After Lu Yang returned to the Dao Seeking Sect, the Immortal Fairy took control of his body again to attend to sect affairs.
Every day brought all sorts of matters requiring attention in the Dao Seeking Sect. The visit from the Five Elements Sect had only been prioritized because of its grave importance. Now that those tasks had all been delegated, it was time to address ordinary matters.
Sitting in the Sect Master's seat, the Immortal Fairy was thoroughly pleased with herself. "Let's see what matters require this Immortal's decision."
"The Great Xia Dynasty strongly condemns the Dao Seeking Sect's habit of building tombs all over the place. The Grand Elder of the Dao Seeking Sect has repeatedly constructed tombs outside the sect, disrupting the archaeological work of the Great Xia Dynasty."
Attached below was a detailed account of the incident: an old farmer had accidentally discovered a tomb, and after the imperial court dispatched people to survey it, they believed its construction style was ancient, seemingly built during the Great Yu Dynasty, and that its builder was a Body Integration stage cultivator.
As the archaeological excavation progressed, the contents of the tomb refreshed everyone's understanding, upending their perception of Great Yu Dynasty tombs—a momentous discovery.
After an extensive excavation, Great Xia finally brought the tomb back into the light of day—only to see the Grand Elder sleeping soundly inside the coffin.
After all that hard work, it turned out the Grand Elder had illegally built a tomb and even modeled it after the style of the Great Yu Dynasty. The Great Xia Dynasty nearly flew into a fit of rage.
"'The earthworm couple in the Herb Garden each severed themselves into two halves, and now consider the four of them to be independent individuals who should not be restricted by their original relationship. All four wish to marry simultaneously, with the male side being Eldest Husband and Junior Husband, and the female side being Eldest Wife and Junior Wife. The four wish to hold a grand wedding in the Herb Garden?'"
"Hsss—"
The Immortal Fairy leaned back slightly. Were modern earthworms getting up to such wild antics nowadays?
Back in ancient times, the earthworm clan had never pulled anything like this.
Setting aside the earthworms' business for the moment, the Immortal Fairy examined another report: "The azure-eyed water buffalo clan proposes that the world is dangerous these days, where one might run into villains even when returning home to visit family. They hope to concoct a 'Power of the Third Elder' pill to summon the Third Elder in critical moments to resolve any danger."
She moved on to the next one.
"A joint petition from sect disciples suggests restricting the Third Elder's behavior: mountain peaks have owners, so please do not move peaks back and forth just for physical exercise."
Lu Yang had heard of this. When the Third Elder exercised, he liked to move mountains. If it were just moving mountains, that would be one thing, but the problem was that the Third Elder couldn't remember where the peaks originally belonged. Once he moved them, he never put them back. Many disciples would go out to complete a mission, only to return and find their homes missing.
"Oh? Pill Cauldron Peak claims to have found a method for long-distance communication." The Immortal Fairy looked as though she had struck gold.
The Immortal Fairy hadn't expected Pill Cauldron Peak to be so creative. In ancient times, only mighty cultivation figures possessed the means to communicate across vast distances without regard for space. Had Pill Cauldron Peak found a way to popularize it?
Pill Cauldron Peak had detailed their proposed scheme.
"First, concoct two Bright Moon Yearning Pills."
Lu Yang recalled that when Ginseng Baby had introduced Yearning Grass to him, it had mentioned this in passing: Bright Moon Yearning Pills allowed two people in love to communicate across all boundaries of time and space.
"'Next, concoct two Heartbreak Pills. A Heartbreak Pill can force two people to fall in love. As long as both take a Heartbreak Pill and a Bright Moon Yearning Pill, they can communicate over long distances.'
"'Once communication ends, Pill Cauldron Peak has tentatively developed a medicinal concoction called the Water of Forgetting, which, upon consumption, can nullify the effects of the Heartbreak Pill.'"
The Immortal Fairy: "..."
Lu Yang: "...Freaking geniuses."
Lu Yang felt the alchemy world had good reason not to acknowledge Pill Cauldron Peak. With your unscrupulous research methods, it would be a miracle if anyone acknowledged your standing!
The Immortal Fairy gave a uniform endorsement to all these matters: "Seen."
"...And the response?" Lu Yang remarked dryly.
"Well, I don't know how to solve them," the Immortal Fairy said with an aggrieved look. She wasn't good at solving problems in the first place, let alone the problems of the Dao Seeking Sect.
She had her own logic: "Think about it. None of these matters are urgent. Once the three days are up, it'll be that little girl Yun Zhi's turn to deal with them. Then I won't have to worry about a thing."
Lu Yang felt the Immortal Fairy actually made a sliver of sense. "Fairy, aren't you forgetting one thing?"
"What?"
"Eldest Senior Sister has been standing behind us the whole time."
Cold sweat broke out across the Immortal Fairy's forehead. Only then did she remember that Yun Zhi had been there all along, merely remaining silent.
She felt pinned down by a pair of chilly eyes and didn't dare look back.
"Sect Master, Meng Jingzhou is outside with a report!" the owner of the chilly eyes suddenly said, her voice devoid of any emotion.
The Immortal Fairy shuddered in fright, but remembering she was the Sect Master, she felt slightly reassured and said, "Let him in."
Meng Jingzhou stormed in, furiously dragging someone along—none other than the Eighth Elder.
Seeing this, Lu Yang took back control of his body, crossed his legs, and asked, "Ah, so it's Little Meng."
Lu Yang said warmly, "Little Meng, don't be afraid. Whatever problem you've encountered, whatever trouble you're facing, you can tell me. As a senior, it's only right that I help out a junior."
The corner of Meng Jingzhou's eye twitched. *Lu Yang, you little brat, you sure think you're something now. Just you wait—one of these days I'll redeem a Sect Master experience voucher too.*
Meng Jingzhou had heard that Lu Yang was able to redeem a Sect Master experience voucher because he found Daoist Buyu, who had been missing for ten years.
In that case, he could just seal Daoist Buyu away so the man couldn't go out into the wider world to wreak havoc.
Eliminating a major scourge from the cultivation world ought to earn a massive pile of contribution points.
Still, pressed by the circumstances, now was not the time to bicker with Little Lu.
"I want to lodge a complaint against the Eighth Elder," Meng Jingzhou declared righteously.
The Eighth Elder tried to explain, feeling Meng Jingzhou had misunderstood him. "Worthy nephew, this is all a misunderstanding! Back then, I didn't know it was you either."
"What about the Eighth Elder?" Lu Yang was still not very familiar with the Eighth Elder.
"Do you remember the first time we met, when I said I bought the genuine exam questions for the Dao Seeking Sect's trials?"
Lu Yang nodded. He remembered it clearly. At first in the carriage, Meng Jingzhou hadn't said he possessed the real questions. Later, when Eldest Senior Sister also boarded the carriage, Meng Jingzhou had let his infatuation cloud his judgment and courted death by blurting out that he had obtained the real questions.
The two of them had even discussed right in front of Eldest Senior Sister how to pass the trials. Fortunately, Eldest Senior Sister hadn't held it against them.
Later, they found out that the questions Meng Jingzhou had obtained were indeed real questions—just from twenty years prior.
Meng Jingzhou pointed straight at the Eighth Elder. "It was him! Back then, he patted his chest and assured me they were genuine test questions, swindling a huge sum of spirit stones out of me!"
In an instant, the gazes of Eldest Senior Sister, Lu Yang, and Meng Jingzhou converged upon the Eighth Elder.
Yun Zhi knew the Eighth Elder's character and had long suspected he was the culprit; she had simply lacked proof.
The Eighth Elder remained perfectly composed and said, "You can't put it like that. Did I not sell you genuine exam questions?"
"Do you know how many people wanted to buy that set of questions from me twenty years ago? I didn't sell it to a single one of them!"
Chapter 159