Junior, you still need more practice.

"Senior Brother, this net is squeezing my bones so hard it hurts. What should we do?"

"I don't know either! This array is incredibly bizarre. The more you move, the tighter it gets."

"How about... we call for Master? The old man definitely has a way."

"Call Master? Are you crazy? If he sees us hanging here like cured meat, he'll beat us so hard tomorrow we won't be able to get out of bed!"

"But we can't just hang here forever, can we? It's almost dawn. If Junior Brother Ruobai comes out for his morning practice and sees us like this, we'll lose all our face."

"Then what do you suggest? Should we try our luck and call for Martial Uncle Gu?"

"Call Martial Uncle Gu? What if the old man thinks we're here to steal things and throws us down the mountain to feed the wolves?"

"Then... how about we pretend to be unconscious? Maybe someone passing by will let us down."

"Are you stupid? There are spiritual energy fluctuations in this net. If we faint, won't we be squeezed even worse?"

"If I knew it would be this troublesome, I shouldn't have listened to Master. What 'move before dawn'? Now look, we tried to steal a chicken but ended up losing the rice."

"Who says otherwise? He wanted to mooch some tea leaves himself and insisted on pushing us out as a cover."

"Shh... I think I hear something!"

"Don't move! What if it's Martial Uncle Gu..."

A moment of silence...

"Where did it go? Scared me to death."

"It was just a little bird."

"So what do we do now? My arms are numb."

"What else can we do? Wait. Maybe the array will loosen up on its own in a bit."

"Your comfort is worse than saying nothing."

"..."

The surrounding darkness seemed to solidify into substance. Purple Bamboo Peak was so quiet you could hear the soft rustle of bamboo leaves falling to the ground.

Only the two people hanging in mid-air occasionally let out a few words of conversation.

Inside the bamboo hut, Gu Changge twisted a teacup between his fingers. Looking through the lattice window at the two dark figures hanging in mid-air, a faint smile played at the corners of his mouth.

The water mirror on the desk reflected the struggles of the two, and even their hushed conversations were clearly transmitted over.

Gu Changge couldn't help but chuckle softly.

"This Xuanyangzi, the disciples he teaches are just like him, always thinking of crooked ways."

He raised his eyes to look out the window, seeing the two in the net still bickering in low voices. He simply stood up, pushed the door open, and walked out.

Just as he stepped over the threshold, a little bird fluttered over and landed steadily on his shoulder, tilting its head to look at the two people in mid-air.

The smile in Gu Changge's eyes deepened. His gaze swept over the hanging Li Xuanfeng and Shen Jinghong, carrying a bit of teasing and helplessness.

"Never mind, if they hang any longer, I'm afraid they really will turn into cured meat."

With that, he flicked his finger, and a wisp of pale green spiritual energy flew out silently.

The invisible large net in mid-air suddenly loosened. The two dark figures fell to the ground with a "thump," accompanied by two muffled cries of pain.

Gu Changge spoke leisurely, his voice neither high nor low, just enough to drift into their ears.

"Next time you want to visit in the middle of the night, at least scout the place out beforehand."

Li Xuanfeng and Shen Jinghong fell to the ground, grimacing in pain. Hearing Gu Changge's voice, both of them stiffened, their faces full of embarrassment.

They struggled to get up, patted the dust off their bodies, and lowered their heads, not daring to look at Gu Changge.

Gu Changge walked slowly to the two of them. The little bird on his shoulder chirped twice, as if mocking their sorry state.

"You guys,"

Gu Changge gently shook his head.

"With this little bit of skill, you want to learn from others to sneak around? Look at your Martial Uncle Shi. When he comes to the mid-mountain in the middle of the night, he knows to dig a dog hole to crawl through. But you guys, you just crash straight into the array."

At this moment, far away on Heaven-Supporting Peak, Shi Wanshan was sleeping soundly while hugging his beloved stone pillow when he suddenly felt a cold wind blow past.

"Achoo—"

Shi Wanshan sneezed violently, his brows furrowing into a knot in his sleep.

He smacked his lips, rolled over, tucked the stone pillow closer to his chest, and his snoring resumed.

Li Xuanfeng and Shen Jinghong's heads lowered even further, their cheeks burning hot.

Just then, a crisp teenage voice rang out: "Master, what happened?"

Everyone looked toward the sound and saw Xiao Ruobai wearing a plain practice uniform, rubbing his sleepy eyes as he walked out of his room.

When he saw Li Xuanfeng and Shen Jinghong dressed in night-traveling clothes and covered in dirt, he was instantly stunned.

Immediately, with a flip of his hand, a faintly glowing Nine Heavens Dragon Soul Halberd appeared in his grasp. He shouted alertly, "Assassins! Master, step back!"

"Assassins?"

Li Xuanfeng froze upon hearing this, then raised his hand with a wry smile and pulled off the black cloth from his face.

"Junior Brother Ruobai, it's us, Li Xuanfeng and Shen Jinghong from Azure Cloud Peak."

Shen Jinghong also pulled down her face cover, revealing a cold, embarrassed face.

It was just that having just climbed up from the ground, her hair was a bit messy, and paired with that night-traveling outfit, she looked somewhat suspicious no matter how you looked at her.

Xiao Ruobai's grip on the Nine Heavens Dragon Soul Halberd tightened, his eyes still vigilant.

"You guys barged in here in the middle of the night wearing night-traveling clothes. You don't look like good people at all."

The little bird on Gu Changge's shoulder chirped, as if chiming in.

He coughed lightly and reached out to pat Xiao Ruobai's arm.

"Put it down. They were sent by your Martial Uncle Xuanyangzi."

Xiao Ruobai blinked. Yesterday he heard his master and martial uncle talking, and it seemed they did mention this matter.

It's just...

His gaze swept over Li Xuanfeng and the other.

"Does an exchange require dressing like this, and coming in the middle of the night?"

The smile on Li Xuanfeng's face stiffened. He couldn't exactly say he came to mooch spiritual energy and ended up being hung by an array for half the day, could he?

He coughed dryly twice to change the subject.

"Junior Brother, you don't know this, but Senior Sister Jinghong and I wanted to test your alertness.

It's not that Senior Brother wants to criticize you, but look, your Senior Sister and I sneaked all the way to the mountain gate of Purple Bamboo Peak, and you didn't notice a thing. It's still Martial Uncle Gu who's amazing; he knew there was movement the moment the array was touched."

As he spoke, he sneakily glanced up at Gu Changge. Seeing the smile playing at the corners of his mouth, he quickly struck while the iron was hot.

"Junior Brother, you still need to practice more. Consider this the first lesson your Senior Brother is giving you. In the future, when walking in the cultivation world, alertness is a life-saving skill."

Listening from the side, the corners of Shen Jinghong's mouth couldn't help but twitch.

This Senior Brother's skill in lying through his teeth was getting more and more proficient, making the embarrassing incident of being hung by an array for half the day sound so grand and righteous.

And he even took the opportunity to flatter Martial Uncle Gu. His skin was truly thick enough.

After listening, Xiao Ruobai looked earnestly at Gu Changge. Seeing that his master didn't refute, he believed most of it.

He put away the Nine Heavens Dragon Soul Halberd, cupped his hands in a salute to Li Xuanfeng, and said with a sincere face.

"Thank you, Senior Brother, for your teachings. It was Junior Brother's negligence. In the future, I will definitely practice diligently and improve my alertness."

That serious appearance made Li Xuanfeng's heart beat fast, and he almost couldn't maintain the expression on his face.

Gu Changge looked at Li Xuanfeng, forcing himself not to laugh out loud.

He thought to himself, how come he never noticed before that this kid Xuanfeng had such a comical attribute?

He could spin lies one after another, and actually managed to bluff the innocent Ruobai.

My good disciple, you really do need to practice more. At the very least, you need to practice making your skin as thick as your Senior Brother's.

"Alright, since you're here, don't just stand around. Go have your exchange."

Gu Changge spoke, breaking this slightly subtle atmosphere.

With that, he turned around and led the way toward the bamboo hut.

Meanwhile, far away on Qingyue Peak, Shi Wanshan shivered again in his sleep, mumbling, "The dog hole... my dog hole..."