“Senior sister, didn’t say you were going to the trading hall, why are you still standing here?” Liu Shiran, who came out of the mission hall, saw Lin Hong still standing at the door and walked over and called out.

Lin Hong came back to her senses after hearing the voice, and smiled unnaturally on her face, “It’s nothing.”

Yesterday, people from the punishment hall came to ask her about Huang Yu’s interception and killing of Li Tianyan and Cheng Qi three years ago. Fortunately, she had not yet had time to accept Huang Yu’s proposal, otherwise she would be one more person sent to the punishment hall today.

Just hearing the news about Li Tianyan and Cheng Qi, Lin Hong felt very complicated. She didn’t know what would have happened if she had not delayed that moment and directly killed Li Tianyan with Huang Yu. Then she thought about what would have happened if she had stood firm and followed Senior Brother Zhan’s instructions to protect the two of them with all her heart.

It was a pity that it was too late to think about these things again. The so-called Buddha and Demon in one thought meant that she wavered and missed the opportunity to choose, and she could only become mediocre, just like she was now.

“Senior sister, look, it’s senior brother.” Liu Shiran didn’t notice that Lin Hong was in a daze again, and stretched out her hand to pull her arm and said excitedly.

Upon hearing this, Lin Hong subconsciously looked up, and unexpectedly met Ji Hexuan’s gaze. Her face was unconsciously stained with a touch of red, but she saw the other person’s eyes looking away indifferently.

When the people around saw the senior brother’s appearance, they all stepped back a little, and no one dared to mention Li Tianyan’s matter again.

Ji Hexuan was the eldest son of the Ji family in the Southern Territory. He was found to have superior aptitude for having dual spiritual roots, one thick and one thin. Since the thin spiritual roots were almost non-existent, he became the most watched direct disciple as soon as he entered the sect. At the age of twenty-two, he advanced to the ninth level of Qi Condensation and firmly established his position as the sect’s eldest senior brother. Coupled with Ji Hexuan’s handsome appearance and cold, arrogant temperament, many female disciples of the sect were attracted but daunted by him.

It wasn’t until Ji Hexuan walked into the mission hall that Liu Shiran excitedly pulled Lin Hong and said, “Senior sister, senior brother seemed to have seen you just now.”

Lin Hong smiled bitterly in her heart, “He saw a lot of people. Come on.”

.

On the third day after returning to Tianfan Immortal Sect, Elder Tian Min wanted to fulfill his duties as a master and teach Li Tianyan the method of alchemy. However, after searching for a long time, he couldn’t find anyone, and he ended up in the backyard of Qingdan Palace, finding Cheng Qi who was practicing whip.

“Xiao Qi, have you seen Tianyan? Has he gone out?” Elder Tian Min found it strange, the Taoist couple always went in and out together, so why was Cheng Qi the only one left today?

When Cheng Qi heard Elder Tian Min’s question, he took back the whip in his hand and replied, “The young master is in seclusion.”

“He can practice hard at a young age, which is not bad.” When Elder Tian Min heard the apprentice who just arrived at the sect devoted himself to practicing in seclusion, he couldn’t help but feel comforted.

Then he saw Cheng Qi swinging the whip in a disorderly manner, shook his head and said, “Your training method is wrong.”

“Ah, really? The young master asked me to do this,” Cheng Qi tilted his head and asked in confusion.

“How did he tell you to practice?” Elder Tian Min also noticed that Cheng Qi was mainly taught by Li Tianyan, but he was a little curious about how Li Tianyan taught Cheng Qi to practice.

“The young master told me to learn the whipping technique he had taught me that day on my own, and to practice more when I had free time. We would see how well I learned after he came out of seclusion.” After Cheng Qi finished speaking, he felt a little distressed. In the past, he immediately understood everything Li Tianyan taught him. The dagger could be learnt but the whip was truly unruly.

Elder Tian Min: “…”

The few moves Li Tianyan had taught seemed pretty simple, but it was still hard for beginner. He let Cheng Qi realize this on his own. How could Cheng Qi just learn it on his own without a method?

“It’s nonsense. You haven’t practiced the basic skills yet, but he wanted to teach you some whip techniques.” Elder Tian Min suddenly wondered how Cheng Qi could have reached the eighth level of Qi Condensation with a mentor like Li Tianyan.

“Basic skills? How do I practice them?” Cheng Qi blinked and stared at him with a pair of dark eyes.

“Wait.” Elder Tian Min sighed inwardly. If the apprentice couldn’t see it, he should help his Taoist companion.

It didn’t take long for the backyard to be rearranged by Elder Tian Min. He pointed to the row of targets in front and said, “Practice with the red hearts first. When you can hit the target, you can practice other things.”

“Oh.” Cheng Qi said. He didn’t refute; he just stood behind the white line drawn by Elder Tian Min and began to practice whipping at the target.

After practicing for a long time, the whip always hit the ground next to the target. However, Cheng Qi showed no sign of impatience. He just stood there and repeated the boring action of waving the whip.

It wasn’t until half a day had passed that Cheng Qi finally mastered the strength. After the whip touched the red heart for the first time, it landed accurately on the same position almost every time.

Elder Tian Min, who had been watching his training, couldn’t help but be surprised when he saw this. He felt that Cheng Qi’s patience and understanding were good materials for learning alchemy. Originally, he had accepted him into the Qingdan Palace just because of his relationship with Li Tianyan, but now Elder Tian Min really wanted to accept him as his disciple.

Note

The author didn’t explain Ji Hexuan’s spiritual roots type yet, we will see later on.