Chu Xingchen watched Li Yingling soften up and felt rather vindicated in his foresight.
He had no idea where his eldest disciple had learned the art of changing faces so quickly.
Within the sect, Cui Hao was perhaps the most socially active, always finding things to keep himself busy — but he was also very easy to handle.
Only his eldest disciple was different. She had lived with him in that ruined temple back in the day, digging up spirit plants. Looking back, she had been the very first person to test his iron cauldron elixirs.
Her seniority was beyond question.
It wasn't that Li Yingling was hard to coax. She rarely threw genuine tantrums — most of the time she was just putting on an act to express a little dissatisfaction.
If Chu Xingchen were so inclined, a casual word or two was all it took to smooth things over.
Li Yingling never truly argued with her master either.
It was just that having walked this path together for so long, even though her little padded jacket leaked warmth steadily, it still provided some comfort.
After working so hard for so long, a reward was only natural.
Watching Li Yingling fiddling with the jade hairpin and trinkets, her face alight with genuine delight, Chu Xingchen found his own lips curving into a smile.
Seeing his eldest disciple happy actually warmed his heart a little too.
The little girl from the past still carried traces of her younger self, even after all her growth.
Chen Baiqing quietly surveyed the scene. At this moment, the only one absent was Second Senior Brother — all the other disciples were present.
For some reason, Second Senior Brother always seemed to miss these warmer, more intimate moments by sheer coincidence.
Second Senior Brother had never complained about it, but Chen Baiqing couldn't help feeling... he probably found it puzzling too, didn't he?
The group didn't linger indoors. This was Li Yingling's coordination office, and it was still rather spartan — not nearly enough chairs for everyone to sit.
Rather than having some people stand while chatting, it was better to head outside together and walk around.
Chu Xingchen had only supervised the sect's construction during the initial phase. After that, everything had been managed by Li Yingling.
Though Li Yingling regularly sent letters reporting progress, Chu Xingchen had only read the very first one before ignoring the rest.
His eldest disciple was reliable in her work, and she had experience in building a sect. Otherwise, he wouldn't have assigned the task to Li Yingling instead of Li Xingtian.
Today, he would inspect the fruits of his eldest disciple's months of hard work.
Li Yingling led the way, introducing her layout and arrangements with evident delight.
Several months of work plus substantial financial backing meant the sect had already taken on a fairly complete form.
The buildings were mostly recognizable in shape and structure — not exactly top-tier splendor, but quite distinctive nonetheless.
Li Yingling had incorporated her own ideas into the sect's construction. Since Wanhua Ridge was defined by its flowers, she had specifically designated an area within the sect grounds for a flower sea.
"Everyone pitched in for this construction. I never could have achieved this much on my own."
Li Yingling smiled as she first acknowledged the contributions of the others in the sect, then singled out one person in particular:
"Especially Cui Hao — the sect design he did is excellent. He made an indelible contribution to the uniqueness of our sect's architecture."
Chu Xingchen turned his gaze to Cui Hao at these words.
For this sect's design, thanks to Cui Hao's superb painting skills and design drafts, many elements had been left to him — only the main hall and special structures still followed the system blueprints.
But this "uniqueness"... it sounded rather impressive.
Had Cui Hao come up with some wildly imaginative concept again?
Chu Xingchen asked curiously: "What exactly did he design?"
Li Yingling stopped walking. They had reached the residential area managed by Chen Baiqing, where the architectural styles varied slightly — each building tailored to its occupant's habits and preferences.
She gestured for everyone to look at a building whose roof had already been completed.
This particular structure was visibly unique.
The house was on the smaller side, with flowers planted abundantly around its exterior. Branches adorned with blossoms draped gently over the roof as well.
But the most distinctive feature was the roof's construction, which differed entirely from the others...
Chu Xingchen looked up — and for some reason, the roof struck him as having a somewhat cyberpunk aesthetic. The two sides of the roof actually featured mechanical gears.
The roof wasn't made of ordinary tiles either. It appeared to be forged from two plates of specially textured steel that extended down along the walls for quite a distance.
A cute-style cyberpunk roof?
Chu Xingchen studied it for a moment. It was certainly unique — he hadn't expected Cui Hao's aesthetic sensibilities to be so avant-garde.
Then again... if you wanted to call this thing beautiful... that was stretching it a bit.
Chu Xingchen glanced at Cui Hao, only to find the young man looking faintly embarrassed, his gaze awkwardly directed elsewhere.
"You're back!"
The door of the cute cyberpunk-style house swung open. Sandong, having heard the voices, stepped outside and saw their sect master and the group approaching. She ran over with a delighted expression.
Chu Xingchen gave a small nod as he watched Sandong approach. "This is your house, isn't it?"
Sandong nodded enthusiastically. "It's mine! Thank you, Sect Master — this house is amazing!"
Chu Xingchen smiled and nodded, casually playing along.
"Is that so? What makes it so amazing?"
Sandong glanced over at Cui Hao, who was very deliberately looking in another direction.
True to form — Cui Hao had created something this extraordinary and hadn't said a word about it. No wonder he could spout so many profound truths.
Sandong made up her mind. Given her relationship with Cui Hao, it was only right to let the Sect Master know that Cui Hao was actually a very impressive person.
"Should I show you, Sect Master?" Sandong offered.
Even Chu Xingchen was taken aback by this.
Could the words "house" and "performance" really go together?
Surely this house didn't have fireworks buried underneath it, ready to blow the moment someone lit a fuse?
Chu Xingchen shot a glance at Cui Hao first. The young man's expression was clearly off — but then again, no matter how off things got, Cui Hao wouldn't go that far.
Besides, judging by Sandong's expression, she seemed perfectly satisfied with it.
Chu Xingchen mentally braced himself and nodded. "Go ahead then, Sandong... show me."
Li Yingling and Chen Baiqing said nothing, their eyes fixed on the house.
Sandong nodded excitedly, then pulled out a jade tablet and channeled a thread of spiritual energy into it.
Then, under the watchful eyes of everyone present, the cute cyberpunk roof began to move. First came the faint sound of mechanical shifting, then the two steel plates slowly slid backward.
In moments, the roof that had sheltered the house from wind and rain was no longer a roof at all.
Forget about the others for a moment.
Even Yuyang Daozi, who prided himself on having seen a fair bit of the world, stared at that roof in a daze.
What in the world... was that?
What possible purpose could that thing serve?
Once the roof's movement was complete, Sandong activated the jade tablet once more, and the two steel plates smoothly sealed together again.
Chu Xingchen said nothing. He frowned slightly as he studied the house for a long moment, and only after confirming that there was nothing more to come, did he slowly speak:
"That is indeed... very impressive."
Hearing this validation, Sandong nodded happily. Her joyful gaze shifted to Cui Hao, as though eager to share the moment with him.
Cui Hao remained silent, staring fixedly at the flowers on the ground.
Chu Xingchen couldn't help but turn around and pat Cui Hao on the shoulder.
"Gotta hand it to you, kid — you've got real talent."
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