Fear Has No Solution

Ye Antao stared at the sisters before her, utterly perplexed.

No.

Wasn’t Chen Baiqing supposed to be the main target of the slander?

Then why were both of them speaking up for Chu Xingchen?

So Chen Baiqing’s gloomy expression from the very beginning wasn’t because she herself had been slandered. She was angry because someone had said a few unpleasant things about her master?

Ye Antao watched Chen Baiqing’s face remain dark as she began analyzing and making plans.

A large-scale, sudden incitement of public opinion had to have someone pulling the strings behind the scenes.

There wasn’t much they could prepare in advance. For one thing, their own immortal sect would certainly have to start praising her master throughout the Eastern Divine Continent. For another, they would have to trace the rumors back to their source and strike with precision.

Ye Antao listened for only a short while before, as she had done earlier, silently getting to her feet and heading outside to slack off.

Before, Ye Antao had been worried that Chen Baiqing might lose her temper because of the slander and make some overly aggressive arrangements. She had planned to offer a word or two of advice if necessary.

But once she realized Chen Baiqing was angry because Chu Xingchen’s already less-than-stellar reputation had been slandered...

Sometimes Ye Antao wanted to say to Chen Baiqing, “Your master’s reputation outside wasn’t exactly that good to begin with.”

Of course, Ye Antao would never actually say that to Chen Baiqing.

No wonder Chu Xingchen called Chen Baiqing his thoughtful little sweetheart. She really was considerate.

Ye Antao walked outside and gazed into the distance.

I’m so envious.

Damn you, Chu Xingchen.

“Well, aren’t you free?” came Chu Xingchen’s familiar voice from beside her.

Ye Antao slowly turned her head and saw Chu Xingchen and Xie Lingyu walking toward her side by side. Chu Xingchen looked at her teasingly.

At that moment, Ye Antao wasn’t curious about why Chu Xingchen had suddenly found the time to come to the Eastern Divine Continent. She was only curious about one thing.

“Daoist Friend Chu, may I ask you a question?”

“You may ask, but I can’t promise I’ll answer.”

“Where did you find Chen Baiqing?”

“The Southern Continent. Why?”

“I want to take in someone like Bai Qing too. Do you have anyone you could recommend?”

Chu Xingchen was rendered speechless for a moment before laughing.

“That might be a little difficult.”

Ye Antao’s expression twisted in hesitation. Then she spoke again.

“Someone like Lin Luoyu would work too.”

Chu Xingchen continued smiling as he replied, “You’re not looking for a disciple. You’re looking for a maid to wait on you, aren’t you?”

“How could that be?” Ye Antao said with an awkward smile.

“Oh? I do have someone like Cui Hao. Would you be interested?”

“Forget it. Just pretend I never asked.”

“Tsk. You won’t even consider someone like Cui Hao? You really don’t know how to count your blessings.”

Ye Antao waved her hand dismissively. Chen Baiqing had complained about Cui Hao more than once, and from what she had heard, he sounded like a rebellious disciple who was anything but trouble-free.

“Finding a disciple means treating them sincerely. That’s the proper path. If you’re good to them, they’ll naturally be good to you.”

After thinking it over, Chu Xingchen still gave her an honest answer. He then walked past Ye Antao and entered the main hall.

Hearing this, Ye Antao turned around and watched Chu Xingchen walk inside.

The welcoming greetings and concerned questions of Chen Baiqing and Lin Luoyu soon rang out.

Ye Antao turned back and walked to the entrance of the hall, peeking inside.

The Chen Baiqing who had been as cold as ice earlier no longer showed the slightest trace of anger. Her gaze was now extraordinarily gentle, as though she had never been angry at all.

If not for the fact that Chen Baiqing’s face was still exactly the same,

Ye Antao might have thought that the person who had been furious earlier wasn’t Chen Baiqing at all.

She didn’t watch for long. Seeing that Chu Xingchen had arrived, Ye Antao felt much more at ease. She promptly turned around and went off to rest.

Resting came with a subsidy, too.

What a heavenly life.

Inside the hall.

After exchanging a few polite words, Chu Xingchen’s gaze naturally fell on Chen Baiqing’s chaotic desk.

When Chen Baiqing noticed where he was looking, she quickly stopped her master.

“It’s nothing important, just a few scattered matters. Bai Qing can take care of them.”

Chu Xingchen halted the hand he had extended halfway. He turned his gaze to Chen Baiqing and thought for a moment before speaking.

“I more or less know what happened. To me, the things they said about me count as nothing more than spoiled affection. They have no bite whatsoever.”

Chen Baiqing replied with unusual firmness, “Master, at the very least, you mustn’t read any of this in front of Bai Qing.”

Hearing that, Chu Xingchen could only comply.

“All right, all right...”

Chen Baiqing glanced toward the entrance, then took out a magical treasure that could block both sound and spiritual perception and activated it. She spoke in a serious tone.

“This matter shouldn’t have required Master to come here and be distracted, but some things are safer to discuss in person.”

“I sensed something was wrong as soon as these rumors appeared. Someone is manipulating events, and their true target should be Master.”

“No matter how clever their schemes are, they’re still nothing more than insignificant insects too cowardly to show their faces, whining in their helplessness.”

“If the Xiaoyun Hall were truly willing to cooperate, these matters would have been dealt with before they ever reached Master’s ears. How could they have grown to this scale?”

“The Xiaoyun Hall disciples I assigned to investigate have made almost no progress. The intelligence they reported was riddled with errors. That is completely inconsistent with the standards of the Xiaoyun Hall’s disciples.”

“Later, I secretly asked disciples from the Tianyan Sect to investigate. They traced the rumors back to their source, and I also learned that the Xiaoyun Hall had been deliberately dragging its feet.”

“Today, I tested Ye Antao. She appeared to know nothing about this.”

“Then the problem must lie with the Xiaoyun Hall. Perhaps the Xiaoyun Hall simply doesn’t want to repair Master’s reputation. Or perhaps they would be happy to watch the public opinion swell until it reaches Master.”

“The Xiaoyun Hall may have agreed to help with the great tribulation, but I’m afraid they have little genuine loyalty toward Master.”

“Master taught us to judge people, not matters. When a person is rotten to the core, we must be on guard against whatever the Xiaoyun Hall is truly planning.”

Hearing this, Xie Lingyu furrowed her brows slightly. She now understood that the matter was far from simple.

The Xiaoyun Hall had agreed to help with the great tribulation. It had also made a massive investment in supporting Chen Baiqing’s orders. When purging the evil cultivators of the Eastern Divine Continent, the Xiaoyun Hall had paid a considerable price and sacrificed much of its reputation.

So why had it chosen to stand by and do nothing when it came to Chu Xingchen?

The two situations were completely at odds.

“They’re simply afraid of me.” Chu Xingchen let out a light laugh. “They’re afraid I might truly unite the various immortal sects. They’re afraid I might ascend alone to the peak of the Heavenly Dao, and that with one call from me, the eighteen immortal sects that have endured unchanged for thousands of years would vanish in the blink of an eye.”

“They’re afraid that I not only have a True Immortal backing me, but that I have also gained the recognition of the Great Dao—that everything might end up being decided by me.”

“They’re afraid I’ll snatch away in an instant what they worked so hard to obtain, only to hand it over to the Three Sects.”

“The Heavenly Demon is an outsider, but I’m not. They have a reason to drive out the Heavenly Demon, but what reason would they have to drive me out?”

“In their eyes, I’m merely a fierce tiger walking through the night alongside them. They’re afraid they won’t make it through this long darkness without me, but they’re also afraid that once the night ends, I’ll devour every last one of them.”

Chu Xingchen gazed toward the entrance of the hall and sighed softly.

“Fear has no solution.”