Huan Qianyu and the dragon cubs huffed and puffed as they carried wine jars out of the room.
"Father, Senior, please drink less. You've been drinking for several days," Huan Qianyu said helplessly. Looking up, she saw Li Xian and Shen Qing standing at the courtyard entrance, and a hint of surprise flashed across her face.
"Shen Qing, Li Xian, you're back!" With that, she trotted over.
Yu Xuzi and Huan Zhong also looked up. When they saw Shen Qing and Li Xian, they happily took a couple more sips of wine.
Shen Qing greeted Huan Qianyu and then walked with Li Xian to Yu Xuzi and bowed.
Li Xian helplessly took the wine cup from Yu Xuzi's hand and said, "Master, disciple knows you love drinking, but didn't I hide all your wine when I left? How did you find it again?"
Yu Xuzi proudly raised his head. Even his long beard was imbued with the aroma of wine. "You boy, all your skills were taught by me. A mere formation can't stump your master."
In fact, Yu Xuzi had just bribed Xiao Jinglan to find out where Li Xian had hidden the wine. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to locate the formation Li Xian had set up.
Thinking of this, Yu Xuzi's gaze towards Li Xian was filled with more admiration and pride.
This was the disciple he had raised with his own hands. Now, he was almost surpassing his master. How could he not be proud?
Moreover, it seemed that after Li Xian and Shen Qing had gone out for training, not only had their cultivation levels improved, but they had also bonded with their natal swords. More importantly, their relationship seemed to have deepened a great deal.
It had to be said that the decision to let them get engaged before going out for training was the right one.
Thanks to them, the communication between the Qingyun Sword Sect and the Five - Element Dao Sect had become much closer. Thus, the next plan could be put on the agenda.
Huan Zhong saw Yu Xuzi looking at Shen Qing and Li Xian with a beaming face. He knew that this old man was extremely happy, which made him feel a bit unbalanced.
"Yu Xuzi, your disciple is really good. I never thought that the little lad who used to drink with me under the parasol tree back then could now be a teacher."
"On the contrary, in our Huan family... everything is gone."
Seeing his friend getting sad again, Yu Xuzi sighed, feeling that all the wine he had drunk recently was in vain.
"A person on the path of cultivation with such a strong sense of gain and loss can never attain enlightenment... Oh... sorry, I forgot you're a demonic cultivator. Your whole family are demonic cultivators."
Yu Xuzi said this with a fake smile, successfully pulling Huan Zhong out of his sad mood.
"You old rascal, do you want to fight?" Huan Zhong put down his wine cup, rolled up his sleeves, looking ready to fight to the death.
Although Yu Xuzi was telling the truth, Huan Zhong could hear the strong sarcasm in his tone.
Huan Qianyu was at her wit's end. She had thought that her father had insisted on meeting Yu Xuzi because the latter could help them. Instead, her father just wanted to drink with his old friend.
During this period in the Five - Element Dao Sect, these two old men hadn't discussed any serious business at all. They had just been drinking.
"Shen Qing, can you persuade them not to drink anymore? Once they drink, they'll fight. After they're tired from fighting, they'll sit there and drink again. They're almost like wine immortals," Huan Qianyu said, thinking of the time she and the dragon cubs had spent cleaning up wine cups and carrying wine jars, which made her scalp tingle.
Although Shen Qing was surprised that these two were old acquaintances, seeing that Li Xian had gone to mediate, she replied, "Your father probably hasn't seen Master for thousands of years. When close friends meet, they naturally need to let off some steam. You don't need to worry."
"By the way, where's You Lang?"
Huan Qianyu thought for a while and said, "He should be acting as a tour guide."
"Tour guide?" Shen Qing tilted her head in confusion.
"What's going on?"
Huan Qianyu led Shen Qing to the other side of the courtyard, ignoring the chaos on the other side.
"I heard that the sects are going to unite to form a sect alliance to fight against the Main God's Temple.
"Some cultivators saw that the guards of the Main God's Temple released demonic creatures into small villages in the mortal world and then saved those mortals in the guise of saviors. In some places in the mortal world, people have started to build temples and statues for the Main God's Temple."
"They're not afraid of retribution for accepting this kind of incense," Huan Qianyu said through gritted teeth.
Shen Qing didn't expect such things to have happened while she was out for training. She continued to ask, "If so, the sects have an excuse to讨伐 the Main God's Temple. Is it because of the strength of the Main God's Temple that they're afraid?"
Huan Qianyu nodded. "That's one reason. Another reason is that I heard from Real Person Hong Die that the sects on the Nine Desolate Continent have been at peace for thousands of years and have become a mess. They've all been developing on their own behind closed doors."
"So, Yu Xuzi used your and Li Xian's matter to draw the Qingyun Sword Sect over. It's also to tell everyone that the sects should unite. Your engagement is just a signal."
Shen Qing nodded. She had already known about this.
"The methods of the Main God's Temple are strange and endless. We don't know how many people in the sects have been infiltrated. I didn't expect them to target mortals. It seems that their goal is to obtain the power of people's faith."
"Yu Xuzi said the same thing. So, the matter of the sect alliance has been put on the agenda. I think the Nine Desolate Continent won't be peaceful soon."
"By the way, many disciples from the Qingyun Sword Sect have come for exchanges recently. You Lang is familiar with the paths in the Five - Element Dao Sect, so Yu Xuzi asked You Lang to lead the Qingyun Sword Sect disciples on a tour."
"He said not to let You Lang eat for free."
Shen Qing twitched the corner of her mouth, already imagining You Lang's resentful face while being forced to work.
"Why don't you have any demonic energy on you?"
Shen Qing curiously sized up Huan Qianyu. She had noticed as soon as she came in that there was no demonic energy on Huan Zhong and Huan Qianyu. At first, she thought Yu Xuzi had used a magical tool to cover up their demonic energy.
But getting closer, Shen Qing found that their breaths were peaceful. With each inhalation and exhalation, they were absorbing the surrounding spiritual energy.
This was different from demonic cultivators.
Speaking of this, Huan Qianyu shivered suddenly.
She recalled the unbearable pain from some time ago.
When Yu Xuzi came to the Beast - Taming Sect, he happened to see Chu Lanqiu just finishing changing their medicine. The demonic energy on them hadn't been removed yet when Yu Xuzi appeared in the cave where they were hiding with a murderous look on his face.
Fortunately, her father and Yu Xuzi were old acquaintances. Otherwise, she thought Yu Xuzi would kill them the next second.
After that, Huan Zhong and Yu Xuzi hid in the room and talked all night.
After coming out, her father decided to wash away the demonic energy on his body.
However, they were demonic cultivators. It was not easy to completely eradicate the demonic energy in their bodies. They had to disperse all their cultivation and then endure the pain of tendon - pulling and skin - stripping, as well as marrow - washing and meridian - cleansing. It was almost like dying once.
Huan Zhong was worried that Huan Qianyu wouldn't be able to bear it. He knelt in front of Yu Xuzi and begged him to keep her alive.
Fortunately, her original cultivation level wasn't high. After washing away the demonic energy, she soaked in the spiritual spring of Xian Shiyu for seven days and seven nights and was fine.
But it wasn't that simple for Huan Zhong...