Chapter 32: Filial Piety

Chapter 32: Filial Piety

From that day on, Zhou Hui felt like he no longer had hands of his own.

Returning to his cave dwelling, Ran Deng lit incense and presented spiritual spring water for washing his hands. Lu Shulong set out a cushion and sat by the tea stove, beginning to brew tea. After his meditation session, Mo Bei had prepared robes fumigated with spiritual incense, and Mo Xi offered carefully selected spiritual delicacies. When he wanted to soak in a spirit spring, Qu Qianxing stood by the spring holding a bath towel, while Yu Wenxuan brought over spiritual wine.

And this lineup, he heard, had been earned through competition.

Guan Ye, for instance, was rejected by the others for not being refined enough in daily life and being all thumbs when it came to serving people—he didn't even get a chance to approach Zhou Hui and was relegated to behind-the-scenes work like cleaning. Meanwhile, Yu Wenxuan and Qu Qianxing pulled rank as senior brothers to hold back the restless Mo Xi and won the right to assist Zhou Hui with his baths. Ran Deng and Mo Bei, who had never burned incense or done needlework before, had somehow transformed into paragons of the "good wife, wise mother" stereotype, taking charge of Zhou Hui's interior decorating and wardrobe accessories—though in truth, the one truly skilled at incense was Lu Shulong. But Lu Shulong had a mild temperament and didn't compete, so he was reduced to serving as Ran Deng and Mo Bei's technical advisor.

What really gave Zhou Hui a headache was that these disciples weren't much good at cultivation, but when it came to serving people, they might as well have graduated top of their class in domestic service.

Mainly, it was because they knew Zhou Hui's daily routine inside and out, and Zhou Hui was disciplined enough on his own.

So Qu Qianxing, who was in charge of the specific schedule, believed that until a proper diagnosis was made, it was best not to recklessly alter the master's lifestyle and cultivation schedule—only to lend support, helping the master live and cultivate better.

Of course, there was an art to this as well.

Although Zhou Hui, as a Tribulation Transcendence Stage cultivator, didn't need to worry about him shortening his lifespan by staying up late, or about him eating something wrong that would worsen his condition, or even about him over-cultivating to the point of mental exhaustion—in fact, the disciples only worried that their master wouldn't take his medicine or wouldn't get enough cultivation time—but keeping him in peak condition during cultivation hours was a real headache.

Qu Qianxing and the others went to great lengths.

When Zhou Hui began his meditation, they would control the temperature around his cave dwelling, making sure the temperature never fluctuated by more than ten degrees. They kept watch on the spiritual energy currents of Celestial Spirit Mountain, making sure no violent spiritual energy storm would disrupt the master's cultivation, and when spiritual energy ran thin, they'd stimulate the spiritual veins to boost its intensity. They'd also switch up the incense blends based on the time of day, Zhou Hui's cultivation progress, and the weather, keeping Zhou Hui in his best state.

Living like this was way too indulgent—Zhou Hui was seriously worried he'd get spoiled rotten.

And even so, the disciples would even hold critique sessions from time to time:

"Sensing spiritual energy fluctuations is harder than I thought. I think we need to figure out a way to monitor it properly."

"Speaking of which, I found a feasibility report on high-altitude weather stations in the 'library.' Maybe we could give that plan a shot? It seems like with the right artifacts, even disciples with lower cultivation could handle it."

"Compared to that, I think Celestial Spirit Mountain truly is the blessed land our master carefully selected—the external conditions are already top-notch. The real problem is that the master lives way too simply. Look at the clothes he wears on a daily basis! No matter how strong he is, he can't just not care about stuff like that!"

"What matters even more is the master's mood. Every time he sees me, he looks like he's in agony, like he's blaming me for not cultivating."

"But I told the master centuries ago to take on a few servant boys to take care of daily life—he wouldn't listen."

"I'm not reassured either. You can't trust humans at all."

"Wouldn't ready-made puppets be the better option? I heard there's a sect in the Western Region that's really good at that sort of thing..."

"Since you all know I don't like this, why do you keep going?" Zhou Hui said coldly, looking at his disciples squatting all over his courtyard, getting the distinct feeling he'd become the topic of a group meeting.

"We're also worried the master might be unhappy, so we're reporting our plans going forward. If the master has any opinions, we can discuss and improve," Qu Qianxing said.

"My biggest complaint is that I don't need you waiting on me! I'm not injured!" Zhou Hui emphasized.

If these people would listen just because he said so, they wouldn't be in this situation today.

"I want to believe the master's words, but I'm also worried about the master's recent behavior," Qu Qianxing said stubbornly. "But it's fine—Senior Sister has already confirmed the whereabouts of Mr. Lan Pei and will be inviting him over shortly."

"You actually managed to find Lan Pei?" Zhou Hui was somewhat surprised.

Mr. Lan Pei was a medical cultivator. Though he was "only" at the Mahayana stage, he had already been at Mahayana before Zhou Hui even embarked on the path of immortality. No one knew exactly how old he was. He's the best medical cultivator in this world—even great cultivators at the Tribulation Transcendence Stage who suffered severe injuries in the Heavenly Tribulation would hope to receive his medicine.

But Lan Pei's whereabouts were perpetually unknown. Running into him was an incredible stroke of luck, and it was all thanks to Yu Wenxuan knowing where he was.

Qu Qianxing, however, felt that such a physician was the only one worthy of his master: "Yes, Mr. Lan Pei will be able to tell the master's condition at a glance."

"If I'm not injured, will you stop this fussing?" Zhou Hui asked.

"How could this be considered fussing?" Qu Qianxing said. "Even if the master isn't injured, there are many inconveniences in daily life and cultivation. We disciples have been negligent and failed to notice—from now on, we must serve the master with even greater dedication."

...Hopeless.

Zhou Hui flicked his sleeve and walked out of the cave dwelling.

"Master, where are you going?" Mo Xi asked anxiously.

"I'm going to look at that secret realm you dragged back," Zhou Hui said, feeling he couldn't keep following these little fools' lead, or he'd truly be ruined. "Let's see what condition that secret realm is in."

*

Hearing that Zhou Hui was going to the secret realm, the few disciples who were originally interested shamelessly followed along. The rest sat in place staring at each other, and the meeting quickly disbanded.

Mo Bei naturally belonged to the group that had no interest in anything.

She figured the master wouldn't be meditating today and wouldn't need her to hold incense, so she planned to return to her cave dwelling, change clothes, and practice swordplay. But as she descended the mountain, she spotted her twin brother sneaking off furtively.

Mo Bei very much wanted to pretend she hadn't seen him, but whether it was the damned twin telepathy or something else, Mo Xi happened to turn his eyes and met Mo Bei's gaze.

Mo Xi made a beckoning-and-shushing gesture, and Mo Bei had no choice but to slowly walk over.

"What are you up to?" Mo Bei felt her brother was nothing but a troublemaker. "I thought you'd be more interested in following the master to explore the secret realm?"

"The senior brothers snatched the spots first," Mo Xi said indignantly. "At least Senior Sister knows to bring you along for good things. These senior brothers of mine aren't even human—they only bully the younger ones."

Serving the master filially was a disciple's duty, not some "good thing," right?

Even as his biological sister, she felt her brother's thinking was sometimes a bit skewed.

Of course, for certain people, following the master to serve him might truly be a tremendous "good thing."

Mo Bei wouldn't say who, but she'd long seen through it—this Celestial Spirit Sect was full of master-worshippers and twisted master-worshippers. Apart from herself, there wasn't a single normal person.

Mo Bei only found it strange: "I thought there was no limit on spots for exploring the secret realm." It wasn't like offering tea to the master, where once you presented the tea, others had no need to do the same.

"But with the senior brothers following, I definitely won't get a chance to shine," Mo Xi calculated pragmatically. "If I can't be the most outstanding one, I might as well not go."

"Oh." Mo Bei felt that talking to this thing was a complete waste of time. She turned to leave, but heard her brother say:

"I heard that Yuanhai City has its customary grand auction coming up. This time of year is also when the Southerners arrive in Yuanhai. Their region produces excellent tea, and first-grade products will definitely be put up for auction. Once the master comes out of the secret realm, I'll present the tea—wouldn't that be far better than those goods who exhaust the master?"

"How do you plan to buy it?" Mo Bei asked instead.

She rarely frowned sternly at her brother: "The Fallen Immortal Palace has never thought of letting us go. The master just made an enemy of the Carefree Palace—don't run out there and get yourself captured." What Mo Bei hated most was the stupid plot in storybooks where the heroine runs around to help the male lead, only to get captured and used as a hostage. She thought her foolish brother had great potential for exactly that.

"Even your empty head can think of such things—how could I make such a low-level mistake?" Mo Xi sneered, crooking his finger at Mo Bei. "Come with me, I'll show you how I buy things... Oh, and for the sake of being siblings, I can share some tea leaves with you, but you'll share the new tea-brewing method Fifth Senior Brother taught you."

You're really just after this!

Mo Bei was displeased, but she truly feared Mo Xi would cause trouble, so she followed anyway.

Mo Xi hadn't actually left Celestial Spirit Sect—he went to the Water Mirror Pavilion instead.

This pavilion was located in an underground cavern of Celestial Spirit Mountain. Due to the unique geological formation, underground springs had formed pools of varying heights and sizes, looking like mirrors. Zhou Hui had cast spells on these "water mirrors," turning them into tools for communicating with the outside world, and opened them for disciples to use.

Speaking of which, Celestial Spirit Sect did not encourage the practice of "cutting off worldly ties." Zhou Hui encouraged his disciples to maintain connections with old acquaintances and cherish every bond. Unfortunately, even apart from the inner disciples, ordinary inner disciples and outer disciples rarely had people they needed to contact, leaving this underground pavilion perpetually quiet.

Mo Xi entered the Water Mirror Pavilion, but it was as if he was back home. He crackled open a string of water mirrors in rapid succession, and soon each one displayed figures—disciples and purchasing agents of the Celestial Spirit Sect who were out traveling. And sure enough, that included the Xiang siblings, who had been managing the Immortal Chess matters within the sect just days ago.

But Mo Xi didn't jump straight to asking about the tea. Instead, he asked them:

"Last time, I told you we've completely broken ties with the Carefree Palace. How's it going for you out there?"

"I think it's been okay. Seems like the rank-and-file disciples of the Carefree Palace don't know about this yet, so we've been able to keep the peace," reported a disciple who had traveled to a distant place. "But when I went to the bigger stores of the Carefree Palace, I sensed hostility, and got tailed after I left."

"Thanks to Junior Mo's heads-up, those bastards from the Fallen Immortal Palace actually tried to jump me!" another disciple said.

"The Eastern Border's been pretty rough. Seems like a lot of people saw the Thought Pavilion vanish. Even if the Carefree Palace tried to bury the story, they couldn't. So they're deliberately trying to trash the Master's name," another disciple who had traveled to the Eastern Border said with a frown.

Mo Xi asked, worried, "So Senior Brother Zhang, what about you..."

"I'm okay," that 'Senior Brother Zhang' said with a bitter smile. "To put it bluntly, people don't even know who the Celestial Spirit Sect is. Even if I climbed onto the roof of the Carefree Palace, hardly anyone would give me a second glance."

"Good, but we can't let our guard down because of it," Mo Xi said with relief, then looked at the other disciples: "Senior Brother Li, Senior Sister Qian, Senior Sister Wei... It's hard to say what the Carefree Palace will do next. If you can, I'd like you to come back to the sect for now and see how things play out."

"Yeah, the outside world isn't as fun as we thought it'd be. We were actually planning to head back—" the senior brothers and sisters responded, with about two-thirds of them ready to come back.

Mo Bei figured this must be a task Qu Qianxing had given him, but she knew she'd never be able to hold a candle to her brother in this regard. Mo Xi was a smooth operator, could get along with both inner and outer disciples alike. If it were Mo Bei, she couldn't even keep track of who was who, let alone know the sect even had disciples like that.

After checking in on all the traveling senior brothers and sisters, Mo Xi finally got around to asking about what he wanted.

"Sorry, we couldn't get it," Xiang Rong said with a sour face. "Even though you lent us the teleportation array, Junior Mo, and we got there three days before the auction, we found that most of the vendors from past years hadn't shown up."

"And it's not just the tea—a lot of the specialty goods you wanted us to buy are also in short supply," Xiang Yi reported. "Seems like someone's been buying up all sorts of goods at inflated prices, and there are rumors quietly going around."

"Rumors?" Mo Xi arched an eyebrow.

"They're saying it was our Celestial Spirit Sect that attacked the Carefree Palace, which messed up their trade routes, so they might not be able to make it."

"What the hell is that crap?!" Hearing this rumor, before Mo Xi could even react, the other senior brothers and sisters were already furious. "Our Immortal Venerable only killed one of their Tribulation Transcendence guys. Did we mess with their business? What's their trade route got to do with our Celestial Spirit Sect?"

"This is pinning it on us! They're trying to drag our Celestial Spirit Sect's name through the mud in the Central Region!"

"I'm worried that when the merchants can't get their stock, they'll pin it on us."

Mo Bei asked, also looking worried, "What do we do? Should we tell the Master?"

"Definitely, but there are some things we need to set up first," Mo Xi, for his part, was unusually calm. "Xiang Rong, Xiang Yi, you two are still in Yuanhai City keeping tabs on that rumor, right?"

"Yes," Xiang Yi replied. "Should we try to shut it down?"

"No, spread it," Mo Xi said.

"Spread it?" The others stared in surprise.

"Yes, spread it!" Mo Xi repeated. "I'll go find Fourth Senior Brother later. He should have jade slips recording our Master's heroic deeds. I'll make copies for you... Not just in Yuanhai City, but in other places too. Let everyone see how easily our Master took down the scum of the Carefree Palace!"

"Heh heh, that's a good idea," one senior brother praised.

Mo Xi said, "Since we've already offended the Carefree Palace, we're not afraid of offending them further."

But others showed worried expressions, not quite agreeing.

"But they've blocked the trade routes themselves and framed us for it..." a senior sister said with concern.

"That's the key point," Mo Xi continued planning. "We need to admit it!"

"Admit it?"

"Speaking of which, with the Carefree Palace suddenly blocking the trade routes, quite a few merchant caravans should be stuck outside the Central Region, right?" Mo Xi suddenly changed the subject, looking at one of the Celestial Spirit Sect's purchasing agents.

That person was responsible for collecting goods at the border. He was stunned for a moment, then replied, "There's no sign of that yet, but some commodity prices have indeed fluctuated."

"Old Zhu, your work attitude isn't up to par," Mo Xi sighed.

Old Zhu's face turned pale: "But I really haven't heard any news..."

"If you haven't heard, does that mean it doesn't exist? As a merchant, how can you be so insensitive to the market? If you can't even handle this, well, the Master's library... the Master just acquired some business textbooks, and I'm asking him to start a research project on this topic! You can come back and study for two more years before going out again." Mo Xi said with a smile.

"I-I'll investigate immediately," Old Zhu said, startled.

The other purchasing agents also became much more serious. They had all heard about the sect's major examination, and some had even bought exam papers to look at. Their conclusion was unanimous: thank goodness we don't have to take the exam outside, but if we offend this little ancestor and get called back to take the exam, we're done for.

Mo Xi actually had that intention, but unfortunately, the timing wasn't right. He could only look for promising talents within the Celestial Spirit Sect, train them well, and send them out to replace these people for retraining.

For now, Mo Xi only instructed: "Pay more attention to the border trade routes. If they block them, besides the Carefree Palace's own share, quite a few merchants should be stopped. At that time, we'll buy up all those goods at the right moment."

"Buy them all?" the purchasing agents repeated.

"Yes, our Central Region is so dangerous that only in summer and autumn can large quantities of goods enter through specific trade routes. The merchants' income for the next year depends on this time. It's so pitiful that they're stuck on the road because of the Carefree Palace. Of course, we should sympathize with them and purchase those goods." Mo Xi said with a smile. "Then when the main cities run out of stock, we can supply them!"

Junior Mo, are you planning to replace the Carefree Palace?

But this plan is indeed feasible.

As a special region, the Central Region requires a large amount of goods, and safe passages are only open at specific times. Therefore, outside merchants stock up on goods before heading to the Central Region. With the Carefree Palace causing such a stir, a large number of merchants can't enter the Central Region. While the Central Region certainly lacks supplies, the merchants would also find it hard to accept.

At this time, if the Celestial Spirit Sect admits to this matter and is willing to purchase the goods and conduct trade, they might not immediately gain the entire Central Region market, but they can ensure market stability around the Celestial Spirit Sect. The best part is that by circulating the image of the Tireless Immortal Venerable defeating the Immortal Lord Chana of the Carefree Palace, the entire narrative would likely change.

After all, this is a cultivation world where the strong prey on the weak—weakness is the original sin.

Mo Xi's idea was quite ruthless.

Everyone stared in shock at their seemingly adorable junior brother. Some purchasing agents also asked worriedly, "But, but what about spirit stones..."

"However much is needed, I'll provide it!" Mo Xi said with great wealth.

He was now a man with mines!

Mo Xi said seriously, "The most important thing is to expand the Celestial Spirit Sect's influence in the Central Region and take over the markets of the major cities—at least in the cities near us, we can't let the Fallen Immortal Palace control them anymore!"

"Yes!" The traveling disciples and purchasing agents all wore serious expressions.

Everyone, considering the amount of spirit stones this would cost, obviously assumed that the Tireless Immortal Venerable had anticipated this.

Truly worthy of the Lord Immortal Venerable!

So they discussed the prices and supplies of goods in various places in detail.

Mo Bei watched all this expressionlessly:

My foolish little brother, do you still remember the tea you wanted?

The matter of the Carefree Palace blocking the trade routes—since even Mo Xi knew about it, the Heavenly Dao Alliance naturally knew as well.

*

However, unlike the Celestial Spirit Sect, where one or two inner disciples could decide important matters, the Heavenly Dao Alliance had a group of elders, a group of protectors, and disciples and families of those elders and protectors, all divided into several factions with differing views. Even minor issues could spark heated arguments, let alone such a "major matter."

At times like this, the stance of the two Tribulation Transcendence Stage cultivators carried significant weight.

"Heh, the Celestial Spirit Sect hasn't even said anything! And the Carefree Palace is already making a fuss?"

"There's no justification for directly seizing a secret realm during the disciples' trials! I say Zhou Hui struck well! He should've chopped that hand right off!"

The couple, Mei Zhu and Xin Zhu, fumed.

They had clearly witnessed the entire process of Immortal Lord Chana attempting to seize the secret realm and getting smacked down by Zhou Hui.

—The Carefree Palace may have tried to keep it under wraps, but He Yong of the Heavenly Dao Alliance had been stationed outside the secret realm as a guardian at the time, and with so many other sects and wandering immortals present, the matter got out to everyone, just like the disappearance of their Thought Pavilion.

Su Mei and Xin Zhu were furious at what they saw.

After all, Su Xin was in there!

During the trials of the younger generation in the secret realm, the greatest fear was powerful outsiders messing with the whole secret realm.

Not to mention whether Immortal Lord Chana's move "Hand Turning Heaven and Earth" could damage the secret realm itself, permanently altering its structure and trapping the disciples inside. And even setting that aside—if Su Xin were mid-battle when the realm got moved, a single tremor would be enough for demon beasts to get a few free hits in on him.

That prophecy on the heavenly book about their kid facing a big tribulation in the secret realm? This lined up perfectly.

When the couple received the news, they almost passed out from anger.

"I say we hit the Carefree Palace with sanctions!" Su Mei advocated.

"Ah, but Zhou Hui not only chopped off the man's hand but also flat-out killed him and destroyed the Thought Pavilion," said another elder of the Heavenly Dao Alliance. "That's a bit much, don't you think?"

"And blocking the central trade routes isn't excessive?" Xin Zhu retorted.

Anyone would be shaking in their boots when facing two Tribulation Transcendence cultivators who were of one mind.

In the end, the Alliance Leader tried to mediate: "Ahem, both sides have let their tempers get the better of them. It's best to persuade them to each take a step back. After all, the Carefree Palace is in the business of trade—what benefit does blockading the central trade routes bring to itself? And as for Tireless Immortal Venerable, he is always so impulsive; at least he should consider his own sect!"

He was playing both sides, clearly just trying to keep the peace.

But for the Heavenly Dao Alliance, keeping the peace was the only option anyway—as long as the two sides didn't start throwing punches, all was well.

The couple wasn't happy with this attitude, but worried about their son's condition. Seeing that the Carefree Palace hadn't said a word about their kid, they hurried off to find Zhou Hui.

*

Inside the secret realm, Qu Qianxing was also discussing this matter with Zhou Hui:

"When the secret realm bound itself to a master, the disciples of the various sects were also inside, so they came back with me. I originally thought the other sects would come get their disciples immediately, but they haven't made a move so far."

"They're probably waiting to see what the Carefree Palace does," Zhou Hui said.

Actually, Qu Qianxing felt that these people had been scared stiff by the power their master had displayed at the time, thinking it would seem disrespectful to come knocking immediately. But because of the Carefree Palace's presence, they didn't dare openly suck up to the master, lest they be seen as allies of the Celestial Spirit Sect, so they were dragging their feet.

But Zhou Hui was just making conversation and didn't care much about the reactions of those sects' higher-ups.

He was more concerned about the disciples who had participated in the trials: "Treat those trial participants well, look after them as guests, and if any are injured, make sure they get patched up right away." He thought these kids were also a bit unlucky—they had been selected for the trials but didn't even get to be background extras. Shortly after entering the secret realm, they had watched it bind to a new master and had been stranded in another sect for now. They must be feeling pretty hard done by.

"I'll take good care of them," Qu Qianxing said with a nod. "Although the situation was a bit chaotic at the time, because you acted quickly, Master, most of the disciples from other sects didn't even realize what had happened before it was all over. The ones who actually got hurt the worst were the Carefree Palace disciples who tried to attack us, and... Lord Su Xin."

Su Xin really got the short end of the stick.

He had already been grabbed by Hong Ying of the Carefree Palace and thrown in front of the needles as a shield. When Immortal Lord Chana seized the secret realm, Su Xin had no way out and got skewered by the snow needles like a hedgehog. He was still in bed, shivering.

"I'll explain this personally to the couple later," Zhou Hui said, not sure whether to laugh or sigh at Su Xin's situation. "I figure they'll be here soon."

"Ah, Master, they're almost here," Guan Ye piped up.

Zhou Hui nodded and, together with Qu Qianxing, stared at the dozen-plus paths in front of them.

"Speaking of which, the environment of this secret realm is a real maze," Qu Qianxing said awkwardly. "Even though I'm the master of this place now, I still get lost."

"This secret realm doesn't seem to be for hiding treasures, and it's not some sect's ruins either. It's probably some Tribulation Transcendence cultivator's attempt to build their own little world—like the Thought Pavilion. They had big ambitions, wanting a whole world with the scenery of the Five Regions and Six Abysses. That's why it has all kinds of terrain and such complex paths," Zhou Hui figured.

Sticking to the main path, Zhou Hui had been walking for several hours.

If Zhou Hui didn't want to see that spring the disciples in the "novel" were always going on about, fetching water from it for him every so often, he'd have lost interest in this boring, tedious secret realm long ago.

"Indeed, to fully explore this would take decades. It's kind of a letdown," Qu Qianxing said with a frown.

"Well, no need for all that," Zhou Hui said, looking around. As he was about to say something, he spotted out of the corner of his eye his fourth disciple's actions, and he couldn't help but shout, "Yezi, don't touch the water in there!"

"Huh?" Caught off guard by the shout, Guan Ye nearly fell in.

But with Zhou Hui around, he naturally wouldn't let that happen to him—otherwise, Guan Ye would be the one taking a bath here every ten years.

Zhou Hui caught Guan Ye with his spiritual power.

Guan Ye sat by the "Ice Eye," scratching his head and laughing awkwardly. "I was just wondering why this water doesn't freeze, and it feels way colder than everywhere else."

"That's just how the Ice Eye is—freezing cold but never actually freezes. And given that it's in a hot climate like the Southern Region, the master of this secret realm really went all out to create this marvel," Zhou Hui noted, admiring the Ice Eye. "No wonder (in the book) I would use the water here to help with closed-door cultivation and healing."

"Help with closed-door cultivation and healing?" Qu Qianxing's ears perked up.

"..." Zhou Hui looked away.

"Master, you're definitely hiding something from me!" Qu Qianxing said.

"It's nothing," Zhou Hui said. "That's only a concern related to Ascension. Since I don't intend to ascend, there's no such matter."

One could say the heavenly script's plot had some logic to it.

The sequence was roughly: Mo Bei explored the secret realm—fell into the Ice Eye and instead contracted heat poison—Zhou Hui treated Mo Bei and discovered an anomaly in his spiritual power—Zhou Hui ordered Mo Bei to fetch water, using the extreme cold water to aid cultivation—Mo Bei thus learned of Zhou Hui's weakness—Mo Bei was turned by the protagonist and revealed Zhou Hui's weakness to him.

In this life, the Ice Eye was entirely in Qu Qianxing's hands, so Mo Bei couldn't possibly learn of Zhou Hui's weakness. Could it be that Qian Xing...

Zhou Hui was curious about how fate would fulfill itself.

But Qu Qianxing was persistent: "So, saying it's nothing if you don't ascend—what about your body, Master—"

"Master, a communication request from the Immortal Couple Meizhu, Senior."

Just as Qu Qianxing was pressing Zhou Hui, Ran Deng's transmission talisman arrived.

Zhou Hui suddenly had an excuse: "See, they've come."

"Wait, Master." Qu Qianxing chased after him.

Guan Ye stared blankly at their retreating figures, then looked back at the "Ice Eye" before him, a thoughtful expression on his face.

*

"So that's how it happened?"

"Carefree Palace! We'll be irreconcilable with them!"

When Zhou Hui returned to his cave dwelling, he heard the angry voices of the Mei Zhu couple.

Clearly, Ran Deng had already relayed the details of the incident to them.

Seeing Zhou Hui come back, they were too preoccupied to say much: "We're sorry for the trouble. We will send someone to the Celestial Spirit Sect within a few days to bring back our son."

Zhou Hui, noticing the anxious expressions of the Mei Zhu couple, tried to console them: "There's no rush. This matter is my responsibility. In a while, Lan Pei will come to my place; let him take a look at Su Xin then!"

Zhou Hui ignored Qu Qianxing's glare.

After all, there was nothing wrong with him that Lan Pei needed to treat—he couldn't just let the miracle doctor make a trip for nothing, right?

The only issue was that Lan Pei needed to arrive soon, or else Su Xin would already be healed by Zhou Hui himself.

"Master Lan Pei!" The Mei Zhu couple was deeply moved. Not knowing the real reason, they thought the Celestial Spirit Sect had specially invited a divine physician for Su Xin—and given Su Xin's Cultivation Level, even having Lan Pei take a single look was a tremendous fortune.

If they had harbored any complaints about Mo Bei accidentally injuring Su Xin before, they now had none at all.

The Mei Zhu couple said solemnly, "Tireless, we're in your debt this time. Whatever you need in the future, just ask."

"Actually, there is one thing I'd like to ask—" Zhou Hui said with a slight smile.