Chapter 9
Si Nidie was summoned by Wei Houming and subjected to a stern lecture—along with the added punishment of copying the sect rules ten times by hand.
When he finished dealing with her, his gaze shifted.
It landed squarely on Lou Yuqing.
Can’t see me. Can’t see me…
Lou Yuqing immediately lowered her head, going perfectly still, as if she could simply vanish through sheer willpower. The sect rules were three inches thick—and had to be copied by hand. It would take months. Months.
Perhaps he heard her silent plea.
Or perhaps he simply lost interest.
Wei Houming’s gaze moved on at last. “Xiao Wu. Bring me the jade slip.”
Xiao Wu jumped to his feet and presented the jade slip with both hands.
Wei Houming scanned it quickly. “Average. A few omissions, but better than before.”
A flash of joy lit up Xiao Wu’s face. This was the first time he’d received anything resembling praise. Previously, he’d only endured relentless scoldings in silence.
“Thank you, Captain Wei! I’ll keep improving!” he said, voice firm with renewed determination.
Wei Houming gave a slight nod, then flicked the jade slip forward. It landed in front of Si Nidie.
“Xiao Si. Fix these omissions.”
Si Nidie’s face fell instantly.
Xiao Wu was one of the most capable among them. If even his work had flaws… what chance did she have of identifying them—let alone correcting them?
Lou Yuqing kept her head down, sneaking a glance sideways. Si Nidie looked like her soul had already left her body.
This was not going to be easy.
A faint sense of doom crept up Lou Yuqing’s spine.
“Xiao Lou. Xiao Gu. You two as well.”
There it was.
She knew it.
Back in school, whenever her heart skipped a beat, it meant the teacher was about to call on her. Some kind of cursed sixth sense.
Suppressing a sigh, Lou Yuqing stepped forward to stand beside Si Nidie. Gu Buqi followed, expression unchanged as always—calm to the point of detachment.
Naturally, that composure drew Wei Houming’s attention.
His eyes lingered on Gu Buqi.
Where had he seen this disciple before?
A memory surfaced—the day Hall Master Meng Zonghan had personally brought Lou Yuqing and Gu Buqi to the auditing room, instructing him to treat them normally, without favoritism.
Not that Wei Houming had ever intended to treat them differently.
He had no fondness for disciples who entered through connections.
The auditing room might have once been a place for idling, but under his management, it had been completely transformed. Entry now required strict assessment.
Fortunately, after observing them for two days, he found neither of them troublesome. His initial bias faded, replaced by the intent to cultivate them properly.
No one knew that Wei Houming’s true goal was to train auditing disciples into future enforcement disciples.
There was no need to say it aloud.
His gaze lingered on Gu Buqi for a moment longer before he shook his head slightly and returned to reviewing the jade slip.
At the same time, Gu Buqi quietly exhaled.
He had no desire to be recognized in this form.
He had assumed his reclusive habits kept him obscure—but clearly, Wei Houming had seen him somewhere before.
Perhaps just by chance, years ago.
Meanwhile, Lou Yuqing leaned closer to Si Nidie, lowering her voice.
“Senior Sister… doesn’t something feel off about this?”
She tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Hao Tianping was refining pills when the furnace exploded. The entire alchemy room was destroyed.”
She paused, eyes narrowing slightly.
“So how did he walk away with nothing but superficial injuries?”
Si Nidie gave her a strange look. “I think I know why.”
Lou Yuqing blinked. “You do?”
“I was just about to tell you.” Si Nidie sighed. “This isn’t his first time here. Last time, he blew up the weapon-forging room while refining artifacts.”
She shook her head.
“Everyone thought he’d been buried in the explosion. But he survived. Same as now—just minor injuries.”
Hao Tianping was living proof that death could always miss by a single step.
Lou Yuqing fell silent.
“…Did he get better at exploding things?”
“That’s not the issue,” Si Nidie muttered, subtly gesturing toward the main seat. “The issue is…”
Lou Yuqing followed her gaze.
Wei Houming’s brows had already drawn together.
“A repeat offender?”
His hand formed a seal. He pointed into the air—
Spiritual light surged outward, blazing white. A jade slip materialized midair, hovering in silence.
With a flick of his wrist, its contents became visible:
Inner disciple Hao Tianping caused a massive explosion in the weapon-forging room last year, rendering it unusable. Fined eight thousand spirit stones. Confined for one month. Ordered to copy the sect rules one hundred times.
Wei Houming’s eyes hardened.
Too lenient.
“Knowingly committing the same offense—his crime is doubled,” he said coldly. “Fine him another ten thousand spirit stones. Three months’ confinement. Ten thousand copies of the sect rules.”
The hall fell into stunned silence.
Everyone’s heart skipped a beat.
Doubled.
Several disciples couldn’t help glancing toward Lou Yuqing and Si Nidie—the two who had just been whispering about Hao Tianping moments ago.
Lou Yuqing immediately straightened, face innocent. “That has nothing to do with me. I was just asking a reasonable question.”
Si Nidie coughed lightly, touching her nose. “Same here. I was just answering.”
Elsewhere, in the confinement chamber…
Hao Tianping was hunched over, painstakingly copying the sect rules when the new punishment was delivered.
He froze.
The brush slipped.
It felt like the sky had just collapsed on his head.
“…Why?”
He staggered to the small window, staring after the departing enforcement disciples as if his gaze alone could drag them back.
They didn’t even turn around.
A laugh came from the opposite cell.
“Haha—brother, looks like you’ve got it worse than me.”
Hao Tianping: “…”
Back in the Enforcement Hall, Lou Yuqing and the others endured Wei Houming’s corrections with utmost humility before finally being dismissed.
“Phew—!”
The moment Si Nidie stepped back into the observation room, she collapsed into a chair like a deflated balloon, breathing out in relief.
Lou Yuqing, by contrast, felt… fine.
Perhaps because Wei Houming had been preoccupied with Hao Tianping’s case, he hadn’t been overly harsh with them.
“Next time he’s around,” Si Nidie muttered, “we don’t talk. We use sound transmission. No way I’m getting caught again.”
Lou Yuqing nodded seriously.
“Alright. Do whatever you want—I need to start copying rules.”
With a weary sigh, Si Nidie tapped her storage pouch. Four streaks of white light shot out, transforming into brush, ink, paper, and inkstone.
Lou Yuqing couldn’t help thinking—
Senior Sister is way too prepared for this…
Gu Buqi stood. “Come. I’ll show you around the sect.”
“Okay,” Lou Yuqing agreed.
On her first day, Qingxuzi had given her a brief tour—but at the time, her spiritual roots were uncertain.
Without them, explaining too much would have been cruel.
Now, things were different.
The Spirit Plant Garden… the Spirit Beast Garden… the Alchemy Room… the Weapon Forging Room…
Outside of cultivation, Lou Yuqing spent her time familiarizing herself with every corner of the sect.
Her progress was smooth.
Almost effortlessly, she broke through to the second level of Qi Refining.
Gu Buqi watched with quiet satisfaction.
At this rate, she would reach Foundation Establishment within a year.
Xuan Tian Peak. The Sect Leader’s Cave.
As usual, Qingxuzi entered the chamber housing the Jade Cold Bed.
The air was frigid—bitingly so. Low-level cultivators wouldn’t last long here.
Yet he walked in without hesitation.
The cold meant nothing to him.
On the jade bed lay a pale woman—delicate features, serene and refined. A concentric pearl necklace rested at her collarbone.
On her wrist, a vivid red mark burned—its heat almost defying the surrounding cold.
Song Li.
When Qingxuzi had found her, she had been hunted relentlessly by a flame beast. Fire poison had spread across her entire body.
After treatment with the Jade Cold Bed and the Frost Toad, only a trace remained.
“She should wake up today…”
The thought stirred something bittersweet in him.
Every day, he had come to see her—waiting, hoping… yet unsure how to face her.
“Croak!”
An ice-blue toad leapt lightly onto the jade bed.
It opened its mouth and spat a stream of cold energy onto Song Li’s wrist.
The creature was small—barely two inches long—crystal-clear, as though carved from ice. It overturned every ugly stereotype of toads.
Cold met fire.
They clashed instantly.
But the fire poison, weakened and outmatched, collapsed almost at once.
The red mark faded.
Her skin returned to its natural pale tone.
The poison was gone.
A faint groan escaped her lips.
Slowly… Song Li opened her eyes.
Qingxuzi rubbed his hands nervously, his voice awkward.
“Li… Li’er. How do you feel? Is anything wrong?”
Song Li pushed herself upright, gaze wary and confused.
“Who are you?”
Qingxuzi sighed softly.
“I don’t know if your mother ever mentioned me… We were once… involved. Before she died, she sent me a letter. That’s how I learned about you.”
Shock flickered across her face.
“Could it be…?”
He nodded.
“That’s right. I’m your father.”
Silence.
Song Li lowered her head, saying nothing.
Qingxuzi opened his mouth, then closed it again.
As a father… he was entirely inexperienced.
And not a very good one.
“Croak…”
The Frost Toad let out a weak sound, clearly exhausted from purging the poison.
Song Li’s attention snapped toward it. Her pupils contracted.
“What is that?”
Her voice was hoarse from disuse.
“A Frost Toad, from the northern glaciers,” Qingxuzi explained gently. “Its cold aura removed your fire poison.”
Song Li’s gaze flickered.