"Yes, Old Ancestor."
Those who had conspired with Chu Chang to frame Chu Ze bowed respectfully, then flew towards Han Ya.
Chu Lingwei watched them leave, her face impassive. She would personally seek revenge on them later; there was no need to rush.
"Bei Chen Feng, since you are at my Xuan Xin Sect, why not have a chat with me."
With matters here settled, Jiang Xian made a gesture of invitation to Bei Chen Feng.
As two powerful figures from the Xuan Tian Continent reminisced, the juniors were naturally expected to attend to their own affairs.
The sect leaders of He Huan Sect, Shen Yin Men, and Ren Yan Sect turned to leave. Chu Chang, the sect leader of Xuan Xin Sect, had been crippled. A new leader had not yet been chosen, and there was no one to host them. They would have to wait until the new leader of Xuan Xin Sect took office before they could return.
"Eldest Senior Brother, Second Senior Brother, Third Senior Brother, why don't we go to my old cave dwelling to rest?" With everyone else gone, Chu Chang remained on the ground, staring at them with bloodshot eyes.
"Good."
Leng Xing Zhi glanced at Chu Chang, and a small golden snake flew out, heading towards Chu Chang. The tiny mouth bit onto Chu Chang's body, and it flew directly out of Xuan Xin Sect.
The golden snake was Eldest Senior Brother's contract spirit beast. However, Chu Lingwei had never seen its true form; it always appeared as a small snake, even in combat.
Chu Lingwei led Eldest Senior Brother and the others to her former cave dwelling. Upon entering, the interior was opulent, clearly having been recently tidied up. It seemed that everyone in Xuan Xin Sect was aware of Chu Chang's current predicament.
"This is where Junior Sister lived as a child." Nangong Luo, like a curious baby, meticulously examined the place before finally nodding with satisfaction. "It appears Chu Chang and the others were quite adept at putting on an act."
Chu Lingwei found it amusing. She couldn't tell if Second Senior Brother was praising Chu Chang or mocking him.
"Eldest Senior Brother, Second Senior Brother, Third Senior Brother, please have some tea." Chu Lingwei took out spiritual tea and fruits from her storage bag. Regardless, this was where she had lived before, and she felt obligated to entertain them.
"Junior Sister, since you've finally returned to Xuan Xin Sect, would you like to go out for a stroll and see your former fellow disciples?" Nangong Luo asked, taking a bite of a spiritual fruit. He smiled and continued, "It would be interesting to see them now, when they all believed you to be useless trash, but it turns out they were the ones who were worthless."
Chu Lingwei smiled and shook her head. Perhaps with her great revenge achieved, she no longer cared much about how people treated her in the past. Proving herself with strength was the best form of rebuttal.
"No need. They were also misled by Chu Chang and his ilk." Chu Chang and Su Xian Rou had doted on her in one aspect, showering her with the best of everything when in public, yet they would always compare her to Chu Xi Yin, ensuring she was disliked by everyone. "Bao Sha," or "raising someone to a fall," was the most potent weapon to destroy a person without expending any effort.
"That's true. Junior Sister is now a personal disciple of the Cultivation Academy, someone they can only look up to," Third Senior Brother Su Yan agreed with Junior Sister's sentiment. There was no need for her to show off; her strength spoke for itself.
Nangong Luo shrugged. "This is so boring. I've never been to Xuan Xin Sect before. I'll go explore and see how it differs from our Cultivation Academy." With that, Nangong Luo vanished from their sight.
Su Yan shook his head as Second Senior Brother left, lamenting his restless nature. Yet, it was precisely this restless nature that belonged to an eighth-grade alchemist, a profession that demanded immense patience.
"Eldest Senior Brother, how about a game of chess?" Su Yan proposed to Leng Xing Zhi.
"Alright."
Leng Xing Zhi sat opposite Su Yan and, with a wave of his hand, a chessboard appeared before them.
Chu Lingwei watched them play chess for a while before entering her cave dwelling. Gazing at the familiar surroundings, she suddenly thought of her birth mother. Even her father was not entirely clear about her mother's true identity, which made Chu Lingwei curious. Her father had told her that the cave dwelling she now inhabited was personally arranged by her mother before she left.
Chu Lingwei meticulously examined her cave dwelling, hoping to find something unusual. Alas, she discovered nothing. After all, Su Xian Rou had never been a simple person; she likely would have inspected every inch of this place herself.
The group stayed at Xuan Xin Sect for three days, never leaving Chu Lingwei's cave dwelling.
"Let's go."
Bei Chen Feng appeared and led them out of Xuan Xin Sect.
"Master, are we returning now?" Chu Lingwei sat on her master's flying artifact. Their direction was towards the Cultivation Academy, but their speed was very slow.
"You are not returning."
Bei Chen Feng turned his head and smiled at Chu Lingwei. "The Centennial Grand Competition is just around the corner. You only need to return to the Cultivation Academy one month before the competition."
Chu Lingwei's eyes widened. What did Master mean by that?
"You will go on a solo training journey now." As Bei Chen Feng spoke, Chu Lingwei felt her body lose weight. By the time she regained control, she was standing on level ground. Chu Lingwei looked up; there was no sign of her master's flying artifact.
"Master, your disciple still has matters she hasn't clarified," Chu Lingwei said, feeling a bit dazed. She hadn't yet understood why her master wanted her to train alone. Nor did she understand what the demonic energy on Chu Xi Yin was all about. On that day, Jiang Xian had invited Bei Chen Feng for a chat and had taken Chu Xi Yin's corpse with him. Chu Lingwei had wanted to ask her master if Chu Xi Yin could truly be resurrected through demonic possession, but before she could, she was driven out by her master. Without even a proper farewell.
"Wei Wei, what do we do now?" Feng Ming jumped out of the spatial artifact, also looking up at the sky with a bewildered expression.
"What else can we do? We go on a training journey, of course." Chu Lingwei smiled. There were two types of training journeys: one was sightseeing, and the other involved venturing into dangerous places to find specific spiritual herbs or artifacts. Naturally, Chu Lingwei defined her training journey as the former. She had never truly explored since arriving in the Xuan Tian Continent, and this was a good opportunity.
Chu Lingwei disguised herself as an ordinary young female cultivator at the Spiritual Wheel Realm. She had considered dressing as a man, but she knew she didn't understand men well enough, and sharp-eyed individuals might see through her disguise. It was better to remain a female cultivator.
"Let's go. I'll show you different scenery." Chu Lingwei, accompanied by her two little beasts, boarded her flying artifact, Huan Sha Ling, and set off at a leisurely pace. For now, she wanted to find a town to determine her location before deciding where to go next.