Chapter 33 : Someone Remarkable Came from Our Hometown

Chapter 33: Someone Remarkable Came from Our Hometown

Above Moon-Washing Peak, a luxuriously decorated Cloud Vessel with carved beams and painted rafters hung quietly amid the sea of clouds.

Senior disciple Su Muzhi stepped lightly into the inner cabin’s Quiet Chamber, where her master resided, and at a glance saw her master sitting cross-legged upright, seemingly deep in meditation.

Yet upon closer inspection, Su Muzhi sensed something amiss.

On True Person Mingzhu’s jade-like countenance—usually cool as frost—there floated a faint, elusive smile, subtle yet oddly playful.

What puzzled her even more was her master’s slender right foot, revealed beneath the hem of her skirt: the toes were unconsciously curling and flexing, teasingly so, carrying a hint of coquettish liveliness.

Su Muzhi froze at the sight.

She had to admit that at this moment, her master truly revealed a touch of girlish innocence and charm.

Coupled with the fact that she herself had been raised almost entirely by her master’s own hands, that deep sense of reliance—half teacher, half mother—welled up in her heart… Damn it.

Those outrageous words Long Tao had spouted about being “both girlish and maternal” suddenly fit perfectly!

For a moment, Su Muzhi even felt an impulse to immediately find Long Tao and force him to retract that nonsense—then, as the personally transmitted senior disciple, she would use far more elegant and fitting words to praise her master!

“Master?” She suppressed that strange competitive urge in her heart and called softly, testing the waters.

“Hm? Ah!”

True Person Mingzhu seemed startled, snapping her eyes open.

A flash of guilt and fluster passed swiftly through her gaze.

Once she saw it was her senior disciple, she quickly regained her usual composed demeanor, though the tips of her ears seemed faintly flushed.

“It’s Muzhi,” she said, steadying her voice as much as she could.

“This teacher’s spirit had wandered beyond the body for a short while. What is it?”

“It’s nothing important,” Su Muzhi replied, eyeing her master’s overly calm expression with suspicion.

“I just noticed that you were… smiling earlier. Did you encounter something interesting?”

“Eh? Smiling? Oh… that…” True Person Mingzhu’s gaze drifted for a moment.

She lifted a cup of tea beside her—long since gone cold—and took a composed sip before speaking leisurely.

“Nothing much. While my spirit wandered, I encountered a small dog with rather keen perception. It could vaguely sense my divine soul and chased after it… licking my foot. It tickled, so I found it a bit amusing.”

A small dog? Su Muzhi tilted her head as she listened.

The sect’s Spirit Beast Garden did indeed have some spirit dogs that had awakened intelligence and possessed sharp perception—nothing unusual.

It was just that… the explanation sounded somewhat…

“Right!” Clearly unwilling to dwell on the topic, True Person Mingzhu immediately changed the subject, her tone turning serious.

“The matter of entrusting Elder Mu to carve Spring River, Flower, Moon, Night onto the stone stele should be nearly done. Let us go have a look.”

“Yes, Master.” Su Muzhi suppressed her lingering doubts and withdrew upon receiving the order.

The instant the Quiet Chamber door closed, True Person Mingzhu let out a long breath.

She unconsciously raised a hand to touch her cheek, revealing a somewhat guilty expression.

“Ah… next time, when letting my spirit wander into dreams, I must be more cautious,” she murmured to herself.

Yet immediately after, an indescribable glimmer—tinged with faint self-satisfaction—flowed through her beautiful eyes.

Her fingertips unconsciously twined around a strand of hanging dark hair.

“But still… that little scoundrel didn’t speak a single false word. Every sentence came straight from the heart… I suppose he does have some discernment.”

“Should I… next time we meet, perhaps… give a little reward…”

That final whisper was so light it nearly dissolved into the spiritual energy of the Quiet Chamber, carrying a hint of anticipation and playful amusement she herself had yet to notice.

Just as she was about to rest, the door opened once more.

It was Su Muzhi again, but this time her expression held clear surprise.

“Master! The intelligence that just came in—Zhiying, she…”

……

When Long Tao awoke, he felt refreshed and invigorated.

He vaguely remembered having had a pleasant dream, yet what it had been slipped away like sand through his fingers, leaving nothing to grasp.

He glanced outside the window and found it was nearly Wu Hour.

“Just in time for lunch,” he muttered as he got up.

By habit, he first circulated his spiritual energy through a minor circulation, sensing the steady, abundant power within his body.

He nodded in satisfaction—his condition was good.

It seemed yesterday’s step had been taken firmly.

Pushing open the door and stepping into the courtyard, he found the surroundings quiet.

The spider siblings seemed to be out today.

He welcomed the peace and lifted his foot, intending to head down the mountain to Qixia Town for a good meal.

“Long Tao!”

He had only taken two steps when the courtyard gate slammed open with a bang.

Dong Jiayuan charged in like a whirlwind, his face glowing with excitement.

Long Tao knew this fellow too well—without earthshaking news, he would never be this animated.

“Old Dong? What’s this… something up?” Long Tao stopped when he saw his posture.

“You heading out?” Dong Jiayuan asked first, restraining his excitement upon seeing Long Tao about to leave.

“Nothing urgent. Just going down the mountain for a stroll. Yesterday’s breakthrough went smoothly; today I’ll steady my spirit, and in a day or two I’ll prepare for the Hundred Meridians Spirit Infusion.”

Hearing that Long Tao was progressing methodically toward Qi-Refining Sixth Layer, Dong Jiayuan’s joy deepened.

He immediately stepped closer, turned around, and shut the courtyard gate, adopting a mysteriously important air.

“I just got word—inside the sect… it seems they’ve caught another genius!” Dong Jiayuan lowered his voice, eyes shining.

Long Tao raised his eyebrows, his face clearly saying, “Is that all?”

A behemoth sect like the Nine-Xia Heavenly Sect produced “geniuses” every year.

Even someone like Nan Yuchen, touted as “once in a century,” popped up every twenty or thirty years.

Nothing new.

Was that really worth Old Dong making a special trip just to gossip?

Dong Jiayuan knew exactly what Long Tao was thinking from that expression and immediately added,

“I know you think I’m making a fuss! But this time it’s different! I heard it was True Person Zhiying herself who brought them back from outside! And…” He deliberately paused, stressing his words.

“They’re from our Qinglin Town!”

“Whoa!”

This time Long Tao was genuinely shocked.

“From our little backwater… someone like that could come out? Which family? When I left five years ago, I didn’t hear of any martial hall or clan hiding such a treasure.

Wait—who did you say took them in? True Person Zhiying?!”

Dong Jiayuan wore an expression of “you finally caught the point.”

“Otherwise why would I come running in such a hurry? True Person Zhiying has lived nearly three hundred years and has taken, at most, three disciples! Every single one was a true genius who lived up to their talent. If this rumor is real, the two of us absolutely have to use our hometown connection to stick close and build a relationship! If we manage to cling to that thigh, the benefits down the line are unimaginable!”

When he spoke of “sticking close” and “clinging to a thigh,” neither of them showed the slightest embarrassment.

Instead, both wore expressions of determined, calculating shrewdness.

For cultivators who had clawed their way up from the bottom, what use was pride? Those who couldn’t lower their faces to build connections—unless born with exceptional fate—had long been eliminated.

“Absolutely! But no matter how hard I rack my brain, I can’t figure out which family in town could produce someone like that… Could it be the Zhu family’s second young lady? I heard her talent was decent, and she should be in her early teens by now, right?”

“The name’s definitely being kept tightly sealed—no way it would leak easily. But I reckon there’s an eighty or ninety percent chance it’s that Zhu family young lady.” Dong Jiayuan sighed.

“Sigh, my Dong family is small and insignificant; we can’t establish ties with the Zhu family. Your Long family… still has a bit of interaction with them, right?”

“Interaction? Hardly. At most, exchanging gifts during festivals, sharing a toast at banquets—that kind of acquaintance. You’d have to count back five or six generations to maybe dig up some distant in-law connection. Trying to cozy up on that basis is definitely a dead end!”

“Sigh… then we can only rely on the hometown association.” Dong Jiayuan rubbed his hands together.

“Once the news is confirmed, the two of us will throw away our faces and make sure to at least become familiar in their eyes!”

“Of course! When the time comes, I’ll go first. Leave the embarrassing work to me. Old Dong, you come out afterward, maintaining the image of a steady hometown elder brother, show some concern, and hand over an invitation. Out of courtesy, that young lady definitely won’t be able to refuse outright!”

Dong Jiayuan immediately understood, flashing an “I get it” smile.

The two of them promptly put their heads together, squatting in the courtyard, and began enthusiastically discussing the detailed steps of how to latch onto the new hometown genius’s thigh.