to waste his mental energy participating in them, and aside from these, there weren't any other major issues.
This period had truly been a good rest.
In the small courtyard, Chu Xingchen hadn't even finished his tai chi when Cui Hao approached with an expression of utter disbelief.
Chu Xingchen's eyes flicked up, and he spoke:
"Got in trouble again and scolded by your eldest senior sister?"
"No…" Cui Hao walked closer, shaking his head, then said with a puzzled expression, "But, Master, I suspect someone is impersonating me."
Chu Xingchen looked him up and down, his tone light with amusement:
"Impersonating you? What benefit would that have? Did you accomplish something major out there and gain some enormous reputation?"
"No…" Cui Hao frowned, his tone confused. "Last time I went to see Donggua, she inexplicably said a bunch of things I'd never done, describing them so vividly that if I hadn't actually not done them, I would've believed it myself."
Chu Xingchen's expression sobered slightly, and he coughed lightly: "Donggua? What happened to her? What did you do?"
"She… seems to hate me especially." Cui Hao thought for a moment, then said, "If before she wanted to mince me into ground meat, this time she wants to sift me through a fine sand sieve."
Hearing this, Chu Xingchen reached out and patted Cui Hao's shoulder, saying quietly:
"She hates you that much?"
"I find it strange too…" Cui Hao's eyes darted toward Chu Xingchen, and he said in a low voice, "Master, could it be you…"
Before Cui Hao could finish, Chu Xingchen's hand heavily slapped his shoulder again.
Facing this strike, Cui Hao's pained expression also cut off his following words.
Chu Xingchen's gaze was calm:
"Rebellious disciple, you still want to slander your master?"
Facing that gaze, all of Cui Hao's inner suspicions faded away. Whether it was true or not, it couldn't be now.
He directly skipped past the topic, gritting his teeth:
"Master's strike is truly profound—it seems Master has recovered excellently."
Chu Xingchen hooked his arm around Cui Hao, his expression turning warm, as if saying—this is my good disciple.
"By the way, have you met the new outer sect disciple that Outer Sect Elder Zhang Miaoyu recently took in?" Chu Xingchen asked, patting Cui Hao's shoulder.
Cui Hao was stunned: "How would I know about that? No one told me."
"Tsk tsk, as an inner sect disciple, you don't even go check on the outer sect? It's right on the side peak—just a couple steps."
Cui Hao's expression grew even more innocent:
"What? Outer sect's Zhou Ping sleeps in the room next to mine. When I'm bored at night drinking with Second Senior Brother, I see him and pull him to drink. I haven't even gotten sick of him yet—why would I randomly go take a look?"
But Cui Hao quickly figured it out.
A new outer sect disciple must be a junior sister, otherwise there'd be one more person drinking with them these past two months.
And only a junior sister would live with the senior sisters.
Cui Hao realized: "It's a junior sister?"
Chu Xingchen nodded:
"Yes. I haven't met her either. My injuries are mostly recovered now, so it's time to meet the new outer sect disciple."
"We should meet her. Master, do you have any spirit stones? Lend me a few—as a senior brother, I should give a meeting gift."
"You're short on spirit stones?"
"How could I not be? Everything I earned before is spent. Master, our sect doesn't have a monthly allowance, right? I can mooch cultivation resources, but I can't just walk up to any Tianyan Sect disciple and ask for two spirit stones, can I? Wouldn't that embarrass you?"
"Then why aren't the others short?"
"Eldest Senior Sister gives them."
"Then why doesn't Eldest Senior Sister give to you?"
"Eldest Senior Sister said to ask Second Senior Brother, but Second Senior Brother is a pauper. Not only did he turn in his previous spirit stones, but he genuinely doesn't spend money."
Chu Xingchen: "..."
"Our sect isn't as poor as it used to be." Chu Xingchen took out a pouch of spirit stones from his space ring and handed it to Cui Hao. "I'll talk to your Eldest Senior Sister later—the spirit stones you're owed will be given."
Cui Hao accepted the spirit stone pouch with tearful gratitude, his tone joyful and excited:
"Thank you, Master! This startup capital is enough."
Chu Xingchen's hand paused on the spirit stone pouch. He suddenly understood why Li Yingling didn't give Cui Hao spirit stones.
But Chu Xingchen ultimately let go.
He'd just give more next time and tell Cui Hao to cause less trouble.
After all, the spirit stones he earned would eventually be spent on these disciples anyway.
It wasn't really about being reluctant to part with them.
Looking at the overjoyed Cui Hao, Chu Xingchen could only shake his head and smile:
"Let's go. Time to meet her."
"Mm-hmm!"
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