The inner sect disciple responsible for delivering messages stood respectfully outside the door with his hands at his sides. Hearing Elder Ouyang’s inquiry, he quickly bowed and answered, his voice tinged with caution: “Reporting to Elder, Young Manor Lord Su is outside requesting an audience. He said... he wishes to borrow a spirit spring from Hundred Herbs Hall.”
“Oh? Borrow a spirit spring?”
Hearing this, Ouyang Qing withdrew the appreciative gaze he had fixed on Tantai Yunzhi and waved his wide sleeves casually. “I thought it was something major. A spirit spring? In the medicine garden behind our Hundred Herbs Hall, there are countless spirit springs channeled from the earth veins. Is such a trivial matter worth the dignified Young Manor Lord running over in person?
“Couldn’t he just find any deacon disciple to register, collect a token, and go himself? Does that really warrant coming to report to this old man?”
However, rather than withdrawing as if granted amnesty, the disciple bowed even lower. His tone grew more tentative, even carrying a hint of embarrassment:
“E-Elder, the one the Young Manor Lord specifically named to borrow is... is the ‘Warm Jade Spirit Spring’ inside Elder Qiu’s cave abode.”
“The Warm Jade Spirit Spring?!” Ouyang Qing’s hand froze mid-stroke, nearly plucking several whiskers from his beard. His face stiffened, and he raised his teacup to take a sip.
“Cough, cough. Go tell the Young Manor Lord to choose another one.”
Hearing this, the disciple braced himself and said, “Disciple... Disciple already did, but the Young Manor Lord said that you personally promised him back then—if he had a request in the future, as long as it didn’t violate righteousness or manor rules, you would do everything in your power to help.”
Elder Ouyang’s face instantly alternated between green and white, as if recalling some deeply vexing past event. In the end, it dissolved into a helpless sigh as he rubbed between his brows. “Bah! This old man knew it!”
Setting down his teacup, he waved his hand at the disciple. “Fine, fine. Have him wait in the side parlor first. Once this old man finishes a few words with little girl Yunzhi, I’ll personally take him over.”
“Yes.” As if granted amnesty, the disciple hastily withdrew.
After the disciple left, Tantai Yunzhi, who had been sitting quietly to the side, watched Elder Ouyang’s reaction in total confusion.
‘Is Senior Brother bringing Senior Sister Gongsun to soak in a spirit spring?’
What kind of spirit spring would require the Young Manor Lord to ask for it personally? Moreover, judging by Elder Ouyang’s expression, that spring seemed far from ordinary.
...
Inside the side parlor of Hundred Herbs Hall, Su Yi sat calmly in a guest seat, his fingertips lightly tapping the tabletop as if deep in thought.
In his mind, Lin Chan’s voice chimed in with curiosity and bewilderment:
‘Hey, kid, didn’t you just take that decent spirit spring of mine? Why run over here to borrow someone else’s? Could it be you think mine isn’t high-grade enough?’
Su Yi sank his mind into his sea of consciousness and replied calmly: ‘Senior misunderstands. While the spirit spring from your cave abode is indeed high-grade, the ‘Warm Jade Spirit Spring’ I seek this time is also extraordinary. More importantly, it aligns best with the properties of the 《Jade Soul Glazed Body》 technique, producing optimal results.’
Since he had decided to scour Gongsun Lin’s marrow and cleanse her sinews, Su Yi had no intention of cutting corners.
From the choice of technique to the combination of supplementary ingredients, down to the spirit spring environment used for body tempering, he prepared everything according to the highest standards and the most tailored plan.
Just then, Gongsun Lin, seated beside him, couldn’t help but reach out, lightly patting his arm as she lowered her voice:
“What on earth are you thinking? It’s just soaking in a spirit spring, so why does it have to be Elder Qiu’s? Did you forget how much she dislikes you? Don’t you have any self-awareness?”
Hearing this, Su Yi turned his head. Meeting Gongsun Lin’s eyes, slightly widened in concern, he broke into a smile and nodded.
“Of course I know.”
“Precisely because I know she detests me and would definitely slam the door in my face if I went myself, I specially came to find Elder Ouyang and ask him to step in on my behalf.”
“You...” Gongsun Lin was struck speechless by his brazenly righteous attitude, momentarily at a loss for words.
Information regarding that Elder Qiu—Qiu Ning—surfaced in Su Yi’s mind.
She was the Eldest Senior Sister among the previous generation of Divine Might Manor disciples. Endowed with extraordinary talent, she had already attained the Golden Core realm and served as an outer sect Deacon Elder.
At the same time, she was Elder Ouyang Qing’s biological daughter. As for why she took her mother’s surname, that was not something outsiders could easily pry into.
His thoughts could not help but drift back several years.
Back then, in order to find an opportunity to cure Gongsun Lin’s chronic affliction, Su Yi had already begun preparations, setting his initial sights on the other three major sects.
As for venturing down the mountain, not to mention a junior traveling alone, given his status as the Young Manor Lord, the Manor Lord and the elders naturally wouldn’t feel at ease. Thus, the manor assigned Eldest Senior Sister Qiu Ning—who was already at Peak Foundation Establishment, steady, and reliable—to accompany him.
Su Yi still remembered their first meeting, when Qiu Ning was quite polite to him as the “Manor Lord’s only son.”
Carrying the attentiveness of a senior sister looking after a junior brother, her smile was bright and candid, calling him “Junior Brother Su” with every sentence, treating it merely as a routine sect exchange and excursion.
Yet how could she have known that Su Yi had no intention of paying friendly visits.
His goal was to scout their grounds and test their waters. Everything had gone fine initially, but exchanges between major sects were inherently rife with covert strife and overt rivalry.
Because Divine Might Manor was a late-rising power, it was inevitable that some would look down on them. Even in the original storyline, when the female lead Tantai Yunzhi led a team later on, she could not avoid being antagonized by certain individuals.
Qiu Ning could endure it, but Su Yi refused to swallow that insult. At Ancient Sword Mountain, he set up an arena and opened wagers to test swords; at Return to Origin Sect, he engaged in public duels, suppressing his peers without leaving them a shred of face.
Throughout that journey, Qiu Ning’s face had progressively morphed into bitter smiles with each of Su Yi’s outrageous antics.
The sects had always cooperated and maintained ties; she felt Su Yi’s actions went too far.
Time and again, she tried to rein Su Yi in using her authority as Eldest Senior Sister, only for him to deflect with banter or simply ignore her.
Of course, had it only been that, Qiu Ning wouldn’t have grown so antagonistic toward him.
The ultimate conflict at Perching Phoenix Pavilion proved to be the straw that broke the camel’s back.
How could Ming Xi have given Su Yi that crucial Seven-Colored Rainbow Phoenix Stamen for free?
Su Yi had joined Ming Xi in making a massive scene at Perching Phoenix Pavilion. To protect him, Qiu Ning had no choice but to step forward and confront the rebukes of several Perching Phoenix Pavilion experts alone. In the end, she even took a furious palm strike from one of their elders head-on, barely managing to escape with Su Yi, who had stirred up such a monumental catastrophe.
After returning to the manor, their relationship turned frosty like that. Following that came Su Yi’s fake cultivation crippling.
As for Elder Ouyang’s favor, it stemmed precisely from the precious spiritual ingredients from Perching Phoenix Pavilion gifted by Ming Xi—aside from the Seven-Colored Rainbow Phoenix Stamen given to Gongsun Lin.
There were many that even Elder Ouyang Qing, obsessed with alchemy, had drooled over. At the time, Su Yi felt somewhat guilty toward Qiu Ning, so he gave them all to Elder Ouyang, using the opportunity to request abundant resources for her.
Her swift breakthrough to Golden Core was partly thanks to him, though he had never told her.
Back then, he had intended them as a gift, but Elder Ouyang insisted on considering it a favor owed.
Now, it had finally come in handy.
Although most core disciples possessed their own dedicated spirit spring eyes, Qiu Ning’s Warm Jade Spirit Spring—nurtured by her unique cultivation technique and infused with a thousand-year warm jade heart—boasted a quality far superior to the ordinary spirit spring under Gongsun Lin’s name.
To achieve the optimal body tempering effect, Su Yi had to bite the bullet and court this trouble.
‘I’ll find a way to compensate Senior Sister Qiu Ning later.’
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