Chicken Feathers

Seeing how resolute he was, Lin Xiao nodded, but did not agree immediately. Instead, he said:

“Since this is your choice, come with me. Our sect has a Heart-Questioning Path, much like the Heart-Questioning Stone at your sect. You’ll have to pass it before you can officially join us.”

With that, Lin Xiao brought him to the entrance of the Heart-Questioning Path.

“If you pass, all you need to do is follow this mountain road straight to the top.”

When they arrived, Yuan Qing realized that the peach-blossom path before him was the Heart-Questioning Path Lin Xiao had mentioned. He was a little surprised, but did not hesitate for long. He immediately stepped onto it.

Seeing that Yuan Qing looked as though he wouldn’t wake up anytime soon, Lin Xiao and the other two returned to the sect first.

At that moment, everyone in the Lingxian Sect had just finished their morning cultivation and begun working on their various side pursuits.

With Jiang Youfu away from the sect, they often made do with a hasty lunch—or skipped it altogether.

Some time ago, they had finished their trials in the Greenwild Secret Realm. Everyone had gained quite a bit, and they had given the sect treasury a substantial boost.

Of the three who had returned, Little Luan was the first to notice them. She had been busy disciplining Da Tao.

“Cluck, cluck, cluck!”

Perhaps because it had been so long since she had seen them, Little Luan excitedly dropped the Da Tao she had been holding in her claws and ran over to greet them.

Seeing the chicken feathers scattered all over the ground around Da Tao, Lin Xiao and the other two found it almost too painful to look at.

Jiang Youfu took a handful of fried wheat from his storage pouch and gave it to Little Luan. Then he walked over to Da Tao, which was gazing skyward with an utterly defeated look, and gave it some as well. He said to Little Luan:

“Little Luan, you can’t keep bullying Da Tao. You’re its master, so you need to teach it properly.”

Little Luan tilted her head.

“Cluck?”

Lin Xiao pointed toward the private school at the foot of the mountain and said:

“When you have the time, go and learn from your Senior Brother Sun. See how he teaches his students.”

At those words, Little Luan seemed to understand—or at least partially understand—as she followed the direction of his finger and looked toward the foot of the mountain, though she could not see anything from there.

Afterward, Lin Xiao looked Little Luan over and discovered that the creature seemed to have grown another full size. The bright tuft of feathers sticking up from her head had already reached his chest.

He then glanced at the nearby thatched shed.

At the rate Little Luan was growing, he suspected the shed would soon be too small to hold her.

He sighed silently to himself. It seemed that the demon beast cultivation grounds would have to be put on the agenda as well, even though their sect currently had only three demon beasts.

One of them even had a Nascent Soul demon core to consume. It could increase its cultivation at an astonishing rate without doing much cultivation at all.

Thinking of all the things he needed to take care of after returning, Lin Xiao did not linger. After giving Little Luan a few more instructions, he parted ways with Jiang Youfu and Liao Pantu.

He headed straight for the spirit fields within the sect.

As expected, he could see his father’s busy figure working around the spirit fields from a great distance.

“Dad—!”

Lin Dayou turned at the sound of his voice and saw his foolish son charge up to him in the blink of an eye.

After looking Lin Xiao up and down, Lin Dayou nodded and said:

“You’re back.”

Then he turned around and continued fiddling with the pest-control formation in his hands.

Seeing how coldly his father was acting, Lin Xiao knew he was obviously bottling up his feelings again and simply didn’t know how to express them. With a grin, he sidled up to Lin Dayou and teased him:

“Dad, this won’t do. After all this time, you’re only at the third level of Qi Refining? Your disciple, Yuanjiao, has already reached Foundation Establishment!”

Although he had not yet had the chance to meet Mo Yuanjiao, that did not stop him from quickly pulling up Mo Yuanjiao’s status panel in his mind before speaking to check his current cultivation level.

He then discovered that Mo Yuanjiao had already reached Foundation Establishment during this period.

“Shoo, shoo! And you call yourself the sect master? Don’t you have anything to do all day? Go do something useful and stop hovering around here getting in my way.”

Lin Dayou did not feel embarrassed in the slightest that Mo Yuanjiao’s cultivation speed had surpassed his own. After all, he was steadily cultivating while farming, whereas Yuanjiao was clearly a clever young man, so it was only natural that he would cultivate a little faster.

As for that brat Lin Xiao, Lin Dayou felt that his skin was probably starting to itch. His hand had already begun reaching toward the new sect-issued shoe on his foot.

The shoes were good in every way—except that, unlike straw sandals, they were inconvenient to take off and use for smacking someone.

Seeing what Lin Dayou was doing, Lin Xiao wisely turned and ran.

“Dad, you carry on. I just remembered I have something to discuss with Baldy. I’m off!”

After returning and greeting his father, Lin Xiao went to the Affairs Hall and handed over the payment from the deal Liu Chun had received earlier to Liu Yunan, who was busy working inside.

“Brother Xiao, you’re back!”

Lin Xiao handed him the storage pouch containing the payment and nodded as he explained:

“Elder Liu’s younger sister has been found, but she was harmed by a treacherous villain, and her condition isn’t very good at the moment. Fortunately, the Yuan family of Yuanling City has a hot spring suitable for treating her condition, so she’s staying there for treatment for now. Elder Liu stayed behind to accompany her, and he probably won’t be able to return for a while.”

Liu Yunan was, of course, familiar with the Yuan family, the number-one clan in Yuanling City.

After all, Lin Xiao had mentioned them frequently when explaining the situation in the cultivation world to everyone. Since they would be doing business with the Myriad Treasures Pavilion, they would inevitably have to make frequent trips to Yuanling City in the future, so it was only natural that he would explain such matters to them.

“From now on, whenever our sect sends people there to conduct business, remember to have them stop by the Yuan family to check on Elder Liu. Bring him some food and necessities, and ask whether he needs anything or if anything has happened.”

Hearing this, Liu Yunan nodded and committed every instruction to memory.

After Lin Xiao finished speaking, Liu Yunan began reporting on the sect’s recent situation:

“Most of the people in the sect entered the Greenwild Secret Realm this year. Jiang He and I have already reached an agreement with the imperial court. The royal family has agreed to our proposal, and we’ve also found a shop in the capital to serve as our point of contact with the royal family. As for the matter of attacking the Huanyou Kingdom, according to a secret report from the imperial court, they have already joined forces with several surrounding countries and officially begun mobilizing their troops. The war is expected to begin in earnest in the autumn.”

Hearing this, Lin Xiao frowned and asked:

“This is a full-scale war, not merely an attack targeting the royal family and the sects that aided and abetted them?”

“It certainly seems that way. The imperial court has already begun mobilizing its troops, and General Mo set out with his army a month ago.”

Seated at the table, Lin Xiao tapped his fingers against its surface, a hint of anxiety in his eyes as he pondered the situation.

Seeing this, Liu Yunan thought for a moment before continuing:

“The imperial court claims that the main objective is still to destroy the royal family of the Huanyou Kingdom. However, war is necessary regardless. If the royal family of Huanyou is eventually overthrown, several neighboring countries will have to take over the people of their land. For those people to realize that their government has changed and accept the rule of the new court, this war is indispensable.”

After all, not everyone knew what had truly happened. To many commoners, without such a process, the fall of their country would be impossible to accept.

So this time, they not only had to wage war—they also had to proclaim their cause with as much fanfare as possible, until it was known by everyone.